August 4, 2025 • 18 mins
Joe Person, Panthers beat writer for the Athletic, joins the show to discuss Bryce's performance in camp so far, T-Mac's up and down camp to this point and the depth of the trenches continuing to grow.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Panthers rookies officially reported a training camp two weeks ago,
said day not quite two weeks worth of practice yet,
but still for the most part, we've had two weeks
of Panthers training camp to comb through fan Fest over
the weekend. Lots to get to and who better to
talk more about Panthers' training camp than the man himself,
Joe Person from the Athletic out covering every single day
(00:20):
of Panthers TC. You can follow him on Twitter, by
the way, at Joseph Person. Joe, we appreciate the time,
my man. How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
What's going on? Guys? Oh man?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We got a lot to get to. I'm excited to
talk a little more about the Panthers with you and
fan Fest and everything that you've seen over there at
Bank of America Stadium so far. Plus, if you have
missed any of the content that Joe has been writing
than one what's wrong with you? But two you can
go find it go to the Athletic. Also follow him
on Twitter at Joseph Person. There is an article up
(00:50):
now on the seven things We've learned about the Panthers
through the first two weeks of camp and Joe your
first bullet point is about the starting quarterback Bryce Young.
How would you just Bryce's camp to this point?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
You know, someone texted me this morning and asked me
that very question, and I said it, you know, it
hasn't been spectacular, but it has been plenty solid, and
that he's looked very much in command, very comfortable in
this second year in Dave Canalis's system. And I think
(01:22):
a lot of us, you know, got to those first
two weeks of the regular season last year week and
it was so bad. I mean, it was really bad,
and there's no way to sugarcoat that. But I do
think we kind of glossed over, and I'm I'm raising
my hand here, that glossing over the fact that this
was a brand new system that you know, a few
(01:43):
weeks he got, you know, exposed to it in June
and then five weeks in August and then boom, you know,
go go play some regular season football games.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
And that's tough. It's a tough assignment.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
It was just it was working with a third different
play call in a play caller, excuse me.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
And you know, about a nine month span, and so
it is what it was.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And we've seen a lot more, a lot more composed
and comfortable Bryce Young in my opinion, Saturday night at FanFest,
but also these first two weeks and and specifically talking
about FanFest, there are a couple of plays, especially late
in the scrimmage that he was he was making off
(02:30):
platform plays that they ended up blowing dead and whistling dead,
which in a game he might have dipped out under
this under the sack, we'll call it. You know. It's
like two men touch stack the other night, and it
might have been a big play. I think at least
one of those would have been. But but you know,
in an effort to protect them, they whistle the play dead.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
And it was what it was, but.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Solid for sure, and uh, you know and maybe some
still some upside yet to come.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And the next three and a half four weeks.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Joe, you've covered a lot of Panthers training camp practices
in your day, You've covered a lot of fan Fest.
Just real quickly, how much stock should we put into
fan Fest compared to your normal training camp practice, especially
if they're wearing pads out under the lights in front
of the fans. Should we put more or less? Is
it about the same? How do you feel about fan
Fest compared to other practices. We I rate it well.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Below what this Wednesday's practice against the Brown it's going
to be, because.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You know, and they did.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
And credit to day fan allis he tried to make
it a scrimmage type situation Saturday night by putting the
live pads or excuse me, the full pads in you know,
on they were not live. It was, you know, more
of a thud situation. A couple guys went into the ground,
but for the most part, you know, there wasn't really
any hitting of live blocking. And I actually made a
(03:55):
point about that my story today too. Is iky a quantum.
