The Carolina Panthers' on-field woes boiled over to the sideline in the team's 24-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
Wide receiver Robbie Anderson, who is in his third season with the club, got into multiple spats with wide receivers coach Joe Dailey -- initially speaking to him during the first half and then having that interaction bleed over into the third quarter. Before the start of the fourth, cameras showed interim head coach Steve Wilks calming down Dailey before dismissing Anderson from the sidelines.
The public airing of frustrations comes with the Panthers now sitting at 1-5, six days removed from parting ways with head coach Matt Rhule. According to Anderson, he spoke up due to not being used on crucial downs to help convert plays for Carolina.
“My job is, I’m here to do all I can to help us win," Anderson said in his postgame news conference. "It’s third down. I’m being taken out the game. You know, I don’t think I should be OK with that. So, I made a comment. 'It’s the money down. Why am I being taken out?' And that’s that.”
Anderson had 13 receptions for 206 yards and a score coming into the game, but he was putting up a goose egg on 38 offensive snaps at the time of his dismissal.
“I have no idea," Anderson told reporters when asked why he was taken out of the game. "But one thing I do, and I always stand on it and continue to do, is I give my all in everything that I do. I don’t play this game for money. I don’t play this game for fame. I play this game because I love the game of football. Regardless of what’s been going on the past week, I always keep my head down and keep working. All I want to do is help us win the Super Bowl. And that’s all I want to do. That’s my ultimate goal of playing this game. So, I’m never going to belittle myself from that aspect or let my character be diminished or be misunderstood.”
While Anderson was candid following the game in an effort he admitted was to make sure his emotions and actions were not misconstrued, interim head coach Steve Wilks chose to keep the focus on the game at large.
“I’m going to say this. No one is bigger than the team," Wilks said when given a chance to expand on the altercation. "And I’m not going to focus and put a lot of attention on one individual. We can talk about the game. We can talk about situations within the game. We can talk about the things we’re going to do moving forward. But I’m not putting a lot of energy into one individual.”
Anderson begrudging his usage happens to come as trade rumors swirl around the Panthers -- with the wideout's name among those suspected to be on the block before the Nov. 1 trade deadline.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Saturday that the Panthers are listening to offers for players like running back Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver D.J. Moore, but that Carolina considers them building blocks for the future. Anderson, however, was described by Rapoport as available given the right opportunity.
The recent interaction between Anderson, Wilks and Dailey now further muddies Anderson's future. Even if Anderson is not eventually traded, being sent to the locker room during an interim head coach's first game in charge does not bode well for the wide receiver's trajectory in Carolina.
“It was a sideline-type situation that I felt like I wanted to try to get him in at the moment," Wilks said. "And that’s something that we’ll discuss as we further get into the week.”