WEBVTT - Happy Half Hour Episode 69: March Madness 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.760 It's time for a Happy half hour with your friends. 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:22.799 Chris Student Balboni, Will Bryant and Darren Gamp welcome back. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.119 It's the Happy half Hour. Darren and Will here with 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.600 you through recap what's been an incredible month of March. 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:32.919 But I want to start Darren with something that's been 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.480 on everyone's mind here in the city of Charlotte. It's 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.000 been all over social media. You can't miss it. It's 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.080 the controversy of ages. I need your take on the 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:46.199 boj Angler. Oh what are you trying to just do? 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.920 I me in a poor mood that you just gotta 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.400 seed the clouds to get me talking about my favorite 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.400 food item in Charlotte fast food history. Yeah, no, I 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:56.480 mean no, no, I just I want to hear it 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.160 in you know, and not Twitter form. The boj Angler 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:03.280 contains multi tudes. I love it every year Bojangles during 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:06.080 Lent because a lot of people eat fish on Fridays. 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:10.039 During Lent, Bojangles sells a delicious fish sandwich that they 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:14.600 called the Bojangler. But in my quest for maximum deliciousness 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:19.600 in my life and against the uh preferences of my cardiologist, 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.720 I like mine on a biscuit rather than a bun. Now, 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:26.919 if you if you want to confuse a fast food 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:31.080 worker who really just don't need this in their life. 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.280 They're just trying to you know, people just trying to 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:36.000 go to work and send out some biscuits and chicken 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:37.800 and get on with their day. And here comes this 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:39.920 guy with a special order through the drive thru, and 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.440 it's like boj Angler on a biscuit instead of a bun. 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:45.759 There's your hashtag on a biscuit instead of a bun. 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:48.800 You get that thing with tartar sauce it comes with 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:50.600 when they give it to you, it as a sandwich. 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.440 It's got tartar sauce and cheese. I've always thought, even 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.080 back to the days of the McDonald's philet fish, the 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.360 piece of cheese was kind of extraneous. We don't really need, 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:03.520 you know, my fish experience, it does not need processed 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.640 American cheese food. So I will usually do away with 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:10.400 the cheese. Uh. Sometimes they put it in the area 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.080 slips by the goalie, but the key is tartar sauce 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:18.359 and hot sauce. Like if bowt Angles was really committed 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.640 to this bit and would come up with a Cajun 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.679 tartar sauce, something with just a little pop, just to 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:28.639 kind of cut um. Just cut some of that cream 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.240 us of the mayonnaise based tartar sauce. I could get 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.800 down with that. But yeah, a little bit of heat, 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.840 you know, it's got the bowtangle spice on the fish already. 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.160 A little bit extra heat, little tar sauce on a 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.800 biscuit and your day will be happier. And you have 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.840 spent the so much of Lent. You know, Lent is 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.520 about about giving things up. But you know Darren has 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:54.320 taken this on this mission to to evangelize to the masses. 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.680 I have given up personal grooming for Lent. I've taken 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.679 that on as my burden. But I am adding as 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.040 many bow j Anglers as I can. I think I'm 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.600 up to six now so far. I've kept tracked for 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.320 some ridiculous stres. So do you have a day of 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:11.880 the week that you eat it on or is it 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:13.600 just whenever the mood stream? I mean a lot of 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:17.760 times I feel like doing it on Friday because your cause. 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.000 But like Saturday when I was on my way in 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.560 here for Dante Jackson and d J Moore. Yeah, I 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.320 you know, Saturday was like the first time I slept 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.799 past five thirty in two and a half weeks. And 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.119 so I get up at ten and I'm kind of grogging. 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.760 It's like, okay, there we go, Here we go Dante's 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.560 you know, see at the office. It too okay. So 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:41.520 I get up and I get the news out and 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:45.760 then drive through my neighborhood bow Angles third Street, represent 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:49.720 it's my favorite. It's the home office. Um, and grabbed 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:51.400 a couple of bow j Anglers and came on in 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:53.560 and it girded my loins and I was ready for 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:56.560 another day of around the clock football. Wow. Well, for 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:58.720 those that are still listening, I wanted to get some 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:03.280 football content today. Sorry, we're gonna we'll jump into it now. 