April 10, 2025 • 25 mins
This week on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy think the Panthers will go heavy on defense in the upcoming NFL Draft, breakdown the Top 30 visits, discuss the recent signing of Colin Granger, recap the owners meeting, and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This week on a Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Brice said, you know, hey, it's great to be able
to work with the same set of people, but we
also know we don't get to start from there. We've
got to continue the work, continue to be able to
continue to grow. But Dave talk about with Rice having
that kind of attitude, they're able to open things up
in the opposites.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Tot's down, cow.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Wha, 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 back to the Happy Half Hour.
Of course it's Masters week, so am I supposed to
say hello friends, welcomes you. No, we're not. This is football.
This is a football podcast. We'll get there.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I've been talking about the wrong thing this whole time.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I know what we're we are going to do the
footballs here on the Happy Half Hour. And you know
we hadn't done this in a couple of weeks. I
feel like I feel like we've let our sponsor down
because this is, in fact the Happy Half Hour presented
by Southern Star, an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers
celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas. And while they're doing
(01:19):
their little golf thing with the azaleas and whatever they
have there, I think I could sit on the porch
this afternoon with a glass of Southern Star and just unwine.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I was about to say, we might not have done
an ad read, but something tells me you weren't truly
letting them down as a consumer.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It's you know, it's quite a product. I am a
fan of the Southern Star where they are a friend
of the program and a friend of the Carolina Panthers,
so we celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas together. So anyway, anyway,
it is draft time.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
It is draft time. We are knocking on the door.
I think we're let's see today we're recording on a Thursday.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
We are Armani Edwards days away from the NFL Draft,
fourteen fourteen days away, so it's.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Uh coming on down the pipe.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We were Marvin McNutt days away yesterday. Today we are
Armani Edwards. I don't want to give it all away,
but I do believe tomorrow we are going to be
Ken Walter days.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I wonder every day I do, is that your list
right there. I have a list of I won't spoil
it for the listeners.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I am peeping at your list.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That's right, no peaking. It's just like draft boards. Don't
peek at my don't peek at my draft board of
days until the draft ideas. But yeah, it's that time,
two weeks from the draft, and it's gonna be it's
gonna be an exciting time for starters. We can reveal
this is a Panthers dot Com exclusive. You cassieg Hill
will be on the scene in Green Bay for this draft.
(02:48):
That's that's kind of a home game for you.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
It is. I get to a friend texted me and
then he was like, can we go get dinner? And
I was like, I just want to go get coffee
from this one place. That's that's my highest on my priority,
behind of course talking to our new draft pick. But
very excited we'll get to be there with the first
round pick, whoever it may be, wherever they may be picked,
get to talk to them right after they hear their
(03:10):
name called by the commissioner. That's always an exciting moment
for a guy, you know, It's like, that's the moment
I think when they walk out on stage and the
commissioner holds up the jersey with their name on it,
which I watched a little vignette yesterday. Did you know
they have that done in less than ninety seconds. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's impressive. They're a well well oiled machine back there
with those jerseys and hats. I think when they finally
(03:32):
see their name on the jersey, that's when everything hits them.
So to be able to talk to them right there
in that moment afterwards is going to be special. To
be a part of something, to be there when they
realize their lifelong dreams. And we're gonna have a lot
of content for you on Panthers dot com coming from
Green Bay, and I believe some people stick around for
(03:52):
the second and third days as well, because you know,
the NFL always tries to make those special to keep
people watching.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
So got some play former players, fans announce and picks,
and so we're gonna have all the coverage for.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Our international fans of the year who we talked our
last episode. They were Ki and Martz are gonna be
on the scene. You'll have to connect with those guys
while you're up there. Now, have you been on site
for a draft previously.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
You've never been on site for a draft? You know,
we were. We had Trevor Sickaman this week to do
some draft coverage and I asked him that too, because
he's been doing draft stuff a lot longer than I have,
and he said, no, I've never been, never been on site.
Because here's what I think a lot of people don't realize.
The site of the draft is where the attention goes
for the media for the length of a pick, and
(04:39):
then everything else happens in a stadium, right, And so
you know, whoever is picked in that first round Thursday night,
they'll be here in Bank of America Stadium by late
Friday morning, and from there every everyone that's picked day two,
day three. You know, usually Day two people are guys
that could have been first round kind of were friends
(05:00):
and they're still around people that are on site, meaning
for Day two, and so everything really kind of happens
here at the stadium, right.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
That's why I tell people, and people are always amazed.
In thirty years of doing this, I've never once been
to where the draft is. And I don't know that
I want to because they're cool as a fan. Yeah,
I mean, I'm sure it's an incredible event, but in
terms of the work, I'm just kind of conditioned to
somewhere about middle of the day Thursday, after I've got
up early done my morning stuff, taking a nap sometime
(05:30):
middle of the day Thursday, coming into a windowless room,
and then leaving on Saturday, Saturday night exactly just kind
of never seeing the sun for a couple of days
and immersing yourself in what's going on there. And that's
just kind of been my experience about this thing. So
it is, it's gonna be a wild time. I'm looking
forward to. Hopefully the Carolina Panthers selection is among those players.
(05:55):
We're anticipating that announcement from the league any day now.
This is kind of the when that usually comes out,
but I'm hoping our guy is there in Green Bay,
so you'll be there and be among the first to
greet them, because you are, of course, one of our
great ambassadors here of the brand.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I have a T shirt that says that the brand
no great ambassador.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I was gonna say, I actually don't.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I feel like I should though.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, it's okay, but it is. It's going to be
a fascinating weekend because it's going to be a busy weekend.
