August 5, 2025 • 45 mins
In the second hour of the show, the guys tell you what they expect from the East Carolina offense this year, react to Jared Dubin saying the Bryce Young trade is the 9th worst trade since 2000 and point out some of the training camp battles that have developed.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Wes and Walker Show. Are you
telling me?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
After fifteen years of unanswered prayers, we finally get our
rint protector only for Dorian Finney Smith and Danilo Gallinari.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's Wes, fifty two year old Danilo Gallinari, try to
mess it all up.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Let's go seven games, seven games into the gear man?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Are you telling me? I actually miss.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Cody Zeller and Walker? Forget o hornet starter jacket. I
need a straight jacket. I'm going crazy. I'm rocking back
and forth and fetal position only on Sports Radio ninety
two point seven FM WFNZ.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Longing for the days of Cody Zeller. All right.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
A second reference to Deontay Johnson today, after having our
conversation earlier about has there any has there ever been
another situation that even somewhat closely resembles the Deontae situation
here in the Queen City, we actually have a SoundBite
from Deontay in Cleveland speaking with CBS, saying that he's
(01:22):
working like an undrafted free agent. Andrew Berry, the Cleveland
Browns GM said that he's been a great teammate, and
Deontay Johnson talked a little bit more I haven't listened
to all of the audio, but I mean, I guess
fourth times a charm.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Right, I didn't even realize he was with Cleveland. Oh,
wait till tomorrow. Wait till tomorrow, Kevin, when he gets
out there and he sees that it's raining.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
No good, underrated storyline, definitely, despite mentioning his name in
the first hour, I didn't even make that. I didn't
even I didn't realize he was in Cleveland yet. So
he's in Cleveland. I'm thinking about Shador Sanders. I'm thinking
about Aky Kwanu versus Miles Garrett flashback to Ikey's first
ever matchup in his NFL career. By the way, Ikey's
(02:05):
first ever game was against Cleveland. It is right, Yeah,
I know they have matched up before and Miles. I
don't know if Miles got a sack on him. I
just know that he got in the backfield constantly and
provided a lot of pressure to Baker Mayfield, who was
the quarterback all the way back in Ikey kwan News
rookie season. So it's some interesting storylines there. But Deontay
Johnson another one to discuss. And last thing before we
(02:27):
go to team week, Glenn says, tell Fitty, I'm working
on a new e roa dish and I'm calling it
the lamb Blaster. Fandal text line He great, Kay I
told you this. I'm starting to get concerned.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
He misuses words a lot or just flat out makes
up words a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
God, lamb blasted, I love. You're right, I would. Yeah,
you have to make some sort of dish called the
lamb Blaster. Glenn working on that dish? Do you say,
how do you pronounce gro by the way euro?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Okay? Yeah, so you do it? All right? You're not
a gyro guy, You're not a hero. You don't put
the g the gu.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
You don't do that either, guarantee you if I remember correctly. Yeah,
the way that Fiddy pronounces it is giro.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Does he so heat? Okay, So he puts the gu
and he goes with the give all in. Okay, gotcha.
I'm not surprised. The fact. What's funny about that is
Fiddy made that promo. He's got a minute, so of
course he's making the promo. But what's hilarious is lamb
lamb blasted is hilarious, and Glenn was making that point.
So if you'd missed the promo it's fitty and saying
(03:36):
instead of lamb basted it that's the word that he's looking.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
For, right, it's lamb blasted.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
So anyways, all right, that's the text I wanted to
give light to that. Let's talk about ECUs offense and
team week.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
It's the sound you waited Munch to hear. It's caused
some of your greatest try and I'll player it to
a fitter team today and they went at twenty seven
to twenty.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Two, and your biggest heartbreak, Chris Johnson bounces off for one.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
He's delve Johnson to the outside, has a chance, footprints, goodbye.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
It's the option at Georgia Tech. It's Howard's rock the
smoke in Miami and every Saturday you tap that sign
college football is here.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So, you know, talked a little about the ECU offense
just yesterday. It was actually quite good the passing attack,
especially with that switch to quarterback Cayton Howser. After watching
Garcia not play all that well in the first handful
of games or so for ECU last year. Once Kayden
Howser took over to the offense at the midway point,
(04:45):
everything click. He threw for over two thousand yards. He
threw for eighteen touchdowns. He did turn it over just
a little bit with eleven interceptions, but at least you
had a respectable passing touchdown to interception ratio. Mentioned this
det yesterday as well. The overall offensive attack then is
twenty fourth in the nation, flounder in total yards and
(05:05):
the average thirty two points a game. Clearly, it all
revolves around the quarterback. And if you care about not
only the traditional stats that you evaluate when dissecting quarterback play,
but you look at some of the analytics, I'd look
at all the quarterbacks that played at least twenty percent
of the snaps in college football last year. Caiten Hawser's
passing grade is right there on the front page. He
(05:26):
actually came in at forty seventh in terms of the
best passers measured by Pro Football Focus. I'll absolutely take
that for my ECU program. He was two spots ahead
of a guy like DJ Lagway when it came to
throwing the football. So impressive stuff. The real question is,
is howser the real deal? Or did he beat up
on bad competition last year? Which is the entire conversation,
(05:50):
not only surrounding the QB, but the offense altogether, I'm
going to go ahead and believe in Howser as the
real deal quarterback. I understand the interceptions, those have to
come down, but this is a guy thrown into a
really tough situation last year. The back half of the season,
he was clearly better than the person that started in
front of him. Maybe not as many touchdown passes the
(06:11):
last month or so of college football, but also they
were beating up on a lot of these teams. I'm
one that thinks he's totally legit heading into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Yeah, and I thought he played well against NC State,
So I mean that's one of the toughest teams that
he would have to face. You look at this year,
you know, having to go on the road to State,
but after that, you know, things open up a little bit.
BYU A game that was supposed to be really tough,
I think is you know, a little less difficult now
now that they don't have Jake Retzloff. They're kind of
(06:40):
panicking trying to find their quarterback after he ended up transferring.
So I mean, yeah, man, I think this offense sets
up to potentially have success. Now they did lose a
lot from last year. They only have four starters returning.
I think the biggest concern for them is are they
going to be able to run the football because Roger
(07:00):
Harris is gone and last year one thousand yard back
eleven touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
On the ground. I mean he is.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
He was a legit running back and the real deal
for this team. And then you lose some crucial receivers
as well. Now, the good news is that you do
return your leading receiver from last year in Anthony Smith,
who is an explosive playmaker.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Seven or excuse me, forty one catches.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Turn that into seven hundred and ninety nine yards and
six touchdowns. That is nineteen point five yards per reception.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
That is ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
You talk about a big play threat, that's exactly what
he is. So you get him back, and you get
Janick Smith back, who also made some big plays for
you last year. I think this passing game is going
to be in really good shape. The biggest concern for
me is how good is this running game going to be?
And what do they do with an offensive line that
returns just one player from a year ago.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, pretty good though, Jamarian McCrimmon, I believe I don't
know if it's a crime, as I was just making
fun of Fitty for not being able to pronounce stuff.
Here I am with the name that I'm not sure,
but Jamerian Jamarion McCrimmon is back at the tackle spot.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Oh it's too excuse me, big dude.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
By the way, six six, three hundred and twenty six pounds,
they're starting tackle. Oh excuse me, six six three hundred
twenty six pounds. It is Poku, Emmanuel Poku who will
be starting at either tackle or guards.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
It's also returning, So yeah, they do have two returning
starters along that offensive front.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Big dudes, big dudes up front. I'm actually I'm a
believer in this offense. I think that ECU will still
continue to do some nice things. Now you mentioned some
of those guys that are coming back, just to dive
into them a little bit more so, not only do
you have the big guys up front, you mentioned the
running game. Raji Harris is gone, but London Montgomery, Marlin
(08:44):
Gunn those are the vets in the backfield. They combined
for close to six hundred yards. They had five scores
last year. So I'm not sure exactly who the leading
back is going to be. When I think of ECU offense, though,
I always think about what is a pretty good quarterback
his that they have, and I also think of a
really good wide receiver history that they have.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
The passing attack?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Is that going to be something that continues With Blake
Carroll as their head coach, who actually has been in
the ECU system for quite some time. This is I
believe his sixth year with the Pirates. If not his sixth,
that's his seventh. But he's been in the system in
some way, shape or form for quite some time now.
So I do wonder if ECU kind of gets back
to what they look like in the old days. I'm
(09:28):
not saying that we're going to see Holton Ayler's running
all over the place. I'm not going to tell you
that we see all of this phenomenal QB play from Houser.
I do trust him enough to where this offense can
be for real going into next season, even if they
are losing some guys, I think that they're going to
get somewhere close to what the Pirates used to look
like when they were experiencing more success.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, and I think, you know, I with the running game,
you know there are some things to like about the
guys that are in this room. I mean Marlon Gunn Junior,
who you talked about back fully healthy after I think
and banged up last year, you know, trying to get
back to his five point one yards per carry that
he had as a freshman. You've also got Porker Jenkins,
(10:09):
the transfer from Houston who comes over in that room,
who I think is gonna be pretty solid as well,
had a big freshman year, didn't really play a whole
lot last year, but you're hoping he can sort of
turn back the clock a little bit. And then you
talked about London Montgomery. That's the guy that's the leading
rusher coming back from last year where he averaged five
point one yards of carry on seventy one carries. So
(10:30):
I think there is some potential in that backfield. I
don't know if you're going to find another thousand yard rusher.
There might be two or three guys that really factoror
in back there and give you a pretty solid running game.
But if they can get that, then I think you've
got the passing game to be able to compete. Because
we haven't even mentioned the Oklahoma transfer Jaquezi Peta Petaway
(10:50):
who comes in, you know, and I think has a
chance to be a really good player for East Carolina
after his time at Oklhall. So I think this group
is I'm not gonna say loaded, but I think they're
in a really good spot. This again very similar to
NC State, and this is what's gonna make that first
game of the year very interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I'm not worried about this team offensively.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
My concern is on the other side of the ball,
because I think this group will be able to score points.
