Speaker 1: The happy half hoar. How about that blueprint? Everybody, y'all
Speaker 1: watch that right? You watch that right?
Speaker 2: If you have it, you can pause this actually no way,
Speaker 2: finish this and then go watch it.
Speaker 1: Finish this circle back and then if you have watched it,
Speaker 1: watch it again and patronize our mini sponsors. Panthers Blueprint,
Speaker 1: of course is brought to us by Coca Cola. But yeah,
Speaker 1: how about Blueprint. That was one of it's really one
Speaker 1: of the cool projects of the year, is doing that
Speaker 1: behind the scenes stuff because we talk about this a
Speaker 1: lot here at Panthers dot com. We have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to give people stuff that they can't get anywhere else,
Speaker 1: and that kind of inside the draft room insight. You know.
Speaker 1: I wrote a five thousand word version of it that
Speaker 1: came out over the weekend. That kind of primes the
Speaker 1: pump for you know, blueprint coming out on video on Monday,
Speaker 1: and it all works together to kind of show you
Speaker 1: exactly how this draft class came together. And I think
Speaker 1: once people see it, it's like holy smokes. The level
Speaker 1: of preparation that went into making that call people's minds.
Speaker 2: We learned a lot from it. One thing I did
Speaker 2: want to note though, is that it's also cool to
Speaker 2: realize that the players watch this and learn things that
Speaker 2: they didn't even know necessarily the team thought about them.
Speaker 2: I was sitting downstairs yesterday with Nick Gorton and Azeriro.
Speaker 2: Everro walked by and Nick stopped him and said, coach,
Speaker 2: I saw what you said about me on the Blueprint video.
Speaker 2: That was really cool, Like thank you for that, like,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of pounding the table for me. And
Speaker 2: everyone was like, hey, man, like I'm in every event
Speaker 2: of it. You deserved it. And he walked away and
Speaker 2: Nick was like, that was really cool to like hear
Speaker 2: them talk about me and like hear what they thought.
Speaker 1: Right, you know. And there's so many little cool human elements.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love when I wrote the story, one
Speaker 1: of the things I loved is the way Dan Morgan
Speaker 1: and Brandt till let's go back and forth. There's just
Speaker 1: I use the line they kind of remind me of
Speaker 1: Will Ferrell and John c Riley. Sometimes they've got kind
Speaker 1: of a weird sense of humor amongst each other. And
Speaker 1: because this was a real thrown together relationship, I mean,
Speaker 1: these two guys met each other on a zoom call
Speaker 1: in January of twenty twenty four, and now they're kind
Speaker 1: of they've reached the point of their relationship where they're
Speaker 1: finishing each other's sentences. They've got their little inside jokes
Speaker 1: and stuff. But when somebody in the room, Dave Tipper,
Speaker 1: you know, started busting Brant's chops a little bit about
Speaker 1: his socks, He's like, what's what the socks? And Brandt
Speaker 1: tells the completely adorable personal anecdote, which I just loved
Speaker 1: as a dad. I mean, Brant's got a great story.
Speaker 1: The donut socks he was wearing in the draft room
Speaker 1: on night one where a gift from his daughter because
Speaker 1: he and his daughter when they lived in Kansas City
Speaker 1: used to go get donuts every Tuesday morning, and now
Speaker 1: that she's here in Charlotte, a little bit older, school
Speaker 1: keeps them from being able to go, and Dad's missed
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. So the fact that his daughter
Speaker 1: bought him donut socks and he wore him to work
Speaker 1: on the biggest night of the year a touching personal
Speaker 1: anecdote and pro tip also touching personal anecdote is an
Speaker 1: effective deterrent to sarcasm. Is when somebody's trying to light
Speaker 1: you up and then all of a sudden you say, well,
Speaker 1: my daughter, these sons, right. It was very thoughtful and meaningful.
Speaker 1: So it's like, yeah, that one's over. So anyway, what
Speaker 1: else did you as you as you kind of processed blueprint?
Speaker 1: I mean, what was one of your takeaways from it?
Speaker 1: As much as anything.
Speaker 2: Else, there were a couple of things. Obviously. The part
Speaker 2: that a lot of people are talking about, and I
Speaker 2: think deservedly so, is the discussions about whether or not
Speaker 2: to take the trade with the Rams and to trade back.
