WEBVTT - Happy Half Hour Episode 150: Betting on Upside 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.680 This week on a Happy half Hour. 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:09.280 Dave Canal has talked a good bit in Indy and 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.560 Dan talked about Dave doing this being a developmental guy, 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.720 always wanted to develop everybody. And if you believe in 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.239 your ability to develop people, then betting on upside and 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.160 betting on trades and work. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:28.760 What's the cow. It's time for the Happy Half Hour, 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:34.800 presented by Southern Star, an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers. 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.960 Here are your hosts, Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill. 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.920 Hello, friends, and welcome back to Charlotte. It's a home 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.440 studio advantage edition of the Happy Half Hour. 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:52.200 Sounds like it's been a while since we've been here. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.000 I know it's been a while since we've been in 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:55.880 this room, and it's been a while since I've told 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.200 the people how much The Happy Half Hour is brought 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.560 to them by our good friends at Southern Star, an 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:06.039 official bourbon partner of the Carolina Panthers. Celebrate the spirit 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:06.880 of the Carolinas. 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:08.920 So you don't need the car I don't know it. 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:11.360 I just yeah, I just know it, except for when 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:12.600 I don't forget to read. 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:14.520 So the words are in your heart. 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.720 Yeah, they are in my heart and also my liver perhaps, 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.560 But anyway, Yeah, we are back from Indy. I mean 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:23.200 the last time we did this, we were in a 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.040 cavernous room. I'm sure the acoustics were amazing. 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:27.880 Yeah, I'm sure Matt had fun with that. 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.240 Yeah. But we are back home and I even have 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.679 declared this a successful combine for my favorite reason that 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.360 a combine is either a success or failure. I do 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.640 not have COVID right now. Ooh, that is a Having 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:47.000 come home from Indianapolis with the novel coronavirus previously, I 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:49.400 always feel a little good. It's like when you've crossed 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.440 the line. All right, give me one day to day. 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.880 I'm still well. Boom, Okay, I didn't combin anybody. 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.320 I didn't come back with COVID, but I definitely came 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:00.320 back with the combine crud. That's what I call it, 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.560 where your body's just like, hey, we want to sleep 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:05.600 for I think at one night I slept for like 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:07.520 thirteen hours straight after we got home. 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.040 Well, that's because you were out there poisoning your mind, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.760 your body, spirit, all that intemperance and hateful gossip. 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:23.640 We just have different words for it. Sometimes it exchanging information. 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.840 Yeah, it's you know, there's a lot of information to 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.240 be exchanged, it's combined, and honestly, that's the thing I 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.440 have told people, and I think we mentioned this last week. 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.840 This thing's billed as a college scouting opportunity, but it's 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.320 kind of a trade show for the entire NFL, because 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.960 the entire NFL was there, was together, and they were 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.720 all talking and everybody was gossiping and lying and trying 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.359 to make people think they were doing stuff they were 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:48.840 not doing. 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:50.880 Let me ask you a question though, while we're on 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:55.280 this subject. There has been a trend in recent years 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.280 started as most trends in the past ten years have 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:03.720 started with Sean McVay of coaches not coming to the combine, 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.360 and we've kind of seen that trend branch out amongst 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:11.839 the Sean McVay disciples. Yeah, do you see that hurting them, 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:14.839 helping them, not making a difference, Like, do you think 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.840 this is going to become a league wide trend over 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.200 the next ten years or is this just a Sean McVay. 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:22.600 Matt Laflor, here's the. 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.520 Thing I think that I mean, if you are doing 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.480 something else, like if coaches are hiring a new staff 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.440 or working to build a playbook with a brand new 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.640 offensive coordinator or something like that. I can justify it 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.840 if you're doing something else right, But to just not go, 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.640 to be not going seems counterintuitive to me because, as 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.600 I just mentioned, everybody's ny and it's not just the players, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.360 because I have had coaches tell me they make decisions 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.320 on guys based on conversations they had in the elevator. Yeah, 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:56.760 based on how they walk through the door, right, I 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:00.240 mean the way they interact with other people. So I believe, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.960 you know, it's all just it's like do you put 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.400 more stock in forty time or this? It's all part 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.480 of it. It's one more tool in the toolbox. It's 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:12.240 one more opportunity to evaluate everything. It's not just how 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.280 fast you run the forty, it's how you interact with, 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.919 you know, people who you know. I've always said you 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.880 can tell what kind of human being someone is by 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:26.360 the way they treat children, the elderly, waitresses and dogs. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.040 And if they're bad to those groups of people who 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.920 ostensibly can't do anything for them, then maybe they're bad people. 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.960 So I want to watch everything. I want to be 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.640 a part of everything. But you know, you can make 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:45.120 a rationalization for not going too because it has become scripted. 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.279 Guys do practice interviews, guys do train specifically for drills 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.599 and forty times. So is it as effective as it 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:54.800 used to be and as useful as it was in 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:59.560 nineteen ninety five? Maybe maybe not, But also there's there's 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.520 all he's a way to find something out. 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.080 For sure, and especially because I believe that the reasoning 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.719 given for some of these coaches not coming, Like the 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.279 first year that McVeigh didn't go, it was because you know, 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.040 that was the year that the RAMS had given away 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.320 all of their picks, and so it was like, what 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:15.640 am I gonna go do when I'm. 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.640 There, I'm gonna go do a lot of research on 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:20.599 this one fifth round big exactly. 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:25.080 And then that was also right after COVID and the 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.280 NFL had started to allow for the thirty visits to 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.600 be done over zoom to some extent, and so you know, 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.919 he was like, I can get everything I need from that. 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.599 I think there's still something that can get lost in 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.280 translation over a zoom. 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:41.440 Sure, that's just me. 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.919 And so I mean, Dave Canal has told us a 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.560 great story last week that you can see on Panthers 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.120 Dot com One of the reasons they zero did on 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.320 Tyler Lockett was because he watched how he came out 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.200 and put on his cleats before the workouts. That's not 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.760 something you're gonna get over a zoom and. 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:01.880 So yeah, human human inner actions always valuable, and anytime 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.040 you can get that, I think there's a value in it. 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.200 I mean, I I have you know, I joked with 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.919 Jansen the other week about It's when we were talking 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.839 about Andy Dalton coming back, and one of the stories 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.000 I wrote after Andy re signed to come back for 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:20.360 another year was how upset Andy got with himself the 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.240 day he had to hold for kicks in practice and 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:25.680 he wasn't very good at it. And that's a job 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:27.359 that he wasn't going to be asked to do in 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.920 a game. There was no danger of him doing it 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.479 in a game. But Andy got salty with himself anyway 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.960 because he didn't do it exactly right. And I laughed 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.039 and told JJ here's the part of the program where 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:39.680 Darren Gant takes a very small thing and extrapolates it 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:44.560 into a global character trait. So anyway, that's the thing 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.200 I do as a writer often, but I think coaches 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.240 do it all the time too, as you know, and 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.920 there's value in it. I mean Atlanta Terry Fonto, their 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.239 GM told us that, you know, they left their entire 0:06:55.320 --> 0:07:00.280 offensive coaching staff back home because you know, like what's 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.360 happening in Carolina, the Atlanta Falcons are concentrated on bringing 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.479 defensive help in and so they just left all the 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:09.640 offensive coaches at home because you know, most of those 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.000 positions are accounted for. They got a young quarterback on 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.320 a rookie deal that they're moving forward with. They like 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.040 their skill position talent. You know, they're they're set at 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.800 most of those spots, so you can justify it. 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.080 I can see that allows you to use your meetings 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:23.200 on more defensive guys. 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:27.560 Yep. But you know the combine still exists for its 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.400 basic reason, which is get everybody together, do all the 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.720 medical testing in one place. And yes, of course there 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.400 were drills. I know, you know, we could go through 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:37.160 a lot of this kind of stuff. But I know 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.480 one of your favorites already in this track, crush your guy, 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:42.320 your guy Shamar. 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.480 He is everybody has a guy every year. My guy 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.360 this year was Shamar Stewart, which I liked him based 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.440 off nothing that was on film or his numbers. I 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.560 just liked the guy from what I met at the 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.720 Senior Bowl, and then he goes out there and he 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.800 has an incredible combine performance. There is a slow worry 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.800 when a guy, especially if that position, has a combine 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.160 performance like that and you do compare it to the tape. 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:09.520 I think there can be some excuses made for the 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:11.960 tape because he was playing on such a stack defensive line. 