Thursday wasn't the first time the Carolina Panthers have gone out of their way to support one of their own. It was just the most public.
Charles Johnson's Instagram post became a story because of what former running back DeAngelo Williams said in March ahead of his release. While criticizing how the organization acted after his mother's death, Williams claimed the Panthers adjusted their policy about how they react after the death of a player's family member. On Friday, coach Ron Rivera confirmed that change.
“The biggest thing is we’ve learned about how important it is for us to be there for the guys, and we learned the hard way," he said.
“It’s just one of those things that you learn how to handle it better. We've made our mistakes and we’ve learned and grown from it. And the thing that’s been really important has also been the support we’ve gotten from our owner.”
When his schedule doesn't allow him to attend funerals, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson often sends condolences that aren't publicized. It's unclear why when Williams' mother passed there was a disconnect between player and owner, or why former defensive end Greg Hardy was the only other player at the funeral.
"It’s one of those situations where we love DeAngelo. I was real close to his mom and it was a situation where we just couldn’t make it down there at that time," linebacker Thomas Davis said. "But DeAngelo knows how we feel about him. That doesn’t change anything."
Two months before Williams revealed his hard feelings, Rivera and general manager Dave Gettleman attended the funeral of Johnson's grandmother. Perhaps the new policy prompted them to be there, but it's not like the organization has suddenly grown hearts. If anything, it'll encourage them to do even more.
"I think that we’re trying to make sure that these guys do understand that we do look at them more than football players, that they’re people that do have private lives and we’re here to support you," Rivera said. "As I’ve said, we’ve made our mistakes, we’ve learned and we’ve gone forward. We’re going to make sure we do things the right way.”