I won't say I watched all of his pass blocking reps,
but the couple I was down on the field toward
the end of the game, and he really had some
nice pass blocking efforts against princely Um and Miellen, who,
as we know it kind of created a stir early
in camp by getting past Ikey when they before they
(04:18):
were in full pads and having the one inadvertent hit
on on Bryce Young. So anyway, that was one of
the things I mentioned today. But no, I think we're
going to learn a lot more about this team on
Wednesday when the Browns are here and then and then
again Friday night in the preseason game, because I think
Dave Canalis is making a good decision in playing Bryce
(04:41):
Young in the starters, however briefly, and it might just
be one or two series. But you know, that was
again that was another thing about last summer. Excuse me
to start of last season with Bryce goes into that
regular season having played one preseason series in Week three
at Buffalo, and so I think Dave Canalis kind of
(05:03):
looked at how that went last year with the offense
in particular, and it's like, you know what, I'm playing
my guys the first two games, and he hadn't said
this yet. My guess would be he's going to sit
them in Week three of the preseason, whereas last year
he did just the opposite.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Joe Person from the Athletic joining us here on WESSN
Walker find him on Twitter at Joseph Person. So a
bunch of good stuff in that answer you provided. Going
back to the icky part of it, Yeah, speaking of
raising your hand high, I was one that just raised
an eyebrow after Princely beat Ikey a couple of times.
But people did remind me Walker they got to put
the pads on, and I guess Ikey has responded a
(05:41):
lot better with putting the pads on. Just don't feel
like we've heard a lot from the trench play yet, Joe,
is it too early to get a feel on how
the trenches have been performing? It would have been your
early takeaways on the offensive and defensive lines.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Well to your earlier question too, I was struck by
this when you were just cribing Ikey uh and the
importance of Wednesday. I want to see Miles Garrett go
against Dicky Aquantity and not Prince Leum and Miel like
that's those are the source of little matchups that not
little matchups, important matchups that that are so much fun
(06:17):
to to kind of keep an eye on when there's
a lot that's going to be going on. You guys
have been in at these practices, like you're gonna have
to say, all right, I want to say I'm going
to skip one on one, you know, Brown's receivers against j. C.
Horn in order to go watch this Ikey Miles Garrett matchup.
But anyway, Yeah, I think the offensive line looks good.
(06:41):
I mean, and this is not I'm not breaking any
new ground here. They brought the entire group back to
include like the top three or four reserves, which is
pretty unheard of, and they.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Should look good.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
And you know that was that was one of the
NFL better units last year. Assault Pro Football Focus had
them ranked as the eleventh best offensive line.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I thought that was a little low.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I mean, I'm not saying they need, you know, top three,
but I've thought they were certainly top ten. And but
it is what it is. I mean, that's a good group.
You know, Austin Corbett and Cave Mays really the only
open competition up front. I think Austin Corbett's leading, but
cave Mays is, you know, not a pushover there defensively
(07:27):
in the trenches.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You know, you're right.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Bobby Brown missed the first week of camp more or
less with a hamstring, so we're just I did see
him knife into the backfield late last week during a
padded practice, so that was good to see. I hadn't
seen a ton I think Cam Jackson did some things
Saturday night when it was threes versus threes, but he
(07:51):
hasn't gotten a lot of reps otherwise, and certainly it
isn't getting reps with the ones or the two's quite yet,
but it's a better group. It's a deeper group. I
mean this, here's my here's my takeaway on Turk Warden Wharton.
