Adrian Wilson, a former Panthers and Cardinals front office executive, was arrested in early June on domestic violence-related charges, according to a report from TheAthletic.com.
Carolina confirmed over the weekend that Wilson had quietly left the organization. But the Panthers did not comment further on the reason for his departure.
Wilson, 44, was arrested just after 6 a.m. on June 1 and charged with assault, criminal damage, and disorderly conduct, a Scottsdale police spokesperson confirmed to TheAtheltic.com on Tuesday. The charges are misdemeanors and Wilson’s next court date is a management conference on July 16.
The Cardinals selected Wilson in the third round of the 2001 draft and he played for the franchise through the 2012 season. After his playing career ended, he then rejoined Arizona as a regional scout in 2015. He was promoted to director of pro scouting in 2019 and vice president of pro scouting in 2021.
He served as the co-General Manager for Arizona toward the end of the 2022 season.
Carolina then hired Wilson in early 2023 to be the team’s vice president of player personnel.
The report from TheAthletic.com notes the Panthers referred the outlet to the organization’s statement from over the weekend when asked if the club was aware of Wilson’s arrest.
Adrian Wilson is on the move.
The Panthers V.P. of player personnel quietly has left the team. The change first came to our attention because someone noticed that he no longer appears on the team’s web site.
The Panthers have confirmed that Wilson no longer works for the organization.
“Adrian Wilson will not continue in his position as Vice President of Player Personnel for the Carolina Panthers,” a team spokesperson told PFT on Sunday morning. “Consistent with our organizational policy on employee matters, we will have no further comment.”
Wilson took a job with the Panthers just a year ago, in February 2023. It was a homecoming for the High Point, North Carolina, who played college football at N.C. State.
A member of the Cardinals Ring of Honor for his excellence as a safety from 2001 through 2012, Wilson spent four seasons in Arizona as a regional scout, two as director of pro scouting, and two as V.P. of pro scouting. He finished the 2022 season as interim co-General Manager, after the firing of Steve Keim.
Wilson was linked to the G.M. job in Jacksonville in 2022, potentially in partnership with Byron Leftwich as head coach. That never came to fruition.
He becomes yet another short-time employee of Tepper Sports and Entertainment. From David Tepper’s football team to his soccer team, the hinge on the swinging door never has much of a chance to get rusty.
It’s a slow week in the NFL. But a lack of stories doesn’t justify making something out of nothing.
The Twitter bots have tripped over a clip of Panthers chief administrative officer Nicole Tepper, wife of Panthers owner David Tepper, making remarks in the draft room earlier this year.
The clip itself doesn’t reveal much, and not nearly enough to justify the characterization that it’s the “first time we’ve ever seen the owners wife helping make picks.” That hasn’t stopped sites like Athlon Sports from pushing this embarrassing clickbait headline: “Fans in Disbelief Over Video of NFL Owner’s Wife Assisting with Draft Picks.”
“Many are questioning the involvement of an owner’s spouse in such crucial decisions, a role traditionally reserved for football operations personnel,” the article explains. (“Many are questioning” means “stray fans who don’t know shit are spouting off on Twitter.”)
Again, watch the clip. She hardly says anything.
The fact that multi-billion-dollar football companies are owned and operated like family-owned food trucks isn’t unique to the Panthers. It’s one of the basic realities that makes every team (other than the Packers) so damn compelling. And, frankly, Nicole Tepper is no less qualified to chime in on football personnel than her husband, whose credentials to own the team come solely from him having enough money to buy it.
The owner of any NFL team (other than the Packers) can do whatever he or she wants when it comes to putting family members to work. If the goal is to keep the team in the family, it becomes critical to involve others who would eventually take over for the person who wrote the check and seized the wheel.
The only alternative is to sell the team when that person can no longer continue. That’s what Ralph Wilson’s family did with the Bills, and that’s what Pat Bowlen’s family eventually had to do with the Broncos.
If Nicole Tepper outlives her husband, she likely will be running the team, like Georgia Frontiere did for decades with the Rams. (Along the way, Frontiere presided over the construction of the Greatest Show on Turf.) So why shouldn’t she be involved now?
Really, what’s more concerning? The owner’s spouse making stray comments in the draft room? Or the owner having a clear record of micromanaging the team, including forcing (by all appearances) Bryce Young on the front office and coaching staff? (Nicole apparently preferred C.J. Stroud. So maybe she should be running the team now.)
Also, we’ve yet to see any videos of Nicole Tepper throwing a drink on a fan and/or removing someone’s hat after she stopped at a local restaurant because the sign out front displayed a message with which she took umbrage.
