David Tepper's apparent drink tantrum says a whole lot about his Panthers tenure in one inexcusable gesture
The Carolina Panthers have had a terrible, terrible season from hell, and it hit a new low Sunday.
Scoring zero points in a 26-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars — who were starting backup quarterback C.J. Beathard — as Bryce Young’s brutal rookie season comes to a near-close wasn’t the worst part of the day. Averaging 2.3 yards per play and not crossing 100 total yards until the fourth quarter also wasn’t the lowest point of the day for the Panthers.
No, in a moment of what can (at best) be described as a brief loss of control, Panthers team owner David Tepper appeared to throw a drink at a Jaguars fan who was in front of him toward the end of the game. Tepper’s Panthers have been unequivocally the worst team in the league this season, but there is no excuse for this behavior in the middle of tough times — particularly from his perch as the owner of an NFL team.
"We are aware of the video and have no further comment at this time," the NFL said in a statement, according to Joe Person of The Athletic. The Panthers also declined comment to the Charlotte Observer.
This is a flat-out rotten way to behave. Fights have been ignited over throwing drinks on people. It’s one of the most disrespectful, non-physical things a human can do to another. Alcohol or any beverage with backwash all over a T-shirt or an expensive jersey ain’t cool, man. Especially amid the power dynamics of Tepper being not just a team owner but also one of the singularly richest people in America.
Tepper might as well be an anonymous person on the internet in that scenario. He’s completely untouchable as a person of his financial and social stature. He would never suffer a real punishment for behaving in this fashion because there is nothing the person who got the drink poured on him can do. It’s an abuse of power as much as it is just a terrible thing to do.
To take it a step further, if this is how Tepper acts in public, it’s easy to see why the Panthers have had so many head coaches in the brief time Tepper has owned the team. This was an illogical, rushed, emotional response that puts him and his decision-making under further scrutiny and gives partial context as to why the Panthers have been so dysfunctional the past few years. A rotating door of head coaches and their interim replacements, musical chairs at quarterback, trading up in the 2023 NFL Draft for Young when the roster wasn’t ready to support a rookie quarterback — and now this unruly moment that was caught on camera.
Panthers fans are already (kind of) joking about whether this moment can be used to strip Tepper of his ownership. That isn’t going to happen. It takes a lot more than this for someone to lose their team, but this moment paints a picture of where this team is.
The Panthers are 31-67 since Tepper took over in 2018, and he’s about to hire his third full-time head coach in that time, with a roster that doesn’t appear anywhere close to competing, even in the dismal NFC South. At some point, Tepper is going to have to stumble into success by mistake, even with his rash and hasty decision-making.
The part here that resonates beyond football is that everyone knows, barring an unprecedented response from the NFL, Tepper won’t or can’t face real discipline for this due to the power he holds. When you’re this wealthy in America, this is, sadly, one of the perks afforded to you.
The only hope here is that Tepper will see this as a moment of weakness and make changes for himself that will make the Panthers a respected franchise again. It simply doesn’t have to be like this.