Carolina Panthers have, of course, as you know, nine picks
in this draft, eight in the first five rounds. And
if we learned anything from Dan Morgan and Brandt Tillis's
first draft together last year, is that those nine picks
(06:40):
might not be the same nine or amount they execute.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
What are the chances I'm gonna give it like a
one and one thousand odds that they stick with all
nine exactly where they're at.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, that seems like the least likely scenario. Of course,
there's no gambling here at bush Wood, and I never slice. Yeah,
they just they are going to move around the board.
I you know, I think, uh, the one thing I've
picked up in the you know, having known Dan Morgan
from the time he was drafted, I mean basically twenty
five years ago almost. It feels like, god, it has
(07:16):
been twenty five years. How old am I? The answer
is one million. Dan is very direct into the.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
You've known Dan Morgan longer than you've known your children.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
It's true. It's true. My children didn't start showing up
till O two. Dan Morgan showed up for my life
and oh one and uh, you know when he met
his wife, Ashley. I remember Dan's dad telling me, uh,
Dan's wife is from you know, the North Carolina Mountains,
a high country up there. And I remember Dan's dad
telling me one day in Spartanburg. He said, you get
a kick out, Ashley. She sounds like you, you know,
(07:47):
and Dan's dad's got a great Philly accident. But uh yeah,
Dan is very direct and to the point. So when
he tells you, oh yeah, we could trade back, I
mean Dan is prepared for all these scenarios, because, hey,
nobody like disappearing into that film room and watching tape
of prospects quite like Dan Morgan does. But He's worked
(08:07):
this in his head to the point where he knows
what he would want to do at eight pending what
happens in front of him. He knows what he would
do at hypothetically fifteen twenty five, at all these different
points through the draft, because he's kind of worked through
the values of these things. And I think that, you know,
in a perfect world, would they have something between eight
and fifty seven? They would you know, they're without their
(08:30):
on second rounder, but they do have the rams. Would
they like to find something between point A and point
B maybe.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
So, but I kind of capital there to play with.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I think there's a world of opportunities. But the one
thing I think people anticipate out of this thing is
this is going to be a defense heavy draft for sure.
Maybe not all defense, because if they don't come out
of this weekend with a wide receiver, probably somebody who
is fast, that would be a little bit of a
surprise to me. But this, I think it's reasonable to
suggest it's gonna lean heavily defense because you know, they
(09:03):
were last in the league and and Dan has told
us that, I think, and he's been very upfront about
saying that. He's so direct, and that's, like I said,
that's the thing you know about Dan when he tells you, yeah,
we got to fix this defense, believe him because he's
not a bs or. He is very direct and to
the point.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
So and it works in his favor that this is
such a defensive heavy draft, Like so many of the
defensive units are deep. I mean, gosh, that edge, that
edge unit is deeper than we've seen in ten years.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Right, no no doubt, And and you know it hits
at a lot of the positions they need, you know,
if they come out of this thing with multiple pass rushers,
with another defensive lineman, with another safety. You know, these
are all things that aren't going to surprise anybody. I
think there are needs across the board that they're gonna
look at a couple of different areas, but that's obviously
(09:53):
the priority. And you know, this week one of the things,
it's been reported. You know a lot of places, this
is the week they knocked out all their visits.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Right, all their thirty visits.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, and somewhere along the way, I don't know how
this happened, but somewhere along the way these started getting
called top thirty visits. I think people were getting nostalgic
for Casey Kasum or something, or it's.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
You know what it sounds like is in college recruiting,
you have top five visits and those are your officials,
and then you can take an unofficial, which is a
kind of I guess the equivalent of the zoom calls,
and with an official was so a top visit, the
school completely pays for you to come visit. An unofficial
(10:39):
you have to pay to go visit, but you're welcome
to come visit. So I think people when people say
top thirty. In my head, I'm hearing top five right,
And I think people got it confused with college recruiting visits.
But it is a little different.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
As someone who has actively avoided all high school recruiting
coverage in my life.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
That's smart. Don't put that juju.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And you're like, yeah, I did not know that, So
I've learned a new thing here today. But no, this
is if you look at and a lot of the
names have been reported, many of them have not. But
if you looked across the board at the guys who
were here in the building, it's all over the board.
It's first round guys, it's second round guys, third round guys,
and on deeper end of day three of the draft
(11:21):
because a lot of what they're doing, I mean, yes,
you want to find out if it's somebody you're curious
about with the number eight pick, you want to know
more about that guy. You want to get them on
the board, see how they learn, see how they retain information.