That guy is built like a fire hider like I
didn't realize. Yeah, he's not super tall, but I thought
(08:15):
he was a little leaner. He is just fit. I mean, arms, chest, legs,
all of it. And you know, it's not like necessarily
like the ideal pass rushing build, but I think he's
going to do some nice things in terms of run
stopping and pass rushing.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
It was the first thing you noticed when seeing him
on Panther's Blueprint. I didn't realize that Wharton was built
like that either, Poor Fitty. I don't know if you
saw this, Joe, but mac and Bowen put out a
picture of their interview with Wharton and both Fitty, our
little Josh Fitty Marlowe was was showing off the guns
right next to Turk Wharton showing off his guns, and
needless to say, it was quite different between those two.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, Warren, you know, he's an interesting pickup. I mean, obviously,
you know he wasn't the first choice at defensive line
for the Panthers. They kind of bowed out or got
outbid in the Milton Williams sweepstakes, but it did allow
them to do by spending less on Wharton, they were
able to, you know, maybe get Patrick Jones, which they
(09:20):
might not have otherwise. So I don't know, you know,
Nick Gorton's missed a couple of days with his own
hamstring issue, and DJ Johnson's kind of nicked up with
a hip, But Panthers has been pretty healthy, like they
you know, knock on wood. They have not had any
sort of catastrophic camp injuries yet, and you hope they
can continue.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Along those lines. But yeah, I'll be.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Interested to see what kind of pass rush they can
generate this week, you know, against against whoever the Browns
are going to have back a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Absolutely Joe Parson joining us on Weston Walker Sports Trading
ninety two to seven. WFNZ just dropped an article on
the Athletic the seven things We've learned about the Panthers
in training camp through two weeks. You brought up that
center battle. I was going to ask you about that, Joe,
but also what other battles are starting to become a
little more interesting as we get through camp.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Well, I mean, I think the Panthers are pretty set
at corner with Mike Jackson out ended up the other night.
J C.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Horn took the night.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I had the night off, and so this Corey Thornton
got a lot of reps. And Corey Thornton's interesting. I
don't think he's going to surpass either of those guys.
So he just doesn't really answer your question, buddy, but
I do think he's a guy to keep an eye on.
That undrafted rookie played four years at Central Florida, finished
up at Louisville.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Excuse me.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
He has long like Dan Morgan and Dave Panalis and
that Seattle corner back blueprint kind of long rangey corners.
He's that, and I thought, and he's also physical, and
I thought he had a really nice night pressing uh
uh PEDEROA McMillan, which you know, we can get to
(11:07):
that too. That there's been one hiccup out of this
receiving corps. It's been kind of the end and you
hope it's just a learning curve. And listen, it's two
weeks into training camp and we thought McMillan might struggle
against press coverage he's he's got such a big surface
for corners to get their hands on, and they're doing that.
(11:28):
They every day. It's sort of like whether it's Horn
or Mike Jackson or Corey Thornton, they are getting their
hands on him and a lot. And you know, McMillan
said last week, Look, I've learned. I've learned about that
the physicality, and I've also learned because they have refs
out there every day, so I also learned I'm not
quite old enough to get that call yet and so there.
(11:51):
But other you know, the kicking competition.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I've written a lot about.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I think it's going to be Ryan Fitzgerald when all
is said done. He did not exactly have a great
night Saturday at Bank of America, missing two of three
field goals, miss missed a pair of forty eight yard
field goals. But he kind of just looks the part.
I mean, he's got plenty of legs drank. You know,
he kicked at a high level Florida State. I think
(12:17):
Matthew Wright, you know, continue to get chances.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But I mean, if.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Ryan Fitzgerald keeps missing two out of three field goals,
then the answer might not be on the roster right now. So,
but that's one.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
To keep an eye well, and Joe, that's not hashtag
skinny post right, like that was the real thing over at.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Boa Wide standard posts.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, oh please please, no kicking issues please going into
the season, Joe, let's go back to the T max stuff,
because I do think that's interesting. What should we take
away from that with T max struggling against press coverage,
because you see the one day last week where it
was kind of a coming out party for him. It
was a slow ramp up and it felt like he
had a better second week than he did first. How
(13:00):
should we all react to the camp that Temac's having
right now?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well, it's been up and down, and you know this
is I think the fan base after Xavier Lagette last
year is ready to see, especially a top ten corner,
a top ten wide out come out and be like, Okay,
he is the.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You know, the real deal, legit whatever you want to say,
and and I think he is. I mean I don't.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I don't think this is necessary anything to get too alarmed.
The Panthers also have ways they can move McMillan around
to you know, kind of get him off of some
of that press coverage, whether it's in the slot or otherwise.
