Speaker 1: It's time for a Happy half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristin Balboni, Miles Simmons, and Will Brian. That's right, it's
Speaker 1: that time of the week. Kristen, Miles and Will here
Speaker 1: with you for the Happy Half Hour podcast. Miles fresh
Speaker 1: off Virtual Oppressor with Coach Rule, How are you doing today?
Speaker 1: I'm doing all right. I'm also glad that the rain
Speaker 1: has stopped because it was kind of trudentially downpouring during
Speaker 1: that Rule Virtual Oppressor and my power like flickering on
Speaker 1: and off. Just it started too, so like that was
Speaker 1: it was. It was a scary moment, but we made
Speaker 1: it through. That is great. I haven't lost any I've
Speaker 1: lost power twice this summer since moving to Charlotte, but
Speaker 1: I have not lost it during a week day. So
Speaker 1: that's definitely a fear of like what if I have
Speaker 1: something scheduled? What do I do? Uh? Well, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm good. It's funny. I was in the same boat
Speaker 1: my power. Also, I'm literally like four blocks down the
Speaker 1: street from Miles, and there was one like really really
Speaker 1: bad thunderclap like during one of the rules answers that
Speaker 1: like knocked everything off, and I had no idea what
Speaker 1: was going on? So, yeah, that was something always fun. Right. Well, look,
Speaker 1: if you live as far away from the city center
Speaker 1: as I do, you don't have to worry about something
Speaker 1: like that. I'm sure I'm going to get it in
Speaker 1: like twenty minutes. You guys tease me about. You know,
Speaker 1: I chose to live a little bit further outside of
Speaker 1: the action than you guys did. So that's the one
Speaker 1: time that I get to brag just a slight bit
Speaker 1: that at least my power didn't go out during the
Speaker 1: press conference or almost go out. Okay, what action is there?
Speaker 1: We're still all basically in quarantine. That's true. Uh So
Speaker 1: I just mentioned um coach rules press conference. He spoke
Speaker 1: with the media via zoom a little bit earlier today.
Speaker 1: So in that vein, let's talk about what's going on
Speaker 1: with the Panthers. Where we all are now since the
Speaker 1: last time that we spoke. Miles, do you want to
Speaker 1: do the honor and phill us in on the latest? Sure? Well,
Speaker 1: at this point, the rookies have reported the veterans have
Speaker 1: started their testing process, so basically it's the same as
Speaker 1: what the rookies were doing last week. They have to
Speaker 1: continue to get negative tests before they can then be
Speaker 1: allowed in the building. And so what I thought was
Speaker 1: actually kind of interesting was what Matt Rules talking about today,
Speaker 1: and that's the preparations that have gone into making Bank
Speaker 1: of America's city and very safe UM as an environment
Speaker 1: for these players. So what he was talking about is
Speaker 1: how they basically have made it so that every player
Speaker 1: is going to have a suite so that they can
Speaker 1: still do virtual meetings, but they will all be on site.
Speaker 1: You have, he said that there are two UM outdoor
Speaker 1: weight rooms so that they can sort of take advantage
Speaker 1: of that base. You're gonna have players, you know, doing
Speaker 1: their strength conditioning work on the field, and that's also
Speaker 1: going to be outdoor. They've taken down walls in the
Speaker 1: building in order to expand things. They've converted different rooms,
Speaker 1: like the media room is not the media room, it's
Speaker 1: an auxiliary room for these different places. So they've done
Speaker 1: a lot in order to prepare for players to come
Speaker 1: in and have as safe an environment as possible when
Speaker 1: they're trying to get a football season off during a pandemic.
