August 19, 2025 • 45 mins
In the final hour of the show, the guys debate if certain Panthers should be in the team's ring of honor, react to some of the best audio around the Panthers on the Live Wire and walk it off with shadow Brian's top storylines for the upcoming NBA season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's the two o'clock hour on West and Walker Sports
Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ. We're broadcasting live from
the Chandler Volta Studios. CV Injurylaw dot Com. CV Injurylaw
dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
One call.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That's all the Carolina's personal injury lawyers. I hate it
when players do this, coaches do this. But Jonathan Stewart
just put out a tweet. Wes Yes, the former Panthers
great running back. He put out a tweet and all
he put out was I have all emojis, all right.
I hate it when y'all do that stuff, man, because
I'm I've got my eyes. I'm doing what you're asking
(00:42):
me to do. My eyes are open, I'm constantly refreshing
my timeline.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
What's happening?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Is anything happening or are you just doing the thing
A lot of players do where they just want to
tweet random stuff out and have us all go into
a tizzy.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I think that might be a play.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, man, I mean I like the cryptic tweet and
sometimes you know, if it is all emojis, it can
be a little bit of fun. I guess to try
to decipher, Like, is Trey Hendrickson about to come to
the Queen City.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I don't know. Maybe something else going down some of
the twenty fifteen team. Maybe.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
It's also very close to a conversation that was had
on the Morning Show about whether or not Jonathan Stewart
should be in the Panther's.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Ring of Honor. Really that was a conversation we had today. Huh.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yes, and Max said he doesn't know about that, and
so the eyeball emoji's coming out after that. You do
wonder if mister Stewart possibly was listening.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, when did he tweet? I like that theory a lot.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
So this conversation was the nine o'clock hour, ten oh
six am.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
That's what I'm saying. Maybe he was listening to WFNZ. Possible.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You think he's gonna come down to the Chandler VAULTA
Studios and give mac an earfull.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I don't know, man, I don't know. That's not Jay Stu, Man,
that's not Jay Sue.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
He might just lay out, he might just lay out
the reasons why he probably should be in the Ring
of Honor.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Is it not? Jase?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Dude?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You don't think you don't think he'd get mad like that?
Maybe I don't think so I'm lanning. Maybe I'm wrong,
but I am watching.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
By the way, the twenty fifteen anniversary stuff the Panthers
are putting out on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I don't know if anybody else has checked it out.
There's been a.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Couple of episodes they put out. One on the twenty
fifteen training camp, the fight between Cam Newton and Josh Norman.
That was a good one, and then the second episode
was from weeks one to eventually week six when they
beat the Seahawks, to let everybody know we're a team
that's for real and we're not the paper Tigers that right.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
I'm just breaking down the full documentary into single clips
or no.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Well, Charlotte Observer is the one that released their two
separate documentaries, and it's not even really a documentary the
Panthers are putting out. It's basically a docuseries. Oh yeah,
I saw it, Okay. So they put out a couple
of episodes to ten minute long episodes. The second one
I really enjoyed because we got to relive the Seattle
game and because the Panthers are a part of the NFL,
(03:04):
they have game footage, so they have what your typical
docuseries Slash documentary feels like and they're putting the game
footage on top of the commentary, and it's really well done.
Really small bite sized pieces of candy that they have
for you on the YouTube channel, but it's quite well done.
And they're getting a lot of the same guys that
the Observer had talk on their documentary. Stuart is speaking,
(03:26):
Josh Norman is also speaking there. Do you have Roman Harper,
I've seen him a couple times included, but you have
quite a few characters. Ron Rivera also speaking there. It's
funny that here here we are talking about Jay Stu.
I will say, man, Jay Stu had maybe the meanest
stiff arm in the running back in the NFL, I
(03:47):
should say, at running back during his time playing. I
know nationally that might catch some people by surprise, but
I've seen Jay Suh throw some dudes absolutely in the
ground one hand, Reggie White style, with.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
That past rush move.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Reggie White would give you that's what it felt like
watching j Stu destroy somebody into the ground. I don't
know how many other solidly built big backs like that
existed in the last twenty five years, Like who else?
Derek Henry is different, just because he's taller. I'm talking
about being that short and that monstrous where the biceps
(04:23):
are as big as any biceps in the league. Who
else fits that? Mold Nick running back Nick Chubb is
a great one, Mojo Mars Jon Drew, Yep, those are
those are all good answers, so j Stu, Nick Chubb, Mojo,
those are monsters.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
There's a few more guys. They'll come to me.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But the first one, Frank Gore was he and he
but he wasn't like that. Yeah, he wasn't shredded like yeah,
like I.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Just he was. I mean he was a tough s
ob run.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
This isn't anything against Gore. It's just I'm talking about,
like body wise and different skills that they would know
you from that. The two you brought up, I think
are good examples. Doug Martin the mussel Hams. Yes, he
was one of those NFL what ifs, even though he
hates the muscle Hamster. It's a great Nick Cave And
(05:13):
Doug Martin is a good one to bring up. And
Doug Martin not as good as Jay ste If. We're
talking about guys that were good. Mojones, Drew, Nick Schubb
were excellent running backs. Also ring of honor for ja
ste Is that is that okay with everybody?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
We all right putting him in the ring of honor?
No who, I think it's got to be.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
It's got to be exclusive enough to me and I
just we When you talk about the twenty fifteen team,
you're talking about pretty much everybody else that you would
you would consider putting up there or borderline Hall of
Famers or hall of famers. I know, man like Luke's
going in to the hall. I think that Greg Olsen
(05:55):
could make it to the Hall of Fame. Cam Is
on the press precipice.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
I would say, his numbers on guardy but seventy three
hundred rushing yards and you're the franchise's all time leading rusher.
You know, could you do something when you're putting him
and the Angelo in together? But I know the Angelo doesn't.
I know he doesn't have the best uh you know,
relationship with them. But for Jonathaan store for a ring
(06:21):
of honor for the Carolina Panthers. If you're the all
time leading Russier with over seventy three hundred yards, I
would say, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, I think a lot of this is also based
off of feel, and I get the whole reason to
try to keep some of the Dames off of the
Ring of Honor, But how do you feel watching Jonathan
Stewart run the football in that backfield with smash and
dash where even if you want to look at the
stats and say he only ran for one thousand yards
one time ever in his career and that was his
second season in the league, you do have to remember
(06:50):
that was because they by design had a dual running
back system. Dangelo Williams was your more of your pop
it off, take you to the house. Jay Stewart is
going to get you a bunch of first downs. I
have no problem. I think Jay stu is okay putting
him in the Ring of Honor. I would be okay
recognizing him as.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Such as well a lot of the stuff that he's done,
Like he's one of those faces of the Panthers that
when you think Panthers, especially now, when you see them
like going to London or going and doing different things,
he's always a guy that's at the forefront.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
So I would say, yeah, yeah, I agree with you.
I think that stuff matters.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Let me let me like, I don't have an issue
if they choose to put him up there, The question
then becomes, though, who else are you putting up there?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
How many guys are you going to have in the
Ring of Honor?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Well, I just think his claim to fame, his big
accolade is that he's the franchises all time lead in Russia.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I mean that certainly is a big one. But he's
also a guy that only made one Pro Bowl in
his career.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So I think it's so like I would put Mike
Rucker in the Ring of Honor.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
But yeah, yours, you're you're a little more expansive, I
think than I would be.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I think let's let's find the line. Let's play this game, right.
That's the Mendoza line for making it in the Panthers'
Ring of Honor fandal text line seven oh four five,
seven oh ninety six to ten.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Where is it.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
If you're past this guy, then you've achieved a Ring
of Honor status. If you don't reach this guy, then
you're the first one left out of Ring of Honor status.
Because I think we could probably start the bidding there
at a j stew.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Kwan Short is one.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Loved Kwan Short monster, part of that successful run that
they had in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Did he have the longevity?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I might say no, and k one Short is one
of my favorite players that suited up for the Panthers
certainly during that time.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, I mean, then you start to really get into,
you know, semantics, because he did make two Pro Bowls
and he was All Pro at one time. So it's like,
all right, sure, if you do Stewart, who's only been
to one Pro Bowl, even though he is the all
time league Russian the franchise a guy who made it
a couple of times and wasn't all Pro, then that's
what it can start to get a little sticky.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, yeah, I guess long any matters.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
For instance, we can do this by a case by
case basis, right, Like, this is why I don't like
having this universal code in which you have to pass
all of these hurdles. You have to clear all these
hurdles in order to make it. We can go to
Jay su and say, well, you only have one Pro Bowl, Sorry,
you're not in. I just hate that way of measuring
how much a player truly matters to the community. And
ultimately that's what the Ring of Honor is there to do.
(09:22):
It's to serve the community, and if the community looks
at Jay Stu's career here with Carolina and remembers him
finally as a running back that connected a couple of eras,
that connected playoff teams to some bad teams. But he
was still there to seeing the other side of what
was a great Super Bowl run to being a part
(09:43):
of the community. I've seen Jay Su out in Charlotte
like three times and.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
A Super Bowl run to him been on a super
Bowl team that counts for something too all the time
leaving Russia a member of the super Bowl team.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, being with some pretty good accola.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
And by the way, he's eleven yards away from reaching
the one thousand yard mark on that twenty fifteen squad.
So yeah, played played a big part where k one,
Like I look, I would let a lot of people
in and what I feel about Kwan, I would love
to have KK up there, but I probably think he
falls short because his prime here in Carolina was a
little short lived.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And I hate it.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Man injuries, they just took the back half of his
career away from him. The first half excellent, immediately second
half just fell.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Off a cliff.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Man just couldn't come back from some of those injuries.
So I hate some of that. Nine A zero says,
I think baseline should be Stephen Davis. Under that level
of impact, you're not in. Above the Steven Davis level
of impact you're.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
In, that'd be a lot of guys. Huh, So that's
a lot I love.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I love Stephen Davis. If you're talking about individual season impacts,
Davis is right on up there with.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
A lot of them.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
They have to start having ceremonies in the concourse maybe
having so many people, Hey.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Man, you could just stack the names on top of
each other. With the way that they have it right now,
you go around the arena one time, just do it
again and put one name on the top of it.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
You'll be able to see the Bank of America building
from inside the stadium. You could basically build a dome
with the names of the players that would be in.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Matt in Greensboro says, The Ryan Khalil line is what
should exist. That's it.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
You should definitely be I agree, that's a good line
right there. To me, he's a no doubter, yes, But
if you're a no doubter, then we bring the line
down a little bit, right because Khalil.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'm with you, no doubtter. He should be in. We
honestly put him in tomorrow. I'm happy with it. There's
just no question about it. So if it's Khalil, we'll pack.