And they're probably not trying to put that on tape,
you know, this preseason for everyone to see. But yeah,
(13:48):
it is a concern, I mean, and I think I
think McMillan needs to make sure he's getting out to
practice early and staying late, whether that you know, working
with one of the corners or working with receivers coach
Rob more because you know that this is not something
that you just learn overnight. It is a process, you know,
(14:09):
defeating press coverage and working on releases and countering you know,
different counter moves and steps to gain separation, and you know,
hopefully he does it. You know this, they they made
a big decision to go offense and give Bryce Young
another weapon. And you know, I don't think on August
(14:31):
third or August fourth, whatever it is, you know, time
to sound the alarms. But definitely worth monitoring.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Well and Joe not. I mean, just to clarify here,
because that was one of the big concerns about t
mac wasn't just his ability to get off press coverage,
but there are a lot of detractors about his football character,
you know, out there about not staying laid and actually
there was a new sheriff in town. I think as
soon as there was a head coaching change at Arizona.
That's the phrase Todd McShay used, and there was some
(14:58):
of that out there. Is not coming in early and
staying late. Is there an issue as far as you
understand over there in terms of that sort of thing
with t Mac.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Not that I've seen, no, but I was just sort of,
you know, parenting, what what the kind of knock on
him coming out with and so you know, I think,
I mean, I I've often all last season. I was saying,
Xavier Lagette need to stay after practice and get on
the drugs machine with Huba Hovard and Tommy Tremble and
(15:30):
and he doesn't mean it's just not his thing. I'm
not saying he doesn't catch football. He does.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
But you know there's.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Tremble and Cuba are famous for, you know, forty minutes
after practice, you know, wearing out these drugs machines. So
I thought that was something Lage should have done more
of last year. So yeah, don't. I don't think there's
been any issues yet with Team Mac. But but like
you said, I mean, there there was a reason people
(15:59):
were hearing about that at Arizona.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And so you hope that's not going to become an
issue here.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, final thing before we get you out of here, Joe,
what you've been covering again, like been covering Panthers' practices
for a long time. I imagine that you start to
get a feeling or a certain vibe about guys that
eventually do work out don't work out. What are your
vibes right now about Dave Canalis. What are you seeing
from him and now his second year as Panthers head coach,
having learned from maybe some of those mistakes last season.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
You know, he seemed year one, he I mean, he's
uber positive, right, like always uber positive, and he is
still that, But there was sort of more of a
sense in my mind last year that it was, you know,
kind of happy, go lucky. I'm not saying devil may care,
because he did care and he.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Didn't want to lose.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
I mean, obviously to the point of benching the franchise
quarterback in Week three.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
He didn't want to. He didn't want to go keep
going down that route.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
So but it just seems like there's a little more
of an edge to him this year, and you know,
whether that's calling guys up in the middle of a
practice when he doesn't think it's going well enough, and
you know, kind of dog cussing them, which we've heard
a couple of times, you know that we were not
ever practice. So probably that may have happened last year too.
(17:19):
I didn't see it, and so and I think, you know,
teams often will take on the personality of the coaching staff,
and there's been a little edge to this group. And
I mean this in a good way, you know, like
Leathan Ransom hitting a guy in the.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
End zone the other night when they weren't really supposed
to be hitting.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
And every every time Tuba like breaks the line of scrimmage.
Now and this become a thing. In fact, I asked
Demani Richardson, Tuba and Demani Richardson will both lower their
shoulders into each other every time, like it's just it's just,
you know, it seems like there's even though they like
to talk about these expectations, they expect more out of
(18:02):
themselves this year, and I think and I think Dave
Canalis is carrying himself a little differently in that regards.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
The seven things We've learned about the Carolina Panthers in
training camp. Go check out Joe Person's latest article on
The Athletic Again. Follow him on Twitter too at Joseph
Person talking about some dogs that just might have been
uncovered again here in camp. Maybe another undrafted Jim from
Dan Morgan again. Seven things We've learned in the first
two weeks of camp. Joe, thank you so much for
(18:30):
the time. It's always great man. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Appreciate Walker. Have a great week.