Speaker 1: And frankly, it's going to be a tough task for
Speaker 1: thirty two teams to try to pull this off. But
Speaker 1: as it stands right now, it seems like the Panthers
Speaker 1: are in as good a position as you can be
Speaker 1: in order to try and do it. I think the
Speaker 1: irony of all this is, as we talk about the
Speaker 1: future of you know, going down to rock Hill and
Speaker 1: building this great practice in headquarters facility down there, that
Speaker 1: right now in the Panthers probably have the largest headquarters
Speaker 1: facility of any NFL team, and that they have an
Speaker 1: entire stadium with all the floors available to them. Um So,
Speaker 1: I think it's it's it's kind of ironic the way
Speaker 1: that works. You know, some teams that might have a
Speaker 1: much smaller physical footprint where their headquarters are. You know,
Speaker 1: the Panthers are taking over all of these suite levels,
Speaker 1: all of this this lower level area, you know, creating
Speaker 1: all these private rooms and meeting areas. Um So that's
Speaker 1: actually pretty cool, I think. And I think the thing
Speaker 1: that Miles that I thought was interesting was like the
Speaker 1: contact tracing stuff. So they're wearing these, um these pieces
Speaker 1: of tech where if you're next to somebody else within
Speaker 1: six ft, uh, it will kind of like flash red
Speaker 1: um and then it'll like tell you if you've been
Speaker 1: within six ft that person for up to ten minutes,
Speaker 1: because that's kind of medically you know, when it really
Speaker 1: becomes a problem. So and they can find out like
Speaker 1: who you've been close to, you know, in case someone
Speaker 1: uh test positive, they can see who they were were
Speaker 1: near at a certain point in time. So I think
Speaker 1: that was a really interesting tech piece as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: those contact tracers are really important I think throughout the
Speaker 1: entire NFL right now, because it's not just the Panthers
Speaker 1: that are using those. All thirty two teams are using those,
Speaker 1: and they're basically being given to people who were in
Speaker 1: the Tier one and the Tier two status so that
Speaker 1: you can be in the facility but still socially distanced
Speaker 1: within the facility as much as possible. And then as
Speaker 1: you're saying, well, you know, if you're on the field,
Speaker 1: if you're practicing, you're doing whatever you need to do,
Speaker 1: and you're a player or you're a coach, you know
Speaker 1: who you've been around for a long time because of
Speaker 1: those contact tracers. So it is really interesting and I
Speaker 1: think you know to your point of the Panthers having
Speaker 1: all of this space that they can utilize, you know,
Speaker 1: and other teams that I've covered, the rams, the Rams
Speaker 1: not have that luxury at all. I mean, even though
Speaker 1: they built this big, beautiful stadium down in Inglewood, their
Speaker 1: practice facility is substantially far away from that in Thousand Oaks.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many people are familiar with the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles area, but they're basically, uh, two module trailers,
Speaker 1: if you will. It's a series of couple buildings with
Speaker 1: a bunch of module trailers, and they've had to reconfigure that.
Speaker 1: There was an NFL Network feature on this and order
Speaker 1: to make it available for players to kind of socially
Speaker 1: distance there. So it's one of those California indoor outdoor
Speaker 1: spaces basically anyway, but it's not a big facility, and
Speaker 1: they've had to convert you know what we used to
Speaker 1: be a media room into an auxiliary locker room so
Speaker 1: that players can spread out. So it's going to be
Speaker 1: very different for a team like that, which does not
Speaker 1: have the luxury of being able to put players in
Speaker 1: a suite but instead is putting a tent in the
Speaker 1: parking lot so that players can maybe meet outside. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just going to be very different from team to
Speaker 1: team based on what kind of facility you have at
Speaker 1: such a great point that both of you are are
Speaker 1: bringing up how ironically it really does benefit the Panthers
Speaker 1: with all of this space. You know, I have been
Speaker 1: um to Bank of America recently, just for a little while, um,
Speaker 1: and you can really see it's just amazing that the
Speaker 1: red lines. You know, Coach Will talked about this in
Speaker 1: the press conference earlier today, but he was just saying
Speaker 1: how impressed he is with everything that has happened. You
Speaker 1: mentioned the contact tracers, you mentioned the renovations. Well, it's incredible.
Speaker 1: I mean, it really is incredible, and it looks so
Speaker 1: well run. I didn't come into contact with anyone, you know,
Speaker 1: and and not having that Tier one or Tier two clearance,
Speaker 1: that's what's important. And um, you can see where things
Speaker 1: are are barricaded off and blockaded off. In the fact
Speaker 1: that each of the players has their own suites and
Speaker 1: everyone can can be together but still be safe. It's
Speaker 1: just it's absolutely amazing. And I've just been so impressed
Speaker 1: with with our crew and how quickly all of it
Speaker 1: has come together. Guys, I can't even imagine trying to
Speaker 1: to pull this off in such a short period of time. Um.