James is saying no to short like Thomas Davis. Yet,
no doubter, that's not even a question.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
TD is in.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I'm not seeing any good answers of where I feel
like Jake Delom Maybe the guy that's already in.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Okay, that's interesting. That might be the one man I
said to me Stewart's in. If I'm making the call,
I agree, Yeah, I think he is. The line like,
if you don't have the accolades, if you don't have
the multi all pros.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You don't have the MultiPro bols.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
But if you are the franchises all time leader in something,
and it's not a paltry number like it's like three
thousand yards, like it's over seven thousand, that's a lot
of rushing yards. So to me, a guy like that,
when you are the all time something in franchise history
and you are part of the Super Bowl team, to me,
that should be the baseline. And then after that you're
(12:29):
talking about guys who are much more decorated.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I think Stewart might be the line.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I think Stewart's the that's we're looking for other names,
and we've been talking about him the entire time. I
think you're right. If you contributed less than Jay ste
then maybe you don't get in. Yeah, and then it'll
still lead to some debates as to you know, because
Mike Rutger is one, I'd probably put Mike Rucker in.
Mike Rucker had me to a big impact on this
early Panthers culture. Yeah, he was definitely one of those parts.
(12:57):
He was a draft pick of the Panthers as well.
Fifty five and a half Sacks had three straight years
of nine or more, was a big part of the
three run was a pro bowler on that squad, huge in.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
The community for the Panthers. He's another one of those
face of the franchise guys in the community.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Mike Rucker might be a good line to put out
there too, though, because that one's tough. I will say
I love Mike Rucker probably on that line on my
West Got Rains alone?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
We did a show up Mike Rucker at the Flying
Biscuit couldn't have been a better guy. By the way,
it still is.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Here's a fun fact about Walker Mail used Mike Rutgers
Yellow Lab in my fifth grade science project. Mm Yep,
I did a science project on could dog see color?
And when my mom was working at the kennel importing
big German shepherds and all these attack dogs from Germany,
(13:48):
when he was working in that line of work boarding,
there was Mike Rutgers Yellow Lab, and so I was like, hey,
you know what we can use Mike and he knew
about it. Of course, I'm not just taking the labs
out for a joy ride. So we had a whole
bunch of different color balls out there on the field
and then did they find one that they liked the
best that were different colors but were similar everywhere else?
(14:11):
And we figured out, no, that they can't see color.
Now it's just a quick Google search. You don't need
Walker Mail's fifth grade science project to prove that.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But it was done. Still a fun little product. I
thought they could see certain colors.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
They're largely colorblind. Ah, I learned that. Yep, you're welcome,
Mike Minner. What do we think about the Mike Minner low? Yeah,
I was just about to say that. People brought that
up too. I mean ten years for the Panthers. He
was one of the og Panthers as well. You go
look the interceptions seventeen for his career.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I'm putting them in. Yeah, I mean a ten year Panther.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
To me, that has to mean something that you've been
with the same organization ten years, because because we know
teams cut players at the job of a hat. So
for a god to be with an organization for ten years,
that means you mean something. So that team and was
a member of the.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
So he was Super Bowl yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
he was on AM and just so clear, far and
away the best safety we've ever had, and it's not close.
There's the Mike Minner tier and then there's nobody else
in that tier in terms of what they meant to
this franchise. We had some Chad Cody years early, and
then we had our Kirk Coleman season. Shout out to
Roman Harper, He'll always be a saint, just to say that,
(15:20):
because I never listened to Dian Grant was on that team.
I got a really good one for you. What about
the Chris Gamble line, Oh, because Chris Gamble is always
the answer for most underrated panther.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Ever, I mean, how many are you putting up there
at that rate? It's just I'm just saying the line.
I'm just saying the line.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
And he's got twenty seven career interceptions in a nine year.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Career, which I think is a franchise record. Yeah to me,
franchise rerecord you in?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, American Choppers say Walker's putting everybody.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, real talk, with real talk, Chris Gamble, you get
twenty seven picks in a.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Nine years case, clearly in no question.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yes, who's the best punter in franchise history? That person's
in no question. Todd Sowerbron Michael Bates in no question.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Oh yeah, Michael Bates should be in.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Though you're being sarcastia, I think Michael Bates should be in.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Go look at guy, are you putting in? What's your criteria?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Then if you feel like that these men shouldn't be
in it, because I meant, I.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Mean it's different for me.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
I am the guy that is a fan of a
franchise that has won a Super Bowl. So when you
have those guys, you have to have won a super
Bowl to make the Ring of Honor. My thing is
is that you don't want to put too many guys in,
and then you end up having guys like when you
get further down the line, if this franchise accomplishes a
lot more, you look back and you say, that guy
(16:50):
really made it.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Go ahead.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Oh, I was just going to say, you feel like
gamble mentor Rutger.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
What would you? I would say no, I would say
no to all those guys.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
See, but I and this isn't This is not to
call you out in terms of your fandom. I think
they mean something more to Panthers fans than they do
to you, who primarily prioritizes the Giants. And I think
that's fine, right, But I think Panthers fans they prioritize
what all those players meant for, not only just the
Super Bowl run, but they played here a long time.
(17:22):
So it's not like I'm like, I don't think Josh
Norman should be in. No, and Josh Norman is one
of my favorite all time Panthers just for that one
year alone, But Josh Norman can't get in. I just
talked about KK Short. I don't think KK Short should
be in Starlettula. Some of the big time contributors to
that run.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
So even having the conversation about Kwan Short to me
was crazy to me.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's that's that is the man watch two time Pro
Bowl in all Pro.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
But I mean, so, are you going to put in
Trey Turner? Trey Turner was a five time Pro Bowler? Yes,
I just I don't know, five time Pro Bowl and
that's hot. Is there a Giant that you would want
to get in? But you feel like other Giant fans
most of my guys, the Giants fans might feel different
from you. All right, all right there I got no no.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, think about that, think about it, because we're well
past a break.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Under Dog John, oh god, we got the Brad Hoover line. Yes,
oh my god, I.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Will I will I plead the fifth on that he
was my high school football coach.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I will not say, there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I was about to say, Man, don't dog your previous guy.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Let's go through the commercial break, we'll try to figure
out where this line should be and we'll come back.
Jack just keeps putting things in like Sharon Martin line
belongs in here. Okay, we'll have more jokes for you
as well. On the other side, westn Walker Sports Radio
ninety two seven WFNZ.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
During the commercial break.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
We were weeding through the Tony Fiametta's mentioned the Melvin
Whites mentioned on the text line. Yes, those types of
sicco names. Are trying to figure out what the Mendoza
line is to get into the Panthers Ring of Honor,
and there have been a few a few names mentioned.
The buffet enforcers said it could be ted Ginn, but
(19:17):
he would drop his plaque if we tried to honor him.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So Ted Gen can't be up there. Yeah, integral part
on that Super Bowl run, but that's it. I can't.
I got to put myself in hill. This is what
this is, always the game.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
It becomes a joke at some point, but it has
not become a joke to me at Kwan Short. I
think we can move on from KK, but I do
think KK should at least just have his name floated
out there. Jake Dilom is the one. Chris so the
guys that we mentioned, Jake de Loom is a potential line,
(19:51):
Jay Stu is a potential line, Chris Gamble, Mike Rucker,
Mike Mentor, those are the guys and you look at
Jake the Lobe's stats compared to some of the other guys'
stats at their positions, I would say the loans are
the most underwhelming, but he represents the Cardiac Cats. After
(20:13):
we were down against Jacksonville, Rodney Pete comes out of
the game, entered the loan with the baton rouge accent,
and he leads the Panthers his first year as a
starter to a super Bowl, and then he's with the
team for quite some time and has other postseason runs.
What I keep coming back to trying to figure out
the line Wes, is who is this for? And do
(20:33):
you want to please the people that it's for? If
the answer to the question is yes to the latter
and the answer to the first one is it's for
the fans, I don't know who else it's for.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
It's for the fans, right, Yes, it's definitely for the fans,
no nobody else. Maybe some of the owner. The owner
may care about it, but that's pretty much.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
The owner has the power, right he doesn't even care
about it as much. And I've always given Tepper credit
for that, even when we were losing a ton of games.
What he did by just saying Hey, why the hell
don't we have Ring of Honor here? I'm so glad
he immediately took care of that. But if it's for
the fans and you want to please the fans, then
Jake delom is somebody that needs to be in there.
(21:11):
We remember the Bo Jingles commercials, We remember the Super
Bowl run that he had.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Just a good.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Player, not an amazing Pro Bowl all the time type
of player, but just a good quarterback that we had
in our system for a long time. I think I
always come back to that when trying to figure out
does he deserve to be up in the Ring of
Honor for the guys, for the fan base that purchases
the tickets, that tries to flood Bank of America Stadium
as much as possible when you're giving them something to
(21:38):
cheer about. And then when those fans are spending their
money to go cheer on the Carolina Panthers, they look
up in above the seats and they see all the
names that helped facilitate their fandom. But nah, no, man,
we can't put Mike Grucker in because we want to
keep a tight ship around here.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Then what are we doing it for? Yeah, that's what
I come back.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
To Yeah, and I agree with you, points man, And
it's always fun to think about that because every organization
is going to have some guys that weren't necessarily the
most decorated players, but mean a lot to the franchise
as far as what they did and as far as
what they mean to the community if they're still doing things.
Because I went you walk, if you played for an
organization for a long time, like we talked about Mike
(22:21):
Mentor playing for ten seasons here, you know that means
something because players get discarded all the time, but they
kept him here because it meant something. He meant something
to the community, he meant something to the locker room.
And I think those are sometimes that those are some
things that you can't always put tangible stats on. And
when you talk about those heartbeat guys or those glue guys.
