WEBVTT - Happy Half Hour Episode 120: Future Thinking 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:07.360 This week on a happy half hour. That's ultimately what 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.080 the trade came down to. I mean, is it worth 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.039 flipping a fifth round pick to buy yourself a fifth 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.840 year of contract? And given the way wide receiver contracts 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:20.000 are exploding, that fifty year option just gives them a 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:21.040 little more cost sir. 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.680 What's doll cow? 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.840 It's time for the Happy half Hour with your friends. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:39.519 Darren Ghant and Cassidy Hill. All right, friends, welcome to Monday. 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.120 Question Mark, I think it's Monday. This is the Happy 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:47.040 half Hour. It's Darren, there's Cassidy. Cassidy Monday, right. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:48.800 You could tell me it is a new day of 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:50.919 the week that just got made up and passed into 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.080 law last week. And if it happened last week, I'd 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:54.520 believe you. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.160 Happy Fred's Day everyone. We're just making stuff up as 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.040 we go along because we've lost all concept of time. 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.920 That's what happens when you spend a beautiful weekend in Charlotte, 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.440 North Carolina, in a windowless room covering an NFL draft. 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.920 So but we we do it for the people, and 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.360 we are happy to do it and as excited as 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.800 people are about what happened this weekend. Yeah, you know, 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.959 those efforts were justified because I got to tell you, 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.120 we were out there at a mini camp last week 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:26.880 and we saw grass and we saw football people and 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.840 football things, and then we went indoors and that football 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.759 team came out different. It is. It is a big 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.360 weekend in terms of the Carolina Panthers, not only for 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:40.560 the stuff that happened for the immediate but for down 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:42.120 the line. And we can get to it all in 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.280 a second, but the big news is for a team 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.960 that walked into a weekend without a first round pick 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.080 and without a whole lot of expectation. All of a 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:56.240 sudden stuff started happening. I mean Thursday night, right before midnight, 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.160 Dan Morgan gets on the phone, makes the deal with 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.200 his old boss Bean, and all of a sudden, the 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.200 Carolina Panthers have a first round pick again. 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:05.880 Right. I think the announcers even said, hey, let's welcome 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:09.360 to Carolina Panthers to the first round. When when we 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.960 got on the elevator Friday night, I believe it was 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.120 I asked Dan Morgan. I was like, did you trade 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.200 baseball cards a lot as a kid? Like was that 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:19.640 your thing? And he like took it literally and he 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:21.880 was like, I don't think I really ever collected baseball cards. 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.240 I was like, not the point, Yeah, but yeah he was. 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:26.720 He was a wheeling and dealing man this weekend. 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.640 Yeah, Dan was definitely locked in. That's the one thing. 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.680 And we're gonna take you behind the scenes into that 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.959 draft room, you know, as the weeks and months go 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.079 by here at Panthers dot Com with our video department 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.399 and stuff we do on the website. But the one 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.720 thing I can tell you for sure is that stuff 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.320 was happening, and it was happening fast, and to not 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.280 only to move into the first round. I mean, Xavier leg. 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:56.640 It, league leget leg it Yeah two ease. 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:59.120 Hold on to it like it's got to ease, he said, 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.280 So we will do our best to say it that way. 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.519 League it not Leget. I mean, everybody kind of made 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:07.880 fun of the commissioner Thursday night because the way he 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.160 said it, And then it turns out Roger made actually 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:10.760 gotten one right. 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:12.360 He was the only one that got it right. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.520 The rest of us been doing it wrong. But Xavier 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.520 didn't seem to mind the fact that everybody's been mispronouncing 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:23.239 his name for four years, because he's happy to be 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.079 here and it's kind of cool. It's a really neat 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.239 story to see a kid from all in South Carolina 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.440 played and starred at the University of South Carolina last year, 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:34.680 all of a sudden gets to play for the de 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.720 facto hometown team and it's you could tell he's excited, 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.400 but they are excited to get to him because I 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:44.920 think there was a general sense that the Panthers wanted 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:47.680 add it wide receiver. But when you're stuck at thirty 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.200 three and thirty nine, you never know what's going to 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.000 be available to you. But they clearly got to a 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.240 point on Thursday night where it's like, all right, let's 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.520 stop messing around, let's go get the guy we want. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.000 He was clearly the guy they wanted, and there. 