Speaker 1: This week on the Happy Half Hour, there is an
Speaker 1: absolute energy about what's happening out there on the field, and.
Speaker 2: It does look different.
Speaker 3: And the biggest difference to me is seeing the pace
Speaker 3: at which that offense is moving, and that's a direct
Speaker 3: reflection of a new coaching staff and implementing a new systems.
Speaker 1: It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone, and Darren Gannon.
Speaker 4: It's time for the Happy half Hour podcast. And this
Speaker 4: week the podcast is brought to you by Prowling Vineyards
Speaker 4: Napa Valley, the official wine brand and wine club of
Speaker 4: the Carolina Panthers. These premium selections celebrate the great people
Speaker 4: of the Carolinas and the Panthers hunger to achieve excellence
Speaker 4: on and off the field. Learn more at Prowling Vineyards
Speaker 4: dot com. All right, Happy half Hour, time with your
Speaker 4: friends Darren, Augusta and Kristen and guys were in full
Speaker 4: off season mode.
Speaker 5: As we record this.
Speaker 4: It is the last day of May, and I mean, really,
Speaker 4: what September is right around the corner.
Speaker 5: It feels like at this point right, let.
Speaker 2: Me enjoy July before training camp there.
Speaker 5: Will be no enjoying of July. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 5: who told you that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know why I ever expected that, But no,
Speaker 3: it's been it's been interesting. And yeah, they're in full
Speaker 3: Lota mode. Guys are running around and when you stand
Speaker 3: there and watch, you're just every day struck by how
Speaker 3: different this team looks. You know, a lot of the
Speaker 3: personnel might be the same. They overhauled that offense pretty well,
Speaker 3: especially skilled position guys and obviously the coaching staff. But
Speaker 3: it's just different around.
Speaker 4: Here and that's interesting, especially Augusta from your perspective.
Speaker 5: So you got here about this time last year.
Speaker 6: Right, I did actually have my one year work anniversary
Speaker 6: a week from tomorrow.
Speaker 4: Oh, happy early anniversary to you and the Panthers.
Speaker 7: Yes, absolutely, June eighth.
Speaker 6: So yeah, no, I mean thinking about like Darren said,
Speaker 6: looks different. I think there's there's a really there's a
Speaker 6: there's a pace that's going on that's really kind of
Speaker 6: excited to jumpy. I mean, just the different staff. I
Speaker 6: think at the end of the day, it's so funny.
Speaker 6: We came in today from practice and it's like, how
Speaker 6: is practice? It's like it looks like practice. You know,
Speaker 6: always always does. But you know, there there's there's subtle
Speaker 6: differences you can pick up on. You know, you have
Speaker 6: the the pace of things and the different faces around
Speaker 6: and where they're moving guys, and so there's like subtle differences.
Speaker 6: And it's cool having like two very different things to compare.
Speaker 5: And that's what I was gonna say.
Speaker 4: Even though this is my fourth season, I still only
Speaker 4: have one previous staff to compare this new staff too.
Speaker 5: Darren.
Speaker 4: I know you've seen plenty, but I'm always interested too
Speaker 4: when people come in from other teams, Like I just
Speaker 4: I just as a as an employee of an NFL
Speaker 4: team and as someone who's worked in sports a long time.
Speaker 4: I love to just pick people's brains about what's different.
Speaker 4: Is your schedule the same, it is your you know,
Speaker 4: there's just little things. So for OTAs this year, they're
Speaker 4: practicing early, and they're getting in practicing early and then
Speaker 4: meetings late, whereas in the past with the previous coaching staff,
Speaker 4: it was usually afternoon practices. Darren and I always joke
Speaker 4: as the old parents, we like that. You know, you
Speaker 4: get in, you get up early, you get in there,
Speaker 4: you do your job after that, and you guys are
Speaker 4: writing articles, are doing interviews, things like that.
Speaker 5: And then another little thing that I saw. These are
Speaker 5: just little things.
Speaker 4: We're gonna get into some more of what we're seeing
Speaker 4: from ots will be everyone's eyes and ears out there.
Speaker 4: But just a small thing, and again not better or
Speaker 4: worse than anything. But I just thought it was neat.
Speaker 4: Was that after practice today and on other days, and
Speaker 4: after they do the big you know, you do a
Speaker 4: quick cuddle the coach, you know, the Frank Grak says something,
Speaker 4: they break, they ready from means, and then they all
Speaker 4: meet position groups just real quick, you know. And that
Speaker 4: may be the way every other team does it, that
Speaker 4: may be the way no teams do it, but I
Speaker 4: just thought, I mean, it was very formal, almost like
Speaker 4: everyone just goes to their little circle of your position
Speaker 4: group talk for a second, you break, you know, you
Speaker 4: do your family on three or whatever it is, and
Speaker 4: it's just, you know, it's just neat to just pick
Speaker 4: up on the little things of how things are done differently.
Speaker 2: And may be reading too much into this.
Speaker 3: This is not necessarily a young roster player wise, but
Speaker 3: it is a young coaching staff. You've got a lot
Speaker 3: of guys in their forties and thirties, even.
Speaker 2: A couple of them.