(22:42):
And I'm not saying that you put everybody in because
it is hard. You hear some of the names, and
you know, as far as the organization goes, their legendary
in some type of form. But I think there are
some guys that we talked about that should be in there.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Yeah, I agreed, and I'm not trying to put Ian
Thomas in because it was here for so long. Yes,
you get there's a certain amount of criteria.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, he came in at age thirty. It was wild.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
That was one of the things about Cap was that
he was thirty years old and he was a rookie.
He was older than half the team and it was
his first year. But anyways, no, no Cap, Okay, no
Ian Thomas. I'm not trying to put Graham Gano in
because he played for the team for a while. We
can be reasonable about this, we can evaluate this on
a case by case basis. It's gonna sound nuts, okay,
(23:31):
But Mario Addison I'm not putting in there. I'm not
putting in there before anybody has a heart attack. But
Mario Addison played for the team for a while, contributed
at a pretty high level, both as a rotational pass
rusher and as a starter, and so I'm not even
trying to put him in. I just want people to
understand I do have standards.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Still.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I'm not just opening up the door wide open and
say everybody welcome, Ken Lucas.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Y Ank like these players that we said, right, we're
just kind of some jazz.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Now here's here's one I know what you're gonna say.
That's interesting.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I know what you're gonna say. Don't make don't make
us talk about it.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Say it.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Go ahead, Charles Chuck Johnson. That's not who I thought
you were gonna say. Really thought you were gonna say J. J.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Jansen.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Well, I mean JJ's automatically in. I mean, there's there's
no way. Come on, what kind of stats can we go?
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I have no idea.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
I mean, he is I'm sure he is probably the
most confusing one because he is easily there is no
one that will play longer for the Panthers.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I don't think ever enfranchise history part of him, right right,
I just don't even know how to. Yeah, I guess
games played would be the reason. Yeah, the Panthers, iron man,
that's how they were. Yeah, I mean put in.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
To be honest with you, man, I would you play
that long for organization?
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Man?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Come on the same same, I'm with you man, all right?
What about Charles Johnson? THO would you put Charles in there?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
He's got sixty seven and a half career sacks, seven
tackles for loss, more than Rucker Charles Johnson, and he
played eleven years here, so there's our longevity criteria. Sometimes
you got to go based off field, and let's just
let's keep it a being too. Optics matter because some
of the guys that we're talking about that have been
(25:21):
borderline the personality. Do we see them, are they visible
and are they really likable? Because that's one of the
things about Jonathan Stewart that goes in his favor. He
is very likable. Even a Jake Deloon that plays a
hell of a part in it. He was very likable.
People love Jake. I loved Jake Deloon, Okay, So that
(25:41):
plays into it too, just how we talk about they are,
how they are with the NFL Hall of Fame, and
how they'll bring up if a guy was not liked
by the media during his career, unless he just has
ridiculous stats. And even we saw what too too was
near the top of every receiving category that was, but
the media didn't like him and so they punished him,
(26:04):
I feel like and so that plays into it as well.
So that's the thing I bring into the discussion. When
you talk about a guy like Charles Johnson. I'm not
saying he's not likable, but we don't see him as
much the personality. He's not bore in recent years, he's
the personality isn't necessarily as bubbly as some of these
other guys that we like.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Mike Rutger.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Mike Rutger is a you know, one of those face
of the franchise guys. You see him. He's always out
speaking at events. He's doing a lot of things on
behalf of the Panthers. You know, he's one of those
spokesperson types of people, and that plays into people's perception
as well.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
That's all I'm saying. I think Charles Johnson, what hurts
his case is that he was not a huge part
of that twenty fifteen team on the field, but he
played up until twenty seventeen. It's just he only played
in nine games in twenty fifteen, I think had the injury.
Did have four sacks the next year seven oh four,
says Charles Johnson, also took the pay cut to stay
with the team. That's a Panthers guy right there.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Also.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
But also the other counter would be he was never
a Pro bowler, which is really stunning that he never
found his way into a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
But he doesn't have a single Pro Bowl appearance.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I'm putting him in baby. Everybody Welcome, everybody's in the house.
Charles Johnson, Welcome. We got some time left. Let's go
ahead and play some of the latest sound in the
sports world. Time now for the Live Wire with Anthony Flounder,
pag Nada.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
The West.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
All right, and let's start with Derek Brown, who was
speaking to the media yesterday. The Panthers defensive tackle and
he was asked about the depth that has been brought
in this offseason and how it may affect his snap counts.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Yeah, I mean, I always want to be on the field, though,
you know how you hang around for a little while
in the league, So I always want to be on
the field. But you know, it's gonna be up to
the coaches.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:57):
I think there's a planning place right now, so you know,
I'll play as much as hopefully it's a three quarner plan.
And you know, if the games I'm lining the fourth quarter,
they kind of let me burn up a little bit,
so we'll see.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
All right.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
So we saw what the run defense looked like with
him off the field against Houston as opposed to with
him on the field against Houston. How do you think
they should juggle the snaps this year for Derek Brown,
should he play as many STAPs as he possibly can
or do you have to use some of the other
guys to sort of keep him fresh throughout the year.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Well, I think when you have some defensive line depth,
it can never hurt to have a rotation and be
able to keep guys fresh. And so I know the
Panthers are going to be a little worried about him
as far as being a big man coming off of
meniscus surgery, that's certainly nothing to play with. And so
for him though, I think that it will probably ramp up,
(28:50):
especially depending on the stakes. Beginning of the season, they
probably will have more of a rotation. But if it
comes down to the wire where you know, these a
gotta have it games and they're in a position to
be able to compete, and I think you probably see
the snap count rise.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, I probably want to be anywhere from around seventy
five percent to maybe eighty and that's still on the
high end by the way percentage of snaps that he'll
play defensively.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
To put it in perspective, he played.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
More snaps than anybody in twenty twenty three at the
defensive tackle position. He played eighty nine percent of the snaps.
It's just it's a ton man at that spot. It's
why he racked up so many tackles because he's a
high effort guy. He has a lot of opportunities to
make him play it on a bad team. Guess what
the snapcount's going to go through the roof. It's a
perfect storm of you racking up the most tackles we've
(29:38):
ever seen by a defensive tackle in NFL history. Let's
bring that snap percentage down, maybe a perfect world, give
me seventy seven. Give me seventy seven percent of the snaps.
That means that you're putting teams in maybe some third
and long situations. You still want him in on passing
downs because he's a good pass rusher, just not elite
like some of the other defensive tackles. And then you
can give him a break every now and then he
(29:59):
can be a little more fresh as the game slash
season goes on. I think seventy seven percent of the
snaps is a good percentage for me.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
That's what highly specific Derek Brown Ring of Honor member
now could get there. Yeah, he's working, he's working.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
He's working, but surely potentially getting there. Another guy that
Walker will put in the Ring of honor at some point.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
But is Rico Dawbdell? Have you seen those catches?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
So that's all I'm saying. It's also ran for a
thousand yards not with the team, but you know, still
matters looked pretty good against Carolina last year. Rico, What
do you think about your preseason so far?
Speaker 2 (30:33):
All right? I mean I haven't been able to get
much going, so.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Just all right honestly, But all right, so what about
the run game? What do you think about the run
game overall?
Speaker 2 (30:43):
No, not at all. You knows the way we wanted.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
Them to go.
Speaker 8 (30:46):
Obviously want to go out there, like I said, get
some points and move to change and things like that.
But we haven't been able to win those two preseason
and the limited reps that we got. But I think
we put in great work in the scrimmages and in
the practices against each other then I think it all
pay off at the end.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
All right, So my question to you guys, I seem
to be the only person that really feels like this
here at the station, But are you a little bit
concerned about how poorly the team has run the ball
so far in preseason because to me, it has not
been great, and I am kind of wondering if they're
going to be as good of a run blocking group
up front as they were a year ago.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Yeah, with the ones, I mean against Houston, we didn't
see much of it at all. And when you talk
about the run game, you know, it definitely takes some
time to lather up with the twos, you know, it's
kind of a result of the talent that you have
in the game. But when you talk about what the
ones have been able to do, it's hard sometimes to
get into a rhythm running the ball when you have
(31:42):
other things that you kind of want to see. And
maybe the way the snap count goes as far as
how the chains are moving, what you decide to call,
because you're only going to have a limited amount of
snaps when you only have a series or two, so
that's going to make it tough to get the run
game going. But I think with those backs and this
offensive line, I think that there's one thing that they
will have as a strength in their arsenal is the
(32:04):
run blocking of that offensive line.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, I think they'll be fine. I'm not too worried
about it either. To be honest with you, there, Floundy,
I get it. You have seen bad offensive lines, especially
after we thought we were going to have a good
offensive line roll into the season that did happen after
the Steve Wilks year where we thought we were good,
turns out that offensive line was really bad.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
But these aren't those players.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I do think we're talking about a different type of
build with all of these players playing tackle slash guard.
I think Robert Hunt and Amian Lewis both more than capable.
It's about ay Kei Kwan who does best is run
block out there on the left side. It's not what
Taylor Moten does best. But they still have success running
the football last year, so I'm gonna I'm okay with
(32:47):
the way that they've been able to run the ball.
Chuba Hubbard especially helping them out being so efficient running
north and south. He and Rico Dwell were among the
top three or four most efficient runners in the league
last year, and that means there's not a lot of
wasted movement. There's no fat on their runs. They are
trying to get past the line of scrimmage as quickly
as possible. They're reading the whole boom, get through it.
(33:08):
They were doing that at a better rate than at
an elite rate seriously last season, which is a great
advanced metric, and I love paying attention to that one.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
I think that's going to be just fine. What you got.
All right, let's go to Cam Newton.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
He was talking about the impact that Auburn had on
his life as he gets ready to go into the
Auburn or get his number retired by Auburn.
Speaker 7 (33:29):
The truth of the matter is, no one knew, and honestly,
I didn't even know. I didn't know the impact that
Auburn would have on me of being a kid from Atlanta,
and no one knew the desire to really bring something
to this town that will never be forgotten.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
The Alburn family loves you. The Auburn family revers you.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
All right, he's getting his number retired with Auburn. Should
he get his number retired with the Panthers?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Well yeah, I mean that's another doubt on both fronts
right there. But I was happy to see Auburn doing that.