Here’s the bottom line. Anyone who makes a big deal out of the clip of Nicole Tepper’s comments is exposing their own ignorance as to how things work.
Or maybe they know exactly how things work, but they aren’t about to turn down an opportunity to pander to those who believe women shouldn’t be involved in football in any capacity.
Cam Newton ran for more touchdowns than any other quarterback in NFL history, but he does not consider himself the greatest dual threat ever to play the game.
Asked on the 4th and 1 Show whether he’s the greatest dual threat ever, Newton answered, “No. Lamar Jackson.”
Newton says that what really separates Jackson is his speed, which allows him to break more big plays than Newton did. Newton said his own specialty was power in short yardage situations, but that Jackson and Michael Vick were greater threats with their legs because they were faster.
“Lamar’s style is different than mine,” Newton said. “He’s got big plays any play. He’s got speed that I never had. And he’s just a legend. I played the game more powerful. I can run, but I’m going to probably get caught. Vick, Lamar, they ain’t getting caught.”
Newton retired with 5,628 rushing yards, the second-most for a quarterback in NFL history behind Vick, as well as his record 75 rushing touchdowns. Jackson currently has 5,258 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns. Jackson has a good chance of surpassing Vick’s quarterback record of 6,109 rushing yards this season, but he’s still a long way off from Newton’s record for the most rushing touchdowns.
Before the Giants decided to trade with the Panthers for edge rusher Brian Burns, they considered pursuing a couple of disruptive defensive linemen who would have been available for no compensation to their prior teams.
The first episode of the first season of offseason Hard Knocks includes footage from an early-January meeting in which the Giants ponder pursuing Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones and Dolphins defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, with the idea of pairing one of them with Dexter Lawrence.
As to Jones, director of pro scouting Chris Rossetti says this, “Future Hall of Fame player. Still game-wrecking talent. Makes football look easy at times. When he’s dialed in, playing within the scheme and he’s unblockable, it’s hard not to imagine the good things that would come with him and Dex together in the middle. They’re the two best defensive tackles in football. You watch the tape and you see Chris Jones getting double-teamed every snap, and the guy on the other just having one block. You just imagine that’s Dex with one guy on him every time. You know, the possibilities, the game-wrecking capability is there. Financially, is it possible where we’re at? You’re looking at like a $35 million cap hit next year.”
As to Wilkins, who is Lawrence’s “best friend,” Rosetti says, “I don’t think he’s a difference-making pass rusher on third down. Which is what we need opposite Dex. But a really good football player who will do well for himself.”
G.M. Joe Schoen then remarked that Dexter had texted recently to ask “what we thought” of Wilkins.
They ultimately traded for Burns, giving him a five-year, $141 million contract ($28.2 million per year) and giving up a second- and fifth-round pick to Carolina. Jones stayed put for five years and $158.75 million ($31.75 million). Wilkins went to the Raiders for four years and $110 million ($27.5 million).
Rosetti was right about the Jones cap charge. It’s $34.85 million in 2025. For 2024, however, it’s only $7.35 million.
Burns has cap charges of $15.5 million this year, $29.75 million in 2025, and $30.75 million in 2026.
Of course, the Giants could have kept the second- and fifth-round picks by signing Jones.
That said, it would have surely cost more to get Jones to leave the Chiefs. And it’s unknown whether he would have wanted to join a team that is a long way from being as good as the Chiefs have become.
Regardless, Jones and to a lesser extent Wilkins were on the Giants’ radar. And we know that because the Giants decided to open up their internal process to cameras and microphones.
After watching the first episode of offseason Hard Knocks twice, I’ve got some more thoughts about whether it makes sense to allow so much offseason candor to make its way into view. I’ll type them up later.
Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants will premiere tonight, and the Giants’ trade for Panthers edge rusher Brian Burns is one of the behind-the-scenes segments.
It began during the Senior Bowl with Giants General Manager Joe Schoen asking Panthers General Manager Dan Morgan if Carolina had interest in trading for the No. 6 overall pick. Morgan declined.
“If I’m going anywhere, it’s going back,” Morgan told Schoen.
Morgan, though, let Schoen know that Burns was available.
“You want to give us two ones for Burns?” Morgan asked.
Schoen seemed intrigued, replying with an “Ooh!”
“No. I mean, yes, but. . . .,” Schoen added.
The haggling then commenced.
“Or a one and something,” Morgan said.
“OK,” Schoen replied. “You’re headed in the right direction.”
