July 25, 2025 • 10 mins
Mike Kaye, Panthers beat reporter for The Charlotte Observer, joins the show, as Mike talks the documentary his publication did about the 2015 season, he turns his attention to training camp, and talks about what he's seen from the rookies, how he sees certain roster battles going, and of course, Bryce Young
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, let's bring in a man bony room, a
tap a little tap room, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Spell.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I feel like Mike K probably used to be a
young buck that liked to get out and about. But
I believe now Bone, he's probably he's in the data
the house category. I have a feeling, uh, he is
Mike K Charlotte observer. He's been covering the start of
training camp, of course he has. And he joins us
here on the Mac and Bone Show to talk some
Panther football. Hey Mike, what's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Man?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
How you doing well?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm shot of seeing Superman, as you kind of alluded
to earlier, and I got to tell you, Uh, I'm
just proud to work with Dayden, James, Jeff Steiner and
Scott Baller. Man, what a absolute masterpiece of the documentary.
You felt like you were there. I was covering the
Jacksonville Jaguars at the time, so I remember week one
(00:50):
pretty well. I remember the Josh Norman interception in the
twenty to nine wins for the Panthers, and after that
I completely forgot that the pants existed out side of
you know, Thanksgiving and obviously the playoff run. But I
gotta tell you it felt like I was there based
on the they got so many influential people. It's and
(01:11):
then the you know, the premiere last night, Ron Riverta,
you know, to your point about guys talking about this,
they were just like and not to go on and on,
but he was like, you know, celebrate the fact that
they're the only team that's ever gone seventeen and one
to win the NFC Championship. And I think that's kind
(01:32):
of how they look at it as it's seventeen and two.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So how does everybody get the get to see the
Superman doc and all the great content that y'all have.
I mean, is it just on the Observer website? Did
they have to they have to be as Observer abscriber
or subscriber give us all the details on it.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So no, So it's gonna go to the Observer YouTube
page where you can find the Processing Blue podcast if
you you know, if you're aware of the show that
Alex and I do, and it launches at seven o'clock tonight,
I'm just telling you, like, put this on your smart TV,
sit back, relax. You don't feel like it's it doesn't
(02:12):
feel like it's an hour. It feels like you're in
a moment in time, and I think, you know, they
couldn't use NFL film, you know, obviously, but I'm just
telling you. You know, Kirk Coleman and Lutiklee and Jerach
O'CATCHERI and JJ Janssen of course, the true pride of
the Carolina and all those guys just do a really
(02:35):
magical job of taking you back there. I think Jonathan
Stewart should just do NFL documentaries.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
For the rest of his life.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
He is, he is one of the stars of it.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
This is awesome, all right, checked next year YouTube gage,
We got to all check that out. And next year's
thirty Years of the ninety six team, and I think
JJ is part of that documentary as well. It's cold.
That is cold man, Mike. Was good to see you
out there at practice. It's good to see you and
uh an artist at work as you did your your
notepad right in front of us. What do you think
(03:09):
Let's go right to the princely you man meel and
start to camp. It really depends it really based on
the text line. We really get to see what type
of fan each textor is because some of them are like,
oh my God, I'm so geeked about this Princely cat.
And then others are like, how the heck's nickey getting
beat by a rookie? How should we view this worry
(03:32):
pumped about Princely, worried about Ikey or two weeks, two
days into practice, we really shouldn't be thinking too much
about it.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Where do you stand on this?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, I think you know they're mixing up personnel, so
it's not he's not just good at being sicky, but
typically the defense is going to be ahead of the
offense because if you're a speed rusher, there's limited contacts,
you don't have pads on. You're trying to protect everybody,
and if you're fast, you're gonna win around the line
the same. And why you know wide receivers aren't getting
(04:03):
pressed tight ends, some kind of roam free, there's no
fear of the physicality. And so I think, you know,
Princely is a guy that is gonna win on speed.
To me, he is Josh Sweat, just like four or
five years younger. He's the guy that I actually projected
to be probably the highest impact early of the two
(04:27):
second round picks. But I think like, because he can
just do it. I mean he's brushed the passer. When
you can win with speed and bend, like I've always said,
like the three Cones drill is the only drill I
care about with pass rushers, because if you can bend
and be gumby like like this kid is, you're going
(04:48):
to win a lot of matchups. They get offensive linemate
no matter how athletics they are, and I think that's
what Princely's doing. I think you bring good energy. His
get off is wild. And you know, I interviewed A C.