I mean, anytime is that even a discussion?
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I think what Flounder is asking, though just to be specific,
it's not should he be in the Ring of Honor,
it should anybody be able to wear number one again?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Just because it was?
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I had it check in my brain that same way
as like, yeah, Flounder, what are we talking about here?
Do you want to have a conversation on when he
should be in the Ring of Honor? Tomorrow? Yesterday? Should
the Panthers retire the number one to where nobody else
is allowed to wear it again?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah? I think so.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Okay, anytime you talk about the only NFL MVP in
the history of your franchise, what he did to the
culture here, the city here, Yeah, I think that should
be a number that has retired and not one again.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
If you want to retire number one, I'm totally fine
with it. I'm with you. Plus, what's cool about that
is a number one? Just the meaning of that specific
number anyways, is also really cool that your first overall
draft pick, who is among the best running quarterbacks ever,
who was number one in the NFL in twenty fifteen,
(35:13):
and there was some team success too. It's not like
you had this successful year where he put up a
bunch of stats himself, but they were nine to eight empty.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Well, and anything like that, I think based off of
that year alone, I plus the longevity he did play
here for a while, a little shorter than what we wanted.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I'm okay. If they want to retire number.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
One, he is somebody texted in. By the way, it
is a seven h four number. He is the greatest
player in franchise history. He is not the greatest player
in franchise history. That is Luke Keighley.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
I think Luke Keigley was a better linebacker than Cam
was a better quarterback. I think that happened. If we're
talking about most impactful, it's just what comes with the position, right,
Cam Newton was the best player in the NFL one.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
And I mean, you know if a Cam injury took
him out, it did.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
I I think Luke Keikley was. I think Luke Keakley's
like a maybe top five linebacker of all time. Uh yeah, right.
I don't think Cam Newton is a top five QB
a time. So if you want to put it that way,
one hundred percent. But if you're talking about just most impactful,
I go back to that Forbes list all that time
ago when Cam was a top fifteen most popular athlete
(36:20):
in the world, and that included soccer players, and you
know the type of stock that they carry with a
lot of people.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
It's Ronaldo and it's messy.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
They're in the top two or three, and then here's
Cam Newton, Top fifteen, top twenty. I hate using the
phrase people forget because I think people use it too often,
but Wes people forget type of impact he had on
sports culturally Around here.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Someone also says, Tommy b should the all should off
the field character matter for camp? What off the field?
What are we talking about? What character are we talking?
What character issue? Is Cam happened right in and enlighten us?
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Maybe they will, maybe they will, But I think his
off the field character is just fine enough, but perfectly fine,
just fine enough to put him in not only the
Ring of Honor, but retire number one overall. That'll do
it for the Live Wire. Coming up next, it's the
walk Off, and in turn, I guess Shadowy Brian Friedland,
however we want to give whatever title we want to
give him, today, he's going to give you his top
(37:20):
five NBA storylines heading in to the upcoming season.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
It's the walk Off. Sports Radio ninety two to seven
w f Z, Are you challenge for me? To walk off.
Oh yeah, that's a walk off challenge, my friend, it's
(37:48):
a walk off, the walk off.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
It's Weston Walker Sports Radio ninety two seven wfn Z.
We have the greatly anticipated top five storylines according to
Brian Friedland coming up in just a moment, the storylines
going into the NBA season. But first we gotta pay
some bills. Baby, we gotta tell you what's on tap.
It's presented by Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks has locations in
Concord and Fort Mill. Twin Peaks is a local sports
(38:15):
lodge come inform made from scratch food and signature twenty
nine degree draft beers.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
The Braves.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
They play the Chicago White Sox again tonight after getting spiked.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
Yeah, Spencer Schroder got roughed up. Somebody asked a question
on Twitter. I don't know what's happened to him. Man,
he is not the same picture. He looks completely different,
a shell of himself.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Go Chicago White Sox ending their four game losing streak.
No pain.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
In fact, if the Braves are undergoing more pain than
White Sox fans, then oh my god, I feel for you,
and I truly mean that.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
I saw the Rockies on a four game winning streak
as well.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Oh god, yeah, they're not going to be the worst team.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
I don't think they're gonna be as bad as last
year's White Sox team.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
I think they've turned it on just enough.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
I hate that, to be honest with you. I'm hoping
the Rockies do lose. But anyways, yeah, the White Sox
they won last night. The bout tonight happens at seven
to fifteen. First pitch Shane Smith on the mound for
Chicago with a four h one ERA, and he's the
much better pitcher via Era in this bout, with Bryce
Elder on the bump for Atlanta, a five eight to
nine ERA, five and nine on the season. The Braves
(39:23):
currently sit at fifty six and sixty nine with their
most recent loss, and the White Sox are forty five
and eighty. Still a pretty terrible record, but oh well,
we got to win and the White Sox ended a
four game losing streak.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
How many games left in the season? Uh, two hundred
and fifty nine.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Oh daddy, yes, getting now the home stretch. Two hundred
and fifty not too many. Rapid fire. Brian Friedland shadowing
us today making his on air debut. Congratulations to Brian.
He's going to give us the top five NBA storylines
heading into the season. But real quickly, what do you
think is the number one thing that you've learned earned
(40:00):
today watching us westn Walker and Flounder.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I mean, just be yourself. That's that's all you can do.
I like that. That's what you should get out.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Of the good one. Being yourself is hard to do
on air, it is. I really like that when that
touched me, that brought a tear to my eye. Okay,
number one storyline, it don't have to be in order,
just your first top NBA storyline heading into the season.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (40:20):
All?
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Right?
Speaker 5 (40:20):
So we haven't had a repeat champion since I believe
twenty eighteen when the Warriors went back to back with
Katie's Stephan all those guys. So can the Thunder do
that in the very competitive West?
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Not sure?
Speaker 5 (40:32):
Got the Spurs on the come up Rockets, Clippers are
always tough. My sneaky team this year we got the Trailblazers.
That's a sneaky, not for not for title contender, No no, no, no,
just fun team that you're gonna play on League Pass.
Could could could cause some trouble in the first round, though.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
I like Portland as a league pass team. Scoot Henderson stands, hey,
you rise up.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
I like that one too. Okay, see repeating. They look
to be in a great position to do so we'll
see if they do it. I like that one. Number two.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
What is it?
Speaker 5 (40:59):
So we who reigned supreme in the East? It's gonna
be wide open this year? Do the Hawks and Magic
make it come up? Is it going to be the
next Do they take that next step? With the Celtics
most likely going down with Tatum out the whole year
or whatever happens with him. So that's and due the Cavs.
Can they repeat what they did last year with sixty
plus wins?
Speaker 2 (41:17):
You like the first two storylines? Yeah, no doubt. Is
he doing a good job on his debut? I like it? Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Plus it's the be yourself thing. Honestly, we could all
have a reminder of that.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
All right, those are the top two. What is the
third storyline?
Speaker 5 (41:27):
I mean, this is gonna be the year of the
new CBA. Honestly, this is the year of the second Apron.
In my opinion, this is where we're really starting to
see the effects of it, especially too, you got a
bunch of teams rebounding from achilles injuries, Pacers, Bucks Celtics,
another Buckscot Miles Turner, but Pacer Celtics, those are two
of your top teams. Now they're not in the fold,
so it kind of ties into the last one. But
(41:48):
you're the new CBA. Let's see how Let's see how
it got.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
I like that. That's a great one. That's good one.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
Something that is changing the NBA. Man this salary apron
breaking these super teams up.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
That that's a great one, which is why I think
so many people might lean towards OKC being the first
repeat champion in a long time because they have their
big three already built in. Nobody else can go get
a new one because you're gonna have to pay an
arm and a leg and give up your first born
to do so.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
I like that one A lot number four. What is it? All? Right?
Speaker 5 (42:16):
So we got some potential last seasons, but for different reasons.
So is this the year that the Internet combusts and
Lebron retires?
Speaker 2 (42:25):
And do we.
Speaker 5 (42:26):
See another interesting trade at the deadline including some foreign
superstars like we saw with Luca last year, Josh Cronky
talked about trading Jokic. Nobody told nobody prompted him to
do it. He talked about it. Does Giannis finally get
out of Milwaukee because he's just.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Tired of, you know, mediocrity. We'll see. I think he's
got a future. He's a strong man.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I like that one. Do you think do you think
Lebron retires at the end of the season. It's not
been all happy, go lucky in the Lebron camp this offseason.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
No, I will say no, I don't think so either.
But then I have them somewhere they said he's talking
about he wants to play maybe twenty five.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
So he wants to play forever and then but he
wants to opt into his contract and then be frustrated
with the Laker situation. Right anyways, last one, these are
all very good. We'll see about the dismount what you got, Brian.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
All Right, So this is the only one that's not
going to relate to on the court, but it's off
the court. We got new NBA media deals this year
with Amazon and NBC getting basketball this year, So how
is that going to shape up inside the NBA's on
ESPN now for whatever reason, there's a huge hiatus between
when they're going to be on from Opening Night to
(43:37):
Christmas and then there's a new primetime slot at eleven
pm Eastern Time on NBC. So is that is that
something that's going to stick around for a while or
are enough people going to complain about it that it's
only a one year thing.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
I'm proud they brought it. They they brought it Brian
Fried her debut. Yeah, we bought it brilliantly.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
What I think is a very very interesting top five
storylines heading into the twenty five to twenty six season.
I love every single one of them. I don't have
any dispute, no refute, no argument, no nothing. Shout out
to Brian Man, I appreciate you hopping on with us
today at the very.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
End, Souse. That eleven o'clock game time is crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Just more disconnect between the fan base and the association. Please, man,
just make it easy for people to watch your product.
