August 28, 2025 • 43 mins
In the show's first hour, Panthers GM Dan Morgan joins the show to discuss what went into the Adam Thielen trade, among other things, and Kyle wonders what exactly the future holds for Hunter Renfrow in the NFL.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Kyle Bailey Show powered by Victory
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Speaker 2 (00:28):
College football is Backstate Fans hired fans.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
We got Boise State kicking off at five point thirty,
which is on as hell, But Week one is here
in college football and we are celebrating it. Dan Morgan,
the general manager of your Carolina Panthers, is coming up
on the show in twenty two minutes. Yes, three twenty
five pm. If you're about to head into a meeting,
cancel it. If your wife is giving birth, ask her
to hold on. Dan Morgan is coming up at three
(00:55):
twenty five to talk about all things Carolina Panthers. Willie
p is back to talks Charlotte FC at four twenty five,
Joe Person giving us the beat writer's perspective on Carolina
at five o'clock, and again at five point thirty. College
football Week one is kicking off. Hit us up seven
oh four five seven oh ninety six ten. Would love
to hear from you on the FanDuel text line same
number if you want to give us a call and
(01:16):
chat the old fashioned way on x formerly Twitter at
Kyle Bailey Club. It's at Kyle Bailey c lub emanating
live from the Chandler Volta Studio, the Carolina's Personal Injury Lawyers.
One call, that's all go to Cvinjurylaw dot Com. Dan
Morgan again coming up in twenty two minutes. He had
a press conference earlier today and he said a lot.
(01:38):
I won't begin to play it all right now, but
we will bring some of it back throughout the course
of the show. Although again the good thing is I've
got the opportunity to ask Dan my version of many
of these questions coming up in twenty one minutes now.
So if you would like to hear something in particular,
hit the FanDuel text line seven oh four five, seven
oh ninety six ten. I will save you the trouble
(01:58):
of the h of the Hunter Renfro questions. You don't
have to text in and say KB ask him about
Hunter Rent.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
But he also gave us a fair amount earlier today
in the press conference. Would check out what Dan Morgan
had to say about letting go of Hunter Renfro and
what's going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, I was. I was even texting with them last night.
You know, I told him I want him back here.
I talked to his agent. I talked to him. We're
in constant communication. Nothing's imminent, you know, but we're going
to stay in contact with him, and we'll try to
figure something out to bring him back here.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
And a role is on the practice squad or a
fifty career.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
You know. I think, you know, we're still trying to
decide that. You know, Hunter, I think is thinking through things,
looking at different options. So I think right now it's
really up to him with what he wants to do.
But we would definitely like to have him back here
at some point.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
All right, they wanted back, They've been texting. They would
like to get him back in the organization. That's a
really interesting answer, and I'm going to try to get
Dan to elaborate on that just a little bit. Something
else was discussed on the Hunter Renfro front earlier today.
Dave Canalis was up there answering questions. Actually, I take
that back back on Tuesday. I don't want to make
it seem like it was today. It was back on Tuesday.
(03:15):
But Dave Canalis was asked back on Tuesday about Hunter
Renfro and a possible off the field role with Carolina.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Check this out could be.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
I mean, we're just talking about everything right now. I
just want to be a part of his future of
what he wants to do. I just told him that,
you know, like in whatever capacity that is, whether it's
the fifty three.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Or practice squad.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
You know, that was just kind of the conversations that
we left on right well, I'm just talking about wanting
to be a part of him, like the guy that
I remember, you know, and I think that he's on
his way back there, and I truly believe that, and
I believe in him as a guy. I mean, I
had such a blast, you know, working with him in
this you know, short amount of time. But you know,
(03:54):
I'd love to see him back out there at some point.
And so just a matter of us continuing to stay
in touch and see where we're at.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
The only thing that I keep going back to here
with this and we have bigger fish to fry. I
don't think that, as I said yesterday, as much as
I wanted him on the roster and thought he was
going to make the roster, that it makes or breaks
the season necessarily. It does make me wonder about, you know,
how genuine they were in their praise of him, how
much changed after the hamstring injury, all of that. But
is this as simple as they told Hunter, we don't
(04:22):
know that you're ready yet physically. We want to prioritize
some young guys. We would love to get you on
the practice squad and go from there. We think you'll
play this season, We're pretty sure that'll probably happen, but
we want to get you on the practice squad to
let you keep getting back into game shape, playing shape,
so on and so forth. And Hunter's thinking to himself, well,
I didn't really need to play in the first place.
I wanted to come back here to play for the
(04:42):
home state team, for the Carolina team, and I thought
I played well enough or practiced well enough to be
a part of the fifty three. But now you're asking me,
a vested veteran near thirty years old, to join the
practice squad with no guarantees. I'm sure of getting a
roster spot anytime soon. So is this just as simple
as smoke count of renfro doesn't want to play on
(05:04):
the practice squad or be on the practice squad I
was talking to Wes about this earlier today. Anybody who's
played football, especially through the high school level. You don't
even need to have played collegiately or professionally, but if
you've played in high school and you've been through weeks
of practice leading up to games, certainly through two days, Like,
practicing football is not fun for most people. Some guys
love it, right, Some guys are absolutely eat up with it.
(05:24):
They can't get enough. You know, typically the linebacker types
that just love hitting everything that moves. But for a
lot of guys, they don't particularly enjoy getting beat up
Monday through Friday, but they might enjoy Friday nights or
Saturdays or even Sundays. And I wonder if Hunter Renfro
got through camp and was like, man, I can still
do this, but I'm not sure if I want to
do this anymore. Like these are the things that I do.
Think it's boiling down to smoke. And I'm going to
(05:45):
ask Dan Morgan about this coming up in about eighteen minutes.
Speaker 7 (05:48):
It definitely feels like maybe that could be one of
the cases. And you got to remember, at this point
in his career, he even though he didn't get to
live out the full entirety of his contract in Las
Vegas and the contract extension.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
He still got paid.
Speaker 7 (06:00):
And you know, he's already won because he's able to
overcome his illnesses. But he's twenty nine and things aren't.
You know, it's not for long for a reason. And
I think maybe it's one of those uphill battles, and
maybe he says, hey, you know, I'll think about it.
Got to sit on this for a little bit. But
he doesn't want to be on the practice squad right now.
And I saw Tom Palliserro say earlier today that some
(06:21):
other teams have been contacting him, so he also knows too, Hey,
I could be on the practice squad with you, or
someone can immediately sign me and I don't have to
worry about the practice squad. And I just basically use
this as a launching pad to go to another team
and see if I can actually get some snaps still
in the league in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Five, Sir, now give me if you would give me
number ten, Because a Texter here said, hey, ask Bagel.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Guys said, ask Dan.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
If expectations are lower now because of the filing trade
and not acquiring anything in that deal, that helps the
Panthers right now. I don't know that I'm going to
phrase anything like that necessarily, but it does beg the
question what are their expectations? What does trading Adam Thelen
to Minnesota mean, if anything, for what they expect from
the team in twenty twenty five. Dan was asked earlier
today how close the roster is to looking like what
(07:06):
he envisioned it would when he became the general manager.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Like I said before, like I think, no matter how
good the roster ever gets like, we're never going to
be content. We're always going to be turning over every
stone and trying to find guys and exploring, you know,
just different options to get the roster better. So I
(07:30):
don't think we're ever going to feel like we've arrived
around here. And that's kind of the attitude that we
need to have to have long, long term success. The
more hungry that we can be as a scouting staff
to go out there and find players and find diamonds
in the rough and you know, just find guys that
(07:50):
fit us. You know, it really doesn't matter what the
other thirty one teams like, as long as the guy
fits us and he has the DNA that we want that.
That's really all we care about.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
All right, there you go, so that we're never going
to be satisfied. It's what you want to hear from
your general manager. It doesn't tell you much, though, And
I play that bagel guy because I think that's the,
you know, more or less the kind of answer i'd
get on a question like that. But I do want
to talk to Dan about, you know there, does he
expect that this team should be contending for the division?
They've been very hesitant to use the word playoffs, and
(08:23):
that's fine, but we got to ask, do you think
that this team, this version of it, with what you've
done on roster cutdown day, picking up a couple of
waiver wire claims, you know, leaving Hudder renfro Off, trading
Adam Thielan, Is this a roster now that you guys
think can compete and contend for the NFC South. That's
what I'm going to ask him coming up in fifteen minutes, smoke.
I don't know what his answer will be, but I'll
be curious to find out.
Speaker 7 (08:43):
I think they believe that they can contend for the
NFC South, But in their hard hearts, I think they
believe they are a year away from being true contenders
of the NC South. I believe what they expect this year,
and I think a lot of fans will be happy
with this year is they see your name early December
in in the bottom right corner of in the Hunt.
I think if any of this most people in this
(09:05):
fan base, if they see in the Hunt in December,
they're gonna be all, yes, finally, you know, cause it's
been a long time. Yeah, outside of a two week
stretch in twenty twenty two, it's been since twenty eighteen
when they started six and two and didn't have to
collapse after the Pittsburgh game.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
That's how long it's been.
Speaker 7 (09:23):
So I think even though I feel like playoffs is
not the most realistic outcome heading into this year, and
I think the preseason kind of really showed that again
And to your point yesterday, what also shows how this
team is still rebuilding. Out of all the guys they cut,
who's gotten resigned or who's gotten picked up by any other.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Team, almost nobody, Yeah, yeah, almost nobody.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Man.
Speaker 7 (09:42):
That tells you that the depth of this team is
still pretty bad. It's not as bad as last year,
but it's one of those where you were so far
behind on the way the depth was. You were not
a quarterback away, unlike what Scott hit or fault back
in twenty twenty three. That's how bad the depth got
here last three to four years, and that was due
to short sighted moves. And for as much as I
(10:03):
understand people are upset somewhat with Adam feeling and thinking, well,
why you just want a four round pick, I believe
right now, while you still have some diamond into Russ
you's got, it's got to take a process fak back
to what it was in twenty ten twenty eleven. It
took you two and a half years almost to get
through the mud of what twenty ten was, and it
was a lot of growing pains, but by the end
(10:23):
you had a super Bowl caliber roster. Hopefully that's the
case here this year, and hopefully Carolina plays their cards right.