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.720 How about do we want to go in reverse chronological 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.920 order and and work our way. Panther's off season is 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.760 the bo j Angler on a biscuit of off seasons. 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.440 They've just crammed so much delicious nous into a condensed 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:22.040 space that now it's, uh, it's weird because this offseason 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:25.479 has been kind of drunk, even by NFL standards. I mean, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.200 you know, I think I just gotta push about craziest 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:32.520 offseason Sharon Rodgers, Willie or Wantie didn't do full breadth far, 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:34.640 but you know we had to go through that drama. 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.359 Russell Wilson gets traded today. I had my head down 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.599 writing for an hour and I missed the Tyreek Hills saga. 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.039 You know, I mean that thing. That thing began and 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.080 ended in about it less time than it takes to 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.840 watch a movie. Um So, yeah, there's a lot of 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.440 stuff going on, and and the Panthers haven't done the gigantic, 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:01.240 huge thing that creates that reaction, but all the stuff 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.440 they've done, Yeah, while none of them individually rise to 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.760 the level of, Hey, Martha, did you see that, it's 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.520 still a more stable football team than it was a 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:15.400 couple of weeks ago. It's a more solid football team. 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.400 It's a deeper football team, and it's a football team 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.400 that's kind of checked off a lot of the boxes. 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.640 When Scott Fitter went into this thing this offseason, he 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.760 talked about the number one priority was being more solid 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:30.440 on both lines, specifically the offensive line. And when you 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:34.640 go out and you sign Austin Corbett, who started every 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.800 game for the Super Bowl champion Rams, you go out 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:41.640 and get a bargain deal on Bradley Bozeman, who started 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.040 forty eight games the last three years for the Ravens, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.160 and he's coming in here to compete. That's not even 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.120 a guarantee of a starting job for that guy. And 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.719 he A lot of people around the league who do 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.040 not work here have talked to me about that's good signing, 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.720 you know, and when other football people are like, yeah, 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.320 that's a good one right there. And on the other 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:05.800 side of the ball, adding matt Ionidas gives them somebody 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:09.360 to stick next to. Derek Brown, who is strong and 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.760 is good against the run and has demonstrated the ability 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.039 to rush the passer. I mean he had a he 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.839 had a run in Washington two years in eighteen nineteen 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.200 where he had sixteen sacks twenty seven quarterback hits. He 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.480 can get after it. Now, he's had some injuries, like 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.240 I think third most of defensive tackles in that span 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:28.760 in those two years. And you know he is he 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.919 Aaron Donald. No, he's not, nobody's Aaron Donald. But he 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.640 is a guy who gets consistent pressure up the middle. 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.440 And in a situation where you're kind of transitioning and 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.680 you wanted to be a little bit bigger, upfront, and 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:43.680 you didn't want to go through another season with less 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.000 than five hundred pounds of pass rusher In Burns and 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:49.120 Hassan Reddick, you know, suddenly you're a little more stout, 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.640 you're a little better able. They've done some moves along 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.200 the fringes, brought back Marquis Haynes, brought back Frankie Luvu. 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.760 Burns is still there. But that line, both those lines 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.520 are are not oh my god, would you look at 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.400 but they're both better than they were a month ago. 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:08.800 And that's the key. That's all you can do when 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.840 you're in this situation. You fix what you can fix. Darren, 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.800 I think we're both trying to pull this up. All 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:17.960 of the free agent signings that have happened, and I 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.200 think one of the themes for me so far, I 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:24.000 think going into the last month of the season, it 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.640 was this feeling like, oh my gosh, the Panthers are 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.280 losing a lot of players on this current team. A 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.840 lot of these guys are gonna walk. And then at 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.120 this point, you know, obviously Hassan Reddick, you know, big 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.360 contract with the Eagles, but and Gilmore are still out there. 