It seems easy, but sometimes it just ain't. Good job.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Brian, appreciate it, that man, good stuff.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
All right, it's the West and Walker and Flounder and
Brian show coming to a close. We'll pass the baton
to the Kyle Bailey Show alongside Smoke Ludwig. Coming up next,
Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Oh Daddy Yes.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
Listen to the Wes and Walker Show teas from noon
to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven FM,
u
Speaker 2 (44:55):
FNZ, the official home of the Charlotte sports fan
It's the two o'clock hour on West and Walker Sports
Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ. We're broadcasting live from
the Chandler Volta Studios. CV Injurylaw dot Com. CV Injurylaw
dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
One call.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That's all the Carolina's personal injury lawyers. I hate it
when players do this, coaches do this. But Jonathan Stewart
just put out a tweet. Wes Yes, the former Panthers
great running back. He put out a tweet and all
he put out was I have all emojis, all right.
I hate it when y'all do that stuff, man, because
I'm I've got my eyes. I'm doing what you're asking
(00:42):
me to do. My eyes are open, I'm constantly refreshing
my timeline.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
What's happening?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Is anything happening or are you just doing the thing
A lot of players do where they just want to
tweet random stuff out and have us all go into
a tizzy.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I think that might be a play.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, man, I mean I like the cryptic tweet and
sometimes you know, if it is all emojis, it can
be a little bit of fun. I guess to try
to decipher, Like, is Trey Hendrickson about to come to
the Queen City.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I don't know. Maybe something else going down some of
the twenty fifteen team. Maybe.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
It's also very close to a conversation that was had
on the Morning Show about whether or not Jonathan Stewart
should be in the Panther's.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Ring of Honor. Really that was a conversation we had today. Huh.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yes, and Max said he doesn't know about that, and
so the eyeball emoji's coming out after that. You do
wonder if mister Stewart possibly was listening.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, when did he tweet? I like that theory a lot.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
So this conversation was the nine o'clock hour, ten oh
six am.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
That's what I'm saying. Maybe he was listening to WFNZ. Possible.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You think he's gonna come down to the Chandler VAULTA
Studios and give mac an earfull.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I don't know, man, I don't know. That's not Jay Stu, Man,
that's not Jay Sue.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
He might just lay out, he might just lay out
the reasons why he probably should be in the Ring
of Honor.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Is it not? Jase?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Dude?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You don't think you don't think he'd get mad like that?
Maybe I don't think so I'm lanning. Maybe I'm wrong,
but I am watching.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
By the way, the twenty fifteen anniversary stuff the Panthers
are putting out on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I don't know if anybody else has checked it out.
There's been a.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Couple of episodes they put out. One on the twenty
fifteen training camp, the fight between Cam Newton and Josh Norman.
That was a good one, and then the second episode
was from weeks one to eventually week six when they
beat the Seahawks, to let everybody know we're a team
that's for real and we're not the paper Tigers that right.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
I'm just breaking down the full documentary into single clips
or no.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Well, Charlotte Observer is the one that released their two
separate documentaries, and it's not even really a documentary the
Panthers are putting out. It's basically a docuseries. Oh yeah,
I saw it, Okay. So they put out a couple
of episodes to ten minute long episodes. The second one
I really enjoyed because we got to relive the Seattle
game and because the Panthers are a part of the NFL,
(03:04):
they have game footage, so they have what your typical
docuseries Slash documentary feels like and they're putting the game
footage on top of the commentary, and it's really well done.
Really small bite sized pieces of candy that they have
for you on the YouTube channel, but it's quite well done.
And they're getting a lot of the same guys that
the Observer had talk on their documentary. Stuart is speaking,
(03:26):
Josh Norman is also speaking there. Do you have Roman Harper,
I've seen him a couple times included, but you have
quite a few characters. Ron Rivera also speaking there. It's
funny that here here we are talking about Jay Stu.
I will say, man, Jay Stu had maybe the meanest
stiff arm in the running back in the NFL, I
(03:47):
should say, at running back during his time playing. I
know nationally that might catch some people by surprise, but
I've seen Jay Suh throw some dudes absolutely in the
ground one hand, Reggie White style, with.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
That past rush move.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Reggie White would give you that's what it felt like
watching j Stu destroy somebody into the ground. I don't
know how many other solidly built big backs like that
existed in the last twenty five years, Like who else?
Derek Henry is different, just because he's taller. I'm talking
about being that short and that monstrous where the biceps
(04:23):
are as big as any biceps in the league. Who
else fits that? Mold Nick running back Nick Chubb is
a great one, Mojo Mars Jon Drew, Yep, those are
those are all good answers, so j Stu, Nick Chubb, Mojo,
those are monsters.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
There's a few more guys. They'll come to me.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But the first one, Frank Gore was he and he
but he wasn't like that. Yeah, he wasn't shredded like yeah,
like I.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Just he was. I mean he was a tough s
ob run.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
This isn't anything against Gore. It's just I'm talking about,
like body wise and different skills that they would know
you from that. The two you brought up, I think
are good examples. Doug Martin the mussel Hams. Yes, he
was one of those NFL what ifs, even though he
hates the muscle Hamster. It's a great Nick Cave And
(05:13):
Doug Martin is a good one to bring up. And
Doug Martin not as good as Jay ste If. We're
talking about guys that were good. Mojones, Drew, Nick Schubb
were excellent running backs. Also ring of honor for ja
ste Is that is that okay with everybody?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
We all right putting him in the ring of honor?
No who, I think it's got to be.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
It's got to be exclusive enough to me and I
just we When you talk about the twenty fifteen team,
you're talking about pretty much everybody else that you would
you would consider putting up there or borderline Hall of
Famers or hall of famers. I know, man like Luke's
going in to the hall. I think that Greg Olsen
(05:55):
could make it to the Hall of Fame. Cam Is
on the press precipice.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
I would say, his numbers on guardy but seventy three
hundred rushing yards and you're the franchise's all time leading rusher.
You know, could you do something when you're putting him
and the Angelo in together? But I know the Angelo doesn't.
I know he doesn't have the best uh you know,
relationship with them. But for Jonathaan store for a ring
(06:21):
of honor for the Carolina Panthers. If you're the all
time leading Russier with over seventy three hundred yards, I
would say, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, I think a lot of this is also based
off of feel, and I get the whole reason to
try to keep some of the Dames off of the
Ring of Honor, But how do you feel watching Jonathan
Stewart run the football in that backfield with smash and
dash where even if you want to look at the
stats and say he only ran for one thousand yards
one time ever in his career and that was his
second season in the league, you do have to remember
(06:50):
that was because they by design had a dual running
back system. Dangelo Williams was your more of your pop
it off, take you to the house. Jay Stewart is
going to get you a bunch of first downs. I
have no problem. I think Jay stu is okay putting
him in the Ring of Honor. I would be okay
recognizing him as.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Such as well a lot of the stuff that he's done,
Like he's one of those faces of the Panthers that
when you think Panthers, especially now, when you see them
like going to London or going and doing different things,
he's always a guy that's at the forefront.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
So I would say, yeah, yeah, I agree with you.
I think that stuff matters.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Let me let me like, I don't have an issue
if they choose to put him up there, The question
then becomes, though, who else are you putting up there?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
How many guys are you going to have in the
Ring of Honor?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Well, I just think his claim to fame, his big
accolade is that he's the franchises all time lead in Russia.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I mean that certainly is a big one. But he's
also a guy that only made one Pro Bowl in
his career.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So I think it's so like I would put Mike
Rucker in the Ring of Honor.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
But yeah, yours, you're you're a little more expansive, I
think than I would be.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I think let's let's find the line. Let's play this game, right.
That's the Mendoza line for making it in the Panthers'
Ring of Honor fandal text line seven oh four five,
seven oh ninety six to ten.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Where is it.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
If you're past this guy, then you've achieved a Ring
of Honor status. If you don't reach this guy, then
you're the first one left out of Ring of Honor status.
Because I think we could probably start the bidding there
at a j stew.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Kwan Short is one.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Loved Kwan Short monster, part of that successful run that
they had in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Did he have the longevity?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I might say no, and k one Short is one
of my favorite players that suited up for the Panthers
certainly during that time.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, I mean, then you start to really get into,
you know, semantics, because he did make two Pro Bowls
and he was All Pro at one time. So it's like,
all right, sure, if you do Stewart, who's only been
to one Pro Bowl, even though he is the all
time league Russian the franchise a guy who made it
a couple of times and wasn't all Pro, then that's
what it can start to get a little sticky.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, yeah, I guess long any matters.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
For instance, we can do this by a case by
case basis, right, Like, this is why I don't like
having this universal code in which you have to pass
all of these hurdles. You have to clear all these
hurdles in order to make it. We can go to
Jay su and say, well, you only have one Pro Bowl, Sorry,
you're not in. I just hate that way of measuring
how much a player truly matters to the community. And
ultimately that's what the Ring of Honor is there to do.
(09:22):
It's to serve the community, and if the community looks
at Jay Stu's career here with Carolina and remembers him
finally as a running back that connected a couple of eras,
that connected playoff teams to some bad teams. But he
was still there to seeing the other side of what
was a great Super Bowl run to being a part
(09:43):
of the community. I've seen Jay Su out in Charlotte
like three times and.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
A Super Bowl run to him been on a super
Bowl team that counts for something too all the time
leaving Russia a member of the super Bowl team.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, being with some pretty good accola.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
And by the way, he's eleven yards away from reaching
the one thousand yard mark on that twenty fifteen squad.
So yeah, played played a big part where k one,
Like I look, I would let a lot of people
in and what I feel about Kwan, I would love
to have KK up there, but I probably think he
falls short because his prime here in Carolina was a
little short lived.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And I hate it.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Man injuries, they just took the back half of his
career away from him. The first half excellent, immediately second
half just fell.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Off a cliff.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Man just couldn't come back from some of those injuries.
So I hate some of that. Nine A zero says,
I think baseline should be Stephen Davis. Under that level
of impact, you're not in. Above the Steven Davis level
of impact you're.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
In, that'd be a lot of guys. Huh, So that's
a lot I love.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I love Stephen Davis. If you're talking about individual season impacts,
Davis is right on up there with.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
A lot of them.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
They have to start having ceremonies in the concourse maybe
having so many people, Hey.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Man, you could just stack the names on top of
each other. With the way that they have it right now,
you go around the arena one time, just do it
again and put one name on the top of it.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
You'll be able to see the Bank of America building
from inside the stadium. You could basically build a dome
with the names of the players that would be in.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Matt in Greensboro says, The Ryan Khalil line is what
should exist. That's it.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
You should definitely be I agree, that's a good line
right there. To me, he's a no doubter, yes, But
if you're a no doubter, then we bring the line
down a little bit, right because Khalil.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'm with you, no doubtter. He should be in. We
honestly put him in tomorrow. I'm happy with it. There's
just no question about it. So if it's Khalil, we'll pack.
