It’s pretty widely speculated that there was internal division within the Carolina Panthers over whether to draft Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud before settling on Young. While hindsight may be 20/20, one key member of the organization apparently preferred Stroud: The owner’s wife.
Appearing on Pardon My Take, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter revealed that Nicole Tepper – wife of Panthers owner David Tepper – was a “big C.J. Stroud fan” leading up to the draft.
“If you’re the Panthers and you made that trade… and – I like to tease the owner – his wife was a big C.J. Stroud person. She likes C.J. Stroud,” Schefter said.
The Panthers wound up taking Young, who struggled mightily as a rookie, going 2-14 while taking more sack yards than any other quarterback in 2023. Stroud, meanwhile, went on to have an historic rookie season and led the once-moribund Texans to the playoffs.
It’s certainly not a good look if Schefter is right and Mrs. Tepper seemingly knew better than the owner who was the better option at quarterback between the two prospects last year.
Fans wasted no time roasting the Panthers for that very thing:
“Panthers are a Joke, they are regretting that pick and will suffer for a long time,” one user wrote.
“Panthers could have already had a top 5 QB. It would have made the rebuild so much easier,” wrote another.
“Tepper said they liked them both , the original deal was to go to number 2 and take stroud . Bryce was always going 1 no matter who had the pick,” a Panthers fan pointed out.
Carolina will have to move forward with Young regardless.