February 28, 2025 • 20 mins
Join Darin and Kassidy from radio row at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis for this week's episode of the Happy Half Hour! They discuss the strategy coming into the draft, the importance of stopping the run, the gossip floating around the combine and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This week on a Happy half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The way this thing's set up, seeing them double up
on pass rushers, seeing them double up on defensive tackles
makes a lot of sense because that's where the biggest
need is. I mean, even Dave Canalis said it yesterday.
Stopping the run is the priority. Two hundred rushing yards
a game allowed over the last nine games.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That's the cow.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
It's time for the Happy Half Hour, presented by Southern Star,
an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers. Here are your hosts,
Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hello, friends, and welcome to a very special edition of
the Happy Half Hour. Very special because we are, of course,
at Combine in Indianapolis. Love indian Love Indianapolis. It's just
like Charlotte, except with worse weather and better basketball. Other
than that, everything about this place is awesome and we
love it here.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yes, it's so much fun. It's what do people call it?
NFL spring break?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
All right?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
That makes it sound a little more debauchery than it
really is.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Although there's some debauching going on out there in them streets.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, that's what happens.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
And hateful gossip take over after midnight and uh, didn't someone.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Get on to you yesterday for being self rightous?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, condescending and self righteous because I didn't poison my mind, body,
in spirit the way some of y'all did. Uh Not?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I always having Bible study. I don't know what you're
talking about.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, it's uh, there's there's a lot of Bible study
going on here this week. No, it is in all seriousness.
This is the NFL's trade show. This is where everybody
comes together. It's a convention. All the coaches, all the scouts,
and all the players in this year's draft class are
here right now. So it's a big old intelligence gathering operation.
(01:52):
It's a big old, you know, festival of all things football.
The on field workouts get all the attention later in
the week. That's the better television as an inventory. But
really the important stuff that happens here is the medical
profiles that the players go through, and the meetings with teams.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Between and between the meetings with teams for the prospects.
I mean, you've got a free agency window opening here soon,
and you've got teams figuring out their own free agency.
This is kind of I mean, to quote Hamilton, this
is the room where it happened pretty much all week,
no doubt. A lot of what happens in the next
Each football year is decided kind of in Indianapolis each year.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
And I will ride out at the top of this
podcast address one of my pet peeves in life. Oh
can't wait for when the players are up on podiums.
They're on podiums, but behind electrons. Remember, but they are
on a parium. They are on a podium. A podium
is a thing you are upon. Electron is a thing
you are behind. That's the easiest way to remember it.
But when the players are up on the podiums, people
(02:50):
will ask them. The reporters from all over the place
are here, and reporters will say, have you met with
the Lions today? Have you met with the Buccaneers today?
If you're a first round prospect, you meet with everybody, right,
So the process of elimination that occurs, Well, you had
an informal meeting with the packers, but not a formal
media What does it mean? It doesn't mean anything, and
(03:12):
stop asking that question, reporters. My God and.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Darren Dant's school of journalism.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There is a saint among us, justin Rogers of the
Detroit News is walking around this morning wearing a sweatshirt
that says, have you talked to Team I cover? That's hilarious,
It's amazing. I documented it on the Twitter earlier today.
He is a god of journalism today and I salute him.
But I mean it is silly because here's the secret.
(03:41):
You know who, The Carolina Panthers are going to talk
to a whole bunch of defensive players. That's who, because
that's what they need the most. Because that's what Dan
Morgan said they needed the most yesterday.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, I mean, he wasn't shy about it. He didn't
dance away from it. He said, you know, I think
it's pretty obvious the defensive side of the ball is
where we're gonna have to put a lot of our
folks right in both free agency and the draft. And
you know that was kind of the offense at this
point last year. We saw them fill the holes. We
saw the step that was taken by focusing on those areas,
especially the offensive line. And you know, Dan said, you're
(04:15):
gonna have to still win this league in the in
the trenches, like on the lines, and the same way
they addressed the offensive line that last year. That's what
they're going to do the front seven this year. Luckily
for them, this draft plays right into their hands. Sure,
one of the deeper front seven classes I can remember
in a.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
While, it really is. And when there's a lot of
pass rushers and when there's a lot of interior defensive linemen,
you know, that's going to get their attention through it.