James is saying no to short like Thomas Davis. Yet,
no doubter, that's not even a question.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
TD is in.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I'm not seeing any good answers of where I feel
like Jake Delom Maybe the guy that's already in.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Okay, that's interesting. That might be the one man I
said to me Stewart's in. If I'm making the call,
I agree, Yeah, I think he is. The line like,
if you don't have the accolades, if you don't have
the multi all pros.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You don't have the MultiPro bols.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
But if you are the franchises all time leader in something,
and it's not a paltry number like it's like three
thousand yards, like it's over seven thousand, that's a lot
of rushing yards. So to me, a guy like that,
when you are the all time something in franchise history
and you are part of the Super Bowl team, to me,
that should be the baseline. And then after that you're
(12:29):
talking about guys who are much more decorated.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I think Stewart might be the line.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I think Stewart's the that's we're looking for other names,
and we've been talking about him the entire time. I
think you're right. If you contributed less than Jay ste
then maybe you don't get in. Yeah, and then it'll
still lead to some debates as to you know, because
Mike Rutger is one, I'd probably put Mike Rucker in.
Mike Rucker had me to a big impact on this
early Panthers culture. Yeah, he was definitely one of those parts.
(12:57):
He was a draft pick of the Panthers as well.
Fifty five and a half Sacks had three straight years
of nine or more, was a big part of the
three run was a pro bowler on that squad, huge in.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
The community for the Panthers. He's another one of those
face of the franchise guys in the community.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Mike Rucker might be a good line to put out
there too, though, because that one's tough. I will say
I love Mike Rucker probably on that line on my
West Got Rains alone?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
We did a show up Mike Rucker at the Flying
Biscuit couldn't have been a better guy. By the way,
it still is.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Here's a fun fact about Walker Mail used Mike Rutgers
Yellow Lab in my fifth grade science project. Mm Yep,
I did a science project on could dog see color?
And when my mom was working at the kennel importing
big German shepherds and all these attack dogs from Germany,
(13:48):
when he was working in that line of work boarding,
there was Mike Rutgers Yellow Lab, and so I was like, hey,
you know what we can use Mike and he knew
about it. Of course, I'm not just taking the labs
out for a joy ride. So we had a whole
bunch of different color balls out there on the field
and then did they find one that they liked the
best that were different colors but were similar everywhere else?
(14:11):
And we figured out, no, that they can't see color.
Now it's just a quick Google search. You don't need
Walker Mail's fifth grade science project to prove that.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But it was done. Still a fun little product. I
thought they could see certain colors.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
They're largely colorblind. Ah, I learned that. Yep, you're welcome,
Mike Minner. What do we think about the Mike Minner low? Yeah,
I was just about to say that. People brought that
up too. I mean ten years for the Panthers. He
was one of the og Panthers as well. You go
look the interceptions seventeen for his career.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I'm putting them in. Yeah, I mean a ten year Panther.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
To me, that has to mean something that you've been
with the same organization ten years, because because we know
teams cut players at the job of a hat. So
for a god to be with an organization for ten years,
that means you mean something. So that team and was
a member of the.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
So he was Super Bowl yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
he was on AM and just so clear, far and
away the best safety we've ever had, and it's not close.
There's the Mike Minner tier and then there's nobody else
in that tier in terms of what they meant to
this franchise. We had some Chad Cody years early, and
then we had our Kirk Coleman season. Shout out to
Roman Harper, He'll always be a saint, just to say that,
(15:20):
because I never listened to Dian Grant was on that team.
I got a really good one for you. What about
the Chris Gamble line, Oh, because Chris Gamble is always
the answer for most underrated panther.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Ever, I mean, how many are you putting up there
at that rate? It's just I'm just saying the line.
I'm just saying the line.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
And he's got twenty seven career interceptions in a nine year.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Career, which I think is a franchise record. Yeah to me,
franchise rerecord you in?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, American Choppers say Walker's putting everybody.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, real talk, with real talk, Chris Gamble, you get
twenty seven picks in a.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Nine years case, clearly in no question.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yes, who's the best punter in franchise history? That person's
in no question. Todd Sowerbron Michael Bates in no question.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Oh yeah, Michael Bates should be in.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Though you're being sarcastia, I think Michael Bates should be in.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Go look at guy, are you putting in? What's your criteria?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Then if you feel like that these men shouldn't be
in it, because I meant, I.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Mean it's different for me.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
I am the guy that is a fan of a
franchise that has won a Super Bowl. So when you
have those guys, you have to have won a super
Bowl to make the Ring of Honor. My thing is
is that you don't want to put too many guys in,
and then you end up having guys like when you
get further down the line, if this franchise accomplishes a
lot more, you look back and you say, that guy
(16:50):
really made it.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Go ahead.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Oh, I was just going to say, you feel like
gamble mentor Rutger.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
What would you? I would say no, I would say
no to all those guys.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
See, but I and this isn't This is not to
call you out in terms of your fandom. I think
they mean something more to Panthers fans than they do
to you, who primarily prioritizes the Giants. And I think
that's fine, right, But I think Panthers fans they prioritize
what all those players meant for, not only just the
Super Bowl run, but they played here a long time.
(17:22):
So it's not like I'm like, I don't think Josh
Norman should be in. No, and Josh Norman is one
of my favorite all time Panthers just for that one
year alone, But Josh Norman can't get in. I just
talked about KK Short. I don't think KK Short should
be in Starlettula. Some of the big time contributors to
that run.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
So even having the conversation about Kwan Short to me
was crazy to me.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's that's that is the man watch two time Pro
Bowl in all Pro.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
But I mean, so, are you going to put in
Trey Turner? Trey Turner was a five time Pro Bowler? Yes,
I just I don't know, five time Pro Bowl and
that's hot. Is there a Giant that you would want
to get in? But you feel like other Giant fans
most of my guys, the Giants fans might feel different
from you. All right, all right there I got no no.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, think about that, think about it, because we're well
past a break.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Under Dog John, oh god, we got the Brad Hoover line. Yes,
oh my god, I.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Will I will I plead the fifth on that he
was my high school football coach.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I will not say, there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I was about to say, Man, don't dog your previous guy.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Let's go through the commercial break, we'll try to figure
out where this line should be and we'll come back.
Jack just keeps putting things in like Sharon Martin line
belongs in here. Okay, we'll have more jokes for you
as well. On the other side, westn Walker Sports Radio
ninety two seven WFNZ.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
During the commercial break.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
We were weeding through the Tony Fiametta's mentioned the Melvin
Whites mentioned on the text line. Yes, those types of
sicco names. Are trying to figure out what the Mendoza
line is to get into the Panthers Ring of Honor,
and there have been a few a few names mentioned.
The buffet enforcers said it could be ted Ginn, but
(19:17):
he would drop his plaque if we tried to honor him.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So Ted Gen can't be up there. Yeah, integral part
on that Super Bowl run, but that's it. I can't.
I got to put myself in hill. This is what
this is, always the game.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
It becomes a joke at some point, but it has
not become a joke to me at Kwan Short. I
think we can move on from KK, but I do
think KK should at least just have his name floated
out there. Jake Dilom is the one. Chris so the
guys that we mentioned, Jake de Loom is a potential line,
(19:51):
Jay Stu is a potential line, Chris Gamble, Mike Rucker,
Mike Mentor, those are the guys and you look at
Jake the Lobe's stats compared to some of the other guys'
stats at their positions, I would say the loans are
the most underwhelming, but he represents the Cardiac Cats. After
(20:13):
we were down against Jacksonville, Rodney Pete comes out of
the game, entered the loan with the baton rouge accent,
and he leads the Panthers his first year as a
starter to a super Bowl, and then he's with the
team for quite some time and has other postseason runs.
What I keep coming back to trying to figure out
the line Wes, is who is this for? And do
(20:33):
you want to please the people that it's for? If
the answer to the question is yes to the latter
and the answer to the first one is it's for
the fans, I don't know who else it's for.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
It's for the fans, right, Yes, it's definitely for the fans,
no nobody else. Maybe some of the owner. The owner
may care about it, but that's pretty much.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
The owner has the power, right he doesn't even care
about it as much. And I've always given Tepper credit
for that, even when we were losing a ton of games.
What he did by just saying Hey, why the hell
don't we have Ring of Honor here? I'm so glad
he immediately took care of that. But if it's for
the fans and you want to please the fans, then
Jake delom is somebody that needs to be in there.
(21:11):
We remember the Bo Jingles commercials, We remember the Super
Bowl run that he had.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Just a good.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Player, not an amazing Pro Bowl all the time type
of player, but just a good quarterback that we had
in our system for a long time. I think I
always come back to that when trying to figure out
does he deserve to be up in the Ring of
Honor for the guys, for the fan base that purchases
the tickets, that tries to flood Bank of America Stadium
as much as possible when you're giving them something to
(21:38):
cheer about. And then when those fans are spending their
money to go cheer on the Carolina Panthers, they look
up in above the seats and they see all the
names that helped facilitate their fandom. But nah, no, man,
we can't put Mike Grucker in because we want to
keep a tight ship around here.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Then what are we doing it for? Yeah, that's what
I come back.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
To Yeah, and I agree with you, points man, And
it's always fun to think about that because every organization
is going to have some guys that weren't necessarily the
most decorated players, but mean a lot to the franchise
as far as what they did and as far as
what they mean to the community if they're still doing things.
Because I went you walk, if you played for an
organization for a long time, like we talked about Mike
(22:21):
Mentor playing for ten seasons here, you know that means
something because players get discarded all the time, but they
kept him here because it meant something. He meant something
to the community, he meant something to the locker room.
And I think those are sometimes that those are some
things that you can't always put tangible stats on. And
when you talk about those heartbeat guys or those glue guys.
