October 2, 2025 • 9 mins
Tracy Smith speaks with the media before Thursday's practice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The review.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Tell us the story about DJ Dallas. What's he like
to work with?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
DJ's fantastic guy, really spirited, aggressive player with a varied
background and different running back roles. Has a lot of
special teams experience returning the ball and covering as well
as blocking. So good to have somebody to help the
other guys that has been around and done it. Excited
(00:31):
to see him progress on the Panthers so far.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Is it rare to have somebody who's good at both
of those things, the returning and the coverage part of it.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yes, there are some good examples in Panthers history. Rod Smart,
Michael Bates coverage player you know several years ago.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
There's a few guys.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Some of the skills carry over, being fast, being tough,
being aggressive, really having a desire to go make a
play lead to that. Some returners don't have the size
profile that fits a coverage player exactly the same way,
so are kind of precluded from getting experienced in that way.
But there's several guys in the NFL that are doing
(01:17):
both successfully.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
Jeck Hawkins followed by David Newton, Good Morning.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Coach, Hey, Jeffy Hey during the Special Team Grill on Wednesday.
Did you see any extra attention to detail by the
pump return unit? Second part? Are there Will it be
any changes to the pump return unit on Sunday?
Speaker 5 (01:43):
I think we practiced hard week to week. That's part
of it.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
We're growing teams, so the change would be we're better
from a week before, and I would expect to see
that same change a week from now. That's kind of
the goal. Were going in the same intensity. We're hoping
to improve our skills as we gain experience throughout the
course of the year and the course of their careers.
Changes are necessary because d J. Johnson is no longer
(02:07):
was released the other day. He was on the punt team,
so we have to adjust to that, and then they'll
be kind of the week two week variants of who's
available and who's not.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Evans, would he still be the gunner?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Who's that Evans? Yes, he's on the gunner list for sure.
Dalon Campbell, who was playing the other gunner in that game,
was waved injured the other day also, so there are
several changes necessitated by roster moves already.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Thank you, sure.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
Hey, Race, David here and talked to you since Sunday.
So what happened. I mean, specifically, the thing is gonna
be breakdowns on the punt coverage and then the saving
team builds a punt down in the two or three
er line. There's things like a lot of things you
know collectively went wrong.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yeah, had a tough game in several phases. There ran
to a really good punt returner and didn't get him
on the ground a couple of times, so that was
unfortunate for the punt coverage team. And then on a
kind of breezy day in New England, didn't have our
best day kicking either.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Led to some stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So we're just kind of working our way through it,
trying to get as good as we can each week.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
That's where we were last week.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
And I know you guys don't like to make excuses
for injuries and things like that, but you mentioned DJ
Johnson's gone now he was on your team. You had
David Moore who was there some of the time. I mean,
the more injuries are happening on like offense and any defense,
they're taken from your unit and those guys are playing more.
I think I kind of mentioned this last week that continuity,
(03:47):
that the communication, everything that goes into what you guys
looked like pretty good in the first three games. How
much is that impacted.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, this comes into play in our conversations quite a bit, Dave,
because this happens, you know, it's it's part of the game.
On special teams, it's certainly easier to deal with the
ones that happen leading up to the game, so you
have a practice, you know what's going on.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
The ones that happen in the.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Game are touch more chaotic because generally, if one person
goes down, you're replacing that guy with multiple players depending
on the phase in the unit that they're on, so
you kind of.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Have to patch it together. We took.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Bryson spot with several different guys throughout the game, so
it's one of those. But that's kind of that's the
name of it. They the other teams have the same stuff.
You never know what's going to happen. You have to
be prepared for all those scenarios. Guys know where they're
possibly going to play in the game. If something happens.
We have multiple scenarios this week as well. If this
guy goes up or down on defense, you know where
(04:45):
we have to how we have to handle that. We
kind of have rotational guys, so no excuse there. That's
that's the name of the Special Teams game is when
it's your turn to show up, you have to show up,
and if you don't, any play can be the play
we talked about kind of where the top of the
bottom them are real close together. Any play can get
you going up or down. So we have to be
ready for each opportunity.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
Top of your hand.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
Do you know how many guys you had to replace
this year so far?
