Speaker 1: On this episode of the Group Chat, we are checking
Speaker 1: in mid training camp in in lieu of it being
Speaker 1: debate season. We're throwing out some opening statements, including should
Speaker 1: we agree with the rants that D'Angelo Williams has recently
Speaker 1: thrown out there. I respect the fact that he's going
Speaker 1: out there and he's making this career and he is
Speaker 1: trying to be as honest as he can be. But
Speaker 1: also he's having fun and I think that's fine. And
Speaker 1: how will the Panthers balance all the playmakers that they
Speaker 1: have on offense? The more likely big play scenario I
Speaker 1: think is involving Curtis in DJ and I think that's
Speaker 1: going to take taking some more shots down field camp
Speaker 1: physically couldn't do it last year. I think, fingers crossed,
Speaker 1: he's going to be able to do it for a
Speaker 1: full season. We then finished with our mid training camp
Speaker 1: m vps. I'm a little bit split here. I wanted
Speaker 1: to give out co MVP awards, but that never goes
Speaker 1: over well with those who win. All of that and more.
Speaker 1: On this episode of the Group Chat, you've been added
Speaker 1: to the Group Chat with your friends Caroline can Max Sensen,
Speaker 1: and will Brian. Welcome to the group chats. We're all
Speaker 1: sitting here. We think that we have our days correct,
Speaker 1: but with training camp, you never we never really know
Speaker 1: exactly what day it is, how many practices we've had,
Speaker 1: and where like are we playing a game soon? Are
Speaker 1: they going to start playing? Coming up? Yeah? Next week
Speaker 1: in Chicago there was a week zero game. Did anybody
Speaker 1: watch the Hall of Fame? I didn't watch any of that.
Speaker 1: I heard that Atlanta at a fourth quarter lead and
Speaker 1: then blew up stop it. I think they did. I think,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, coming out of the gate hot here.
Speaker 1: I like that. Good job. We'll all for the all.
Speaker 1: For the people in the group chat, we we do
Speaker 1: welcome you to the group chat of this year, first
Speaker 1: time listening. We're just getting this thing off the ground
Speaker 1: and running. And it was really fun on on Twitter
Speaker 1: to see some people wonder, how like this is this
Speaker 1: is a podcast, This is not an actual group chat
Speaker 1: where we actually text one another. There is there is
Speaker 1: a group chat on text about the group there there
Speaker 1: is that. I will say no because I think we're
Speaker 1: still trying to decide do we want to flood our
Speaker 1: producer with all of our thoughts. So I thought about
Speaker 1: going in and making just the three of us have
Speaker 1: the group chat. But then I didn't want Matt to
Speaker 1: feel left out, so we're still working through that. Matt,
Speaker 1: will you shake your head if you would like to
Speaker 1: be in the group chat about the group chat or
Speaker 1: if you oh, he's shaking his head. Yes he does.
Speaker 1: Matt have a nickname? Is he like producer Matt? Like?
Speaker 1: What are we calling Matt? We've got to come up
Speaker 1: with this. Those of you listening, his his name is Matt.
Speaker 1: He's our producer. Come up with a name, thank you.
Speaker 1: We'll have to work on that. Yeah, do you have
Speaker 1: it like a DJ name. He's got a nice gotee
Speaker 1: working right, alright? That you got the gotee, spiky hair.
Speaker 1: I like this. He's got glasses, so he always wears
Speaker 1: headphones when we see him, so he could be like
Speaker 1: headphone Matt or something like that. So we have all
Speaker 1: right that add that to our list of things to
Speaker 1: do in this training camp. Have come up with a
Speaker 1: name for a producer, Matt. This is a great driver.
Speaker 1: This is our first time here. Good luck. Because we
Speaker 1: like to have a plan when we come in, but
Speaker 1: like all good group chats, we don't always stick to
Speaker 1: that plan. So we have some things planned for you.
Speaker 1: I'm interested to see what Will is going to bring
Speaker 1: to the table, because these last couple of times, Will
Speaker 1: has been who's gotten us a little bit off track.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be great. There's gonna be a lot of gifts,
Speaker 1: or Jeff's as Amy likes to say, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: some gifts thrown in here. Jeff is peanut butter. Gifts
Speaker 1: has been images that are sending glad. Alright, well, glad,
Speaker 1: that's settled. All right, We're gonna move into our first
Speaker 1: little segment here. That's if you've been paying attention to
Speaker 1: anything other than football, you know that it is debate season. Okay,
Speaker 1: the Democratic debates have been going on. They've been fascinating,
Speaker 1: Like all debates, are not sure if anything gets a published,
Speaker 1: but we're going to do that here. So each of
Speaker 1: us have brought to the table an opening statement. So
Speaker 1: welcome to the two thousand nineteen Carolina Panthers training camp,
Speaker 1: preseason all in one really about this twenty nineteen campaign.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our debate. So we don't have a moderator,
Speaker 1: so I'm going to be the moderator. We're just going
Speaker 1: to roll through this our first candidate up with his
Speaker 1: opening statement, we have will Brian William, William, Charles Bryan.