But unfortunately, sometimes while we see NFL teams take a
massive jump, as we saw from the Commanders last year,
there are also sometimes where it can take a little
bit longer than you would hope for.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, I agree, grab me fifty nine if you would,
I heard Mina Chimes express her thoughts on the Theling
trade in particular, and when I listened to it for
the first time, it did echo some of the concerns
that came down from listeners yesterday. This is what Mina
Chimes had to say about the Theling deal.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
But you talked about how good Bryce Young was in
the second half of the season. You're absolutely right, feeling
was a big part of that. In that second half,
he led the team in target share yards. He got
eighty percent of Bryce Young's passes. Frank So, while I
understand why they traded him, they drafted a receiver in
the first round. He looks great. Teral McMillan a little
nervous because the development of Bryce Young has been so
(11:17):
important for them and he was the veteran presence.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
In that offense.
Speaker 9 (11:21):
Yeah, and it's now what they have left is a
young receiving corps. So you are taking a bit of
a gamble. So and that part's right, young receiving corps.
I believe you have what five or six first or
second year guys in that wide receiver room right now.
That's a real thing. And that second oldest guy is
bryceon for Maade.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Sure, So you've kept David Moore who is clearly a
Dave Canalis favorite. And I've said already I'm on the record.
I can't run from this. I like David Moore more
than a lot of people do. I mean, the guy
went off in the playoffs against Philadelphia in January of
twenty twenty four. Folks are seemingly forgetting that. Last year
when Bryce started to turn things around, Adam Thieland wasn't
on the field. David Moore was, and he made a
(11:59):
lot of big to David Moore. They trust David Moore
not to commit stupid penalties. They play special teams. So
I'm not ever opposed to having David Moore in my
wide receiver room. But it's the theling Renfro absence that
gets people going. I totally understand that, and I was
one of those people a couple of days ago saying, yeah,
Panthers had the leverage. I'm completely fine if they keep
Adam Thielen. I think it probably helps. Early on, I
(12:21):
was in favor of keeping Adam Thielen, and I still
feel the way that I felt a couple of days ago.
But I also said, if they get a great deal
and you've got young wide receivers, and you know Adam
Thieln's about to retire, Well, they're probably going to have
to take the deal. And I understand it because he's
not going to be part of a Super Bowl window.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Here.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
If such a window exists at any point over the
next two to four years, Adam Thielen's not going to
be a part of it.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
We know that.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
So they're looking at it as sink or swim time
for a couple of these wide receivers, or really just
giving them a chance to take off on their own.
They believe Jalen Koker is going to step into that
role and really produce. You know, there are fair questions
about Tea McMillan, how well he's going to get off
to a start in his rookie year, how much he'll
contribute right away. People obviously have some questions about Xavier
(13:05):
League get but they want to run with these young
guys and see what they've got. And they opted not
to expose Jimmy Horn Junior to waivers because I think
that was the right move. With that kind of speed,
he'd have been snapped up in eight minutes on the
waiver wire. They believe in Bryson Tremaine, which I think
is you can argue that one you don't have to
be a full blown Bryson Tremaine truther. He definitely made
plays during camp, but he's made no semblance of a
(13:28):
resume full of plays in the regular season in the NFL.
That when you can absolutely argue and debate to me.
But they felt like he wasn't going to pass waivers
and that are passed through waivers, and that you know
he's got real developmental potential. So anyway, point being, I
kind of got to flipped back to defending the Adam
Theelen trade toward the the end of yesterday's show because
it just seems that I think there are some smart,
(13:50):
nuanced arguments in favor of keeping Adam Thielen.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Don't forget that.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
I do believe many of you are right in some
of the arguments that you're making, but you're also failing
to account for a lot of things in the stealing discussion,
like you missed a bunch of games last year, he's
going to retire at year's end. You just drafted back
to back first round wide receivers. You got to let
those guys out of the cage and go play and
find out what you've got start to find out if
you got it right or if you got it wrong.
(14:14):
You got to find out at some point. So I
don't love losing feeling either. But some of the backlash
yesterday smoke that I thought was just sky is falling
wasn't necessarily I think warranted given the situation here.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
What did you think?
Speaker 5 (14:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (14:28):
And I also I told you before the show my
fault process is all right. If we're touting this wide
receiver course so much, why would one guy leaving, even
if it will have a dentt on the wide receiver
courts to start the year be the end all be
all to the point where people were in full in
panic mode, it seems like sometimes.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
And plus, you played hardball at the Vikings.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
The Vikings were the only suitor for Adam Feelin and
you were able to jump the asking price from a
sixth round pick to a fourth round pick. Yes, And
I talked to Fiddy. He was mad that they didn't
get a third round pick. It's impossible, given the circumstances
they were going to get a third round pick from
Adam Felind unless they added a different player. And at
this point you got to look at it too.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
You know.
Speaker 7 (15:06):
It kind of reminds me of when you're a kid,
when you start out in the tricycle. You get that
thing down pat you're a little bit nervous. Once you
get the tricycle removed, that training wheels removed, and then
you're on a full balle block bicycle after the first
or second time you're on that bicycle, just like you're
on the tricycle. That's essentially what this Wide Receiver Corps
is doing this year. And while it may start slow,
I think it's gonna end well and it'll be short
(15:27):
term pain for long term gain.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
And I don't even think the pain will be that much.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
They might not be. I mean, really, it might not be.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And I just again, there were some people yesterday acting
like this was the end of the world. And I
think there's some again rational arguments, like prophetic Jay is
saying that this is like a slow build for an
NBA roster, but the NFL is not like that. Other
teams injuries getting better rapidly makes this slow growth process questionable,
and I hear you. But again, this was like a
one team market. So there was somebody yesterday late in
(15:55):
the show that was arguing well, somebody else would have paid, noted,
nobody else was like Minnesota in this discussion. They're desperate
for wide receiver. It's a homecoming. He's played for Kevin O'Connell.
He knows the playbook like no other team was like
that in the bidding, and so they could force Minnesota
to overpay.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And that's what happened.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I mean, Minnesota had to overpay to get an aging
wide receiver back. And the Carolina Panthers are going to
trust in the young guys and hope that Jalen Coker
who has shown flashes. I think Jalen Coker has proven
he belongs in the NFL. Now the question is what
kind of wide receiver is he going to become? Is
he going to become a UDFA diamond in the rough
that becomes a future Pro Bowler, All Pro next Adam Field?
(16:35):
Has he become a right a journeyman you know, who's
an average wide receiver somewhere in between. That's what we've
got to start to find out with Jalen Coker. He's
proven he belongs in the league. Now what kind of
wide receiver will he become? Dan Morgan, general manager your
Carolina Panthers. He is coming up when we return. We'll
ask him as many of these questions as we can
fit into a single radio segment. Stay right here, Sports
(16:57):
Radio ninety two seven WFNZ.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Yeah, but I.
Speaker 10 (17:04):
Will say this about Bryce because he deserves the respect.
Is he's a great man. He's a great leader, he's
a great quarterback. And you saw that at the end
of last year. Just the stuff that he had to
go through, the adversity his first two years in the league.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You don't wish that upon anybody.
Speaker 10 (17:21):
And so for him to kind of handle that and
then to where he's at right now, is it just
says a lot about his character and who he is
and what kind of player he's going to be in
this league. So so much respect for him because I
probably not here today.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
I guarantee him out here today.
Speaker 10 (17:37):
Without him just him trusting me, him giving me opportunity
and believing in me to be able to still continue
to play this game.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I love.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Adam feelin already with a press conference in Minneapolis heaping
prai's on his former quarterback Bryce Young.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
You heard what he had to say right there.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Adam Thielen dealt back to Minnesota Panther's netting basically a
fourth round pick. And we're talking to the man right
now who authored the trade in conjunction with the Minnesota Vikings,
the general manager of your Carolina Panthers, and of course,
once a beloved linebacker for your Carolina Panthers. Dan Morgan,
back with us on a Thursday afternoon. Dan, things are
busy for you. Have the last couple of days been.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
It's been good? First of all, how you doing, man, I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Good, I'm good. I look forward to talking to you.
I also was walking around today thinking of all you've
been doing the last couple of days. Has your phone
stopped ringing? Have you gotten any sleep? What have the
last couple of days been like for you?
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Not a lot of sleep, But that's fine. I really
enjoy what I'm doing, so you know, it's it's well
worth it. Obviously, been really busy with the cutdown process,
you know, bringing guys in the office, you know, tell them,
telling them that you know they're not one of fifty three.
You know, that's never a fun time in my seat,
(18:53):
you know, basically telling the guys he's not good enough.
But I try to do a good job. Just kind
of sitting them down, explain to them why kind of
give him a reason, give them, you know, constructive feedback,
you know, so they can take that and and try
to improve, whether here on our practice squad or somewhere else.
(19:14):
And you know, and then obviously, you know, dealing with
the feeling trade stuff, that was definitely a busy week
of back and forth, you know, trying to get you know,
value that we thought was fair for us if we
were going to move our starting slot. You know, obviously
we done didn't want to move him, but it was
(19:35):
something that Adam really wanted. You know, he's pretty steadfast
and wanting to go back to Minnesota finish his career there,
you know, and I I told him, I was, you know,
I wouldn't get in his way if if it was
fair for the Carolina Panthers. And you know, at the
end we came to an agreement, and you know, we're
(19:57):
gonna mess him around here, but you know, just gives
an opportunity for somebody else to step up and show
us what they got.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Well, it's interesting you said that, because you've been around
long enough. You know, our listeners they're diehard Panthers fans.
They're in every day wanting to talk about this football team.
And I've got people on the text line who understand
what you did, who are happy for the compensation, who
think that the young guys like Jalen Kocher getting reps
is a good thing. I've also got a listener to
saying that I ought to be ripping you for trading
(20:25):
away the veteran wide receiver out of the room, a
guy who Bryce Young has come to love over the
last couple of years. When they hear you say that
Adam wanted to go back to Minnesota and you said
about trying to find a deal that worked for everybody.
You know, how do they square that right? Because the
goal is to win games? Are you that confident in
your young guys? Did you do this to help Adam
(20:46):
feeling out? But just explain it all to me.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
I mean, I'm very confident in our young guys. You know,
we have a young group of guys that you know,
we're really excited about here, and you know, it's kind
of hard, you know. And I said, Adam feeling out
of my office and he is just really wanting to
go there, and he's pretty adamant that this is what
I want this is where I want to go. You know.