Speaker 5 (05:12):
No, I don't. I don't have account of that.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
The higher than normal you think, or than.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Not necessarily, you know, it just goes around that. I
deal with those one at a time as they show up.
No historical record of what that is and doesn't matter really.
You know, at the end of it, if you had
to replace them all or everybody played right through, you
still have to go get the ball down when you're covering,
and you have to take it as far as you
can when you're returning.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
Okay, thank you, sure, Joe person, Hey Tracy, good morning,
Hey Joe, good morning. You mentioned the tough day last
week seen coaches here, coordinators here, and elsewhere. After a
day like that, use a couple more starters on teams.
(06:00):
Is that something you're considering this week, especially on the
punt coverage.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
I got you.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
There's benefits to that and disadvantages also if you're changing
those a little bit, we'll see how it goes. The
Panthers aren't restrictive in any way on that stuff. You
want to use your roster as best you can to
support all the phases. If you go heavy on using
the guys that are playing on defense, you're hurting the defense.
Speaker 5 (06:27):
That's part of it.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
So you want to have a team that's equipped to
handle all the plays that we have. However many coverage
opportunities we have, and knowing that, you know, if you're
double duty on somebody, then there's somebody sitting there that's
not helping you on that play. So I try to
make a match as much as I possibly can throughout
the course of the week and then also within the
course of the game.
Speaker 7 (06:48):
And then following up on what Darren was asking about,
do you think DJ will be in the mix as
a returner?
Speaker 5 (06:55):
You know right from the.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Jont certainly has a return of history, So we're seeing
how he feel it's in with the group we have
as we go.
Speaker 7 (07:04):
Thanks sure, gott valor.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Hi, coach, Thanks, how are you doing great? I have
two for you.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
One is, do you have a sort of exact philosophy
on where someone should catch a punt and where they
should let it bounce? Like you know some people say
put your feet on the ten and don't go backwards
or the eight or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
What's you're feeling on that.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, you prefer not to field a ball that's going
to go into the end zone, so you play a
certain yard line.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
It's different from team of team.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
There's also some differences on a grass field on a
turf field based on how the ball could theorically bounce,
So you have and then there's also returners over the
course of the career that you trust more toy Okay,
you can play the eight, don't take a step back,
or some guys are just starting to play the ten.
And then as you're getting as you're learning how to
be a punt returner. Also those you know, those yard
(08:02):
lines aren't drawn in the ceiling, so your head's up
in the air. Do you know exactly where you are?
Did I go back five yards?
Speaker 5 (08:08):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
It's not like when you're swimming freestyle and you can
see the lane lines on the bottom of the pool
kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
So there's there's a field part to all of that.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
On the particular punt that you're asking about, you'd love
for that punt to bounce into the end zone for
you and become an extra blocker as a returner. Not
everybody's perfect on that. We've seen other punts fair caught
inside the five yard line. You know that that's kind
of part of the game. But yeah, the guys certainly
they walk out there with a guideline for sure, Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And the other one is we saw Ryan Fitzgerald finally
his perfect start finally in last week. Just wonder where
his headspace is right now and sort of what kind
of kicker he is to coach.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, I thought he handled it well, not results wise
in the game. He hit the pat, hits the post there,
and he kind of came back and say, okay, now
let's go kind of thing. He reset and he felt
felt confidence, still felt felt good. And then the next
wing he gets his you know, fifty five left hash
left right wind and he didn't hit it that well.