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:03.360 Was a slight run on receivers there in the first 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:07.800 round two, albeit a deep class. But Darren, do you 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:09.520 want to spend a minute too and kind of explain 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.240 why that fifth round option was such an intriguing idea 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:13.960 to get him on Thursday night as well? 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.160 And that's ultimately what the trade came down to. I mean, 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.240 is it worth flipping a fifth round pick to buy 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.640 yourself a fifth year of contract? And given the way 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:27.080 wide receiver contracts are exploding. I mean the best ones 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.360 have gone from Remember how quaint it was two years 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.080 ago when DJ Moore got like an eighteen million dollar 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:34.040 a year contract. 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:35.520 Eight that's a bargain. 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.000 Yeah, I mean that's a bargain now and the guys 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.000 like DJ Moore are now making twenty five million in 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:45.159 plus and and my god, when Justin Jefferson makes what 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.800 he's fixing to make right from the vikings, I mean, 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.120 it's going to blow your mind. So the idea that 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:55.640 you can lock in, you know, Xavier, we'll go there 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.839 while we get used to say and league it until 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:02.720 it Xavier turns into the player they expect him to 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:04.400 be or hope he's going to be. It's probably not 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.080 getting too far down that road. But that fifth year 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.000 option just gives them a little more cost certainty. And 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.360 we've talked about it a lot this offseason. So much 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:16.440 of what they've done has been with flexibility in mind. 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.359 When you look at receivers who were under contract for 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:23.000 twenty twenty five, it was just feeling a mingo last 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.560 year's second round pick, so they obviously needed to kind 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.200 of address things for the future and being able to 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.640 turn a fifth round pick into what they hope is 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.640 an extra year of contract for a starting wide receiver. 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.160 Seems like a pretty good bit of business. So that 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.160 made them more than willing to go up and do that. 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:46.080 I suspect that there were places a little higher than 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.880 thirty two that they made the effort. I think in 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.359 the tail end of that first round there were efforts 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.719 made to kind of make calls and say, hey, what 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:55.600 do you think about or what do you do if 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:58.560 and a lot of those people wanted to take their 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.760 own picks instead of trade. So they finally got to 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.360 that point at thirty two where a to make sure 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.440 Buffalo didn't just sit tight and take them theirselves, but 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.080 b to buy that fifth year. Dan went ahead and 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:11.320 flipped that fifth round pick. 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:15.120 That sort of forward thinking for the contract. You know 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.120 what that sounds like to me? What's out Brenton Tillis. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.919 Brant clearly has thoughts about the future of this team, 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.960 and I think the way they've structured all these contracts. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.480 I mean, again, a lot of these guys who signed 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.040 this offseason are on one and two year deals so 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.520 that you can get through a year of Dave Canalis 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.680 and see what works and see what all this stuff 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.839 looks like, and then you can assess whether that's part 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.320 of the future or short term fix to get you 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.240 to whatever the next thing might be. I mean, they've 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.360 talked about having options and flexibility for a long time, 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.479 but I think everything they've done this offseason feels like 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.840 they're looking at twenty five and twenty six more than 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.840 twenty four, which you know, again makes sense. I mean, 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:02.960 you don't want to sell out this year, and obviously 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.279 they're trying to compete, and when you look around the 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.320 NFC South, I still say, there's no reason think you 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:13.400 can't be competitive in this division, right But you know, 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:16.200 at the same time, the greater goal is what's happening 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.800 in twenty five twenty six and creating a stable foundation 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:19.520 for the future. 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.320 Yeah, and that's exactly what they brought a guy like 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.080 brand Tillis in for. I mean, this is the guy 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:28.360 that the moment Patrick Mahomes was drafted started thinking about 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.360 his second contract and planning ahead and making sure the 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.240 Chiefs were in a good place from the moment he 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.080 was drafted for whenever they would have to sign him 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:38.600 to a second contract, because he knew it was going 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.080 to reset the market then and I think at one 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.320 point this weekend, and I'm I'm probably going to use 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:46.200 the wrong word, but I think Dan Morgan use the 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.440 word brilliant to describe Tillis, And so I imagine just 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:53.400 having him in the room kind of running those numbers 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.240 in his head faster than I could ever do with 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:59.320 a calculator in a big whiteboard, is helping them go, Okay, yes, 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:01.760 this guy here versus this guy there, this is the 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.840 value of this, This is the value of that. You know, 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.400 moving into the first round to grab Xavier is gonna 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:10.679 save us more money in three years than it would, 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.240 you know, this week. And that's kind of what we're 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:16.960 thinking about. And so I imagine having somebody's mind like that 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.040 in the room, as Dan Morgan said, was brilliant, and 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:21.280 it really kind of helped them out. 