Speaker 1: Oh that's a good one. Yeah, we gotta reverse it though,
Speaker 1: is it really Yeah, you're one of those who's child.
Speaker 1: So your first name is actually Charles, Charles is this
Speaker 1: this is? This is a tooth thing. I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: middle namer. Yeah. Why is in the South? You guys
Speaker 1: do this all the time. It doesn't make anything. You
Speaker 1: got You're here, Come on, Mac, But why don't you
Speaker 1: moved here? Buddy? If it's your middle name, like, why not?
Speaker 1: Like the big reason? So for me, my mom his
Speaker 1: name is Nancy. So my name is a family name,
Speaker 1: Nancy Caroline. So for a long time I went by
Speaker 1: the double name. So it was named Caroline until I
Speaker 1: was nine, but everyone always shortened that to Nancy. Well
Speaker 1: that's my mom, So I asked when I was not,
Speaker 1: can I please just go by Caroline so that I'm OK.
Speaker 1: So the their plan for you was your name to
Speaker 1: becy Caroline, Okay, and you just sort of But I
Speaker 1: feel like I've heard a lot of people like Will
Speaker 1: who the plan at birth was this is your first
Speaker 1: name and this is your middle name. But then they
Speaker 1: just start going by their middle name, like from the beginning,
Speaker 1: like that's just understood. It's like, no, we're gonna call
Speaker 1: you sounds better like I guess, like, did you grow
Speaker 1: into this? And it's like, oh, yeah, he's more of
Speaker 1: a will than he would be a Charlie. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was actually a William, more of a William. I
Speaker 1: was a William until college and they started signing things
Speaker 1: will because I'm like, there's a lot of options you
Speaker 1: could do with William, though, So I'm happy that you
Speaker 1: landed on my sixth grade My sixth grade teacher called
Speaker 1: me Billy. Yeah, weird. I don't like that. That's weird.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the group. That's exactly what happened. That was Max. Okay,
Speaker 1: so everyone collect yourselves and let's go back to the
Speaker 1: debate season. First up in our debate here, our opening
Speaker 1: statement will be from will Billy Bill Charles William the
Speaker 1: third go ahead. Lay off to Angelo. Williams. Lay off
Speaker 1: him because here's the thing, de'angelo. As much as I
Speaker 1: disagree with a lot of the things he says, and
Speaker 1: some of them are out right wrong, I respect the
Speaker 1: fact that he's going out there and he's making this
Speaker 1: career and he is trying to be as honest as
Speaker 1: he can be, but also he's having fun. And I
Speaker 1: think that's fine, Like I really do. I think I
Speaker 1: think it's fine for a guy to go out to
Speaker 1: be out there in the media and to trash whoever
Speaker 1: he wants to trash. He's literally taking a page out
Speaker 1: of a politicians book. I'm aware of that. This sounds
Speaker 1: like someone else that we know, except here's the difference.
Speaker 1: Here's the difference. One of them, it's it's football and
Speaker 1: it's entertainment and people are literally like thinking this is
Speaker 1: the end of the world and they have to like
Speaker 1: block him on Twitter and burn jerseys. The other one, like,
Speaker 1: there's things that actually like matter in like affect people,
Speaker 1: you know that having that have a different to Angela
Speaker 1: is just having fun like this is like worldwide wrestling
Speaker 1: to him. So do you agree with what, like some
Speaker 1: of the things that he's saying, though, Yeah, let's let's
Speaker 1: let's recap for some people who may not be aware
Speaker 1: of what was said, give us a little bit of
Speaker 1: a recap, all right. So it's like, for instance, this
Speaker 1: morning on F and Z, right before Max came on,
Speaker 1: Um d'angela was talking about the way that he felt
Speaker 1: like with the Panthers and with any organization, frankly, that
Speaker 1: he felt like he was just kind of a jersey.
Speaker 1: He was just a thirty four. He wasn't D'Angelo Williams.
Speaker 1: And I think for most organizations that's how you know players.