(09:11):
And he's come back this week and hit great in practice,
and we're gonna get us set in the stadium here
because we have a home game coming up today after
our practice. He's a worker and he's going to get
back at it. So I had no problem with his
game day demeanor or his confidence going forward. So we'll
just stay stay with the process and try to get
him as good as he can get.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
The Yeah, the fifty five yarder, it did not get
tipped right.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
It just was.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It just didn't hit it right.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, no, sir, no tip
The review.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Tell us the story about DJ Dallas. What's he like
to work with?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
DJ's fantastic guy, really spirited, aggressive player with a varied
background and different running back roles. Has a lot of
special teams experience returning the ball and covering as well
as blocking. So good to have somebody to help the
other guys that has been around and done it. Excited
(00:31):
to see him progress on the Panthers so far.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Is it rare to have somebody who's good at both
of those things, the returning and the coverage part of it.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yes, there are some good examples in Panthers history. Rod Smart,
Michael Bates coverage player you know several years ago.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
There's a few guys.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Some of the skills carry over, being fast, being tough,
being aggressive, really having a desire to go make a
play lead to that. Some returners don't have the size
profile that fits a coverage player exactly the same way,
so are kind of precluded from getting experienced in that way.
But there's several guys in the NFL that are doing
(01:17):
both successfully.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
Jeck Hawkins followed by David Newton, Good Morning.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Coach, Hey, Jeffy Hey during the Special Team Grill on Wednesday.
Did you see any extra attention to detail by the
pump return unit? Second part? Are there Will it be
any changes to the pump return unit on Sunday?
Speaker 5 (01:43):
I think we practiced hard week to week. That's part
of it.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
We're growing teams, so the change would be we're better
from a week before, and I would expect to see
that same change a week from now. That's kind of
the goal. Were going in the same intensity. We're hoping
to improve our skills as we gain experience throughout the
course of the year and the course of their careers.
Changes are necessary because d J. Johnson is no longer
(02:07):
was released the other day. He was on the punt team,
so we have to adjust to that, and then they'll
be kind of the week two week variants of who's
available and who's not.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Evans, would he still be the gunner?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Who's that Evans? Yes, he's on the gunner list for sure.
Dalon Campbell, who was playing the other gunner in that game,
was waved injured the other day also, so there are
several changes necessitated by roster moves already.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Thank you, sure.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
Hey, Race, David here and talked to you since Sunday.
So what happened. I mean, specifically, the thing is gonna
be breakdowns on the punt coverage and then the saving
team builds a punt down in the two or three
er line. There's things like a lot of things you
know collectively went wrong.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yeah, had a tough game in several phases. There ran
to a really good punt returner and didn't get him
on the ground a couple of times, so that was
unfortunate for the punt coverage team. And then on a
kind of breezy day in New England, didn't have our
best day kicking either.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Led to some stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So we're just kind of working our way through it,
trying to get as good as we can each week.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
That's where we were last week.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
And I know you guys don't like to make excuses
for injuries and things like that, but you mentioned DJ
Johnson's gone now he was on your team. You had
David Moore who was there some of the time. I mean,
the more injuries are happening on like offense and any defense,
they're taken from your unit and those guys are playing more.
I think I kind of mentioned this last week that continuity,
(03:47):
that the communication, everything that goes into what you guys
looked like pretty good in the first three games. How
much is that impacted.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, this comes into play in our conversations quite a bit, Dave,
because this happens, you know, it's it's part of the game.
On special teams, it's certainly easier to deal with the
ones that happen leading up to the game, so you
have a practice, you know what's going on.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
The ones that happen in the.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Game are touch more chaotic because generally, if one person
goes down, you're replacing that guy with multiple players depending
on the phase in the unit that they're on, so
you kind of.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Have to patch it together. We took.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Bryson spot with several different guys throughout the game, so
it's one of those. But that's kind of that's the
name of it. They the other teams have the same stuff.
You never know what's going to happen. You have to
be prepared for all those scenarios. Guys know where they're
possibly going to play in the game. If something happens.
We have multiple scenarios this week as well. If this
guy goes up or down on defense, you know where
(04:45):
we have to how we have to handle that. We
kind of have rotational guys, so no excuse there. That's
that's the name of the Special Teams game is when
it's your turn to show up, you have to show up,
and if you don't, any play can be the play
we talked about kind of where the top of the
bottom them are real close together. Any play can get
you going up or down. So we have to be
ready for each opportunity.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
Top of your hand.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
Do you know how many guys you had to replace
this year so far?
