Linebacker Jadeveon Clowney and the Carolina Panthers may be on different pages.
While Dan Morgan, the Panthers general manager, has stressed patience as the franchise rebuilds around a second-year quarterback, the 31-year-old edge rusher claims he didn’t come to Charlotte, joining a previously 2-15 team, to lose.
“I’ve been on six teams and I’ve never been a loser,” Clowney said. “I never went anywhere and lost and I don’t plan on coming here and just losing. I’ve told them guys this is my sixth team and I know what it looks like, I know what it takes to win. So it’s coming together every day in practice. We are all here for a reason, we’re all professionals. And we all got what it takes to win in this organization.”
Jadeveon Clowney says he’s been on winning teams his entire career and doesn’t plan on that changing. pic.twitter.com/dwrHmvtpTV
— Joe Person (@josephperson) July 23, 2024
What made Clowney’s message interesting was the timing. Morgan had recently told reporters that he wasn’t putting expectations on the season, indicating he merely wanted to see growth out of a relatively young team.
“I’m not gonna put any expectations on anything right now. What I do know is there’s a lot of work ahead of us,” Morgan said. “In terms of playoffs, we’ll reach that when we’re ready. But I think right now we’re focused on today and tomorrow and just trying to get better as a team and an organization.”
Dan Morgan isn’t wrong here about not creating certain expectations. He and the rest of the #Panthers organization know this might be another long season.
I’m sure their ultimate goal is the playoffs, but for once, focus on building. The wins will come.pic.twitter.com/mvd8mP7vJM
— Jared Feinberg (@JRodNFLDraft) July 23, 2024
It is hard to have any expectations after the disastrous season the Panthers slogged through in 2023. Morgan sees Carolina’s return to the upper echelon in the NFL as a process rooted in consistent improvement – something the Panthers haven’t had since David Tepper took over the team.
“We have a plan in place. We have a process. We’re aligned in that plan and we’re gonna stick to it,” Morgan said. “I feel like if we’re disciplined and stick to our plan of building this thing, that we will build a winner eventually. And I think we’re pretty confident in that.”
For Clowney, that plan involves finding ways to rebuild while winning football games come Sundays in the fall.
“I think that’s what it’s gonna come down to, everybody bonding and hearing it from guys from other teams telling them we got what it takes, and show up every day and come to work,” Clowney said. “I’ve seen what it looks like. We got the tools, we just gotta prepare like it.”
That’s why football isn’t played on paper.