Panthers rookies officially reported a training camp two weeks ago,
said day not quite two weeks worth of practice yet,
but still for the most part, we've had two weeks
of Panthers training camp to comb through fan Fest over
the weekend. Lots to get to and who better to
talk more about Panthers' training camp than the man himself,
Joe Person from the Athletic out covering every single day
(00:20):
of Panthers TC. You can follow him on Twitter, by
the way, at Joseph Person. Joe, we appreciate the time,
my man. How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
What's going on? Guys? Oh man?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We got a lot to get to. I'm excited to
talk a little more about the Panthers with you and
fan Fest and everything that you've seen over there at
Bank of America Stadium so far. Plus, if you have
missed any of the content that Joe has been writing
than one what's wrong with you? But two you can
go find it go to the Athletic. Also follow him
on Twitter at Joseph Person. There is an article up
(00:50):
now on the seven things We've learned about the Panthers
through the first two weeks of camp and Joe your
first bullet point is about the starting quarterback Bryce Young.
How would you just Bryce's camp to this point?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
You know, someone texted me this morning and asked me
that very question, and I said it, you know, it
hasn't been spectacular, but it has been plenty solid, and
that he's looked very much in command, very comfortable in
this second year in Dave Canalis's system. And I think
(01:22):
a lot of us, you know, got to those first
two weeks of the regular season last year week and
it was so bad. I mean, it was really bad,
and there's no way to sugarcoat that. But I do
think we kind of glossed over, and I'm I'm raising
my hand here, that glossing over the fact that this
was a brand new system that you know, a few
(01:43):
weeks he got, you know, exposed to it in June
and then five weeks in August and then boom, you know,
go go play some regular season football games.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
And that's tough. It's a tough assignment.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
It was just it was working with a third different
play call in a play caller, excuse me.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
And you know, about a nine month span, and so
it is what it was.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And we've seen a lot more, a lot more composed
and comfortable Bryce Young in my opinion, Saturday night at FanFest,
but also these first two weeks and and specifically talking
about FanFest, there are a couple of plays, especially late
in the scrimmage that he was he was making off
(02:30):
platform plays that they ended up blowing dead and whistling dead,
which in a game he might have dipped out under
this under the sack, we'll call it. You know. It's
like two men touch stack the other night, and it
might have been a big play. I think at least
one of those would have been. But but you know,
in an effort to protect them, they whistle the play dead.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
And it was what it was, but.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Solid for sure, and uh, you know and maybe some
still some upside yet to come.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And the next three and a half four weeks.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Joe, you've covered a lot of Panthers training camp practices
in your day, You've covered a lot of fan Fest.
Just real quickly, how much stock should we put into
fan Fest compared to your normal training camp practice, especially
if they're wearing pads out under the lights in front
of the fans. Should we put more or less? Is
it about the same? How do you feel about fan
Fest compared to other practices. We I rate it well.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Below what this Wednesday's practice against the Brown it's going
to be, because.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You know, and they did.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
And credit to day fan allis he tried to make
it a scrimmage type situation Saturday night by putting the
live pads or excuse me, the full pads in you know,
on they were not live. It was, you know, more
of a thud situation. A couple guys went into the ground,
but for the most part, you know, there wasn't really
any hitting of live blocking. And I actually made a
(03:55):
point about that my story today too. Is iky a quantum.