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.960 Yeah, because realistically, I mean, when you get on the 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:25.960 back side of it and look at what Buffalo did, 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.200 I mean, they liked Keon Coleman. So if they would 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.920 have stuck at thirty two, they'd have probably taken him there. 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.120 You think they would have, but you can't guarantee they 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.319 weren't gonna take Xavier, and so then you could have 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.680 got him at thirty three and had four years worth 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:42.760 of contract. Okay, cool, and you don't have to give 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:47.080 up that fifth but they moved around enough to it 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:49.480 was hard to track. At a certain point, those things 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.760 were flying. And again, I can't wait to bring you 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.320 a little more of what happened inside that room, because 0:08:55.400 --> 0:09:00.000 it was fascinating to be able to witness, because stuff's 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:05.360 as as soon as they then make the move trade 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:07.720 thirty three to get into the first round, then you 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.800 walk in to Friday night and you're sitting with thirty 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:15.720 nine and fifty two, and they immediately started trying to 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.440 figure out, Okay, what comes next? What comes next? How 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:22.080 are we going to do this? And when you then 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.520 or when you move from thirty nine to fifty two, 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.000 the thought was immediately how do we get back up? 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.160 And once they you know, once they were able to 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.800 make the deal with the Rams, which was maybe low 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.280 key the best piece of business they did all weekend 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.839 because in going from thirty nine to fifty two, they 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.679 picked up an extra fifth round pick which covers the 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.880 cost of trading with Buffalo and that second round or 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.000 next year and having given next year's two to the 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.360 Bears to finish up the pick, the deal for Bryce 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.520 last year, you were sitting there with a big hole 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:59.440 in next year's draft, and I can I can sincerely 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.560 say they they were pleasantly surprised to get an offer 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:04.560 like that because they had been talking to the Rams 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.400 about other versions of that and when it got to 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.079 the point of, oh, you're willing to throw in next 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:15.439 year's too, Oh now we're now we're talking, and I 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.800 think at that point they were happy to drop back 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.040 a little bit. Anytime you get past the first day 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.680 of the draft, you start looking at bands of players 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.120 rather than specific guys. I feel like Xavier was a 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.240 guy they had kind of zoomed in on, and it's like, 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.480 we want this one right here. That was kind of 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.840 the apple of their eye. But when you get into 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.120 the second and third days of the drafts, you're thinking 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.360 about bands of guys, so it's this guy or this guy, 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.880 or this guy or this guy. But Jonathan Brooks was 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.440 definitely in that band, right And I think they were 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:53.280 afraid and rightfully so that somewhere between thirty nine and 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.600 fifty two, somebody was going to make a move up 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.600 and go get the best running back in this year's class. 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.400 And of course, everybody thinks that they got the best 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.679 running back, but Jonathan Brooks really is one of the 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:07.920 most promising and productive, Like he has shown the production, 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:10.679 but he still has so much promise because he has 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.640 so much left in the tank, so to speak. I mean, 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.240 this is a guy that spent his first two years 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.679 running behind Bjeon Robinson. When you run behind b jon Robinson, 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.240 you're not asked to do a whole whole lot. And 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.840 then you know, his third year he comes out and 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.440 he has a great year and obviously is Texas is 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.480 leading Russier. And so this is somebody that I looked 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:33.760 at his numbers. He had two hundred and thirty eight 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.440 snaps over his three year career at Texas. Chuba Hubbard 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.400 had two hundred and thirty eight carries last year. I'm sorry, 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.880 two hundred and thirty eight carries, no snaps. Two hundred 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.520 and thirty eight carries last year, yep. And so I 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.240 don't think this necessarily, this draft pick necessarily means someone's 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.680 immediately out the door. I know that's an easy assumption 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.600 to make, but based on everything Dave Canalis has said, 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.360 is you know, I want to use multiple, multiple backs 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:01.440 in my offense. I mean we're not even talking about 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.440 a two back system. There might be times three backs 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.120 are on the field, and