Speaker 2: And you saw, because you know, I think in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four, we saw them kind of move all over
Speaker 2: the board all three days, and so the thinking was, Okay,
Speaker 2: Dan loves to trade. And you realize it's not so
Speaker 2: much that Dan loves to trade, it is Dan loves
Speaker 2: the right trade and he wasn't going to move off
Speaker 2: of that spot unless he felt like he got something
Speaker 2: that was more than deserving of what that spot should
Speaker 2: have been, right, because they felt that convicted about t Mac. Yep.
Speaker 2: And that's not even necessarily to say the Rams would
Speaker 2: have comeing up and got t Mac. They could have.
Speaker 2: They could have gone after somebody else. But it was like, okay,
Speaker 2: this is going to have to be something that is
Speaker 2: greater of a value than what we value teamac app
Speaker 2: and it wasn't. And so to see that sort of conviction,
Speaker 2: and to your point, to know that they had spent
Speaker 2: months already kind of trying to lay this out, and
Speaker 2: here's our game plan. If scenario A happens, we do this.
Speaker 2: If scenario B happens, we do this. They had plans
Speaker 2: on top of plans, and so they could be sitting
Speaker 2: there with two minutes left to go on the clock,
Speaker 2: waiting on the fondering and not necessarily be freaking out right.
Speaker 1: And if it seems like all this is on purpose,
Speaker 1: it absolutely is. I mean they do. And Brant talks
Speaker 1: about that a lot. They've been they've been talking about
Speaker 1: all these scenarios for months at a time. They've already
Speaker 1: had the meeting. So when you watch Blueprint and you see,
Speaker 1: you know, Brandt look at Dan and say, all right,
Speaker 1: they're out, it was immediate. There was that immediate reaction
Speaker 1: of call teamac you know, and it looks knee jerk,
Speaker 1: but it was well studied, it was well rehearsed. It
Speaker 1: was something they had planned on for months and months
Speaker 1: and months at a time. One of the things that
Speaker 1: I think is interesting to me as the person who
Speaker 1: is sitting in there kind of watching this all unfold
Speaker 1: and documenting it is You've heard me say this, Cassidy,
Speaker 1: and I'll say this A lot one of anything can't
Speaker 1: be a trend. So after last year, it was impossible
Speaker 1: to know, Okay, there are teams that always want to
Speaker 1: trade up, there teams that always want to trade back. Well,
Speaker 1: last year they were going in both directions, so it
Speaker 1: was impossible to know what they like doing. And I
Speaker 1: love the way brands like I want action. He just
Speaker 1: wants to be moving around to maximize value. And when
Speaker 1: they were in that situation with the Rams, Dan flat
Speaker 1: out admitted he said, if the Rams want to trade
Speaker 1: into this spot, it's going to be so much that
Speaker 1: we can't say no, right And you know, he basically
Speaker 1: admitted too. He made an offer he hoped they would refuse,
Speaker 1: which indicates exactly how much they liked Tero McMillan the player.
Speaker 1: So we can talk about abstract concepts like value, we
Speaker 1: can talk about abstract concepts like future picks and stacking
Speaker 1: up assets and stuff like that. Ultimately, what they wanted
Speaker 1: was Teteroa McMillan on this football team, and that I
Speaker 1: think came clear in this video.
Speaker 2: And you you saw that kind of throughout the draft
Speaker 2: as that continued to go on, and you mentioned this
Speaker 2: in your draft story too a lot that you heard
Speaker 2: the phrase our guy, our guy, our guy, because everybody
Speaker 2: kind of has a different draft philosophy. It's, you know,
Speaker 2: do you want to go after after the best player,
Speaker 2: the best available? You're a guy position of need da
Speaker 2: da da da da. And you saw them not necessarily
Speaker 2: like some teams, And not to say one way is
Speaker 2: right or wrong, it's just everybody has a differenthilosophy. Some
Speaker 2: teams kind of let the board come to them. And
Speaker 2: you saw Dan and I think Brand even made a comment,
Speaker 2: you know, watching Dan in the draft room is like
Speaker 2: he attacks it the same way he did on the field,
Speaker 2: Like he sees this hole and then he takes it.