Speaker 1: Players are a part of this. You know, they're the
Speaker 1: running back there, you know this number or whatever. He
Speaker 1: he would he didn't want to wear the jersey when
Speaker 1: he went out to community appearances. He wanted people just
Speaker 1: to see him for him. And I think I think
Speaker 1: that there's something to that, and I think that is
Speaker 1: honest to present that point of view that like, listen,
Speaker 1: you know, I might play for another team, I might
Speaker 1: go to a different city. I might not retire and
Speaker 1: live here in Charlotte. I want people to know who
Speaker 1: I am and when I'm about, apart from me being
Speaker 1: a good running back. Shoot, if I have a bad game,
Speaker 1: is running back? Does that mean that my contributions to
Speaker 1: this you know, habitat project aren't as good because you know,
Speaker 1: I fumbled three times last week, Like that's kind of unfair,
Speaker 1: and so like I understand where he's coming from in
Speaker 1: terms of that the problem is he leads into that
Speaker 1: by like trolling this Twitter guy that you know, maybe
Speaker 1: or may not like like him, and so he's gonna
Speaker 1: like say something about the dudes, you know, family or
Speaker 1: something so well, and didn't he also starts, you know,
Speaker 1: he set sometulf about Cam, Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: Didn't he say something along the lines of if you
Speaker 1: take away Cam's m v PCs. And he's been a
Speaker 1: pretty like pedestrian quarterback. So it's not just like would
Speaker 1: be one thing if he was just talking about his
Speaker 1: own experience, but he is. Now, you know, he's been
Speaker 1: fairly consistently talking about other players and coaches and management
Speaker 1: and sharing those I think he's doing. I think he's
Speaker 1: doing a really good job of making a name for himself.
Speaker 1: Now that's that's his responsibility. I think when I hear
Speaker 1: him talk about it, it's like, that's that's great in theory,
Speaker 1: but it's up to you to make your name outside
Speaker 1: of football. You wouldn't be a household, household name if
Speaker 1: we're gonna put quotes around that. People wouldn't know who
Speaker 1: you are without the NFL umbrella, without the Panther umbrella.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we are going to put you in a
Speaker 1: jersey to walk out, because there are some kids at
Speaker 1: this habitat builder or families that they don't recognize you
Speaker 1: away from football. Now, once you're there, it's up to
Speaker 1: you to make a personal impact with them. So it
Speaker 1: is one of those of like, I agree, he's he's
Speaker 1: doing that now. He's making a name for himself now
Speaker 1: away from the NFL, shielding away from the Panthers and
Speaker 1: doing all that. So I'm with you. I'm all here
Speaker 1: for it. But whoa talk about? I mean, you're not
Speaker 1: getting that, you're not having if you want to be
Speaker 1: known for all of these good things, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: you're doing it right. Yeah, it seems like a concerted
Speaker 1: effort to trash former teammates and this team as much
Speaker 1: as he can. And I think that's where people's issue is.
Speaker 1: It'd be one thing if it was like, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is an opportunity where it's a fair criticism and
Speaker 1: you know, you're pretty balanced with your views and you
Speaker 1: play both sides, you look at both sides, you do
Speaker 1: it in a way that's fair and balance. It doesn't
Speaker 1: seem like that's his approach. His approach is seeming to
Speaker 1: be any opportunity, and even when there doesn't seems to
Speaker 1: be an opportunity, he just feels like taking his his shots,
Speaker 1: which and I think that's what people have a problem,
Speaker 1: which is the difference between him and Steve Smith, because
Speaker 1: one could argue that, you know, Steve had reason to
Speaker 1: be upset when he left as well, and you know,
Speaker 1: he now has a platform, he now has a mic
Speaker 1: in front of him, and he's taken shots when he's
Speaker 1: seen them to be relevant and journalistically, you know, appropriate.
Speaker 1: He spreads he spreads it around, and he spreads it around.
Speaker 1: I don't know if approp it's the right word, but
Speaker 1: it's always entertaining in a good way. Right. But I mean,
Speaker 1: for the most part, Steve's right like he And that's
Speaker 1: the problem with the Angelo is that d' angelo will
Speaker 1: say something that probably objectively is accurate, but then he's
Speaker 1: circling it around with all this other crap that's not
Speaker 1: because he's just trying to, you know, go right at
Speaker 1: one thing, which might be the difference between Steve having
Speaker 1: a long and successful broadcasting career in d'An angelo making
Speaker 1: every once in a while appearances on first take. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's obvious that d' angelo gets a lot of
Speaker 1: enjoyment out of playing this role, like he's he's a
Speaker 1: big wrestling fan and to use like the wrestling term.
Speaker 1: He likes being the heel, like he clearly likes being
Speaker 1: the guy that everybody is kind of booing a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I think he kind of welcomes it um and
Speaker 1: it's obvious with his actions and you know, he'll say
Speaker 1: something and then I'll hop on F and Z for
Speaker 1: an hour and talk more about it. It's it's like
Speaker 1: a it's a vicious cycle that I think he gets
Speaker 1: a lot of enjoyment. He enjoyed every bit of his
Speaker 1: his appearance on the radio, like they were literally arguing
Speaker 1: with him and going at him the entire time, and
Speaker 1: he was laughing. Smith he is this Stephen a Smith
Speaker 1: esque person. So I don't think this opening statement well
Speaker 1: is making it to the next debate, because do you
Speaker 1: agree and disagree with your statement? And it's easy aut
Speaker 1: like Layoff is how is that not like every politician
Speaker 1: in the debate, but you're out, we have to eliminate.
Speaker 1: There has to be in next debate and you get eliminated.