You know, teams will do things like introduce material to
a guy at the combine and then when they come
in for a visit, say hey, remember when we call
(11:42):
it Jen Indianapolis were talking about this, this, and this
part of it is just seeing how people retain information
and they want to see what makes a guys tick
a lot. I mean, this is a very important interview
opportunity in terms of the you know, they had their
local pro day this week as well, and there wasn't
a lot of on field stuff other than some punters
(12:02):
and you you caught up with one of those guys,
and we'll have more on that later, but mostly this
was an interview opportunity, a chance to get to know
some of these guys better and figure out what makes
them tick.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Because at this point you pretty much know everything you
need to know about this guy from from film. What
is I mean, that's football player's favorite saying, turn on
the film, turn on the game tape. And so it's
it's more about how do they jive with our coaching system,
how do they jive with how we like to to
coach guys. You know, this is a chance. A lot
(12:35):
of times, I don't know if people realize how much
the players are in the building this time of year too,
So this is a chance to see them walking down
the hall and run into Derek Brown and you know,
do they listen to him?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Do they do.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
They understand, you know, the respect he garners as a
locker room leader. It's a chance to see all of
those little things that you're never gonna see on film.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
No doubt, no doubt. And and you know we're having
an opportunity. We're going to get deeper into that as
we get through into next week. I mean, the other
thing that's going to happen coming up soon is start
of the off season program. There are, first, there are
some guys knocking around the building. You mentioned Derek, he's
here practically every day working out coming back from last
year's knee injury. But on the twenty first is when
(13:19):
the off season program begins. In earnest guys will be
back in here working out and stuff. You know. That's uh,
it's why day.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
After my birthday, if anybody wants to bring me a
cupcake and we'll celebrate accordingly.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
There you go, happy, happy start of the new league year,
new off season program. Cassidy.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
We'll get new Cassidy, new panthers.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, we'll get everybody to sing for you or something
down now, Oh, don't do that. But it's wild because
last year this started two weeks earlier. Yeah, and it's
because Dave Canalis is a second year coach now, and
only first year coaches get those bonus two weeks. That's
been one of the things in the last little bit
that's kind of it's almost dawning on you. You realize
(13:59):
the passage of time. They're going into that second year
and listening to Dave talk about that last week at
the owners meeting down in Florida. You know, he talked
about the lessons learned from year one to year two
and how you carry over certain things. Bryce talked about
it a little bit if you saw in Panthers dot
com we had some comments from him out at his
(14:21):
camp in Los Angeles. You know, Bryce said, you know, hey,
it's great to be able to work with this same
set of people, but we also know we don't get
to start from there. We've got to continue the work,
continue to build, continue to grow. But Dave talked about
with Bryce having that kind of attitude, they're able to
open things up in the offense, and if you look
(14:41):
at it, Bryce is really working with the same set
of people. I mean they brought the entire offensive line
back intact, turnkey, same as last year. Receivers, Receivers check
tight ends check. I mean Tommy Trimble's back to work
with J. T. Sanders, our old friend I and Thomas
is now a Raider. Best of luck to Ian. But
other than that, all of those are the same. And
(15:05):
you swapped out Miles Sanders for Rico Daldle and brought
in one thousand yard back to pair what you be
Hubbard in the backfield. So there is a consistency about
this offense and gives you a place to build from,
which kind of allows you to have that defensive draft
like we talked about previously.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I've always heard too with quarterbacks that the biggest jump
quarterbacks take in college in the NFL is the summer
between their second and their third year, because they've now
had two off seasons under their belt. They've had a
rookie season, which is usually wide eyed, a season where
they see things actually start to come together. And so
(15:42):
that summer between their second and third years when they
can take the biggest jump. And then you also have
the summer between your first and second year and this offense,
coaches have had a year under their belt to see
what works what doesn't. And so I'm not saying I'm
not going to get out here and make any predictions,
but I think it's going to be perhaps a noticeable
difference in the comfort level of how this offense practices,
(16:06):
maybe even as early as that Monday, the twenty first.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, and you can just tell, I mean, you can
sense from Bryce there is a comfortability for lack of
a better word, in him this offseason. I could see
it at the Super Bowl when we were down in
New Orleans and he was doing radio row. The simple
fact that Bryce was doing radio road is step one,
but just seeing how at ease he was and is
(16:29):
comfortable in his own skin was kind of one of
the eye openers. And that comfort with his surroundings, with
the offense, with the things Dave Canalis was asking him
to do, was evident his last year went along. So
it's going to be interesting to see how they build
and develop on that over the course of this season.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah, we're excited to see it. And then of course
they'll they'll roll right from those off season workouts into draft. Yeah,
So you know, things don't slow down.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
No, they do not. Now, of course we have not
covered the biggest news of the week, of course, and
that is the signing of one college ranger baby. He
is America's tight end all of a sudden, former basketball
player at Ohio.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You Western basketball player a month ago.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
That's right, and you talked to him the other day.
I think this story is so cool because this guy
practically came out of nowhere and suddenly has an NFL contract.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah he does. George Fant, another friend of the programs,
a guy that a lot of these Panthers offensive coaches
general manager drafted or not drafted. I'm sorry they signed
him as an undrafted free agent, but a guy a
lot of these these coaches are familiar with. He also
made that transition from basketball to football. He was at
(17:45):
Western Kentucky, played there for four years for the Hilltoppers.
The whole time he was there, football coaches asked him
to join the football team. He never did, and he
never did, and then realized he might have a little
bit more of a steady future with football than he
would play in Europe and basketball. By that point, he
was married, he had a kid. So he played, you know,
for five minutes in a bag of chips on the
(18:06):
Hilltoppers football team with his fifth year of eligibility. Had
such an impressive pro day there were a bunch of
scouts there to see Tyler Higbee, and it was George
Fan who ended up pulling a lot of their attention.
Such an impressive pro dace, Seattle signed him. Pat McPherson
was the tight end coach of Seattle. He's, of course
now the tight ends coach here. He called their GM.
There's some of their other scouts. It was like, check
(18:28):
this guy out. They signed him based purely off that
pro day, and by the fifth game of his rookie season,
he was They converted him to the offensive line. He
was the starting left tackle for the Seattle Seahawks, a
guy that ended up being a starter for a while,
was used as a hybrid tight end. Dave Canalis was
familiar with him. All of that to say, George knew
it could be done. I mean, Jimmy Graham's done it.
