September 4, 2025 • 11 mins
Tracy Smith speaks with the media before Thursday's practice.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Review JC Trevor on the unofficial depth start that came
out on I believe Wednesday or Thursday. Trevor Eten is
going to be the starting punt returner and kick returner.
What did you see from him in training camp and
the preseason to make you confident that he's ready to
(00:22):
take that role.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
He's really thrown himself into the role mentally, physically obviously,
but he cares about it. He's putting in the work.
You see him after practice every day. He's getting as
many catches as he can. You know that that depth
trot doesn't have to walk out there, but he's he's
kind of shown that he's he really wants to take
the job. We have punt catchers still on the roster,
(00:43):
still on the active roster, so we have options there,
but we're leading into the week that way.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Is departed. The calculus was part of the calculus that, Okay,
there are there are only so many carries that Trevor
Eten can get in this backfield, and we really and
we like him as a playmaker, we want to get
into the ball. Hey, this is a really important and
good way to do That was that part of the
calculus at.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
All he's an outstanding catcher, he's a great athlete. You'd
love for him to hold the ball for the Panthers.
So if it's a special teams play, if it's offensive play,
no different there, same thing with Rico on kickoff return.
If you can get another opportunity with one of those
guys with the ball, if it comes on special teams,
it comes on special teams. So yeah, anybody who we
(01:31):
can try to make yards with on any play, let's
go for it.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
All right, thanks, Tracy, Sure, all right, We'll go over
to Mike, followed by Cassidy.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Hey, Tracy, good morning, Hi Mike.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Obviously we don't know who your gunners are going to be,
but the guys that would be in consideration have pretty
notable size speed traits. When you have a guy that
is not only fast and you can get down the field,
but it has size and length, how much does that
help in that position, especially from a coverage standpoint.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You can get it done, Mike, in all different ways
style wise, so you kind of have to play to
each guy's individual strength. There's been Marcus Charell's was a
gun for the Bikings for years and years. It was
five to nine and you know, I don't know one
hundred and seventy pounds or whatever. I was never next
to the scale for him. But you can get it
done with quickness. You can get it done with speed.
The size guys can play through a double team from
(02:28):
time to time. You can play the more physical nature
as some of the gunners here have done in the past,
not to.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Go through individual people.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
But so we want to have a flexible enough system
where whatever your talent is, let's use that. You don't
want to to let's see a gigantic peg into a
tiny box or you know the other way whatever that is. So, yeah,
if you have a size gunner, can you put them
on the kickside and let him run down and try
to affect the kick?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Can he go on the backside and deal with a
smaller corner that there's all those possibilities. Looking for guys
that need to get to the ball. I have to
go make this tackle. Special teams comes down to desire
maybe one a right.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
With those physical tools.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So it's kind of about that and whatever package that
comes in that we try to have enough kind of
options where that person can succeed here.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And then I wanted to ask you about Thomas and
komb who seemed to be affecting literally every play during
the preseason that he was in. What is good What
does he do that specifically benefits your system and your
core four principles?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
He has an outstanding start of every play offense or
special teams. He can explode off of the snap and
whatever phase he's in, whether it's backwards or forwards, he
has that ability and then he leads the nation and
want to he is trying absolutely as hard as he
can on every play is there, and that's kind of
(04:04):
brought him to the edge of what he can possibly
do with his abilities. He's had a really nice camp
and expect to see him keep going forward and really
really expects him to match his potential because of how
bad he wants it, how hard he tries.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Thanks Tracy, of course, yeah, Gussie.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
Oh, I forgot you had called on me and my
best Tracy. Y'all have tried some different things with kickoff
looks and things like that under the new rules. How
much of that do you work on, like solely in
the off season versus now that we are going into
the season, Like, how much of that will you tweet
during the season as well.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Okay, well the whole NFL is on game twenty one,
not counting the playoffs of these particular set of rules,
so it's still kind of at the beginning. So if
something comes up that seems better, that seems like something
to try, you have to be open to that. There
is a opportunity cost of just changing everything week to week.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You lose some of what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Sometimes even if you're doing the wrong thing, if you're
good at the wrong thing, you're more successful than picking
the perfect thing and being bad at it. So there's
a balance there. But in all phases, we like to
be variable about what we're showing. So what we show
in pum pumper turning, kickoff, kick off return, field goal
block not necessarily a field goal team, but you want
(05:28):
to have some options so that you're not easy to defend.
So that plays into trying something new because they don't
know what's coming. And then maybe maybe by just experimenting
you can kind of like fall into a win surreptitiously awesome.
