CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Could the Carolina Panthers soon have one of the franchise's greatest players return to coach the team?
The possibility was not ruled out by Greg Olsen, the former Panthers tight end and current broadcaster, during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show on Thursday.
"Who wouldn't [want the head coaching job]? Obviously, this is a city that I love, this is a team that I played the bulk of my career for," Olsen said during the show. "I want to see them have success."
A report from The Athletic stating Olsen's interest in the Panthers' coaching job surfaced after Frank Reich was fired from the position following Carolina's 1-10 start to the season. In Reich's place, Panthers owner David Tepper tapped special teams coordinator Chris Tabor to fill the interim spot.
"I love Chris Tabor, the interim coach there. Me and Chris go all the way back to Chicago," Olsen said. "He was a young special teams coach when I was in Chicago. we've had a good friendship all the way through these years."
Olsen is on Fox's No. 1 NFL crew as a color commentator alongside Kevin Burkhardt. He won a sports Emmy for his work with the network earlier this year.
"I love doing what I'm doing right now. Calling games, studying games, I love doing this," Olsen said about his spot on the broadcasting crew to dispel any talk that an interest in a coaching job means he's unhappy with his current gig.
Olsen played nine of his 14 NFL seasons with the Panthers, making three Pro Bowls and being an integral part of Carolina's 2015 team that made it to the Super Bowl. His 524 receptions and 6,463 yards receiving are the most by a tight end in Panthers history and are the third-highest mark for all players.
Despite his on-field success, Olsen acknowledged that hiring players to lead a team with no coaching experience can be a risky move. Still, he believes conversations should be had about why experience is always the go-to requirement for NFL coaches.
"I think there is an instant reaction that unless you've climbed the ladder from assistant to the assistant to the assistant all the way through coordinator; that unless you've lived the NFL lifestyle in that ladder, that you can't be successful," Olsen said. "I think we have to be careful saying experience leads to competence. I think there's a lot of experienced guys who are very incompetent and a lot of inexperienced guys who are highly competent in all industries."
The Indianapolis Colts tested the theory of letting a former player take a coaching job in the middle of the 2022 season after ironically firing Frank Reich. Former Colts all-pro center Jeff Saturday was hired for the interim coaching job and flailed to a 1-7 record to finish the season. The move was largely maligned by NFL analysts.
Before Saturday, the last coach hired as a player without any direct coaching experience was Hall of Famer Norm Van Broklin in 1961. Van Brocklin coached for 13 seasons but never made the playoffs and compiled an abysmal (.398) winning percentage.
Regardless of the norm, Olsen believes the NFL can be like other leagues where it is expected that former players will instantly become coaches and succeed. It's a process that he admits is part of a larger conversation and not just about his situation.