Panthers GM candidates – Mike Greenberg is a Bucs lifer while Champ Kelly rises with the Raiders

Champ Kelly is making the most of his interim shot with the Raiders but could very well stay in Las Vegas.

As the Carolina Panthers search for a new general manager we will highlight the 10 top candidates in this four-part series.

Mike Greenberg – Assistant General Manager, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Few Panthers GM candidates have had a better front row seat to Carolina’s decline in recent years than Mike Greenberg. He has spent the last 14 years working in the front office of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers making him an NFC South rival.

Greenberg earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell (ever heard of it?) then law school at Hofstra. While working on his JD he interned for the New York Jets in 2008 and 2009 while also serving as a law clerk for the National Football League’s Management Council.

In 2010 he was hired by the Bucs as a player personnel assistant and has seen his career grow in Tampa Bay since then. He has held a number of roles in football operations including the salary cap, contract negotiations, and financial and strategic planning.

Per the Bucs team website Greenberg was instrumental in re-signing Pro Bowlers Lavonte David, Chris Godwin, and Ryan Jensen. The Bucs also note this incredible feat: “The 2021 offseason resulted in the Buccaneers becoming the first team in the Super Bowl era to return all 22 starters after winning the Super Bowl.” That’spretty impressive for a front office to pull off, and Greenberg played a hand in that.

Greenberg has the type of resume we would expect of a potential GM, but it’s a bit of a drawback that essentially all of his experience comes from one team. It’s healthy for a GM to have worked in a couple of different front offices to experience different cultures, owners, staffs, and philosophies of running a successful franchise.

Greenberg lacks that broader NFL experience outside of Tampa Bay, but his career with the Bucs has been impressive.

Champ Kelly – Interim General Manager, Las Vegas Raiders

One of the more interesting storylines during the second half of the 2023 season was the turnaround of the Las Vegas Raiders after firing head coach Josh McDaniels in late October and replacing him with Antonio Pierce. The move that flew under the radar with many NFL fans was that Raiders also fired GM Dave Ziegler at the same time they separated with McDaniels while elevating assistant GM Champ Kelly to the interim GM role.

Kelly could very well end up getting the Raiders GM job and is interviewing for the role. Per the league’s Rooney Rule the Raiders are required to go through a thorough candidate search before appointing a new GM, which is what the team is currently doing. Kelly has also reportedly interviewed with the Washington Commanders for their vacant GM role.

Before his elevation to interim GM, Kelly was the Raiders assistant general manager. Prior to joining the Raiders he was the Chicago Bears assistant director of player personnel from 2017-2021 where he evaluated talent at both the NFL and college levels. He spent eight years with the Denver Broncos in player personnel roles before joining the Bears.

He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky and worked as a software engineer for IBM before making the leap to NFL front offices.

Kelly has a strong background in player personnel roles but has only been an assistant GM since joining the Raiders in 2022. His GM-level resume is lighter than several other candidates the Panthers are pursuing. Plus, it’s safe to assume he’s one of the top candidates for the Raiders GM role as the in-house candidate, so the odds of Kelly landing in Carolina are probably on the lower end.