In general, I'd also say this is a good game dev pattern, for exactly the reasons you describe. Your model or animated sprite is decoupled from the 'player controller' and you can be more flexible in control vs animation or mode.
Thanks so much for the replies! This worked. I was using a 2d sprite for the controller originally, but I had it in a container with the model for ease of referencing so I couldn't destroy the model without destroying the player controller. Instead of using a container, I added an instance variable to the model representing which 2d player controller it should follow. This way, I can easily destroy and re-create the model without impacting a player's container. Your idea to destroy & create new works just as well as the "reload" I initially wanted.
Thanks again, and great plugin!