Read Part 1 Here.

It is not exactly a mind-blowing statement to say that a 1-5 team might have a morale problem. In fact, such a statement seems obvious given the current circumstances. Of course the Carolina Panthers have morale issues right now. They have only won one game, and have fallen to a last second field goal hit or miss three different times. The offense doesn’t feel like it can score enough points to outrun the poor defense, and the defense doesn’t feel confident in its ability to stop a team when they need it or to keep a late game lead.

But what I wonder is this: Was this writing on the wall before the season even really got under way, or did it develop as the season progressed? Having looked at the in-season factors during Part 1, let’s look at the off-season to see where the seeds were first planted.

The Super Bowl Hangover

Last week we talked about vengeance, this week we state a bit of the obvious. Losing a Super Bowl is hard on any team, especially a team that felt to be on a destiny driven course to win it all season long. I won’t elaborate much in this section, because it would be hard to find a Super Bowl loser that did not suffer morale effects, but for the sake of completion, it is worth mentioning.

A Plethora of Contract Situations

The statement that the NFL is a business doesn’t work out the same for every player. More often than not, those are the words veterans utter when questionable things that they can’t control happen. Often, they understand the way of the league better than younger players. Over time, it seems to just be code for, “I don’t necessarily agree with what management is doing, but I know that getting involved publicly is a really bad idea.”

The players do their jobs for the same reason we do our jobs... to make money. Sure, I’m sure many of them just love to play football, and there are some of us who find fulfillment in our work as well, but at the end of the day, these guys are looking to be rewarded for good performance on the field. Just like any company, if no one is getting raises, and lots of guys around you are losing their jobs, there is going to be a poor mentality that infects the locker room.

Josh Norman

This post isn’t about a hindsight look at whether Gettleman made the right move or not by ultimately allowing Josh to walk. What it IS about is losing a vocal leader in the secondary after a very public contract dispute, and an extremely unconventional move to rescind a franchise tag after free agency is mostly over. Norman had a lot of words for Gettleman over his contract situation after departing the team, and many of us shrugged it off as “Josh being Josh.”

However, as we all know, Josh Norman isn’t an isolated incident in the world of players that were performing leaving the team and then publicly making a stink about the manner in which it happened. He joins a growing list of respected veterans in that regard with DeAngelo Williams, Steve Smith Sr., and Jordan Gross highlighting it. It is unlikely any of us will ever get a look at how these things go down, but clearly, there is some issue from the players side about how it is being handled.

Kawann Short

In what is probably the most visible example of reduced morale, Short has not been the same player this year as he has been for us so far in his career. It really isn’t possible to say for sure what is up, but I find it concerning that a player in the prime of his career with two years of good tape and a Pro Bowl is suddenly ineffective for any kind of physical reason.

Is Short seeing more attention due to our problems at defensive end? I think that is likely; but in the past we’ve seen him significantly impact plays even while double teamed. Often splitting them and causing a huge disruption and plays for a loss.

It starts to make you wonder if he is taking plays off, and simply trying to make a few splash plays a game to ensure a big pay day next year while not getting hurt. Given what we have seen in the past, it isn’t a crazy notion to think he’ll get huge money somewhere regardless of this season. What throws doubt into this is, surely, he won’t command as much after a down year as he would have after last year. Was Gettleman’s offer really that low to make such a thing worth it?

The Message to The Team

“Play hard, but be prepared to argue over every nickel and dime if you do, and also know that to get what you’re worth, you may have to leave.”

It’s not exactly an inspirational message that hard work will be rewarded in Carolina. It may be rewarded somewhere, but oftentimes, guys like to stay on the teams they have success with. If they feel like they have to move jobs to get what they want, there can and will be dissent toward the management.

Lack of Leadership

Finally, the morale problem can be traced to a lack of inspiration and teachers. While you can’t cover every departure, such as Jared Allen and Charles Tillman retiring, you can make some effort to ensure that you have enough veterans to lead their position groups. Roman Harper certainly wasn’t the most talented safety the team has had, but he did bring leadership and know how to the secondary along with Tillman. Right now, there are many instances of guys looking lost in coverage or just flat out being out of position.

The team talked about Kurt Coleman needing to embrace his new role as the veteran in the position group, but it doesn’t really look like that has happened. They also talked about Tre Boston needing to grow up in a hurry, and that may not be happening either. What we are left with is confusion and chaos. A team full of sergeants with no general. It would be a stretch to say that any fan was happy with the secondary roster before the season, and without fail, the worst scenario has played out thus far.

Summary

The NFL isn’t entirely a cold corporation where everyone operates under the “it’s business, nothing personal” mantra. Clearly that isn’t the case, as so many former players step forward and complain about the handling of their contracts while they are here. If you’re a member of the team, or any organization really, you will be in a better frame of mind to do well at your job if the people around you are happy and good play is rewarded with financial incentive.

From this author’s point of view, we have gone the full opposite of the spectrum from the Marty Hurney years, where everyone got rewarded, justly or not. As usual, a balance is needed, and right now it seems like the balance is out of whack and our season is suffering the consequences. Is Gettleman still our guy? I think he is. He has done more good than harm overall, but I believe he needs to work a bit on honest locker room evaluation (along with Coach Rivera) and a bit more tact in the handling of these players.