And I think there's a decent chance, you know, without
getting too deep into draft strategy, that they're going to
take a couple of them. You know, we'll see free
agency is going to inform that, you know, once that
(04:52):
starts in two weeks from today, I guess, yeah, two
weeks from today. Free agency begins in earnest, you know,
and even two days prior to that the negotiation period
where we'll kind of know without knowing, that'll inform some
of the draft plans. But the way this thing's set up,
seeing them double up on pass rushers, seeing them double
up on defensive tackles makes a lot of sense because
(05:14):
that's where the biggest need is. I mean, even Dave
Canalis said it yesterday, stopping the run is the priority. Well, yeah,
you averaged two hundred yards a game, two hundred rushing
yards a game allowed over the last nine games, and
over two hundred rushing yards allowed in each of the
last six. So yeah, of course that's a problem, and
it's got to stop.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
The addressed I'm sorry. You've got to be able to
stop the run to even rush the passer anyway. Yeah,
those two things go hand in hand, their part and
parcel together. Yep, you can't do one, You're not gonna
for sure not going to be able to do the second.
And that's why it's so vital to find these guys
that can kind of shuffle around. I mean, you look
at a guy like Jalen Walker, who can He's technically
listed as a linebacker. I don't know what he is.
(05:56):
I don't think he knows what he is either, But
you've got you find guys like that that can kind
of move around. I mean, you're not gonna put Jaalen
Walker with a hand in the ground as a defensive
tackle position, but you've got guys that can move around
that front seven and that can help you both stop
the run and rush the pass or because you've got
to be able to do both of those things to win.
I mean, the Eagles were a perfect blueprint for that
this year.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, I love the way to hancel. Like I didn't
need to see the Eagles in the Super Bowl to
know that we needed to do this. So yeah, as
it pretends to Jalen Walker and his not being you know,
well defined, because we've seen a recent example of a
similar type of player. I mean it's kind of Frankie Luvu.
And Frankie was the high energy guy who brought it
(06:40):
from wherever he happened to be. He's standing up, he's
coming off the edge, He's doing a lot of different things.
You know, I think Walker's got a little bit of
that in him. But we'll have time to get into
the particulars of all these guys over the next month
and a half, two months, you know, as we go
through this process. But we were just walking that room
this morning where they were doing interviews, and it's left
and right, and you know, here's Michael Williams, Here's you know,
(07:04):
here's James Peers from Charlotte's Chambers High you know a state.
Stay tuned to Panthers dot com to read more about
James later on today. A lot of them, Abdul Carter,
all of them, Mike Green, it's an incredibly deep class,
you know, and the chances of coming out of the
eighth pick with one of them are decent. You know,
we don't know who it's going to be, or that
(07:26):
they're absolutely going to use a first round pick on
that particular position. It just makes a lot of sense
considering their need and wear this draft stacks.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Up, and you can also, I don't want to get
too deep into this because I don't want people to
think this is what's going to happen. It's just something.
Do you still consider they've got enough draft capital enter
in a right spot and knowing the positions they need
with the deep class to possibly still move around, no doubt.
And we saw last year Dan Morgan is happy to
move around if he feels like he's going to get
(07:57):
a better deal. And so when you're sitting there at
number and you're looking at how deep this past Rusher
class is, Dan said on Tuesday that he had not
necessarily had any conversations yet about giving up that spot,
but I wouldn't be surprised if those conversations happened.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
And I feel like I should raise my hand and
say the opinions of the Happy Half do not reflect
those of Perasti only and do not reflect the opinions
of Dan Morgan, Brandt Tillis or the rest of the
Carolina Panthers front office. This is just us talking. But
the other thing that makes you think they might do that,
they have done that. I mean, if you look back
(08:33):
to last year's draft and moving you know, out of
thirty nine to get the second round pick this year,
back then moving back up to take Jonathan Brooks. I mean,
it's just they've shown that they're willing to go up
and down the board, So I think it's reasonable to
expect that could happen again this year when they're sitting
there with nine total picks, eight in the first five rounds.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, I mean that's a good spot to be in.
You can kind of choose your own destiny, like choose
your own ending. Do you ever play those games growing
up a little bit?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah? Like the book Aquaria. It was actually a little
paperback book and you would flip from page forty eight
to one sixty two. Yeah, you don't. Why did you
go behind that door? It was a terrible idea at
any rate. Now, we we spent a lot of yesterday
with Dave Canalis and Dan Morgan and he obviously, as
we said, Dan talked a lot about the defense. The
(09:20):
other thing that stood out to me is how casually
Dan talks about the offensive line and keeping it the
way he has it right now. I mean, he just
very casually said, yeah, we want to bring back Austin
Corbett and k Mays to play center. And that was
kind of an open question, you know, going into these
last two weeks prior to free agency, but he very
(09:42):
casually said, yeah, we want to keep both those guys.
The question about Taylor Moten and his thirty one million
dollar cap number came up, and he's like, yeah, we're good,
we can handle that number. We want Taylor to be here.