Carter during Mini camp and released on Monday, like him
going through the entire uh you know group, and he
(05:11):
just said that that's like the special power for him.
He's kind of like mister fantastic to you know, make
a reference maybe about I guess today.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Or yesterday, Mike, what's your projection and expectation for tamac
in your number one?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
I expect him to be mostly a jump ball guy.
I think they're going to test it deep. I think
the way he impacts the game from like a deep
threat standpoint is you have to kind of double team
him unless you have a corner like J. C. Horn
or Patrick Surtan, which, by the way, spoiler alert. They're
like probably twenty teams a dough So you know, if
(05:53):
you're a physical corner, you might be able to take
advantage of his lack of experience and kind of is,
you know, lanky frame. But he's going to dominate most
corners because he's going to be four to five inches
taller than them, and so if Bryce can get really
good placement on his throat, he's gonna win. Every time.
(06:15):
There was a I don't know if you remember this,
but yesterday there was like a nice pass where Bryce
like kind of moved out of the pocket to his
right and hit t Mac on the run while he
was running and while t Mac was enshried, and he
caught it for several yards where corner couldn't even touch it.
(06:37):
So I like their chemistry early. I think it's the
work in progress. We saw jap Horn kind of spelt
him last night in a go ball, but or yesterday
on a go ball. But I think he's gonna be
pretty effective early on.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Where do you stand?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Because it seems like every wide receiver has had their
moment in the first couple of days. Where do you stay?
And on the roster the end of the roster and
who makes it. Coach Canalis over and over again reiterates
the importance of special teams. Does Renfro end up missing
it because of the he's not the guy on special
(07:14):
teams that others are.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I mean, he looks pretty good though so far. What
do you think.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I think he's playing his way into the ross here.
But I think when you have six or seven, guys
four through six or fourth through seven absolutely need to
be special teams contributors. Hunter Renfro is a punter turner.
He's been a putter punter turner in his career. So
David Moore. David Moore often can play kind of all
of the teams in a sense. I think like Dan
(07:42):
Chazina is the guy who's missing out the most. He's
dealing with a hamstring pup because he is really the
most traditional gunner on the squad. And so I think
that's allowing, you know, the the underrafted guys to kind
of learn special team. It's tough. I mean, I do
wonder if if a contending team either suffers an injury
(08:07):
a slot receiver or just knows they need to upgrade
that position and says, you know, here's a fifth or
fourth round pick for Adam Ceiling and then you jump
or here's a here's a starting caliber linebacker or whatever
I mean with that percentage is very low. But I've
always used Jalen Cocher as his their apparent. But when
(08:29):
you bring in Hunter Renfro, who has a pretty similar
game to both of those guys, they mostly play in
the slot, but they can play outside and they can
win from the deposition. They're going to put acts to
Z and McMillan at acts, so that slots probably gonna
be a rotation. I don't know if that's worth a
roster spot over keeping an extra you know, defensive lindman
(08:51):
or offensive lindmen or whatever. These guys need to approve it.
Then again, Hunter run For is on a minimum contract,
and you know he's playing like he played it's not
necessarily his Pro Bowl year, but like he's playing well,
like he is probably the fourth best wide receiver in
camp talent wise, at work. And so you got to say,
(09:11):
you know, after years of being in wide receiver purgatory,
you've got to kind of, you know, plan ahead, and
I think, you know, it's gonna be really interesting to
see how they use him with Jalen Coker with Adam
feeling like I think Jalen Coker is culpose to being
a lock as somebody who's not necessarily the biggest lot
(09:31):
in the world, you know what I mean. But I
think the dynamic needs to be figured out here in
the slot, all.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Right, Mike, Well, hey, we appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Man.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Everybody check out that hit that observer YouTube page up
watch at TUK my Friday night.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I got gilbore right in feature. It's a double feature.