Speaker 1: So we agree but disagree with Layoff, don't lay off.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want you to lay off. He wants you
Speaker 1: to continue that point and bring it on. That's a
Speaker 1: good point. Yeah, all right, there was your opening statement.
Speaker 1: Number one going to number two. Max Okay, the current
Speaker 1: running back on the Panthers, um Christian McCaffrey. I think
Speaker 1: it's better for the Panthers if Christian McCaffrey has less
Speaker 1: touches this season. And this was a topic of conversation
Speaker 1: after Christian met the media, camp and Or Turner had
Speaker 1: spoken to the media and and Ron Wade in everybody
Speaker 1: wanting to know is he getting too much of a workload?
Speaker 1: Do they have to take some of it off his plate? This, that,
Speaker 1: and the other. I just think a hundred and seven
Speaker 1: catches is a tremendous individual season for running back. With
Speaker 1: the record breaking season, carrying the ball as much as
Speaker 1: he did over a thousand yards, a fantastic individual season.
Speaker 1: All the all the christ McCaffrey fantasy owners are probably
Speaker 1: not gonna like this, But from a Panther's perspective, if
Speaker 1: he finishes with like, let's say, seventy catches and the
Speaker 1: thirties seven of those other ones are spread around to
Speaker 1: guys like Curtis, Samuel D. J. Moore and Greg Olson,
Speaker 1: who hopefully is healthy. I think you've got a much
Speaker 1: more balanced offense, and they need to stretch the field
Speaker 1: in a way that you're not going to be able
Speaker 1: to with Christian. It's a lot of checkdown, dump off
Speaker 1: things that was comfortable for Cam last year. I think
Speaker 1: if he's able to stretch the field with DJ and
Speaker 1: Curtis and those reception numbers for those guys are going up,
Speaker 1: I think you've got a much better offense that's gonna
Speaker 1: be much more dangerous. So I think it will be
Speaker 1: a good thing if Christian and I know he's not
Speaker 1: gonna like to see either if his touches go down.
Speaker 1: So it's touches, not like I'm okay with him being
Speaker 1: catches the ball or is it just when he's running
Speaker 1: the ball like catches and catches and rushes, but you're
Speaker 1: okay with him being out there for I think that
Speaker 1: the plays don't bother. That's a that's a big distinction
Speaker 1: that Norvi has tried to make that Christians try to make.
Speaker 1: There's a difference between everyone talks about. I don't have
Speaker 1: a problem with the plays, yeah, because I think that's
Speaker 1: the number of people have been drawn to. It's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, explain of the snaps. That's crazy. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's not touching the ball every time, and so it's
Speaker 1: not like he's dealing with the wear and tear of
Speaker 1: getting hit by two pound linebackers. A lot of times
Speaker 1: he's running into the flat and he's just a decoy.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the value of Christian in so
Speaker 1: many ways. He's going to attract so much attention that's
Speaker 1: going to open things up for the other guys in
Speaker 1: this offense. So I don't have a problem with the plays.
Speaker 1: It's the touches that I think. Honestly, they just need
Speaker 1: to spread the ball around more. And I think Curtis
Speaker 1: especially has proven that he deserves more than forty five catches.
Speaker 1: I mean, that guy has got the talent, uh that
Speaker 1: you want to see it, um, And so I think
Speaker 1: his his numbers need to increase. And there's only one
Speaker 1: ball to go around, right. If Greg Olsen's gonna be healthy,
Speaker 1: that guy warrants about eighty catches a year or so.
Speaker 1: I think if all things fall into place for this team,
Speaker 1: Kristen's numbers should naturally take a little bit of a dib.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna disagree with this. Do it because I think
Speaker 1: the I think if he has the same amount of touches,
Speaker 1: I'm getting hold on. Do you think he will have
Speaker 1: or will not have the same amount. I think it'd
Speaker 1: be better. I think it'd be better for this team
Speaker 1: if he has a fewer touches. See, I think the
Speaker 1: touches stay around the same. I don't think he'll have
Speaker 1: as much as last year because last year was out
Speaker 1: of necessity. I think this year it'll be out of
Speaker 1: like we can do this. I think when you have
Speaker 1: a playmaker like Christian McCaffrey, you have to use him
Speaker 1: like I get You know, you're going to be able
Speaker 1: to spread the ball around more and that's going to
Speaker 1: be fantastic. But I think instead of him being a decoy,
Speaker 1: I don't think he'll play as many snaps. But I
Speaker 1: do think when he's in there, like you have to
Speaker 1: give him the ball. He's explosive. He makes these big plays.
Speaker 1: I just don't think. I still think their goal is
Speaker 1: to get him to touch the ball as many times.
