Speaker 1: If they were picking first, they would have taken Ikya Kuanu.
Speaker 1: And when you think that way of a guy, of
Speaker 1: course he's gonna end up in the starting lineup. You know,
Speaker 1: whatever steps you needed to go through, this was always
Speaker 1: going to be the destination. And now one of the
Speaker 1: things I'm most curious to see is how he had
Speaker 1: Brady grow together. It's time for a Happy half Hour
Speaker 1: with your friends Kristen Balboni, Will Brian and Darren Ghant.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Happy Half Hour podcast. I am Kristin
Speaker 1: Balboni and our good buddy Will can't be here with
Speaker 1: us this week, but I have got our expert writers,
Speaker 1: Darren Gant and Augusta Stone here. We are all in Foxboro.
Speaker 1: We have just seen the first of two joint practices
Speaker 1: and we are here to give you all of the details. Hi,
Speaker 1: Darren and Augusta. It's a busy day, but I'm so
Speaker 1: glad that we can do this together. Yeah, so many things,
Speaker 1: all of the things are happening at once, and we're
Speaker 1: here exactly. But it's a good time. It's a fun time.
Speaker 1: It's it's a short time because the time goes by
Speaker 1: so quickly, but it's it's fun, happy to be here.
Speaker 1: You're about to dive in, get straight into it, because
Speaker 1: we know Panthers fans have a lot of questions. But Augusta,
Speaker 1: I mean you you have done. I mean you have
Speaker 1: just hit the ground running in terms of being one
Speaker 1: of our newest employees. Your stories are amazing and you've
Speaker 1: already been on this is already your second road trip
Speaker 1: in like three days. So how's it going for you
Speaker 1: so far? It's going great. You know, I was telling
Speaker 1: Darren the other day, I think I've spent more time
Speaker 1: on the road than i have in my own apartment
Speaker 1: that I've had for about a month in Charlotte. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's so much fun. I'm getting to go
Speaker 1: to all these places I haven't been before, and I'm
Speaker 1: loving and thank you so much. I hope all the
Speaker 1: readers are enjoying what I get to write. I know
Speaker 1: I am enjoying writing it. And I know when you're
Speaker 1: talking about places that you love going that you haven't
Speaker 1: been there before, I mean, spartan Berg's obviously at the
Speaker 1: top of the list, right and then we're then d C.
Speaker 1: Boston will have to let you see how it all
Speaker 1: goes in terms of where everything ranks. But I mean
Speaker 1: I'm right about that, right, Darren, Oh yeah, no question.
Speaker 1: Spartan Burg is in fact the center of the universe.
Speaker 1: That was that a long time ago for the Panthers,
Speaker 1: no doubt. Yeah. But you know we're actually out seating
Speaker 1: the world now too. So this week is always fascinating.
Speaker 1: Anytime you throw another team in the mix for a
Speaker 1: couple of days, it always gets a little more exciting. Yes,
Speaker 1: And just you know, if you are listening to this podcast,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you already know this, so forgive me. But
Speaker 1: just to set the scene of what we were doing
Speaker 1: up here in New England, the Panthers week just had
Speaker 1: the first preseason game on what day was that time?
Speaker 1: As a construct, was that Friday? Was that sad? It
Speaker 1: was Friday? It was Saturday, you guys, I have no
Speaker 1: idea what today is? The first preseason game on Saturday
Speaker 1: against the Commander's day off on Sunday. We are here
Speaker 1: in New England Monday through Friday to joint practices, the
Speaker 1: first being today, the second being tomorrow. And this is
Speaker 1: much like last year. If everyone remembers, it's like the
Speaker 1: It's like the starters preseason games. We are seeing the
Speaker 1: Ones take a lot of reps against the Patriots Ones.
Speaker 1: We are figuring a lot out and we had some
Speaker 1: questions answered today, which is what we're going to dive into.
Speaker 1: But we also have some questions that were not answered today.
Speaker 1: So without further ado, let's play a little game of
Speaker 1: what did we learn and what didn't we learn after
Speaker 1: the first joint practice with the Patriots. So Augusta, I
Speaker 1: want to start with you. What did we learn today? Alrighty?