I won't say I watched all of his pass blocking reps,
but the couple I was down on the field toward
the end of the game, and he really had some
nice pass blocking efforts against princely Um and Miellen, who,
as we know it kind of created a stir early
in camp by getting past Ikey when they before they
(04:18):
were in full pads and having the one inadvertent hit
on on Bryce Young. So anyway, that was one of
the things I mentioned today. But no, I think we're
going to learn a lot more about this team on
Wednesday when the Browns are here and then and then
again Friday night in the preseason game, because I think
Dave Canalis is making a good decision in playing Bryce
(04:41):
Young in the starters, however briefly, and it might just
be one or two series. But you know, that was
again that was another thing about last summer. Excuse me
to start of last season with Bryce goes into that
regular season having played one preseason series in Week three
at Buffalo, and so I think Dave Canalis kind of
(05:03):
looked at how that went last year with the offense
in particular, and it's like, you know what, I'm playing
my guys the first two games, and he hadn't said
this yet. My guess would be he's going to sit
them in Week three of the preseason, whereas last year
he did just the opposite.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Joe Person from the Athletic joining us here on WESSN
Walker find him on Twitter at Joseph Person. So a
bunch of good stuff in that answer you provided. Going
back to the icky part of it, Yeah, speaking of
raising your hand high, I was one that just raised
an eyebrow after Princely beat Ikey a couple of times.
But people did remind me Walker they got to put
the pads on, and I guess Ikey has responded a
(05:41):
lot better with putting the pads on. Just don't feel
like we've heard a lot from the trench play yet, Joe,
is it too early to get a feel on how
the trenches have been performing? It would have been your
early takeaways on the offensive and defensive lines.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Well to your earlier question too, I was struck by
this when you were just cribing Ikey uh and the
importance of Wednesday. I want to see Miles Garrett go
against Dicky Aquantity and not Prince Leum and Miel like
that's those are the source of little matchups that not
little matchups, important matchups that that are so much fun
(06:17):
to to kind of keep an eye on when there's
a lot that's going to be going on. You guys
have been in at these practices, like you're gonna have
to say, all right, I want to say I'm going
to skip one on one, you know, Brown's receivers against j. C.
Horn in order to go watch this Ikey Miles Garrett matchup.
But anyway, Yeah, I think the offensive line looks good.
(06:41):
I mean, and this is not I'm not breaking any
new ground here. They brought the entire group back to
include like the top three or four reserves, which is
pretty unheard of, and they.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Should look good.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
And you know that was that was one of the
NFL better units last year. Assault Pro Football Focus had
them ranked as the eleventh best offensive line.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I thought that was a little low.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I mean, I'm not saying they need, you know, top three,
but I've thought they were certainly top ten. And but
it is what it is. I mean, that's a good group.
You know, Austin Corbett and Cave Mays really the only
open competition up front. I think Austin Corbett's leading, but
cave Mays is, you know, not a pushover there defensively
(07:27):
in the trenches.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You know, you're right.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Bobby Brown missed the first week of camp more or
less with a hamstring, so we're just I did see
him knife into the backfield late last week during a
padded practice, so that was good to see. I hadn't
seen a ton I think Cam Jackson did some things
Saturday night when it was threes versus threes, but he
(07:51):
hasn't gotten a lot of reps otherwise, and certainly it
isn't getting reps with the ones or the two's quite yet,
but it's a better group. It's a deeper group. I
mean this, here's my here's my takeaway on Turk Warden Wharton.