Speaker 1: I don't think he'll be catching it as much. I
Speaker 1: don't think his reception numbers going to be, but this
Speaker 1: team like running the ball. I just think when you
Speaker 1: look at who they're going to be spreading the ball
Speaker 1: around to with Curtis and DJ and Olsen and you know,
Speaker 1: all of these ball catchers. Outside of that, I still
Speaker 1: think he's a ball catcher in that sense. But they're
Speaker 1: gonna be running the ball more effectively this year. Because
Speaker 1: you can spread the ball around, I think it's going
Speaker 1: to open it up for him. So I think he
Speaker 1: gets the same touches, just not as many snaps. I
Speaker 1: didn't think about it was they ran the ball extremely
Speaker 1: effectively last year. They were number one in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and yards per rush they finished fourth, and rushing overall.
Speaker 1: I think they need bigger plays in the passing game
Speaker 1: and you're not going to yeah, I look, look, they
Speaker 1: definitely want to run the ball at a high level um,
Speaker 1: but I think for them to be more successful on offense,
Speaker 1: and it's so hard to matriculate the ball down the
Speaker 1: field with ten twelve play drives every time, and as
Speaker 1: explosive as Christian is, it's rare that you're going to
Speaker 1: get him in the flat. He makes three guys miss
Speaker 1: and takes it off for fifty yards. The more likely
Speaker 1: big play scenario I think is involving Curtis in DJ
Speaker 1: and I think that's going to take taking some more
Speaker 1: shots down field. Cam physically couldn't do it last year.
Speaker 1: I think, fingers crossed, he's going to be able to
Speaker 1: do it for a full season this year. And that
Speaker 1: would mean then those checkdown options to Christian that were
Speaker 1: the best option last year, I think this year he's
Speaker 1: got to have his eyes down feel a little bit more,
Speaker 1: and he's got to take more shots with those guys
Speaker 1: who've proven in camp so far at least that they're
Speaker 1: ready to take advantage from the balls in the air.
Speaker 1: But but even then, weeks went through eight, Carolina was
Speaker 1: six and two. I mean, obviously there are some things
Speaker 1: that were lingering. You know, the the deep ball wasn't
Speaker 1: really there. We didn't really see it as as much
Speaker 1: as we could have because we were winning or the
Speaker 1: Panthers are winning. But six and two, Cam ranked and
Speaker 1: had it was on pace for a career high and completion. Right,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. If you can go deep and if
Speaker 1: you can get the ball to DJ and Curtis and
Speaker 1: still complete at that level, then then absolutely, But if
Speaker 1: if you're if you're rocking back and you're going deep
Speaker 1: and it's not there, and all of a sudden, it's
Speaker 1: third and twelve when it could have been you know,
Speaker 1: or it's third and ten when it could have been
Speaker 1: third and two. Because to four yard dump offs to
Speaker 1: Christian worked, you know. I mean, like the thing with
Speaker 1: those dump offs, you're gonna get four to five yards
Speaker 1: period like you're going to he doesn't get stopped for losses. Yep.
Speaker 1: And I think it's a defense they're willing to give
Speaker 1: that up. You know. Well, I think a defensive mentality
Speaker 1: will be will make you beat us with four and
Speaker 1: five yard dump off passes a Christian, Well, we'll live
Speaker 1: with that. And I think that's I think what makes
Speaker 1: this offense much scarier in the eyes of opposing defenses
Speaker 1: is the idea of Curtis Samuel one on one on
Speaker 1: the outside and can being able to hit him if
Speaker 1: he's open, Because we saw that last year where Curtis
Speaker 1: was open, the ball just couldn't get there. But he's
Speaker 1: got to hit him exactly, you know. I think that
Speaker 1: that's the caveat he hast to hit him. He has
Speaker 1: to be able to complete at a high rate. And
Speaker 1: I think we all just sort of are looking out
Speaker 1: for a Christian, right, I mean, we want to see
Speaker 1: this guy have a really long, successful career, and he
Speaker 1: has puts himself in a bus aedition with his training
Speaker 1: to handle this kind of workload. But I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody is really going to be mad if he's still
Speaker 1: effective and is maybe touching the ball a little bit
Speaker 1: less and they're and they're able to save him. Maybe
Speaker 1: just that tad bit those legs get a little fresher
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. Well, I love that My response
Speaker 1: and rebuttal to your opening statement is um pretty much
Speaker 1: directly going against my opening statement. So here we go
Speaker 1: in the lieu of debate. And yeah, and I'm playing
Speaker 1: the game correctly. Okay, I'm making a debate. Happen you
Speaker 1: agreed and disagreed with your own opening statement. I have nuance,
Speaker 1: all right. So my opening statement is that Curtis Samuel
Speaker 1: is going to be a top five receiver in New
Speaker 1: Cards this year. So it's going correctly against that. But
Speaker 1: here's why. Here's here's why I think that. So when
Speaker 1: I was an indie, t Y Hilton was always in
Speaker 1: that top conversation, but no one ever gives t Y
Speaker 1: the like respect of being the top receiver, but he
Speaker 1: always sneaks in in those top five because it's not
Speaker 1: so much that t Y gets the ball all the time,
Speaker 1: but when t Y gets the ball, it's for a
Speaker 1: sixty yard game down the field, like he is that
Speaker 1: deep threat. I think we're talking about Curtis Samuel the
Speaker 1: way that he has been running routes in training camp
Speaker 1: making people look silly, Okay, the way that you know,
Speaker 1: his speed of being able to get down the field.