Speaker 1: But speaking of the press conference and the stuff that
Speaker 1: coach Rule was saying, as I said, he spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time on on the processes that are going on,
Speaker 1: but he also had plenty of other things to say. Miles,
Speaker 1: what are some of your biggest takeaways? What is something
Speaker 1: that stuck out to you that he talked about today? Well,
Speaker 1: I thought that there was abous a lot about how
Speaker 1: the Panthers are setting themselves up to be successful in
Speaker 1: terms of keeping everybody um, in terms of keeping the
Speaker 1: health and safety everybody a priority. But I also thought
Speaker 1: it was interesting how he even discussed not having preseason
Speaker 1: games and how he's used to that, because that could
Speaker 1: be something that really affects different players. I think when
Speaker 1: we think of preseason games, we think of these young guys,
Speaker 1: you know, the the undrafted free agents who don't necessarily
Speaker 1: have that many opportunities to impress. So he was talking
Speaker 1: about how, look, being a college coach a there weren't
Speaker 1: preseason games then, so that's something that he's used to
Speaker 1: creating those competitive environments within practice. But also he talked
Speaker 1: about how he wants to be able to make the
Speaker 1: Panthers a developmental place for young players that can go
Speaker 1: from the practice squad to consistent starter eventually, right. So
Speaker 1: that's something that he even said when he took this job,
Speaker 1: he felt like things like that are a little bit
Speaker 1: are missing a little bit from the NFL because you
Speaker 1: see the time players go from being on the practice
Speaker 1: squad in one place to a starter in another place, right,
Speaker 1: And so how do you develop players like that and
Speaker 1: how do you make sure you retain them? That's something
Speaker 1: that Matt Rule really wants to examine. And because the
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL this year are going to have
Speaker 1: expanded practice squads, that's something that the Panthers might be
Speaker 1: able to capitalize on. So that's something that he's thinking
Speaker 1: about in terms of how do you make sure you
Speaker 1: maximize everything and everybody that you have on this Panther's
Speaker 1: roster right now. Yeah, that's a great point that really
Speaker 1: stood out to me as well. And I think the
Speaker 1: thing that stood out to me was not so much
Speaker 1: what he was saying, although he did provide a lot
Speaker 1: of great information, It was just Miles, did you and
Speaker 1: and well, did you guys pick up on how excited
Speaker 1: he seemed he was doing the presser from the building.
Speaker 1: Of course, as I said, it was virtual still for
Speaker 1: all of the media naturally, but you can just tell.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a football guy and he was so
Speaker 1: excited to be back to football, even though it looks
Speaker 1: a lot different. I think use the word ecstatic. And
Speaker 1: you know the fact that the staff is there and
Speaker 1: they've worked from home for so long, and the players
Speaker 1: are now slowly but surely getting to to come in
Speaker 1: and start the testing as it pertains to the Vets.
Speaker 1: But I just let you could just tell there was
Speaker 1: a difference in energy and will. I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but I certainly feel that after working for I've never
Speaker 1: worked from home for this long, so I definitely get
Speaker 1: where he's coming from. Where it's just like one step
Speaker 1: closer to football. Yeah, I mean I kind of wish
Speaker 1: I was in there with them, you know, like the
Speaker 1: same you kind of you want to be. You know,
Speaker 1: I saw a bunch of tweets this week about the
Speaker 1: the the peach in Gaffney heading down to Spartanburg from
Speaker 1: the media. You know, everyone was used to being down
Speaker 1: in in Watford right now, um, and I think that
Speaker 1: you know, we all kind of miss a little bit
Speaker 1: of that camaraderie and about that excitement. You know, certainly
Speaker 1: the fans too as well that have always gone down
Speaker 1: to training camp. But you know, this is kind of
Speaker 1: the world that we're in, and you can tell, I
Speaker 1: mean just being probably being out on that practice field
Speaker 1: just running around, I'm sure feels so good for those guys.
Speaker 1: So you can tell that, you know, the coaches are
Speaker 1: coaches are ready, the players are ready, um, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna take as much advantage of, you know, every opportunity,
Speaker 1: whether it's lifting weights, whether it's running sprints or doing plios,
Speaker 1: you know, all of it's going to be exciting for them.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I agree. Yeah, a lot of nostalgic tweets
Speaker 1: about the peach on my timeline this week, but even
Speaker 1: though it is gonna look a lot different this year,
Speaker 1: we are still on the cusp of training camp. So
Speaker 1: with that in mind, I want us each to give
Speaker 1: everyone listening one player to watch as we get ready
Speaker 1: for training camp, and we can take that however you want.
Speaker 1: Whether it's someone that you think is going to have
Speaker 1: a great year, whether it's someone that you know fans
Speaker 1: may not know a lot about, however you want to
Speaker 1: interpret that. So we'll let's start with you. Who is
Speaker 1: your player to watch? Of course, I'm already gonna cheat,
Speaker 1: so sorry. So, like you know, I take that term watch,
Speaker 1: and you know, training camp, it's hard to really see
Speaker 1: everybody because not everyone does the same amount of drills,
Speaker 1: are the same things in live action, and you can
Speaker 1: really tell. So I'm gonna give you a player that
Speaker 1: you can actually watch in training camp, and then a
Speaker 1: player's name that is gonna be really important for the season.