Speaker 1: So basically, we learned that the current plan moving forward
Speaker 1: as of right now is for the first round draft
Speaker 1: pick Ikya Kwanu to be the starting left tackle get
Speaker 1: most of the reps with the Ones. That is something
Speaker 1: that real confirmed for us. I'm sure he was mentioning it.
Speaker 1: We have He has been asked ad nauseum, you know,
Speaker 1: when will he slot in with the Ones? When will
Speaker 1: he be there permanently? And he said, moving forward, that
Speaker 1: is the plan. I had a chance to speak with
Speaker 1: Ikey after practice and you could tell that he was
Speaker 1: super excited to be getting his rep with the Ones.
Speaker 1: He told me that he felt like he had earned
Speaker 1: his role. He's been learning the system, he's been being
Speaker 1: mentored by people like Taylor Moton and Pat elf Line,
Speaker 1: and he's kind of taken it all in. He's feeling
Speaker 1: a lot more comfortable and he's also you know, doing
Speaker 1: he's taking his reps. The Cybraty Christians in at left guard,
Speaker 1: so they moved him over from left tackle. He had
Speaker 1: been taken those those reps with the ones before they
Speaker 1: slid Ikey in, but Matt Rule told us he said
Speaker 1: he wanted to see Ikey in a game scenario, so
Speaker 1: they had the Commander's game. They liked what they saw
Speaker 1: and they moved him over. So in as of right now,
Speaker 1: the current plan is for Ikey to be taken those reps.
Speaker 1: So we did learn that, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: were excited to at least be figuring out something about
Speaker 1: offensive personnel right now, because there's plenty of questions still there.
Speaker 1: But as of right now, Icky Kwanu is in that
Speaker 1: left tackle spot. Yeah, And Darren, you and I were
Speaker 1: standing there together watching this practice today and in watching
Speaker 1: those women before Matt Rule confirmed, which was after practice
Speaker 1: in his press conference. You know, we were sitting there
Speaker 1: and is this the configuration you've seen throughout the entire practice?
Speaker 1: And we knew it was just a matter of time, Darren,
Speaker 1: what it feels good to have something like that confirmed.
Speaker 1: And as I guess have said, it feels good for Ikey.
Speaker 1: I think it feels good for the fans as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's a pretty big step for
Speaker 1: the team too, because from the moment they drafted him,
Speaker 1: and and go back to April or May or what
Speaker 1: month was it, really, I don't even know what day
Speaker 1: it is. So in April, um this was the top
Speaker 1: rated player on their board. If they were picking first,
Speaker 1: they would have taken iky Ikwana. And when you think
Speaker 1: that way of a guy, of course he's gonna end
Speaker 1: up in the starting lineup. And it was just a
Speaker 1: matter of time, and you know, whatever steps you needed
Speaker 1: to go through, this was always going to be the destination.
Speaker 1: And now one of the things I'm most curious to
Speaker 1: see is how he had Brady grow together, because in
Speaker 1: camp it was, you know, Brady is the first left tackle,
Speaker 1: Ikey is the second one. Then when Ikey would start,
Speaker 1: sometimes it was with Brady, sometimes it was Michael Jordan's.
Speaker 1: I think inevitably or eventually, it's going to be Ikey
Speaker 1: and Brady, and so a couple of young guys being
Speaker 1: able to grow together in those two jobs gives it
Speaker 1: a chance. I keep going back because I'm a hundred
Speaker 1: years old to Jordan's Gross Trebell Wharton, and once those
Speaker 1: two set up shop next to each other, it just
Speaker 1: kind of went next level. And that was when the
Speaker 1: Panthers had some of their best offensive wines and franchise history.
Speaker 1: So I will find out. Time will tell if these
Speaker 1: two guys turn into those two guys, but first round pick,
Speaker 1: third round pick, guys who can both play left tackles
Speaker 1: setting up shot next to each other. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of parallels there, and I'll be looking forward to
Speaker 1: seeing whether it actually turns into one of those or more.