Speaker 2: He was willing to sit at eight to get t
Speaker 2: mac need to move to do that, and then on
Speaker 2: day two you saw him go, oh, wait, Nick Corton
Speaker 2: is available, Princeville man Meellen is available. Let's go get
Speaker 2: them right, and you saw him willing to kind of
Speaker 2: move up. So it was more so like, and you
Speaker 2: saw that on day three Eve and you know you
Speaker 2: saw it with with Trevor ETN with Cam Jackson, with
Speaker 2: lath and Ransom. It was kind of like, okay, we
Speaker 2: have these two safeties we both like, and that one
Speaker 2: was a little bit more of let the board come
Speaker 2: to them. But it's because the board worked in the
Speaker 2: favor with the guy they wanted, right. It was more
Speaker 2: about their guy than the.
Speaker 1: Board, right, And they had kind of you go through
Speaker 1: this process and there are a lot of there are
Speaker 1: a lot of guys they liked there, and they knew
Speaker 1: waiting from eight to fifty seven was going to cause
Speaker 1: them to miss out on guys they liked a lot.
Speaker 1: So that's why you know they kind of get to
Speaker 1: that spot. Runs on positions are real. When you saw
Speaker 1: a bunch of pass rushers start to go early middle
Speaker 1: second round, that's when they kind of get up on
Speaker 1: the balls of their feet and it's like, all right,
Speaker 1: now we got to make a move because we like
Speaker 1: Nick sufficiently, we don't want to take chance to lose him.
Speaker 1: And that's when you see them make that crazy deal
Speaker 1: with with the Broncos where it's like four of ours
Speaker 1: for four of yours and you're moving in a lot
Speaker 1: of different rounds. But it was because Nick Gorton was
Speaker 1: a guy they felt strongly about wanting to add to
Speaker 1: this roster. And you know, I Dan was. Dan was
Speaker 1: kind of funny talking about the notion of who their
Speaker 1: guy was, because everybody in the world thought their guy
Speaker 1: was somebody else, right, and somebody else. The Falcons may
Speaker 1: have chosen seven spots later, but they were content. They
Speaker 1: knew that they like mc millan a lot. They like
Speaker 1: I mean, they liked that guy in Atlanta a lot
Speaker 1: too at certain points. And what happens is you get
Speaker 1: in that situation and you start weigh in the balance
Speaker 1: of Okay, we could go pass rusher here, but then
Speaker 1: we know we want to go wide receiver. And as
Speaker 1: Dan explained it, he kind of liked the group of
Speaker 1: pass rushers that were going to be available in rounds
Speaker 1: two and three better than he liked the wide receivers
Speaker 1: that were available in rounds two or three. So that
Speaker 1: was part of kind of what led them to this
Speaker 1: path of t mac and then the pass rusher.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was a deep pass rushing class. You
Speaker 2: should be afforded to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And there.
Speaker 2: Was lots more tidbits and theirs to definitely go watch it.
Speaker 2: They're all here now though they've been they've been on
Speaker 2: the field for a while now, three weeks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And what's interesting to me watching these guys and
Speaker 1: McMillan gets a lot of attention. Being the first round pick,
Speaker 1: you're a top ten pick, You're gonna get a lot
Speaker 1: of attention. That's just the way that goes. He he
Speaker 1: is a sponge out there on the field. He has
Speaker 1: been put into a position that I don't let me
Speaker 1: just say it up front. We don't know right now
Speaker 1: if this is all gonna work, if he's going to
Speaker 1: turn into all pro receiver or anything like that. What
Speaker 1: I know is he has been put into a position
Speaker 1: to succeed because early on he has dropped into a
Speaker 1: position room with a coach and Rob Moore who's respected
Speaker 1: and good at his job, but also with veterans and
Speaker 1: Adam Thielen and Hunter Infro. And to me, one of
Speaker 1: the interesting things about Teroa that makes me think there
Speaker 1: is a chance for this to work is watching the
Speaker 1: way he responds to Adam and Hunter on the practice field,
Speaker 1: Because those are a couple of guys who have made
Speaker 1: long careers for themselves, not based on being six' four
Speaker 1: with this big tarodactyl wingspan and hands that can catch.
Speaker 1: Anything they've made their living in THE nfl by being
Speaker 1: precise and doing their job in a particular, way and
Speaker 1: being just meticulous with the way they. Work watching them
Speaker 1: show him, footwork watching them show him route, running how
Speaker 1: to come out of a, release stuff like. That he's
Speaker 1: getting graduate level. Stuff it's one thing when a coach
Speaker 1: tells you. Stuff when you get it backed up from
Speaker 1: guys in your position, room that adds a layer to.
Speaker 1: It and he said it the other, day he, Said
Speaker 1: i'm blessed to be able to have guys like that
Speaker 1: around early.