I got out back in there. Got a lot going on,
and I man, Mike, get to go.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
From Julie Bowen to jerich o'catchery. I think that's a
pretty pretty decent afternoon.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
An evening for you. All right, Mike, whatever you do.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I don't know what the people on Twitter say to
you about your notepad, but I told you yesterday we
are big fans of the notepad here. There's funny stuff,
there's informative stuff on there.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
You got to keep it. Oh shoot, man, that's big,
that's big.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I mean, you know, I write like a six year old,
but thank god your computers. But we're gonna we'll keep
it going. You guys encouraged me enough. But make sure
you let people know where they can find it. You know,
on x at Mike Underscore E underscore K.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I'm glad you did, because I was scrambling right there
to find your Twitter forgets his Twitter handle, So thank
you for telling us here.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I might be good. Man, Keep up the good work
we've been We'll keep reading. Man, keep it up.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You're w f n Z supermanal
All right, let's bring in a man bony room, a
tap a little tap room, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Spell.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I feel like Mike K probably used to be a
young buck that liked to get out and about. But
I believe now Bone, he's probably he's in the data
the house category. I have a feeling, uh, he is
Mike K Charlotte observer. He's been covering the start of
training camp, of course he has. And he joins us
here on the Mac and Bone Show to talk some
Panther football. Hey Mike, what's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Man?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
How you doing well?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm shot of seeing Superman, as you kind of alluded
to earlier, and I got to tell you, Uh, I'm
just proud to work with Dayden, James, Jeff Steiner and
Scott Baller. Man, what a absolute masterpiece of the documentary.
You felt like you were there. I was covering the
Jacksonville Jaguars at the time, so I remember week one
(00:50):
pretty well. I remember the Josh Norman interception in the
twenty to nine wins for the Panthers, and after that
I completely forgot that the pants existed out side of
you know, Thanksgiving and obviously the playoff run. But I
gotta tell you it felt like I was there based
on the they got so many influential people. It's and
(01:11):
then the you know, the premiere last night, Ron Riverta,
you know, to your point about guys talking about this,
they were just like and not to go on and on,
but he was like, you know, celebrate the fact that
they're the only team that's ever gone seventeen and one
to win the NFC Championship. And I think that's kind
(01:32):
of how they look at it as it's seventeen and two.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So how does everybody get the get to see the
Superman doc and all the great content that y'all have.
I mean, is it just on the Observer website? Did
they have to they have to be as Observer abscriber
or subscriber give us all the details on it.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So no, So it's gonna go to the Observer YouTube
page where you can find the Processing Blue podcast if
you you know, if you're aware of the show that
Alex and I do, and it launches at seven o'clock tonight,
I'm just telling you, like, put this on your smart TV,
sit back, relax. You don't feel like it's it doesn't
(02:12):
feel like it's an hour. It feels like you're in
a moment in time, and I think, you know, they
couldn't use NFL film, you know, obviously, but I'm just
telling you. You know, Kirk Coleman and Lutiklee and Jerach
O'CATCHERI and JJ Janssen of course, the true pride of
the Carolina and all those guys just do a really
(02:35):
magical job of taking you back there. I think Jonathan
Stewart should just do NFL documentaries.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
For the rest of his life.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
He is, he is one of the stars of it.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
This is awesome, all right, checked next year YouTube gage,
We got to all check that out. And next year's
thirty Years of the ninety six team, and I think
JJ is part of that documentary as well. It's cold.
That is cold man, Mike. Was good to see you
out there at practice. It's good to see you and
uh an artist at work as you did your your
notepad right in front of us. What do you think
(03:09):
Let's go right to the princely you man meel and
start to camp. It really depends it really based on
the text line. We really get to see what type
of fan each textor is because some of them are like,
oh my God, I'm so geeked about this Princely cat.
And then others are like, how the heck's nickey getting
beat by a rookie? How should we view this worry
(03:32):
pumped about Princely, worried about Ikey or two weeks, two
days into practice, we really shouldn't be thinking too much
about it.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Where do you stand on this?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, I think you know they're mixing up personnel, so
it's not he's not just good at being sicky, but
typically the defense is going to be ahead of the
offense because if you're a speed rusher, there's limited contacts,
you don't have pads on. You're trying to protect everybody,
and if you're fast, you're gonna win around the line
the same. And why you know wide receivers aren't getting
(04:03):
pressed tight ends, some kind of roam free, there's no
fear of the physicality. And so I think, you know,
Princely is a guy that is gonna win on speed.
To me, he is Josh Sweat, just like four or
five years younger. He's the guy that I actually projected
to be probably the highest impact early of the two
(04:27):
second round picks. But I think like, because he can
just do it. I mean he's brushed the passer. When
you can win with speed and bend, like I've always said,
like the three Cones drill is the only drill I
care about with pass rushers, because if you can bend
and be gumby like like this kid is, you're going
(04:48):
to win a lot of matchups. They get offensive linemate
no matter how athletics they are, and I think that's
what Princely's doing. I think you bring good energy. His
get off is wild. And you know, I interviewed A C.
Carter during Mini camp and released on Monday, like him
going through the entire uh you know group, and he
(05:11):
just said that that's like the special power for him.