(21:11):
We also you know, I didn't really want to stand
in his way. It was something that he was really
convicted about. Uh, he wanted he wanted to go and
finish his career there. Obviously he's from there, he has
a house there, you know, he has young kids. Obviously
(21:31):
there's a human side to it too. But at the
same time, in my mind, I knew that I had
to do what was best for the Carolina Panthers, So
I wasn't going to give him away. A few offers
that they did send over it would have been a giveaway.
But you know, I was back and forth, back and
forth with you know, Plecy, their GM up there. You know, myself,
(21:56):
Frank Tillis and Eric Eager sitting in the room going
through all these scenarios. We must have went through, you know,
I don't know ten different scenario trade scenarios that we
felt would like work for us and where we would
be at the advantage. And at the end of the day,
you know, we sent him there. We agreed to it,
(22:19):
you know, and it's kind of hard to you know,
Adam being so adamant to go there. It was just
kind of hard for me to stand in his way
and him be here and you know, maybe be disgruntled.
Maybe he'd be fine, but we would have had.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
To find that out, understood it, and I don't want
to beat a dead horse. So last thing on this,
but I am curious because he did say he'd opted
not to retire because he believed in Bryce Young. You
guys gave him a pay raise over the offseason. Sounds
like this is a fairly recent development, that this all
came about pretty recently. And is that accurate, you know,
or would you say that maybe he was already deemphasized
in camp because you were looking to the young guys,
(22:55):
or is this a recent thing.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
No, I think it was a pretty recent thing. You know,
when Minnesota called me and they inquired about trading for him,
that was something I'd like, being transparent, being a former player, like,
I want to be transparent. I want to be honest
with our players. I wouldn't want to hide that from
Adam and then him find out later. You know, there's
(23:20):
a credibility part to my job as well in that
locker room, and I respect those players down there. So
I did want to do what, you know, what he
wanted to do. But at the same time, again, I
wasn't just going to give him away to Minnesota for nothing,
So I felt like we definitely got fair value for
(23:41):
a receiver that's in his last year of his contract
and maybe his last year period. So at the end
of the day, it worked out how it did, and
we're moving on with a young group of wideouts that
we're excited about. They've been working the buffs off. They
looked great out there practice, and hey, we'll see where
(24:02):
the tips fall.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I appreciate you being so forthcoming, Dan Morgan, General manager
Carolina Panthers with us here on the hotline. So, Hunter Renfro,
you answered this question, I thought, really honestly earlier I mean, clearly,
I'm not a walking, talking, you know a lot of
texture machine, But I mean I could tell you were
just telling us things as you knew them. As it
relates to Hunter Renfro, I thought he was on the team, Dan,
like I thought he played well enough, but I'm not there.
(24:23):
Your office is making these decisions. And then earlier today
you say that you're in constant communication with him, you'd
like to get him back with the organization. Is this
as simple as you wanted him on the practice squad,
and he's not sure if he wants to commit to that.
Being this situation is what it is? Is it more
than that? What can you tell us?
Speaker 4 (24:40):
No? I think, you know, I think definitely we're open
to bringing Hunter back on the City three man roster.
And you know, Hunter's a great player. The situation at
the time Adam was on our team, I didn't know
if this trade was going to happen. And we have
you know, guys like bit More, guys like Bryce and Tremaine,
(25:03):
you know that were you know, playing good. They're they're
really good on special teams. They help us out on
special teams. And I think at the end of the day,
it was a little bit of a crowded room just
in terms of Hunter being you know, was he going
to be active on game day? Was he gonna you know,
how was he going to fit in the rotation on
(25:24):
game day? So I think it really came down to that.
And then obviously I told him before he left, I
was like, hey, like, this may happen and you're back
here and you know, potentially playing for us, So the
door's definitely still open for that. I actually talked to
him today again, and you know, we'll we'll see where
(25:45):
it goes, We'll see what he decides, and we'll we'll
just go from there.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Okay, Dan, I got to ask about David Moore too. Now,
admittedly I'm a bigger fan of David more than some
people out there listening to the show. But there are
people who think, a, you know there, you could have
upgraded there, But that's the guy that you're bringing in
or keeping rather to be the veteran wide receiver presence
in the room.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Why do y'all like him so much?
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Well, you know, obviously, David he plays multiple spots. You know,
he can play X, he can play D, he can
play in the slot. He's just one of those guys
that does everything. And you know that's a really valuable
asset as a wide receiver to where you can play
(26:29):
any spot. You know, Bryce will be able to rely
on him if we need him to play. And then
he's also you know, he plays on special teams, so
he's you know, he's a gunner. He can return kickoffs,
he can return punts. So there's a lot of value
with him, and you know, we just felt like we
wanted him on the roster.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Dan Morgan, general manager, Carolina Panthers. He's with us here
on the hotline. Dan, I believe I'm always a little
hesitant this time of year to ask you things definitively
about the roster because things change and you'll end up
correcting me, probably, But I'll ask about the defense as
I know it. I believe right now you have six
outside linebackers on your too deep and just four inside linebackers.
(27:11):
This is your specialty. Are you comfortable with that? Should
we look for more moves to be made? How are
you still trying to address.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
All of that?
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Yeah, I'm constantly constantly looking at inside linebacker looking for,
you know, guys that you know, maybe we could even
trade for guys on the waiver wire. But I also
don't want to just make a move to make a
move either. So it's the right opportunity comes about and
the right players there. Absolutely, I wouldn't hesitate to, you know,
(27:41):
bring another linebacker in, but you know, Christian rose Boom,
Trevin Wallace, Claude Chair Liz, you know, we're really happy
with those guys. And then we have a young linebacker
from here at South Carolina fan Martin Scott, who has
a lot of upside. I think he'll be able to
help us out at linebacker in the future. But in
(28:02):
the meantime, I think, will there be a really good
special teams player. So we have some guys in that
room that can play. And then we have you know,
we have some you know, another guy on the practice
squad that we feel that we feel good about as well,
Chris Barnes, who's a veteran that's played a lot of
football that if we need him to slide in there
(28:24):
and play for us, we feel confident in him too.
So again, we're always going to look at the waiver
wire every day. We're going to look for opportunities to
bring players in here that upgrade us. But you know,
sometimes sometimes you just don't make moves, you know, just
to make them. So we want to be smart about
(28:44):
what we do, you know, really think things through and
bring the right guys in here.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Dan, two quick things I'll get you out of hearing
back about your day. I know it's a busy time.
Yesterday's news about Ikey and the laparoscopic appendectomy not the
no pun intended kind of a gut punch over here.
We were pretty worried about Ikey when we heard that,
and of course about week one, you addressed it earlier today.
I think I know Dave did too. But for those
that didn't hear it, what's your best guess on Ikey's
recovery and his availability for week one?
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, I mean, I think right now he's he's truly
day to day. And that's not just the you know,
the general manager answer. He is day to day. Everybody
heals from these things, you know, differently. Some heal really quickly,
some take a little longer. So when we come back
(29:33):
on Monday, well we'll see where he's at. But that's
the NFL, right, I expect the unexpected, and you know
that's my job to you know, have some guys that
can play football behind him, and you know bringing you know,
Brady Christiansen back, he's played all the spots, Josh Nigman,
(29:55):
who's been here, another guy that that we would trust
the slide over the left side if we need them
to play. But we're we're hopeful that you know, Ikey
heels up really well, really fast and is developable for
USA Jacksonville. But you know, it's still the end to day.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I hear you hopefully, and I'm sure you and I
will talk a lot throughout the season, so I'll let
you go on this. As a result of the wide
receiver moves, there are people telling me on the text
line yesterday and today, well, this is a sure fire
signal that they're going young and they don't intend to
compete for or contend for the playoffs this year. Or
you know, reading the tea leaves one way or the other.
I could throw back at them all the moves you
(30:32):
made defensively in free agency, the things you did to
bring the offensive line back, you know, so on and
so forth. I know you've been hesitant to use the
word playoffs, and that's fine, but put another way, do
you now believe that with what you have on the
roster right now, this is a team that can contend
to win the NFC South.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Well, you know that's our goal every year, you know,
to win the NFC South, go to the playoffs, and
eventually win a Super Bowl. So of course, you know,
going to the playoffs every years, that's the goal. But
my point is is what I always say is we
got to put the work in. Let's not talk about
going to the playoffs. Let's put the work in. Let's
(31:11):
come together as a team, everybody get better, Everybody do
your part, and then that'll come. So we just have
to as long as we put the work in and
our team becomes a team, a close team where these
guys don't want to let each other down. And you're
starting to see that out there. These guys are competing
(31:31):
their butts off out on the practice field even today.
They're hungry to win. They're hungry to win, and they're
putting the work in. So as long as we're doing that,
I feel good about our chances, you know, just like
anybody in the NFC South. So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Hey, it's been great to see you a bunch here lately.
If I don't see you again before Jacksonville, best of luck,
and I'm sure we'll talk again real soon, buddy.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Thank you, appreciate it. Man, good talking with you.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
There you go, Dan Morgan, general manager Carolina panthers with
us on a Thursday afternoon. Your thoughts seven oh four five,
seven ninety six ten lots of text come again. During
the conversation, Todd and Indian Trail just said Dan's candor
is really refreshing. Still pissed off about Hunter Renfro, but
understandable TFB saying hearing him say they are still open
to Renfro being on the fifty three and that they
(32:21):
just didn't have a spot because Thielen makes me feel
a little worse and they botched this thing. If Renfro
goes somewhere else should have gotten the trade done twenty
four hours prior. Yeah, but will you'd be saying that
if things still turn out okay, and if that fourth
round pick turns into an eventual starter, Like it's tough
to say that, right, Like if somebody else steps in
(32:42):
and they get the job done and that fourth round
pick turns out to be an eventual defensive starter, we
just don't know yet, is my point. I don't know
you your scenario there, you know, maybe the more dooms
dayish version of it might be right, I don't know.