Speaker 1: And I'll start with um with Justin Burris the safety position.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone's really really been talking about Jeremy Chin,
Speaker 1: the rookie draft pick, you know how excited they are
Speaker 1: for him, and obviously you have Trey Boston back there.
Speaker 1: But I really think that Burris is gonna be a
Speaker 1: really big part of the secondary and it's gonna be
Speaker 1: really interesting to see how he fits with those other
Speaker 1: guys and how important his roles gonna be in this
Speaker 1: division where you're going up against Brady Breese, Ryan all
Speaker 1: these great quarterbacks, um, you know, and the corners that
Speaker 1: are covering these guys are only as good as the
Speaker 1: safety help that they have. So I think seeing how
Speaker 1: how Burris is, you know, the veteran, you know, how
Speaker 1: he comes in, how he's gonna be a part of
Speaker 1: the secondary of this defense. Um, it's gonna be really important.
Speaker 1: And then my other guy is you know everyone's talking
Speaker 1: about you know, you have the Russell o'cum, you have, um,
Speaker 1: you know, the rest of this offensive line that we
Speaker 1: you know, maybe you have heard more about. But I
Speaker 1: want to look at Johnny Miller, who uh was a
Speaker 1: veteran that signed you know, used to be with the Bengals,
Speaker 1: came in. He's going to be really really important to
Speaker 1: watch that guard position, um, because you know, I think
Speaker 1: there's still probably some battles for who's gonna win out
Speaker 1: that that guard spot after Greg Van Roten and Trey
Speaker 1: Turner um were on the team last year no longer
Speaker 1: with us. So I think that Miller is going to
Speaker 1: be a really interesting name that most people don't know yet.
Speaker 1: But I've heard the coaches talk about him a lot, um,
Speaker 1: so I think he'll be someone to watch. All Right,
Speaker 1: you did been the rules on two players to watch,
Speaker 1: but you made such good points that I can't fault
Speaker 1: you for it. Miles, who is your I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: one player to watch, but maybe two, maybe three. I
Speaker 1: don't know where are you going? Well, I don't know
Speaker 1: I mean, we'll broke the rules. So I feel like
Speaker 1: I almost I almost feel like I should pick three players.
Speaker 1: I'll pick four, We'll keep going. No, Um, there are
Speaker 1: a couple of players that I do think are gonna
Speaker 1: be really interesting. And I know this one's a little
Speaker 1: bit obvious, so I guess I'm gonna break the rule
Speaker 1: and pick more than one player. But I think the
Speaker 1: first guy city bridge Water, Right, I think, how does
Speaker 1: the quarterback really handle the offense after not having an
Speaker 1: off season program? Can we will we really be able
Speaker 1: to tell that he knows this offensive system. Matt Rules
Speaker 1: said this today that when you have somebody like Teddy
Speaker 1: Bridgewater who is familiar with Joe Brady and the offensive system,
Speaker 1: it's almost like they can talk about level three and
Speaker 1: level four details of what this offense is and what
Speaker 1: it should be and what it can be. And you
Speaker 1: don't necessarily get that with somebody who would be unfamiliar
Speaker 1: with whatever the playbook would be had they not had
Speaker 1: that familiarity. So how does that translate into um offensive
Speaker 1: production in practice? What does that look like once Week
Speaker 1: one happens? And does that make it any different than
Speaker 1: what it would be under different circumstances. I mean, because
Speaker 1: look at the bottom line is that the Panthers did
Speaker 1: not have any offseason practice time. They did have a
Speaker 1: lot of virtual meetings, as did everybody else. Um, but
Speaker 1: what does that look like on Sundays? I think practice
Speaker 1: is going to be able to tell a little bit
Speaker 1: about that. And I'm also interested to see what these
Speaker 1: rookies look like, and especially Derek Brown. You know, it's
Speaker 1: kind of funny that you get a first round pick
Speaker 1: and he's number seven a roll and it almost seems
Speaker 1: like he's getting a little bit lost in the fray
Speaker 1: of everything that's going on, which kind of makes sense
Speaker 1: because we haven't really seen him out there on the
Speaker 1: practice field in the Panther's uniform. But once pads come
Speaker 1: on and once we really start to see what he
Speaker 1: can do, I think it's gonna be fun to look