Somebody asked him about Ikey Akwanu and what do you
do contractually with him? Knowing he's they've got to make
a decision on a fifty year option. He said, we're
going to try to extended before we get to that point,
and it's just like very casually, very matter of fact,
(10:05):
and that's just how Dan Morgan talks. But they know
they've found something in that offensive line. It became part
of the personality of the team last year enabled Bryce
to flourish in the second half of the season, and
they're going to make sure they hang on to that.
They're going to make sure that strength stays strong.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
And you know, I guess this is the case with
every position, every unit, but you really see it with
the offensive line is how much that unit is predicated
on chemistry. And if you don't have a left tackle
and a left guard that know how the other moves,
that's what leaves holes wide open to call sacks. Ye,
and you've got a unit that knows each other, and
(10:42):
that knows each other well enough that you know if
someone gets hurt or someone else has to go in,
they're still fine, right, and you don't break that up
because that's I mean, again to Dan's point, that's where
you can win or lose a game.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
No now, and it takes more than five of them.
And that's why you know, he kind of mentioned Austin
and Kate as a unit almost because Austin started first
five games before he tears his bicips. Caid comes in,
you know, brings him back off the Giants practice squad
because there wasn't room for Cad Mays. And in September,
that's how deep the Carolina Panthers offensive line was when's
the last time we said that, right? And he ends
(11:14):
up Caid ends up starting the last eight games of
the year. So they've got a bunch of people who
can play a lot of roles. Chandlers of Allahs stepped
in and started a couple of games on both sides
last year when guys were missing, So they've got a
good group of people. Brady Christiansen's a free agent. I
think the anticipation is Brady's gonna go look around and
somebody's probably gonna find him starting caliber money to be
(11:37):
a starting caliber player. I mean, he was sort of
that sixth man last year. He's got great versatility. He
could play left tackle, he started at guard before and
was playing a decent center for a couple of weeks
there in between, until you know, somebody else got hurt
and he had to win. Icky got hurt, he had
to kick back out the left tackle. So I think
Brady might have played his way out of Charlotte in
(11:58):
some senses, but they've talked about being open to bringing
him back. That one's going to be when the market dictates,
but it's gonna be a few of those. Yeah, there's
gonna be a couple of those. So yeah, speaking of guys,
Dan was amazingly.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Awfully open about Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I mean he he all but said, yeah, Johnny Hecker
loved to have you back, kicker. Eddie's going to test
the market and we're actively looking for a kicker, So
I think you can kind of read between the lines
on that one pretty easily. But you know, if there's
going to be a new kicker in here and Johnny
is back, then that new kicker comes in with the
benefit of a veteran long snapper and JJ Janssen. Perhaps
(12:36):
you saw cart Talk.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I did. I saw and it was a nice little
crossover episode with Ask the Old Guy. The highly anticipated
cart Talk episode was how I Saw It Work.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, highly anticipated couse we've been talking about doing this
for two years and we just got around to it.
But it was cool and uh, but having JJ and
Johnny will be a good security zone for any new
kicker who walks in, because not having to worry about
to snap the hold makes his job easier. All he's
got to do is kick JJ.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And Johnny also just sounds like a great buddy cop movie.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
And that well it really is. Yeah, I mean they
really are. They went in depth, and we we alluded
to this on cart talk the other day, but I
wrote about a thousand words section of a mail bag
a couple of years ago about their process for determining
coin flip decisions. And they would go out ninety minutes
before kickoff and flip a snack waffle that they eat
(13:31):
for energy before the game. That their brand has not
paid us for this plug, so I will not describe
it any further, but they would flip the snack waffle.
If it landed tails, they would call tales. And they
won six in a row that way.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, so it was pretty impressive. But I said it
was like a Paul Harvey bit the rest of the story. Yeah,
is that a reference? You understand?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
And that's the rest you do?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Good for you, hey, an old person reference that Castiy gets.
I'm feeling better about this already. But yeah, they went
through the whole thing. And you know, you wrote a
story too about the anticipation a lot of people have
about Wide Receiver being high on the shopping list this year.
But Dave Canalis said, maybe not right.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I mean, they're not necessarily in a position where it
has to be. It's one of those where if there's
a guy there that's great and you've got maybe some
of your other stuff taken care of, then yeah, you
I don't know if that's their first priority. It sounds
like defense is going to be that first priority, no doubt.
I mean again, if you're sitting there at eight and
(14:34):
you've got a guy like I think it's the McMillan
kid or maybe, but they don't have to have one.
And I think people see that the Deontay Johnson trade
as oh well, now there's a hole open for a
number one receiver. And that's because you look at you know,
Loget kind of went through some of those rookie growing pains.