(18:50):
He's seen other people do it. And so he decided
to start this program, and this was his first year
where he finds these guys that have certain basket ball
skills that might not be transferable to a long term
basketball career, but have these certain skills that could be
transferable to football. And he dug up Colin Granger out
(19:11):
of Coastal Carolina. Yeah, and uh, Colin moved into George
Fance House on Thing on March sixth, and by April
seventh he had signed an NFL contract. They put together
a workout with about five or sixteen showed up, including
the Panthers. Again, a lot of trust in George and
what he was, what he was preaching when that he's developing.
(19:34):
Got down there and realized, I mean, this guy is
six eight to forty. I think through thirty five to forty.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
He's a big boy.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
He is a big boy and he can move. I
was standing in the hallway the other day talking to
Pat McPherson and Colin was standing right there and Todd Wash.
Todd Wash walked by and kind of just looked up
because he had to look up at him, and kind
of stopped and looked up, and Pat was like, you
can't have him tied. You can't have him. He's mine.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
That's funny and it is a cool story. If you
haven't read Cassidy's story about Colin Granger where she talked
to Colin and George Fan about this, I highly recommend
it Panthers dot com. Basically, George Fan slid up in
this man's DMS and offered him a chance to work out,
and Colin, once he googled George Fanton, realized that this
may actually be Legit went along, but such a cool story,
(20:21):
I think gets incumbent upon us to say Colin Granger
is an extreme long shot to make this team. This
is a let's see what we can do with a
raw lump of clay. Can we mold this into something
we can use? And I mean in a situation like that,
it's you know, anything you get out of him coming
down the road is a bonus. But you've seen stories
(20:43):
like that before. I mean, Chris Manhert's former Panther was
a college basketball player at Canisius. Had only the only
football experience he had was playing Madden. He's now going
into NFL season ten. So it can happen. It's not
exceedingly likely, but that's the time of year.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
It requires a certain kind of athlete to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
You're signing a prospect, you know, for a ninety man roster,
and let's see what happens. It's no risk, potentially some
degree of reward, but it's that time of year we
are going to shift. I mean the next time we
do this, this is going to be all draft all
the time. But we got a little bit of time
to mess around a little bit. It's Master's Week. I
(21:24):
understand many people are excited about that. It's not really
my deal.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
You don't sit down and watch the Masters now, I.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Don't sit down and watch golf routine league. You know,
golf on TV to me is kind of somewhat less
exciting than watching paint dry or grass grow.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
You know, I'm not usually a golfer. If usually if
golf's on, that means I'm taking a good nap. But Masters,
the moving day. Master Sunday, like Master Sunday, always delivers.
There's always drama, there's always excitement. I'll never forget where
I was watching Bubba like pop that little ball out
(22:01):
of the woods in the pine straw. As someone who
grew up in Central Alabama, I know how slick pine
straw is. I still don't know how he got that
ball out onto the green. I mean things like Tiger
went coming back and winning a couple of years ago.
So there's so many I can't even think of them all.
Master Sunday always delivers. My favorite part of watching it
(22:22):
and This is something I feel like you, as as
a proud curmudgeon, would appreciate. Ah is they're not allowed
to have phones at Augusta. And so when you watch
the Masters, especially on Master Sunday, when you know Rory
hits a shot that actually keeps them in contention for
a little while and everyone is completely in the moment. Yeah,
(22:44):
and that's always fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
That's pretty cool. I remember the first time I ever
experienced that. I took my son when NBA All Star
Game was here this week and Chappelle came. I took
my son to that concert. And that was the first
time I went into an event where they said, put
your phone in this locked bag, we'll unlock it for
you later. And I would say, I love this. Y
is like freedom for me next two hours without a
(23:06):
cell phone. Tell me more. But no, it's you know.
I'm pro azalea, I'm pro egg salad. I'm pro h.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Most waffle losses per capita in the country.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
All good, all good things, all things I can get behind.
I also like the idea of the Champions dinner. Whoever
gets to uh, whoever wins the year before gets to
pick them menu h. What would be your champions dinner meal.
I brought this.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Subject up thirty minutes ago, and now I haven't even
thought about what it would be. I think I would
go with a steak, some really really good like garlic,
mashed potatoes, maybe sweet potato cast role, which I know
doesn't necessarily go with those things, and as you've already
(23:51):
got mashed potatoes, but I love sweet potato cast role,
some really well done green beans, key lime pie, or
maybe tear a sou I guess the world is my oyster,
but we wouldn't have oysters.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
But no oysters, no oysters. You don't like oyster.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
I don't. And I grew up in the oyster capital
of the world, which is Mobile, Alabama, which is strange.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I grew up in North Carolina. I guess if I
was gonna do this, I would serve barbecue, vinegar based sauce,
Eastern North Carolina style.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Of course, I think it'd be obligated.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I think for appetizers, though, what I would serve, I
would serve North Carolina hot dogs, really hot dogs with chili.