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:12.480 HM. 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:14.560 He had four and a half sacks over three years. 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.600 That's one point five sacks, not many, not many, I 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.480 think you can you could find ways to justify it. 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.440 And it's really really easy to fall in love with 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:27.840 a guy's RAS score. 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.280 But when he has a score that high. 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:33.520 I think he was like a nine point nine to 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.680 nine out of ten, third highest defensive end score since 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.240 the since they started tracking RIS in nineteen eighty five, 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:43.840 you can't help but pay attention to that. 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.240 And so oh, I know. And again for those of 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:52.120 you who don't consume combine content and gratuitous and microscopic detail. 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:56.000 Shmar Stewart defensive end from Texas A and M had 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.280 a what forty one inch vertical forty one inch thirty 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:02.480 one inch vertical I mean that's about that's great basketball 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.000 player vertical and he's doing it at about two hundred 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:06.200 and sixty five. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.280 He ran a four to four. I think he's one 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.880 of only three players to have a forty one inch 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.400 of that size to have a forty one inch vertical 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:17.720 and run a sub four or five. 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:22.240 Yeah, and so big man who didn't run fast and 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.480 jump high. And you know, there are guys who've done 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.320 it before who haven't had college production. Daniel Hunter was one, 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:33.400 you know, Rashuon Garrett. There are guys who are able 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:35.440 to do it. There's usually a reason for it. But 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:38.160 the idea that, oh this guy only had four and 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.360 a half sacks in three years, we don't want anything 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.679 to do with him, you might be you know, ignoring, uh, 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.440 you know, pretty ridiculous athlete. 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.160 Some of these Georgia kids, you know, they play on 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:50.520 such a stack defense. 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:52.760 They don't have great college numbers. 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.480 Aalen Carter never posted a lot of numbers exactly. 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.160 And then look at the Eagles. 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:59.280 Wouldn't trade Jalen Carter for all the money in the 0:09:59.280 --> 0:09:59.960 world right now? 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:01.200 And where did he get picked? 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:03.880 Which one? 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:05.199 Dick's sixth or eight? 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.520 He was I like that range. 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:08.440 See what I did. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.000 There, I see he dropped that right in. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.280 So yeah, I just I just think that, you know, 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.120 you have to balance it out. And we'll talk about 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.000 this more as the draft process goes along. But you 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:23.360 balance the production versus the skills, and you're projecting a 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:26.240 little bit. I mean, Dave Canalis talked a good bit 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:29.160 in Indy and Dan talked about Dave doing this being 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.880 a developmental guy, always wanting to develop everybody, And if 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:36.200 you believe in your ability to develop people, then betting 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:38.960 on upside and betting on trades can work. 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.000 And I think they've shown, at least on the offensive 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:43.720 side of the ball this last year, that his coaching 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.400 staff is willing and able to do that. And so 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.360 if that's going to be their mindset, then you have 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.440 to believe it has to work on both sides of 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:52.760 the ball, and you have to trust your process and 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:56.800 trust what you can do, and you have to draft 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.120 as such. You know what else you have to do? 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:00.680 You have to sign free as as such. 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.000 Yeah, you do. And you know what, I think they 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.880 call that in the business as segue because it's not 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.319 just a funny looking scooter that Boris dil used to 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:11.760 ride around Charlotte on You know what I learned. 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:12.040 The other day. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.559 I learned this from a question on Jeopardy. Segways were 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.839 discontinued a few years ago. They no longer make them. 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.360 Maybe that was because Boris DL wrote them around Charlotte 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.040 and wasn't necessarily the greatest advertisement. 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:25.480 For sure, that's why. 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.920 But anyway, Yeah, you mentioned free agency, and yeah, we 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:33.040 are sitting here, it's Thursday afternoon as we're recording this. 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.960 Free agency is going to begin in one of its 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:42.160 forms next Monday at noon. The tampering period nobody actually 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:47.960 calls a legal tampering period, the negotiation period during which 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.720 unrestricted free agents are allowed to talk to other teams, 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.079 they cannot strike official deals. 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:54.520 Be the first time they've ever spoken. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:59.920 Yeah, it always is. But it's a two day preview 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:04.680 basically for free agency, which begins officially Wednesday at four pm. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.080 And there's gonna be a good bit of movement, I mean, 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.120 and Dan Morgan made it pretty clear when he was 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.640 up in Indianapolis last week. It's going to be a 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:17.000 busy time. They got stuff to do, and it's going 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.319 to get done pretty quickly. I would think next week, 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:21.280 I think we're. 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.640 Going to see in this free agency period the market 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.680 get reset on defensive linemen because everybody is going to 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:28.720 be reacting to what. 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:30.040 The running backs did last year. 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.959 Yeah, and everybody's going to be reacting to what the 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:38.480 Philadelphia Eagles stacking up lineman about eight deep and you know, 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.080 just continuing to throw them at people in waves. So 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:45.200 it's and again, anybody who is familiar with the work 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.280 of the Carolina Panthers defense in twenty twenty four understands 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.840 entitled what Dan Morgan was talking about when he was like, listen, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.640 what we did on offense last year, we're going to 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:59.480 do on defense this year. And it starts up front 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.600 last year on offense. That meant in the opening hours 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:07.080 of free agency, Robert Hunt and Damian Lewis agreed to 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:12.480 terms on deals with the Carolina Panthers. I would dare 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.640 to say this time next week, we could be talking 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.199 about brand new linemen, brand new pass rushers, brand new safeties. 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:24.240 And you know, thirty years of experience tells me that 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.160 safety is a position they could address early in free agency. Also, 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.000 the fact that they ain't got but one on the 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:34.240 roster that tells me also that safety is an area. 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.560 Demanti Richardson can play every safety position by himself. 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:39.880 Yeah, you know, and he'll sing to us while he 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.480 does it, right, So it's uh yeah, I mean you knew. 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.360 I mean, based on the season the Carolina Panthers had, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.240 you don't break the records they broke. You don't set 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:52.560 the marks they set in terms of run defense, total defense, 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:56.320 and points allowed without making it an emphasis the following 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:57.560 year to go out and fix. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:02.600 That thing exactly, and especially at the safety position too. 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:06.840 I think we could see maybe a different approach, you know, 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:11.640 to that safety position because it's been a lot of Okay, 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.920 these guys can play special teams and defense, and I 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:17.600 think you even said this the other day. Might that 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.360 switch to they can play defense and special team. 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.160 Right, Yeah? I mean, And that's the thing. This team 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:27.160 last year was wealthy and special team specialists, I mean 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:31.440 cats like Lonnie Johnson, Sam Franklin, John Radagan, et cetera, 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.440 et cetera. I think what the Carolina Panthers need is 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:36.640 a bunch of guys who are better at defense and 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.920 can also add some value. So we'll see how that 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.720 shakes out. But I just think in the early parts 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.560 of free agency, the stuff we're gonna be doing, the 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:47.600 stuff we're gonna be writing about first part of the 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.760 next week. It's going to be all about upgrading that defense. 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:53.600 Yeah, and especially upfront two because I mean, like you said, 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.400 with Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, for as fancy and 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.600 as flashy as things can get, this game is still 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.840 one in the trenches. And if you're gonna hold your own, 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.920 you're gonna have to beef up that defensive line. Sure, 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:08.120 you have said. If you've said it once, you've said 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.120 it a million times the past couple of months. They're 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.800 gonna get one of the best in the business when 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:14.400 they get Derek Brown back on the field. 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:14.960 M M. 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:17.800 But you know, and that almost gives you a little 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.200 bit of leeway, maybe more in free agency and in 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.920 the draft. You're not necessarily having to go out and 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.320 get a number one guy. Yeah, you can get to 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:27.840 number two or pay for a number two. 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.160 Well, you're going to get a guy who is going 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:35.280 to likely become better by virtue of standing next to 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.560 Derrick Brown. You know. I think that's the thing that's 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.080 important to note is you know, you can go out 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:43.960 and again, if they go out with the intent that 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.800 they displayed last year when they signed Rob Hunt and 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.560 Damian Lewis. Then that grade of player is pretty good 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.680 already on his own. But when you park him next 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.960 to Derek Brown and you know, A'shawn Robinson's over there 0:15:58.000 --> 0:15:59.520 on the other side, then all of a sudden you 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.640 look around and say, Okay, well that's a front that 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.560 ought to be a lot better at run defense. 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:06.400 Exactly. 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:07.480 Yeah. Good. 