Speaker 6 (05:44):
Thank you, all right, we'll go to David, follow by Joe,
excuse me a little horse?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
He or how you doing?
Speaker 7 (05:52):
I want to ask you on your kicker, Ryan Cero,
What what are you when you go into the game
with him as his first game? Do you keep the
reins you wanted to kick a little shorter than normal
because it's his first game. You want to give him
confidence or kind of what's the approach whether a rookie
kicker going in this first game.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Thanks Dave, I hope for feeling okay, Yeah, I had
this situation a couple of times before. If you can
pick it, you'd put it on the left hash at
the ten yard line and let him smash, you know,
about five in a row to get his career started.
But that's not really how it goes. We played in
Nashville scorching hot game with the Raiders in two thousand
(06:32):
and whatever is the right answer, fifteen or so, Giorgio
Tobeccio a rookie kicker, and he ended up with his
three attempts were all from fifty plus and it's like,
that's just how the game goes. And you still we're
still out there servicing the Panthers as the field goal team.
So when it's time to go, we got to go.
If your question is would you like it to be closer?
(06:52):
Would you like them to make them all yes, yes, yes,
and yes, you know that kind of thing. But we
can't say, oh, Ryan's not ready. This is in the
middle of forty nine.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
He looked weird an hour ago. You know, that kind
of thing is not part of the job. His job
is to show up and go get it done.
Speaker 7 (07:11):
What was the first time you saw in that what
really stood out to you to make you think he
could be our guy?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Well, with all the kickers that came on the draft,
we watch everything he did at Florida State. Watched three
years of his kicks kind of thing and threw some
ups and down. So some real perseverance met him at
the combine, you know, had him kick here all spring,
all those things, and he's just kind of he's been
smooth through each step of the process. And with a
rookie at any position, everything that's new is new, So
(07:42):
how do they handle that? You kind of get to
know a person through that way, and he's done well.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Thanks appreciate it, of course.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
Tracy on that topic with the rookie, will you know,
do you have any idea how.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
He will respond to a pressure kick?
Speaker 6 (08:00):
Is that just something that you just put them out
there and let's see.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Uh, well, they're all pressure kicks, I would say. I mean,
the whole stadium leaves the game and they know how
the quarterback played and how the kicker played, and that's
about it. So you have to make them all there's
nothing more pressurized than waiting a whole half in your
first preseason game and then there's your kick and it's
(08:25):
the two minute warning and you have to wait for it,
and like all those things happen. So they each have
some element to that. If that kick, is it a
little bigger, if it's you know, whatever, the kick maybe,
but I promise you the first one he walks out there,
that is the kick for him, So that they're all
kind of the same in that way.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Thank you? Sure? All right? Loaded Lea councole. Next.
Speaker 6 (08:50):
Yeah, hey, Tracy, you just want to go back to
your returners. I know that you're not married to the
depth chart at this point time, you haven't even played
a game, but just looking at it, like Jimmy Horne Junior,
he's sitting the fourth at kick return and third at
punp return. What does he need to do to prove
to you guys that he can help contribute in that
manner or just any man or special teams wise, at
this stage of his career.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Just continue to develop. That's why we're practicing. He's he's
out there catching every day, he's working on his skills.
We have Punk Return with the team for the first
time this week today, so there's another shot at it.
It's just gonna continue the process step by step, and
then you have to be the guy that we think
we all think is the best one to go out there,
and that's in the Punk Return job. That's generally one person,
(09:35):
you know, same thing with the Kickcart return. So he
had some opportunities in the preseason and will continue to
have those in practice.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
There's certain nuances that you're hoping to see from him
and in terms of his performance to get to where
you guys potentially I guess saw him throughout the draft process.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
No, he's not working on his own individual checklist. It's
just a general quality of each guy with the entire
picture considered as far as their role on offense and
defense as well.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Okay, thanks, all right, we'll wrap up with Mike kick Hey, Tracy,
one more for me. You guys signed DJ Dallas to
the practice squad. He had success against the kickoff rule
last year. He's also kind of been like an all
around good special teams player that you've had experience with.
What does he bring to that unit and why is
(10:25):
he kind of a notable addition that we should pay
attention to.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That part study to determined as far as what his
role ends up being as a panther, but as a
Seahawk my experiences experience at Arizona last year. He's an
NFL dual returner who also covers kicks, so he's a
valuable backup running back to have and he's been that
kind of his whole career. It helps him that I've
(10:51):
known him in the past, so he kind of has
a quicker start than everybody else that there's nothing, no
carve balls are being thrown at him.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
We'll say, so far is like guy that we like
to have around.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Some of the other coaches are familiar with him as well,
and we'll see how is his panther pathway goes
Review JC Trevor on the unofficial depth start that came
out on I believe Wednesday or Thursday. Trevor Eten is
going to be the starting punt returner and kick returner.