Panther psl Sucker a minute ago said KB, you're becoming
a homer.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Homer for what for not being able to read the future?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Like I'm just I was in favor of keeping Adam theelin,
but I also on the other side, feel like some
people are overreacting to losing a thirty five year old
wide receiver who admittedly had great chemistry with Bryce, but
like acting as if there's no life after him. That's
the entire point of drafting in player development, Like if
you're building toward a super Bowl at some point in
the next two to three years, your young guys that
(33:23):
you just took in will be the ones who get
you there, not Adam Thielen. So I wanted to keep him.
It's not the end of the world that he's gone.
Smoke what you got?
Speaker 7 (33:31):
Yeah, And I was just going to say something similar
to that point, And you would have roasted him if
it was a fifth round pick, like he got above
a fifth round pick. What we're thinking is fifth sixth
round pick. That's probably what he's going for. I think
the fact that Dan stood on his ground was able
to get the round four pick is a pretty cool sign. Plus,
the last time people roasted Dan Morgan for a trade
(33:51):
involved in a wide receiver, he turned out to be right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
All right, let's hold it right there, we'll come back,
we'll react to it. Right now, we go to smoke
on the headlines.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Who is smoke? Where is smoke? Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
Let's go And by the way, real quick.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
What Dan made abundantly clear at the start of that
conversation is Adam Thielen was pushing hard for this in
the last week and a half. Adam Thieln wanted to
go back to Minnesota anyway, Go right ahead, all right, Well, I.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Think we all can agree this is awesome news and
we love this. Okay.
Speaker 7 (34:19):
According to Dave Canalis after practice today, he said guard
Damian Lewis is right on schedule with the rehab plan.
He was a full go in individual drills but wasn't
in team drills. Canalis says he expects him to work
as a true full go next week.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, what do you think about that?
Speaker 11 (34:37):
Massive?
Speaker 7 (34:38):
That is definitely massive, especially now with Ikey and his
status being unknown. Damian Lewis, I think he was just
as good as Robert Hunt last year, just didn't get
talked about as enough because he's not the character that
Robert Hunt.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
Is off the field.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
All right, we'll come back. We'll take your reactions to
what Dan Morgan just said. Sports Radio ninety two to
seven wfn Z. All right, Dan Morgan jumped on in
(35:15):
the previous segment. If you missed it, well you'll just
have to get it wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify,
Google Search to Kyle Bailey's show, download and subscribe. Smoke,
you'll get that one up right after the show. But
Dan told us point blank Adam Thielen wanted back in Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
He approached Dan.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Dan made that clear abundantly on a couple of occasions
early in the conversation that this was Adam Thielen coming
to him in his office and asking Dan to send
him back to Minnesota. I wonder when Kevin O'Connell and
or Queziadolpha Mensa or both called Adam Thielen what a
week and a half ago, a week ago informally and said, hey, buddy,
(35:52):
we got a situation over here. How would you feel
about coming home if we could make it happen? Like
how much of the end. Listen, this is the NFL.
These things happen all the time. It's not shady, it's well,
I mean, I guess I don't know all the league
bylaws on what's exactly allowed, but we're all smart, we
know how this works.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Like smoke.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
When did Kevin O'Connell call Adam feeling you think and
be like, hey man, we got us a situation up here.
We'd like to get you back, maybe talk to Dan
and see if we can work something out.
Speaker 7 (36:19):
I would guess about seven anywhere from seven to ten
days ago. Yeah, definitely before he talked to Kay Adams,
because that, I think is what really lit the fuse
around here, because let's see, the interview was a week
ago today, Thursday. We didn't talk about Adam Feeling getting
traded until what Wednesday Thursday last week? And then once
we heard that audio of Kevin O'Connell even talking about
(36:39):
Adam Feeling because most of the time when we talk
about players outside of the jurisdiction of the teams, they said, well,
I can't talk about these players. We've had it happen
here before, and I get that, But the fact that
Kevin O'Connell was just being that open and talking about
Adam Feeling without saying his name, it was like.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
They've talked, they've talked, they've talked, for sure. And then
how about the fact that Dan point blank said, because
I asked him, you know, hey, what are we talking
about with Hunter? Did you try to put him on
the practice squad? And he didn't want to go there,
and he said no, we'd like to get him a
spot on the fifty three man roster, like specifically said, no,
we're talking about the fifty three man roster. I got
(37:15):
a text during somebody said jumpin' Jack, says, Dan openly
said the quote we have a slot for Hunter on
the fifty three end quote which I'm not sure is
the right quote, but more or less, and then he says,
my gut tells me Hunter is using this as a
negotiating ploy.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
A negotiating ploy.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
I mean, I guess you could for sure, because if
you think about it, rostering Adam Felen in the middle
of trade negotiations was likely done to send the message, hey,
we're not giving this guy away. We are content to
keep him unless you come correct with the contract offer,
which might have taken Hunter, renfro and his agent by surprise.
They might have thought they were on the fifty three
(37:54):
to begin with, and then when they weren't Hunter specifically,
now they've got to sign him back. Does the go up?
I mean, if you're Hunter's agent, is that how you're
playing this thing? Because Dan has said now multiple times today,
both with us and earlier in the press conference, I've
been in constant communication with him. We talked earlier today,
we talked last night. He knows we want him back.
So what are we now doing here? Are there multiple
(38:15):
offers driving this up? Are there other teams trying to
convince Hunter Renfro now to come join their fifty three
man roster? And even if Hunter still wants to play here,
you know, if his agent is smart, you're using that
as leverage.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Let's say one other.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Team called, two other teams called, let's say Atlanta and
DC or whoever called Hunter and said, hey, we heard
you had a good camp. Could you be convinced to
come play for us, even though it's not home in
the Carolinas. And maybe he doesn't want to, But that's leverage, right,
Is that what we're talking about here? Because Dan outright said,
just now, smoke, we're talking about a spot on the
fifty three man roster, not the practice squad.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
Didn't even say to practice squad, And that kind of
had me thinking, Hunt, that's very interesting. So it's one
of those situations where maybe someone goes down and he
immediately just calls him. And maybe that's the thinking process
of Hunter Renfro not to be on the practice squad,
and he kind of just wants to be in game
shape but also not be on the practice squad.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Guys, this is abnormal. By the way, Yeah, this is unusual.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
We just had a general manager today say twice publicly
they are they're welcoming a guy who is on the
street currently back on.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
They want him on the fifty.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Three, but they can't convince him he doesn't want to cut. Like,
everything about this is extremely abnormal. We all agree on this, right, right, Okay, right,
it's extremely weird.
Speaker 7 (39:25):
And this also coinciding with the Adam Field trade has
definitely made things a little bit more. I don't know
if tense is the right word, but abnormal sure in
this situation. So it's it's one of the weird things
that's happened in recent Panther history. Not saying it's bad,
it's just odd. This whole situation has been odd.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, I agree. Let's take a phone call. Panther Bow
checking in from Big D Dallas. That is Panther Bow.
Speaker 11 (39:46):
What's up, hey, kab great interview. I thought it was
just awesome. I mean, Dan's always great when he comes on.
I mean Gamecock Morgan, I love that. Whenever we see
more game cocks out of this roster. People, it's got
a little two games here, and it's like just relax.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
That's the way the cards fall.
Speaker 11 (40:03):
Sometimes you get it too, you get attend. Sometimes the
card just shows a little game talk on there. But
uh no, I thought that was great. I mean, Adam
feeling clearly maybe a couple of things can be true
at once. He's looking at guys like Coker and Tettra
and XL and he said, you know what, I'm not
gonna get as many reps as I could get. You know,
up in Minnesota, I get the homecoming, I get my
(40:23):
wife getting off my back. I mean, you get a
couple of things all at once. But you know it's
gonna be time to move on the renfro things. I mean,
that's that's wild. I mean, this is why we're getting
game talk. We can't trust these punching guys. You don't
know what they're thinking. So you know, I'm worried about Ikey.
I'm worried about whether he's gonna be good to go
for game day because this this front this schedule so
(40:43):
frontloaded for wins. It's gonna be so important to get
off to a good start. But man, it's gonna be
It's gonna be awesome. We're We're just we got college football.
I'm I'm jacked up, KB. I gotta tell you, I.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Bet you are. What do you think about Stadia? I
know you're not a fan of either one, but State
ECU tonight. You know that's an ugly fear rivalry. Who
do you have?
Speaker 5 (41:01):
Oh?
Speaker 11 (41:02):
I played on hate? Is that before or after? I
hate watching rule? Yeah, I think I think State's gonna win.
But I mean, I gotta tell you, I like six
and a half going for Cincinnati and see what mister
podcast has to uh have to do over there. I
just I really hope that guy just anyway, I'd hate
for someone that seems like such a nice guy that
(41:22):
you know, suffer a tough season.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Oh yeah, I'm sure you'd be crestfallen if things don't
work out in Lincoln this year. Right, Sorry Cory con
But yeah, thank you, bo appreciate your brother. Always good
to hear from you. Seven of four five, seven of
ninety six ten hit us up.
Speaker 7 (41:36):
Nine o'clock kickoff between Nebraska Cincinnati. You were asking because
we we found out that Boise State's playing South Florida
at five.
Speaker 5 (41:44):
Today on ESPN. Is because it's at a baseball on ESPN.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Number twenty five Boise State at South Florida. Speaking of
South Florida, it was uh Jim Levitt got arrested earlier
today for like kidnapping and assault of an ext girl
like the winning I guess head coach in USF history.
Not really relevant to our news cycle, but headline that's
out there today. But yeah, Number twenty five Boise State
likely the leading G six contender to be the playoff
(42:10):
representative again this year at South Florida. You got Ohio
and Rutgers tonight on the Big Ten network at six ECU,
NC State seven o'clock on the ACC network. We got
Scott Frost back at it against Jacksonville State with UCF.
That's seven o'clock on ESPN plus. As Smoke said, we they'
only forget Duke and Elon. By the way, ESPN Plus,
(42:31):
how about the Phoenix. I was going through South End
earlier today down Tryon Elon University, big satellite campus right
there on Tryon, had no idea it was there. Caught
me off guard. Just wanted to throw that out there,
and then what else do we have? Minnesota Buffalo at
eight o'clock tonight, FS one Nebraska Cincinnati is a good
game to start the d at Arrowhead in Kansas City.