so if you can kind 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:10.760 of marry them all together and give you give yourself 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:17.000 a stable of backs. Yeah, I know. It's the thinking 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.280 is you've got to have a lead workhorse for a 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.240 team to be successful in the running game, because you 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.040 need them to kind of build it up. But I 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.480 think when you've got such a violent position that is 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:31.640 becoming devalued, it really is whether you want to believe 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.920 it or not, it gives yourself a little bit more options, 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:38.240 more playing cards in the playbook. When you've got three, 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.120 four capable capable backs. I mean, this is a team 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.280 that could carry four on their roster, and so adding 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:48.840 Jonathan Brooks is going to certainly make that more interesting 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:50.559 to kind of see what they do with that unit. 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:54.320 This is all yeah, And by the way, Cassidy with 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.520 a K, and Darren with one R and an I 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:59.720 would you like to point out that it's Jonathan with 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:00.480 an Oh. 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:02.560 Yeah, that got me the first time. 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.520 Unconventional spelling alert Jonathan. We want to make sure he 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:08.760 feels at home here, so we're gonna spell his name 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.000 right as often as we possibly can. But that's Jonathan 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.000 with an oh for those of you scoring at home 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.520 or even if you're alone while you're listening to this podcast, 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:19.719 But why would you be, Because people who listen to 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.320 The Happy Half Hour always amongst the most popular and 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.920 charming people. They know he's going to be an interesting piece. 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.400 Because again, if there is some degree of question about him, 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:33.600 he's coming off in acl suffered in November. The plan 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.080 is that he's gonna be ready for training camp. And 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.640 again there's no need to rush. If if you were 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.680 walking into a situation where you didn't have people you 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.360 trusted a little bit, that's one thing. But Cuba Hubbard 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.600 I have come around one hundred and eighty degrees on Tuba. 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.920 I mean he walked into He walked into this place 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.400 as kind of a home run hitter from Oklahoma State. 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.960 We saw him make big runs. Cuba has turned himself 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.640 into a grinder. He was a home home run hitter 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.800 who could take it forty yards in Kyleage and you 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:07.080 saw that top end track speed, and he wasn't much 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.080 of a pass catcher. Through the sheer force of will 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.840 and hard work, Cuba Hubbard has become a competent pass 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:17.080 catcher right and confident in his own ability to do it. 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:19.320 And he's done it in the way that you have 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.400 to respect, by repetition, by continuing to work on it. 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.400 I mean, two hours before every game, he's out there 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.440 on the field on the jugs machine catching balls. He's 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.080 out there with Tommy Tremble after every practice catching balls, and. 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.200 Even in April. Yeah, you know, we have to kind 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.920 of the way we walk to our office takes us 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.440 by an area where the guys are working. And nine 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.680 times out of ten, if you hear the drug machine going, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:43.520 is Cuba. 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.200 Cuba's on the other end of it. So he is. 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.120 Cuba has turned himself into someone you can trust in 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:53.480 a situation like that. Brooks, you know, though, is just 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.640 one of those unique talents. I mean again, ten games, 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.120 eleven hundred yards, ten touchdowns rushing last year, you know, 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.720 pretty good average, pretty good average, and at six point 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.560 one yards per carry. Yeah, as it turns out, this 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.240 guy's pretty good at it. So I think that's gonna 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.120 be interesting. The other one that kind of jumps out 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.440 at me for this weekend, and we'll have chance over 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:17.120 the spring to you talk more about all these guys individually. 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.600 But the other one that sort of jumps off the 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.560 page at me is Jatavian Sanders. I mean they they 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.960 slept on it Friday night from minute, and I think 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:28.680 after Thursday and Friday, everybody needed to sleep on it 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.960 for a minute. And when you walked in here Saturday morning, 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.040 it didn't take long to realize they kind of knew. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:37.520 Yeah. 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.600 I mean, if there were, you know, there might have 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.560 been opportunities to trade one oh one, they weren't interested 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.160 in them because I think as they slept on it 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.160 and looked back at the board and thought, we can 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.600 get a guy, we can get a pass catcher like this, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.240 you know. And that's the thing about Sanders is he 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.360 is a tight end, unlike the kind they have. He 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.520 is the pure pass kitch tight end that this offense 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.840 has been looking for for a long time, been kind 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.120 of making do with. Well, Tommy's good at this part, 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.480 and Ian's a really good blocker, and Sullivan's got a 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.480 lot of potential as and you know, you keep looking 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.760 at all these individual parts. Sanders is the kind of 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:19.040 body and the kind of athlete that they hadn't had 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.280 a position a long long time. 