That guy is built like a fire hider like I
didn't realize. Yeah, he's not super tall, but I thought
(08:15):
he was a little leaner. He is just fit. I mean, arms, chest, legs,
all of it. And you know, it's not like necessarily
like the ideal pass rushing build, but I think he's
going to do some nice things in terms of run
stopping and pass rushing.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
It was the first thing you noticed when seeing him
on Panther's Blueprint. I didn't realize that Wharton was built
like that either, Poor Fitty. I don't know if you
saw this, Joe, but mac and Bowen put out a
picture of their interview with Wharton and both Fitty, our
little Josh Fitty Marlowe was was showing off the guns
right next to Turk Wharton showing off his guns, and
needless to say, it was quite different between those two.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, Warren, you know, he's an interesting pickup. I mean, obviously,
you know he wasn't the first choice at defensive line
for the Panthers. They kind of bowed out or got
outbid in the Milton Williams sweepstakes, but it did allow
them to do by spending less on Wharton, they were
able to, you know, maybe get Patrick Jones, which they
(09:20):
might not have otherwise. So I don't know, you know,
Nick Gorton's missed a couple of days with his own
hamstring issue, and DJ Johnson's kind of nicked up with
a hip, But Panthers has been pretty healthy, like they
you know, knock on wood. They have not had any
sort of catastrophic camp injuries yet, and you hope they
can continue.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Along those lines. But yeah, I'll be.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Interested to see what kind of pass rush they can
generate this week, you know, against against whoever the Browns
are going to have back a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Absolutely Joe Parson joining us on Weston Walker Sports Trading
ninety two to seven. WFNZ just dropped an article on
the Athletic the seven things We've learned about the Panthers
in training camp through two weeks. You brought up that
center battle. I was going to ask you about that, Joe,
but also what other battles are starting to become a
little more interesting as we get through camp.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Well, I mean, I think the Panthers are pretty set
at corner with Mike Jackson out ended up the other night.
J C.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Horn took the night.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I had the night off, and so this Corey Thornton
got a lot of reps. And Corey Thornton's interesting. I
don't think he's going to surpass either of those guys.
So he just doesn't really answer your question, buddy, but
I do think he's a guy to keep an eye on.
That undrafted rookie played four years at Central Florida, finished
up at Louisville.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Excuse me.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
He has long like Dan Morgan and Dave Panalis and
that Seattle corner back blueprint kind of long rangey corners.
He's that, and I thought, and he's also physical, and
I thought he had a really nice night pressing uh
uh PEDEROA McMillan, which you know, we can get to
(11:07):
that too. That there's been one hiccup out of this
receiving corps. It's been kind of the end and you
hope it's just a learning curve. And listen, it's two
weeks into training camp and we thought McMillan might struggle
against press coverage he's he's got such a big surface
for corners to get their hands on, and they're doing that.
(11:28):
They every day. It's sort of like whether it's Horn
or Mike Jackson or Corey Thornton, they are getting their
hands on him and a lot. And you know, McMillan
said last week, Look, I've learned. I've learned about that
the physicality, and I've also learned because they have refs
out there every day, so I also learned I'm not
quite old enough to get that call yet and so there.
(11:51):
But other you know, the kicking competition.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I've written a lot about.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I think it's going to be Ryan Fitzgerald when all
is said done. He did not exactly have a great
night Saturday at Bank of America, missing two of three
field goals, miss missed a pair of forty eight yard
field goals. But he kind of just looks the part.
I mean, he's got plenty of legs drank. You know,
he kicked at a high level Florida State. I think
(12:17):
Matthew Wright, you know, continue to get chances.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But I mean, if.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Ryan Fitzgerald keeps missing two out of three field goals,
then the answer might not be on the roster right now. So,
but that's one.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
To keep an eye well, and Joe, that's not hashtag
skinny post right, like that was the real thing over at.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Boa Wide standard posts.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, oh please please, no kicking issues please going into
the season, Joe, let's go back to the T max stuff,
because I do think that's interesting. What should we take
away from that with T max struggling against press coverage,
because you see the one day last week where it
was kind of a coming out party for him. It
was a slow ramp up and it felt like he
had a better second week than he did first. How
(13:00):
should we all react to the camp that Temac's having
right now?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well, it's been up and down, and you know this
is I think the fan base after Xavier Lagette last
year is ready to see, especially a top ten corner,
a top ten wide out come out and be like, Okay,
he is the.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You know, the real deal, legit whatever you want to say,
and and I think he is. I mean I don't.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
I don't think this is necessary anything to get too alarmed.
The Panthers also have ways they can move McMillan around
to you know, kind of get him off of some
of that press coverage, whether it's in the slot or otherwise.
