New Panthers general manager Dan Morgan knows what a successful draft pick looks like. He was one.
Carolina on Monday officially promoted Morgan from assistant GM to their full-time GM / President of Football Operations.
"Dan has a thorough knowledge of our football personnel and a clear vision to take us where we all want to go," Panthers owner David Tepper said. "We know he will attack this opportunity with the same intensity he did as a Panthers player."
Morgan was an elite player. Taken by Carolina with the 11th pick in the 2001 draft, he left Miami as the winner of the Bronko Nagurski, the Chuck Bednarik, Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert and Big East Defensive Player of the Year award winner; the future College Football Hall of Famer was unanimously chosen as the top defender in college football.
In seven years with the Panthers, Morgan helped Carolina go from the worst defense in the NFL to the league's No. 2-ranked unit, and also set a Super Bowl record with 18 tackles in the club's Super Bowl XXXVIII loss to New England.
But Morgan is even more rare in that he's an elite athlete who also grinded his way up the ladder as a personnel executive. He joined the Seattle Seahawks staff as a coaching intern in 2010, and from there spent the next 13 years as assistant director of pro personnel, director of pro personnel, director of player personnel, and now as assistant GM.
While he has been on hand while Carolina has devolved from a mediocre outfit into the worst team in the NFL, he also played a part in building the Buffalo Bills into a perennial winner.
Morgan's first order of business will be to guide Tepper toward the right choice as head coach. The Frank Reich era lasted just 11 games, and the club's previous full-time head coach, Matt Rhule, went 11-27. Carolina's 6-year playoff drought is tied with NFC South rival Atlanta for the third-longest in the league.
After that, Morgan will have to build a team that can support 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young. The Panthers will not have a first-round pick in this spring's draft, nor a second rounder in next spring's.
Ultimately, Morgan's tenure as GM will come down to how many different versions of Dan Morgan he acquires.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.