Speaker 1: The fact that you know him and Dante have been
Speaker 1: going at it like Dante is so fast and having
Speaker 1: the two of them go against I think it's so
Speaker 1: great for Curtis. So I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: one of those where, like midway through the season or
Speaker 1: three quarters of the way through, we're gonna end up
Speaker 1: looking at each other and be like, wait, is Curtis
Speaker 1: that high in the receiving yards Because it's not going
Speaker 1: to be one where he's getting the ball all the time,
Speaker 1: But when they choose to use him, because we're talking
Speaker 1: about spreading the ball around and being able to have
Speaker 1: all these different options, I like Curtis, you think think yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think yards start to be very high, and so
Speaker 1: with that, he's going to be in that conversation of
Speaker 1: you know, top ten, top five. I'm going top five
Speaker 1: for the sake of argument, but I think he is
Speaker 1: going to be up there, and we're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: have a guy to watch at the end of the season. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I was saying, like, just looking at that
Speaker 1: model from last year, the guy that was that and
Speaker 1: he got some pub from it because they were big
Speaker 1: explosive plays, but he only had eighty seven catches, ranked
Speaker 1: fourth in the league, and receiving yards seventeen point seven
Speaker 1: yards per catch Tyreek Hill, you know, and there's there's
Speaker 1: some similarity there, you know, that explosiveness, that ability to
Speaker 1: just all of a sudden boom, he's gone and he's
Speaker 1: in the open field, you know. I mean he had
Speaker 1: twelve touchdown receptions. I mean, obviously there's all the off
Speaker 1: the field stuff going, but you know, I think that
Speaker 1: there's there's kind of a model for what Curtis can
Speaker 1: be there. Well, I think too when you look at
Speaker 1: Cam you know, coming back, he did make a comment
Speaker 1: in training camp, but look, it's still a process for me.
Speaker 1: I'm not all the way back you've seen me make
Speaker 1: these throws on the field, but there's a lot going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes where I'm still working to come back.
Speaker 1: If he is still working to come back and doesn't
Speaker 1: quite feel like himself, but he's been able to unload
Speaker 1: like he has in training camp, that's good. That's a
Speaker 1: good thing. You know. It's not something where we're not
Speaker 1: seeing him throw and he's still having to say it's
Speaker 1: a process. I'm still getting out there. No, he's saying
Speaker 1: it's a process. I'm still getting out there. But I've
Speaker 1: aired out some sixty yard balls for you as well.
Speaker 1: So I think when you see that the way that
Speaker 1: Curtis has been running some routes, I'm excited that Carolina
Speaker 1: may have that deep threat guy to be able to
Speaker 1: give it. You know, let's move the chains down there
Speaker 1: and get the ball there, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: hopefully at the end of the season, we're watching him,
Speaker 1: and especially if you're rolling coverage to Curtis aside and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, you hit you hit a
Speaker 1: DJ on a ten yard in and then DJ only
Speaker 1: has one guy to beat. My goodness, he's gonna beat
Speaker 1: that one guy and the safety is on the other
Speaker 1: side of the field running sixty yards down with Curtis.
Speaker 1: It's incredible what they can do off each other. I
Speaker 1: I think we're all justifiably very excited about Curtis. I
Speaker 1: think the the thing about it is we just have
Speaker 1: we we've never seen Curtis play at this level that
Speaker 1: we're kind of talking about. And I think so that
Speaker 1: that's what makes it a projection, is it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of gonna have to be a you know, we we've
Speaker 1: seen guys have amazing training camps and then not have
Speaker 1: amazing seasons. I am holding out hope that Curtis is
Speaker 1: going to completely take what he's doing in Spartanburg out
Speaker 1: onto the field on Sundays once we get into the
Speaker 1: fall um. But we just haven't seen it at a
Speaker 1: consistent high level yet. I think we saw glimpses last
Speaker 1: year in Week seventeen when Kyle Allen got into the
Speaker 1: game and you could actually uncourse some deep balls. You
Speaker 1: saw Curtis on the receiving end of it, and it
Speaker 1: kind of gave you a little bit of hope for well,
Speaker 1: what if it's Cam who's throwing those balls and we're
Speaker 1: seeing that all of next season? So I think we
Speaker 1: we've seen a little bits and pieces, but to talk
Speaker 1: about a top five receiver in the NFL and receiving,
Speaker 1: we have not seen Curtis come close to be that
Speaker 1: kind of player yet. Um. I think he's got the potential.