Speaker 1: I mean, Ikey a Quanta was a talented guy. You
Speaker 1: can see out on the practice field in Spartanburg or
Speaker 1: against the Patriots. When he hits people, they move. So
Speaker 1: this is good news, getting his physic cality on the
Speaker 1: field and kind of eliminating that unknown that had existed
Speaker 1: prior to today. And Darren, I know this is something
Speaker 1: that you and I talked about when Dicky was drafted,
Speaker 1: and I'm guessing I'm sure it came from Jordan Gross, right,
Speaker 1: it was a former player. So the best thing you
Speaker 1: can do for a young guy in that tackle role
Speaker 1: is find him his partner, find him his person beside him,
Speaker 1: and keep them together. Do you think Brady Christensen is
Speaker 1: that guy? Probably? So? Probably. So. Here's a weird thing
Speaker 1: about the Carolina Panthers right now. They have options on
Speaker 1: offensive line. Were so good to say that, doesn't it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What day is it? Really? Where are we? What city
Speaker 1: are we in? Um? The Carolina Panthers have offensive linemen
Speaker 1: plural um that are capable. So last year was a
Speaker 1: little bit of a challenge. Does everybody knows four teen
Speaker 1: starting lineup seventeen games, never really the same guys for
Speaker 1: any stretch of time at all, and not all of
Speaker 1: them as good as the ones you're picking through now.
Speaker 1: And and they've got guys now who are going to
Speaker 1: make the fifty three who started last year who were
Speaker 1: competing for backup roles. And that's that's good news. That's
Speaker 1: nothing against those individual guys. But um, when you think
Speaker 1: about people who were being counted on as starters now
Speaker 1: they're fighting for backup jobs because they've upgraded around him.
Speaker 1: And that's a that's a better situation across the board
Speaker 1: for whoever ends up behind center. And I would just
Speaker 1: say that you know what that those fourteen different configurations
Speaker 1: in the seventeen games last year, we're a lot due
Speaker 1: to injuries. Um, you know, there's just that was just
Speaker 1: could not be helped. It felt like it was changing
Speaker 1: due to injuries every single week. But Darren Augusta, uh
Speaker 1: may never know a time in which the offensive line
Speaker 1: changed every single She was the carbinger of good news
Speaker 1: ectly exactly um And an incredible job by Augusta to
Speaker 1: sucking to Ikey right after we found out the news,
Speaker 1: and that pieces on Panthers dot com. So definitely go
Speaker 1: there for for all of the details. So so that's
Speaker 1: what we did learn, and that's a huge thing to learn.
Speaker 1: Quanta is snug in his place at left tackle. All
Speaker 1: Panthers fans can be happy about that. But Darren, what's
Speaker 1: one thing we didn't learn today at joint practice. We
Speaker 1: didn't learn who the starting quarterback was going to be.
Speaker 1: That's one thing they've held off on that one. And
Speaker 1: and you can kind of see, I mean today Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield got a lot of um, a lot of time
Speaker 1: in two minutes stuff through a couple of nice balls
Speaker 1: to Tommy Tremble hit Christian McCaffrey deep on one, Um, DJ, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the on the other end of the field where DJ
Speaker 1: kind of had to come back to it and make
Speaker 1: a contested catch, doing DJ more things, And so you
Speaker 1: you're seeing a lot more Baker mayfield. That thing's not
Speaker 1: final yet, but you know, I I think most people
Speaker 1: can sort of see the direction it might be pointing in.
Speaker 1: But and I'll be honest, and this is not because
Speaker 1: we work for the Carolina Panthers. Sam Darrel has been
Speaker 1: better this offseason. I mean there are moments where you
Speaker 1: look at Sam and say, I know why people want
Speaker 1: to continue to give Sam chances or continue to keep
Speaker 1: them around. And and Sam has been a fantastic teammate.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's been supportive when Baker makes a play,
Speaker 1: he's back at the huddle of this pumping and that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. But you know, well, we'll see whenever
Speaker 1: they make a decision for the long term, and it'll
Speaker 1: be curious to see what they do Friday night. UM,
Speaker 1: because I get a feeling that we're going to see
Speaker 1: a lot more of other people on Friday. Because that's
Speaker 1: the thing about these joint practices. They can get controlled work.
Speaker 1: They hadn't seen a lot of Baker in two minutes.
