The Carolina Panthers announced on Monday that they have fired general manager Dave Gettleman, and the timing came as a major surprise. The decision, however, was long overdue in the eyes of many former Panthers players.
Jon Beason, who was one of the best linebackers in football early on in his career with the Panthers, told a troubling story about Gettleman in an appearance on WFNZ in Charlotte. Apparently Gettleman once accused Beason of faking a knee injury.
“For him not to know me and say, ‘Hey, listen, you’re faking this injury.’ Those are harsh words,” Beason said, as transcribed by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “Verbatim. ‘C’mon, Jon. You know nothing’s wrong with your knee.’”
Beason appeared in just five games between 2011 and 2012 because of injuries. The Panthers ended up trading him to the New York Giants in 2013, not long after he underwent microfracture surgery on his knee. That was Gettleman’s first year on the job.
“Anybody who knows anything about microfracture surgery, it’s a 50-50. It’s almost the worst injury to have,” Beason said. “I was not ready to go. We had a sit-down in training camp and he goes, ‘Can you be ready by Week 3 (of the preseason)? I need you ready by Week 3. You have to play in the third preseason game.’
“Obviously, I didn’t like that he was challenging my character and my integrity, especially since I love to play football. At that point, we didn’t have a great relationship.”
Gettleman obviously wasn’t popular with the players in Carolina, which became evident when several prominent former Panthers took shots at him on Twitter. The various stories that are coming out will likely make it difficult for him to find work going forward.