Speaker 1: Potential is a dangerous word in this league, so we'll
Speaker 1: find out soon enough. Um, But there's no denying the
Speaker 1: guy has been a stud throughout camp. I just have
Speaker 1: seen it that before not necessarily translate into success once
Speaker 1: the once the game start for real. And I think
Speaker 1: like the preseason and everyone says it's not that exciting,
Speaker 1: they're not real games, but I think for this Panthers team,
Speaker 1: the preseason is going to be very telling because there's
Speaker 1: a lot of potential out there. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: these young guys and its potential and yeah, they look
Speaker 1: great when they're going up against the guys they're comfortable
Speaker 1: with in practice, but throw them out there. I'm interested
Speaker 1: to see against the Bears, and you know, the Bills
Speaker 1: and the Steelers and in New England, like those are
Speaker 1: some good teams with some talented guys that aren't your teammates.
Speaker 1: Like that, I think it's a good preseason schedule but
Speaker 1: the Bills, they know a lot of them. So it's still,
Speaker 1: you know that kind of being comfortable in the preseason
Speaker 1: and being able to kind of still prepare for the season.
Speaker 1: But I'm interested to see all of these debates. I
Speaker 1: don't think any of us will be running for office
Speaker 1: because on a let's rate ourselves on what we think
Speaker 1: about this, um sad debate we just had. Well, like
Speaker 1: Will's into politics, So I think you actually would like
Speaker 1: to run for office, wouldn't you? Like? Could you see
Speaker 1: that as something I could sort of see? I did
Speaker 1: like the than government stuff in high school. Yeah, Like
Speaker 1: I was in student government in high school for me,
Speaker 1: for me. Did you you had to vote though, right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: in the in the student election, So yeah, have you
Speaker 1: voted in a real election? Yes, I mean I'll participate, um,
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to, you know, be the one running.
Speaker 1: But I could see you Will Billy Williams, Charles the third.
Speaker 1: The third just seems to fit you. You're not a third,
Speaker 1: are you? I'm I'm not. My brief story, my my
Speaker 1: mom tried to add the Charles because my dad is
Speaker 1: a junior, and so we were rolling with because I
Speaker 1: have four names. Actually, Charles William McFadden, Bryan McFadden is incredible.
Speaker 1: Just just throw a McFadden in there. Yeah. So, so
Speaker 1: my mom just threw Charles in at the last second
Speaker 1: because my dad's Charles and my granddad was a Charles,
Speaker 1: So she just kind of threw that in there, and
Speaker 1: Dad was like, what why do you do that? I
Speaker 1: don't want him to be Charles. I wanted to be
Speaker 1: his own person. McFadden incredible. Wow, Yeah, we need to
Speaker 1: do something with that. Yeah, is that a name or what?
Speaker 1: Say it one more time? The full name Charles William McFadden, Bryant,
Speaker 1: that's a name, Ariy. To wrap this podcast up, let's
Speaker 1: go quickly. Who the training camp m VP has been
Speaker 1: so far? We're not even halfway through training camp, so
Speaker 1: this is subject to change, but let's just go in.
Speaker 1: These are observations we've been at every single practice. We've
Speaker 1: seen them sitting in the lounge and going to meals.
Speaker 1: Who is it that is your training camp m v P.
Speaker 1: You can be player, personnel, coach anybody. Well, he's starting
Speaker 1: us off. Jerald McCoy. I mean from from day one,
Speaker 1: he was literally on the other side of the fence
Speaker 1: signing autographs for everyone that was around carrying helmets, carrying
Speaker 1: pads for guys. Um, he's now gotten to the point
Speaker 1: where like people are refusing, like no, listen, you're not
Speaker 1: carrying the pads. But it's it's a pretty good on
Speaker 1: the field, yeah exactly. I mean, and then then you
Speaker 1: see him on one on ones and he's just like
Speaker 1: blowing people seven yards off the ball. I mean, just
Speaker 1: this bull rush and you think like if you can
Speaker 1: get a bulrush there on the inside from the three
Speaker 1: man front, and then what you have coming off the edge, Like,
Speaker 1: oh my goodness. I think I think that was the
Speaker 1: thing that you know when when the stories kind of
Speaker 1: guy out of you know, how such a great guy
Speaker 1: is and how you know he was looking to get back.
Speaker 1: You know, you saw some of like you know, salty
Speaker 1: bucks fans be like, oh, well, you know, if only
Speaker 1: he had a meaner streak on the field. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, he's he looks fine on the field
Speaker 1: to me. The accountability part two. He's always like making
Speaker 1: sure guys are running through the line every rep. I think,
Speaker 1: granted I was not here last year to see the
Speaker 1: defensive line accountability, but I just feel like it's higher
Speaker 1: because of Jerald McCoy. I've seen him kind of leading
Speaker 1: that charge of the accountability. So that's a good one.
Speaker 1: Gerald McCoy m v P number one. Yeah, I'll go next. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go. I'm a little bit split here.