The Giants ended up trading 2024 second- and fifth-round selections (Nos. 39 and 141 overall, respectively) and a 2025 conditional fifth-rounder to the Panthers for Burns and a 2024 fourth-round pick (No. 166) a month later. Keeping their first-round draft pick, the Giants drafted receiver Malik Nabers.
They signed Burns, who the Panthers had franchise tagged, to a five-year, $150 million contract.
Burns, 26, leaves Carolina after five seasons, 46 sacks, 95 quarterback hits, 59 tackles for loss and eight forced fumbles. He joins Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence as stars on the Giants defense.
The 2023 season was a rough one for the Panthers, but wide receiver Adam Thielen has been able to find a silver lining to the 2-15 campaign.
During an interview with Paul Allen of KFAN, Thielen said that going through such a rough season provided him and other players with the chance to “find out truly who you are” and that he saw that process as a positive for him because it forced him to be the leader that he believed himself to be.
“It was probably the biggest growth I’ve ever had as a person, as a player, ever in my life just because I had to be the person that I say I am day in and day out,” Thielen said. “I had to kind of check myself at the door every single day because things weren’t easy, things weren’t going smooth.”
Thielen had been through better times in the NFL, but the 2023 season was quarterback Bryce Young’s first pro experience. Thielen told Allen that he thinks the year will turn out to be “a great blessing” for Young because he’ll be able to look back and say he “got so much more mature” as a result of the adversity the Panthers experienced.
It’s an optimistic outlook coming out of a nightmare season and we’ll learn soon enough if it’s the appropriate one.
Since being hired as the Panthers head coach early in the offseason, Dave Canales has made a habit of saying that the team does not want to put too much on the shoulders of quarterback Bryce Young in his second NFL season.
The team’s offseason moves provide some idea of how Canales hopes to accomplish that. The Panthers signed guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis and they drafted running back Jonathon Brooks in the second round to go with Miles Sanders and Chuba Hubbard in the backfield.
Given those moves, it’s not a surprise that Canales said on The Season with Peter Schrager that “it all starts with the run game” for him.
“That’s what this draft and this offseason was all about,” Canales said. “I feel confident that we’ll be able to have a successful run game, which, for me, opens everything else up. It helps third down, it helps move the ball and give you more opportunities.”
There’s almost nowhere for the Panthers to go but up after posting a 2-15 record last year and the amount of improvement they show will be tied to how well Canales is able to get them moving the ball on the ground.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young’s second NFL offseason is in the books and that means he’s done thinking about his rookie season.
That rookie season was a big enough disappointment that the Panthers fired head coach Frank Reich during the regular season and rebooted things with former Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales taking over the top job on the coaching staff. The issues that bedeviled the team last year were a frequent talking point for Young and others as the team went through their offseason program, but the quarterback told Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports that he is done
“I’m big on controlling what I can control and making sure that that’s what’s focusing,” Young says. “Whatever happened the past year — the good, the bad, whatever. It’s not something that I can control. It’s not something that holds sway over what we’re doing anymore. So I think the more energy you put on stuff that doesn’t have any effect on what we’re trying to be. You can take away from the goal in itself.”
In addition to hiring Canales, the Panthers worked to add to the offensive line and skill positions in an attempt to build a better offense across the board. If those efforts pay off, it will be easier to keep anyone from thinking about how 2023 played out and fully reset the expectations for Young’s future with the organization.
The Giants will be featured next month in a new offseason installment of Hard Knocks, and the release of the show’s trailer today indicates that they think they got a good deal when they acquired Brian Burns in a trade from the Panthers.
In the trailer, Giants General Manager Joe Schoen is shown discussing the possibility of trading for Burns with Giants head coach Brian Daboll. In the clip, Schoen says he thinks the price would be two second-round draft picks.
“What about Brian Burns, have you looked at Brian Burns? We would have to trade, like, two twos, and then you’d have to pay him, $28-$29 million,” Schoen told Daboll.
But when the trade happened, the Giants only had to give up a second-round pick, a fifth-round pick and a swap of fifth-rounders. The Giants got Burns for less than they expected, which may mean that if the Panthers had driven a harder bargain they could have received more.
It also serves as a reminder that the Panthers reportedly turned down an offer from the Rams in 2022 in which the Rams were willing to give up a 2024 first-round pick, a 2025 first-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick for Burns. For the Panthers to turn down so much and then end up trading Burns for so little shows how much the team botched its handling of Burns.
Schoen was right about how much Burns would cost in terms of his contract, as he signed a five-year, $141 million contract, which works out to $28.2 million a year.