Speaker 1: at what he can do next to somebody like k K,
Speaker 1: who apparently is as healthy as it can be. That's
Speaker 1: a great point. All right, Look, I'm gonna stick to
Speaker 1: one player for my player to watch. Guys, I want
Speaker 1: you to remember this name. You may not know much
Speaker 1: about him now, Christian McCaffrey. I think this guy is
Speaker 1: poised for big things in the league. All Right, I'm kidding,
Speaker 1: I'm kidding. I'm gonna go I'm gonna take this question
Speaker 1: just a little bit differently than I think both of
Speaker 1: you did. I'm gonna go with Eli Apple as my
Speaker 1: player to watch because I that's the player that I
Speaker 1: want to watch really just to see, you know, how
Speaker 1: he's gonna do, how he's going to fit into into
Speaker 1: Phil snows defense. Is he going to live up to
Speaker 1: those high expectations. I'm I'm really really interested to see
Speaker 1: how he's going to pan out. He has a great
Speaker 1: opportunity to to make a big impact at a position
Speaker 1: that the Panthers could really use some help with. And
Speaker 1: I'm excited to to see what he's going to do
Speaker 1: in training camp. Um, you know when when they signed him,
Speaker 1: Phil Snow said, you know, he has he has speedy,
Speaker 1: as the intangibles, and it's our job as a coaching
Speaker 1: staff to to help take him to the next level
Speaker 1: to make sure that he puts all of that into
Speaker 1: action on the field. So I'm I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: what we're going to get from Eli Apple, And of
Speaker 1: course that starts with training camp. So him and a
Speaker 1: you know someone named Christian McCaffrey. Those are those are
Speaker 1: my two if we're going to go to But speaking
Speaker 1: of Christian McCaffrey, the NFL Top one hundred is being
Speaker 1: revealed this week. We know almost all of the players,
Speaker 1: We know the top ten, We know the CMC is
Speaker 1: in the top ten. We don't quite know where he
Speaker 1: is going to land on that list until tonight, but
Speaker 1: we will of course be covering that um as that
Speaker 1: comes out. But you guys, the both of you have
Speaker 1: some thoughts about the NFL Top one hundred and now
Speaker 1: look at someone who's never worked for a team before.
Speaker 1: You know, I know the drill. The NFL network releases
Speaker 1: the the yearly list. It's the top one players and
Speaker 1: it's as voted on by the players. Um but you
Speaker 1: guys were like, we got to talk about this today,
Speaker 1: so so will give me the inside scoop on on
Speaker 1: why you have a beef with this list. Look at
Speaker 1: you use an inside scoop man, I know I was
Speaker 1: talking about Look it's cross promotion. You can check it
Speaker 1: out Panthers dot com search inside scoop talk about brand centered.
Speaker 1: It was an accident, I promise. Yeah, Okay, So I
Speaker 1: saw this tweet this morning, and like it kind of
Speaker 1: like jogs jog my memory about this because I haven't
Speaker 1: been doing this for at least two years. But it
Speaker 1: was from let me look real quick, Darius, and they
Speaker 1: were talking about like if only the fans knew how
Speaker 1: the players actually vote on this, because you get all
Speaker 1: this conversation in chatter, which of course is what we
Speaker 1: all want to do in July and August before season,
Speaker 1: you know, is argue about where people are ranked. But
Speaker 1: really the way this works is there's a blank piece
Speaker 1: of paper with a hundred lines on it, and they're
Speaker 1: just handed to players as they're sitting at their locker
Speaker 1: and it's like, hey, can you just write down your
Speaker 1: top one hunder players and then hand this back in.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not like these guys are sitting in
Speaker 1: front of the computer and looking up stats and you know,
Speaker 1: really comparing, you know, who are the top you know,
Speaker 1: tackles and guards versus defensive ends and really seeing how
Speaker 1: they compare. Looking at you know, deep analytical models and
Speaker 1: all this stuff. They literally fill out maybe their favorite
Speaker 1: top ten or fifteen players. Oh man, that guy had
Speaker 1: a great year. You know, this guy's have a great yere,
Speaker 1: you know, this guy's elite, and they just put that
Speaker 1: down and then for the most part, they don't even touchy.
Speaker 1: They just kind of turn it back in. So I
Speaker 1: don't even know how those numbers really get filled out.
