David Tepper - Owner, panthers Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-09 | Full transcript (primary source).
On September 9, 2026, David Tepper, Owner of the Carolina Panthers, held a press conference to address various topics related to the team's performance and strategy. The event provided an opportunity for Tepper to discuss his views on player talent and team dynamics.
Transcript
Tepper: Good.
Tepper: You know what? I think he has a lot of talent and with the right weapons and the right situation, yeah.
Tepper: Two hours in my office. That was a long time to talk to anybody to talk to you. I said I wasn't, I wasn't stepping back. I was stepping into you.
Tepper: Oh, okay. Yeah. No, I mean, I'm willing to do it any time. I'm glad you can come by and tell you stuff on the record.
Tepper: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't surround him with a lot of stuff. You didn't need to invest as much into the receiving core.
Tepper: No, I never said that. That's wrong.
Tepper: How do you become a point guard without players around you? That makes no sense.
Tepper: Did you try again?
Tepper: Okay. Did you could boost the, the talent around him because of his point guard distribution skills? Do you not remember this? I said he's a point guard. He distributed all around, but he needs people to distribute around. That's why what you're saying makes no sense.
Tepper: Um, being his first excel this year or last year?
Tepper: This year is his first.
Tepper: Why listen, he exhibited that last year sometimes, and I think he exhibited more. You know, we'll see how the health of the offensive line is and he has time. He'll do it.
Tepper: You know, that's a question for Dan Morden. You know, his, if you need his number, I'll give it to you.
Tepper: No, I mean, I want to bring him over.
Tepper: Um, look, success is success and you know it when you see it.
Tepper: Well, look, I think that if you look at the team, listen, last year's team, you know, I kind of said that we could be a, we're not a playoff team, but we can get into playoffs. I think we have all the, we're more of a playoff team this year than we were last year coming into it.
Tepper: I think the, like the preseason, um, when you have winning records in the preseason, it's, uh, it's, uh, it kind of has, it kind of plays into your depth. So I think Dan's done a good job and the guys have done a good job building a depth on the team. And, you know, I think the pieces are there and we have everything we need.
Tepper: Well, I mean, I know all the expectations you guys write about, I can see what the odds are that we have seven and a half wins a season. Those are the expectations and the expectations are based on last year, right? So if we improve on some of those things last year, for instance, we can't have all come from behind wins and the NFL. And that's one of the reasons. So we get fast starts this year, fast starts the game. We're going to win.
Tepper: Listen, we, we are on the path. There's always hurdles in the path. You like to be totally healthy and not have, you know, have all your starting players. Those are always hurdles, you know, now the hurdles you have, you know, they're there. So you got to make up for them.
Tepper: But like I said, all the, all the pieces are here and hopefully they come together. I'm, I'm a believer.
Tepper: Well, listen, I mean, could you turn around for a second? What is that over there? No, listen, we're putting a lot of money into the practice facility inside the building, you know, coming up with this renovation we're doing, you know, in all sort of ways, you know, including the, what's behind your big inside field, but everything, you know, from aquatics and from what's there now, it's just going to be a vast improvement from what we have now, bigger, bigger and better, and a lot of different things.
Tepper: And you go through it with Brandt or something like that, and he'll take you through what we're planning.
Tepper: I don't know what you think. Do you think that Baker's a franchise quarterback? He is for that franchise, it seems like.
Tepper: Consistent, high-level quarterback that produces winning teams every year.
Tepper: You just got asked about this trajectory and are you on the right, on the path that you envisioned? What hurdles are in the way for you to get to the goal that you want to have for this franchise?
Tepper: So, you know, when you look at who we brought in just recently, I mean, listen, these guys are on top of different things, seeing what there is. And we brought, you know, they made a lot of late changes here. So I think Dan and team are really on top of it. And, you know, they are constant communication with Dave about it. So I think they've done a good job to try to bring in, to try to help us out.
Tepper: And as I said, I do think there's a lot more depth on this team. So, you know, we can't go far. We just, we have the possibility. We know we can come from behind, right? We know we can come from behind. We've got to start fast. We've got to start fast this season. We've got to start fast games, right? That's it. If we start fast games, start fast this season.
Tepper: And, you know, some of the things that Scott Fowler talked about, we know we have issues. We've got to make sure we solve for those issues before we get in. You know, we'll be good and we'll win. That's it.
Tepper: Look, I mean, you saw it. You know, he can and he has, not can as, you know, performed at a high level against high level competition. Seems to bring the best out of him. You know, Bryce is toward a guy that doesn't feel the pressure, right? He saw it against the Rams twice. You know, when you have that kind of performance, you know it's there. You know, can he bring it every single game? I believe he can. You know, it's there. So, you know, I'm a, like I said, I'm a believer and hopefully it comes true.
Tepper: Listen, I've said it for a long time about the Carolina Panthers and maybe it's in the water. So, I won't say just one season. I'd like to have two winning seasons. First time in this franchise history. So, I'd like to win this year and I'd like to win next year.
Tepper: You know, so I'd like to string wins. You know, in other sports that we, I own, we string wins. Winning season so happens. This one we have. It's what I like to see us string winning seasons. That's success. So, you know, that you know that you're, you build it, you know, and it's coming and it's here.
Tepper: I mean, I think he may come to North Carolina. It'll be a harder job with that legislature to bring it here versus Raleigh, quite frankly. I mean, that's the truth. So, yeah, I mean, you know, I'm watching it.
Tepper: I think it frees Dave up to really look at everything that's happening during the game. And, you know, what your hope is that he, you know, that we are faster in some of the things that we should be doing, like making the adjustments.
Tepper: So, if you have it and you start out the, you know, start out with the, that you don't anticipate the other team, that you make the Dave's out there, not with his head in the playbook, that he can see what's going on and help make those adjustments sooner.
Tepper: Because that's the name of the game here, you know, making those adjustments. So, realizing it and making those adjustments. We're not going to be perfect every time we come in. We're not going to know what, we don't know what the heck Ben Johnson is going to do this week, right? You know what Ben Johnson is doing this week? No, maybe Ben Johnson doesn't even know what he's doing this week.
Tepper: So, yeah, but whatever he does, and we guess it right, that's great. And if we don't guess it right, fix it. And fix it, don't fix it before too long in the game. And I think, I think that's one of the things that that really helps for him not to have his head in the playbook.
Tepper: Listen, normally I have my Keep Pounding hat every single day on. I love wearing it to golf, by the way, just like the material, but I do. So, I just tell them to keep pounding. You know, we're making progress. We're going to continue to make progress. You know, I believe in a winning season this year. Listen, nothing's easy in this NFL. Seriously, it's not. But I believe we have everything here to win this year. And I believe we'll have everything to win in the future too. And I do think we're on the right track. And I do think we have very good people here in Dan and Dave and Brandt. So, I think we have a good, you know, good head team, good management team over in that side of the building. I trust them. I don't feel the need to be around as much here because I trust them so much. And I'm very, like I said, I'm optimistic. I'm realistic though. Okay. So, but I'm optimistic.
Tepper: All right. Thank you very much, everyone.
