CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jake Delhomme looked down at the desk in front of him, covering his face with one hand and holding a tissue with the other to wipe the tears from his eyes.

He said repeatedly his emotions were rooted in joy, not sorrow.

He remembered the day he made his free agency visit to Charlotte in the spring of 2003. He said he came as “a nobody” — a little-known New Orleans Saints backup quarterback looking for a chance to become a starter.

Friday, he left as a somebody, about as big of a somebody as has ever worn a Carolina Panthers’ uniform. He was, simply, the face of the franchise.

This was a business decision, and one Delhomme said “blindsided” him. But it was less about money than team chemistry. The Panthers owed Delhomme about $12.675 million whether he played or not, but team officials decided the distraction of bringing the former starter to training camp as a backup to new starter Matt Moore would be too much.

So Panthers general manager Marty Hurney and coach John Fox made the difficult decision to release Delhomme.

But clearly, Delhomme, the only quarterback to lead the Panthers to a Super Bowl, is not just any player.

He was, simply, the face of the franchise.

Delhomme was a leader in the locker room and on the field, but he was also active in charities around town — notably the Komen Foundation, which supports breast cancer awareness and research — and a regular in television commercials for Bojangles and the Charlotte Metro Credit Union, among others.

In a separate news conference about three hours before Delhomme’s, Hurney and Fox spoke emotionally about the man who wore jersey No. 17 with his passion on full display.

“We struggled with this one, a lot,” said Hurney. “The guy, he’s been so spectacular for us. He’s a kind of player and person that we look for. So it’s kind of hard not to get emotional when you talk about it. He just epitomizes everything we want.”

And there was Fox, the Panthers’ tough-guy leader, clinching his jaw as his face quivered and his eyes reddened.

“A head coach and a quarterback are pretty tied,” said Fox, adding later that he hoped fans would remember Delhomme’s good times rather than the difficult 2009 season.

“He’s done great things for this team . . . I’m not sure I’ve had any more respect for an NFL football player than Jake Delhomme.”

There wasn’t a shred of phony in the way these three men handled the day. There was — and is — a genuine bond between Fox, Hurney and Delhomme, so deep their loudest critics thought they’d never get around to voluntarily parting ways.

It happened, Hurney said, because the Panthers realized Moore needed to go into next season as the team’s clear-cut starting quarterback.

Rather than put Moore in the awkward position of having Delhomme, the starter since arriving in 2003, serving as a waiting-in-the-wings backup, the decision was made to commit fully to Moore.

Delhomme had a 58-40 record as the Panthers’ starting quarterback and holds virtually all of the team passing records. However, his final year was forgettable. Starting with a six-interception debacle in a Jan. 2009 playoff game, he struggled to return to the form that allowed him to lead the Panthers to three postseason appearances in his first six seasons.

Delhomme was 4-7 as a starter last year with eight touchdown passes and a career-worst 18 interceptions. As the season progressed and the interceptions piled up, fans clamored for change.

Delhomme was replaced by Moore, who earned the job for 2010 by leading the Panthers to a 4-1 record in their final five games, during which time he threw eight touchdown passes and one interception.

For the first time, Delhomme admitted Friday he lacked confidence last season.

“When I play, I try to sling (the football) around,” he said. "Well, I wasn’t doing that last year. I was trying not to make the mistake.

“That doesn’t work for me, and I think things compounded and things weren’t going well.”

Once the decision was made, Hurney and Fox took an unusually personal approach to executing it.

Instead of calling Delhomme’s agent, Rick Smith, by phone to inform him of the news, Hurney boarded a flight to Chicago and surprised Smith with a late morning phone call Thursday.

“I look down at my cell and it’s Marty’s cell,” said Smith. “We talk all the time. So I answer, ‘Hey, Marty, what’s up?’ ”

Smith said Hurney replied: “I’m in your lobby. Come downstairs and get me.”

Smith said he was initially confused, but quickly found a conference room, where they sat as Hurney gave him advance notice of the team’s decision — face-to-face.

“To me, that tells you about the bond between the player and the team, and the character of the organization,” said Smith. “Who else does that?”

Back in Charlotte, Fox called Delhomme and asked him to drop by the office.

At first, Delhomme said he thought Fox was going to tell him they’d decided to start Moore and make him the backup. He admitted he was “blindsided” when he heard the real reason for the news.

Like most everyone else, Delhomme figured the contract extension he signed last April would secure him a place on the team. Regardless of whether he was on the roster, the Panthers owed him $12.675 million in guarantees.

As much as it hurt, Delhomme said he understood the Panthers’ reasons for releasing him.

“They wanted to go in another direction,” he said. “It’s probably for the best. Whether or not I’d be a distraction, I don’t know.”

“In all honesty, I don’t know if (it) would’ve worked. If I was here and I would’ve been the backup, I would not have rocked the boat. I would’ve just done whatever Matt needed me to do or other guys or what I felt needed to be done to help this team try to win. b& I just think the decision that was made, a fresh start was probably best for both sides.”

Already, other teams have begun calling Smith about possibly signing Delhomme. However, any decision has been put on hold until after this weekend.

For now, there are still so many emotions to sort through, so many people to thank.

Delhomme said he kept his head down so much during Friday’s press conference because if he had looked certain friends in the eye, his emotions would’ve become even more of a challenge to contain.

“Imagine that,” he said.

After learning of his release, Delhomme didn’t hide. He reached out to his large community of friends, texting teammates and telephoning even the team’s equipment managers to personally inform them of his impending exit.

He said he plans to keep a positive outlook.

“Look, I’ve got to go find another job,” he said. “But I’m so in the minority here. I don’t have to look for another job to help make ends meet by the end of this month. Let’s put it in perspective. That’s kind of how I look at it.”

Delhomme said he leaves on good terms with the Panthers.

“Not every script you write is going to have a happy ending,” he said. “That’s life, man.”