Speaker 1: Some guys will just put people that they know or
Speaker 1: they played with and just fill out random names that
Speaker 1: they can remember. But like when you talk about why
Speaker 1: a guy isn't you know why Carson Wentz is not
Speaker 1: in the one hundred or why Tom Brady, who you know,
Speaker 1: last year rank seventeenth and passer rating was still fourteenth overall,
Speaker 1: Like it's just because of these Tom Brady and these
Speaker 1: guys don't they're not looking at this stuff. They're not
Speaker 1: really spending a lot of time with it. So anyway,
Speaker 1: that's kind of how it happens, and I think that
Speaker 1: gives a little more insight into why these things are
Speaker 1: so wonky. I did not know that. I have to
Speaker 1: be honest, Miles. You said, now we we have a
Speaker 1: group text chain, and you were chiming into so do
Speaker 1: you have the same gripes as Will does does this
Speaker 1: match with with your experience? It's really all because I
Speaker 1: didn't know this well. Kristen is just pulling out all
Speaker 1: of the different names of Panther's related podcast. Now I'm
Speaker 1: just kidding. Um, So what happens, I think is exactly
Speaker 1: what we'll just said, right. It's it's a weird process,
Speaker 1: first of all, and I don't think that it is
Speaker 1: something that is taken all that seriously. And I mean, look,
Speaker 1: that's why you get so much fluctuation between one year
Speaker 1: to the next, and it's it is based off of
Speaker 1: what guys see on the field and what they do
Speaker 1: and la la la. But I just I don't know,
Speaker 1: I'm just so drained of that kind of thing, like, oh, yes,
Speaker 1: Top one d it's so nice. It's just I I
Speaker 1: don't know. There are a lot of things that like,
Speaker 1: I really really love about football and I love about
Speaker 1: covering football, and the Top one hundred is just not
Speaker 1: one of them. I just don't I don't think it
Speaker 1: really matters very much, and I don't think that people
Speaker 1: care all that much about it. But you know, at
Speaker 1: the same time, I guess it's kind of cool. It's nice.
Speaker 1: It's nice to have a layer that code that plays
Speaker 1: for the team you cover. In the top ten. It
Speaker 1: makes your life more interesting, that is for sure. But
Speaker 1: does it really matter in terms of like awards and
Speaker 1: stuff like that and eccolades. I don't know that it
Speaker 1: matters all that much. Well, here's a question. I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, we found another thing alongside fireworks that that
Speaker 1: Miles hates. I think that's just like we're just gonna
Speaker 1: try to find something every week that like really gets
Speaker 1: it going, you know what really relns Miles gears. That's
Speaker 1: a really easy thing to do, just find things that
Speaker 1: I don't like. That's that's that's not hard. Well, but
Speaker 1: I think that the exercise in and of itself could
Speaker 1: be better. I mean, I think it's a relatively interesting
Speaker 1: thing to try to compare a safety to a running
Speaker 1: back and try to compare you know, a quarterback to
Speaker 1: a defensive lineman, and who overall is just a gets
Speaker 1: a better overall rating. And I think that there's so
Speaker 1: many things, as we talked about last week, you know,
Speaker 1: with these advanced stats, that I think it's a really interesting,
Speaker 1: long potential process, in a fun process to try to
Speaker 1: do it. Just is it shouldn't be for like players
Speaker 1: sitting at their locker that don't they're just sitting there,
Speaker 1: you know, like they're they're not in front of a computer.
Speaker 1: They don't have time to really look all this stuff up.
Speaker 1: I think that what the NFL did for their NFL
Speaker 1: one hundred last year, when they really were looking at
Speaker 1: all these things and trying to evaluate and create these
Speaker 1: top lists of you know, all time, this and all
Speaker 1: time that. I think those were really interesting and I
Speaker 1: think the process behind it was pretty sound. Um. And
Speaker 1: I think they could, you know, rethink how this works
Speaker 1: and you know, maybe have more analytical data behind it. Yes,
Speaker 1: the NFL All one team that they and those specials
Speaker 1: that they had with Rich Eisen and Chris Collinsworth in
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, like, those were really, really, really good. And
Speaker 1: I agree what you could tell the thought that was
Speaker 1: put into those things. Um. And yeah, if maybe I
Speaker 1: don't know how viable let us do every single year,
Speaker 1: but if you're doing it more like that, and then
Speaker 1: I think it would be more enjoyable. So my question is,
Speaker 1: and Myles, I'll start with you on this knowing now
Speaker 1: a little bit more about it. Um, do you think
Speaker 1: the players care because on the one hand, they know
Speaker 1: how it's done right, they know how you get a
Speaker 1: blank sheet of paper. Um, they probably know that look
Speaker 1: it's it's not a huge slide if I'm if I'm
Speaker 1: not mentioned or what not. But then on the other hand,
Speaker 1: I think all of us would go to the mat
Speaker 1: if someone set up Christian McCaffrey's not top ten. So
Speaker 1: do you think they care, knowing how this process goes
Speaker 1: down if they're not where they think they should be.