You can see wall mustard onions for ingredients. That's it all.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Makes it sound like Chicago dog coleslaw.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Chili mustard onion. That's the that's the North Carolina style. Okay,
you can't find it. There's a shrinking universe of places
to find good dogs like that. Any anybody's got any recommendations,
I will happily receive them. Uh. We will go through
hot dog recommendations. We will get into the draft a
(24:55):
little more heavily. We will talk about god knows what,
maybe basketball again the next time we meet on the
Happy half Hour
This week on a Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Brice said, you know, hey, it's great to be able
to work with the same set of people, but we
also know we don't get to start from there. We've
got to continue the work, continue to be able to
continue to grow. But Dave talk about with Rice having
that kind of attitude, they're able to open things up
in the opposites.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Tot's down, cow.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Wha, 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 back to the Happy Half Hour.
Of course it's Masters week, so am I supposed to
say hello friends, welcomes you. No, we're not. This is football.
This is a football podcast. We'll get there.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I've been talking about the wrong thing this whole time.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I know what we're we are going to do the
footballs here on the Happy Half Hour. And you know
we hadn't done this in a couple of weeks. I
feel like I feel like we've let our sponsor down
because this is, in fact the Happy Half Hour presented
by Southern Star, an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers
celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas. And while they're doing
(01:19):
their little golf thing with the azaleas and whatever they
have there, I think I could sit on the porch
this afternoon with a glass of Southern Star and just unwine.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I was about to say, we might not have done
an ad read, but something tells me you weren't truly
letting them down as a consumer.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It's you know, it's quite a product. I am a
fan of the Southern Star where they are a friend
of the program and a friend of the Carolina Panthers,
so we celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas together. So anyway, anyway,
it is draft time.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
It is draft time. We are knocking on the door.
I think we're let's see today we're recording on a Thursday.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
We are Armani Edwards days away from the NFL Draft,
fourteen fourteen days away, so it's.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Uh coming on down the pipe.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We were Marvin McNutt days away yesterday. Today we are
Armani Edwards. I don't want to give it all away,
but I do believe tomorrow we are going to be
Ken Walter days.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I wonder every day I do, is that your list
right there. I have a list of I won't spoil
it for the listeners.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I am peeping at your list.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That's right, no peaking. It's just like draft boards. Don't
peek at my don't peek at my draft board of
days until the draft ideas. But yeah, it's that time,
two weeks from the draft, and it's gonna be it's
gonna be an exciting time for starters. We can reveal
this is a Panthers dot Com exclusive. You cassieg Hill
will be on the scene in Green Bay for this draft.
(02:48):
That's that's kind of a home game for you.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
It is. I get to a friend texted me and
then he was like, can we go get dinner? And
I was like, I just want to go get coffee
from this one place. That's that's my highest on my priority,
behind of course talking to our new draft pick. But
very excited we'll get to be there with the first
round pick, whoever it may be, wherever they may be picked,
get to talk to them right after they hear their
(03:10):
name called by the commissioner. That's always an exciting moment
for a guy, you know, It's like, that's the moment
I think when they walk out on stage and the
commissioner holds up the jersey with their name on it,
which I watched a little vignette yesterday. Did you know
they have that done in less than ninety seconds. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's impressive. They're a well well oiled machine back there
with those jerseys and hats. I think when they finally
(03:32):
see their name on the jersey, that's when everything hits them.
So to be able to talk to them right there
in that moment afterwards is going to be special. To
be a part of something, to be there when they
realize their lifelong dreams. And we're gonna have a lot
of content for you on Panthers dot com coming from
Green Bay, and I believe some people stick around for
(03:52):
the second and third days as well, because you know,
the NFL always tries to make those special to keep
people watching.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
So got some play former players, fans announce and picks,
and so we're gonna have all the coverage for.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Our international fans of the year who we talked our
last episode. They were Ki and Martz are gonna be
on the scene. You'll have to connect with those guys
while you're up there. Now, have you been on site
for a draft previously.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
You've never been on site for a draft? You know,
we were. We had Trevor Sickaman this week to do
some draft coverage and I asked him that too, because
he's been doing draft stuff a lot longer than I have,
and he said, no, I've never been, never been on site.
Because here's what I think a lot of people don't realize.
The site of the draft is where the attention goes
for the media for the length of a pick, and
(04:39):
then everything else happens in a stadium, right, And so
you know, whoever is picked in that first round Thursday night,
they'll be here in Bank of America Stadium by late
Friday morning, and from there every everyone that's picked day two,
day three. You know, usually Day two people are guys
that could have been first round kind of were friends
(05:00):
and they're still around people that are on site, meaning
for Day two, and so everything really kind of happens
here at the stadium, right.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
That's why I tell people, and people are always amazed.
In thirty years of doing this, I've never once been
to where the draft is. And I don't know that
I want to because they're cool as a fan. Yeah,
I mean, I'm sure it's an incredible event, but in
terms of the work, I'm just kind of conditioned to
somewhere about middle of the day Thursday, after I've got
up early done my morning stuff, taking a nap sometime
(05:30):
middle of the day Thursday, coming into a windowless room,
and then leaving on Saturday, Saturday night exactly just kind
of never seeing the sun for a couple of days
and immersing yourself in what's going on there. And that's
just kind of been my experience about this thing. So
it is, it's gonna be a wild time. I'm looking
forward to. Hopefully the Carolina Panthers selection is among those players.
(05:55):
We're anticipating that announcement from the league any day now.
This is kind of the when that usually comes out,
but I'm hoping our guy is there in Green Bay,
so you'll be there and be among the first to
greet them, because you are, of course, one of our
great ambassadors here of the brand.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I have a T shirt that says that the brand
no great ambassador.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I was gonna say, I actually don't.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I feel like I should though.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, it's okay, but it is. It's going to be
a fascinating weekend because it's going to be a busy weekend.