Speaker 1: So Rule gets together with Bill Belichick and says, hey,
Speaker 1: let's do three segments of two minutes and you can
Speaker 1: get that concentrated work without worrying about getting your coarter
Speaker 1: that killed in a lit of game, and you can
Speaker 1: see exactly what you want to see. And that's why
Speaker 1: these practices are good, you know, at times for probably
Speaker 1: better than games during the preseason for these teams as
Speaker 1: they're trying to sort things out. And it's it's great
Speaker 1: for the Patriots too because they're trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what they have on defense. So as as you said,
Speaker 1: it's good for both parties, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: And so what you were just saying, Darren about both
Speaker 1: of those guys being great sports. You know, I talked
Speaker 1: to both quarterbacks at FanFest and after the first preseason game,
Speaker 1: well during the first preseason game, after they were both
Speaker 1: finished with their respective series, and as you said, they
Speaker 1: both genuinely seem to just really like each other, root
Speaker 1: for each other, understand that the competition is within themselves.
Speaker 1: But it will be interesting to see. As you said,
Speaker 1: it was almost a fifty fifty today it felt like,
Speaker 1: and of course during the preseason game that you know,
Speaker 1: they we're gonna get this, this amount of snaps for
Speaker 1: each guy. We want to see what they can do.
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see if that continues tomorrow, Augusta Darren,
Speaker 1: do you guys think that we're gonna still see the
Speaker 1: exact split down the middle tomorrow as well? Would you
Speaker 1: be surprised if it started to lean more one way
Speaker 1: than the other. I feel like we're gonna see it
Speaker 1: be the fifty fifty until we're told otherwise. The only
Speaker 1: thing that leads me to believe that we might see
Speaker 1: more of one than the other is a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago in Spartanburg, we were told that this was
Speaker 1: the week that, you know, tentatively that they might think
Speaker 1: about potentially naming someone. Nothing was set in stone, but
Speaker 1: it was the one that they floated. They go Patriots Week.
Speaker 1: You know, we kind of like to know. But I mean, personally,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised to see more of the fifty
Speaker 1: fifty split, especially like Darren said, since on Friday specifically,
Speaker 1: probably won't see a ton of Baker and sam Um.
Speaker 1: I feel like in these practices, they'll they'll keep it
Speaker 1: kind of even too. I don't know, if just continue
Speaker 1: to evaluate figure out, we'll see what they want to see.
Speaker 1: Like Darren said, they're seeing different defenses right now, and
Speaker 1: they are seeing more of what they want to see
Speaker 1: without the risk of getting them hurt in Um, you know,
Speaker 1: a game situation. Like you said, So there's a there's
Speaker 1: a lot of reasons. I personally don't think they'll start
Speaker 1: showing a lot of somebody until they tell us a
Speaker 1: great point. Yeah, we'll probably know before we see it
Speaker 1: on the practice field. It's a great point by augusta. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, Darren, what else did we learn at today's
Speaker 1: joint practice. We we learned that if you have a
Speaker 1: joint practice in August, people are gonna fight. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: that's kind of a given. I mean, it was that
Speaker 1: way last year in Indianapolis. Uh, it was this way
Speaker 1: this morning out there in Foxboro, and it um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a right of summer that it's always
Speaker 1: the case every time you get a bunch of people together,
Speaker 1: a bunch of alpha's who were trying to show off.
Speaker 1: And you know one thing, I do think the Panthers
Speaker 1: We were talking to Jeremy chan about it. After practice.
Speaker 1: They are trying to was a lot of turnovers, so
Speaker 1: the dvs are getting in there trying to rip the
Speaker 1: ball out. Maybe the Patriots took exception with some of that,
Speaker 1: maybe some you know, but there were a couple of
Speaker 1: good scrums and and there were people and it wasn't
Speaker 1: all of one team or the other, you know, who
Speaker 1: got hot. There were some punches thrown around the fringes
Speaker 1: of that thing. But they kind of, you know, ruling
Speaker 1: Belichick talked about it. They said, hey, if guys fight,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get them out of here. And you know,
Speaker 1: Kenny Robinson got sent out early, and Phil Hoskins got
Speaker 1: sent out early, and a couple of Patriots receivers left
Speaker 1: and caught an early shower after that one. So, uh,
Speaker 1: those are the kind of things that are always gonna happen.