It's just will they be able to keep up in games.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Well, they have John David Baker in his second season
as offensive coordinator, and let's just go over some of
the ranks that this offense finished in last year. Mentioned
twenty fourth in total yards. They also finished twenty sixth
in passing yards per completion. The offense last year finished
twenty seventh in total passing offense. In twenty twenty four.
(11:44):
You had the five wins in that six game span
that he was in charge of, at least offensively, and
you're talking about a nice performance against NC State, including
Harris running for those two hundred and twenty yards that
he ran for in the military. Ball setting an a
AC Bowl record, ranking second all time in program history
behind the best running back in program history, Chris Johnson
(12:07):
CJ two K. So those are some good numbers that
he's drawing up. If you want to go with these
normal takes that you have when talking about a young
offense going into the next year and discussing the familiarity
of it all, Like most people will point to stability
being a huge thing. We've talked about it with the
Carolina Panthers forever, right the fact that you had first
(12:29):
year OC John David Baker, go, now he's going into
a second season with that kind of success that he
had in twenty twenty four, and you have the quarterback
that you know for sure is going to be your guy.
We can mention how much stability helps with all of
these teams. It's no different when pointing to ECU, and
so perhaps you're missing some of these skill guys that
you had last year, but the stability that you have
(12:50):
with your OC and your quarterback, that's I think going
to go a long way in twenty twenty five. Also,
they finishing thoughts on ECU's offense and what you expect
from that, and I.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Think honestly, with what I've pointed out, I do think
that this is a start that should allow them to
sort of settle in just a little bit, even if
there are some growing pains for some of the younger
guys that are having to step up on offense. I mean,
the good news is even it's not even that it's
younger guys, it's just inexperienced guys.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So they're guys that have been around for a while.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
They've been around Blake Carroll for a while, but now
they're finally being thrust into bigger roles. I mean at
NC State, of course is going to be tough, but
then you've got Campbell early in the season, you've got
Coastal Carolina, who's nowhere near with the Coastal Carolina that
they were when Grace and McCall and those guys were there,
and then BYU, so you've got a chance to sort
of ease yourself in the schedule for this season. I
(13:42):
think also pretty you know, relatively difficult. I think, you know,
trips to Tulane, you got army that you host at home,
but I think still manageable, especially down the stretch of
the season. So this offense even if they struggle a
little bit out of the gate, I think there's a
runway towards the end of the year where you could
see this offense back to looking like the offense that
they were last year.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Last thing I'll mention I talked about it a little
bit with the tight end depth yesterday.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
It looks like Ryles to zii O.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Ryles is going to have a bigger role this season
according to some of these ride ups, and he caught
two touchdown passes only ten receptions, but he looks to
have a bigger role. Going back to what you have
an offensive coordinator, John David Baker, he actually spent three
seasons with ole Miss, and ole Miss's passing attack has
been lights out in the SEC for quite some time,
(14:29):
and they've had a lot of professional quarterback experience that
you look at, and he was the passing game coordinator
down at ol Miss, plus the tight ends coach. So
I wonder if John David Baker Flounder is going to
be one of these guys that gets a lot of
looks if you do this now for let's say a
full season and a half, where that offense over in
(14:50):
ge Vegas looks to be lights out. He's got to
be getting some inquiries from some of these other bigger
schools that might have an OC vacancy or any head coach.
I just wonder if they do it again with that
kind of background head coach seems strong, but so maybe.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Maybe maybe of a team like in the Sunbelt or
something like that, you could see him get an opportunity.
But hey, look, we've seen really good OC's come through
East Carolina before, so yeah, it would not shock me
if he ends up having another successful year. If you
see maybe getting a call up to a power for school.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I mean, he spent a couple of years with USC,
he spent three years with ole Miss. I mean, he's
had some impressive stops before just being the outright play
caller BCU and so far, so good. So maybe this
is someone that you can capitalize with again in twenty
twenty five. And then if he leaves, then oh well
that means that he performed pretty well for you. That'll
do it for the Offensive Breakdown ECU team week. Coming
(15:47):
up next, we'll play more of the Dave Canalis and
Dan Morgan audio during their conversations with Mack and Bone.
Plus CBS had the Bryce Young trade as the ninth
worst trade in NFL since two thousand. Are people even
still thinking about this Panthers Bears trade like that? Does
that still hold a place in your brain as a
(16:08):
Panthers fan. We'll talk about it coming up next. Western
Walker Sports Radio ninety two to seven, wfn Zetasive People
Get bath.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
WESN.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Walker Sports Radio ninety two seven wfn Z, No West, Today,
No West, the rest of the weekie. We'll be back
with us on Monday. Until then, it's basically the Flounder
and Walker Show. Before we start to pick it up
for the rest, put your name first.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Okay, you don't have to put me first, It's okay,
but it's WESN.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Walker. I'm still here. So it's the Flounder and Walker Show.
You're on the ones and twos, It's fine. I don't
need to be ahead on the totem pole. You're you're
at the top, baby. You you spread your wings up
there at the top of the totem pole. That's totally fine.
It's the Flounder I say again, the Flounder and Walker Show.
Wes will be back with us on Monday, and so
I do want to continue to talk a little more
about what Dan Morgan had to say with Mac and
(17:09):
Bone and Dave Canalis. But real quickly I heard Charlotte
Sports Today discussing this with Colin.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Haggard and Shop Doog.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Jared Dubin CBS Sports had a list of the twelve worst.
I don't know why twelve, but he ranked the twelve
worst NFL player trade number since two thousand and you
had number one come in with Deshaun Watson to the Browns.
Russell Wilson to the Broncos is number two. Randy Moss too,
and from the Raiders the whole experience was number three.
(17:40):
Wes Welker to the Patriots was four. Aj Brown for
trailing Burk's and a third round pick that was number five.
And so that's the top five. But Bryce Young is
on here as well. And Bryce Young is number nine
the Bryce Young trade to the Panthers. And this is
what Jared Dubin writes, It's entirely possible that Young becomes
the superstar q be the Panthers thought they were getting
(18:01):
when they traded up from nine to number one. The
superstar quote unquote part doesn't look very likely given the
way that the career has started but stranger things have happened. Still,
even if he becomes a good player, the trade to
get him looks like an albatross at the moment. My
question is exactly what I ask you before we went
into the break, Like, my question is do people still
(18:25):
think about this?
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Yes, in the NFL community, they still think about this.
And I think there are Panther fans that probably still
think about this because there are a lot of people
that tell us, unless he wins a super Bowl, unless
he becomes a top five quarterback in the league, then
this is considered a failure, which I guess that's the case.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
But you're at the point now where you can you can't.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Be looking at the fact that he had a one
yeah parentheses one next to his name, Like, I just
I don't know what to tell yet.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
All right, So thinking about it is different from whether
it's true or not. I guess I'll tell you this.
I don't think about it at all anymore. And I know,
but as.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
A fan or someone that covers the team.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, I just it's all about making sure Bryce can
be the guy. And so I don't know what the
value is on the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart of
Bryce being good too great, to a superstar, to a
three time Pro bowler. What that would equate to in
terms of trade value, I don't know what each of
(19:29):
those stages of Bryce Young means. What I know is
that Bryce Young played a lot better last year, and
as we just mentioned in the first hour, it changes
everything in terms of the outlook of this team.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
It changes everything.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
The fact that Bryce looks like not only a competent quarterback,
but he looks like the guy that almost beat Philadelphia
because of the throws that he was making, not because hey,
we're just asking you not to lose the game. We're
just asking you to connect on some of these underneath
throws and we're going to run the football a lot.
It was a dime, daxl XCEL dropped it. We all
(20:01):
know how it happened. Kansas City. I mean, there were
some fantastic throws from Bryce shunk against Kansas City. I
would say overall, people just point to Philadelphia because they're
the Super Bowl champion, and I understand that. I think
Bryce had a better game against Kansas City with the
way they yes play, so I would agree with that too.
Put some dimes went against Steve.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Spagnolo, which is a Hall of Fame defensive coordinators.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
So the mind and the arm were on display against
Kansas City and Pat Mahomes did the Pad Mahomes thing.
He ran for a first down to secure the victory
and that was that. But he played really well against
two teams that made it to the Super Bowl. So
right now we're on a pretty positive trajectory. I don't
know if we ever reach the value that it took
(20:46):
to go get Bryce. Maybe we don't, but if he
is a multi time Pro bowler, it's the most valuable
position in sports. A Pro Bowl, QB, a franchise guy. Yeah,
I'd probably do that again and again. A lot of
people writing in on the text line earlier when we
had this conversation Flounder, it was a wild ride. JJ
wrote in Buddy, crazy ride to get here. But all's
(21:11):
well that ends well. It hasn't ended well yet, but
we're heading closer and closer to that outcome, and so
I guess now, in hindsight, I'll just go ahead and
take the sickness that is going through that first rookie season,
in the first two games of last year, and then
having that parlay into Andy Dalton being my starting quarterback
(21:32):
for a while. I mean, god, I really did think
that we were going to have to draft another QB
two years after spending the number one overall pick on
a QB. And that was a nightmare, disaster scenario. But
you're not even there anymore. It changes everything. It changes
the calculus completely. That's how I feel about it. Does
it still mean that what Jared Dubin writes is true
(21:54):
even with the context that he provides saying we haven't
seen the end of this yet. Maybe I don't have
in the top twelve list a year from now, two
years from now or not. Well, I think right now,
the needle is pointing in the bears favor. It is
right now, just because of the sheer amount that you
(22:14):
gave up.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Right, it's a lot. It's a lot, and I'm not
trying to hide from that.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Well, and it's what they did with those picks, so right,
And I don't even know if that's I don't even
know how much you should point to what they've done
with it, like, because the Bears didn't pick great players
with those draft picks, if that's the case, right, Because
let's just say the Bears miss on all of them.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
It doesn't mean that they still made the wrong decision.
It just means they made the wrong decisions with those
draft picks. It means that their talent evaluation was quite poor.