Speaker 5 (05:12):
No, I don't. I don't have account of that.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
The higher than normal you think, or than.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Not necessarily, you know, it just goes around that. I
deal with those one at a time as they show up.
No historical record of what that is and doesn't matter really.
You know, at the end of it, if you had
to replace them all or everybody played right through, you
still have to go get the ball down when you're covering,
and you have to take it as far as you
can when you're returning.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
Okay, thank you, sure, Joe person, Hey Tracy, good morning,
Hey Joe, good morning. You mentioned the tough day last
week seen coaches here, coordinators here, and elsewhere. After a
day like that, use a couple more starters on teams.
(06:00):
Is that something you're considering this week, especially on the
punt coverage.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
I got you.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
There's benefits to that and disadvantages also if you're changing
those a little bit, we'll see how it goes. The
Panthers aren't restrictive in any way on that stuff. You
want to use your roster as best you can to
support all the phases. If you go heavy on using
the guys that are playing on defense, you're hurting the defense.
Speaker 5 (06:27):
That's part of it.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
So you want to have a team that's equipped to
handle all the plays that we have. However many coverage
opportunities we have, and knowing that, you know, if you're
double duty on somebody, then there's somebody sitting there that's
not helping you on that play. So I try to
make a match as much as I possibly can throughout
the course of the week and then also within the
course of the game.
Speaker 7 (06:48):
And then following up on what Darren was asking about,
do you think DJ will be in the mix as
a returner?
Speaker 5 (06:55):
You know right from the.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Jont certainly has a return of history, So we're seeing
how he feel it's in with the group we have
as we go.
Speaker 7 (07:04):
Thanks sure, gott valor.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Hi, coach, Thanks, how are you doing great? I have
two for you.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
One is, do you have a sort of exact philosophy
on where someone should catch a punt and where they
should let it bounce? Like you know some people say
put your feet on the ten and don't go backwards
or the eight or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
What's you're feeling on that.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, you prefer not to field a ball that's going
to go into the end zone, so you play a
certain yard line.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
It's different from team of team.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
There's also some differences on a grass field on a
turf field based on how the ball could theorically bounce,
So you have and then there's also returners over the
course of the career that you trust more toy Okay,
you can play the eight, don't take a step back,
or some guys are just starting to play the ten.
And then as you're getting as you're learning how to
be a punt returner. Also those you know, those yard
(08:02):
lines aren't drawn in the ceiling, so your head's up
in the air. Do you know exactly where you are?
Did I go back five yards?
Speaker 5 (08:08):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
It's not like when you're swimming freestyle and you can
see the lane lines on the bottom of the pool
kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
So there's there's a field part to all of that.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
On the particular punt that you're asking about, you'd love
for that punt to bounce into the end zone for
you and become an extra blocker as a returner. Not
everybody's perfect on that. We've seen other punts fair caught
inside the five yard line. You know that that's kind
of part of the game. But yeah, the guys certainly
they walk out there with a guideline for sure, Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And the other one is we saw Ryan Fitzgerald finally
his perfect start finally in last week. Just wonder where
his headspace is right now and sort of what kind
of kicker he is to coach.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, I thought he handled it well, not results wise
in the game. He hit the pat, hits the post there,
and he kind of came back and say, okay, now
let's go kind of thing. He reset and he felt
felt confidence, still felt felt good. And then the next
wing he gets his you know, fifty five left hash
left right wind and he didn't hit it that well.
(09:11):
And he's come back this week and hit great in practice,
and we're gonna get us set in the stadium here
because we have a home game coming up today after
our practice. He's a worker and he's going to get
back at it. So I had no problem with his
game day demeanor or his confidence going forward. So we'll
just stay stay with the process and try to get
him as good as he can get.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
The Yeah, the fifty five yarder, it did not get
tipped right.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
It just was.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It just didn't hit it right.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, no, sir, no tip
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