Speaker 1: They're a little bit inevitable when you get all these
Speaker 1: guys together. But uh, it was interesting to me that,
Speaker 1: you know, for a pretty good chunk of practice, it
Speaker 1: was like, oh God, what's about to happen. These guys
Speaker 1: are gonna throw down. But after that, it kind of
Speaker 1: they sort of refocus and and listen, the Panthers defense
Speaker 1: is kind of an intense bunch anyway. You gotta bunch
Speaker 1: of dudes over there. Frankie Luvu's firing everybody up and
Speaker 1: making pick so when he makes a play, everybody's excited.
Speaker 1: J C. Horns just one of those guys. I think
Speaker 1: the kids say he has a dog inside of him,
Speaker 1: or he would say that. He said that to me
Speaker 1: the day he got drafted. Yet he would own that
Speaker 1: and and want to be referred to that way. So
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, that's just kind of the way
Speaker 1: these guys are. So there's gonna be some of that.
Speaker 1: But that was definitely mostly on the field where the
Speaker 1: Panthers defense and the Patriots offense was so I I
Speaker 1: think that's not for nothing. File that one away too,
Speaker 1: I think so you know, I had someone text me
Speaker 1: and say, oh, you know, I heard it got chippy
Speaker 1: out on the field. And they're not cameras allowed in
Speaker 1: the team period, So you know, either there are Patriots
Speaker 1: fans there a few Panthers fans made their way up.
Speaker 1: But people are asking and I think Darren is making
Speaker 1: a good point, which is, you know, if you see
Speaker 1: that tweeted out or whatnot. It really not to minimize
Speaker 1: it because you don't want anyone throwing punches, you want
Speaker 1: anyone to get it hurt. But it does feel like
Speaker 1: if you're having a joint practice, like Darren said in August,
Speaker 1: you know, there's gonna be some chippiness. There's gonna be
Speaker 1: there's gonna be some guys running from the opposite field
Speaker 1: to see what's going on and if they need to
Speaker 1: jump in. And I don't think it necessarily means anything.
Speaker 1: I don't think that it's gonna lead to anything bigger.
Speaker 1: It just feels, like Darren said, it's like a rite
Speaker 1: of passage. I would not be surprised if we see,
Speaker 1: you know, another little dust up tomorrow, and as long
Speaker 1: as everyone stays safe. It's it does feel like just
Speaker 1: part of the new the new wood thing with joint practices.
Speaker 1: You know, temper tempers are running high. Both sides want
Speaker 1: to to protect their guys and and that's what we get,
Speaker 1: you know, alright, augusta round us out here, so we've
Speaker 1: we need to know one more thing that we did
Speaker 1: not learn from joint practices today, one more thing. And
Speaker 1: I think it's it's a good thing. Like we were
Speaker 1: talking about the offensive line depth. But there are a
Speaker 1: ton of really quality water receivers and there's not a
Speaker 1: ton of roster space. When we make the cut down
Speaker 1: to fifty three, somebody's gonna be left out. And I
Speaker 1: think what we're seeing is there are a lot of
Speaker 1: people that just keep flashing and flashing, and kind of
Speaker 1: people that you think about more on the bubble. The
Speaker 1: person that I wanted to talk about the most with
Speaker 1: Shy Smith because we saw him. We saw him in
Speaker 1: Washington against the Commanders, saw him with Baker. Their connection
Speaker 1: is excellent. He's he's one of those guys that you know,
Speaker 1: anytime you know has all come in toward him, he's
Speaker 1: gonna come down with it. And he's not, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the people that like pops up in your
Speaker 1: head first. You know, he's not your Robbie Anderson, r
Speaker 1: DJ more, but he's there and he and Baker already
Speaker 1: have that chemistry about him. And then we saw it
Speaker 1: again today the same thing with Shy Smith. You know,
Speaker 1: whenever he's gonna make a play, he's gonna make a play.
Speaker 1: And to me, I feel like he's one of those
Speaker 1: guys that a lot of people are excited about you know,
Speaker 1: he's a Carolina kid. He went to South Carolina, which
Speaker 1: um was a team that I've covered before I came here.
