Panthers owner likes what he sees - Ingles

Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson walks into one of his favorite Charlotte restaurants Monday afternoon and a woman at a table tells him his color is good.

"Are you wearing makeup?" she asks.

When Richardson sits at his own table he laughs and asks, "How do I answer that?"

Don't know. Richardson and I talk for an hour Monday and I don't ask him about his color.

I ask if he's comfortable going into the season with Jimmy Clausen or Cam Newton as his starting quarterback.

Richardson: "I feel very comfortable. They have to be coached and they have to have time. I don't expect them to play like they've been in the league three or four years. But the coaching staff will coach to the strengths of the men. They won't say, 'This is the way it is, do it,' and then go to (general manager) Marty (Hurney) and say, 'He can't do it.' "

"This is the way it is, do it" refers to former head coach John Fox, whose contract wasn't renewed after the 2010 season ended. I reported on opening day last season that Fox, now the head coach in Denver, was out. The longer the season went, the more dysfunctional the Richardson-Fox relationship became.

About the strengths of the quarterbacks: last season, Clausen's physique was not one of them.

"I call him Doughboy," says Richardson.

How does Clausen, who is less doughy this season, like it?

"He doesn't," says Richardson. "I saw him this summer and I called him Doughboy and he was getting ready to pull his T-shirt off and I said, 'You don't have to show me. I'll take your word for it.'"

I ask when he decided to retain Steve Smith.

Richardson: "He came to see me recently. He and I had a very candid 20-minute conversation. He talked five minutes and I talked 15."

Smith told Richardson he wanted to play for Carolina.

Smith also told Richardson late last season that he wanted to be traded. The Panthers shopped him unsuccessfully. They've stopped.

Richardson: "I think Steve (who is 32) is obviously getting to the end of his career. I have had, I guess you would say, a lot of ups and downs with him through the years. I hope he'll end on the best route possible."

What does he expect from his team in 2011?

Richardson: "I don't have expectations as far as how many you win and how many you lose. Our expectation is that Ron (Rivera) and the coaching staff will really make these players better."

Two players who have looked better in camp are receiver Armanti Edwards and running back Mike Goodson. Richardson: "I think Armanti is a classic example of drafting a quality individual who is very athletic and not coaching him and making him better. As opposed to lifting Armanti up, it's like they (Fox and his staff) just beat him down. I don't understand it...He's going to be a very good player. We just wasted a year."

Goodson?

Richardson: "Mike Goodson knows very clearly that he is in good favor with me when he does not fumble the ball."

The Panthers drafted Edwards and Goodson. Richardson says the philosophy is to draft well and after three seasons reward their successful picks with a contract extension. The idea, finally, is to develop a winning program.

Richardson is moved that the Carolina players they pursued elected to stay.

Richardson: "You understand that they didn't have to. They all could have left. To their credit, they're all with us and they're the kind of men we want. They are selfless."

He adds: "My personal goal was to keep every one of our core players. We were not going to lose (free-agent defensive end) Charles Johnson. Everybody would be very naïve to think that Atlanta was not going to be all over Charles Johnson. And we surely didn't want him in our own division."

If retaining players is a priority, why trade Chicago a third-round pick for tight end Greg Olsen?

Richardson: "Marty said, 'I'm reluctant to bring this (acquiring Olsen) up because we talked about keeping our own players.' I said, 'Marty we'd be crazy not to do this. We (can) take a 26-year-old tight end we coveted coming out of the draft.' "

Richardson sounds like a teenager with his first fast car when he talks about getting in his golf cart and visiting tailgate sites near Bank of America Stadium this season. That was long part of his pre-game routine. He stopped after his 2009 heart transplant because he lacked the stamina.

Even if his stamina has returned, he is 75. I ask him who will run the team when he no longer can. It's as if I asked about his color. He pauses five seconds before answering.

Richardson: "Well, I don't really think a lot about that. I'm in good health. We have a good organization in place and - hopefully - that's too far in advance."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell visited Richardson and the Panthers in training camp last week, and the bond between the two men was apparent.

"He has the potential to end up being the best commissioner," says Richardson.

In NFL history or in other sports?

Richardson: "In every sport including the NFL. He truly believes in the shield (the logo that embodies what the league stands for) and obviously we do or we wouldn't put it on the 50-yard-line. And you know how much grief we got over that."

The shield offends Panther fans who contend Richardson's commitment to the NFL is greater than his commitment to his team.

If you win, you won't get grief about the shield.

Richardson: "If we win, we won't get grief about anything. We won't get grief about warm beer. This article was written by Tom Sorensen and appeared in The Charlotte Observer.