(14:54):
That's just part of it. Whatever happened his rookie year
is only going to make him better his second year.
You have a return of Adam Theling, which is huge.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I think Dan called him old reliable yesterday, which I
really want on a T shirt. I want it to
look like a Yellowstone Old Faithful like poster, like an
old travel poster, but instead of a park ranger, it's
Adam Thielen.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That's yeah, somebody, it would have to be a park
ranger with a ball cap on backwards and a cup
of coffee and maybe no shoes on. That's how Adam
wanders around the stadium allent.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
But having feeling back that's huge. You know, Like I said,
you're gonna see a lot of these guys kind of
take a step forward. You got something for nothing out
of Jayalen Cocher and you know, so that kind of
takes care of a lot of stuff too. It's one
of those again, you never want to turn down a
dynamic wide receiver and Dan basically said that on Tuesday
(15:48):
as well. You know, if there's a guy in free
agency or a guy in the draft that we really
like and it's available, then we're never going to say
no to that. But it's not Yeah, you know, like
you said, it's not the highest number on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, those elite wide receivers that are out there going
for twenty five and thirty million bucks a year, I
don't think that's the market they're shopping in.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah. Now, And this is also not a wide receiver
year necessarily in the draft. You know, this is not
one of those years where you're getting a Justin Jefferson
and Jamar Chase and guys like that coming out, so
you can afford to kind of say, Okay, that's going
to be on the back burner of our priority right now.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
One of the interesting things to me about that whole
position is we've come full circle because when Bryce Young
was drafted, one of the talking points was, this guy's
such a good distributor, he's so smart with the ball.
He doesn't demand elite wide receiver talent around him, even
though he had it at Alabama to be successful. And
(16:45):
you know, at the end of the twenty twenty three season,
a lot of people thought, well, yay does yeah, and
so they trade for Deontae Johnson, and that looked okay
for a minute in training camp, then not so much
to beginning the regular season. Then Bryce gets benched and
then by the time Bryce gets back in, Deontay's gone
and he's out there throwing to and I say this
(17:06):
with respect, Okay, all of these guys are professionals, but
he's throwing to old Adam Thieling. He's throwing to old
David Moore, who was a seventh round pick and at
one point was the only drafted player they had on
the field at that position. He's throwing to an undrafted
rookie in Jalen Coker, and he's throwing to Xavier League
in and out of the lineup with some injuries coming
(17:27):
down the second half of the season. So Bryce was
fulfilling that prophecy from twenty twenty three of he don't
have to have that grade of guys to make an
offense work. Now, will it help? And at some point
in the evolution of an offense, would it be great
to have one of those guys? Sure? I think specifically
they need somebody who can run. They need somebody who
(17:47):
can get down the field a little bit. You know.
Ted Ginn was the example during the twenty ten Panthers
teams of just straight line speed, go get it, fetch
and sometimes Ted caught it. Sometimes he did and when
he did it was a big play. And having somebody
with that kind of straight line speed is absolutely in need.
But I don't think you've got to spend thirty million
(18:08):
bucks to get that kind of player.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Right And you don't necessarily need it right now either,
because I mean, as Bryce continues to evolve and kind
of show what he can do, defenses are going to
start playing him differently. I mean, did he face a
two high safety look at any point this year really
not consistently. That's gonna change over the next year or two,
and that's when that need becomes a little bit more prevalent.
(18:30):
But right now, what you need is a pass rusher.
And so it's like, do you spend your pass rusher
money on a wide receiver that's not your biggest need,
right I don't think that's smart football.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, you need a pass rusher. You need a Derek
Brown size somebody to go with the Derek Brown size,
somebody who's rehabit and working out back.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
At the stadium right now as we speak, so moving around,
not on a scooter anymore, exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
You know, I loved when dance Somebody asked Dan yesterday
about Derek. He's like, how's he look He looks like,
that's how Derek Brown looks. He looks big, breaking news.
But anyway, it's, uh, it's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I was gonna say, I always know the days that
dB is in, which is a lot, yeah, all working
out right now because he has a big alburn tag
and he has a big truck and he parks right
there in the front and I'm like, I guess when
you're Derek Brown. You can kind of go where you want,
no doubt, both in life and on the football field.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah. And and like I said, they need to find
him some friends, and I think they're going to So
we will be here. You and I are going to
be here the rest of the week. And I think
our technical crew back here behind the cameras and behind
the board. They're leaving in like five minutes, so I
think they've got a plane to catch in a half hour.
So they were good at it.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
He said, this has to be the happy half hour.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Not a happy hour like the one we did with
JJ Janssen when we're at Senior Bowl. But so we're
going to get out of here. You and I will
be here the rest of the week. Stay tuned to
Panthers dot com for all the latest from the combine,
and we'll see you when we get home.