But it doesn't necessarily mean that making the trade was
the bad decision. It's just you didn't capitalize once you
did make the trade.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Even though I think they selected what was it Darnell
Right with one of the selections. He looks pretty good
as an offensive tackle Panthers.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
No, I guess it wasn't. No, it wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Let's see, it is Darnell Wright, who they he says
is a star tackle.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Caleb Williams, which is the number one pick, and it's
Caleb Williams. Lot rides on it rides. Yeah, by the way,
not looking great. Seventeen five of.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Seventeen in their version of fan Fest the other day
through three interceptions, So a pretty poor performance. Tyreek Stevenson,
who is Okay, what do you remember Tyrene.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Oh stunting, just absolutely stunting on everybody into that Washington
Commander's game during the Hail Mary play that he fails
to bet the past day.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
And there's a reason why. That's why you remember him
for that. He's a solid corner. He's nothing great God,
And this year's pick Luther Burden, So we have to
see what Luther Burton turns into. The other part of
it that I think matters and probably is the reason
why you would still lean in the Bear's favor, is
(24:07):
you had to give up DJ more to do it too. Like,
if you don't have to give up DJ, it's a lot,
maybe you're fine.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
It's a lot to give up, it really is. At
the same time, if Bryce becomes a pro bowler, then
I think I guess that's the question. What does Bryce
have to do for you to call that a wash?
Not win the trade, just to call it a wash man?
Does he have to be a He's.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Got to make you probably a consistent playoff team.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I think that's the thing. Pro Bowls is fine.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Yeah, but he's got to make you into a contender,
then I think you can call that a wash. Here's
the amazing thing though, if you say, okay, go back
and we're doing a lot of this today. But if
you say go back and undo the trade and the
Panthers just stay put, well, first all they're gonna suck.
(25:01):
They're gonna be just as bad as they were with
Bryce in there, And who are they gonna.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Take a quarterback? Can't be CJ. It would be it
would be Caleb Williams. It would be well, yeah, it
would be Caleb will.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
If they said, you know what we're punning on this year,
we're not taking a quarterback here, and we're just gonna
take one next year, because in hindsight, that is the
class that everybody's gonna be talking about because you've got
Jaden Daniels, Drake May. Everybody was taking Caleb Williams. So
you take Caleb Williams, you think you're in a better
(25:33):
spot than you are right now with Bryce. I don't
know in this I don't know how much confidence Caleb
Williams has.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
And I don't.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So, yeah, this is where you start to probably strip
credit from some of the people that might be in
this position because I don't know if it just would
have been lucky in this scenario for Carolina, Let's say
they actually start Andy Dalton at QB, they select up
whatever other player at number nine that's not a QB,
(26:02):
and then they end up taking like having the third
overall pick, right, because let's say that Andy Dalton starts
every game. If the Seattle game that he played as
any indicator as to how that season would have gone,
then they probably pick up a few more wins. And
so it doesn't mean that you love your QB situation.
It's just that Andy was clearly a better quarterback than
what Bryce was when Bryce was a rookie. So now
(26:25):
you win a few more games, do you end up
with the third overall selection where then your quarterback ends
up being Drake May or your quarterback ends up being
Jane Daniels if you have the second one, Oh that's a.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Dream, that's tree. But here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
If somebody text in or it could be Jade and Daniels, yea,
they if they had the number one pick. I'm telling
you this, Nobody was taking Jaden Daniels or Drake May
number one.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
It wasn't happening. It was Caleb atam one. I don't
think so.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
But there were enough people that like Jane Daniels enough
to where I'm not going to be as strong with
that take as you are.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
I think it's zero.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
I think everybody was in on Caleb Williams because there
were the comparisons to Mahomes and all that stuff. That
stuff is wild, yeah in hindsight, and I thought it
was wild even at the time. But I'm telling you
everybody that had that number one pick would have taken
Caleb Williams.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
That I think most teams would have And if you're
asking me to bet on it, I probably would have said,
Caroline is going to pick them. So I think you're right.
But for all intents and purposes, I do think that
you're right. Let's read some of these text messages coming
in fandle text lines seven oh four five, seven oh
ninety six to ten. We have tourism tax writing in
DJ instead of Burns is the only egregious part of
(27:38):
that trade. You know, that was quite the decision after
allowing Burns to walk.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Yeah, Burns being a part of that would have made
a little more sense in hindsight, definitely would have.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Purple Hayes says that trade and the Steve Wilks situation
were the last straws for me. I'm calling myself a
Panthers fan. Wow, Purple Hayes, are you coming back?
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Oh, don't jump back on that. Don't don't jump back
on now though when they start having success.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
I love the though he says I'm still not back,
but Xcel is bringing me around. Hey, Xcel and Wins
feels like we just need to take care of the
Wins part to bring Purple Haze.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
That is Excel bringing him around. That's interesting most people.
Xcel is one of the biggest concerns they have with
this team.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Not that accent, that personality, nothing concerning about that. I
embrace that accent and that personality. Ar is saying Flounder
is definitely right about Williams. I'm telling you, man, I
think everybody takes him well.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
I know.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Ar also said no Wes this week. Guess I'm not listening.
H exclamation point. I will say another point for your
boy is Wes would have taken Jane Daniels over Kayler Williams.
Wes would have done it. I got to give him credit.
He would have done it so smart, smart, so at
Ar your boy not here. He got that one right.
In terms of his love for Jane Daniels, Lewis Riddick
(28:52):
was a big Jane Daniels as his number one QB guy,
and he's gotten some of that stuff right. Didn't get
the Kyle Allen takes right all the way back in
twenty nine team those were pretty damn bad, but did
get the Pat Mahomes stuff right and also did get
the Jane Daniels stuff right. Heat Fan says this too.
Let's make something clear, though, why is this all on Bryce?
(29:13):
If we trade Burns instead of Dj, this is a
whole different conversation, and that's not on Bryce. I don't
think it's an entirely different conversation because I still think
Brian Burns is a good place.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
The Bears would still be probably winning this. Bryce needs
to become the franchise quarterback and like I said, in
order for it to be a wash, you need to
at least become a consistent contender in the NFC. Like
like one of the dudes said a seven h four
numbers said, well they got he has to win two
(29:46):
super Bowls or they don't win them.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
My trade.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
First of all, if they win one super Bowl, you
win the trade. Because I I will say this right now,
I guaran to you that this trade that they made
all some guys that were drafted and DJ Moore on
that roster, they will never win a super Bowl with
the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
The Bear suck.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
The Bears have sucked for years and they're going to
continue to suck the Panthers. If you find a way
to win a Super Bowl, you will win that trade.
Because the Bears ain't winning a super Bowl. It's not happening.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Seven oh four writes this one and none of this
is on Bryce. Bryce didn't make the decision to trade up.
It was just a terrible decision. But not his Well, no,
nobody's saying that to play for Carolina. We're assessing this
from a did that front office make the mistake? And
it wasn't Dan, it was Scott Fitterer still at that point,
But did they make the wrong decision in doing this,
(30:40):
which right now I don't know that they made the
wrong decision, And that's it's a great place to be
considering how all of this started, because I thought they
absolutely made the wrong decision after watching that Chargers game
in Week two, and then the next day they announced
Dandy Dalton was going to start Week three.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I think that's right.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
I think it was just the next day, the Monday
following the Sunday loss to the Chargers. So going back
to it, I just I don't even think about it anymore.
I really don't, And I think that says a lot
about the way that Bryce played after he was back
on the football field. How the benching did work. Dan
Morgan said it with Mac and Bone that the benching
(31:18):
went perfectly. I questioned just the process and how they
got there, but it did work. He's not wrong in
the final outcome of it working perfectly and the Bryce
Young thing. It looks a lot better around here. Wolf
pag James also writes in Fandle text line, if any
team wins a Super Bowl, you won't give a leap
(31:40):
if you won this trade or not. Yeah, nobody's caring
about its point, which again my point is too. I'm
kind of already here. I'm kind of I care about it,
but we're we're kind of out of the woods on
that right.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
You're to the point now where there's nothing you can do.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You've made your bed. Now you have to lie in it.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
You just have to hope that Bryce Young is going
to be successful, and from what we saw late last year,
there is a chance for him to be successful. So,
as a Panther fan, I'm not saying you should pound
your chest over this move, but at the same time,
you should be feeling like there is an avenue where
this actually works out and the Panthers maybe they don't
win the trade, but it is a wash if you
(32:20):
can get it to be a wash, I think you
consider that a successful trade.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Yeah, nine to one nine rites in. Bryce has to
be better than Caleb Williams. I think that's the bar.
If he's better than it's a wash because, like Rather said,
he is, Like Flounders said, if we had the number
one next year and took Caleb who ended up being
worse than Bryce so far, I would rather have made
the trade to go get the Alabama QB.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
All right.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Last thing on the Bryce Young conversation, Dan Orlovsky had
something to say about this. We'll play that sound bite
for you right now. Just discussing whether he can still
be great. The ESPN analysts said, Yeah, I do think
Bryce can still be great.
Speaker 6 (32:56):
Finish the season phenomenally well last year and gave everybody
here a line of like, hey, maybe the break was
the good thing. They draft ted McMillan, They've got Zeta Legett,
they should be able to run the football. Dave Canal's
second year with him, All he does is get quarterbacks
to play really well. Bryce Young everyone's talked about c J.
Stroud how great he is. I still think you have
(33:16):
the chance to be a great quarterback in the NFL
as well.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Daniel Lovski still a believer. I think he still can be.
I still think he can be very good to slash great,
And I will take that around here. Tourism tax also
brings up a good point on the text line, Wait,
did Jared Dubin have this trade with Bryce worse than
the trade lance trade?
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Yeah? That one's terrible. That one is.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
That one's brutal and all sorts of b I hate
to bring it up because I'm a tar heel guy.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Where is Mitch Trubisky's trade on here? Yeah? Also terrible.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
That's a horrendous one. One spot out to move one
spot for a guy that was going to be there.
Did get to the playoffs?
Speaker 1 (33:54):
He did? I mean, look, he did.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
And I will argue when people say that he's the
worst quarterback of all time. I will will argue till
I'm blue in the face that he made the playoffs. Oh,
and he was part of the reason that they got there.
