Matt Rhule and the Carolina Panthers possibly cost Joe Brady a big opportunity

In early 2020, there wasn’t a hotter name in the football coaching world than Joe Brady.

Brady was hired as LSU football‘s wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator before the 2019 season by then-head coach Ed Orgeron.

And he immediately made an impact for the Tigers — helping turn LSU’s offense into one of the best in college football history.

After the 2019 season, Brady left Baton Rouge to become the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator. He essentially had his pick of jobs at the time.

Less than two years later, Brady is out of a job.

The Panthers fired Brady in early December after Carolina got off to a 5-7 start.

The Carolina Panthers might have cost Joe Brady a huge opportunity

The Panthers are going nowhere fast with Matt Rhule as the franchise’s head coach.

Carolina probably should’ve fired Rhule this offseason, instead of giving him a third year. But instead, they’re sticking with Rhule while letting him make some major staff changes.

One of the first changes Rhule made was firing Brady.

That move was more about the Panthers than it was about Brady.

The Panthers went 5-7 while averaging 20 points per game before Brady was fired. After Brady was fired, Carolina went 0-5 and averaged 13 points per game.

Doesn’t seem like the issue was Brady, does it?

Here’s the problem for Brady. A year ago, Brady received some NFL head coaching interviews. It seemed inevitable that Brady would be a head coach somewhere in 2022.

But now, thanks to being fired by the Panthers, Brady is no longer a hot name — despite a litany of NFL head coaching jobs coming open this week.

If Brady wouldn’t have been fired by Carolina, he would’ve been viewed as an offensive coordinator in a bad situation (coaching under Rhule, who has been a disaster). He still would’ve been a candidate for head coaching jobs. A fired offensive coordinator, however, is a hard sell to a fan base.

Brady did nothing wrong. He took a step up the coaching ladder after the 2019 season. It just so happened he ended up in a no-win situation.

If not for Matt Rhule, Brady, a Miami native, might be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2022.

But now he has to prove himself all over again.