Few people have had a rougher 2023 than David Tepper. The Carolina Panthers owner already made what many felt was a calculated mistake by dismissing interim head coach Steve Wilks despite such a strong finish to last season. Then he made it worse by pushing his front office to trade for the #1 pick in the draft, hoping to finally solve the quarterback problems that had plagued his team for years. If that weren’t bad enough, he sacrificed the team’s best weapon, D.J. Moore, in the trade with the Chicago Bears, along with the Panthers’ 1st round pick in 2024.
Somehow he made it worse when he went against the wishes of new head coach Frank Reich by selecting Alabama quarterback Bryce Young #1 overall. Reich wanted C.J. Stroud from Ohio State. What followed was a season of absolute misery. Young struggled. Tension existed within the coaching staff. Tepper ended up firing Reich before his first year was even over. Things finally hit bottom on Sunday of Week 17. Despite Trevor Lawrence being out with a shoulder injury, Tepper watched the Jacksonville Jaguars thump his team 26-0, officially handing the #1 pick in the 2024 draft to Chicago.
His frustrations seemed to boil over when cameras spotted him throwing a beverage at a Jaguars fan.
That Chicago Bears trade has a chance to be an all-timer.
Poles already got strong results from it thanks to Moore’s outstanding play this season, along with rookie tackle Darnell Wright. Now he holds the most valuable draft commodity in existence for a second straight year. He can use it to maybe take a new potential franchise QB, or he can trade it again to stockpile even more draft capital to keep building an already blossoming roster. Meanwhile, Carolina is left with a depleted roster, an uncertain coaching staff, and few resources to rebuild next off-season. All of that can be traced back to Tepper.
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So yeah, it’s easy to understand his frustration. It will also be easy to understand when the NFL likely fines and suspends him at some point in the near future. Owners are subject to the personal conduct policy just like everybody else. There is no way that incident will go unpunished. All one can do is feel bad for Panthers fans at this point. They are in a deep hole of misery right now. Chicago Bears fans have been there.