This week on a Happy half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The way this thing's set up, seeing them double up
on pass rushers, seeing them double up on defensive tackles
makes a lot of sense because that's where the biggest
need is. I mean, even Dave Canalis said it yesterday.
Stopping the run is the priority. Two hundred rushing yards
a game allowed over the last nine games.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That's the cow.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
It's time for the Happy Half Hour, presented by Southern Star,
an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers. Here are your hosts,
Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hello, friends, and welcome to a very special edition of
the Happy Half Hour. Very special because we are, of course,
at Combine in Indianapolis. Love indian Love Indianapolis. It's just
like Charlotte, except with worse weather and better basketball. Other
than that, everything about this place is awesome and we
love it here.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yes, it's so much fun. It's what do people call it?
NFL spring break?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
All right?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
That makes it sound a little more debauchery than it
really is.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Although there's some debauching going on out there in them streets.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, that's what happens.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
And hateful gossip take over after midnight and uh, didn't someone.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Get on to you yesterday for being self rightous?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, condescending and self righteous because I didn't poison my mind, body,
in spirit the way some of y'all did. Uh Not?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I always having Bible study. I don't know what you're
talking about.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, it's uh, there's there's a lot of Bible study
going on here this week. No, it is in all seriousness.
This is the NFL's trade show. This is where everybody
comes together. It's a convention. All the coaches, all the scouts,
and all the players in this year's draft class are
here right now. So it's a big old intelligence gathering operation.
(01:52):
It's a big old, you know, festival of all things football.
The on field workouts get all the attention later in
the week. That's the better television as an inventory. But
really the important stuff that happens here is the medical
profiles that the players go through, and the meetings with teams.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Between and between the meetings with teams for the prospects.
I mean, you've got a free agency window opening here soon,
and you've got teams figuring out their own free agency.
This is kind of I mean, to quote Hamilton, this
is the room where it happened pretty much all week,
no doubt. A lot of what happens in the next
Each football year is decided kind of in Indianapolis each year.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
And I will ride out at the top of this
podcast address one of my pet peeves in life. Oh
can't wait for when the players are up on podiums.
They're on podiums, but behind electrons. Remember, but they are
on a parium. They are on a podium. A podium
is a thing you are upon. Electron is a thing
you are behind. That's the easiest way to remember it.
But when the players are up on the podiums, people
(02:50):
will ask them. The reporters from all over the place
are here, and reporters will say, have you met with
the Lions today? Have you met with the Buccaneers today?
If you're a first round prospect, you meet with everybody, right,
So the process of elimination that occurs, Well, you had
an informal meeting with the packers, but not a formal
media What does it mean? It doesn't mean anything, and
(03:12):
stop asking that question, reporters. My God and.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Darren Dant's school of journalism.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There is a saint among us, justin Rogers of the
Detroit News is walking around this morning wearing a sweatshirt
that says, have you talked to Team I cover? That's hilarious,
It's amazing. I documented it on the Twitter earlier today.
He is a god of journalism today and I salute him.
But I mean it is silly because here's the secret.
(03:41):
You know who, The Carolina Panthers are going to talk
to a whole bunch of defensive players. That's who, because
that's what they need the most. Because that's what Dan
Morgan said they needed the most yesterday.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, I mean, he wasn't shy about it. He didn't
dance away from it. He said, you know, I think
it's pretty obvious the defensive side of the ball is
where we're gonna have to put a lot of our
folks right in both free agency and the draft. And
you know that was kind of the offense at this
point last year. We saw them fill the holes. We
saw the step that was taken by focusing on those areas,
especially the offensive line. And you know, Dan said, you're
(04:15):
gonna have to still win this league in the in
the trenches, like on the lines, and the same way
they addressed the offensive line that last year. That's what
they're going to do the front seven this year. Luckily
for them, this draft plays right into their hands. Sure,
one of the deeper front seven classes I can remember
in a.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
While, it really is. And when there's a lot of
pass rushers and when there's a lot of interior defensive linemen,
you know, that's going to get their attention through it.
