Sign of the times: Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper is at it once more

On the first day of the NFL Draft, I was in Detroit talking with a Michigan reporter when he asked me about Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper.

Tepper had been quiet lately, I said. Really quiet. It’s been weird. Tepper hadn’t generated any sort of negative headlines in nearly four months, not since he had thrown that drink toward some fans in Jacksonville on New Year’s Eve.

Less than an hour later, though, Tepper was at it again.

In the latest example of InTeptitude, whereby David Tepper bumbles into another incident that makes him look silly, the Panthers’ owner decided to go inside the Dilworth Neighborhood Grille restaurant on Thursday evening after he saw a sign outside that read: “Please Let The Coach & GM Pick This Year.”

The sign was an obvious reference to Tepper’s reputation for meddling, and Tepper took exception to it because — well, because of course he did. Every few months, Tep’s gonna Tep.

This is the man who likes to think he brought music to Charlotte, who is on his seventh Panthers head coach in six years (counting the interim guys) and who remains one of the most thin-skinned billionaires you’ll ever meet.

Why does Tepper care about a restaurant sign?

Why does he care what a fan says in Jacksonville?

Why doesn’t somebody — his wife, his PR people, his business associates, the unidentified guy who was with him during the encounter — stop him when he’s about to do something like this?

Again, much like the underhanded drink toss in Jacksonville that cost him $300,000 due to the NFL’s fine for unacceptable conduct, not much real harm was done here except to Tepper’s reputation.

Under different circumstances, this might even be seen as playful or hilarious, in the category of: “Look, this billionaire is just a regular guy, and he came in and we had a funny conversation about that sign! And then at the end of the night, the Panthers traded up and drafted a game-breaking receiver in Xavier Legette! Go Carolina!”

But after Rock Hill, Eastland, all of the various employees who left under mysterious circumstances, the 2-15 NFL-worst record last year, the “no NFL playoffs” in the six seasons since Tepper bought the Panthers, the three head coaches in three years at Tepper’s Charlotte FC Major League Soccer team — that ship has sailed. Maybe one day it comes back into port, but it will probably take a Super Bowl for that.

Matt Wohlfarth, the owner of Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, said he put the sign up earlier in the week. The well-known restaurant is on Morehead Street and sits only one mile from Bank of America Stadium. Wohlfarth told The Observer’s Alex Zietlow that he has been a Charlotte resident and a Panthers season ticket-holder since the franchise began in 1995.

Tepper was friendly when he came in, according to Dilworth Grille employees. Surveillance video provided by Wohlfarth to WBTV on Friday shows Tepper walking in the door, talking to a couple of restaurant employees, briefly removing one man’s hat (WBTV reported this was because the employee was wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hat) and then leaving. The entire interaction appeared to last less than a minute.

Wohlfarth wasn’t there for this Tepper visit (yes, there was a previous one, too). But after talking to his employees said it sounded like it was “a bit more on the joking side. But also a bit mad. Otherwise he would’ve stopped in and had a drink.”

The Panthers didn’t immediately have a comment on Tepper’s visit.

Wohlfarth also told The Observer that he was glad the team had an owner who wants to win.

“It’s just, you gotta stay in your lane,” Wohlfarth said. “This is not really an attack on anyone or anything. This is me expressing frustration because, believe it or not, I actually lose more of my income when the Panthers lose than he does.”

The restaurant owner said the Panthers’ six straight losing seasons had amounted to “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in lost revenue.

Wohlfarth also said in the interview that Tepper is a “meddling owner.” Wohlfarth said that publicly on the same sign, too, in mid-January, writing: “Meddling owners never win. Run from Jerry Jones.”

That sign prompted a Tepper stop-in as well.

“And he was sorta pissed off about that one,” Wohlfarth told The Observer of Tepper.

The difference was that no one put that Tepper visit on social media — it apparently came about 2-3 weeks after the drink toss. Someone did on NFL Draft day, and of course it went viral, as did the later video evidence of the encounter.

Wohlfarth also said he really likes the hiring of new coach Dave Canales and has hope for this season. And he has kept his season tickets.

But he also kept the sign up Thursday after Tepper stopped by.

And a couple of hours after all this, the Panthers made more headlines with a big draft-day trade: Trading from No. 33 to No. 32, the last pick of the first round, to select South Carolina receiver Xavier Legette.

I actually like that move. I think Legette could be a difference-maker.

Unfortunately, so is Tepper.