Speaker 2: On and another part of the like the chemistry of
Speaker 2: that wide receiving cord THAT i wasn't quite sure what
Speaker 2: it was going to look, like was how he and
Speaker 2: lyget got. Along and granted It's, june, yeah and, like
Speaker 2: we haven't even seen this group on the field together
Speaker 2: in a, game but you we've both been around this
Speaker 2: sport long enough to. Know you get two first round
Speaker 2: receivers in a group together that are close in the same,
Speaker 2: age there can sometimes be a little bit of, competition
Speaker 2: like you, know that personality comes out of, like oh
Speaker 2: he might be taking by snaps and that has not
Speaker 2: happened at. All between those. Two they clicked very very
Speaker 2: quickly early. On.
Speaker 1: Yeah the people seem to get. Along, Yeah AND i
Speaker 1: think that's an important part of this thing. TOO i
Speaker 1: mean it's not you, know it's not like this summer.
Speaker 1: Camp we're not Singing kumbaya around.
Speaker 2: Here but and like everybody still wants their.
Speaker 1: Snaps don't that just?
Speaker 2: Wrong but like they they.
Speaker 1: Click, YEAH i, mean these two, guys they're both. Young
Speaker 1: that's what's interesting about watching the construction of this. Team
Speaker 1: last year's team was kind of an older, team you,
Speaker 1: know oddly enough for a team and a first year head,
Speaker 1: coach first YEAR. Gm they were older last year kind of.
Speaker 1: Intentionally AND i think they've started to phase some of
Speaker 1: that out now and build with these young. Guys you
Speaker 1: see second year guys becoming more of a part of this.
Speaker 1: Thing you, see you, know these young receivers in this.
Speaker 1: Room and so there's a there's an energy about having
Speaker 1: young people around that it's naturally. Occurring it's not like they, designed,
Speaker 1: oh we want to have these two guys with big.
Speaker 1: Personalities it's let's see how these two guys get, along
Speaker 1: and they are getting along, well watching the, interaction watching
Speaker 1: them throw the ball back and forth across the field
Speaker 1: to each other and one of them catches a. PASS i,
Speaker 1: mean there's these little things where it's, Like, okay the
Speaker 1: chemistry is, good this is this looks.
Speaker 2: Real and you AND i have talked about this a
Speaker 2: couple of. Times this is is going to sound so,
Speaker 2: Cliche so anybody listens to this, podcast just bear with
Speaker 2: us because it sounds. Cliche but before the, Draft Dan
Speaker 2: morgan talks so much about like how important it was
Speaker 2: to find guys that love, football and you, think, well,
Speaker 2: due and he's, like but that's not always the, case,
Speaker 2: Right and you see they brought in a class of
Speaker 2: free agents and rookies that do AND i don't, know
Speaker 2: it feels. Tangible, which, again It's. June it's so so early.
Speaker 2: On there's still a lot to. Go But june is
Speaker 2: also when things can get a little mundane out, there
Speaker 2: and that hasn't really been the.
Speaker 1: Case. Yeah they also one of the other things they
Speaker 1: did this offseason was invest significantly in a cat NAMED Jc.
Speaker 1: Horn and you want to talk about somebody who loves.
Speaker 1: FOOTBALL i will just say this and their. People comparisons
Speaker 1: make people. Nervous when you start, saying, oh this guy's
Speaker 1: like this. Guy people are afraid of the, comparison afraid
Speaker 1: of the bar you're gonna. Set i'm just going to
Speaker 1: explain this in a long way because that's WHAT i.
Speaker 1: Do once upon a, time there was a quarterback Named
Speaker 1: Cam newton and a linebacker Named Thomas, davis and watching
Speaker 1: those two cats get after each other in practice was a.
Speaker 1: Spectacle unto. ITSELF i mean a lot of times the
Speaker 1: practice and we've talked to a bunch of people you
Speaker 1: know this offseason already about some stuff you'll see later
Speaker 1: on At panthers dot com about that, group and the
Speaker 1: practices were. Incredible the intensity of a practice With Thomas
Speaker 1: davis And Luke keigley on one, side you Know Cam
Speaker 1: newton on the other, side it's Like holy. Cow but
Speaker 1: the Way cam AND td chirped at each other created
Speaker 1: a different. Level now IT'S J. C horn And Bryce.
