With one quarter of the NFL season done, there’s already been some movement around the league and teams are already adjusting to their likely outcome for the season. Let’s go through some of the biggest shake ups in the league thus far through the first five weeks.
First let’s start off with the Carolina Panthers, who fired head coach Matt Rhule in just his third season with the team, Rhule started this year 1-4 and overall Rhule’s time with the organization has been rather disappointing Rhule’s 11-27 record over his three years with the team was unacceptable in the eyes of Panther owner David Temper who hired Rhule out of temple in 2020, the Panthers gave Rhule a seven-year $62 million contract to rebuild the Panthers organization and culture. The new interim head coach for the Panthers will be defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.
Speaking of the Panthers Baker Mayfield will miss at least the next game and potentially a few more games with a high ankle sprain that he suffered and Sundays lost to the San Francisco 49ers, Baker and the Panthers have really struggled this year to get the offense going as Baker has produced one of his worst seasons of his career with a passer rating of 71.9 and a 4-4 touchdown to interception ratio, the Panthers also have one of the worst offenses in the league who are the first five weeks.
Pro bowl linebacker Deion Jones has been traded to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a 2024 sixth round, the Browns will receive Jones and a 2024 seventh round pick. This is a great trade for both teams as the Falcons look to retool their defense and gain draft picks while the Browns look to bolster their linebacking core and defense overall. Jones is coming off a shoulder surgery, but still has flashes of stardom when he was playing in 2021 the Browns will owe Jones $1.39 million over the rest of the season while the Falcons now have a $12.14 million dead cap hit in 2023 from this trade.