And they're probably not trying to put that on tape,
you know, this preseason for everyone to see. But yeah,
(13:48):
it is a concern, I mean, and I think I
think McMillan needs to make sure he's getting out to
practice early and staying late, whether that you know, working
with one of the corners or working with receivers coach
Rob more because you know that this is not something
that you just learn overnight. It is a process, you know,
(14:09):
defeating press coverage and working on releases and countering you know,
different counter moves and steps to gain separation, and you know,
hopefully he does it. You know this, they they made
a big decision to go offense and give Bryce Young
another weapon. And you know, I don't think on August
(14:31):
third or August fourth, whatever it is, you know, time
to sound the alarms. But definitely worth monitoring.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Well and Joe not. I mean, just to clarify here,
because that was one of the big concerns about t
mac wasn't just his ability to get off press coverage,
but there are a lot of detractors about his football character,
you know, out there about not staying laid and actually
there was a new sheriff in town. I think as
soon as there was a head coaching change at Arizona.
That's the phrase Todd McShay used, and there was some
(14:58):
of that out there. Is not coming in early and
staying late. Is there an issue as far as you
understand over there in terms of that sort of thing
with t Mac.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Not that I've seen, no, but I was just sort of,
you know, parenting, what what the kind of knock on
him coming out with and so you know, I think,
I mean, I I've often all last season. I was saying,
Xavier Lagette need to stay after practice and get on
the drugs machine with Huba Hovard and Tommy Tremble and
(15:30):
and he doesn't mean it's just not his thing. I'm
not saying he doesn't catch football. He does.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
But you know there's.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Tremble and Cuba are famous for, you know, forty minutes
after practice, you know, wearing out these drugs machines. So
I thought that was something Lage should have done more
of last year. So yeah, don't. I don't think there's
been any issues yet with Team Mac. But but like
you said, I mean, there there was a reason people
(15:59):
were hearing about that at Arizona.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And so you hope that's not going to become an
issue here.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, final thing before we get you out of here, Joe,
what you've been covering again, like been covering Panthers' practices
for a long time. I imagine that you start to
get a feeling or a certain vibe about guys that
eventually do work out don't work out. What are your
vibes right now about Dave Canalis. What are you seeing
from him and now his second year as Panthers head coach,
having learned from maybe some of those mistakes last season.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
You know, he seemed year one, he I mean, he's
uber positive, right, like always uber positive, and he is
still that, But there was sort of more of a
sense in my mind last year that it was, you know,
kind of happy, go lucky. I'm not saying devil may care,
because he did care and he.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Didn't want to lose.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
I mean, obviously to the point of benching the franchise
quarterback in Week three.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
He didn't want to. He didn't want to go keep
going down that route.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
So but it just seems like there's a little more
of an edge to him this year, and you know,
whether that's calling guys up in the middle of a
practice when he doesn't think it's going well enough, and
you know, kind of dog cussing them, which we've heard
a couple of times, you know that we were not
ever practice. So probably that may have happened last year too.
(17:19):
I didn't see it, and so and I think, you know,
teams often will take on the personality of the coaching staff,
and there's been a little edge to this group. And
I mean this in a good way, you know, like
Leathan Ransom hitting a guy in the.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
End zone the other night when they weren't really supposed
to be hitting.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
And every every time Tuba like breaks the line of scrimmage.
Now and this become a thing. In fact, I asked
Demani Richardson, Tuba and Demani Richardson will both lower their
shoulders into each other every time, like it's just it's just,
you know, it seems like there's even though they like
to talk about these expectations, they expect more out of
(18:02):
themselves this year, and I think and I think Dave
Canalis is carrying himself a little differently in that regards.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
The seven things We've learned about the Carolina Panthers in
training camp. Go check out Joe Person's latest article on
The Athletic Again. Follow him on Twitter too at Joseph
Person talking about some dogs that just might have been
uncovered again here in camp. Maybe another undrafted Jim from
Dan Morgan again. Seven things We've learned in the first
two weeks of camp. Joe, thank you so much for
(18:30):
the time. It's always great man. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Appreciate Walker. Have a great week.
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