And I think there's a decent chance, you know, without
getting too deep into draft strategy, that they're going to
take a couple of them. You know, we'll see free
agency is going to inform that, you know, once that
(04:52):
starts in two weeks from today, I guess, yeah, two
weeks from today. Free agency begins in earnest, you know,
and even two days prior to that the negotiation period
where we'll kind of know without knowing, that'll inform some
of the draft plans. But the way this thing's set up,
seeing them double up on pass rushers, seeing them double
up on defensive tackles makes a lot of sense because
(05:14):
that's where the biggest need is. I mean, even Dave
Canalis said it yesterday, stopping the run is the priority. Well, yeah,
you averaged two hundred yards a game, two hundred rushing
yards a game allowed over the last nine games, and
over two hundred rushing yards allowed in each of the
last six. So yeah, of course that's a problem, and
it's got to stop.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
The addressed I'm sorry. You've got to be able to
stop the run to even rush the passer anyway. Yeah,
those two things go hand in hand, their part and
parcel together. Yep, you can't do one, You're not gonna
for sure not going to be able to do the second.
And that's why it's so vital to find these guys
that can kind of shuffle around. I mean, you look
at a guy like Jalen Walker, who can He's technically
listed as a linebacker. I don't know what he is.
(05:56):
I don't think he knows what he is either, But
you've got you find guys like that that can kind
of move around. I mean, you're not gonna put Jaalen
Walker with a hand in the ground as a defensive
tackle position, but you've got guys that can move around
that front seven and that can help you both stop
the run and rush the pass or because you've got
to be able to do both of those things to win.
I mean, the Eagles were a perfect blueprint for that
this year.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, I love the way to hancel. Like I didn't
need to see the Eagles in the Super Bowl to
know that we needed to do this. So yeah, as
it pretends to Jalen Walker and his not being you know,
well defined, because we've seen a recent example of a
similar type of player. I mean it's kind of Frankie Luvu.
And Frankie was the high energy guy who brought it
(06:40):
from wherever he happened to be. He's standing up, he's
coming off the edge, He's doing a lot of different things.
You know, I think Walker's got a little bit of
that in him. But we'll have time to get into
the particulars of all these guys over the next month
and a half, two months, you know, as we go
through this process. But we were just walking that room
this morning where they were doing interviews, and it's left
and right, and you know, here's Michael Williams, Here's you know,
(07:04):
here's James Peers from Charlotte's Chambers High you know a state.
Stay tuned to Panthers dot com to read more about
James later on today. A lot of them, Abdul Carter,
all of them, Mike Green, it's an incredibly deep class,
you know, and the chances of coming out of the
eighth pick with one of them are decent. You know,
we don't know who it's going to be, or that
(07:26):
they're absolutely going to use a first round pick on
that particular position. It just makes a lot of sense
considering their need and wear this draft stacks.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Up, and you can also, I don't want to get
too deep into this because I don't want people to
think this is what's going to happen. It's just something.
Do you still consider they've got enough draft capital enter
in a right spot and knowing the positions they need
with the deep class to possibly still move around, no doubt.
And we saw last year Dan Morgan is happy to
move around if he feels like he's going to get
(07:57):
a better deal. And so when you're sitting there at
number and you're looking at how deep this past Rusher
class is, Dan said on Tuesday that he had not
necessarily had any conversations yet about giving up that spot,
but I wouldn't be surprised if those conversations happened.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
And I feel like I should raise my hand and
say the opinions of the Happy Half do not reflect
those of Perasti only and do not reflect the opinions
of Dan Morgan, Brandt Tillis or the rest of the
Carolina Panthers front office. This is just us talking. But
the other thing that makes you think they might do that,
they have done that. I mean, if you look back
(08:33):
to last year's draft and moving you know, out of
thirty nine to get the second round pick this year,
back then moving back up to take Jonathan Brooks. I mean,
it's just they've shown that they're willing to go up
and down the board, So I think it's reasonable to
expect that could happen again this year when they're sitting
there with nine total picks, eight in the first five rounds.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, I mean that's a good spot to be in.
You can kind of choose your own destiny, like choose
your own ending. Do you ever play those games growing
up a little bit?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah? Like the book Aquaria. It was actually a little
paperback book and you would flip from page forty eight
to one sixty two. Yeah, you don't. Why did you
go behind that door? It was a terrible idea at
any rate. Now, we we spent a lot of yesterday
with Dave Canalis and Dan Morgan and he obviously, as
we said, Dan talked a lot about the defense. The
(09:20):
other thing that stood out to me is how casually
Dan talks about the offensive line and keeping it the
way he has it right now. I mean, he just
very casually said, yeah, we want to bring back Austin
Corbett and k Mays to play center. And that was
kind of an open question, you know, going into these
last two weeks prior to free agency, but he very
(09:42):
casually said, yeah, we want to keep both those guys.
The question about Taylor Moten and his thirty one million
dollar cap number came up, and he's like, yeah, we're good,
we can handle that number. We want Taylor to be here.