It's a very interesting game, all right, our number two. Next,
(42:52):
we'll take your phone calls. Best audio in sports. Kenneth
and Bristol is up first when we come back, Got
some phone lines open Sports Radio ninety two seven WFA
ZAI
You're listening to the Kyle Bailey Show powered by Victory
Chevy Charlotte. Want to drive a sweet Silverado Trail Boss
like KB Go to Victory Chevy Charlotte dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
College football is Backstate Fans hired fans.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
We got Boise State kicking off at five point thirty,
which is on as hell, But Week one is here
in college football and we are celebrating it. Dan Morgan,
the general manager of your Carolina Panthers, is coming up
on the show in twenty two minutes. Yes, three twenty
five pm. If you're about to head into a meeting,
cancel it. If your wife is giving birth, ask her
to hold on. Dan Morgan is coming up at three
(00:55):
twenty five to talk about all things Carolina Panthers. Willie
p is back to talks Charlotte FC at four twenty five,
Joe Person giving us the beat writer's perspective on Carolina
at five o'clock, and again at five point thirty. College
football Week one is kicking off. Hit us up seven
oh four five seven oh ninety six ten. Would love
to hear from you on the FanDuel text line same
number if you want to give us a call and
(01:16):
chat the old fashioned way on x formerly Twitter at
Kyle Bailey Club. It's at Kyle Bailey c lub emanating
live from the Chandler Volta Studio, the Carolina's Personal Injury Lawyers.
One call, that's all go to Cvinjurylaw dot Com. Dan
Morgan again coming up in twenty two minutes. He had
a press conference earlier today and he said a lot.
(01:38):
I won't begin to play it all right now, but
we will bring some of it back throughout the course
of the show. Although again the good thing is I've
got the opportunity to ask Dan my version of many
of these questions coming up in twenty one minutes now.
So if you would like to hear something in particular,
hit the FanDuel text line seven oh four five, seven
oh ninety six ten. I will save you the trouble
(01:58):
of the h of the Hunter Renfro questions. You don't
have to text in and say KB ask him about
Hunter Rent.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
But he also gave us a fair amount earlier today
in the press conference. Would check out what Dan Morgan
had to say about letting go of Hunter Renfro and
what's going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, I was. I was even texting with them last night.
You know, I told him I want him back here.
I talked to his agent. I talked to him. We're
in constant communication. Nothing's imminent, you know, but we're going
to stay in contact with him, and we'll try to
figure something out to bring him back here.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
And a role is on the practice squad or a
fifty career.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
You know. I think, you know, we're still trying to
decide that. You know, Hunter, I think is thinking through things,
looking at different options. So I think right now it's
really up to him with what he wants to do.
But we would definitely like to have him back here
at some point.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
All right, they wanted back, They've been texting. They would
like to get him back in the organization. That's a
really interesting answer, and I'm going to try to get
Dan to elaborate on that just a little bit. Something
else was discussed on the Hunter Renfro front earlier today.
Dave Canalis was up there answering questions. Actually, I take
that back back on Tuesday. I don't want to make
it seem like it was today. It was back on Tuesday.
(03:15):
But Dave Canalis was asked back on Tuesday about Hunter
Renfro and a possible off the field role with Carolina.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Check this out could be.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
I mean, we're just talking about everything right now. I
just want to be a part of his future of
what he wants to do. I just told him that,
you know, like in whatever capacity that is, whether it's
the fifty three.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Or practice squad.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
You know, that was just kind of the conversations that
we left on right well, I'm just talking about wanting
to be a part of him, like the guy that
I remember, you know, and I think that he's on
his way back there, and I truly believe that, and
I believe in him as a guy. I mean, I
had such a blast, you know, working with him in
this you know, short amount of time. But you know,
(03:54):
I'd love to see him back out there at some point.
And so just a matter of us continuing to stay
in touch and see where we're at.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
The only thing that I keep going back to here
with this and we have bigger fish to fry. I
don't think that, as I said yesterday, as much as
I wanted him on the roster and thought he was
going to make the roster, that it makes or breaks
the season necessarily. It does make me wonder about, you know,
how genuine they were in their praise of him, how
much changed after the hamstring injury, all of that. But
is this as simple as they told Hunter, we don't
(04:22):
know that you're ready yet physically. We want to prioritize
some young guys. We would love to get you on
the practice squad and go from there. We think you'll
play this season, We're pretty sure that'll probably happen, but
we want to get you on the practice squad to
let you keep getting back into game shape, playing shape,
so on and so forth. And Hunter's thinking to himself, well,
I didn't really need to play in the first place.
I wanted to come back here to play for the
(04:42):
home state team, for the Carolina team, and I thought
I played well enough or practiced well enough to be
a part of the fifty three. But now you're asking me,
a vested veteran near thirty years old, to join the
practice squad with no guarantees. I'm sure of getting a
roster spot anytime soon. So is this just as simple
as smoke count of renfro doesn't want to play on
(05:04):
the practice squad or be on the practice squad I
was talking to Wes about this earlier today. Anybody who's
played football, especially through the high school level. You don't
even need to have played collegiately or professionally, but if
you've played in high school and you've been through weeks
of practice leading up to games, certainly through two days, Like,
practicing football is not fun for most people. Some guys
love it, right, Some guys are absolutely eat up with it.
(05:24):
They can't get enough. You know, typically the linebacker types
that just love hitting everything that moves. But for a
lot of guys, they don't particularly enjoy getting beat up
Monday through Friday, but they might enjoy Friday nights or
Saturdays or even Sundays. And I wonder if Hunter Renfro
got through camp and was like, man, I can still
do this, but I'm not sure if I want to
do this anymore. Like these are the things that I do.
Think it's boiling down to smoke. And I'm going to
(05:45):
ask Dan Morgan about this coming up in about eighteen minutes.
Speaker 7 (05:48):
It definitely feels like maybe that could be one of
the cases. And you got to remember, at this point
in his career, he even though he didn't get to
live out the full entirety of his contract in Las
Vegas and the contract extension.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
He still got paid.
Speaker 7 (06:00):
And you know, he's already won because he's able to
overcome his illnesses. But he's twenty nine and things aren't.
You know, it's not for long for a reason. And
I think maybe it's one of those uphill battles, and
maybe he says, hey, you know, I'll think about it.
Got to sit on this for a little bit. But
he doesn't want to be on the practice squad right now.
And I saw Tom Palliserro say earlier today that some
(06:21):
other teams have been contacting him, so he also knows too, Hey,
I could be on the practice squad with you, or
someone can immediately sign me and I don't have to
worry about the practice squad. And I just basically use
this as a launching pad to go to another team
and see if I can actually get some snaps still
in the league in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Five, Sir, now give me if you would give me
number ten, Because a Texter here said, hey, ask Bagel.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Guys said, ask Dan.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
If expectations are lower now because of the filing trade
and not acquiring anything in that deal, that helps the
Panthers right now. I don't know that I'm going to
phrase anything like that necessarily, but it does beg the
question what are their expectations? What does trading Adam Thelen
to Minnesota mean, if anything, for what they expect from
the team in twenty twenty five. Dan was asked earlier
today how close the roster is to looking like what
(07:06):
he envisioned it would when he became the general manager.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Like I said before, like I think, no matter how
good the roster ever gets like, we're never going to
be content. We're always going to be turning over every
stone and trying to find guys and exploring, you know,
just different options to get the roster better. So I
(07:30):
don't think we're ever going to feel like we've arrived
around here. And that's kind of the attitude that we
need to have to have long, long term success. The
more hungry that we can be as a scouting staff
to go out there and find players and find diamonds
in the rough and you know, just find guys that
(07:50):
fit us. You know, it really doesn't matter what the
other thirty one teams like, as long as the guy
fits us and he has the DNA that we want that.
That's really all we care about.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
All right, there you go, so that we're never going
to be satisfied. It's what you want to hear from
your general manager. It doesn't tell you much, though, And
I play that bagel guy because I think that's the,
you know, more or less the kind of answer i'd
get on a question like that. But I do want
to talk to Dan about, you know there, does he
expect that this team should be contending for the division?
They've been very hesitant to use the word playoffs, and
(08:23):
that's fine, but we got to ask, do you think
that this team, this version of it, with what you've
done on roster cutdown day, picking up a couple of
waiver wire claims, you know, leaving Hudder renfro Off, trading
Adam Thielan, Is this a roster now that you guys
think can compete and contend for the NFC South. That's
what I'm going to ask him coming up in fifteen minutes, smoke.
I don't know what his answer will be, but I'll
be curious to find out.
Speaker 7 (08:43):
I think they believe that they can contend for the
NFC South, But in their hard hearts, I think they
believe they are a year away from being true contenders
of the NC South. I believe what they expect this year,
and I think a lot of fans will be happy
with this year is they see your name early December
in in the bottom right corner of in the Hunt.
I think if any of this most people in this
(09:05):
fan base, if they see in the Hunt in December,
they're gonna be all, yes, finally, you know, cause it's
been a long time. Yeah, outside of a two week
stretch in twenty twenty two, it's been since twenty eighteen
when they started six and two and didn't have to
collapse after the Pittsburgh game.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
That's how long it's been.
Speaker 7 (09:23):
So I think even though I feel like playoffs is
not the most realistic outcome heading into this year, and
I think the preseason kind of really showed that again
And to your point yesterday, what also shows how this
team is still rebuilding. Out of all the guys they cut,
who's gotten resigned or who's gotten picked up by any other.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Team, almost nobody, Yeah, yeah, almost nobody.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Man.
Speaker 7 (09:42):
That tells you that the depth of this team is
still pretty bad. It's not as bad as last year,
but it's one of those where you were so far
behind on the way the depth was. You were not
a quarterback away, unlike what Scott hit or fault back
in twenty twenty three. That's how bad the depth got
here last three to four years, and that was due
to short sighted moves. And for as much as I
(10:03):
understand people are upset somewhat with Adam feeling and thinking, well,
why you just want a four round pick, I believe
right now, while you still have some diamond into Russ
you's got, it's got to take a process fak back
to what it was in twenty ten twenty eleven. It
took you two and a half years almost to get
through the mud of what twenty ten was, and it
was a lot of growing pains, but by the end
(10:23):
you had a super Bowl caliber roster. Hopefully that's the
case here this year, and hopefully Carolina plays their cards right.