Speaker 1: I think it depends on the guy, honestly, And it's
Speaker 1: hard to say from the respective of what the Panthers
Speaker 1: locker room would be, but in past locker rooms that
Speaker 1: I've been in and been around, like, I don't, I don't.
Speaker 1: I really think it depends on the guy. Like Aaron Donald,
Speaker 1: I think knows how good he is. Aaron Donald is
Speaker 1: another one of these guys that's in the top ten again,
Speaker 1: and he was He's been regarded as one of the
Speaker 1: best players in the league for years and years and years.
Speaker 1: But I don't think that's something he really cares all
Speaker 1: that much about. I think he knows that he is
Speaker 1: as good as he is, and you know, he's just
Speaker 1: as going to kill out and continue to be as
Speaker 1: dominant a force as possible. Um, But yeah, I don't,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think it probably depends on the guy.
Speaker 1: From what I know about Christian McCaffrey, I think that
Speaker 1: there would be a part of him that says, Okay, yes,
Speaker 1: this is nice to be acknowledged. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's not. It's not winning a ring, it's not winning MVP.
Speaker 1: It's it's almost an award that you should have gotten
Speaker 1: back in like January or February, right when all of
Speaker 1: the rest of these things were coming out. Because now
Speaker 1: as we sit here in on July nine, as we
Speaker 1: record this, it's more about the season than it is
Speaker 1: about nineteen and this really is a recognition of what
Speaker 1: he's done in the twenty nineteen season. So it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I I don't know, I don't know exactly. Uh. And
Speaker 1: that's not a good uh radio answer, but that's the
Speaker 1: answer that I've got. I love that you said depends
Speaker 1: on the guy, which is like incredibly nuanced and incredibly right.
Speaker 1: And I was like, you know what, darn it, that's
Speaker 1: a good answer. Of course, it depends on the guy.
Speaker 1: It's not all players feel a certain way. Gosh darn it. Uh.
Speaker 1: I am excited to see where c mc lands on
Speaker 1: the list, and I will be checking Panthers dot com.
Speaker 1: Look at all those plugs I've done in the last
Speaker 1: ten minutes for Panthers dot com. I'll be checking Panthers
Speaker 1: dot com and you know, maybe while I'm there, I'll
Speaker 1: check out inside Scoop Will. I don't know, maybe I'll
Speaker 1: do it. Um, But I want to to end as
Speaker 1: we always do on our Weird Question of the Week. So,
Speaker 1: sitting here thinking and following all of the news, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of discussions this week about bubbles and and
Speaker 1: no bubbles. I've seen the NBA bubble, the NHL bubble,
Speaker 1: and of course the NFL is not going to be
Speaker 1: in the bubble. But it did get me thinking if
Speaker 1: you were going to be stuck in a bubble for
Speaker 1: the NFL season. Mile So I want to start with you,
Speaker 1: what is the one thing you would have to have
Speaker 1: with you? Like, you can't go anywhere else, you cannot
Speaker 1: live without this thing. Where do you bring in with you?
Speaker 1: I feel like my life is already like this. Uh
Speaker 1: that's my phone. Well don't say no toothbrush, no laptop,
Speaker 1: anything like that. I know, um my my would be
Speaker 1: a Bluetooth speaker, probably because uh yeah, I like music.
Speaker 1: I need to have music, especially like when I'm working, Um,
Speaker 1: I like to write to Stevie Wonder albums. There's like
Speaker 1: a string of five albums that he had in the
Speaker 1: seventies that are pretty much making the greatest songwriter of
Speaker 1: all time. And I will fight people on that. Um,
Speaker 1: So that would be what I would need. I would
Speaker 1: need to have a Bluetooth speaker and at least some device,
Speaker 1: whether it's my phone or not, that could play Stevie
Speaker 1: Wonder albums. I like it. I like a good choice.
Speaker 1: Well what about you, what's the one thing that you
Speaker 1: couldn't live without if you were stuck in a bubble
Speaker 1: for the season. You're, Miles, You're really gonna put Stevie
Speaker 1: Wonder over Taylor Swift's folklore debut that just came out.
Speaker 1: That's the greatest thing that's ever happened in a bubble
Speaker 1: or in a pandemic. Come on, Well, I appreciate you saying.
