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Some teams will be looking for new decision makers this offseason
Coaches are not the only NFL leaders facing a difficult Black Monday. For many NFL general managers, the day after the regular season concludes is the end of the line.
A fascinating NFL offseason awaits, with a number of teams near the top of the 2024 NFL Draft order facing decisions about the quarterback position, including the Chicago Bears, the New England Patriots, and the Washington Commanders.
Here is a complete look at the general managers who will not be making those decisions now, after they learned their fate on this Black Monday.
Scott Fitterer fired as GM of the Carolina Panthers
Last year, the Carolina Panthers traded to the top of the first round to draft quarterback Bryce Young.
Now, two of the leaders behind that decision — coach Frank Reich and general manager Scott Fitterer — are out of a job. Reich was fired earlier in the season, and Fitterer was fired on Black Monday.
Hired in 2021, Fitterer’s role on the Panthers was reduced to being a paper pusher for head coach Matt Rhule, who had full control of the team. As Rhule’s future became more shaky, Fitterer got more control — to horrific ends. Infamously quoted as saying the Panthers would be “in on every trade,” he proceeded to build the team through desperation in Rhule’s image, which began a carousel of starting quarterbacks and mismanaged assets.
Fitterer’s time in Carolina will best be remembered for disastrously trading for Sam Darnold, sending away Christian McCaffrey for questionable value in return, before orchestrating the franchise-defining trade to No. 1 in the 2023 NFL Draft, which landed Young.
Seen as being the architect of the Panthers demise, fans in Carolina have no love lost for their now-fired GM.