What did you see from him in training camp and
the preseason to make you confident that he's ready to
(00:22):
take that role.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
He's really thrown himself into the role mentally, physically obviously,
but he cares about it. He's putting in the work.
You see him after practice every day. He's getting as
many catches as he can. You know that that depth
trot doesn't have to walk out there, but he's he's
kind of shown that he's he really wants to take
the job. We have punt catchers still on the roster,
(00:43):
still on the active roster, so we have options there,
but we're leading into the week that way.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Is departed. The calculus was part of the calculus that, Okay,
there are there are only so many carries that Trevor
Eten can get in this backfield, and we really and
we like him as a playmaker, we want to get
into the ball. Hey, this is a really important and
good way to do That was that part of the
calculus at.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
All he's an outstanding catcher, he's a great athlete. You'd
love for him to hold the ball for the Panthers.
So if it's a special teams play, if it's offensive play,
no different there, same thing with Rico on kickoff return.
If you can get another opportunity with one of those
guys with the ball, if it comes on special teams,
it comes on special teams. So yeah, anybody who we
(01:31):
can try to make yards with on any play, let's
go for it.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
All right, thanks, Tracy, Sure, all right, We'll go over
to Mike, followed by Cassidy.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Hey, Tracy, good morning, Hi Mike.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Obviously we don't know who your gunners are going to be,
but the guys that would be in consideration have pretty
notable size speed traits. When you have a guy that
is not only fast and you can get down the field,
but it has size and length, how much does that
help in that position, especially from a coverage standpoint.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You can get it done, Mike, in all different ways
style wise, so you kind of have to play to
each guy's individual strength. There's been Marcus Charell's was a
gun for the Bikings for years and years. It was
five to nine and you know, I don't know one
hundred and seventy pounds or whatever. I was never next
to the scale for him. But you can get it
done with quickness. You can get it done with speed.
The size guys can play through a double team from
(02:28):
time to time. You can play the more physical nature
as some of the gunners here have done in the past,
not to.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Go through individual people.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
But so we want to have a flexible enough system
where whatever your talent is, let's use that. You don't
want to to let's see a gigantic peg into a
tiny box or you know the other way whatever that is. So, yeah,
if you have a size gunner, can you put them
on the kickside and let him run down and try
to affect the kick?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Can he go on the backside and deal with a
smaller corner that there's all those possibilities. Looking for guys
that need to get to the ball. I have to
go make this tackle. Special teams comes down to desire
maybe one a right.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
With those physical tools.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So it's kind of about that and whatever package that
comes in that we try to have enough kind of
options where that person can succeed here.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And then I wanted to ask you about Thomas and
komb who seemed to be affecting literally every play during
the preseason that he was in. What is good What
does he do that specifically benefits your system and your
core four principles?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
He has an outstanding start of every play offense or
special teams. He can explode off of the snap and
whatever phase he's in, whether it's backwards or forwards, he
has that ability and then he leads the nation and
want to he is trying absolutely as hard as he
can on every play is there, and that's kind of
(04:04):
brought him to the edge of what he can possibly
do with his abilities. He's had a really nice camp
and expect to see him keep going forward and really
really expects him to match his potential because of how
bad he wants it, how hard he tries.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Thanks Tracy, of course, yeah, Gussie.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
Oh, I forgot you had called on me and my
best Tracy. Y'all have tried some different things with kickoff
looks and things like that under the new rules. How
much of that do you work on, like solely in
the off season versus now that we are going into
the season, Like, how much of that will you tweet
during the season as well.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Okay, well the whole NFL is on game twenty one,
not counting the playoffs of these particular set of rules,
so it's still kind of at the beginning. So if
something comes up that seems better, that seems like something
to try, you have to be open to that. There
is a opportunity cost of just changing everything week to week.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You lose some of what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Sometimes even if you're doing the wrong thing, if you're
good at the wrong thing, you're more successful than picking
the perfect thing and being bad at it. So there's
a balance there. But in all phases, we like to
be variable about what we're showing. So what we show
in pum pumper turning, kickoff, kick off return, field goal
block not necessarily a field goal team, but you want
(05:28):
to have some options so that you're not easy to defend.
So that plays into trying something new because they don't
know what's coming. And then maybe maybe by just experimenting
you can kind of like fall into a win surreptitiously awesome.
Speaker 6 (05:44):
Thank you, all right, we'll go to David, follow by Joe,
excuse me a little horse?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
He or how you doing?
