CHARLOTTE, NC – The Carolina Panthers hope Scott Fitterer will do for them what he helped the Seattle Seahawks after the 2013 season.
Win a Super Bowl.
The 47-year-old vice president of football operations in Seattle was offered the Panthers’ job as general manager on Thursday, the team announced.
He was chosen over three other finalists, Kansas City Chiefs Assistant Director of Player Personnel Ryan Poles (35), San Francisco 49ers Vice President of Player Personnel Adam Peters (41) and Tennessee Titans Vice President of Player Personnel Monti Ossenfort (42).
Fitterer was a late addition to the search, but sources quickly made an impression on the search panel.
Carolina interviewed a total of 15 candidates to replace Marty Hurney, who was fired with two games to go in a 5-11 2020 season. These included two internal candidates, director of player negotiations and salary cap manager Samir Suleiman and director of player staff Pat Stewart .
Each of the finalists fits the job description of being relatively young with a strong scouting background to teaming up with head coach Matt Rhule to identify talent. Owner David Tepper was also looking for a data-driven general manager.
Rhule, with knowledge of the hire, will make final decisions on the roster of 53, similar to what Andy Reid has with Kansas City and Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots, according to sources.
However, Hall of Fame NFL CEO Bill Polian warned against making too much of it.
“That’s a big exaggeration,” said Polian, who helped Indianapolis win a Super Bowl during the 2006 season and built a Buffalo roster that went to four consecutive Super Bowls in the early 1990s. “An effort between the GM and the head coach and coaching staff is to get the best 53 players, and if there is a problem, it is almost always decided in favor of the head coach. He has to play.
“ I’ve only had two situations in my entire career, and in both cases it went the way the head coach wanted it. ”
Fitterer has worked at Seattle since 2001, initially as an area scout. He moved up the chain to his current position, working closely with general manager John Schneider to make the Seahawks a perpetual playoff team.
Fitterer has interviewed for several general manager positions in the league over the years. In his first four years as director of college scouting, he selected 13 players who eventually became starters.
Fitterer was a two-sport athlete in college, playing quarterback, and pitching at UCLA and LSU. He spent three years in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system before turning to football in 1998 as a part-time scout for the New York Giants.