Brady Quinn on Dave Gettleman firing: ‘You don’t look at the Panthers as a team that was mismanaged’

Brady Quinn doesn’t get it.

Sure, the pulling of the franchise tag off of cornerback Josh Norman last year deserved to be questioned, especially after he signed with the Washington Redskins.

‘I know they had a down year last year, but there are some things that you could attribute that to’

Other than that, Quinn sees David Gettleman as having done a lot more right than wrong as general manager of the Carolina Panthers. He certainly didn’t seem to do enough wrong to merit being fired, as he was Monday.

“You don’t look at the Carolina Panthers as a team that was mismanaged,” Quinn said on the SiriusXM Blitz. “This team played in a Super Bowl a couple of years ago. I know they had a down year last year, but there are some things that you could attribute that to. I think they’ve really built this team in a way that I feel like they should and will have sustained success moving forward.

‘I think they’ve been one of the teams that has handled the majority of their situations quite well’

“Obviously, Jerry Richardson sees otherwise, but I look at this team right now, I think they’ve been one of the teams that has handled the majority of their situations quite well.”

Quinn believes that Gettleman merits a tremendous amount of credit for the fact the Panthers became the first repeat champions of the NFC South, winning the division three times in a row beginning with his first season in Carolina in 2013. In 2015, the Panthers went 15-1 and reached the Super Bowl.

‘I don’t think he was holding them back’

“You look at what he was a part of, what he was able to accomplish,” Quinn said. “I don’t think he was holding them back. I think he was a part of the reason why they were able to get to that point. I sure as heck don’t think last year’s 6-10 record was any indication of the job that he’s done.”

There has been speculation that, on top of the Norman controversy, friction arising from contract talks with linebacker Thomas Davis and tight end Greg Olsen might have also contributed to Gettleman’s ouster. If so, Quinn doesn’t think that makes much sense.

‘All of a sudden are upset that your general manager isn’t investing a ton of money in older, aging players?’

“You understand these guys want new deals, but how much longer do you expect them to play at a high level?” Quinn said. “And, also, there’s the concern with injury risk, especially with a guy like Thomas Davis, who’s a linebacker, regardless of how healthy he’s been through his past and how much he’s sacrificed his body. When you’re talking about from the team perspective of this, they look at a chart. They look at, ‘OK, when did the guy start having soft-issue injuries and ligament tears and other things like that happening.’ It happens at this point in these guys’ career.

“So you all of a sudden are upset that your general manager isn’t investing a ton of money in older, aging players? At that position? I mean, I kind of think that’s nuts, especially if that’s ultimately the reason for what this is all about.”