Speaker 1: Young and let me, say for the rest in case
Speaker 1: you aren't clear about, This Bryce young is not Like
Speaker 1: Cam newton in CASE i needed to clear that up for.
Speaker 1: You but WATCHING i kind of give it back TO
Speaker 1: jc a little. Bit WATCHING jc make sure the guys
Speaker 1: on the other side are at the same. Level it's
Speaker 1: like a lower key version of the same. Song, yeah
Speaker 1: and it's, like, WELL i, mean this is it's a
Speaker 1: good thing for these guys because, again these are young
Speaker 1: leaders of this. Team when you talk about the people
Speaker 1: who are going to be a part of The Carolina
Speaker 1: panthers for the, future you, Know bryce YOUNG. J. C
Speaker 1: horn are right up there near the top of the.
Speaker 1: List so having the guys being the ones who are
Speaker 1: creating the, tempo the guys being the ones who are
Speaker 1: bringing the energy to practice rather than at having to
Speaker 1: come from the top, down that's where teams develop. Personality
Speaker 1: and to, me that's What i'm seeing from this. BUNCH
Speaker 1: i ALWAYS i am always cautious about what we learn
Speaker 1: from An ota because it's An. Ota you, know they're
Speaker 1: not in, pads the linemen aren't hitting each. Other, no
Speaker 1: there's no tackling or anything like. That it's not real.
Speaker 1: Football it's like glorified seven on. Seven but you can
Speaker 1: see that personality beginning to, emerge and that's gonna be
Speaker 1: one of the interesting things to follow over the course
Speaker 1: of this season and WATCHING jc and brides get after
Speaker 1: it a little bit has been.
Speaker 2: Fun and there's been times too Where bryce's initiated those.
Speaker 1: Chirpings that's, right and.
Speaker 2: He'll LET jc. Know you mentioned it coming from the bottom,
Speaker 2: up not having to come from the top.
Speaker 1: Down.
Speaker 2: Yep we even you AND i were walking through the
Speaker 2: hallway the other day because we had Heard coolly kind
Speaker 2: of get fired up at practice that day and said
Speaker 2: something to him about, it and he, said, OH jc
Speaker 2: got me fired, Up he got me. Going so to your,
Speaker 2: point it is coming from the bottom, up and it's
Speaker 2: filtering up and not having to all come from the.
Speaker 1: Top. Yeah it you, know all of this. STUFF i,
Speaker 1: mean you can kind of see The Carolina panthers as
Speaker 1: they stand right, now are still a very young team
Speaker 1: in their, progression going into a second year under a
Speaker 1: NEW gm and head. Coach starting to see that develop
Speaker 1: a little bit and there's a little bit of a.
Speaker 1: Vibe you saw it second half of last, year and
Speaker 1: everything's about building on last, year so you, know we'll
Speaker 1: kind of see where that.
Speaker 2: Goes it's very much still a. Process But Dave canell
Speaker 2: has also spent all of last year saying we have
Speaker 2: to figure out who we, are who are we gonna.
Speaker 2: Be we've got to know who we are before we
Speaker 2: can become who we. Are AND i think you've seen
Speaker 2: over the past year and then to now them kind of, Decide,
Speaker 2: okay this is who we want to. Be now how
Speaker 2: do we make it?
Speaker 1: Work just little glimpses of who we want to. Be
Speaker 1: so it's all interesting stuff we've. Had we've got one
Speaker 1: more week basically next week will be the final week
Speaker 1: of off season. Program mini camp will wrap everything up
Speaker 1: next week and then we go into summer vacation mode
Speaker 1: for about what five or six weeks before we gather
Speaker 1: again for training. Camp but a lot to be accomplished
Speaker 1: between now and. Then we got a lot of work to.
Speaker 1: Do we got a lot of stuff we want to
Speaker 1: tell you and show you Here panthers Dot, com the
Speaker 1: YouTube channel and all that cool. Stuff so we've got
Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff coming your. Way we've got
Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff behind. Us we'll leave a
Speaker 1: little extra time so you've got time to go Watch blueprint.
Speaker 1: AGAIN i, mean it's not like you're. Working you're listening
Speaker 1: to The happy Half hour for Getting oh It's Little
Speaker 1: friday here at the. Stadium we should go ahead and
Speaker 1: take advantage of. That Watch blueprint again and we'll see
Speaker 1: you next. Time we'll catch up with you next week
Speaker 1: as we wrap up OTA's In Mini camp with another
Speaker 1: edition of The Happy Half hour