Speaker 7 (05:52):
I want to ask you on your kicker, Ryan Cero,
What what are you when you go into the game
with him as his first game? Do you keep the
reins you wanted to kick a little shorter than normal
because it's his first game. You want to give him
confidence or kind of what's the approach whether a rookie
kicker going in this first game.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Thanks Dave, I hope for feeling okay, Yeah, I had
this situation a couple of times before. If you can
pick it, you'd put it on the left hash at
the ten yard line and let him smash, you know,
about five in a row to get his career started.
But that's not really how it goes. We played in
Nashville scorching hot game with the Raiders in two thousand
(06:32):
and whatever is the right answer, fifteen or so, Giorgio
Tobeccio a rookie kicker, and he ended up with his
three attempts were all from fifty plus and it's like,
that's just how the game goes. And you still we're
still out there servicing the Panthers as the field goal team.
So when it's time to go, we got to go.
If your question is would you like it to be closer?
(06:52):
Would you like them to make them all yes, yes, yes,
and yes, you know that kind of thing. But we
can't say, oh, Ryan's not ready. This is in the
middle of forty nine.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
He looked weird an hour ago. You know, that kind
of thing is not part of the job. His job
is to show up and go get it done.
Speaker 7 (07:11):
What was the first time you saw in that what
really stood out to you to make you think he
could be our guy?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Well, with all the kickers that came on the draft,
we watch everything he did at Florida State. Watched three
years of his kicks kind of thing and threw some
ups and down. So some real perseverance met him at
the combine, you know, had him kick here all spring,
all those things, and he's just kind of he's been
smooth through each step of the process. And with a
rookie at any position, everything that's new is new, So
(07:42):
how do they handle that? You kind of get to
know a person through that way, and he's done well.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Thanks appreciate it, of course.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
Tracy on that topic with the rookie, will you know,
do you have any idea how.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
He will respond to a pressure kick?
Speaker 6 (08:00):
Is that just something that you just put them out
there and let's see.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Uh, well, they're all pressure kicks, I would say. I mean,
the whole stadium leaves the game and they know how
the quarterback played and how the kicker played, and that's
about it. So you have to make them all there's
nothing more pressurized than waiting a whole half in your
first preseason game and then there's your kick and it's
(08:25):
the two minute warning and you have to wait for it,
and like all those things happen. So they each have
some element to that. If that kick, is it a
little bigger, if it's you know, whatever, the kick maybe,
but I promise you the first one he walks out there,
that is the kick for him, So that they're all
kind of the same in that way.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Thank you? Sure? All right? Loaded Lea councole. Next.
Speaker 6 (08:50):
Yeah, hey, Tracy, you just want to go back to
your returners. I know that you're not married to the
depth chart at this point time, you haven't even played
a game, but just looking at it, like Jimmy Horne Junior,
he's sitting the fourth at kick return and third at
punp return. What does he need to do to prove
to you guys that he can help contribute in that
manner or just any man or special teams wise, at
this stage of his career.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Just continue to develop. That's why we're practicing. He's he's
out there catching every day, he's working on his skills.
We have Punk Return with the team for the first
time this week today, so there's another shot at it.
It's just gonna continue the process step by step, and
then you have to be the guy that we think
we all think is the best one to go out there,
and that's in the Punk Return job. That's generally one person,
(09:35):
you know, same thing with the Kickcart return. So he
had some opportunities in the preseason and will continue to
have those in practice.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
There's certain nuances that you're hoping to see from him
and in terms of his performance to get to where
you guys potentially I guess saw him throughout the draft process.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
No, he's not working on his own individual checklist. It's
just a general quality of each guy with the entire
picture considered as far as their role on offense and
defense as well.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Okay, thanks, all right, we'll wrap up with Mike kick Hey, Tracy,
one more for me. You guys signed DJ Dallas to
the practice squad. He had success against the kickoff rule
last year. He's also kind of been like an all
around good special teams player that you've had experience with.
What does he bring to that unit and why is
(10:25):
he kind of a notable addition that we should pay
attention to.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That part study to determined as far as what his
role ends up being as a panther, but as a
Seahawk my experiences experience at Arizona last year. He's an
NFL dual returner who also covers kicks, so he's a
valuable backup running back to have and he's been that
kind of his whole career. It helps him that I've
(10:51):
known him in the past, so he kind of has
a quicker start than everybody else that there's nothing, no
carve balls are being thrown at him.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
We'll say, so far is like guy that we like
to have around.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Some of the other coaches are familiar with him as well,
and we'll see how is his panther pathway goes
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