Speaker 1: So I have a lot of people I know that
Speaker 1: are excited and always asking about him. He's popular and
Speaker 1: he's he's doing a good job. He's had a real
Speaker 1: good camp. Um, He's not the only one. I think.
Speaker 1: Richard Higgins is another one who he just he also
Speaker 1: has a Baker connection. They've both played at the Browns.
Speaker 1: So um. But there's just there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: in that room. C J. Saunders was having an amazing
Speaker 1: camp before he got hurt. Um, and now he's kind
Speaker 1: of a non factor just because he's hurt. But there's
Speaker 1: so many guys on that roster. I mean, the death
Speaker 1: is the depth is wild, and when they make that cut,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be, you know, interesting to see where they
Speaker 1: draw the line, who they end up carrying and and
Speaker 1: who they end up who they end up getting rid
Speaker 1: of part ways with Yeah, number of numbers games there
Speaker 1: is gonna be fascinating because generally six wide receivers it's
Speaker 1: what they'll carry in the regular season, and you figure, Okay,
Speaker 1: d J. Moore, Robbie Anderson, Terris Marshal. Those three are
Speaker 1: gonna be on the team. And then you've got Andre Roberts,
Speaker 1: who's only one of the best returners in the NFL
Speaker 1: who they signed specifically for that purpose. There's four. Okay,
Speaker 1: now there's two spots left. You got a Brandon Zilstra,
Speaker 1: who's a core special teamer, Shy Higgins. You know, again,
Speaker 1: you feel bad for c J. Saunders, but he was
Speaker 1: right in that mix before he gets hurt. You wonder
Speaker 1: what's to happen with him now, So you start talking
Speaker 1: about a couple of guys for three or four guys
Speaker 1: for two or three jobs, and you wonder what's going
Speaker 1: to happen. I mean, there are things that do happen
Speaker 1: on the course of field during training camp and preseason games.
Speaker 1: Obviously that changes the calculus on this. But yeah, figuring
Speaker 1: out who those five or six receivers are gonna be,
Speaker 1: and it might be five because they are keeping an
Speaker 1: extra quarterback this year, So you got to find that
Speaker 1: roster spot somewhere, and it's gonna be interesting to see
Speaker 1: where it comes from. Darren, if you were at the GM,
Speaker 1: would you go with five or six? I know that
Speaker 1: that I know that's not in a vacuum, because then
Speaker 1: you've got to take that spot from somewhere else. But
Speaker 1: it feels to me like you, like you said, you
Speaker 1: just paired down that list. It was like six is
Speaker 1: the number. But when I start thinking about when I
Speaker 1: started thinking about how you fill out special teams, and
Speaker 1: you know, again you see Higgins and Shy and making
Speaker 1: all these plays where the Carolina Panthers have been special
Speaker 1: teams wise without a brand and zeal stretch, and not
Speaker 1: just as a backup kicker, um just all the roles
Speaker 1: he plays. He's a four team special teams guy, and
Speaker 1: you've got to have some of those. So that's gonna
Speaker 1: be one of the evaluations, not just of the receivers,
Speaker 1: but of the backup linebackers and backup dbs over the
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks, because Chris TB is gonna need
Speaker 1: some guys who are also on this roster for that reason.
Speaker 1: So that's why this thing is a lot more complicated
Speaker 1: than I think a lot of people think, because you
Speaker 1: you can't you can't take away a zeal stretch just
Speaker 1: because he might not have the same offensive potential as
Speaker 1: a Higgins or a Shot Smith. It's a lot of
Speaker 1: it's a lot of putting together the puzzle and I
Speaker 1: don't envy the decision makers in that one. I want
Speaker 1: to go rapid fire through a few things. Darren. Can
Speaker 1: you give us some injury updates what we've learned in
Speaker 1: terms of how people are looking. And I think, on
Speaker 1: the one hand, let's start with that j C. Horn
Speaker 1: looks good today and that's a good thing. Yes, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Good news is j C keeps doing a little bit
Speaker 1: more and a little bit more every day and they
Speaker 1: have to pull him out of drills he's not supposed
Speaker 1: to be in. J C keeps trying to sneak onto
Speaker 1: the field. Um, he is back. That is good. Tears.