Carolina Panthers have, of course, as you know, nine picks
in this draft, eight in the first five rounds. And
if we learned anything from Dan Morgan and Brandt Tillis's
first draft together last year, is that those nine picks
(06:40):
might not be the same nine or amount they execute.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
What are the chances I'm gonna give it like a
one and one thousand odds that they stick with all
nine exactly where they're at.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, that seems like the least likely scenario. Of course,
there's no gambling here at bush Wood, and I never slice. Yeah,
they just they are going to move around the board.
I you know, I think, uh, the one thing I've
picked up in the you know, having known Dan Morgan
from the time he was drafted, I mean basically twenty
five years ago almost. It feels like, god, it has
(07:16):
been twenty five years. How old am I? The answer
is one million. Dan is very direct into the.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
You've known Dan Morgan longer than you've known your children.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
It's true. It's true. My children didn't start showing up
till O two. Dan Morgan showed up for my life
and oh one and uh, you know when he met
his wife, Ashley. I remember Dan's dad telling me, uh,
Dan's wife is from you know, the North Carolina Mountains,
a high country up there. And I remember Dan's dad
telling me one day in Spartanburg. He said, you get
a kick out, Ashley. She sounds like you, you know,
(07:47):
and Dan's dad's got a great Philly accident. But uh yeah,
Dan is very direct and to the point. So when
he tells you, oh yeah, we could trade back, I
mean Dan is prepared for all these scenarios, because, hey,
nobody like disappearing into that film room and watching tape
of prospects quite like Dan Morgan does. But He's worked
(08:07):
this in his head to the point where he knows
what he would want to do at eight pending what
happens in front of him. He knows what he would
do at hypothetically fifteen twenty five, at all these different
points through the draft, because he's kind of worked through
the values of these things. And I think that, you know,
in a perfect world, would they have something between eight
and fifty seven? They would you know, they're without their
(08:30):
on second rounder, but they do have the rams. Would
they like to find something between point A and point
B maybe.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
So, but I kind of capital there to play with.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I think there's a world of opportunities. But the one
thing I think people anticipate out of this thing is
this is going to be a defense heavy draft for sure.
Maybe not all defense, because if they don't come out
of this weekend with a wide receiver, probably somebody who
is fast, that would be a little bit of a
surprise to me. But this, I think it's reasonable to
suggest it's gonna lean heavily defense because you know, they
(09:03):
were last in the league and and Dan has told
us that, I think, and he's been very upfront about
saying that. He's so direct, and that's, like I said,
that's the thing you know about Dan when he tells you, yeah,
we got to fix this defense, believe him because he's
not a bs or. He is very direct and to
the point.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
So and it works in his favor that this is
such a defensive heavy draft, Like so many of the
defensive units are deep. I mean, gosh, that edge, that
edge unit is deeper than we've seen in ten years.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Right, no no doubt, And and you know it hits
at a lot of the positions they need, you know,
if they come out of this thing with multiple pass rushers,
with another defensive lineman, with another safety. You know, these
are all things that aren't going to surprise anybody. I
think there are needs across the board that they're gonna
look at a couple of different areas, but that's obviously
(09:53):
the priority. And you know, this week one of the things,
it's been reported. You know a lot of places, this
is the week they knocked out all their visits.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Right, all their thirty visits.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, and somewhere along the way, I don't know how
this happened, but somewhere along the way these started getting
called top thirty visits. I think people were getting nostalgic
for Casey Kasum or something, or it's.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
You know what it sounds like is in college recruiting,
you have top five visits and those are your officials,
and then you can take an unofficial, which is a
kind of I guess the equivalent of the zoom calls,
and with an official was so a top visit, the
school completely pays for you to come visit. An unofficial
(10:39):
you have to pay to go visit, but you're welcome
to come visit. So I think people when people say
top thirty. In my head, I'm hearing top five right,
And I think people got it confused with college recruiting visits.
But it is a little different.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
As someone who has actively avoided all high school recruiting
coverage in my life.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
That's smart. Don't put that juju.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And you're like, yeah, I did not know that, So
I've learned a new thing here today. But no, this
is if you look at and a lot of the
names have been reported, many of them have not. But
if you looked across the board at the guys who
were here in the building, it's all over the board.
It's first round guys, it's second round guys, third round guys,
and on deeper end of day three of the draft
(11:21):
because a lot of what they're doing, I mean, yes,
you want to find out if it's somebody you're curious
about with the number eight pick, you want to know
more about that guy. You want to get them on
the board, see how they learn, see how they retain information.