Speaker 3: Coordinators are your coordinators are young guys. When you see
Speaker 3: a guy like Josh McCown or even Sean Jefferson, who's
Speaker 3: you know, he's dad aged like me, but Sean's a
Speaker 3: former player and has a certain energy about him as well.
Speaker 3: And it's just running. And again, I don't want to
Speaker 3: turn it into a bash anybody else or it used
Speaker 3: to be bad and now it's good kind of thing
Speaker 3: because we don't know how any of this is going
Speaker 3: to develop, but there is an absolute energy about what's
Speaker 3: happening out there on the field, and it does look different.
Speaker 3: And the biggest difference to me is seeing the pace
Speaker 3: at which that offense is moving. And that's a direct
Speaker 3: reflection of a new coaching staff and implementing a new system.
Speaker 3: And they've got a lot of work to do to
Speaker 3: install all this stuff, so they need to keep things
Speaker 3: moving at a pretty good clip. But both the tempo
Speaker 3: and the content of that offense are markedly different than
Speaker 3: they've been in a pen.
Speaker 5: Let's dive into that a little bit more.
Speaker 4: I think we should go, you know, offense defense, and
Speaker 4: then of course we've got to hit special teams hard there.
Speaker 4: But let's let's start with the offensive of what you
Speaker 4: were saying, Darren, and dive a little bit deeper into
Speaker 4: what you're seeing early on and what we think, you know.
Speaker 5: Thomas Brown's offenses.
Speaker 4: And then also, I mean, you know, I could say
Speaker 4: it's Thomas Brown's offense, but of course you've got Frank Braig,
Speaker 4: You've got Josh McCown heavily involved at Parks, Fraser passing
Speaker 4: game court. I mean, there's a lot of great offensive
Speaker 4: minds that are coming together to put this offense on
Speaker 4: the field. So so what are we picking up on pace?
Speaker 3: As you said, Yeah, I think pace is the big thing.
Speaker 3: And I know this is a podcast and not video,
Speaker 3: so you're just gonna have.
Speaker 5: To use use your hands.
Speaker 3: Whenever I talk to people, whether it's neighbors or somebody
Speaker 3: at church about the offense and what it looks like,
Speaker 3: I keep doing this with my hands.
Speaker 4: Okay, So he's moving his hands back and forth and
Speaker 4: they're spread out far.
Speaker 3: Apart, quick side to side experience. It's not that it's lateral,
Speaker 3: but it's everything's coming out in a hurry. And I
Speaker 3: think this thing is being built obviously around Bryce Young
Speaker 3: and his ability to spread the ball around, his ability
Speaker 3: to get the ball accurately to spots, and it's coming
Speaker 3: out quick, and it's I don't want to say it's
Speaker 3: a lot of side to side motion, but it is
Speaker 3: safe targets. It is a lot of Miles Sanders coming
Speaker 3: out of the backfield. You'll see little crossing routes. I
Speaker 3: mean stuff with Adam Thielen that it's a quote unquote
Speaker 3: safe route for Bryce to throw, and that.
Speaker 4: Is to be expected right now. I mean whether that's
Speaker 4: the whole mark that by the time we get to
Speaker 4: September we see tons of that, which I would it
Speaker 4: would seem likely with a rookie quarterback or whenever Bryce
Speaker 4: takes the field. But also, he just got here, right,
Speaker 4: this team just got here. He's you know, in his
Speaker 4: first NFL practice. Is so feels like the right thing
Speaker 4: to start with, which is okay, let's get you comfortable, right,
Speaker 4: Let's get everyone comfortable.
Speaker 5: Let's connect on the little stuff.
Speaker 4: Let's find some go to things that we feel really
Speaker 4: good about. Let's get the ball in playmaker's hands quickly.
Speaker 4: And I was talking to Miles Sanders Augusta today and
Speaker 4: I asked him, I said, what can we expect from
Speaker 4: this offense, you know, as it's being installed right now.
Speaker 4: And he said, it's going to be explosive, and he said,
Speaker 4: you're going to see the ball in a lot of
Speaker 4: different guys hands. And I think that's a great thing
Speaker 4: for Panthers fans to look forward to. I think you
Speaker 4: like to hear that if you're a Panthers fan exactly.
Speaker 6: That's something that Darren and I have actually talked about
Speaker 6: in the past weeks. It's not going to be one
Speaker 6: of the or it doesn't appear that it's going to
Speaker 6: be one of those things where it's like one or
Speaker 6: two guys getting the ball a lot. It really seems
Speaker 6: like it's going to be more of a group effort
Speaker 6: where you're going to see, like the stat line, you're
Speaker 6: going to see four or five different receivers getting involved
Speaker 6: and then Miles Sanders getting involved over here.
Speaker 7: It's going to be more.
Speaker 6: Again, like Darren said, it's not lateral, but I like
Speaker 6: the idea of the throwing the hands to the side
Speaker 6: because it's just like there's a lot a lot of
Speaker 6: different pieces out there, and that's something that we've been seeing.
Speaker 6: It just doesn't seem like there's going to be one
Speaker 6: necessarily like Bill cow Receiver anything. It seems like it's
Speaker 6: very much I don't mean it is early, but there's
Speaker 6: a ton of involvement with tons of other people, so
Speaker 6: that I wouldn't be surprised to see that. I mean,
Speaker 6: if we're we're looking and we're picking at straws about
Speaker 6: what we've been seeing so far.