(22:42):
And I'm not saying that you put everybody in because
it is hard. You hear some of the names, and
you know, as far as the organization goes, their legendary
in some type of form. But I think there are
some guys that we talked about that should be in there.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Yeah, I agreed, and I'm not trying to put Ian
Thomas in because it was here for so long. Yes,
you get there's a certain amount of criteria.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, he came in at age thirty. It was wild.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
That was one of the things about Cap was that
he was thirty years old and he was a rookie.
He was older than half the team and it was
his first year. But anyways, no, no Cap, Okay, no
Ian Thomas. I'm not trying to put Graham Gano in
because he played for the team for a while. We
can be reasonable about this, we can evaluate this on
a case by case basis. It's gonna sound nuts, okay,
(23:31):
But Mario Addison I'm not putting in there. I'm not
putting in there before anybody has a heart attack. But
Mario Addison played for the team for a while, contributed
at a pretty high level, both as a rotational pass
rusher and as a starter, and so I'm not even
trying to put him in. I just want people to
understand I do have standards.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Still.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I'm not just opening up the door wide open and
say everybody welcome, Ken Lucas.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Y Ank like these players that we said, right, we're
just kind of some jazz.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Now here's here's one I know what you're gonna say.
That's interesting.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I know what you're gonna say. Don't make don't make
us talk about it.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Say it.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Go ahead, Charles Chuck Johnson. That's not who I thought
you were gonna say. Really thought you were gonna say J. J.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Jansen.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Well, I mean JJ's automatically in. I mean, there's there's
no way. Come on, what kind of stats can we go?
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I have no idea.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
I mean, he is I'm sure he is probably the
most confusing one because he is easily there is no
one that will play longer for the Panthers.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I don't think ever enfranchise history part of him, right right,
I just don't even know how to. Yeah, I guess
games played would be the reason. Yeah, the Panthers, iron man,
that's how they were. Yeah, I mean put in.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
To be honest with you, man, I would you play
that long for organization?
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Man?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Come on the same same, I'm with you man, all right?
What about Charles Johnson? THO would you put Charles in there?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
He's got sixty seven and a half career sacks, seven
tackles for loss, more than Rucker Charles Johnson, and he
played eleven years here, so there's our longevity criteria. Sometimes
you got to go based off field, and let's just
let's keep it a being too. Optics matter because some
of the guys that we're talking about that have been
(25:21):
borderline the personality. Do we see them, are they visible
and are they really likable? Because that's one of the
things about Jonathan Stewart that goes in his favor. He
is very likable. Even a Jake Deloon that plays a
hell of a part in it. He was very likable.
People love Jake. I loved Jake Deloon, Okay, So that
(25:41):
plays into it too, just how we talk about they are,
how they are with the NFL Hall of Fame, and
how they'll bring up if a guy was not liked
by the media during his career, unless he just has
ridiculous stats. And even we saw what too too was
near the top of every receiving category that was, but
the media didn't like him and so they punished him,
(26:04):
I feel like and so that plays into it as well.
So that's the thing I bring into the discussion. When
you talk about a guy like Charles Johnson. I'm not
saying he's not likable, but we don't see him as
much the personality. He's not bore in recent years, he's
the personality isn't necessarily as bubbly as some of these
other guys that we like.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Mike Rutger.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Mike Rutger is a you know, one of those face
of the franchise guys. You see him. He's always out
speaking at events. He's doing a lot of things on
behalf of the Panthers. You know, he's one of those
spokesperson types of people, and that plays into people's perception
as well.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
That's all I'm saying. I think Charles Johnson, what hurts
his case is that he was not a huge part
of that twenty fifteen team on the field, but he
played up until twenty seventeen. It's just he only played
in nine games in twenty fifteen, I think had the injury.
Did have four sacks the next year seven oh four,
says Charles Johnson, also took the pay cut to stay
with the team. That's a Panthers guy right there.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Also.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
But also the other counter would be he was never
a Pro bowler, which is really stunning that he never
found his way into a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
But he doesn't have a single Pro Bowl appearance.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I'm putting him in baby. Everybody Welcome, everybody's in the house.
Charles Johnson, Welcome. We got some time left. Let's go
ahead and play some of the latest sound in the
sports world. Time now for the Live Wire with Anthony Flounder,
pag Nada.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
The West.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
All right, and let's start with Derek Brown, who was
speaking to the media yesterday. The Panthers defensive tackle and
he was asked about the depth that has been brought
in this offseason and how it may affect his snap counts.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Yeah, I mean, I always want to be on the field, though,
you know how you hang around for a little while
in the league, So I always want to be on
the field. But you know, it's gonna be up to
the coaches.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
You know.
Speaker 6 (27:57):
I think there's a planning place right now, so you know,
I'll play as much as hopefully it's a three quarner plan.
And you know, if the games I'm lining the fourth quarter,
they kind of let me burn up a little bit,
so we'll see.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
All right.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
So we saw what the run defense looked like with
him off the field against Houston as opposed to with
him on the field against Houston. How do you think
they should juggle the snaps this year for Derek Brown,
should he play as many STAPs as he possibly can
or do you have to use some of the other
guys to sort of keep him fresh throughout the year.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Well, I think when you have some defensive line depth,
it can never hurt to have a rotation and be
able to keep guys fresh. And so I know the
Panthers are going to be a little worried about him
as far as being a big man coming off of
meniscus surgery, that's certainly nothing to play with. And so
for him though, I think that it will probably ramp up,
(28:50):
especially depending on the stakes. Beginning of the season, they
probably will have more of a rotation. But if it
comes down to the wire where you know, these a
gotta have it games and they're in a position to
be able to compete, and I think you probably see
the snap count rise.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, I probably want to be anywhere from around seventy
five percent to maybe eighty and that's still on the
high end by the way percentage of snaps that he'll
play defensively.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
To put it in perspective, he played.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
More snaps than anybody in twenty twenty three at the
defensive tackle position. He played eighty nine percent of the snaps.
It's just it's a ton man at that spot. It's
why he racked up so many tackles because he's a
high effort guy. He has a lot of opportunities to
make him play it on a bad team. Guess what
the snapcount's going to go through the roof. It's a
perfect storm of you racking up the most tackles we've
(29:38):
ever seen by a defensive tackle in NFL history. Let's
bring that snap percentage down, maybe a perfect world, give
me seventy seven. Give me seventy seven percent of the snaps.
That means that you're putting teams in maybe some third
and long situations. You still want him in on passing
downs because he's a good pass rusher, just not elite
like some of the other defensive tackles. And then you
can give him a break every now and then he
(29:59):
can be a little more fresh as the game slash
season goes on. I think seventy seven percent of the
snaps is a good percentage for me.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
That's what highly specific Derek Brown Ring of Honor member
now could get there. Yeah, he's working, he's working.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
He's working, but surely potentially getting there. Another guy that
Walker will put in the Ring of honor at some point.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
But is Rico Dawbdell? Have you seen those catches?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
So that's all I'm saying. It's also ran for a
thousand yards not with the team, but you know, still
matters looked pretty good against Carolina last year. Rico, What
do you think about your preseason so far?
Speaker 2 (30:33):
All right? I mean I haven't been able to get
much going, so.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Just all right honestly, But all right, so what about
the run game? What do you think about the run
game overall?
Speaker 2 (30:43):
No, not at all. You knows the way we wanted.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
Them to go.
Speaker 8 (30:46):
Obviously want to go out there, like I said, get
some points and move to change and things like that.
But we haven't been able to win those two preseason
and the limited reps that we got. But I think
we put in great work in the scrimmages and in
the practices against each other then I think it all
pay off at the end.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
All right, So my question to you guys, I seem
to be the only person that really feels like this
here at the station, But are you a little bit
concerned about how poorly the team has run the ball
so far in preseason because to me, it has not
been great, and I am kind of wondering if they're
going to be as good of a run blocking group
up front as they were a year ago.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Yeah, with the ones, I mean against Houston, we didn't
see much of it at all. And when you talk
about the run game, you know, it definitely takes some
time to lather up with the twos, you know, it's
kind of a result of the talent that you have
in the game. But when you talk about what the
ones have been able to do, it's hard sometimes to
get into a rhythm running the ball when you have
(31:42):
other things that you kind of want to see. And
maybe the way the snap count goes as far as
how the chains are moving, what you decide to call,
because you're only going to have a limited amount of
snaps when you only have a series or two, so
that's going to make it tough to get the run
game going. But I think with those backs and this
offensive line, I think that there's one thing that they
will have as a strength in their arsenal is the
(32:04):
run blocking of that offensive line.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, I think they'll be fine. I'm not too worried
about it either. To be honest with you, there, Floundy,
I get it. You have seen bad offensive lines, especially
after we thought we were going to have a good
offensive line roll into the season that did happen after
the Steve Wilks year where we thought we were good,
turns out that offensive line was really bad.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
But these aren't those players.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I do think we're talking about a different type of
build with all of these players playing tackle slash guard.
I think Robert Hunt and Amian Lewis both more than capable.
It's about ay Kei Kwan who does best is run
block out there on the left side. It's not what
Taylor Moten does best. But they still have success running
the football last year, so I'm gonna I'm okay with
(32:47):
the way that they've been able to run the ball.
Chuba Hubbard especially helping them out being so efficient running
north and south. He and Rico Dwell were among the
top three or four most efficient runners in the league
last year, and that means there's not a lot of
wasted movement. There's no fat on their runs. They are
trying to get past the line of scrimmage as quickly
as possible. They're reading the whole boom, get through it.
(33:08):
They were doing that at a better rate than at
an elite rate seriously last season, which is a great
advanced metric, and I love paying attention to that one.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
I think that's going to be just fine. What you got.
All right, let's go to Cam Newton.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
He was talking about the impact that Auburn had on
his life as he gets ready to go into the
Auburn or get his number retired by Auburn.
Speaker 7 (33:29):
The truth of the matter is, no one knew, and honestly,
I didn't even know. I didn't know the impact that
Auburn would have on me of being a kid from Atlanta,
and no one knew the desire to really bring something
to this town that will never be forgotten.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
The Alburn family loves you. The Auburn family revers you.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
All right, he's getting his number retired with Auburn. Should
he get his number retired with the Panthers?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Well yeah, I mean that's another doubt on both fronts
right there. But I was happy to see Auburn doing that.