But unfortunately, sometimes while we see NFL teams take a
massive jump, as we saw from the Commanders last year,
there are also sometimes where it can take a little
bit longer than you would hope for.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, I agree, grab me fifty nine if you would,
I heard Mina Chimes express her thoughts on the Theling
trade in particular, and when I listened to it for
the first time, it did echo some of the concerns
that came down from listeners yesterday. This is what Mina
Chimes had to say about the Theling deal.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
But you talked about how good Bryce Young was in
the second half of the season. You're absolutely right, feeling
was a big part of that. In that second half,
he led the team in target share yards. He got
eighty percent of Bryce Young's passes. Frank So, while I
understand why they traded him, they drafted a receiver in
the first round. He looks great. Teral McMillan a little
nervous because the development of Bryce Young has been so
(11:17):
important for them and he was the veteran presence.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
In that offense.
Speaker 9 (11:21):
Yeah, and it's now what they have left is a
young receiving corps. So you are taking a bit of
a gamble. So and that part's right, young receiving corps.
I believe you have what five or six first or
second year guys in that wide receiver room right now.
That's a real thing. And that second oldest guy is
bryceon for Maade.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Sure, So you've kept David Moore who is clearly a
Dave Canalis favorite. And I've said already I'm on the record.
I can't run from this. I like David Moore more
than a lot of people do. I mean, the guy
went off in the playoffs against Philadelphia in January of
twenty twenty four. Folks are seemingly forgetting that. Last year
when Bryce started to turn things around, Adam Thieland wasn't
on the field. David Moore was, and he made a
(11:59):
lot of big to David Moore. They trust David Moore
not to commit stupid penalties. They play special teams. So
I'm not ever opposed to having David Moore in my
wide receiver room. But it's the theling Renfro absence that
gets people going. I totally understand that, and I was
one of those people a couple of days ago saying, yeah,
Panthers had the leverage. I'm completely fine if they keep
Adam Thielen. I think it probably helps. Early on, I
(12:21):
was in favor of keeping Adam Thielen, and I still
feel the way that I felt a couple of days ago.
But I also said, if they get a great deal
and you've got young wide receivers, and you know Adam
Thieln's about to retire, Well, they're probably going to have
to take the deal. And I understand it because he's
not going to be part of a Super Bowl window.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Here.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
If such a window exists at any point over the
next two to four years, Adam Thielen's not going to
be a part of it.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
We know that.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
So they're looking at it as sink or swim time
for a couple of these wide receivers, or really just
giving them a chance to take off on their own.
They believe Jalen Koker is going to step into that
role and really produce. You know, there are fair questions
about Tea McMillan, how well he's going to get off
to a start in his rookie year, how much he'll
contribute right away. People obviously have some questions about Xavier
(13:05):
League get but they want to run with these young
guys and see what they've got. And they opted not
to expose Jimmy Horn Junior to waivers because I think
that was the right move. With that kind of speed,
he'd have been snapped up in eight minutes on the
waiver wire. They believe in Bryson Tremaine, which I think
is you can argue that one you don't have to
be a full blown Bryson Tremaine truther. He definitely made
plays during camp, but he's made no semblance of a
(13:28):
resume full of plays in the regular season in the NFL.
That when you can absolutely argue and debate to me.
But they felt like he wasn't going to pass waivers
and that are passed through waivers, and that you know
he's got real developmental potential. So anyway, point being, I
kind of got to flipped back to defending the Adam
Theelen trade toward the the end of yesterday's show because
it just seems that I think there are some smart,
(13:50):
nuanced arguments in favor of keeping Adam Thielen.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Don't forget that.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
I do believe many of you are right in some
of the arguments that you're making, but you're also failing
to account for a lot of things in the stealing discussion,
like you missed a bunch of games last year, he's
going to retire at year's end. You just drafted back
to back first round wide receivers. You got to let
those guys out of the cage and go play and
find out what you've got start to find out if
you got it right or if you got it wrong.
(14:14):
You got to find out at some point. So I
don't love losing feeling either. But some of the backlash
yesterday smoke that I thought was just sky is falling
wasn't necessarily I think warranted given the situation here.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
What did you think?
Speaker 5 (14:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (14:28):
And I also I told you before the show my
fault process is all right. If we're touting this wide
receiver course so much, why would one guy leaving, even
if it will have a dentt on the wide receiver
courts to start the year be the end all be
all to the point where people were in full in
panic mode, it seems like sometimes.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
And plus, you played hardball at the Vikings.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
The Vikings were the only suitor for Adam Feelin and
you were able to jump the asking price from a
sixth round pick to a fourth round pick. Yes, And
I talked to Fiddy. He was mad that they didn't
get a third round pick. It's impossible, given the circumstances
they were going to get a third round pick from
Adam Felind unless they added a different player. And at
this point you got to look at it too.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
You know.
Speaker 7 (15:06):
It kind of reminds me of when you're a kid,
when you start out in the tricycle. You get that
thing down pat you're a little bit nervous. Once you
get the tricycle removed, that training wheels removed, and then
you're on a full balle block bicycle after the first
or second time you're on that bicycle, just like you're
on the tricycle. That's essentially what this Wide Receiver Corps
is doing this year. And while it may start slow,
I think it's gonna end well and it'll be short
(15:27):
term pain for long term gain.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
And I don't even think the pain will be that much.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
They might not be. I mean, really, it might not be.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And I just again, there were some people yesterday acting
like this was the end of the world. And I
think there's some again rational arguments, like prophetic Jay is
saying that this is like a slow build for an
NBA roster, but the NFL is not like that. Other
teams injuries getting better rapidly makes this slow growth process questionable,
and I hear you. But again, this was like a
one team market. So there was somebody yesterday late in
(15:55):
the show that was arguing well, somebody else would have paid, noted,
nobody else was like Minnesota in this discussion. They're desperate
for wide receiver. It's a homecoming. He's played for Kevin O'Connell.
He knows the playbook like no other team was like
that in the bidding, and so they could force Minnesota
to overpay.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And that's what happened.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I mean, Minnesota had to overpay to get an aging
wide receiver back. And the Carolina Panthers are going to
trust in the young guys and hope that Jalen Coker
who has shown flashes. I think Jalen Coker has proven
he belongs in the NFL. Now the question is what
kind of wide receiver is he going to become? Is
he going to become a UDFA diamond in the rough
that becomes a future Pro Bowler, All Pro next Adam Field?
(16:35):
Has he become a right a journeyman you know, who's
an average wide receiver somewhere in between. That's what we've
got to start to find out with Jalen Coker. He's
proven he belongs in the league. Now what kind of
wide receiver will he become? Dan Morgan, general manager your
Carolina Panthers. He is coming up when we return. We'll
ask him as many of these questions as we can
fit into a single radio segment. Stay right here, Sports
(16:57):
Radio ninety two seven WFNZ.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Yeah, but I.
Speaker 10 (17:04):
Will say this about Bryce because he deserves the respect.
Is he's a great man. He's a great leader, he's
a great quarterback. And you saw that at the end
of last year. Just the stuff that he had to
go through, the adversity his first two years in the league.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You don't wish that upon anybody.
Speaker 10 (17:21):
And so for him to kind of handle that and
then to where he's at right now, is it just
says a lot about his character and who he is
and what kind of player he's going to be in
this league. So so much respect for him because I
probably not here today.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
I guarantee him out here today.
Speaker 10 (17:37):
Without him just him trusting me, him giving me opportunity
and believing in me to be able to still continue
to play this game.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I love.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Adam feelin already with a press conference in Minneapolis heaping
prai's on his former quarterback Bryce Young.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
You heard what he had to say right there.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Adam Thielen dealt back to Minnesota Panther's netting basically a
fourth round pick. And we're talking to the man right
now who authored the trade in conjunction with the Minnesota Vikings,
the general manager of your Carolina Panthers, and of course,
once a beloved linebacker for your Carolina Panthers. Dan Morgan,
back with us on a Thursday afternoon. Dan, things are
busy for you. Have the last couple of days been.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
It's been good? First of all, how you doing, man, I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Good, I'm good. I look forward to talking to you.
I also was walking around today thinking of all you've
been doing the last couple of days. Has your phone
stopped ringing? Have you gotten any sleep? What have the
last couple of days been like for you?
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Not a lot of sleep, But that's fine. I really
enjoy what I'm doing, so you know, it's it's well
worth it. Obviously, been really busy with the cutdown process,
you know, bringing guys in the office, you know, tell them,
telling them that you know they're not one of fifty three.
You know, that's never a fun time in my seat,
(18:53):
you know, basically telling the guys he's not good enough.
But I try to do a good job. Just kind
of sitting them down, explain to them why kind of
give him a reason, give them, you know, constructive feedback,
you know, so they can take that and and try
to improve, whether here on our practice squad or somewhere else.
(19:14):
And you know, and then obviously, you know, dealing with
the feeling trade stuff, that was definitely a busy week
of back and forth, you know, trying to get you know,
value that we thought was fair for us if we
were going to move our starting slot. You know, obviously
we done didn't want to move him, but it was
(19:35):
something that Adam really wanted. You know, he's pretty steadfast
and wanting to go back to Minnesota finish his career there,
you know, and I I told him, I was, you know,
I wouldn't get in his way if if it was
fair for the Carolina Panthers. And you know, at the
end we came to an agreement, and you know, we're
(19:57):
gonna mess him around here, but you know, just gives
an opportunity for somebody else to step up and show
us what they got.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Well, it's interesting you said that, because you've been around
long enough. You know, our listeners they're diehard Panthers fans.
They're in every day wanting to talk about this football team.
And I've got people on the text line who understand
what you did, who are happy for the compensation, who
think that the young guys like Jalen Kocher getting reps
is a good thing. I've also got a listener to
saying that I ought to be ripping you for trading
(20:25):
away the veteran wide receiver out of the room, a
guy who Bryce Young has come to love over the
last couple of years. When they hear you say that
Adam wanted to go back to Minnesota and you said
about trying to find a deal that worked for everybody.
You know, how do they square that right? Because the
goal is to win games? Are you that confident in
your young guys? Did you do this to help Adam
(20:46):
feeling out? But just explain it all to me.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
I mean, I'm very confident in our young guys. You know,
we have a young group of guys that you know,
we're really excited about here, and you know, it's kind
of hard, you know. And I said, Adam feeling out
of my office and he is just really wanting to
go there, and he's pretty adamant that this is what
I want this is where I want to go. You know.