But still, you know what's funny about that game? I
remember why I wanted it to work. For Trubisky as well, and.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Produced the throw that sets you up for the double
doors he did. It was a throw down the sideline
where the offense was not good all game long, but
made the play, made the play. I think it was
it Alan Robinson on the sideline and set them up
for Cody park Cody Parky's double doink. Oh my god,
the worst sound hurts my soul. Yeah, smoking that good,
(34:36):
said Mitch. Played well in the playoff game. I don't
know if that's true for the entire game. I just
know when the final drive when they had to have it, uh,
Michter Bisky came.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Neither one of those trades, by the way, made the list.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Yeah, so all right, Maybe we could have just saved
ourselves a long conversation by debunking the list by saying,
no Trey Lance, no Minch Trubisky. Okay, we negate said
the list. Let's move on. Let's continue to talk more
about the training camp battles that are developing over there
at Bank of America Stadium, and what is the most
surprising development from camp so far. We'll get to it
(35:09):
on the other side. Sports Radio ninety two seven. Wwwwe
no no, no, no, no, no, nothing, none of that. WFNZ
weston walker Back Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
(35:32):
Big thanks to Flounder helping me out in the co
captain chair today. Big thanks to you tuning in hopefully
you do every single weekday on Sports Radio ninety two
seven WFNZ. Every weekday again from twelve to three pm.
Let's take a look at some of the training camp
battles taking place out there at Boa. Talked a little
about it with Joe Person and Joe was saying, you know, okay,
(35:53):
I we have the center battle. That's a real one
starting center. Is it going to be Austin Corbett? Is
it going to be cad That's the one David Newton
writes about on ESPN dot com. Austin Corbett, if I
had to guess was going he'd be your starting center.
But Cad May's younger. If they just decide, all right,
what's pretty even Cad Mays doesn't have the injury history
(36:14):
and he's a little bit younger, we'd see him being
a part of the plan for the future. Maybe that's
enough to just outright give Caid Mays the starting nod.
I think when we look at some of the trading
camp battles, it's really the roster battles. Who's gonna be
just squeezing in to that fifty three man roster. I
look at cornerback right now. I don't know how many
(36:34):
corners they're gonna keep. If you look at the Panthers
depth chart, at least according to ESPN, you have your
starting quarters and J. C. Horn and Mike Jackson. Then
you have your starting nickel and Chaw Smith Wade. So
who are the guys that are showing up in camp
outside of those players? I think we've heard a lot
about Corey Thornton. Thing about Corey Thornton is he's listed
(36:57):
as the fourth string corner on PN's depth chart. Who
knows if they have it accurately. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
They haven't released the first official best chart, so we'll
have to wait.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
And that's right.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
So I take some of the listings in terms of second, third,
fourth string with a grain of salt. I will say
Corey Thornton, it's not like anybody circled him as a
name to watch heading into training camp. I heard his
name on WFNZI, ever, so he's balling out now. I
think one battle to watch for is between Corey Thornton
and Shamar Bartholomew. Shamar Bartholomew is listed as your second
(37:30):
string guy behind Mike Jackson according to ESPN. Everyone else.
I Trevian Thomas had some tiny bit of shine I
think earlier in camp, but really flound it's between Thornton
and Bartholomew, and I would say Thornton is the guy
that's getting all the praise.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Yeah, Caleb Evans was a guy that was getting some
praise early on, but he was one of the guys
that was listed in Mike.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Kay's stock report. He was the one that put out
the stock report right up.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
Yeah he is, yeah, and he was one of those
guys that was trending down. I actually thought he had
a decent showing in fan Fest, so I think he
maybe is in that battle. But to me, it's it's
those two. It's Thornton and it's and it's Partholomew. For
who's going to be the first corner out there if
there is, you know, an injury or you're just rotating guys.
(38:20):
So yeah, I mean Thornton looked pretty good the other night.
I mean he was doing a really good job being
physical with tet so. I think that's certainly something that
you're going to be watching moving forward. Is does he
continue to shine? Is he a name that continues to
pop up? This practice against the Browns gonna be a
really good chance for him to show out.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
And looking at some of that stock report that you
were talking about, Mike Ky released it. This year's annual
Panthers preseason stock watch is up. It's on the Charlotte Observer.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Mike Ky.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Everybody, we have a great team around here, the guys
and the girls. They cover the Carolina Panthers. So stock up.
It's JT Sanders on the list. Another Stockup member Hunter Renfro.
Looking at some of these corners that are on the
list as well, I didn't see it's Corey Thornton, who
he writes, has surprisingly been one of the stronger players
(39:12):
at all camp long. He was an undrafted rookie from
Louisville playing heavy snaps. Matching up with the team's top
wide out talent. Thornton has been able to make the
most of his reps by showing the ability to limit
yards after the catch opportunities. Now a Caleb Evans, he
was a guy on the stock down watch yep for
Mike KA and you mentioned it. Evans entered camp as
the third most experienced corner on the chart after playing
(39:35):
with Minnesota. After being selected to the fourth round up
there with the Viking. He has been outperformed by Thornton
and Shamar Bartholomew over the past couple weeks. So those
are a little bit of your stock up stock down reports.
Last guy I want to get to here is Chaw
smith Wade and his stock is way up. I mean,
(39:56):
now you have to be feeling good about corner depth
all across the board with the way that at least
they've been playing here and Flounder. It's a good wide
receiver room, so it's not like they're going up against scrubbs.
They're being Yeah, they're absolutely being tested. And smith Wade
is the first name on Mike K's list. And this
is what Kay writes. Smith Wade has been the most
(40:17):
consistent defensive performer in camp. He's broken up passes regularly.
There's been a buzz about him since the offseason program.
The second year nickel corner is known for his football
IQ and after learning the position on the fly last season,
he's really coming to his own on the field and
in the classroom. This is the second time that we've
heard about him putting in that extra work in the classroom.
(40:38):
Let's hear Dan Morgan talk about him, because he spoke
about the Washington State product with Mac and Boone earlier today.
And the GM of the Panthers doesn't see CSW leaving
the field all that much, you know.
Speaker 7 (40:49):
I think the biggest thing with Sel you see is
just the confidence that he's grown in the defense, how
smart he is. He can play multiple positions within the defense,
and he's just a fiery competitor.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
So we love having him out there. You know.
Speaker 7 (41:07):
I don't really see him leaving the field during the game,
you know, just because he can do so much and
he's such a playmaker.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
So yeah, we're lucky to have him. Doesn't see him
leaving the field much. I know he kind of snuck
that in at the end of his comment, but that's
a big deal. So if you don't see him leaving
the field much. One all these teams play more nickel
than any other defense in the league. I mean, at
least having three corners out there, because so much of
the offense calls for three wide receivers to be out
on the football field.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
So that's one thing to consider basically your base defense.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
It essentially becomes that even if I do believe the
Panthers played less nickel than most teams last year, I
think that's true, but I could be mistaken. Part of
it is just running the football against a terrible team,
right right, And.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
They didn't have trust in Shaw or some of the
other guys that were at nickel.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Now they probably do now you do.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
And if you're going to have closer games, that means
teams are going to be throwing the football against you more,
which means you're going to be getting more three wide
receiver sets, which means you're going to be seeing CSW
on the field a lot more at that nickel spot.
And if he's so good, this is where we introduce
again the conversation we had last week. Is he stealing
snaps from anybody? And when I say anybody, it's really
(42:18):
only one guy, like a Mike Jackson. And I don't
think Mike has been bad. I think Mike has been
good in camp. But if Mike K and others share
Mike Kay's opinion about him being the most consistent defensive
performer in camp, and that was not just of members
in the secondary, the most consistent performer of all defensive players,
Then how do you take that guy off of the field.
(42:41):
Mike Jackson is so is there any kind of outside looks,
maybe matchup based stuff. I don't know, but this it
would be much more of a question if Mike jack
wasn't playing well in Camp two, which we've heard good
things from him. Also, hey, this is good. We were
scared a little bit about corner depth, and now it
looks like we got a little more room to play
(43:03):
with than we had before camp started. Now you got
a Bartholomew, now you got a Thornton. Where it doesn't
mean it's going to translate immediately to the NFL, but hey,
if you're seeing good things from your younger corners in camp,
then at least maybe one.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Of them hits.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Let's just say it's CSW who they're just going to
start like I, this is good. These are good things
to hear about your secondary well.
Speaker 4 (43:26):
And by the way, we need to give credit to
Dan Morgan here, because that is a Dan Morgan draft pick.
A lot of people are bashing him for the first
draft and saying, well, you know, Xavier Lely gets not great,
Trevin Wallace not stepping up just yet, even though you know,
I guess here's the thing about the linebackers. I guess
they've been fine, probably not great.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
I don't think we've heard a lot.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
Dave Canalis had a comment about the offensive line excelling
in this training camp so far, and so if that's
the case, great, I want the offensive line to excel.
I don't feel like we've heard a lot about the linebackers,
and nor have we heard a ton about the defensive line.
Morton will make a play here and there, but there's
been some injuries right now.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Joe did say yesterday that there is more depth there.
You can definitely see that, so that's encouraging for sure.
But yeah, you're not really hearing a lot about the
linebacker spot. Where Yeah, we're hearing about the cornerback spot
pretty much every day. And I think, you know, one
of the other things we didn't talk about it here,
but I think one of the more interesting battles to
(44:29):
watch too is for that starting safety role next to
Trayvon Mary. That's becoming more of a battle than I
think we thought it was going to be. We thought
early on in camp, Oh, this is Demani Richardson's job
to lose. Now we're seeing Nick Scott play a lot
out there. We're seeing Laithan Ransom start to play some
of his best football. So that's a conversation that I
(44:51):
think we're going to continue to have as we go
through the preseason. Is that a battle that all of
a sudden develops into one of the better ones on
this team?
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Yeah, it absolutely could be. We have more set, We
get all sorts of sound. Baby Mack and Bone doing
a great job with their interviews earlier today at what
they call the Suck Up Suite because they weren't out
there at Homer Hill.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
They're inside. They were cozy.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
They were talking to Dave Canalist, Dan Morgan, Bryce Young,
all sorts of the more important figures over there with
the Panthers organization. So let's calm through it some more.
