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Atlanta Falcons v Carolina Panthers

Source: Grant Halverson / Getty

While the expectation that the Panthers will end up keeping Matt Rhule for his third season with the Carolina Panthers, yesterday’s firing of Joe Judge by the New York Giants has some wondering whether or not there is still a chance that David Tepper could still make the move for a new head coach. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk was on with the Panthers earlier this morning and said that we won’t really know what the exact decision until Tepper comes out and confirms it. Florio believes that Jay Glazer, who reported that Daivd Tepper is looking for Matt Rhule to hire a rockstar offensive coordinator, is right and that Tepper could be waiting to see what Rhule comes up with before making an official decision, something that he says is crazy.

When it comes to hiring a new head coach if they do move on from Rhule, though, Florio points out that there are some major obstacles.

“Even though we look at Tepper and say ‘he’s got billions, he could just treat it all as a write off’, it’s still a lot of money to pay someone to walk away and pay someone else market value. The moment that Tepper paid an unproven guy 7 year, $62 million, that raised the bar especially for him. Do you think someone else is going to take that job for a lesser deal than what Rhule got? I going to be hard to convince someone to do it.”

-Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk

As of right now, the Panthers are focused on the hiring of that “rockstar” offensive coordinator. Earlier today, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that the Panthers have interviewed Vikings offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and Colts wide receivers coach Mike Groh for the position and that they have requested to interview Texans quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton for the position. Other names that have been mentioned as possible targets this week include current Alabama offensive coordinator and former Texans head coach Bill O’Brien, former Washington Football Team and Jaguars offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and current Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell.