In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).
Previous Teams:
AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns, Ravens, and Bengals
NFC North: Packers, Vikings, Bears, and Lions
AFC South: Jaguars
The Panthers, like the Jaguars, entered the NFL in 1995. They have been almost exactly .500 through 24 seasons, and have had only four coaches. One of them, Ron Rivera, is 15 games above .500; two of them were right around .500, and George Seifert — the first, and the only member of was 16 games below .500. An interesting note: all four were defensive coordinators before becoming head coaches, meaning Carolina’s never had a head coach with an offensive background.
| Ovr Rk | Coach | G | W | L | T | HC Win % | FrG | FrW | FL | FrT | Fr W% | Win% w/o HC | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Ron Rivera | 128 | 71 | 56 | 1 | 0.559 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.465 | 3.1% |
| 85 | John Fox | 144 | 73 | 71 | 0 | 0.507 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.49 | 0.7% |
| 390 | Dom Capers | 64 | 30 | 34 | 0 | 0.469 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.502 | -0.5% |
| 508 | George Seifert | 48 | 16 | 32 | 0 | 0.333 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.519 | -2.3% |
Carolina has had two quarterbacks under center for over half of the team’s starts: Cam Newton and Jake Delhomme. You might be surprised to learn that Delhomme actually has the better winning percentage of the two, but Newton ranks first here on the basis of playing more games. The only other quarterbacks who have really moved the needle for the team’s all-time winning percentage were on the wrong end: Jimmy Clausen went 1-9, while Chris Weinke went an abominable 2-17.
| Ovr Rk | QB | G | W | L | T | QB Win % | FrG | FrW | FL | FrT | Fr W% | Win% w/o QB | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Cam Newton | 122 | 68 | 53 | 1 | 0.561 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.466 | 3% |
| 15 | Jake Delhomme | 90 | 53 | 37 | 0 | 0.589 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.468 | 2.8% |
| 139 | Kerry Collins | 42 | 22 | 20 | 0 | 0.524 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.493 | 0.3% |
| 221 | Rodney Peete | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0.533 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.495 | 0.2% |
| 226 | Matt Moore | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0.538 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.495 | 0.1% |
| 237 | Kyle Allen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.495 | 0.1% |
| 420 | Derek Anderson | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.500 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.496 | 0% |
| 811 | Brian St. Pierre | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.497 | -0.1% |
| 809 | Matt Lytle | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.497 | -0.1% |
| 812 | Taylor Heinicke | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.497 | -0.1% |
| 810 | Randy Fasani | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.497 | -0.1% |
| 999 | Vinny Testaverde | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0.333 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.499 | -0.3% |
| 1002 | David Carr | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0.250 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.499 | -0.3% |
| 1086 | Frank Reich | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.000 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.500 | -0.4% |
| 1163 | Steve Beuerlein | 51 | 23 | 28 | 0 | 0.451 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.503 | -0.7% |
| 1205 | Jimmy Clausen | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0.100 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.507 | -1.1% |
| 1217 | Chris Weinke | 19 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 0.105 | 384 | 190 | 193 | 1 | 0.496 | 0.516 | -2% |
Carolina’s had some talented running backs in their short history: Jonathan Stewart led the team in rushing yards in 70 games, DeAngelo Williams had a 1,500-yard, 18 TD season in 2008, and DeShaun Foster, Tim Biakabutuka, and Stephen Davis all had their moments of glory (while Mike Tolbert is a 3-time Pro Bowler at fullback). But it’s noteworthy that Cam Newton has also led the team in rushing 37 times in his career! That’s tied for the most by any quarterback in history, a mark Newton will surely break soon. Also of note: as we saw yesterday, Blake Bortles led Jacksonville in rushing in 36% of his games, while Michael Vick did so in 29% of his games with Atlanta.
| Rusher | First Yr | Last Yr | Leading Rusher | Total Games | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Stewart | 2008 | 2017 | 70 | 138 | 51% |
| DeAngelo Williams | 2006 | 2014 | 63 | 121 | 52% |
| DeShaun Foster | 2003 | 2007 | 37 | 69 | 54% |
| Cam Newton | 2011 | 2018 | 37 | 130 | 28% |
| Tim Biakabutuka | 1996 | 2001 | 34 | 50 | 68% |
| Stephen Davis | 2003 | 2005 | 26 | 33 | 79% |
| Fred Lane | 1997 | 1999 | 24 | 42 | 57% |
| Anthony Johnson | 1995 | 1999 | 20 | 73 | 27% |
| Nick Goings | 2001 | 2008 | 13 | 113 | 12% |
| Christian McCaffrey | 2017 | 2018 | 12 | 33 | 36% |
| Derrick Moore | 1995 | 1995 | 11 | 13 | 85% |
| Richard Huntley | 2001 | 2001 | 10 | 14 | 71% |
Finally, we get to Steve Smith, who might be the best player in the team’s history. Here are the players to record 150 games with one team, and to lead that team in receiving yards in over 50% of their games: Jerry Rice in San Francisco, Steve Largent in Seattle, Andre Johnson in Houston, Steve Smith in Carolina, Michael Irvin in Dallas, and Jimmy Smith in Jacksonville. Smith did this despite barely playing as a rookie — and never leading the Panthers in receiving yards that season. That means he led the team in receiving yards in 58% of his games over his final 12 games in Carolina.
| Receiver | First Yr | Last Yr | Leading Receiver | Total Games | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Smith | 2001 | 2013 | 102 | 191 | 53% |
| Muhsin Muhammad | 1996 | 2009 | 62 | 161 | 39% |
| Greg Olsen | 2011 | 2018 | 35 | 119 | 29% |
| Mark Carrier | 1995 | 1998 | 22 | 59 | 37% |
| Wesley Walls | 1996 | 2002 | 18 | 100 | 18% |
| Kelvin Benjamin | 2014 | 2017 | 17 | 42 | 40% |
| Devin Funchess | 2015 | 2018 | 12 | 65 | 18% |
| Rocket Ismail | 1996 | 1998 | 11 | 44 | 25% |
| Donald Hayes | 1998 | 2001 | 10 | 51 | 20% |
| Brandon LaFell | 2010 | 2013 | 10 | 61 | 16% |
That’s it for the Carolina version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.