Somebody asked him about Ikey Akwanu and what do you
do contractually with him? Knowing he's they've got to make
a decision on a fifty year option. He said, we're
going to try to extended before we get to that point,
and it's just like very casually, very matter of fact,
(10:05):
and that's just how Dan Morgan talks. But they know
they've found something in that offensive line. It became part
of the personality of the team last year enabled Bryce
to flourish in the second half of the season, and
they're going to make sure they hang on to that.
They're going to make sure that strength stays strong.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
And you know, I guess this is the case with
every position, every unit, but you really see it with
the offensive line is how much that unit is predicated
on chemistry. And if you don't have a left tackle
and a left guard that know how the other moves,
that's what leaves holes wide open to call sacks. Ye,
and you've got a unit that knows each other, and
(10:42):
that knows each other well enough that you know if
someone gets hurt or someone else has to go in,
they're still fine, right, and you don't break that up
because that's I mean, again to Dan's point, that's where
you can win or lose a game.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
No now, and it takes more than five of them.
And that's why you know, he kind of mentioned Austin
and Kate as a unit almost because Austin started first
five games before he tears his bicips. Caid comes in,
you know, brings him back off the Giants practice squad
because there wasn't room for Cad Mays. And in September,
that's how deep the Carolina Panthers offensive line was when's
the last time we said that, right? And he ends
(11:14):
up Caid ends up starting the last eight games of
the year. So they've got a bunch of people who
can play a lot of roles. Chandlers of Allahs stepped
in and started a couple of games on both sides
last year when guys were missing, So they've got a
good group of people. Brady Christiansen's a free agent. I
think the anticipation is Brady's gonna go look around and
somebody's probably gonna find him starting caliber money to be
(11:37):
a starting caliber player. I mean, he was sort of
that sixth man last year. He's got great versatility. He
could play left tackle, he started at guard before and
was playing a decent center for a couple of weeks
there in between, until you know, somebody else got hurt
and he had to win. Icky got hurt, he had
to kick back out the left tackle. So I think
Brady might have played his way out of Charlotte in
(11:58):
some senses, but they've talked about being open to bringing
him back. That one's going to be when the market dictates,
but it's gonna be a few of those. Yeah, there's
gonna be a couple of those. So yeah, speaking of guys,
Dan was amazingly.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Awfully open about Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I mean he he all but said, yeah, Johnny Hecker
loved to have you back, kicker. Eddie's going to test
the market and we're actively looking for a kicker, So
I think you can kind of read between the lines
on that one pretty easily. But you know, if there's
going to be a new kicker in here and Johnny
is back, then that new kicker comes in with the
benefit of a veteran long snapper and JJ Janssen. Perhaps
(12:36):
you saw cart Talk.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I did. I saw and it was a nice little
crossover episode with Ask the Old Guy. The highly anticipated
cart Talk episode was how I Saw It Work.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, highly anticipated couse we've been talking about doing this
for two years and we just got around to it.
But it was cool and uh, but having JJ and
Johnny will be a good security zone for any new
kicker who walks in, because not having to worry about
to snap the hold makes his job easier. All he's
got to do is kick JJ.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And Johnny also just sounds like a great buddy cop movie.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
And that well it really is. Yeah, I mean they
really are. They went in depth, and we we alluded
to this on cart talk the other day, but I
wrote about a thousand words section of a mail bag
a couple of years ago about their process for determining
coin flip decisions. And they would go out ninety minutes
before kickoff and flip a snack waffle that they eat
(13:31):
for energy before the game. That their brand has not
paid us for this plug, so I will not describe
it any further, but they would flip the snack waffle.
If it landed tails, they would call tales. And they
won six in a row that way.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, so it was pretty impressive. But I said it
was like a Paul Harvey bit the rest of the story. Yeah,
is that a reference? You understand?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
And that's the rest you do?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Good for you, hey, an old person reference that Castiy gets.
I'm feeling better about this already. But yeah, they went
through the whole thing. And you know, you wrote a
story too about the anticipation a lot of people have
about Wide Receiver being high on the shopping list this year.
But Dave Canalis said, maybe not right.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I mean, they're not necessarily in a position where it
has to be. It's one of those where if there's
a guy there that's great and you've got maybe some
of your other stuff taken care of, then yeah, you
I don't know if that's their first priority. It sounds
like defense is going to be that first priority, no doubt.
I mean again, if you're sitting there at eight and
(14:34):
you've got a guy like I think it's the McMillan
kid or maybe, but they don't have to have one.
And I think people see that the Deontay Johnson trade
as oh well, now there's a hole open for a
number one receiver. And that's because you look at you know,
Loget kind of went through some of those rookie growing pains.
(14:54):
That's just part of it. Whatever happened his rookie year
is only going to make him better his second year.