(21:11):
We also you know, I didn't really want to stand
in his way. It was something that he was really
convicted about. Uh, he wanted he wanted to go and
finish his career there. Obviously he's from there, he has
a house there, you know, he has young kids. Obviously
(21:31):
there's a human side to it too. But at the
same time, in my mind, I knew that I had
to do what was best for the Carolina Panthers, So
I wasn't going to give him away. A few offers
that they did send over it would have been a giveaway.
But you know, I was back and forth, back and
forth with you know, Plecy, their GM up there. You know, myself,
(21:56):
Frank Tillis and Eric Eager sitting in the room going
through all these scenarios. We must have went through, you know,
I don't know ten different scenario trade scenarios that we
felt would like work for us and where we would
be at the advantage. And at the end of the day,
you know, we sent him there. We agreed to it,
(22:19):
you know, and it's kind of hard to you know,
Adam being so adamant to go there. It was just
kind of hard for me to stand in his way
and him be here and you know, maybe be disgruntled.
Maybe he'd be fine, but we would have had.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
To find that out, understood it, and I don't want
to beat a dead horse. So last thing on this,
but I am curious because he did say he'd opted
not to retire because he believed in Bryce Young. You
guys gave him a pay raise over the offseason. Sounds
like this is a fairly recent development, that this all
came about pretty recently. And is that accurate, you know,
or would you say that maybe he was already deemphasized
in camp because you were looking to the young guys,
(22:55):
or is this a recent thing.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
No, I think it was a pretty recent thing. You know,
when Minnesota called me and they inquired about trading for him,
that was something I'd like, being transparent, being a former player, like,
I want to be transparent. I want to be honest
with our players. I wouldn't want to hide that from
Adam and then him find out later. You know, there's
(23:20):
a credibility part to my job as well in that
locker room, and I respect those players down there. So
I did want to do what, you know, what he
wanted to do. But at the same time, again, I
wasn't just going to give him away to Minnesota for nothing,
So I felt like we definitely got fair value for
(23:41):
a receiver that's in his last year of his contract
and maybe his last year period. So at the end
of the day, it worked out how it did, and
we're moving on with a young group of wideouts that
we're excited about. They've been working the buffs off. They
looked great out there practice, and hey, we'll see where
(24:02):
the tips fall.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I appreciate you being so forthcoming, Dan Morgan, General manager
Carolina Panthers with us here on the hotline. So, Hunter Renfro,
you answered this question, I thought, really honestly earlier I mean, clearly,
I'm not a walking, talking, you know a lot of
texture machine, But I mean I could tell you were
just telling us things as you knew them. As it
relates to Hunter Renfro, I thought he was on the team, Dan,
like I thought he played well enough, but I'm not there.
(24:23):
Your office is making these decisions. And then earlier today
you say that you're in constant communication with him, you'd
like to get him back with the organization. Is this
as simple as you wanted him on the practice squad,
and he's not sure if he wants to commit to that.
Being this situation is what it is? Is it more
than that? What can you tell us?
Speaker 4 (24:40):
No? I think, you know, I think definitely we're open
to bringing Hunter back on the City three man roster.
And you know, Hunter's a great player. The situation at
the time Adam was on our team, I didn't know
if this trade was going to happen. And we have
you know, guys like bit More, guys like Bryce and Tremaine,
(25:03):
you know that were you know, playing good. They're they're
really good on special teams. They help us out on
special teams. And I think at the end of the day,
it was a little bit of a crowded room just
in terms of Hunter being you know, was he going
to be active on game day? Was he gonna you know,
how was he going to fit in the rotation on
(25:24):
game day? So I think it really came down to that.
And then obviously I told him before he left, I
was like, hey, like, this may happen and you're back
here and you know, potentially playing for us, So the
door's definitely still open for that. I actually talked to
him today again, and you know, we'll we'll see where
(25:45):
it goes, We'll see what he decides, and we'll we'll
just go from there.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Okay, Dan, I got to ask about David Moore too. Now,
admittedly I'm a bigger fan of David more than some
people out there listening to the show. But there are
people who think, a, you know there, you could have
upgraded there, But that's the guy that you're bringing in
or keeping rather to be the veteran wide receiver presence
in the room.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Why do y'all like him so much?
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Well, you know, obviously, David he plays multiple spots. You know,
he can play X, he can play D, he can
play in the slot. He's just one of those guys
that does everything. And you know that's a really valuable
asset as a wide receiver to where you can play
(26:29):
any spot. You know, Bryce will be able to rely
on him if we need him to play. And then
he's also you know, he plays on special teams, so
he's you know, he's a gunner. He can return kickoffs,
he can return punts. So there's a lot of value
with him, and you know, we just felt like we
wanted him on the roster.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Dan Morgan, general manager, Carolina Panthers. He's with us here
on the hotline. Dan, I believe I'm always a little
hesitant this time of year to ask you things definitively
about the roster because things change and you'll end up
correcting me, probably, But I'll ask about the defense as
I know it. I believe right now you have six
outside linebackers on your too deep and just four inside linebackers.
(27:11):
This is your specialty. Are you comfortable with that? Should
we look for more moves to be made? How are
you still trying to address.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
All of that?
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Yeah, I'm constantly constantly looking at inside linebacker looking for,
you know, guys that you know, maybe we could even
trade for guys on the waiver wire. But I also
don't want to just make a move to make a
move either. So it's the right opportunity comes about and
the right players there. Absolutely, I wouldn't hesitate to, you know,
(27:41):
bring another linebacker in, but you know, Christian rose Boom,
Trevin Wallace, Claude Chair Liz, you know, we're really happy
with those guys. And then we have a young linebacker
from here at South Carolina fan Martin Scott, who has
a lot of upside. I think he'll be able to
help us out at linebacker in the future. But in
(28:02):
the meantime, I think, will there be a really good
special teams player. So we have some guys in that
room that can play. And then we have you know,
we have some you know, another guy on the practice
squad that we feel that we feel good about as well,
Chris Barnes, who's a veteran that's played a lot of
football that if we need him to slide in there
(28:24):
and play for us, we feel confident in him too.
So again, we're always going to look at the waiver
wire every day. We're going to look for opportunities to
bring players in here that upgrade us. But you know,
sometimes sometimes you just don't make moves, you know, just
to make them. So we want to be smart about
(28:44):
what we do, you know, really think things through and
bring the right guys in here.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Dan, two quick things I'll get you out of hearing
back about your day. I know it's a busy time.
Yesterday's news about Ikey and the laparoscopic appendectomy not the
no pun intended kind of a gut punch over here.
We were pretty worried about Ikey when we heard that,
and of course about week one, you addressed it earlier today.
I think I know Dave did too. But for those
that didn't hear it, what's your best guess on Ikey's
recovery and his availability for week one?
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, I mean, I think right now he's he's truly
day to day. And that's not just the you know,
the general manager answer. He is day to day. Everybody
heals from these things, you know, differently. Some heal really quickly,
some take a little longer. So when we come back
(29:33):
on Monday, well we'll see where he's at. But that's
the NFL, right, I expect the unexpected, and you know
that's my job to you know, have some guys that
can play football behind him, and you know bringing you know,
Brady Christiansen back, he's played all the spots, Josh Nigman,
(29:55):
who's been here, another guy that that we would trust
the slide over the left side if we need them
to play. But we're we're hopeful that you know, Ikey
heels up really well, really fast and is developable for
USA Jacksonville. But you know, it's still the end to day.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I hear you hopefully, and I'm sure you and I
will talk a lot throughout the season, so I'll let
you go on this. As a result of the wide
receiver moves, there are people telling me on the text
line yesterday and today, well, this is a sure fire
signal that they're going young and they don't intend to
compete for or contend for the playoffs this year. Or
you know, reading the tea leaves one way or the other.
I could throw back at them all the moves you
(30:32):
made defensively in free agency, the things you did to
bring the offensive line back, you know, so on and
so forth. I know you've been hesitant to use the
word playoffs, and that's fine, but put another way, do
you now believe that with what you have on the
roster right now, this is a team that can contend
to win the NFC South.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Well, you know that's our goal every year, you know,
to win the NFC South, go to the playoffs, and
eventually win a Super Bowl. So of course, you know,
going to the playoffs every years, that's the goal. But
my point is is what I always say is we
got to put the work in. Let's not talk about
going to the playoffs. Let's put the work in. Let's
(31:11):
come together as a team, everybody get better, Everybody do
your part, and then that'll come. So we just have
to as long as we put the work in and
our team becomes a team, a close team where these
guys don't want to let each other down. And you're
starting to see that out there. These guys are competing
(31:31):
their butts off out on the practice field even today.
They're hungry to win. They're hungry to win, and they're
putting the work in. So as long as we're doing that,
I feel good about our chances, you know, just like
anybody in the NFC South. So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Hey, it's been great to see you a bunch here lately.
If I don't see you again before Jacksonville, best of luck,
and I'm sure we'll talk again real soon, buddy.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Thank you, appreciate it. Man, good talking with you.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
There you go, Dan Morgan, general manager Carolina panthers with
us on a Thursday afternoon. Your thoughts seven oh four five,
seven ninety six ten lots of text come again. During
the conversation, Todd and Indian Trail just said Dan's candor
is really refreshing. Still pissed off about Hunter Renfro, but
understandable TFB saying hearing him say they are still open
to Renfro being on the fifty three and that they
(32:21):
just didn't have a spot because Thielen makes me feel
a little worse and they botched this thing. If Renfro
goes somewhere else should have gotten the trade done twenty
four hours prior. Yeah, but will you'd be saying that
if things still turn out okay, and if that fourth
round pick turns into an eventual starter, Like it's tough
to say that, right, Like if somebody else steps in
(32:42):
and they get the job done and that fourth round
pick turns out to be an eventual defensive starter, we
just don't know yet, is my point. I don't know
you your scenario there, you know, maybe the more dooms
dayish version of it might be right, I don't know.
Panther psl Sucker a minute ago said KB, you're becoming
a homer.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Homer for what for not being able to read the future?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Like I'm just I was in favor of keeping Adam theelin,
but I also on the other side, feel like some
people are overreacting to losing a thirty five year old
wide receiver who admittedly had great chemistry with Bryce, but
like acting as if there's no life after him. That's
the entire point of drafting in player development, Like if
you're building toward a super Bowl at some point in
the next two to three years, your young guys that
(33:23):
you just took in will be the ones who get
you there, not Adam Thielen. So I wanted to keep him.
