One name on the Carolina Panthers running list of head coach candidates stands out as more familiar than the rest: Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey.
Dorsey, 41, was the quarterbacks coach here, after starting in the scouting department, from 2013 to 2018. He joined Sean McDermott’s staff in the same role in Buffalo in 2019, was promoted to passing game coordinator in 2021, and then became their offensive coordinator this past year.
He was the coach in Charlotte who worked most closely with Cam Newton during his tenure. Bills quarterback Josh Allen was labeled as a first round bust after his rookie season, but turned his career around and developed into a top five quarterback after he started working with Dorsey.
The Buffalo Bills ranked in the top ten for virtually every offensive metric, despite playing one fewer game than most teams, and won the number two seed in the AFC playoffs as well as the AFC East division title.
McDermott was Ron Rivera’s defensive coordinator before taking the head coaching job in Buffalo, the offense he put together and has sustained is largely credited to the work of current New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and Dorsey.
Dorsey fits two sides of the profile that the Panthers are looking for in a head coach. First, he’s a young quarterbacks/offensive minded coach with a reputation for development. In addition to his coaching resume, he also played quarterback, as a back up, for the San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns from 2003 to 2009.
The second part of the profile is more of a locker room interest than a David Tepper interest: Dorsey knows the Panthers culture. He’s no stranger to Keep Pounding and is incredibly unlikely to walk in the door and ask everybody he meets about “the Way of the Panther.”
Sound off in the comments, guys. Do you want Dorsey as the Panthers next head coach?
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