Panthers general manager search update

CHARLOTTE – The Panthers are two days into their search for a new general manager, and the process is moving quickly through a wide-ranging group of candidates.

The Panthers interviewed four more candidates Tuesday, including Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio, Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen, Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, and Saints assistant GM and college scouting director Jeff Ireland.

Along with Monday’s interviews of Browns vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and former Giants GM Jerry Reese, they’ve put together an extremely diverse list of candidates.

So far, they’ve talked to candidates with long resumes, and unconventional ones, and everything in between.

The 57-year-old Reese helped the Giants win a pair of Super Bowls as GM, while the 39-year-old Adofo-Mensah is a Princeton and Stanford-educated former Wall Street trader, who brings a new perspective at a time when owner David Tepper has talked about modernizing the football operation.

Tuesday’s interviews had a significant New England vibe, as Caserio has been Bill Belichick’s top lieutenant, and Ossenfort spent 15 years there before joining a group of expats (and ex-Pats) in Tennessee last offseason.

The other two have connections here, as Ireland is a former Baylor player (though not when head coach Matt Rhule was there), and Schoen began his NFL journey as a scouting intern with the Panthers before rising through the ranks.

The Panthers have moved quickly in the past, as Rhule was hired on Jan. 7, 2020, a week after the end of the 2019 regular season.

Here are profiles of the six candidates who have interviewed so far, listed in alphabetical order: