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September 28, 2024 • 11 mins
Celebrate 30 seasons of Carolina Panthers football with Jim Szoke. Join him as he sits down with the key figures who shaped the past 29 seasons, reminiscing on the moments that made Panther history. This week's guest is former Panthers linebacker, Jon Beason.

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
When you talk about some of the great linebackers and
Panthers history, John Beeson is on that list from a
Miami Hurricane, just like the current GM Dan Morgan. He
was a first round draft pick in two thousand and
seven and played with Carolina till twenty thirteen, three times
a Pro Bowl player. In fact, he played every single
game the first four years he was a Panther. In fact,
never even missed a practice before injury set in. This week,

(00:24):
we visit with former Panther linebacker Great John.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Beson Thirty Seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Pather linebacker Great John Beeson joining us now and John
from the U. We'll talk about that as well. But
for you, what is life like in Florida? What's going
on with you off the field now?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
These days?

Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'll say this about Miami, the secrets out you know,
obviously COVID, you know, reshaped the landscape world. But MINDI
now becoming you know, the most popular city or the
New New York of the country. I'm like, it was
always that to me. As much as I love Charlotte,

(01:14):
the fans here, my time here. You know, my last
year here was the trade was what twenty thirteen. I
didn't sell my house until twenty twenty. I love, love,
not loved, loved Charlotte. So Miami is is what it's
always been. It's just a little expensive.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
That's not going to change anytime soon because you've got
some great weather, great scenery down there for you as
as a Panther. Though your career here first four years,
you never missed a game, and I want to say
you never missed a practice, right, I mean you've gave
it everything. Injuries happened to players eventually, but I mean
you really laid it out there and you didn't miss
a minute of football.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
You know you don't.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
You don't necessarily look at the those stats until someone
like yourself says, hey, hey, John, you know the last
two seasons, you're the only player in the NFC South
not to miss one snap. I'm like, like quarterbacks kickers,
but they don't play every down, right, It's why it
was wild to me. Obviously, quarterbacks come out, you getta

(02:12):
lead at some point in the game, but like that
was probably like the stat that I loved the most.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
But for me, I love to play. I love the practice.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
I remember that's called it some of our season Vet
Steve Smith, Jake del Jake Del Home.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
Julius Pepper's maybe you get a VET day. I've never
had a VET day in my life, nor did I
want it.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
When I got to the Giants, I was older, obviously
banged up, and they say, hey, we need you on Sunday,
so we don't want you. We want you to sit
down on Thursday. I'm like, bro, this is money down.
It's third down. Emphasis of the of the week, Thursdays
is third down. I have to see it because I
want to mess it up in practice, so I don't
mess it up on Sunday. So you know, from that standpoint, man,
I love, I love, I love to play. And you know,

(03:01):
unfortunately the wills fall off when you go really hard.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
But that's just it. I mean, you you didn't lay out,
you didn't like eight days off. Because of that, it
probably had to shorten your career that you gave one
hundred when you were out there, right.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
True story. I think it was the Steelers. So I
came out early as a junior. I' me met the
combine and I had twenty six interviews, obviously the thirty
two teams, and they said, hey, beast, how long do
you expect to play?

Speaker 4 (03:27):
You know what I said?

Speaker 3 (03:28):
I said, I don't know, probably eight years. They're like, well,
most guys they're going to play fifteen years, So why
do you think you're gonna play eight? I say, if
you play linebacker the way you're supposed to play linebacker,
you can't play fifteen years. So I always I knew
that maybe the way I trained behind the scenes so
that can look really good, you know, on Sundays would

(03:50):
probably be to my physical detriment, but it's the only
way I knew how to do it.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
You come out of the up talk about that in
Miami a little bit there. Your guy Dan Morgan out
of there as well, general manager of this team. Did
you see that kind of future for him back in
the day when he was coming through the program. I
mean he kind of proceed you a little bit.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
But yeah, you know what I would say this about
about Dan.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
I mean, he's the most decorated player to come out
of univers of Miami, A massive mentor. I wanted to
come here and play with him. Obviously when he got injured.
My my my rookie year. I came out first. Got
to bring a jersey out in honor of him, because
it's it's really about the guys who won look after
you and then you pay it forward. And Dan has

(04:35):
the same kind of scenario, like you play so hard
that the body can't play to the level of that
you're you're demanding of it. So I know he got
into to be a pro Scott. I was like, yeah,
Dan wants to do that. He's just a chill guy.
You know, Ashley's at home three kids, like you know,
made good money, So like what's he doing. And then

(04:56):
all of a sudden and I'm like, okay, assistant gum,
but being up there in Buffalo, okay. And then he
comes back to Charlotte and I said, I told him
this when he got the job. I said, whatever you
need from me because people they want me to coach or.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
I would work for Dan.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
There's another guy I played with, the Glenn Cook assistant
GM up in up in Cleveland, has interview interview several
times for the GM job, and I said, I'll work
for you, but I'm not working for anybody else.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
So they need a guy in the trenches.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Who knows what hard work is to evaluate true woman's
It's really about developing a passion. That's what's missing with
the game is finding guys who care so much about
winning that they'll make the necessary sacrifices that'll end up
with a W on Sundays.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
You think that culture is going to change now with
college football obviously with the transfer portal and all of that.
Then they come to the pros. It's not gotten quite
to that point. But players don't stick around in general
in one organization like they used to back in your day.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, so when I got for when I got traded
to the Giants, Giants hadn't traded for players also from
University of Miami Oj Anderson the Juice Man nineteen eighty six.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
Love gap there, Yeah, long.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Gap twenty thirteen. So it didn't happen. And what happens
is you have to be somewhat of a cap captures.
I had already got restructure, which means pay cut.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
I was injured. They took money from me, So.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Now my value is still here if he's healthy, but
what I'm making is league minimum from being the highest
paid in history and then or restructure to league minimum
so that has changed, shorter contracts and now the world
of trading is is that so now it's truly an

(06:43):
individual business. Whereas you know the reason why Thomas Davis
gets on me right now, like you're not coming back
and retiring to Panther, I said, listen, Thomas, I said,
the Giants traded for me. They gave me the highest
free agency deal. It was a three year deal to
be the guy. After that season, I said, it's out
of respect. I'm not gonna retire a Giant and I'm

(07:04):
not gonna retire a Panther. But my home, my heart
is with the Panthers. Hey, man, share that that's my guy.
Tobert A k I used to call him port shop. Hey, listen,
pound for pound, the biggest, most talented guy to play football.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
He could do anything.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Darn good broadcaster too. We've had him in the booth too.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Personality, personality is probably even with his his football all timer.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
We have a good time.

Speaker 5 (07:39):
I ain't been in the booth with you in a while.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Well, we did get you back in there. Man, we
have to talk to you. Who do we have to
talk to you about?

Speaker 4 (07:45):
Making that happen? Jeremy Germany is easy to get up,
get me, Jeremy the wife.

Speaker 5 (07:51):
What I'm saying, But if he called his usually about
some money, and so he's gonna call you, and then
you're gonna talk to the wife.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
True, then you're gonna call him. That's we gotta keep
the main thing, the main thing.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, we know, John and Michael got you here both together.
What's it mean to be back? This is thirty years
of Panthers football for both of you.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Guys.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
You know what you like to rekindle and not only
but the guys you played with baby guys you didn't
play with.

Speaker 5 (08:14):
I mean, it's it's fun. You know, I've I've been
a part of like the last decade or so, you
know what I'm saying. So like getting to play with
guys like this and then seeing the new crop of
guys come in. You know, I had a chance to
talk with Bryce and you know, he's a good kid,
you know what I'm saying. So I'm excited. I like
the direction, you know what I'm saying. And I like

(08:35):
the fact that I can come into some spots that
I haven't seen in the stadium before.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
Get they got ledges on the TV.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
I get to see my boys to get some drinks,
free drinks.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I didn't see a lot of five two highlights out there,
but I've seen a lot of three fives out n
I see a lot of that.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Man, you ain't see that much. But listen, I'm gonna
go a little further back get you.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
I'm going to Carolina. Obviously, I'm extremely excited for three reasons.
The third one, you know, shout out Gennar Davis, who
played with me and Miami also.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
Undrafted Corner got a ring with new with Indy. But
I knew I was coming to a.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Place that had two Hurricane greats on Dan Morgan and
d lou Damian Lewis.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
So I felt like, man, what what could be a
better situation.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
The guy who's gonna protect me in front of me
is on it's on my team, and then you have
this this it's like almost the stigma of like you
come to the league in the bets saying, you know,
they trying to keep their job and it's not like
that they they they the wrong this is the wrong
word to use, but they coddled me.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
They showed me everything.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
I went out and bought house with them. I hang
out with their kids. They called me Uncle Beast. I
was like, I'm doing with these seven eight nine year
vets are doing.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
I wasn't.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
I wasn't locked in on like the the average rookie
go out like I was following them because I had
the path and I trusted it. So the thing that
was most interesting about coming to an expansion team obviously
two thousand and seven, so I've been around twelve thirteen seasons.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
I said, all right, I grew up a forty nine
a fan.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
Right, they got massive, you know, massive amounts of championships,
the Cowboys, the Patriots, the Steelers, the blue bloods of
the NFL. I said, I could be the first to
win the championship for a team. That sounds really cool
to me, you know what I mean, Like, and unfortunately
we didn't get a chance to do that. But like
it was that I was thinking that.

Speaker 6 (10:38):
Yeah, you know, long term, first, first is first, right,
you know, second, third, that's cool too, but yeah first,
Yeah you're not, Yeah you're not.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
So it's a thirtieth year. We've been very close and
it just happens conversation.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
With someone and I said, it's hard when you're expansion
or you're not necessarily blue blood, because when it's when
it calls fifty to fifty in the games on the line,
and if the call goes your way, you'll probably win.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
They get the call.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
You have to be so much better to get there
in fifteen, in two thousand and three to win it.
It's it's difficult and fans are.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
Oh, man, my team, but just watch the game, right,
So you got to we have to be dominant.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
And I think they're on the path, and I believe
in Dan and I know he's going to bring in
the right caliber of people. I'm talking about their personality,
you know, liketober Like, who got herd, who will lay
it on the line, practice and lead.

Speaker 4 (11:38):
That's what we need. That's what they need.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
John and Mike. Great to catch up with you guys,
Enjoy the rest of the night. Thank you guys so much.

Speaker 4 (11:43):
Always for appreciate always

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Man thirty seasons of Panther Football.
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