Speaker 1: Marshall's working his way back. Uh. You saw him in
Speaker 1: and out a little bit today, shy Smith. Uh may
Speaker 1: have fallen on a football, got the win knocked out
Speaker 1: of him or something, so he was out for a
Speaker 1: little bit. I think the one we gotta keep our
Speaker 1: eye on for the next couple of days is Bradley Boseman.
Speaker 1: He went down and they were looking at his ankle,
Speaker 1: foot leg area, um, and he stood up and took
Speaker 1: a few steps and was just sort of standing there.
Speaker 1: And we thought okay, Well, Bradley's okay, and then they
Speaker 1: bring the card out to haul him off. So it's
Speaker 1: like his Bradley okay or not, And we haven't really
Speaker 1: gotten an update on him, but um, he's a key part.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a guy who could have he could
Speaker 1: potentially end up starting at center. Uh, he is at
Speaker 1: least solid depth the guy who has started both at
Speaker 1: guard and center over the last three years for the
Speaker 1: Ravens um So at the moment, you know it would
Speaker 1: if he's out for any amount of time, it would
Speaker 1: be Pat elf Line in the middle more than likely.
Speaker 1: But they've got options. I mean, again, we'll see how
Speaker 1: Bradley is and hope for the best for him, but
Speaker 1: you know they've got Pat, They've got Cad May's is
Speaker 1: a guy who has looked good in training camp and
Speaker 1: has that kind of multi position flexibility that coaches love
Speaker 1: and back five. In fact, he's he's played all five
Speaker 1: positions in college. He played the left tackle at Tennessee,
Speaker 1: but I think he's probably a four position guy. I
Speaker 1: don't see him playing left tackle in the NFL. He
Speaker 1: may not have that kind of ability to get out
Speaker 1: against speed rushers, but he's a big, physical guy and
Speaker 1: they think he could play center, some two could play guard,
Speaker 1: could play right tackle. So I mean a versatile guy
Speaker 1: and those are the ones you need. It's great to
Speaker 1: have deaths, as we talked about at the beginning, and quickly,
Speaker 1: I know that we've all got to go. You guys
Speaker 1: have articles to write. But I want to go back
Speaker 1: to what feels like a million years ago but was
Speaker 1: just a couple of days ago. Was the preseason game,
Speaker 1: the first preseason game. We've talked a lot about the starters,
Speaker 1: a lot about the ones in this podcast, but I
Speaker 1: want to go back to some of the things that
Speaker 1: we saw in that game, and specifically, I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you guys about Matt Correll. You know, Darren, I
Speaker 1: know it's it's probably not the it's probably not the
Speaker 1: debut he wanted to have. And what did you take
Speaker 1: away from what we saw of him and his brief
Speaker 1: time out there? Matt Correll authored the weirdest game winning
Speaker 1: drive ever. Um the man completed one of eleven passes
Speaker 1: in his first preseason game. Uh. It didn't look great always,
Speaker 1: but at it it was kind of weird. I think
Speaker 1: the Washington commanders were really interested in winning the first
Speaker 1: game as the Washington Commanders because they got in the
Speaker 1: middle of the fourth quarter and they were down a
Speaker 1: couple of touchdowns and they started blitzing. They did they
Speaker 1: don't do that in the preseason. That Jack del Rio
Speaker 1: defense started look like a regular there. Jack started taking
Speaker 1: this seriously all of a sudden, and um, I don't
Speaker 1: think they were anticipating that. And it wasn't a great
Speaker 1: situation for Matt to be successful in. But I'll tell you,
Speaker 1: I mean, and it's maybe we're putting too fine a
Speaker 1: point on this, but there was that moment where Matt
Speaker 1: gets his helmet pulled off of his head is kind
Speaker 1: of neck was twisted around at an odd angle. You know,
Speaker 1: we're all glad he he's okay. But when he got
Speaker 1: his helmet pulled off his head, he continues to look
Speaker 1: down field to make a play. And not everybody does that.