He's kind of like mister fantastic to you know, make
a reference maybe about I guess today.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Or yesterday, Mike, what's your projection and expectation for tamac
in your number one?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
I expect him to be mostly a jump ball guy.
I think they're going to test it deep. I think
the way he impacts the game from like a deep
threat standpoint is you have to kind of double team
him unless you have a corner like J. C. Horn
or Patrick Surtan, which, by the way, spoiler alert. They're
like probably twenty teams a dough So you know, if
(05:53):
you're a physical corner, you might be able to take
advantage of his lack of experience and kind of is,
you know, lanky frame. But he's going to dominate most
corners because he's going to be four to five inches
taller than them, and so if Bryce can get really
good placement on his throat, he's gonna win. Every time.
(06:15):
There was a I don't know if you remember this,
but yesterday there was like a nice pass where Bryce
like kind of moved out of the pocket to his
right and hit t Mac on the run while he
was running and while t Mac was enshried, and he
caught it for several yards where corner couldn't even touch it.
(06:37):
So I like their chemistry early. I think it's the
work in progress. We saw jap Horn kind of spelt
him last night in a go ball, but or yesterday
on a go ball. But I think he's gonna be
pretty effective early on.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Where do you stand?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Because it seems like every wide receiver has had their
moment in the first couple of days. Where do you stay?
And on the roster the end of the roster and
who makes it. Coach Canalis over and over again reiterates
the importance of special teams. Does Renfro end up missing
it because of the he's not the guy on special
(07:14):
teams that others are.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I mean, he looks pretty good though so far. What
do you think.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I think he's playing his way into the ross here.
But I think when you have six or seven, guys
four through six or fourth through seven absolutely need to
be special teams contributors. Hunter Renfro is a punter turner.
He's been a putter punter turner in his career. So
David Moore. David Moore often can play kind of all
of the teams in a sense. I think like Dan
(07:42):
Chazina is the guy who's missing out the most. He's
dealing with a hamstring pup because he is really the
most traditional gunner on the squad. And so I think
that's allowing, you know, the the underrafted guys to kind
of learn special team. It's tough. I mean, I do
wonder if if a contending team either suffers an injury
(08:07):
a slot receiver or just knows they need to upgrade
that position and says, you know, here's a fifth or
fourth round pick for Adam Ceiling and then you jump
or here's a here's a starting caliber linebacker or whatever
I mean with that percentage is very low. But I've
always used Jalen Cocher as his their apparent. But when
(08:29):
you bring in Hunter Renfro, who has a pretty similar
game to both of those guys, they mostly play in
the slot, but they can play outside and they can
win from the deposition. They're going to put acts to
Z and McMillan at acts, so that slots probably gonna
be a rotation. I don't know if that's worth a
roster spot over keeping an extra you know, defensive lindman
(08:51):
or offensive lindmen or whatever. These guys need to approve it.
Then again, Hunter run For is on a minimum contract,
and you know he's playing like he played it's not
necessarily his Pro Bowl year, but like he's playing well,
like he is probably the fourth best wide receiver in
camp talent wise, at work. And so you got to say,
(09:11):
you know, after years of being in wide receiver purgatory,
you've got to kind of, you know, plan ahead, and
I think, you know, it's gonna be really interesting to
see how they use him with Jalen Coker with Adam
feeling like I think Jalen Coker is culpose to being
a lock as somebody who's not necessarily the biggest lot
(09:31):
in the world, you know what I mean. But I
think the dynamic needs to be figured out here in
the slot, all.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Right, Mike, Well, hey, we appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Man.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Everybody check out that hit that observer YouTube page up
watch at TUK my Friday night.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I got gilbore right in feature. It's a double feature.
I got out back in there. Got a lot going on,
and I man, Mike, get to go.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
From Julie Bowen to jerich o'catchery. I think that's a
pretty pretty decent afternoon.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
An evening for you. All right, Mike, whatever you do.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I don't know what the people on Twitter say to
you about your notepad, but I told you yesterday we
are big fans of the notepad here. There's funny stuff,
there's informative stuff on there.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
You got to keep it. Oh shoot, man, that's big,
that's big.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I mean, you know, I write like a six year old,
but thank god your computers. But we're gonna we'll keep
it going. You guys encouraged me enough. But make sure
you let people know where they can find it. You know,
on x at Mike Underscore E underscore K.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I'm glad you did, because I was scrambling right there
to find your Twitter forgets his Twitter handle, So thank
you for telling us here.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I might be good. Man, Keep up the good work
we've been We'll keep reading. Man, keep it up.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You're w f n Z supermanal
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