John Mara on Matt Rhule: We weren’t going to seven years with anybody

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The Panthers made Matt Rhule an offer he couldn’t refuse to become their head coach, but he did see if the Giants would match it before agreeing to the job in Carolina.

Rhule was scheduled to interview with the Giants on Tuesday, but never came in to meet with the team after receiving the offer. Co-owner John Mara confirmed that Rhule’s agent “called me early Tuesday morning to say that he had a deal in place” and to see if the Giants would be inclined to make Rhule the same offer for seven years and $60 million.

Mara said “we weren’t going to a seven-year deal with anybody” and didn’t feel the need to negotiate because of how well Joe Judge’s interview went on Monday.

“For a new head coach in the National Football League, I just didn’t think that was a reasonable way to go,” Mara said, via NJ.com. “That’s all. Would we have talked about moving some parts around in that deal? Possibly, if we weren’t excited about the candidate that we already had.”

Panthers owner David Tepper’s offer to Rhule was a big change to the coaching salary curve and Tepper suggested he’ll be willing to keep spending on non-player items like coaches, facilities and training staff in order to help the Panthers win more games. Time will tell if their approach with Rhule was the right one to take, but there’s a clear difference between the way the NFL’s newest owner and one of the longest-running ownership groups are doing business.