You know, teams will do things like introduce material to
a guy at the combine and then when they come
in for a visit, say hey, remember when we call
(11:42):
it Jen Indianapolis were talking about this, this, and this
part of it is just seeing how people retain information
and they want to see what makes a guys tick
a lot. I mean, this is a very important interview
opportunity in terms of the you know, they had their
local pro day this week as well, and there wasn't
a lot of on field stuff other than some punters
(12:02):
and you you caught up with one of those guys,
and we'll have more on that later, but mostly this
was an interview opportunity, a chance to get to know
some of these guys better and figure out what makes
them tick.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Because at this point you pretty much know everything you
need to know about this guy from from film. What
is I mean, that's football player's favorite saying, turn on
the film, turn on the game tape. And so it's
it's more about how do they jive with our coaching system,
how do they jive with how we like to to
coach guys. You know, this is a chance. A lot
(12:35):
of times, I don't know if people realize how much
the players are in the building this time of year too,
So this is a chance to see them walking down
the hall and run into Derek Brown and you know,
do they listen to him?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Do they do.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
They understand, you know, the respect he garners as a
locker room leader. It's a chance to see all of
those little things that you're never gonna see on film.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
No doubt, no doubt. And and you know we're having
an opportunity. We're going to get deeper into that as
we get through into next week. I mean, the other
thing that's going to happen coming up soon is start
of the off season program. There are, first, there are
some guys knocking around the building. You mentioned Derek, he's
here practically every day working out coming back from last
year's knee injury. But on the twenty first is when
(13:19):
the off season program begins. In earnest guys will be
back in here working out and stuff. You know. That's uh,
it's why day.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
After my birthday, if anybody wants to bring me a
cupcake and we'll celebrate accordingly.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
There you go, happy, happy start of the new league year,
new off season program. Cassidy.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
We'll get new Cassidy, new panthers.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, we'll get everybody to sing for you or something
down now, Oh, don't do that. But it's wild because
last year this started two weeks earlier. Yeah, and it's
because Dave Canalis is a second year coach now, and
only first year coaches get those bonus two weeks. That's
been one of the things in the last little bit
that's kind of it's almost dawning on you. You realize
(13:59):
the passage of time. They're going into that second year
and listening to Dave talk about that last week at
the owners meeting down in Florida. You know, he talked
about the lessons learned from year one to year two
and how you carry over certain things. Bryce talked about
it a little bit if you saw in Panthers dot
com we had some comments from him out at his
(14:21):
camp in Los Angeles. You know, Bryce said, you know, hey,
it's great to be able to work with this same
set of people, but we also know we don't get
to start from there. We've got to continue the work,
continue to build, continue to grow. But Dave talked about
with Bryce having that kind of attitude, they're able to
open things up in the offense, and if you look
(14:41):
at it, Bryce is really working with the same set
of people. I mean they brought the entire offensive line
back intact, turnkey, same as last year. Receivers, Receivers check
tight ends check. I mean Tommy Trimble's back to work
with J. T. Sanders, our old friend I and Thomas
is now a Raider. Best of luck to Ian. But
other than that, all of those are the same. And
(15:05):
you swapped out Miles Sanders for Rico Daldle and brought
in one thousand yard back to pair what you be
Hubbard in the backfield. So there is a consistency about
this offense and gives you a place to build from,
which kind of allows you to have that defensive draft
like we talked about previously.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I've always heard too with quarterbacks that the biggest jump
quarterbacks take in college in the NFL is the summer
between their second and their third year, because they've now
had two off seasons under their belt. They've had a
rookie season, which is usually wide eyed, a season where
they see things actually start to come together. And so
(15:42):
that summer between their second and third years when they
can take the biggest jump. And then you also have
the summer between your first and second year and this offense,
coaches have had a year under their belt to see
what works what doesn't. And so I'm not saying I'm
not going to get out here and make any predictions,
but I think it's going to be perhaps a noticeable
difference in the comfort level of how this offense practices,
(16:06):
maybe even as early as that Monday, the twenty first.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, and you can just tell, I mean, you can
sense from Bryce there is a comfortability for lack of
a better word, in him this offseason. I could see
it at the Super Bowl when we were down in
New Orleans and he was doing radio row. The simple
fact that Bryce was doing radio road is step one,
but just seeing how at ease he was and is
(16:29):
comfortable in his own skin was kind of one of
the eye openers. And that comfort with his surroundings, with
the offense, with the things Dave Canalis was asking him
to do, was evident his last year went along. So
it's going to be interesting to see how they build
and develop on that over the course of this season.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah, we're excited to see it. And then of course
they'll they'll roll right from those off season workouts into draft. Yeah,
So you know, things don't slow down.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
No, they do not. Now, of course we have not
covered the biggest news of the week, of course, and
that is the signing of one college ranger baby. He
is America's tight end all of a sudden, former basketball
player at Ohio.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You Western basketball player a month ago.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
That's right, and you talked to him the other day.
I think this story is so cool because this guy
practically came out of nowhere and suddenly has an NFL contract.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah he does. George Fant, another friend of the programs,
a guy that a lot of these Panthers offensive coaches
general manager drafted or not drafted. I'm sorry they signed
him as an undrafted free agent, but a guy a
lot of these these coaches are familiar with. He also
made that transition from basketball to football. He was at
(17:45):
Western Kentucky, played there for four years for the Hilltoppers.
The whole time he was there, football coaches asked him
to join the football team. He never did, and he
never did, and then realized he might have a little
bit more of a steady future with football than he
would play in Europe and basketball. By that point, he
was married, he had a kid. So he played, you know,
for five minutes in a bag of chips on the
(18:06):
Hilltoppers football team with his fifth year of eligibility. Had
such an impressive pro day there were a bunch of
scouts there to see Tyler Higbee, and it was George
Fan who ended up pulling a lot of their attention.
Such an impressive pro dace, Seattle signed him. Pat McPherson
was the tight end coach of Seattle. He's, of course
now the tight ends coach here. He called their GM.
There's some of their other scouts. It was like, check
(18:28):
this guy out. They signed him based purely off that
pro day, and by the fifth game of his rookie season,
he was They converted him to the offensive line. He
was the starting left tackle for the Seattle Seahawks, a
guy that ended up being a starter for a while,
was used as a hybrid tight end. Dave Canalis was
familiar with him. All of that to say, George knew
it could be done. I mean, Jimmy Graham's done it.