Speaker 3: If the hand motions don't work for you on the podcast,
Speaker 3: maybe the sound effects will. It's almost like watching Star
Speaker 3: Wars content. There's that big p p P.
Speaker 2: I mean that's sort of the effect of what's happening
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 4: I'm sure that the Panther's offensive mines would love to
Speaker 4: have their offense summed up as pew peo pew.
Speaker 3: It's better than pew as in pu Yes, absolutely bumps.
Speaker 4: What have you seen from from Bryce in in the
Speaker 4: few weeks that he's been out there, and especially now
Speaker 4: that the veterans have you know, he had Rocky Minnie
Speaker 4: camp Or talked to Thomas Brown and he said, like,
Speaker 4: it's really just about all the rookie's just understanding what
Speaker 4: this offense looks like. So now they've had a week
Speaker 4: full week of the first week of OTA practice, we're
Speaker 4: into the second week.
Speaker 5: Now, what have we been seeing from him as he's
Speaker 5: got more comfortable.
Speaker 3: Well, the one thing you don't see is the ball
Speaker 3: in the ground a lot. He is accurate, and when
Speaker 3: it's going puel, peel, it's getting to the place it's
Speaker 3: supposed to go in a hurry. So it's not that
Speaker 3: he's got this big, gigantic throat over the mountain kind
Speaker 3: of arm.
Speaker 2: But it's accurate.
Speaker 3: And you can tell why he was he was good
Speaker 3: at that part of the game at Alabama because the
Speaker 3: ball is getting out in a hurry. He doesn't hold it,
Speaker 3: hold it, hold it, padd it, pat it, think about it.
Speaker 3: You know it's getting out and it's getting gone. One
Speaker 3: of the things that struck me, I mean, and somebody
Speaker 3: mentioned that he was almost a little frustrated during rookie
Speaker 3: minicamp because he was processing everything at a faster pace
Speaker 3: than the guys at rookie minicamp, I mean, trout guys
Speaker 3: who are just learning stuff for the first time. He
Speaker 3: wanted to work ahead and they had to keep the
Speaker 3: reins pulled back on him during rookie Minicamp when now
Speaker 3: he's out there with the first string. A lot still
Speaker 3: rotating him and Andy. They're both getting reps with the
Speaker 3: ones that kind of stuff. But it's more and more
Speaker 3: Bryce as time goes on, because everybody knows which way
Speaker 3: this thing's pointing.
Speaker 4: Uh, but well and it's and it's it's too it's
Speaker 4: to their advantage, to his advantage to have him get
Speaker 4: as much practice time as he can, regardless of when
Speaker 4: he starts or when he.
Speaker 2: Doesn't, and not just throwing like Anddy.
Speaker 5: Dalton's gonna be fine. Yeah, he's going to be.
Speaker 3: And it's not just in Bryce throwing to Adam Thielen
Speaker 3: and and Terrace Marshall and and Mingo.
Speaker 2: It's taking snaps.
Speaker 3: From Bradley Boseman because those two gonna have to get
Speaker 3: to know each other pretty well. Bryce never been a
Speaker 3: big undercenter guy. Probably fewer than ten percent of the
Speaker 3: snaps at Alabama we're under center. So uh, those two
Speaker 3: got to get to know each other and they're getting
Speaker 3: they're getting a chance at spring.
Speaker 4: What I've been again, I don't want to say surprised
Speaker 4: because I don't have much to compare it to, but
Speaker 4: being out there during OTAs you know, this is like
Speaker 4: you said, brand new staff or key quarterback and again
Speaker 4: we're gonna talk defense in a second. But you know,
Speaker 4: a lot of new guys. It looks like a team
Speaker 4: that's been playing together for a little bit. You know,
Speaker 4: I know they have this as we said, these big installs.
Speaker 4: Everyone's learning something new, but as you said, a fast pace, Augusta.
Speaker 4: And it feels like and again, they're professionals, that's everyone's
Speaker 4: job is to be up to speed. But we're looking good.
Speaker 4: We're looking like everyone's on the same page. And you hear,
Speaker 4: you know, the guys cheering for each other and knowing,
Speaker 4: you know, if someone messes up, we do. The four
Speaker 4: guys are jumping up, or you know, four guys are
Speaker 4: celebrating on the defense because they got the jump on
Speaker 4: the offense here, And it feels very much like a
Speaker 4: cohesive team that is all kind of, for lack of
Speaker 4: a better way of putting it, like rowing in the
Speaker 4: same direction and doing it very quickly, like you wouldn't say, okay,
Speaker 4: everyone here just met four.
Speaker 5: Weeks ago, six weeks ago, which is a great sign.
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, And you know, they've gone through this
Speaker 3: offseason program and they've probably installed this stuff a number
Speaker 3: of times already, and I think they're probably going through
Speaker 3: the fourth round of it now where they're giving everybody
Speaker 3: the familiarity with all the individual components, and you know,
Speaker 3: they're getting a little more comfortable. And like I said,
Speaker 3: if anything the stands out to me over the course
Speaker 3: of the last three four weeks, it is how efficiently
Speaker 3: the ball is moving around on offense. And that's not
Speaker 3: just Bryce either. I mean Andy Dalton is a.