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:09.200 I didn't know what else to add to that. 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.720 Yeah, it's just I talk so much that sometimes the 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.840 absence of Darren talking is a jarring thing for human beings. 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.280 So it's it's definitely. 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.920 Just I went mind blake, and you said it so well, 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.080 I was like, sure, yeah. 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.240 But the other thing that happens, I mean, there's gonna 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:30.360 be a lot of names, and people always fall in 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:32.440 love with names this time of year. But one of 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:34.440 the things I always like to point out in my 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.040 role as the old person who's seen many things, is 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.120 it don't always work out that way. Uh, if you were. 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.479 Older, not the only team bidding for these people. 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.080 Well you're not that, and not everything works out the 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.720 way you think it's going to. I am old enough 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.960 to remember a time when the Carolina Panthers were also 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.600 looking to fortify a defensive line, and they did it 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.920 by acquiring Reggie White and a gentleman named Eric Swan. 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:02.520 And they were going to weaken one of their division 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.040 rivals by signing pass rusher Chuck Smith away from the 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.760 Atlanta Falcons. And I remember talking to Chuck Smith when 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.680 he came in on his visit, caught him at his hotel, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.159 and you know, Chuck was like, I'm fired up about it. 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:17.640 I know, I've been a Falcon for a long time, 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:19.840 looking forward to getting here and really wreaking hav it, 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.560 you know, playing with these guys, this, that, and the other. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.040 They were gonna pair up with Sean Gilbert, who was 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:27.880 acquired as a franchise free agent a couple of years earlier, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.480 and Chuck Smith was excited to get with those guys. 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.680 Chuck Smith played exactly two games for the Carolina Panthers. 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.280 What happened, Yeah, Well, as it turns out, his knees 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.000 were shot and they probably shouldn't have signed it to 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.680 again with. But this was the George Sea Ferd era, 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:44.879 and things happened every now and then because reasons. But 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.280 there were Yeah, I mean, d L's over here. Laughing 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.040 on the other side of the room because he's like me. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:54.640 He remembers Mount Rushmore, he remembers Panthers legend, Reggie White, 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:59.280 Sean Gilbert, Eric Swan, and Chuck Smith, who you know. Yeah, 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:01.600 it didn't work out the way anybody thought it did. 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.399 When the local newspaper made a really fancy graphic putting 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:09.040 those four guys if they were presidents on the side 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:10.560 of the South Dakota Mountain. 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.280 There, when you have Reggie White, you feel like you 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:15.560 could put anybody else in there and be okay. 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.720 And they ended up putting anybody else in there. I 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.960 think Tim Moribido ended up in there at times. But 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.240 uh no, it was It was kind of a mess. 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.760 And and you know, free agency just does that. I 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.359 mean things that seem like great ideas at the time. 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.080 You know, once upon a time, Uh they signed a 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.439 guy Justin Hartwig because they needed somebody to stabilize the 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:38.720 center position in the middle of an offensive line. And 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.119 Justin Harwig was pretty good at football. But the next year, 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:45.040 in the second round, they're looking at their board and 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:48.760 the best player available sitting there at fifty seven ish 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:50.160 was a guy named Ryan Khalil. 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.680 And remember all this and you. 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.960 My brain is a broken place. I don't know where 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:56.719 my keys are. 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.239 A lot of days, do you remember, right? 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.600 But I remember? But I remember Justin Hartwig and Ryan 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.760 Khalil like their family members. But yeah, I mean Hartwig 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.239 was a perfectly good center. I mean they paid him 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.560 decent money to come from Tennessee, I remember, and he 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.400 was pretty good at the game. But once you drafted 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:16.679 Ryan Khalil, and then Ryan was standing around for a 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:18.919 year with nothing to do. I mean he was playing 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.640 guard in some games and filling in here and there. 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.520 But then you realized, oh my god, we've got a 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.000 five time pro bowler sitting here on the bench. Let's 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.880 play him instead. So free agency gets a lot of attention. 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:34.280 It makes for great content this time of year, when 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.080 things slowed down in that little wall. Before you know, 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:39.679 we're what forty nine days out from the draft, so 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:42.879 we got to have stuff to talk about for the 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:45.679 next seven weeks. But it's often not the kind of 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:49.240 determinative factor I will never forget. I mean, speaking of 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.359 free agency stories and stuff, I remember that. You wonder 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:57.560 why I should? Who can forget Keyshawn Johnson's Panthers era? 0:19:58.280 --> 0:19:59.359