(18:50):
He's seen other people do it. And so he decided
to start this program, and this was his first year
where he finds these guys that have certain basket ball
skills that might not be transferable to a long term
basketball career, but have these certain skills that could be
transferable to football. And he dug up Colin Granger out
(19:11):
of Coastal Carolina. Yeah, and uh, Colin moved into George
Fance House on Thing on March sixth, and by April
seventh he had signed an NFL contract. They put together
a workout with about five or sixteen showed up, including
the Panthers. Again, a lot of trust in George and
what he was, what he was preaching when that he's developing.
(19:34):
Got down there and realized, I mean, this guy is
six eight to forty. I think through thirty five to forty.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
He's a big boy.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
He is a big boy and he can move. I
was standing in the hallway the other day talking to
Pat McPherson and Colin was standing right there and Todd Wash.
Todd Wash walked by and kind of just looked up
because he had to look up at him, and kind
of stopped and looked up, and Pat was like, you
can't have him tied. You can't have him. He's mine.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
That's funny and it is a cool story. If you
haven't read Cassidy's story about Colin Granger where she talked
to Colin and George Fan about this, I highly recommend
it Panthers dot com. Basically, George Fan slid up in
this man's DMS and offered him a chance to work out,
and Colin, once he googled George Fanton, realized that this
may actually be Legit went along, but such a cool story,
(20:21):
I think gets incumbent upon us to say Colin Granger
is an extreme long shot to make this team. This
is a let's see what we can do with a
raw lump of clay. Can we mold this into something
we can use? And I mean in a situation like that,
it's you know, anything you get out of him coming
down the road is a bonus. But you've seen stories
(20:43):
like that before. I mean, Chris Manhert's former Panther was
a college basketball player at Canisius. Had only the only
football experience he had was playing Madden. He's now going
into NFL season ten. So it can happen. It's not
exceedingly likely, but that's the time of year.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
It requires a certain kind of athlete to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
You're signing a prospect, you know, for a ninety man roster,
and let's see what happens. It's no risk, potentially some
degree of reward, but it's that time of year we
are going to shift. I mean the next time we
do this, this is going to be all draft all
the time. But we got a little bit of time
to mess around a little bit. It's Master's Week. I
(21:24):
understand many people are excited about that. It's not really
my deal.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
You don't sit down and watch the Masters now, I.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Don't sit down and watch golf routine league. You know,
golf on TV to me is kind of somewhat less
exciting than watching paint dry or grass grow.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
You know, I'm not usually a golfer. If usually if
golf's on, that means I'm taking a good nap. But Masters,
the moving day. Master Sunday, like Master Sunday, always delivers.
There's always drama, there's always excitement. I'll never forget where
I was watching Bubba like pop that little ball out
(22:01):
of the woods in the pine straw. As someone who
grew up in Central Alabama, I know how slick pine
straw is. I still don't know how he got that
ball out onto the green. I mean things like Tiger
went coming back and winning a couple of years ago.
So there's so many I can't even think of them all.
Master Sunday always delivers. My favorite part of watching it
(22:22):
and This is something I feel like you, as as
a proud curmudgeon, would appreciate. Ah is they're not allowed
to have phones at Augusta. And so when you watch
the Masters, especially on Master Sunday, when you know Rory
hits a shot that actually keeps them in contention for
a little while and everyone is completely in the moment. Yeah,
(22:44):
and that's always fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
That's pretty cool. I remember the first time I ever
experienced that. I took my son when NBA All Star
Game was here this week and Chappelle came. I took
my son to that concert. And that was the first
time I went into an event where they said, put
your phone in this locked bag, we'll unlock it for
you later. And I would say, I love this. Y
is like freedom for me next two hours without a
(23:06):
cell phone. Tell me more. But no, it's you know.
I'm pro azalea, I'm pro egg salad. I'm pro h.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Most waffle losses per capita in the country.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
All good, all good things, all things I can get behind.
I also like the idea of the Champions dinner. Whoever
gets to uh, whoever wins the year before gets to
pick them menu h. What would be your champions dinner meal.
I brought this.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Subject up thirty minutes ago, and now I haven't even
thought about what it would be. I think I would
go with a steak, some really really good like garlic,
mashed potatoes, maybe sweet potato cast role, which I know
doesn't necessarily go with those things, and as you've already
(23:51):
got mashed potatoes, but I love sweet potato cast role,
some really well done green beans, key lime pie, or
maybe tear a sou I guess the world is my oyster,
but we wouldn't have oysters.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
But no oysters, no oysters. You don't like oyster.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
I don't. And I grew up in the oyster capital
of the world, which is Mobile, Alabama, which is strange.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I grew up in North Carolina. I guess if I
was gonna do this, I would serve barbecue, vinegar based sauce,
Eastern North Carolina style.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Of course, I think it'd be obligated.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I think for appetizers, though, what I would serve, I
would serve North Carolina hot dogs, really hot dogs with chili.
You can see wall mustard onions for ingredients. That's it all.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Makes it sound like Chicago dog coleslaw.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Chili mustard onion. That's the that's the North Carolina style. Okay,
you can't find it. There's a shrinking universe of places
to find good dogs like that. Any anybody's got any recommendations,
I will happily receive them. Uh. We will go through
hot dog recommendations. We will get into the draft a
(24:55):
little more heavily. We will talk about god knows what,
maybe basketball again the next time we meet on the
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