Speaker 2: Guy who knows how to of course back. He has
Speaker 2: done this before.
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, just from watching Matt Corral,
Speaker 3: I mean since I think since we last talked, you know,
Speaker 3: they're down to three quarterbacks now. Jacob Eeson's no longer
Speaker 3: among us, but he you know, that was done to
Speaker 3: give Matt more reps so he can get more of
Speaker 3: an opportunity to show himself.
Speaker 2: And he's looked good in practice.
Speaker 5: Let's move on to the defense now.
Speaker 4: So certainly with the new scheme there's a bit of
Speaker 4: a I don't want to call a learning curve, but
Speaker 4: an adjustment. Right where does was where does all of
Speaker 4: that stand from what you both have learned?
Speaker 3: You know, it looks to me that's where it's still
Speaker 3: very much under construction. I think they're trying to figure
Speaker 3: this thing out on the fly. With Brian Burns not
Speaker 3: out there practicing, you kind of are hit across the
Speaker 3: face with the reality of, oh, this outside landbacker position
Speaker 3: is completely new. You've got guys like Marquis Haynes and
Speaker 3: he Tour who are four to three defensive ends who
Speaker 3: are force to adjust, and then you've got rookies like
Speaker 3: DJ coming in here who are probably not as behind
Speaker 3: as he might otherwise be. And I think getting those
Speaker 3: guys that's obviously going to be a huge focus throughout
Speaker 3: training camp is figuring out who's going to be starting
Speaker 3: in those spots. You know, whenever Brian is back on
Speaker 3: the field, who's on the other side.
Speaker 5: And do we have a timeline for his return.
Speaker 3: Every indication has been by training camp he should be
Speaker 3: back on his feet and good to go. I mean,
Speaker 3: Brian's not out there. He was only after the ankle surgery.
Speaker 3: He was probably in a cast and on a school
Speaker 3: for about a week and a half, lesten two weeks,
Speaker 3: and then he's out there moving around. We're walking between
Speaker 3: drills that kind of stuff, looking like Brian Burns. But
Speaker 3: it's gonna I think by the start of training camp.
Speaker 3: Every projection is he should.
Speaker 5: Be good to go, Gusta. What stands out to you
Speaker 5: from the defensive side.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so one of the things I actually wrote a
Speaker 6: little bit about it jere Michen, and this was kind
Speaker 6: of a I love this story idea because it was
Speaker 6: sort of a marriage between a lot of the transition
Speaker 6: and comfort all coming together all at once, both on
Speaker 6: and off the field. It was something I was very
Speaker 6: proud of, A very nice interview that he gave me
Speaker 6: last week. But yeah, kind of how are they going
Speaker 6: to use him? A lot of coaches have been talking
Speaker 6: about he's a superhero.
Speaker 7: I think Peter Hansen used that word.
Speaker 6: He's just like, oh, you know, the secondary coaches, they've
Speaker 6: been calling him a superhero.
Speaker 7: But what are we going to do with him?
Speaker 6: And Frank Reich after the first day of OTAs told
Speaker 6: us he said, you know, I've been talking with Jero Rivero.
Speaker 6: It's like, well, we have more I guess we might
Speaker 6: have more options for him than we thought, you know.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think one of the things that's very
Speaker 6: interesting about where they could deploy him is bringing in
Speaker 6: von bell is like another true safety. I think it
Speaker 6: gives them an option to push him forward and that's
Speaker 6: something that a lot of people have been talking about anyway.
Speaker 6: But talking with Jeremy, he seemed very excited about all
Speaker 6: the different ways that they've been deploying him and all
Speaker 6: the different.
Speaker 7: Options he had.
Speaker 6: And one of the things that he pointed out to
Speaker 6: me was that a lot of the things he's doing
Speaker 6: playing more closer to the line of scrimmage, maybe in nickel,
Speaker 6: not maybe a true.
Speaker 7: Linebacker, who knows. But he was like, I've done a
Speaker 7: lot of this.
Speaker 6: It's like, that's kind of new, but at the same time,
Speaker 6: it's not completely fresh starting out, you know, bright eye,
Speaker 6: bushy tailed. It's so but yeah, the article that I
Speaker 6: got to write was about kind of all the things
Speaker 6: he's been doing in the off season, just in his
Speaker 6: personal life and working with his foundation, but also with
Speaker 6: the career tours and then marrying that onto the field
Speaker 6: of doing more and more things, taking on more of
Speaker 6: a role as a leader.
Speaker 7: So it's exciting. I think it's an exciting time for him.
Speaker 6: He definitely when I got to talk with him for
Speaker 6: about fifteen minutes the other day, he seemed like he
Speaker 6: was in a really good mental space, which I found
Speaker 6: really interesting. So I'm excited to see what they do
Speaker 6: with him, and it's been interesting to kind of see
Speaker 6: him look around. They're not hiding that they've been playing
Speaker 6: him at nickel, So that's one of the things. But
Speaker 6: what else will they do? We shall see well.