I mean, anytime is that even a discussion?
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I think what Flounder is asking, though just to be specific,
it's not should he be in the Ring of Honor,
it should anybody be able to wear number one again?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Just because it was?
Speaker 1 (34:25):
I had it check in my brain that same way
as like, yeah, Flounder, what are we talking about here?
Do you want to have a conversation on when he
should be in the Ring of Honor? Tomorrow? Yesterday? Should
the Panthers retire the number one to where nobody else
is allowed to wear it again?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah? I think so.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Okay, anytime you talk about the only NFL MVP in
the history of your franchise, what he did to the
culture here, the city here, Yeah, I think that should
be a number that has retired and not one again.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
If you want to retire number one, I'm totally fine
with it. I'm with you. Plus, what's cool about that
is a number one? Just the meaning of that specific
number anyways, is also really cool that your first overall
draft pick, who is among the best running quarterbacks ever,
who was number one in the NFL in twenty fifteen,
(35:13):
and there was some team success too. It's not like
you had this successful year where he put up a
bunch of stats himself, but they were nine to eight empty.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Well, and anything like that, I think based off of
that year alone, I plus the longevity he did play
here for a while, a little shorter than what we wanted.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I'm okay. If they want to retire number.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
One, he is somebody texted in. By the way, it
is a seven h four number. He is the greatest
player in franchise history. He is not the greatest player
in franchise history. That is Luke Keighley.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
I think Luke Keigley was a better linebacker than Cam
was a better quarterback. I think that happened. If we're
talking about most impactful, it's just what comes with the position, right,
Cam Newton was the best player in the NFL one.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
And I mean, you know if a Cam injury took
him out, it did.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
I I think Luke Keikley was. I think Luke Keakley's
like a maybe top five linebacker of all time. Uh yeah, right.
I don't think Cam Newton is a top five QB
a time. So if you want to put it that way,
one hundred percent. But if you're talking about just most impactful,
I go back to that Forbes list all that time
ago when Cam was a top fifteen most popular athlete
(36:20):
in the world, and that included soccer players, and you
know the type of stock that they carry with a
lot of people.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
It's Ronaldo and it's messy.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
They're in the top two or three, and then here's
Cam Newton, Top fifteen, top twenty. I hate using the
phrase people forget because I think people use it too often,
but Wes people forget type of impact he had on
sports culturally Around here.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Someone also says, Tommy b should the all should off
the field character matter for camp? What off the field?
What are we talking about? What character are we talking?
What character issue? Is Cam happened right in and enlighten us?
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Maybe they will, maybe they will, But I think his
off the field character is just fine enough, but perfectly fine,
just fine enough to put him in not only the
Ring of Honor, but retire number one overall. That'll do
it for the Live Wire. Coming up next, it's the
walk Off, and in turn, I guess Shadowy Brian Friedland,
however we want to give whatever title we want to
give him, today, he's going to give you his top
(37:20):
five NBA storylines heading in to the upcoming season.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
It's the walk Off. Sports Radio ninety two to seven
w f Z, Are you challenge for me? To walk off.
Oh yeah, that's a walk off challenge, my friend, it's
(37:48):
a walk off, the walk off.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
It's Weston Walker Sports Radio ninety two seven wfn Z.
We have the greatly anticipated top five storylines according to
Brian Friedland coming up in just a moment, the storylines
going into the NBA season. But first we gotta pay
some bills. Baby, we gotta tell you what's on tap.
It's presented by Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks has locations in
Concord and Fort Mill. Twin Peaks is a local sports
(38:15):
lodge come inform made from scratch food and signature twenty
nine degree draft beers.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
The Braves.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
They play the Chicago White Sox again tonight after getting spiked.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
Yeah, Spencer Schroder got roughed up. Somebody asked a question
on Twitter. I don't know what's happened to him. Man,
he is not the same picture. He looks completely different,
a shell of himself.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Go Chicago White Sox ending their four game losing streak.
No pain.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
In fact, if the Braves are undergoing more pain than
White Sox fans, then oh my god, I feel for you,
and I truly mean that.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
I saw the Rockies on a four game winning streak
as well.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Oh god, yeah, they're not going to be the worst team.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
I don't think they're gonna be as bad as last
year's White Sox team.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
I think they've turned it on just enough.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
I hate that, to be honest with you. I'm hoping
the Rockies do lose. But anyways, yeah, the White Sox
they won last night. The bout tonight happens at seven
to fifteen. First pitch Shane Smith on the mound for
Chicago with a four h one ERA, and he's the
much better pitcher via Era in this bout, with Bryce
Elder on the bump for Atlanta, a five eight to
nine ERA, five and nine on the season. The Braves
(39:23):
currently sit at fifty six and sixty nine with their
most recent loss, and the White Sox are forty five
and eighty. Still a pretty terrible record, but oh well,
we got to win and the White Sox ended a
four game losing streak.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
How many games left in the season? Uh, two hundred
and fifty nine.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Oh daddy, yes, getting now the home stretch. Two hundred
and fifty not too many. Rapid fire. Brian Friedland shadowing
us today making his on air debut. Congratulations to Brian.
He's going to give us the top five NBA storylines
heading into the season. But real quickly, what do you
think is the number one thing that you've learned earned
(40:00):
today watching us westn Walker and Flounder.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I mean, just be yourself. That's that's all you can do.
I like that. That's what you should get out.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Of the good one. Being yourself is hard to do
on air, it is. I really like that when that
touched me, that brought a tear to my eye. Okay,
number one storyline, it don't have to be in order,
just your first top NBA storyline heading into the season.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (40:20):
All?
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Right?
Speaker 5 (40:20):
So we haven't had a repeat champion since I believe
twenty eighteen when the Warriors went back to back with
Katie's Stephan all those guys. So can the Thunder do
that in the very competitive West?
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Not sure?
Speaker 5 (40:32):
Got the Spurs on the come up Rockets, Clippers are
always tough. My sneaky team this year we got the Trailblazers.
That's a sneaky, not for not for title contender, No no, no, no,
just fun team that you're gonna play on League Pass.
Could could could cause some trouble in the first round, though.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
I like Portland as a league pass team. Scoot Henderson stands, hey,
you rise up.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
I like that one too. Okay, see repeating. They look
to be in a great position to do so we'll
see if they do it. I like that one. Number two.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
What is it?
Speaker 5 (40:59):
So we who reigned supreme in the East? It's gonna
be wide open this year? Do the Hawks and Magic
make it come up? Is it going to be the
next Do they take that next step? With the Celtics
most likely going down with Tatum out the whole year
or whatever happens with him. So that's and due the Cavs.
Can they repeat what they did last year with sixty
plus wins?
Speaker 2 (41:17):
You like the first two storylines? Yeah, no doubt. Is
he doing a good job on his debut? I like it? Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Plus it's the be yourself thing. Honestly, we could all
have a reminder of that.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
All right, those are the top two. What is the
third storyline?
Speaker 5 (41:27):
I mean, this is gonna be the year of the
new CBA. Honestly, this is the year of the second Apron.
In my opinion, this is where we're really starting to
see the effects of it, especially too, you got a
bunch of teams rebounding from achilles injuries, Pacers, Bucks Celtics,
another Buckscot Miles Turner, but Pacer Celtics, those are two
of your top teams. Now they're not in the fold,
so it kind of ties into the last one. But
(41:48):
you're the new CBA. Let's see how Let's see how
it got.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
I like that. That's a great one. That's good one.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
Something that is changing the NBA. Man this salary apron
breaking these super teams up.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
That that's a great one, which is why I think
so many people might lean towards OKC being the first
repeat champion in a long time because they have their
big three already built in. Nobody else can go get
a new one because you're gonna have to pay an
arm and a leg and give up your first born
to do so.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
I like that one A lot number four. What is it? All? Right?
Speaker 5 (42:16):
So we got some potential last seasons, but for different reasons.
So is this the year that the Internet combusts and
Lebron retires?
Speaker 2 (42:25):
And do we.
Speaker 5 (42:26):
See another interesting trade at the deadline including some foreign
superstars like we saw with Luca last year, Josh Cronky
talked about trading Jokic. Nobody told nobody prompted him to
do it. He talked about it. Does Giannis finally get
out of Milwaukee because he's just.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Tired of, you know, mediocrity. We'll see. I think he's
got a future. He's a strong man.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I like that one. Do you think do you think
Lebron retires at the end of the season. It's not
been all happy, go lucky in the Lebron camp this offseason.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
No, I will say no, I don't think so either.
But then I have them somewhere they said he's talking
about he wants to play maybe twenty five.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
So he wants to play forever and then but he
wants to opt into his contract and then be frustrated
with the Laker situation. Right anyways, last one, these are
all very good. We'll see about the dismount what you got, Brian.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
All Right, So this is the only one that's not
going to relate to on the court, but it's off
the court. We got new NBA media deals this year
with Amazon and NBC getting basketball this year, So how
is that going to shape up inside the NBA's on
ESPN now for whatever reason, there's a huge hiatus between
when they're going to be on from Opening Night to
(43:37):
Christmas and then there's a new primetime slot at eleven
pm Eastern Time on NBC. So is that is that
something that's going to stick around for a while or
are enough people going to complain about it that it's
only a one year thing.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
I'm proud they brought it. They they brought it Brian
Fried her debut. Yeah, we bought it brilliantly.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
What I think is a very very interesting top five
storylines heading into the twenty five to twenty six season.
I love every single one of them. I don't have
any dispute, no refute, no argument, no nothing. Shout out
to Brian Man, I appreciate you hopping on with us
today at the very.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
End, Souse. That eleven o'clock game time is crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Just more disconnect between the fan base and the association. Please, man,
just make it easy for people to watch your product.
It seems easy, but sometimes it just ain't. Good job.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Brian, appreciate it, that man, good stuff.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
All right, it's the West and Walker and Flounder and
Brian show coming to a close. We'll pass the baton
to the Kyle Bailey Show alongside Smoke Ludwig. Coming up next,
Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Oh Daddy Yes.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
Listen to the Wes and Walker Show teas from noon
to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven FM,
u
Speaker 2 (44:55):
FNZ, the official home of the Charlotte sports fan
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