Sports Rated ninety two to seven WFNZ.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Listen to the Wes and.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Walker Show Wheaties from noon to three only on Sports
Radio ninety two point seven FM UFNZ, the
Speaker 5 (45:31):
Official home of the Charlotte Sports Fan
You're listening to the Wes and Walker Show. Are you
telling me?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
After fifteen years of unanswered prayers, we finally get our
rint protector only for Dorian Finney Smith and Danilo Gallinari.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's Wes, fifty two year old Danilo Gallinari, try to
mess it all up.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Let's go seven games, seven games into the gear man?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Are you telling me? I actually miss.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Cody Zeller and Walker? Forget o hornet starter jacket. I
need a straight jacket. I'm going crazy. I'm rocking back
and forth and fetal position only on Sports Radio ninety
two point seven FM WFNZ.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Longing for the days of Cody Zeller. All right.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
A second reference to Deontay Johnson today, after having our
conversation earlier about has there any has there ever been
another situation that even somewhat closely resembles the Deontae situation
here in the Queen City, we actually have a SoundBite
from Deontay in Cleveland speaking with CBS, saying that he's
(01:22):
working like an undrafted free agent. Andrew Berry, the Cleveland
Browns GM said that he's been a great teammate, and
Deontay Johnson talked a little bit more I haven't listened
to all of the audio, but I mean, I guess
fourth times a charm.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Right, I didn't even realize he was with Cleveland. Oh,
wait till tomorrow. Wait till tomorrow, Kevin, when he gets
out there and he sees that it's raining.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
No good, underrated storyline, definitely, despite mentioning his name in
the first hour, I didn't even make that. I didn't
even I didn't realize he was in Cleveland yet. So
he's in Cleveland. I'm thinking about Shador Sanders. I'm thinking
about Aky Kwanu versus Miles Garrett flashback to Ikey's first
ever matchup in his NFL career. By the way, Ikey's
(02:05):
first ever game was against Cleveland. It is right, Yeah,
I know they have matched up before and Miles. I
don't know if Miles got a sack on him. I
just know that he got in the backfield constantly and
provided a lot of pressure to Baker Mayfield, who was
the quarterback all the way back in Ikey kwan News
rookie season. So it's some interesting storylines there. But Deontay
Johnson another one to discuss. And last thing before we
(02:27):
go to team week, Glenn says, tell Fitty, I'm working
on a new e roa dish and I'm calling it
the lamb Blaster. Fandal text line He great, Kay I
told you this. I'm starting to get concerned.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
He misuses words a lot or just flat out makes
up words a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
God, lamb blasted, I love. You're right, I would. Yeah,
you have to make some sort of dish called the
lamb Blaster. Glenn working on that dish? Do you say,
how do you pronounce gro by the way euro?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Okay? Yeah, so you do it? All right? You're not
a gyro guy, You're not a hero. You don't put
the g the gu.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
You don't do that either, guarantee you if I remember correctly. Yeah,
the way that Fiddy pronounces it is giro.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Does he so heat? Okay, So he puts the gu
and he goes with the give all in. Okay, gotcha.
I'm not surprised. The fact. What's funny about that is
Fiddy made that promo. He's got a minute, so of
course he's making the promo. But what's hilarious is lamb
lamb blasted is hilarious, and Glenn was making that point.
So if you'd missed the promo it's fitty and saying
(03:36):
instead of lamb basted it that's the word that he's looking.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
For, right, it's lamb blasted.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
So anyways, all right, that's the text I wanted to
give light to that. Let's talk about ECUs offense and
team week.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
It's the sound you waited Munch to hear. It's caused
some of your greatest try and I'll player it to
a fitter team today and they went at twenty seven
to twenty.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Two, and your biggest heartbreak, Chris Johnson bounces off for one.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
He's delve Johnson to the outside, has a chance, footprints, goodbye.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
It's the option at Georgia Tech. It's Howard's rock the
smoke in Miami and every Saturday you tap that sign
college football is here.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So, you know, talked a little about the ECU offense
just yesterday. It was actually quite good the passing attack,
especially with that switch to quarterback Cayton Howser. After watching
Garcia not play all that well in the first handful
of games or so for ECU last year. Once Kayden
Howser took over to the offense at the midway point,
(04:45):
everything click. He threw for over two thousand yards. He
threw for eighteen touchdowns. He did turn it over just
a little bit with eleven interceptions, but at least you
had a respectable passing touchdown to interception ratio. Mentioned this
det yesterday as well. The overall offensive attack then is
twenty fourth in the nation, flounder in total yards and
(05:05):
the average thirty two points a game. Clearly, it all
revolves around the quarterback. And if you care about not
only the traditional stats that you evaluate when dissecting quarterback play,
but you look at some of the analytics, I'd look
at all the quarterbacks that played at least twenty percent
of the snaps in college football last year. Caiten Hawser's
passing grade is right there on the front page. He
(05:26):
actually came in at forty seventh in terms of the
best passers measured by Pro Football Focus. I'll absolutely take
that for my ECU program. He was two spots ahead
of a guy like DJ Lagway when it came to
throwing the football. So impressive stuff. The real question is,
is howser the real deal? Or did he beat up
on bad competition last year? Which is the entire conversation,
(05:50):
not only surrounding the QB, but the offense altogether, I'm
going to go ahead and believe in Howser as the
real deal quarterback. I understand the interceptions, those have to
come down, but this is a guy thrown into a
really tough situation last year. The back half of the season,
he was clearly better than the person that started in
front of him. Maybe not as many touchdown passes the
(06:11):
last month or so of college football, but also they
were beating up on a lot of these teams. I'm
one that thinks he's totally legit heading into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Yeah, and I thought he played well against NC State,
So I mean that's one of the toughest teams that
he would have to face. You look at this year,
you know, having to go on the road to State,
but after that, you know, things open up a little bit.
BYU A game that was supposed to be really tough,
I think is you know, a little less difficult now
now that they don't have Jake Retzloff. They're kind of
(06:40):
panicking trying to find their quarterback after he ended up transferring.
So I mean, yeah, man, I think this offense sets
up to potentially have success. Now they did lose a
lot from last year. They only have four starters returning.
I think the biggest concern for them is are they
going to be able to run the football because Roger
(07:00):
Harris is gone and last year one thousand yard back
eleven touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
On the ground. I mean he is.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
He was a legit running back and the real deal
for this team. And then you lose some crucial receivers
as well. Now, the good news is that you do
return your leading receiver from last year in Anthony Smith,
who is an explosive playmaker.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Seven or excuse me, forty one catches.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Turn that into seven hundred and ninety nine yards and
six touchdowns. That is nineteen point five yards per reception.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
That is ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
You talk about a big play threat, that's exactly what
he is. So you get him back, and you get
Janick Smith back, who also made some big plays for
you last year. I think this passing game is going
to be in really good shape. The biggest concern for
me is how good is this running game going to be?
And what do they do with an offensive line that
returns just one player from a year ago.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, pretty good though, Jamarian McCrimmon, I believe I don't
know if it's a crime, as I was just making
fun of Fitty for not being able to pronounce stuff.
Here I am with the name that I'm not sure,
but Jamerian Jamarion McCrimmon is back at the tackle spot.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Oh it's too excuse me, big dude.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
By the way, six six, three hundred and twenty six pounds,
they're starting tackle. Oh excuse me, six six three hundred
twenty six pounds. It is Poku, Emmanuel Poku who will
be starting at either tackle or guards.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
It's also returning, So yeah, they do have two returning
starters along that offensive front.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Big dudes, big dudes up front. I'm actually I'm a
believer in this offense. I think that ECU will still
continue to do some nice things. Now you mentioned some
of those guys that are coming back, just to dive
into them a little bit more so, not only do
you have the big guys up front, you mentioned the
running game. Raji Harris is gone, but London Montgomery, Marlin
(08:44):
Gunn those are the vets in the backfield. They combined
for close to six hundred yards. They had five scores
last year. So I'm not sure exactly who the leading
back is going to be. When I think of ECU offense, though,
I always think about what is a pretty good quarterback
his that they have, and I also think of a
really good wide receiver history that they have.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
The passing attack?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Is that going to be something that continues With Blake
Carroll as their head coach, who actually has been in
the ECU system for quite some time. This is I
believe his sixth year with the Pirates. If not his sixth,
that's his seventh. But he's been in the system in
some way, shape or form for quite some time now.
So I do wonder if ECU kind of gets back
to what they look like in the old days. I'm
(09:28):
not saying that we're going to see Holton Ayler's running
all over the place. I'm not going to tell you
that we see all of this phenomenal QB play from Houser.
I do trust him enough to where this offense can
be for real going into next season, even if they
are losing some guys, I think that they're going to
get somewhere close to what the Pirates used to look
like when they were experiencing more success.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, and I think, you know, I with the running game,
you know there are some things to like about the
guys that are in this room. I mean Marlon Gunn Junior,
who you talked about back fully healthy after I think
and banged up last year, you know, trying to get
back to his five point one yards per carry that
he had as a freshman. You've also got Porker Jenkins,
(10:09):
the transfer from Houston who comes over in that room,
who I think is gonna be pretty solid as well,
had a big freshman year, didn't really play a whole
lot last year, but you're hoping he can sort of
turn back the clock a little bit. And then you
talked about London Montgomery. That's the guy that's the leading
rusher coming back from last year where he averaged five
point one yards of carry on seventy one carries. So
(10:30):
I think there is some potential in that backfield. I
don't know if you're going to find another thousand yard rusher.
There might be two or three guys that really factoror
in back there and give you a pretty solid running game.
But if they can get that, then I think you've
got the passing game to be able to compete. Because
we haven't even mentioned the Oklahoma transfer Jaquezi Peta Petaway
(10:50):
who comes in, you know, and I think has a
chance to be a really good player for East Carolina
after his time at Oklhall. So I think this group
is I'm not gonna say loaded, but I think they're
in a really good spot. This again very similar to
NC State, and this is what's gonna make that first
game of the year very interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I'm not worried about this team offensively.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
My concern is on the other side of the ball,
because I think this group will be able to score points.