Speaker 3: And one of the things that's interesting to me about
Speaker 3: how that's going to go for him is NFL offenses
Speaker 3: have evolved. I mean, and in the old days, your
Speaker 3: nickel was only ever a corner and Jeremy's obviously much
Speaker 3: bigger than a lot of these guys who were playing corner.
Speaker 2: And you know, does except for maybe j Warren, Yeah, true, But.
Speaker 3: Slot receivers used to always be little, short guys who
Speaker 3: looked like Ricky Pearl, and now teams are using big
Speaker 3: guys in the slot. People are using tight ends to
Speaker 3: occupy that kind of space, and now in Jeremy, you've
Speaker 3: got a guy who can physically cover a tight end downfield,
Speaker 3: who can physically run with a lot of receivers, especially
Speaker 3: the bigger ones, And so I do think it creates
Speaker 3: kind of some matchups that they can hopefully exploit. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, Jeremy is a big, fast, physical guy. We
Speaker 3: know that part. We know that he can make plays.
Speaker 3: We've seen him do it, especially his rookie year when
Speaker 3: he was playing full time linebacker. Yeah, so I think
Speaker 3: having him in there the other thing that gets a
Speaker 3: little wonky, especially this time of year when everybody's worried about, oh,
Speaker 3: we're so and so lining up, And it's like when
Speaker 3: I talk to Derek Brown about being a quote unquote
Speaker 3: defensive end this year, the base defense is probably on
Speaker 3: the field twenty twenty five percent of snaps in the.
Speaker 2: NFL and zero.
Speaker 4: Rivera was very He said that almost every single time
Speaker 4: he was asked about, hey, you know, transitioning into at
Speaker 4: three four defense, he said, look, that's our base, but
Speaker 4: we're so multiple that, like you said, twenty to twenty
Speaker 4: five percent at the time. So, and he's very quick
Speaker 4: to caveat with when.
Speaker 2: You're playing nickel, you're in a four man front anyway.
Speaker 3: So I think for the most part, you know, there
Speaker 3: is some transition for guys like Marquis Tour and those guys,
Speaker 3: but I don't think it's something they can can't overcome.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, Jeremy's gonna get moved around. There
Speaker 3: are gonna be times you're going to see him standing
Speaker 3: next to Shaq back there. He's going to play a
Speaker 3: lot of nickel. He's going to be running down field
Speaker 3: with tight ends, that kind of stuff, and you know,
Speaker 3: skill set wise, he's capable of it.
Speaker 5: Yes he is.
Speaker 4: And he is, as a guest has said, he's someone
Speaker 4: that likes that challenge, is equipped for that challenge, has
Speaker 4: been put in many different positions over the course of
Speaker 4: his time here at the Panther, So he's the perfect
Speaker 4: guy for it. It'll be exciting to see where he
Speaker 4: ends up on any given play and what kind of
Speaker 4: place he's making.
Speaker 5: I wanted to tell, and.
Speaker 3: You were talking to him, did you show him that
Speaker 3: picture of our uber driver in Indianapolis? Who was his
Speaker 3: Pee football coach?
Speaker 7: Goodness, I did it.
Speaker 5: That's amazing that that happened.
Speaker 3: We got in an uber coming back from the combine
Speaker 3: and our drivers like, what do you guys do where
Speaker 3: you work up or work with the Panthers whatever? You know?
Speaker 2: Jeremy Jin Yeah, we know, Jeremy. How was this Pee
Speaker 2: week coach? Really? I think his name was Earle maybe, yeah,
Speaker 2: something like that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we had a photo of that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he got out of the car for us for
Speaker 6: a photo. I remember this on the way to the
Speaker 6: Indianapolis airport, and we're sure knowing Jeremy. For sure, Jeremy
Speaker 6: will know him and have great stories about him. He
Speaker 6: is someone that does not forget those people that are,
Speaker 6: you know, important at any given stage.
Speaker 4: That's very different than my uber at the combine. We're
Speaker 4: we're going to the airport and our uber just broke
Speaker 4: down a couple of times on the on the way.
Speaker 4: We were like, all right, like we'll see how this goes.
Speaker 4: So we made it luckily, but it was it was
Speaker 4: tough there. We could have I mean, gosh, we could
Speaker 4: have had Jeremy's pee wee code. Thanks could have been
Speaker 4: a lot different for us, Darren, I wanted to ask
Speaker 4: you about, you know, I was thinking about the defense
Speaker 4: and of course Dom Caper's being a great mentor to
Speaker 4: a gero Vero. I wanted to ask you about Jim
Speaker 4: Caldwell and Dom Capers, and you know, there was a
Speaker 4: lot of talk when they were hired about just what
Speaker 4: incredible experience they bring to this staff. And I was
Speaker 4: thinking about it when I was naming off all the
Speaker 4: people that have an impact on this offense. I can't
Speaker 4: believe I forgot Jim Caldwell. So now that they are
Speaker 4: here and they we are in these roles and we
Speaker 4: are seeing them on a daily basis, what is it
Speaker 4: specifically that they are bringing and how valuable is.
Speaker 2: That we know.
Speaker 3: It's interesting about Jim because he doesn't really have a label.
Speaker 3: He's not he's just senior assistant.
Speaker 5: He's like everything right if as needed, wherever.