You have a return of Adam Theling, which is huge.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I think Dan called him old reliable yesterday, which I
really want on a T shirt. I want it to
look like a Yellowstone Old Faithful like poster, like an
old travel poster, but instead of a park ranger, it's
Adam Thielen.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That's yeah, somebody, it would have to be a park
ranger with a ball cap on backwards and a cup
of coffee and maybe no shoes on. That's how Adam
wanders around the stadium allent.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
But having feeling back that's huge. You know, Like I said,
you're gonna see a lot of these guys kind of
take a step forward. You got something for nothing out
of Jayalen Cocher and you know, so that kind of
takes care of a lot of stuff too. It's one
of those again, you never want to turn down a
dynamic wide receiver and Dan basically said that on Tuesday
(15:48):
as well. You know, if there's a guy in free
agency or a guy in the draft that we really
like and it's available, then we're never going to say
no to that. But it's not Yeah, you know, like
you said, it's not the highest number on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, those elite wide receivers that are out there going
for twenty five and thirty million bucks a year, I
don't think that's the market they're shopping in.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah. Now, And this is also not a wide receiver
year necessarily in the draft. You know, this is not
one of those years where you're getting a Justin Jefferson
and Jamar Chase and guys like that coming out, so
you can afford to kind of say, Okay, that's going
to be on the back burner of our priority right now.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
One of the interesting things to me about that whole
position is we've come full circle because when Bryce Young
was drafted, one of the talking points was, this guy's
such a good distributor, he's so smart with the ball.
He doesn't demand elite wide receiver talent around him, even
though he had it at Alabama to be successful. And
(16:45):
you know, at the end of the twenty twenty three season,
a lot of people thought, well, yay does yeah, and
so they trade for Deontae Johnson, and that looked okay
for a minute in training camp, then not so much
to beginning the regular season. Then Bryce gets benched and
then by the time Bryce gets back in, Deontay's gone
and he's out there throwing to and I say this
(17:06):
with respect, Okay, all of these guys are professionals, but
he's throwing to old Adam Thieling. He's throwing to old
David Moore, who was a seventh round pick and at
one point was the only drafted player they had on
the field at that position. He's throwing to an undrafted
rookie in Jalen Coker, and he's throwing to Xavier League
in and out of the lineup with some injuries coming
(17:27):
down the second half of the season. So Bryce was
fulfilling that prophecy from twenty twenty three of he don't
have to have that grade of guys to make an
offense work. Now, will it help? And at some point
in the evolution of an offense, would it be great
to have one of those guys? Sure? I think specifically
they need somebody who can run. They need somebody who
(17:47):
can get down the field a little bit. You know.
Ted Ginn was the example during the twenty ten Panthers
teams of just straight line speed, go get it, fetch
and sometimes Ted caught it. Sometimes he did and when
he did it was a big play. And having somebody
with that kind of straight line speed is absolutely in need.
But I don't think you've got to spend thirty million
(18:08):
bucks to get that kind of player.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Right And you don't necessarily need it right now either,
because I mean, as Bryce continues to evolve and kind
of show what he can do, defenses are going to
start playing him differently. I mean, did he face a
two high safety look at any point this year really
not consistently. That's gonna change over the next year or two,
and that's when that need becomes a little bit more prevalent.
(18:30):
But right now, what you need is a pass rusher.
And so it's like, do you spend your pass rusher
money on a wide receiver that's not your biggest need,
right I don't think that's smart football.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, you need a pass rusher. You need a Derek
Brown size somebody to go with the Derek Brown size,
somebody who's rehabit and working out back.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
At the stadium right now as we speak, so moving around,
not on a scooter anymore, exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
You know, I loved when dance Somebody asked Dan yesterday
about Derek. He's like, how's he look He looks like,
that's how Derek Brown looks. He looks big, breaking news.
But anyway, it's, uh, it's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I was gonna say, I always know the days that
dB is in, which is a lot, yeah, all working
out right now because he has a big alburn tag
and he has a big truck and he parks right
there in the front and I'm like, I guess when
you're Derek Brown. You can kind of go where you want,
no doubt, both in life and on the football field.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah. And and like I said, they need to find
him some friends, and I think they're going to So
we will be here. You and I are going to
be here the rest of the week. And I think
our technical crew back here behind the cameras and behind
the board. They're leaving in like five minutes, so I
think they've got a plane to catch in a half hour.
So they were good at it.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
He said, this has to be the happy half hour.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Not a happy hour like the one we did with
JJ Janssen when we're at Senior Bowl. But so we're
going to get out of here. You and I will
be here the rest of the week. Stay tuned to
Panthers dot com for all the latest from the combine,
and we'll see you when we get home.
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