It's just will they be able to keep up in games.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Well, they have John David Baker in his second season
as offensive coordinator, and let's just go over some of
the ranks that this offense finished in last year. Mentioned
twenty fourth in total yards. They also finished twenty sixth
in passing yards per completion. The offense last year finished
twenty seventh in total passing offense. In twenty twenty four.
(11:44):
You had the five wins in that six game span
that he was in charge of, at least offensively, and
you're talking about a nice performance against NC State, including
Harris running for those two hundred and twenty yards that
he ran for in the military. Ball setting an a
AC Bowl record, ranking second all time in program history
behind the best running back in program history, Chris Johnson
(12:07):
CJ two K. So those are some good numbers that
he's drawing up. If you want to go with these
normal takes that you have when talking about a young
offense going into the next year and discussing the familiarity
of it all, Like most people will point to stability
being a huge thing. We've talked about it with the
Carolina Panthers forever, right the fact that you had first
(12:29):
year OC John David Baker, go, now he's going into
a second season with that kind of success that he
had in twenty twenty four, and you have the quarterback
that you know for sure is going to be your guy.
We can mention how much stability helps with all of
these teams. It's no different when pointing to ECU, and
so perhaps you're missing some of these skill guys that
you had last year, but the stability that you have
(12:50):
with your OC and your quarterback, that's I think going
to go a long way in twenty twenty five. Also,
they finishing thoughts on ECU's offense and what you expect
from that, and I.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Think honestly, with what I've pointed out, I do think
that this is a start that should allow them to
sort of settle in just a little bit, even if
there are some growing pains for some of the younger
guys that are having to step up on offense. I mean,
the good news is even it's not even that it's
younger guys, it's just inexperienced guys.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So they're guys that have been around for a while.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
They've been around Blake Carroll for a while, but now
they're finally being thrust into bigger roles. I mean at
NC State, of course is going to be tough, but
then you've got Campbell early in the season, you've got
Coastal Carolina, who's nowhere near with the Coastal Carolina that
they were when Grace and McCall and those guys were there,
and then BYU, so you've got a chance to sort
of ease yourself in the schedule for this season. I
(13:42):
think also pretty you know, relatively difficult. I think, you know,
trips to Tulane, you got army that you host at home,
but I think still manageable, especially down the stretch of
the season. So this offense even if they struggle a
little bit out of the gate, I think there's a
runway towards the end of the year where you could
see this offense back to looking like the offense that
they were last year.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Last thing I'll mention I talked about it a little
bit with the tight end depth yesterday.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
It looks like Ryles to zii O.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Ryles is going to have a bigger role this season
according to some of these ride ups, and he caught
two touchdown passes only ten receptions, but he looks to
have a bigger role. Going back to what you have
an offensive coordinator, John David Baker, he actually spent three
seasons with ole Miss, and ole Miss's passing attack has
been lights out in the SEC for quite some time,
(14:29):
and they've had a lot of professional quarterback experience that
you look at, and he was the passing game coordinator
down at ol Miss, plus the tight ends coach. So
I wonder if John David Baker Flounder is going to
be one of these guys that gets a lot of
looks if you do this now for let's say a
full season and a half, where that offense over in
(14:50):
ge Vegas looks to be lights out. He's got to
be getting some inquiries from some of these other bigger
schools that might have an OC vacancy or any head coach.
I just wonder if they do it again with that
kind of background head coach seems strong, but so maybe.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Maybe maybe of a team like in the Sunbelt or
something like that, you could see him get an opportunity.
But hey, look, we've seen really good OC's come through
East Carolina before, so yeah, it would not shock me
if he ends up having another successful year. If you
see maybe getting a call up to a power for school.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I mean, he spent a couple of years with USC,
he spent three years with ole Miss. I mean, he's
had some impressive stops before just being the outright play
caller BCU and so far, so good. So maybe this
is someone that you can capitalize with again in twenty
twenty five. And then if he leaves, then oh well
that means that he performed pretty well for you. That'll
do it for the Offensive Breakdown ECU team week. Coming
(15:47):
up next, we'll play more of the Dave Canalis and
Dan Morgan audio during their conversations with Mack and Bone.
Plus CBS had the Bryce Young trade as the ninth
worst trade in NFL since two thousand. Are people even
still thinking about this Panthers Bears trade like that? Does
that still hold a place in your brain as a
(16:08):
Panthers fan. We'll talk about it coming up next. Western
Walker Sports Radio ninety two to seven, wfn Zetasive People
Get bath.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
WESN.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Walker Sports Radio ninety two seven wfn Z, No West, Today,
No West, the rest of the weekie. We'll be back
with us on Monday. Until then, it's basically the Flounder
and Walker Show. Before we start to pick it up
for the rest, put your name first.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Okay, you don't have to put me first, It's okay,
but it's WESN.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Walker. I'm still here. So it's the Flounder and Walker Show.
You're on the ones and twos, It's fine. I don't
need to be ahead on the totem pole. You're you're
at the top, baby. You you spread your wings up
there at the top of the totem pole. That's totally fine.
It's the Flounder I say again, the Flounder and Walker Show.
Wes will be back with us on Monday, and so
I do want to continue to talk a little more
about what Dan Morgan had to say with Mac and
(17:09):
Bone and Dave Canalis. But real quickly I heard Charlotte
Sports Today discussing this with Colin.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Haggard and Shop Doog.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Jared Dubin CBS Sports had a list of the twelve worst.
I don't know why twelve, but he ranked the twelve
worst NFL player trade number since two thousand and you
had number one come in with Deshaun Watson to the Browns.
Russell Wilson to the Broncos is number two. Randy Moss too,
and from the Raiders the whole experience was number three.
(17:40):
Wes Welker to the Patriots was four. Aj Brown for
trailing Burk's and a third round pick that was number five.
And so that's the top five. But Bryce Young is
on here as well. And Bryce Young is number nine
the Bryce Young trade to the Panthers. And this is
what Jared Dubin writes, It's entirely possible that Young becomes
the superstar q be the Panthers thought they were getting
(18:01):
when they traded up from nine to number one. The
superstar quote unquote part doesn't look very likely given the
way that the career has started but stranger things have happened. Still,
even if he becomes a good player, the trade to
get him looks like an albatross at the moment. My
question is exactly what I ask you before we went
into the break, Like, my question is do people still
(18:25):
think about this?
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Yes, in the NFL community, they still think about this.
And I think there are Panther fans that probably still
think about this because there are a lot of people
that tell us, unless he wins a super Bowl, unless
he becomes a top five quarterback in the league, then
this is considered a failure, which I guess that's the case.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
But you're at the point now where you can you can't.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Be looking at the fact that he had a one
yeah parentheses one next to his name, Like, I just
I don't know what to tell yet.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
All right, So thinking about it is different from whether
it's true or not. I guess I'll tell you this.
I don't think about it at all anymore. And I know,
but as.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
A fan or someone that covers the team.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, I just it's all about making sure Bryce can
be the guy. And so I don't know what the
value is on the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart of
Bryce being good too great, to a superstar, to a
three time Pro bowler. What that would equate to in
terms of trade value, I don't know what each of
(19:29):
those stages of Bryce Young means. What I know is
that Bryce Young played a lot better last year, and
as we just mentioned in the first hour, it changes
everything in terms of the outlook of this team.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
It changes everything.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
The fact that Bryce looks like not only a competent quarterback,
but he looks like the guy that almost beat Philadelphia
because of the throws that he was making, not because hey,
we're just asking you not to lose the game. We're
just asking you to connect on some of these underneath
throws and we're going to run the football a lot.
It was a dime, daxl XCEL dropped it. We all
(20:01):
know how it happened. Kansas City. I mean, there were
some fantastic throws from Bryce shunk against Kansas City. I
would say overall, people just point to Philadelphia because they're
the Super Bowl champion, and I understand that. I think
Bryce had a better game against Kansas City with the
way they yes play, so I would agree with that too.
Put some dimes went against Steve.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Spagnolo, which is a Hall of Fame defensive coordinators.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
So the mind and the arm were on display against
Kansas City and Pat Mahomes did the Pad Mahomes thing.
He ran for a first down to secure the victory
and that was that. But he played really well against
two teams that made it to the Super Bowl. So
right now we're on a pretty positive trajectory. I don't
know if we ever reach the value that it took
(20:46):
to go get Bryce. Maybe we don't, but if he
is a multi time Pro bowler, it's the most valuable
position in sports. A Pro Bowl, QB, a franchise guy. Yeah,
I'd probably do that again and again. A lot of
people writing in on the text line earlier when we
had this conversation Flounder, it was a wild ride. JJ
wrote in Buddy, crazy ride to get here. But all's
(21:11):
well that ends well. It hasn't ended well yet, but
we're heading closer and closer to that outcome, and so
I guess now, in hindsight, I'll just go ahead and
take the sickness that is going through that first rookie season,
in the first two games of last year, and then
having that parlay into Andy Dalton being my starting quarterback
(21:32):
for a while. I mean, god, I really did think
that we were going to have to draft another QB
two years after spending the number one overall pick on
a QB. And that was a nightmare, disaster scenario. But
you're not even there anymore. It changes everything. It changes
the calculus completely. That's how I feel about it. Does
it still mean that what Jared Dubin writes is true
(21:54):
even with the context that he provides saying we haven't
seen the end of this yet. Maybe I don't have
in the top twelve list a year from now, two
years from now or not. Well, I think right now,
the needle is pointing in the bears favor. It is
right now, just because of the sheer amount that you
(22:14):
gave up.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Right, it's a lot. It's a lot, and I'm not
trying to hide from that.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Well, and it's what they did with those picks, so right,
And I don't even know if that's I don't even
know how much you should point to what they've done
with it, like, because the Bears didn't pick great players
with those draft picks, if that's the case, right, Because
let's just say the Bears miss on all of them.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
It doesn't mean that they still made the wrong decision.
It just means they made the wrong decisions with those
draft picks. It means that their talent evaluation was quite poor.