It's not the end of the world that he's gone.
Smoke what you got?
Speaker 7 (33:31):
Yeah, And I was just going to say something similar
to that point, And you would have roasted him if
it was a fifth round pick, like he got above
a fifth round pick. What we're thinking is fifth sixth
round pick. That's probably what he's going for. I think
the fact that Dan stood on his ground was able
to get the round four pick is a pretty cool sign. Plus,
the last time people roasted Dan Morgan for a trade
(33:51):
involved in a wide receiver, he turned out to be right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
All right, let's hold it right there, we'll come back,
we'll react to it. Right now, we go to smoke
on the headlines.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Who is smoke? Where is smoke? Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
Let's go And by the way, real quick.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
What Dan made abundantly clear at the start of that
conversation is Adam Thielen was pushing hard for this in
the last week and a half. Adam Thieln wanted to
go back to Minnesota anyway, Go right ahead, all right, Well, I.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Think we all can agree this is awesome news and
we love this. Okay.
Speaker 7 (34:19):
According to Dave Canalis after practice today, he said guard
Damian Lewis is right on schedule with the rehab plan.
He was a full go in individual drills but wasn't
in team drills. Canalis says he expects him to work
as a true full go next week.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, what do you think about that?
Speaker 11 (34:37):
Massive?
Speaker 7 (34:38):
That is definitely massive, especially now with Ikey and his
status being unknown. Damian Lewis, I think he was just
as good as Robert Hunt last year, just didn't get
talked about as enough because he's not the character that
Robert Hunt.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
Is off the field.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
All right, we'll come back. We'll take your reactions to
what Dan Morgan just said. Sports Radio ninety two to
seven wfn Z. All right, Dan Morgan jumped on in
(35:15):
the previous segment. If you missed it, well you'll just
have to get it wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify,
Google Search to Kyle Bailey's show, download and subscribe. Smoke,
you'll get that one up right after the show. But
Dan told us point blank Adam Thielen wanted back in Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
He approached Dan.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Dan made that clear abundantly on a couple of occasions
early in the conversation that this was Adam Thielen coming
to him in his office and asking Dan to send
him back to Minnesota. I wonder when Kevin O'Connell and
or Queziadolpha Mensa or both called Adam Thielen what a
week and a half ago, a week ago informally and said, hey, buddy,
(35:52):
we got a situation over here. How would you feel
about coming home if we could make it happen? Like
how much of the end. Listen, this is the NFL.
These things happen all the time. It's not shady, it's well,
I mean, I guess I don't know all the league
bylaws on what's exactly allowed, but we're all smart, we
know how this works.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Like smoke.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
When did Kevin O'Connell call Adam feeling you think and
be like, hey man, we got us a situation up here.
We'd like to get you back, maybe talk to Dan
and see if we can work something out.
Speaker 7 (36:19):
I would guess about seven anywhere from seven to ten
days ago. Yeah, definitely before he talked to Kay Adams,
because that, I think is what really lit the fuse
around here, because let's see, the interview was a week
ago today, Thursday. We didn't talk about Adam Feeling getting
traded until what Wednesday Thursday last week? And then once
we heard that audio of Kevin O'Connell even talking about
(36:39):
Adam Feeling because most of the time when we talk
about players outside of the jurisdiction of the teams, they said, well,
I can't talk about these players. We've had it happen
here before, and I get that, But the fact that
Kevin O'Connell was just being that open and talking about
Adam Feeling without saying his name, it was like.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
They've talked, they've talked, they've talked, for sure. And then
how about the fact that Dan point blank said, because
I asked him, you know, hey, what are we talking
about with Hunter? Did you try to put him on
the practice squad? And he didn't want to go there,
and he said no, we'd like to get him a
spot on the fifty three man roster, like specifically said, no,
we're talking about the fifty three man roster. I got
(37:15):
a text during somebody said jumpin' Jack, says, Dan openly
said the quote we have a slot for Hunter on
the fifty three end quote which I'm not sure is
the right quote, but more or less, and then he says,
my gut tells me Hunter is using this as a
negotiating ploy.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
A negotiating ploy.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
I mean, I guess you could for sure, because if
you think about it, rostering Adam Felen in the middle
of trade negotiations was likely done to send the message, hey,
we're not giving this guy away. We are content to
keep him unless you come correct with the contract offer,
which might have taken Hunter, renfro and his agent by surprise.
They might have thought they were on the fifty three
(37:54):
to begin with, and then when they weren't Hunter specifically,
now they've got to sign him back. Does the go up?
I mean, if you're Hunter's agent, is that how you're
playing this thing? Because Dan has said now multiple times today,
both with us and earlier in the press conference, I've
been in constant communication with him. We talked earlier today,
we talked last night. He knows we want him back.
So what are we now doing here? Are there multiple
(38:15):
offers driving this up? Are there other teams trying to
convince Hunter Renfro now to come join their fifty three
man roster? And even if Hunter still wants to play here,
you know, if his agent is smart, you're using that
as leverage.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Let's say one other.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Team called, two other teams called, let's say Atlanta and
DC or whoever called Hunter and said, hey, we heard
you had a good camp. Could you be convinced to
come play for us, even though it's not home in
the Carolinas. And maybe he doesn't want to, But that's leverage, right,
Is that what we're talking about here? Because Dan outright said,
just now, smoke, we're talking about a spot on the
fifty three man roster, not the practice squad.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
Didn't even say to practice squad, And that kind of
had me thinking, Hunt, that's very interesting. So it's one
of those situations where maybe someone goes down and he
immediately just calls him. And maybe that's the thinking process
of Hunter Renfro not to be on the practice squad,
and he kind of just wants to be in game
shape but also not be on the practice squad.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Guys, this is abnormal. By the way, Yeah, this is unusual.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
We just had a general manager today say twice publicly
they are they're welcoming a guy who is on the
street currently back on.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
They want him on the fifty.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Three, but they can't convince him he doesn't want to cut. Like,
everything about this is extremely abnormal. We all agree on this, right, right, Okay, right,
it's extremely weird.
Speaker 7 (39:25):
And this also coinciding with the Adam Field trade has
definitely made things a little bit more. I don't know
if tense is the right word, but abnormal sure in
this situation. So it's it's one of the weird things
that's happened in recent Panther history. Not saying it's bad,
it's just odd. This whole situation has been odd.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, I agree. Let's take a phone call. Panther Bow
checking in from Big D Dallas. That is Panther Bow.
Speaker 11 (39:46):
What's up, hey, kab great interview. I thought it was
just awesome. I mean, Dan's always great when he comes on.
I mean Gamecock Morgan, I love that. Whenever we see
more game cocks out of this roster. People, it's got
a little two games here, and it's like just relax.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
That's the way the cards fall.
Speaker 11 (40:03):
Sometimes you get it too, you get attend. Sometimes the
card just shows a little game talk on there. But
uh no, I thought that was great. I mean, Adam
feeling clearly maybe a couple of things can be true
at once. He's looking at guys like Coker and Tettra
and XL and he said, you know what, I'm not
gonna get as many reps as I could get. You know,
up in Minnesota, I get the homecoming, I get my
(40:23):
wife getting off my back. I mean, you get a
couple of things all at once. But you know it's
gonna be time to move on the renfro things. I mean,
that's that's wild. I mean, this is why we're getting
game talk. We can't trust these punching guys. You don't
know what they're thinking. So you know, I'm worried about Ikey.
I'm worried about whether he's gonna be good to go
for game day because this this front this schedule so
(40:43):
frontloaded for wins. It's gonna be so important to get
off to a good start. But man, it's gonna be
It's gonna be awesome. We're We're just we got college football.
I'm I'm jacked up, KB. I gotta tell you, I.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Bet you are. What do you think about Stadia? I
know you're not a fan of either one, but State
ECU tonight. You know that's an ugly fear rivalry. Who
do you have?
Speaker 5 (41:01):
Oh?
Speaker 11 (41:02):
I played on hate? Is that before or after? I
hate watching rule? Yeah, I think I think State's gonna win.
But I mean, I gotta tell you, I like six
and a half going for Cincinnati and see what mister
podcast has to uh have to do over there. I
just I really hope that guy just anyway, I'd hate
for someone that seems like such a nice guy that
(41:22):
you know, suffer a tough season.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Oh yeah, I'm sure you'd be crestfallen if things don't
work out in Lincoln this year. Right, Sorry Cory con
But yeah, thank you, bo appreciate your brother. Always good
to hear from you. Seven of four five, seven of
ninety six ten hit us up.
Speaker 7 (41:36):
Nine o'clock kickoff between Nebraska Cincinnati. You were asking because
we we found out that Boise State's playing South Florida
at five.
Speaker 5 (41:44):
Today on ESPN. Is because it's at a baseball on ESPN.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Number twenty five Boise State at South Florida. Speaking of
South Florida, it was uh Jim Levitt got arrested earlier
today for like kidnapping and assault of an ext girl
like the winning I guess head coach in USF history.
Not really relevant to our news cycle, but headline that's
out there today. But yeah, Number twenty five Boise State
likely the leading G six contender to be the playoff
(42:10):
representative again this year at South Florida. You got Ohio
and Rutgers tonight on the Big Ten network at six ECU,
NC State seven o'clock on the ACC network. We got
Scott Frost back at it against Jacksonville State with UCF.
That's seven o'clock on ESPN plus. As Smoke said, we they'
only forget Duke and Elon. By the way, ESPN Plus,
(42:31):
how about the Phoenix. I was going through South End
earlier today down Tryon Elon University, big satellite campus right
there on Tryon, had no idea it was there. Caught
me off guard. Just wanted to throw that out there,
and then what else do we have? Minnesota Buffalo at
eight o'clock tonight, FS one Nebraska Cincinnati is a good
game to start the d at Arrowhead in Kansas City.
It's a very interesting game, all right, our number two. Next,
(42:52):
we'll take your phone calls. Best audio in sports. Kenneth
and Bristol is up first when we come back, Got
some phone lines open Sports Radio ninety two seven WFA
ZAI
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