Speaker 3: And I was talking to him one day out there,
Speaker 3: and I said, where do you spend your time and
Speaker 3: he said, well, I'm going to be in meetings with quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: I'm going to be going over the offensive film of
Speaker 3: course when we go inside, and he said, but when
Speaker 3: I'm out here on the practice field, he said, I
Speaker 3: would rather spend my time with the defense, specifically with linemen,
Speaker 3: because that's not.
Speaker 2: My area of expertise. You know, he was a defensive back.
Speaker 3: In college when he played at Iowa, and he started
Speaker 3: coaching on defense before he became the quarterback mentor who I'm.
Speaker 4: Always so fascinated by those guys that can coach almost
Speaker 4: any position at a high level.
Speaker 5: It's so impressive.
Speaker 3: And Jim said, he's like, I don't have as much
Speaker 3: expertise on that out of the ball, So that's where
Speaker 3: I want to learn, you know, and I kind of
Speaker 3: like the idea of Jim Calwell lifetime learner.
Speaker 2: But that's what he's bringing.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's almost like a thirty thousand foot view
Speaker 3: of the entire system. And he spends a lot of
Speaker 3: time watching special teams and hanging out with those guys,
Speaker 3: and so I think it's just I mean, to me,
Speaker 3: I've used the phrase Jim Calwell's like dropping a credibility
Speaker 3: bomb on the place.
Speaker 2: I mean, he just he sues, yes, I know what I'm.
Speaker 4: Doing, and I'm sure for Frank Reike, it's like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I've got another me, you know, someone that has a
Speaker 4: ton of experience and the great offensive mind. And I
Speaker 4: got another set of eyes, and who's a great coach
Speaker 4: with great experience that.
Speaker 5: Is just around.
Speaker 4: So what are you seeing? Bring it to me? What
Speaker 4: are you seeing? What's you know, that's it's.
Speaker 3: Almost like opposition research. You're looking at it from the
Speaker 3: opposite side of the field. You're you're trying to see
Speaker 3: the little things that other people who you know, get
Speaker 3: in their little tunnel.
Speaker 2: And stay there don't always necessarily.
Speaker 5: And how about Dom keepers and Dom?
Speaker 2: I mean Dom's just Dom.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's still approaching this with the exact same
Speaker 3: energy he did in nineteen ninety five. And when you
Speaker 3: walk through the weight room and see dom In there
Speaker 3: on the elliptical or a treadmill, it's like he's still
Speaker 3: getting after it. May not be as fast as he
Speaker 3: was grinding on that thing in nineteen ninety five, but
Speaker 3: he's still I mean, he's just.
Speaker 2: Got an energy and a presence he does.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's just, for lack of a better word,
Speaker 3: there's gravity about this staff because there's guys like Dom
Speaker 3: and Jim Calwell who are just extra not position coaches
Speaker 3: or coordinators, just sort of hanging out over the top.
Speaker 3: And oh, by the way, that's about seventy years of coaching.
Speaker 5: It really is.
Speaker 4: I don't want to it's embarrassment of riches, but just
Speaker 4: the amount of experience and.
Speaker 5: Quality coaching that is on the staff is just is
Speaker 5: just great.
Speaker 2: One thing to have a big staff, it's another thing
Speaker 2: to have a big good staff.
Speaker 5: Absolutely absolutely well.
Speaker 4: We could touch on special teams, anything we want to
Speaker 4: say from we've done off its stands.
Speaker 5: Let's get to the most important unit out.
Speaker 3: When I grow up, I want to be a long
Speaker 3: snapper during OTAs, although in fairness to JJ Jansen, he
Speaker 3: does get busy because when they go seven on seven, Yeah,
Speaker 3: he is the center, you know, he's snapping out of
Speaker 3: the shotgun so they can run seven on seven, So
Speaker 3: he actually does a little more. Eddie and Johnny less,
Speaker 3: so I think they I still get a kick. I
Speaker 3: just want to do the day in the life of
Speaker 3: these guys during OTAs, because.
Speaker 5: You do it during training camp. You should do it.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, Okay, you should do like a seven
Speaker 4: oh seven am because I think there was a lot
Speaker 4: of sandwich competition in the cafeteria. I'd heard of maybe
Speaker 4: some ice cream competition. So I would love to see
Speaker 4: a day in the life with actual time codes.
Speaker 3: Johnny always says the life of special teamer is about
Speaker 3: the interminable weights between feeding.
Speaker 4: Yes, and the reason that we can say a to
Speaker 4: stuff about them is because individually they are all very
Speaker 4: good at their jobs, you know, so to be to
Speaker 4: me and an NFL player that performs at that high
Speaker 4: of a level, what did Eddie make what seventeen straight
Speaker 4: at a certain point last year, then you get to,
Speaker 4: you know, take an extra trip over to the h
Speaker 4: the ice cream machine at training camp and joke about it.
Speaker 7: Well, this is fun.
Speaker 6: This will actually be Eddie's first training camp in Spartanburg.
Speaker 6: It hit me because he was signed after all of.
Speaker 4: That, so I was like, because I'm like sane Zane
Speaker 4: Gunzels got hurt in the third preseason game, so I.
Speaker 7: Was just thinking.