But it doesn't necessarily mean that making the trade was
the bad decision. It's just you didn't capitalize once you
did make the trade.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Even though I think they selected what was it Darnell
Right with one of the selections. He looks pretty good
as an offensive tackle Panthers.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
No, I guess it wasn't. No, it wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Let's see, it is Darnell Wright, who they he says
is a star tackle.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Caleb Williams, which is the number one pick, and it's
Caleb Williams. Lot rides on it rides. Yeah, by the way,
not looking great. Seventeen five of.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Seventeen in their version of fan Fest the other day
through three interceptions, So a pretty poor performance. Tyreek Stevenson,
who is Okay, what do you remember Tyrene.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Oh stunting, just absolutely stunting on everybody into that Washington
Commander's game during the Hail Mary play that he fails
to bet the past day.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
And there's a reason why. That's why you remember him
for that. He's a solid corner. He's nothing great God,
And this year's pick Luther Burden, So we have to
see what Luther Burton turns into. The other part of
it that I think matters and probably is the reason
why you would still lean in the Bear's favor, is
(24:07):
you had to give up DJ more to do it too. Like,
if you don't have to give up DJ, it's a lot,
maybe you're fine.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
It's a lot to give up, it really is. At
the same time, if Bryce becomes a pro bowler, then
I think I guess that's the question. What does Bryce
have to do for you to call that a wash?
Not win the trade, just to call it a wash man?
Does he have to be a He's.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Got to make you probably a consistent playoff team.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I think that's the thing. Pro Bowls is fine.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Yeah, but he's got to make you into a contender,
then I think you can call that a wash. Here's
the amazing thing though, if you say, okay, go back
and we're doing a lot of this today. But if
you say go back and undo the trade and the
Panthers just stay put, well, first all they're gonna suck.
(25:01):
They're gonna be just as bad as they were with
Bryce in there, And who are they gonna.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Take a quarterback? Can't be CJ. It would be it
would be Caleb Williams. It would be well, yeah, it
would be Caleb will.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
If they said, you know what we're punning on this year,
we're not taking a quarterback here, and we're just gonna
take one next year, because in hindsight, that is the
class that everybody's gonna be talking about because you've got
Jaden Daniels, Drake May. Everybody was taking Caleb Williams. So
you take Caleb Williams, you think you're in a better
(25:33):
spot than you are right now with Bryce. I don't
know in this I don't know how much confidence Caleb
Williams has.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
And I don't.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So, yeah, this is where you start to probably strip
credit from some of the people that might be in
this position because I don't know if it just would
have been lucky in this scenario for Carolina, Let's say
they actually start Andy Dalton at QB, they select up
whatever other player at number nine that's not a QB,
(26:02):
and then they end up taking like having the third
overall pick, right, because let's say that Andy Dalton starts
every game. If the Seattle game that he played as
any indicator as to how that season would have gone,
then they probably pick up a few more wins. And
so it doesn't mean that you love your QB situation.
It's just that Andy was clearly a better quarterback than
what Bryce was when Bryce was a rookie. So now
(26:25):
you win a few more games, do you end up
with the third overall selection where then your quarterback ends
up being Drake May or your quarterback ends up being
Jane Daniels if you have the second one, Oh that's a.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Dream, that's tree. But here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
If somebody text in or it could be Jade and Daniels, yea,
they if they had the number one pick. I'm telling
you this, Nobody was taking Jaden Daniels or Drake May
number one.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
It wasn't happening. It was Caleb atam one. I don't
think so.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
But there were enough people that like Jane Daniels enough
to where I'm not going to be as strong with
that take as you are.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
I think it's zero.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
I think everybody was in on Caleb Williams because there
were the comparisons to Mahomes and all that stuff. That
stuff is wild, yeah in hindsight, and I thought it
was wild even at the time. But I'm telling you
everybody that had that number one pick would have taken
Caleb Williams.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
That I think most teams would have And if you're
asking me to bet on it, I probably would have said,
Caroline is going to pick them. So I think you're right.
But for all intents and purposes, I do think that
you're right. Let's read some of these text messages coming
in fandle text lines seven oh four five, seven oh
ninety six to ten. We have tourism tax writing in
DJ instead of Burns is the only egregious part of
(27:38):
that trade. You know, that was quite the decision after
allowing Burns to walk.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
Yeah, Burns being a part of that would have made
a little more sense in hindsight, definitely would have.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Purple Hayes says that trade and the Steve Wilks situation
were the last straws for me. I'm calling myself a
Panthers fan. Wow, Purple Hayes, are you coming back?
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Oh, don't jump back on that. Don't don't jump back
on now though when they start having success.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
I love the though he says I'm still not back,
but Xcel is bringing me around. Hey, Xcel and Wins
feels like we just need to take care of the
Wins part to bring Purple Haze.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
That is Excel bringing him around. That's interesting most people.
Xcel is one of the biggest concerns they have with
this team.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Not that accent, that personality, nothing concerning about that. I
embrace that accent and that personality. Ar is saying Flounder
is definitely right about Williams. I'm telling you, man, I
think everybody takes him well.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
I know.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Ar also said no Wes this week. Guess I'm not listening.
H exclamation point. I will say another point for your
boy is Wes would have taken Jane Daniels over Kayler Williams.
Wes would have done it. I got to give him credit.
He would have done it so smart, smart, so at
Ar your boy not here. He got that one right.
In terms of his love for Jane Daniels, Lewis Riddick
(28:52):
was a big Jane Daniels as his number one QB guy,
and he's gotten some of that stuff right. Didn't get
the Kyle Allen takes right all the way back in
twenty nine team those were pretty damn bad, but did
get the Pat Mahomes stuff right and also did get
the Jane Daniels stuff right. Heat Fan says this too.
Let's make something clear, though, why is this all on Bryce?
(29:13):
If we trade Burns instead of Dj, this is a
whole different conversation, and that's not on Bryce. I don't
think it's an entirely different conversation because I still think
Brian Burns is a good place.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
The Bears would still be probably winning this. Bryce needs
to become the franchise quarterback and like I said, in
order for it to be a wash, you need to
at least become a consistent contender in the NFC. Like
like one of the dudes said a seven h four
numbers said, well they got he has to win two
(29:46):
super Bowls or they don't win them.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
My trade.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
First of all, if they win one super Bowl, you
win the trade. Because I I will say this right now,
I guaran to you that this trade that they made
all some guys that were drafted and DJ Moore on
that roster, they will never win a super Bowl with
the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
The Bear suck.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
The Bears have sucked for years and they're going to
continue to suck the Panthers. If you find a way
to win a Super Bowl, you will win that trade.
Because the Bears ain't winning a super Bowl. It's not happening.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Seven oh four writes this one and none of this
is on Bryce. Bryce didn't make the decision to trade up.
It was just a terrible decision. But not his Well, no,
nobody's saying that to play for Carolina. We're assessing this
from a did that front office make the mistake? And
it wasn't Dan, it was Scott Fitterer still at that point,
But did they make the wrong decision in doing this,
(30:40):
which right now I don't know that they made the
wrong decision, And that's it's a great place to be
considering how all of this started, because I thought they
absolutely made the wrong decision after watching that Chargers game
in Week two, and then the next day they announced
Dandy Dalton was going to start Week three.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I think that's right.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
I think it was just the next day, the Monday
following the Sunday loss to the Chargers. So going back
to it, I just I don't even think about it anymore.
I really don't, And I think that says a lot
about the way that Bryce played after he was back
on the football field. How the benching did work. Dan
Morgan said it with Mac and Bone that the benching
(31:18):
went perfectly. I questioned just the process and how they
got there, but it did work. He's not wrong in
the final outcome of it working perfectly and the Bryce
Young thing. It looks a lot better around here. Wolf
pag James also writes in Fandle text line, if any
team wins a Super Bowl, you won't give a leap
(31:40):
if you won this trade or not. Yeah, nobody's caring
about its point, which again my point is too. I'm
kind of already here. I'm kind of I care about it,
but we're we're kind of out of the woods on
that right.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
You're to the point now where there's nothing you can do.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You've made your bed. Now you have to lie in it.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
You just have to hope that Bryce Young is going
to be successful, and from what we saw late last year,
there is a chance for him to be successful. So,
as a Panther fan, I'm not saying you should pound
your chest over this move, but at the same time,
you should be feeling like there is an avenue where
this actually works out and the Panthers maybe they don't
win the trade, but it is a wash if you
(32:20):
can get it to be a wash, I think you
consider that a successful trade.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Yeah, nine to one nine rites in. Bryce has to
be better than Caleb Williams. I think that's the bar.
If he's better than it's a wash because, like Rather said,
he is, Like Flounders said, if we had the number
one next year and took Caleb who ended up being
worse than Bryce so far, I would rather have made
the trade to go get the Alabama QB.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
All right.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Last thing on the Bryce Young conversation, Dan Orlovsky had
something to say about this. We'll play that sound bite
for you right now. Just discussing whether he can still
be great. The ESPN analysts said, Yeah, I do think
Bryce can still be great.
Speaker 6 (32:56):
Finish the season phenomenally well last year and gave everybody
here a line of like, hey, maybe the break was
the good thing. They draft ted McMillan, They've got Zeta Legett,
they should be able to run the football. Dave Canal's
second year with him, All he does is get quarterbacks
to play really well. Bryce Young everyone's talked about c J.
Stroud how great he is. I still think you have
(33:16):
the chance to be a great quarterback in the NFL
as well.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Daniel Lovski still a believer. I think he still can be.
I still think he can be very good to slash great,
And I will take that around here. Tourism tax also
brings up a good point on the text line, Wait,
did Jared Dubin have this trade with Bryce worse than
the trade lance trade?
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Yeah? That one's terrible. That one is.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
That one's brutal and all sorts of b I hate
to bring it up because I'm a tar heel guy.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Where is Mitch Trubisky's trade on here? Yeah? Also terrible.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
That's a horrendous one. One spot out to move one
spot for a guy that was going to be there.
Did get to the playoffs?
Speaker 1 (33:54):
He did? I mean, look, he did.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
And I will argue when people say that he's the
worst quarterback of all time. I will will argue till
I'm blue in the face that he made the playoffs. Oh,
and he was part of the reason that they got there.