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:24.520 Six hundred plus receiving yards last year at Texas, in fact, 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.640 six hundred plus the last two years at Texas. And granted, 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.720 I know it's a big twelve defense, but I mean 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:36.320 these are still impressive, impressive, consistent numbers to continue to 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.160 put those up. He said, he's part of what he 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.400 considers a new age of tight ends. He said, you 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:45.560 saw it started with guys like Kittle and Kelsey and Hawkinson, 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.440 and he said, but now this is what a tight 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.680 end should be able to do. And I consider myself 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:55.600 one of those. Compared himself to Brock Buoyers, which you know, 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.720 Brock is a very very special talent, but he's you 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.400 know jt Is he goes by is, he's got the size, 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.119 he's got the hands, he's got the production to kind 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.280 of prove he knows what he's doing. It completely changes 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.040 their tight end passing game by bringing him in. Yeah, 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:15.000 this is the guy that can play day one. 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:19.439 Ten and one eighth inch hands. He could palm a 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:20.359 pumpkin lady. 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:22.200 His nickname is man Hands. 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:24.919 Man Hands, which is not a name I would give someone, 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.480 but he walked in here with it and self applied 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.480 that Moniker, So I am not gonna argue with him. 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.360 He seems proud of it, so we'll give it to him. 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.119 Yeah, I'd say so, but uh and in some or 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.040 go ahead, Darrey, No, I was gonna say. The rest 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.119 of the weekend is kind of was kind of spent 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:43.520 filling in some blanks on defense. I mean, we looked 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.800 at all the moves they made in free agency, from 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.080 Ayshawn Robinson in the front to Josie Jewel at linebacker, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.879 Dan Jackson at corner, remade that safety room by bringing 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:56.960 in Jordan Fuller, Nick Scott, and the rest of this 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.119 draft was about filling in blanks around those guys y 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.800 eight and competition and creating depth again, wait for it 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.320 for the future. I mean, there's not really a job 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.000 available for Trevin Wallace immediately, but Trevin Wallace looks like 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:12.560 a guy who's going to play a bunch of football 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.560 for this team in twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:20.639 same thing. Shaw Smith Wade at cornerbacks. He's a smaller guy, 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:23.680 and he's scrappy, and he gets after it. Scrappy. He's 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.359 never been attached to a tall person, has it. A 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:28.560 tall person has never been described as. 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.440 Scrap Crappy means that you're short and willing to fight 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.840 if you're backed into a corner. Yeah, he is scrappy. 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.000 Yeah, And I think whether it's Michael Barrett at linebacker, 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:42.560 Jen and Crumdy at defensive tackle, they added guys who 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.800 don't necessarily have starting jobs right now, but it's they 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:49.480 are guys at positions where you could see him looking 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.359 for upgrades. You could see him looking to improve the 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.439 depth across the bottom third of this roster, and I 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:57.359 think that's going to be important as they build this 0:18:57.400 --> 0:18:58.400 thing for years to come. 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.520 Trevor Wallace particular, clearly is someone that I'm excited to 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.520 see get in pads when we get to that point 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.480 in training camp. See what happens when he hits somebody, 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.720 because he's somebody that Darren just watching his tape. He 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.240 doesn't tackle, He plows into the ground. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:14.800 Yeah, he kind of runs through people. 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:19.480 And that to me sounds like a dog dawg dog. Yeah, 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.639 exactly kind of what they were looking for at that 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.280 linebacker position. But like you said, someone that's gonna be 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.640 more for the future than anything. Also, this weekend, when 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.119 you look at what they needed after free agency, there 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:36.280 were very few glaring coals and the glaring holes that 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:39.480 were there. They addressed one of the holes that I 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:41.680 saw a lot of people on Twitter say, well, why 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.480 wasn't this field was center? And it was because it 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:48.840 already was. And it's not just Austin Corporate getting Austin 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:53.840 Corbett getting moved to center. It's also Brady Christian's Christiansen gosh, 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:54.920 I cannot talk this morning. 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:57.080 That's because it's Fred's day. It is. 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.600 You very watch parks in Direct where they have Head's Day. 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:01.520 Yeah, exactly. 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:04.800 But Brady has also been taking snaps at center, something 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.320 that Dan Morgan you know, kind of revealed this weekend 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.560 when asked about the center position. And so they feel 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:13.920