When the Los Angeles Rams face the Carolina Panthers next Sunday, they will see a familiar face coaching the other side: former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilkes. That's because the Panthers made Matt Roulette the first head coach fired in 2022.
Panthers fire Matt Rhule, name Steve Wilks interim head coach. https://t.co/Glredffl3N
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 10, 2022
Roulette was 11-27 during his tenure with the Panthers, including 1-4 this season. The Panthers couldn't win more than five games in either of their first two years, and 2022 isn't going to get any better with Baker Mayfield replacing Sam Darnold. Carolina is now definitely in contention for a top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, possibly getting another quarterback even after several attempts to fix the situation because Cam Newton stopped playing well.
Wilkes coached the Cardinals for just one season in 2018, and was fired after a 3–13 campaign. The team then hired Cliff Kingsbury and drafted Kyler Murray number one overall. Carolina may want to do something similar and Wilkes may have to put on a master class in coaching to keep the job until 2022. In their two games against the Rams, the Cards lost 34–0 and 31–9.
