A league source tells us that, earlier this week, the Carolina Panthers terminated the employment of long-time scout Pete Russell.
Russell, widely respected in league circles, will now have trouble finding work, given that the firing occurred more than a month after the draft.
The timing is unfortunate, and unfair. Apart from the curious decision by any team to rely on the efforts for a given draft of a scout they plan to dump, the squatting on Russell after the draft makes no sense.
But that’s the least of the Panthers’ problem. The scuttlebutt is that the Panthers plan to go younger in the scouting department. Despite those “Just for Men” commercials that suggest ageism is an acceptable business practice, firing an older employee based in whole or in part on a desire to bring in younger ones remains a violation of state and federal law -- even if the older employee goes bobbing for apples in a vat of toner.