Speaker 1: A lot of people get their helmet jerked off, they're
Speaker 1: gonna be tucking and covering and trying. It's mad that
Speaker 1: the ref through the flag because he was like, hey,
Speaker 1: that's now, you cannot do that in the game. I
Speaker 1: thought that was a nice moment for of course, you
Speaker 1: want him to the first thing is be okay, like
Speaker 1: Gusa didn't know. I mean, I thought that was a
Speaker 1: really cool moment for he's such a competitor that he
Speaker 1: was like, I don't care if I know that the
Speaker 1: play is about to be stopped. I'm still gonna try
Speaker 1: to do something well exactly. It's like Darren mentioned earlier.
Speaker 1: You know, he got that dog in him. That's what
Speaker 1: everyone was saying, and it's true. I mean, that's what
Speaker 1: he showed, you know. I mean, regardless of the stat line,
Speaker 1: like Darren said, he did technically leave that the weirdest
Speaker 1: drive you'll ever see win a game, But he he
Speaker 1: showed that you know, he's locked in, he's doing his best.
Speaker 1: He had his rooky moments. He looks like a rookie,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't look scared. He actually looks quite the opposite.
Speaker 1: When you have something like that happen and you're still
Speaker 1: locked in the way that he was. And those photos
Speaker 1: that the Ape God are so good. Just just you
Speaker 1: see that that the potential is there, and I think
Speaker 1: that's why a lot of people are excited about him,
Speaker 1: even if it wasn't necessarily statistically performance wise, the best
Speaker 1: debut in the world. He showed that he had potential
Speaker 1: and that he has confidence, and I I hope it,
Speaker 1: you know, just keeps him going and doesn't um, you know,
Speaker 1: just keeps growing on that. I think. I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot to grow from. And and as we learned
Speaker 1: in Panthers Confidential, he can jump rope effectively even with
Speaker 1: size fifteen feet. It really isn't pressive, you know. I
Speaker 1: did ask Ben McAdoo, I said, who has the all
Speaker 1: time record? If anyone doesn't know, you'll see it in
Speaker 1: Panthers Confidential. But Macadeo starts out his his drills with
Speaker 1: his quarterbacks every practice, doing different footwork, drills, different um
Speaker 1: you know, things with their hands, and the thing that
Speaker 1: he always does is have them a jump rope and
Speaker 1: you can really see just how much better all of
Speaker 1: them are than I have ever been a jumping rope
Speaker 1: when you watch them and um, I said, look, how
Speaker 1: long have you been doing this? So McAdoo told me
Speaker 1: he's been doing this since two thousand three. He would
Speaker 1: not tell me who the best jump roper is, but
Speaker 1: he said all the quarterbacks know it, and they are
Speaker 1: all coming for some records. So guys, I might have
Speaker 1: to enlist you to help me find out who it
Speaker 1: is and what whatever it is that they're trying to
Speaker 1: get to. Okay, that's our assignment for them. Will commit
Speaker 1: a journalism. We will absolutely do that. Well, guys, this
Speaker 1: has been great. You know, it's fun. We were just
Speaker 1: all down there eating together, and we've all been up
Speaker 1: in our rooms talking. So I'm glad. I get to
Speaker 1: see you almost pretty much, you know, every second of
Speaker 1: the day while around these while we're on these trips. Um,
Speaker 1: get to peek into your hotel rooms. Darren, Yours looks great, Augusta,
Speaker 1: yours looks great, very tidy. I appreciate we are having
Speaker 1: a great time. Um, and I'll see you guys at
Speaker 1: dinner in like just a few minutes. Okay, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be great. It's one of my favorite parts of the preseason. It's, uh,
Speaker 1: we're away from home a lot, but we're I mean,
Speaker 1: we're doing the same thing teams do. This digital department
Speaker 1: is better today than it was four weeks ago because
Speaker 1: we're all in the same box, all together, working and
Speaker 1: creating content all day, all night. It's it's inconvenient. Sometimes
Speaker 1: the logistics are a challenge, but we're also better as
Speaker 1: a team. Coming out of it from our standpoint as
Speaker 1: well as a team same way. I love it. Absolutely
Speaker 1: got Augusta, our star rookie up here taking the first
Speaker 1: team reps and we love it. We will see you
Speaker 1: guys next week. Thanks for joining us on the Happy
Speaker 1: half Hour.