Speaker 1: I wanted to give out co MVP awards, but that
Speaker 1: never goes over well with those who win. UM, So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with a kind of obvious one. But
Speaker 1: Greg Olsen, And here's here's why he has taken like
Speaker 1: still some conversation around his foot and is he going
Speaker 1: to be healthy and this is a big scare for everyone.
Speaker 1: But I think a big thing for this team is
Speaker 1: becoming a team. And there's a lot of new faces,
Speaker 1: a lot of young guys. Um. And what I've seen
Speaker 1: from Greg is he'll sit in the lounge and like
Speaker 1: he's always sparking conversation with someone loves it. And I think,
Speaker 1: I think for this team though, that's so important. It
Speaker 1: would be really easy for this team to kind of
Speaker 1: getting the monotony of just football, football, football, not really
Speaker 1: get to know. But I there was a conversation that
Speaker 1: he was having with Curtis Samuel some of the receivers
Speaker 1: of like where Curtis came from and what he went
Speaker 1: through as a child and who why he is the
Speaker 1: way he is, and like, I think that's so important
Speaker 1: for this team because they're gonna i mean be around
Speaker 1: each other for the next you know, until the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That it's you better like them and you better know
Speaker 1: something about him. So I think it's very important that
Speaker 1: this team does that. And so Greg is Greg, and
Speaker 1: he's been very like fiery on the practice field to
Speaker 1: of like really getting after some guys and it is
Speaker 1: like no bs on the football field, which is great,
Speaker 1: but he's taking that time to like invest in their lives.
Speaker 1: And this is probably a like very normal Greg Olsen,
Speaker 1: but for me seeing it for the first time, and
Speaker 1: my big thing with this team, I think I said
Speaker 1: it a couple of weeks ago, was like they have
Speaker 1: to become a team and that's what training campus for,
Speaker 1: but not all teams capitalize on it. I think Greg
Speaker 1: understands that, and he's being intentional about bringing this team together.
Speaker 1: So I'm taking more of like yes on the field, Greg,
Speaker 1: but really it's like you know, when we're eating meals
Speaker 1: and we're sitting around and working the guys are lounging
Speaker 1: of like he's really making sure this team comes together
Speaker 1: and when they break camp they got something out of
Speaker 1: it more than just knowing the playbook and talk about politics.
Speaker 1: Greg would love to sit in and have a discussion
Speaker 1: with j J. Actually we need to do that when yes,
Speaker 1: we're doing that. Someone last year, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you wanted yet, And it's one of those things be
Speaker 1: careful what you wish for. Well, someone write that down.
Speaker 1: You tweet at us later about hey, remember that time
Speaker 1: you wanted being Craig and we just do that. Those
Speaker 1: two could have a serious Yeah, we won't. Actually, we
Speaker 1: don't even need to be here. They can just come
Speaker 1: in and fill in when we're going away or something.
Speaker 1: We'll bring them in, all right. I mean I'll go
Speaker 1: Curtis Samuel then. I mean he's been the clear standout
Speaker 1: throughout the first week or so of practices. Um, we
Speaker 1: talked about it a little bit, just you know before.
Speaker 1: The guy has taken a huge step um really confidence wise.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think I've seen a wide receiver
Speaker 1: on this team since I've been here play with this
Speaker 1: sort of swagger day in and day out of practice. Um.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm hoping that this translates into the fall.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you right now, in training camp, I mean,
Speaker 1: James Bradbury has got his hands full with him and
Speaker 1: every day and one on ones, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: we're out there with their phones up recording the five
Speaker 1: second videos and people are going nuts and justifiably. I mean,
Speaker 1: Curtis is uncoverable right now in one on one situations.
Speaker 1: He's just so quick off the line. Um, And I
Speaker 1: think everybody is just kind of on that sideline watching him,
Speaker 1: going this guy is, this guy is about to explode. Um.
Speaker 1: And it's really exciting just watching him every day. He's
Speaker 1: been the star camp. Yeah, there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: stars of camp so far for the Carolina Panthers, which
Speaker 1: is a great thing. But we are what seven practices
Speaker 1: in uh More to Go training Camp is gonna be
Speaker 1: in Spartanburg all the way through August fourteen. So if
Speaker 1: you have not been and you're thinking, man, they've said
Speaker 1: some things I wish I would have seen in person,
Speaker 1: come on down. Yeah. The joint practice is gonna have
Speaker 1: the bills down there. It's gonna make things a little spicy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would definitely make my way down for those It's
Speaker 1: totally free. You just have to get to Spartanburg. Let
Speaker 1: us know you're there. Um, it's certainly a fun time,
Speaker 1: an exciting time because they they're undefeated right now, the
Speaker 1: Panthers right completely undefeated, everything to be excited about. So
Speaker 1: we hope you guys enjoyed this episode of the Group Chat.
Speaker 1: We will be back and try and stay on track,
Speaker 1: but we promise we never will. We'll see again. Show