Speaker 6: It was like, oh, yeah, they're all together still, you know,
Speaker 6: the same crew, but this will be his first time
Speaker 6: at Watford.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I guess you can show them the ropes
Speaker 4: since you're an old grizzled vet.
Speaker 5: Now right, Oh, your second training camp.
Speaker 6: Oh my goodness, it's so crazy. I mean literally, like
Speaker 6: coming out on the year anniversary. I've just been thinking
Speaker 6: about that. I'm like, oh my goodness, Like I'm starting
Speaker 6: to do things for the second time. Yeah, So it's
Speaker 6: like like mini camp mandatory mini camp was my first.
Speaker 6: I think I may have been here for one. OTA's
Speaker 6: like open to like the whole media. So when that
Speaker 6: happens next week, that'll be like actually like a first
Speaker 6: full circle.
Speaker 7: But then, like Mantoy, mini camp was kind of when
Speaker 7: I started.
Speaker 4: Like it's nice you have a little bit when you're
Speaker 4: not going through things on the calendar for the first time,
Speaker 4: so then you don't have to worry about Okay, where
Speaker 4: do I need to be?
Speaker 5: What is this?
Speaker 2: How?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 4: And you can just focus in on on doing your job,
Speaker 4: which is writing, and you're like, oh, okay, I know
Speaker 4: how this goes. This is going to look like this,
Speaker 4: and you know, so it's great exactly.
Speaker 7: Timing and pacing the other day.
Speaker 3: NFL players the coaches always say they make their biggest
Speaker 3: jump between years one and two.
Speaker 5: The game slows down for you.
Speaker 4: Guess all right, I see they always say too, that's
Speaker 4: the other NFL you know, uh whatever, yeah, clich Yeah,
Speaker 4: the game's really slowed down, Darren.
Speaker 5: I want to ask you, so, I love your ass
Speaker 5: the Old Guy column, uh, your mail bag.
Speaker 4: I read it religiously, of course, as everyone here should
Speaker 4: be on Panthers dot com. But I'm wondering, what are
Speaker 4: people as we were talking about what we were going
Speaker 4: to talk about, we you know, hit the main stuff
Speaker 4: from ots.
Speaker 5: What are people asking you about?
Speaker 4: Because I know you get a lot of questions that
Speaker 4: aren't always featured. So what are the themes you're seeing?
Speaker 4: What Anthers fans want to know?
Speaker 3: I think right after the draft there was you know,
Speaker 3: obviously an excitement about Bryce and getting that box checked
Speaker 3: for the foreseeable future, I think. But there was a
Speaker 3: lot of I think people who read my mail bag
Speaker 3: come out a little paranoid about something. Sometimes there was
Speaker 3: a lot of concern about, oh my god, what are
Speaker 3: they going to do?
Speaker 2: Opposite Brian Burns is.
Speaker 4: Do you because because you are never going to give
Speaker 4: any false hope or not. I think that's just your styles,
Speaker 4: like you're just gonna say, like, this is what it
Speaker 4: is right now, right.
Speaker 3: And so there was a lot of questions about DJ
Speaker 3: and his adjustment to it, and you know, his status.
Speaker 3: I think the other thing I can always count on
Speaker 3: in the mail bag is weekly Matt Corral questions. Yes,
Speaker 3: nobody no matter what Matt Corral is doing or not
Speaker 3: doing in what sense?
Speaker 5: Like what form do these questions take?
Speaker 3: You know, early in the off season there was a
Speaker 3: good bit of should we be letting Matt Corall start
Speaker 3: or And I was like, no, you trade for the
Speaker 3: first pick so you could draft.
Speaker 5: I was gonna say, before the before the trade, before
Speaker 5: the trade, okay.
Speaker 3: And so there's always because he's an unknown, the backup
Speaker 3: quarterback's always the most popular guy in town. And because
Speaker 3: we never really saw Matt. It's just such an unknown
Speaker 3: commodity to most fans that there's a curiosity about those guys.
Speaker 2: And you know, he's handled all this well.
Speaker 3: When he had a press conference the other week, I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, you could say he said all the right things,
Speaker 3: but when you watch him doing the work, he's also
Speaker 3: doing the right things. Matt walks around with a smile
Speaker 3: on his face. He's he's a happy kid. He's he
Speaker 3: can benefit from this staff, these targets the same way
Speaker 3: Bryce Young can't. And I think it puts him in
Speaker 3: a really good position. But people are always asking about
Speaker 3: Matt corral It. It's like a feature the weekly Matt Corrally.
Speaker 5: Oh, that would be great, you could get that sponsored.
Speaker 5: What else are people asking about?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's a lot of I think now
Speaker 3: that it's all together, and that's that was kind of
Speaker 3: the theme of the last one. It's these are the parts,
Speaker 3: this is what this thing's going to look like. You know,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of questions about whether it's reasonable to
Speaker 3: be optimistic about the sponge and I think, you know,
Speaker 3: as I mentioned to somebody the other week, they still
Speaker 3: live in the NFC South, So somebody in this division's
Speaker 3: going to the playoffs, whether it's a great team or
Speaker 3: a not great team, And I think that in and
Speaker 3: of itself makes it a little more interesting. I mean,
Speaker 3: they've come down the stretch with playoff chances, you know,
Speaker 3: last year and when things weren't ideal offensively or otherwise.