But still, you know what's funny about that game? I
remember why I wanted it to work. For Trubisky as well, and.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Produced the throw that sets you up for the double
doors he did. It was a throw down the sideline
where the offense was not good all game long, but
made the play, made the play. I think it was
it Alan Robinson on the sideline and set them up
for Cody park Cody Parky's double doink. Oh my god,
the worst sound hurts my soul. Yeah, smoking that good,
(34:36):
said Mitch. Played well in the playoff game. I don't
know if that's true for the entire game. I just
know when the final drive when they had to have it, uh,
Michter Bisky came.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Neither one of those trades, by the way, made the list.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Yeah, so all right, Maybe we could have just saved
ourselves a long conversation by debunking the list by saying,
no Trey Lance, no Minch Trubisky. Okay, we negate said
the list. Let's move on. Let's continue to talk more
about the training camp battles that are developing over there
at Bank of America Stadium, and what is the most
surprising development from camp so far. We'll get to it
(35:09):
on the other side. Sports Radio ninety two seven. Wwwwe
no no, no, no, no, no, nothing, none of that. WFNZ
weston walker Back Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
(35:32):
Big thanks to Flounder helping me out in the co
captain chair today. Big thanks to you tuning in hopefully
you do every single weekday on Sports Radio ninety two
seven WFNZ. Every weekday again from twelve to three pm.
Let's take a look at some of the training camp
battles taking place out there at Boa. Talked a little
about it with Joe Person and Joe was saying, you know, okay,
(35:53):
I we have the center battle. That's a real one
starting center. Is it going to be Austin Corbett? Is
it going to be cad That's the one David Newton
writes about on ESPN dot com. Austin Corbett, if I
had to guess was going he'd be your starting center.
But Cad May's younger. If they just decide, all right,
what's pretty even Cad Mays doesn't have the injury history
(36:14):
and he's a little bit younger, we'd see him being
a part of the plan for the future. Maybe that's
enough to just outright give Caid Mays the starting nod.
I think when we look at some of the trading
camp battles, it's really the roster battles. Who's gonna be
just squeezing in to that fifty three man roster. I
look at cornerback right now. I don't know how many
(36:34):
corners they're gonna keep. If you look at the Panthers
depth chart, at least according to ESPN, you have your
starting quarters and J. C. Horn and Mike Jackson. Then
you have your starting nickel and Chaw Smith Wade. So
who are the guys that are showing up in camp
outside of those players? I think we've heard a lot
about Corey Thornton. Thing about Corey Thornton is he's listed
(36:57):
as the fourth string corner on PN's depth chart. Who
knows if they have it accurately. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
They haven't released the first official best chart, so we'll
have to wait.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
And that's right.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
So I take some of the listings in terms of second, third,
fourth string with a grain of salt. I will say
Corey Thornton, it's not like anybody circled him as a
name to watch heading into training camp. I heard his
name on WFNZI, ever, so he's balling out now. I
think one battle to watch for is between Corey Thornton
and Shamar Bartholomew. Shamar Bartholomew is listed as your second
(37:30):
string guy behind Mike Jackson according to ESPN. Everyone else.
I Trevian Thomas had some tiny bit of shine I
think earlier in camp, but really flound it's between Thornton
and Bartholomew, and I would say Thornton is the guy
that's getting all the praise.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Yeah, Caleb Evans was a guy that was getting some
praise early on, but he was one of the guys
that was listed in Mike.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Kay's stock report. He was the one that put out
the stock report right up.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
Yeah he is, yeah, and he was one of those
guys that was trending down. I actually thought he had
a decent showing in fan Fest, so I think he
maybe is in that battle. But to me, it's it's
those two. It's Thornton and it's and it's Partholomew. For
who's going to be the first corner out there if
there is, you know, an injury or you're just rotating guys.
(38:20):
So yeah, I mean Thornton looked pretty good the other night.
I mean he was doing a really good job being
physical with tet so. I think that's certainly something that
you're going to be watching moving forward. Is does he
continue to shine? Is he a name that continues to
pop up? This practice against the Browns gonna be a
really good chance for him to show out.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
And looking at some of that stock report that you
were talking about, Mike Ky released it. This year's annual
Panthers preseason stock watch is up. It's on the Charlotte Observer.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Mike Ky.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Everybody, we have a great team around here, the guys
and the girls. They cover the Carolina Panthers. So stock up.
It's JT Sanders on the list. Another Stockup member Hunter Renfro.
Looking at some of these corners that are on the
list as well, I didn't see it's Corey Thornton, who
he writes, has surprisingly been one of the stronger players
(39:12):
at all camp long. He was an undrafted rookie from
Louisville playing heavy snaps. Matching up with the team's top
wide out talent. Thornton has been able to make the
most of his reps by showing the ability to limit
yards after the catch opportunities. Now a Caleb Evans, he
was a guy on the stock down watch yep for
Mike KA and you mentioned it. Evans entered camp as
the third most experienced corner on the chart after playing
(39:35):
with Minnesota. After being selected to the fourth round up
there with the Viking. He has been outperformed by Thornton
and Shamar Bartholomew over the past couple weeks. So those
are a little bit of your stock up stock down reports.
Last guy I want to get to here is Chaw
smith Wade and his stock is way up. I mean,
(39:56):
now you have to be feeling good about corner depth
all across the board with the way that at least
they've been playing here and Flounder. It's a good wide
receiver room, so it's not like they're going up against scrubbs.
They're being Yeah, they're absolutely being tested. And smith Wade
is the first name on Mike K's list. And this
is what Kay writes. Smith Wade has been the most
(40:17):
consistent defensive performer in camp. He's broken up passes regularly.
There's been a buzz about him since the offseason program.
The second year nickel corner is known for his football
IQ and after learning the position on the fly last season,
he's really coming to his own on the field and
in the classroom. This is the second time that we've
heard about him putting in that extra work in the classroom.
(40:38):
Let's hear Dan Morgan talk about him, because he spoke
about the Washington State product with Mac and Boone earlier today.
And the GM of the Panthers doesn't see CSW leaving
the field all that much, you know.
Speaker 7 (40:49):
I think the biggest thing with Sel you see is
just the confidence that he's grown in the defense, how
smart he is. He can play multiple positions within the defense,
and he's just a fiery competitor.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
So we love having him out there. You know.
Speaker 7 (41:07):
I don't really see him leaving the field during the game,
you know, just because he can do so much and
he's such a playmaker.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
So yeah, we're lucky to have him. Doesn't see him
leaving the field much. I know he kind of snuck
that in at the end of his comment, but that's
a big deal. So if you don't see him leaving
the field much. One all these teams play more nickel
than any other defense in the league. I mean, at
least having three corners out there, because so much of
the offense calls for three wide receivers to be out
on the football field.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
So that's one thing to consider basically your base defense.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
It essentially becomes that even if I do believe the
Panthers played less nickel than most teams last year, I
think that's true, but I could be mistaken. Part of
it is just running the football against a terrible team,
right right, And.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
They didn't have trust in Shaw or some of the
other guys that were at nickel.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Now they probably do now you do.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
And if you're going to have closer games, that means
teams are going to be throwing the football against you more,
which means you're going to be getting more three wide
receiver sets, which means you're going to be seeing CSW
on the field a lot more at that nickel spot.
And if he's so good, this is where we introduce
again the conversation we had last week. Is he stealing
snaps from anybody? And when I say anybody, it's really
(42:18):
only one guy, like a Mike Jackson. And I don't
think Mike has been bad. I think Mike has been
good in camp. But if Mike K and others share
Mike Kay's opinion about him being the most consistent defensive
performer in camp, and that was not just of members
in the secondary, the most consistent performer of all defensive players,
Then how do you take that guy off of the field.
(42:41):
Mike Jackson is so is there any kind of outside looks,
maybe matchup based stuff. I don't know, but this it
would be much more of a question if Mike jack
wasn't playing well in Camp two, which we've heard good
things from him. Also, hey, this is good. We were
scared a little bit about corner depth, and now it
looks like we got a little more room to play
(43:03):
with than we had before camp started. Now you got
a Bartholomew, now you got a Thornton. Where it doesn't
mean it's going to translate immediately to the NFL, but hey,
if you're seeing good things from your younger corners in camp,
then at least maybe one.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Of them hits.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Let's just say it's CSW who they're just going to
start like I, this is good. These are good things
to hear about your secondary well.
Speaker 4 (43:26):
And by the way, we need to give credit to
Dan Morgan here, because that is a Dan Morgan draft pick.
A lot of people are bashing him for the first
draft and saying, well, you know, Xavier Lely gets not great,
Trevin Wallace not stepping up just yet, even though you know,
I guess here's the thing about the linebackers. I guess
they've been fine, probably not great.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
I don't think we've heard a lot.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
Dave Canalis had a comment about the offensive line excelling
in this training camp so far, and so if that's
the case, great, I want the offensive line to excel.
I don't feel like we've heard a lot about the linebackers,
and nor have we heard a ton about the defensive line.
Morton will make a play here and there, but there's
been some injuries right now.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Joe did say yesterday that there is more depth there.
You can definitely see that, so that's encouraging for sure.
But yeah, you're not really hearing a lot about the
linebacker spot. Where Yeah, we're hearing about the cornerback spot
pretty much every day. And I think, you know, one
of the other things we didn't talk about it here,
but I think one of the more interesting battles to
(44:29):
watch too is for that starting safety role next to
Trayvon Mary. That's becoming more of a battle than I
think we thought it was going to be. We thought
early on in camp, Oh, this is Demani Richardson's job
to lose. Now we're seeing Nick Scott play a lot
out there. We're seeing Laithan Ransom start to play some
of his best football. So that's a conversation that I
(44:51):
think we're going to continue to have as we go
through the preseason. Is that a battle that all of
a sudden develops into one of the better ones on
this team?
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Yeah, it absolutely could be. We have more set, We
get all sorts of sound. Baby Mack and Bone doing
a great job with their interviews earlier today at what
they call the Suck Up Suite because they weren't out
there at Homer Hill.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
They're inside. They were cozy.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
They were talking to Dave Canalist, Dan Morgan, Bryce Young,
all sorts of the more important figures over there with
the Panthers organization. So let's calm through it some more.
Sports Rated ninety two to seven WFNZ.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Listen to the Wes and.
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Speaker 5 (45:31):
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