Speaker 1: Will knows how much I love Taylor Swift and Sodas Miles,
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna say it because Myles did say he
Speaker 1: would fight people, So I was going to leave that
Speaker 1: one alone. Um, but I'm with Will on this one. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll let you take the fight there, Okay. And the
Speaker 1: reason that I'm willing to take this fight is because
Speaker 1: the one thing I'm going to keep are my dumbbells,
Speaker 1: which I've had to procure one at a time from
Speaker 1: Amazon as as like throughout this pandemic, because you can
Speaker 1: never actually buy two dumbells at the same time. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I haven't even seen one. I haven't
Speaker 1: even seen exactly. I got lucky to find one, So
Speaker 1: they're not exactly the same. They're relatively close, but they're
Speaker 1: definitely different brands. But yeah, I spend most of my
Speaker 1: day when I'm on these like Zoom meetings or these
Speaker 1: these Microsoft teams meetings just like turning my video off
Speaker 1: and doing random things with my dumbbells, and then coming
Speaker 1: back on and like saying two things and then going
Speaker 1: back to do doing like shoulder presses and stuff. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, I pray that one day you accidentally leave
Speaker 1: your video on and I'm on that Zoom meeting, because
Speaker 1: I will hit the record buttons so fast that video
Speaker 1: will go up on Twitter. I'm hoping this happens at
Speaker 1: some point. Quarantine. That's the problem. I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: I if I've avoided it or not. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: like make it not quarantine. I may or may not
Speaker 1: have ordered an exercise bike from my apartment, so we
Speaker 1: can see how that goes. It's good to know I
Speaker 1: was looking into a rower or the other. We're all like,
Speaker 1: who would have thought it would be so hard to
Speaker 1: get dumbbells? I was just looking the other. I try
Speaker 1: to check in like once a month to see if
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, our weights available now? Nope? Still not
Speaker 1: so Will. I'm jealous. It's already get this stupid bike too. Man,
Speaker 1: all right, you guys have picked pretty pretty reasonable stuff.
Speaker 1: Miles is going to be, you know, making sure that
Speaker 1: he can continue his writing. Will Will is going to
Speaker 1: make sure his muscles keep growing. Um, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is boring or just so weird,
Speaker 1: but the first thing I thought of, and I've traveled
Speaker 1: so much over the last three years, um as I know,
Speaker 1: you guys have the one thing that I could not
Speaker 1: live without. Lint roller. Lint roller, like I I have
Speaker 1: to have one. I just I wear a lot of black,
Speaker 1: were a lot of dark colors, and I just think
Speaker 1: there is nothing worse if I walk out of the
Speaker 1: house or say, I'm you know, we're in the bubble whatever.
Speaker 1: I see people and I've got just like fuzz all
Speaker 1: over my clothes, Like nothing makes me feel worse. I'm
Speaker 1: like Drake at a Raptors game, just lint rolling all
Speaker 1: the time. I love a lint roller. I don't want
Speaker 1: to go anywhere without them. I I just have to
Speaker 1: have it. That'd be the thing that I would be
Speaker 1: so upset if it didn't make it with me to
Speaker 1: the bubble. Is that weird? A went roller like that is?
Speaker 1: That is a very interesting and animate object that I just,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't own one. I think. I don't
Speaker 1: know that's a problem. That's a problem. It probably is.
Speaker 1: But you know what, I also haven't really worn clothes,
Speaker 1: like real clothes and whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is
Speaker 1: a g rated podcast. I know, I gotta hit pause, right,
Speaker 1: That's not what I meant. I'm not really warned anything
Speaker 1: other than like gym clothes and pajamas. There we go
Speaker 1: since March. Aside from the times that I flew across
Speaker 1: the country. There I put on jeans because it is
Speaker 1: Larry David will tell you, like, don't you don't wear
Speaker 1: shorts on a plane. You know, you just don't really
Speaker 1: want to do that. That's nobody wants to see your legs,
Speaker 1: and that's just kind of weird, you know. So I
Speaker 1: agree and I adhere to that restriction. Well, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you. Well, I don't know super weird scale one
Speaker 1: to tend weirdness of my answer, I can see it.
Speaker 1: I do own a link roller light, Miles, Um, I
Speaker 1: haven't used it all that much, but I do own it.
Speaker 1: I means, every once in a while I have to,
Speaker 1: I just like take my hand and just like lick it,
Speaker 1: just like, Oh, I don't know, Miles isn't wearing clothes.
Speaker 1: Will his lick in his hand to get stuck? I don't. Okay, Um,
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit better and exactly maybe I
Speaker 1: should try that sometime the next time I'm without my
Speaker 1: lind roller. I'll keep that in mind. Well, guys, what
Speaker 1: better place to end it than than right there with
Speaker 1: Will saying that's how he gets the lintop is closed. Um,
Speaker 1: thank you both, Thank you everyone for listening to us.
Speaker 1: That is going to do it for us this week,
Speaker 1: But we'll talk to you again next week. On the
Speaker 1: Happy Half Hour, podcast