Speaker 3: But I think there's just an optimism. I mean, Bryce
Speaker 3: has been a shot of energy to the fan base.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people are thinking, you know,
Speaker 3: I don't want to let people get too far.
Speaker 2: Ahead of themselves.
Speaker 3: I'm not ready to say, oh, yeah, this is super
Speaker 3: Bowl can because the truth is.
Speaker 5: We can't know right now.
Speaker 4: And that's what I was saying about your mail bag,
Speaker 4: is that you're going to give a realistic interpretation of
Speaker 4: what you're seeing out there. And the truth is, we
Speaker 4: haven't even got like I guess I said, she hasn't
Speaker 4: even been to her second mandatory mini camp. We're that
Speaker 4: far for that early on in the off season process.
Speaker 4: So it's yeah, it'd be ridiculous to say this is
Speaker 4: a team that's you know, going to the seat.
Speaker 2: We'll get there, But there's reason. I think there's reason
Speaker 2: to be optimistic.
Speaker 3: Yes, that the offense is going to look much much
Speaker 3: different than anything we've seen from the Carolina Panthers in
Speaker 3: a long time. Really, I mean, I don't want to
Speaker 3: sound ghoulish, but since the Pittsburgh game in twenty eighteen
Speaker 3: when Cam took the shot to the shoulder from TJ. Watt,
Speaker 3: it hasn't been the same since then. And really they've
Speaker 3: been patching things together and trying to do things a
Speaker 3: little bit at a time. And there would be a
Speaker 3: sprinkling of a Christian McCaffrey highlight, and Teddy did some
Speaker 3: nice things in twenty but there hasn't been that kind
Speaker 3: of consistency and sort of offensive momentum that you would build.
Speaker 2: On until now.
Speaker 3: And now this is what that group's going to look
Speaker 3: like for a little bit. So seeing Mingo running downfield,
Speaker 3: seeing Tarras running.
Speaker 4: Down and we should also say there was a you know,
Speaker 4: a multi year build of things like the offensive line
Speaker 4: and you know, the draft and trading for some of
Speaker 4: these pieces so that when it all did come together
Speaker 4: and you have your quarterback and you have these guys
Speaker 4: that you're seeing your skilled position players, that there's a
Speaker 4: firm foundation in place to you.
Speaker 3: But everything offensively, for you know, the last five years
Speaker 3: felt sort of piecemeal in a little bit at a time,
Speaker 3: and you're changing coordinators the way they did, going from
Speaker 3: Joe Brady to you know, on down the line.
Speaker 2: It just it never had any kind of year to
Speaker 2: year flow.
Speaker 3: And I think with a new staff and with a
Speaker 3: young staff and having a Josh McCown around to grow
Speaker 3: with Bryce into these jobs, I think there's the possibility
Speaker 3: to build something that can compound over time.
Speaker 4: I agree right like I said, I think that one
Speaker 4: thing you could say is like, we don't know, of
Speaker 4: course how the season is going to play out at
Speaker 4: this point, but when you're out there on the field
Speaker 4: and watching the moves they've made and seeing the way
Speaker 4: that the staff conducts meetings, I think that if you're
Speaker 4: a Panthers fan, you can feel confident that you have
Speaker 4: a very competent, organized and some really good players out
Speaker 4: there who were all energized and working really hard, and
Speaker 4: you should be able to, you know, take a deep
Speaker 4: breath and feel hopeful about what the.
Speaker 5: Season could bring exactly.
Speaker 6: I like the way Darren said that there you can
Speaker 6: feel confident and optimistic and that it's going to look different,
Speaker 6: And because I feel like that's one inevitable, but too,
Speaker 6: like just with the staff and with everything going on,
Speaker 6: with the speed of things, I mean, with the pieces
Speaker 6: on offense, Like I look, I mean, you know, you
Speaker 6: see the offensive line's pretty much intact in the same
Speaker 6: but all the rest of the skill players, I mean,
Speaker 6: there's like Terrace and Laviska and I'm like, oh, yeah, y'all,
Speaker 6: and then everyone else, I'm like, oh, new, new, new, new,
Speaker 6: new new new, like and then Cuba and Raheem and
Speaker 6: then everything else is just so new.
Speaker 7: So yeah, regardless, it's gonna look, it's gonna look different.
Speaker 6: And you can I mean you can say, you know,
Speaker 6: optimistic or just realistic, but different. It's not always bad
Speaker 6: or good, it's just different. One other thing though, that
Speaker 6: you get questions about that. I didn't want to forget
Speaker 6: process blue. I see something about processed blue every time
Speaker 6: I read it. Yeah, what color is processed blue? Is
Speaker 6: everything processed blue? How do you feel about process blo?
Speaker 2: Questions always moved the needle. Yeah, people people love a
Speaker 2: good uniform.
Speaker 6: I hear process I don't even know what the difference is.
Speaker 5: But process blue, that's amazing. We'll leave it there with
Speaker 5: process blue and then my personal favorite poo, poo poo.
Speaker 4: That was the SoundBite of this episode of Happy Half Hour. Guys,
Speaker 4: thank you so much for joining us. Thank you everyone
Speaker 4: for listening. We'll see you next time.