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:41.360 But otherwise, all these other guys Dante Jackson. DJ Moore extended, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:43.960 you know, Rashaan Melvin resigned today for some death piece 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.840 in the secondary. But as you said, Marky's Haynes, Frankie Luvu, 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.280 like all of these guys that are kind of coming back. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.240 I think that speaks to, you know, some of the 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.200 foundation building they're doing right and Brandon and so there's 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.840 a backup kicker on the roster. Now, um yeah, I mean, 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.240 and again, nobody's gonna freak out when you re signed 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.120 Brandon Hilstra, but it's it's still a solid piece of 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.160 business because he does feel so many roles. And one 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.720 of the other things I guess an offseason inhus they 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.880 wanted to get better on special teams and brought in 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.119 a new coordinator in Chris Tabor, who's respected across the league. 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.040 That's another guy when I was walking around Mobile or 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:20.640 India at the combine and people would be like that 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:23.040 was good, that that was a good thing they did 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.200 and bringing him in. So um Tabor. Now all of 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.760 a sudden, he's got Zane Gonzalis back to kick. They 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.320 go out and signed Johnny Hecker, who was only the 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.960 all decade punter of the two thousand tens Um and 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.760 can throw the ball around a little bit and is 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.680 a funny guy and I think fans are gonna love 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.720 getting to know him. And you've got J. J. Jansen back, 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.840 so now there's stability on special teams. And you know, 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:54.920 they've again not sexy moves, but solid moves, and solid 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.120 is what you want to be in this situation. I mean, 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.199 they're there are ways, you know, the one big question 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.640 is still lingering up there, and anybody's gonna want to 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:07.360 know what's going on at quarterback and that's still TBD, 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:10.880 and they're going to continue to work through all the 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.840 options and I think, you know, some options are better 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.880 than others, but we can't say with any degree of 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.120 certainty right now whether it's going to be x Y 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.560 or Z at quarterback. But all the other stuff, they've 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.559 kind of done a pretty good job of putting those 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.319 pieces together. And we're gonna get to that in a second. Everyone, 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.959 just fast forward about five minutes in your your podcasting here, 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.160 Darren tell you who the next quarterback of the Carolina 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.520 Panthers is going to be. Little Teas, Darren, you've met 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.160 some of these guys coming in. I think there's some 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.719 really interesting stories. Um, and we're just beginning to kind 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.080 of unwrap the onions on some of these guys. What 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.880 are some of the tidbits that you've picked up that 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:51.679 fans may not see in an article or in a 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.199 tweet that you know, you you know this guy is 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.840 going to be interesting, because yeah, I think there's a 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:00.120 lot of that. I think, Um, Corey Littleton, who is 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:03.800 among the last wave of guys to come through. Littleton 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.960 played in college with Shack Thompson, so there's some automatic 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:11.320 familiarity there. Damien Wilson, Uh, no, Shack, And I said, 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:13.120 how do you know Shack? And He's like, well, we 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.320 were in the same draft and Wilson and Thompson we 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.360 were kinda last in alphabetical order, so we were always 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.480 in line next each other. Okay, well, you know, and 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.839 Austin Corbett and Bradley Bozeman were roommates of the Senior Bowl, 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:30.480 so it is kind of a small world. Um, you know, 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:32.720 and we and we will, we'll get into all this stuff. 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.840 Damien Wilson's actually got family members on staff here, so 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.080 well we'll get to that at some point on Panthers 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.000 dot Com. Stay tuned for all that. But Yeah, it 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.040 is an interesting group of people. And I think there 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:48.040 are a lot of characters in here that people are 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.400 gonna respond well to. You know, Bradley Bozeman story about 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.120 driving around in an RV and living in the r 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.120 V with his wife for a while. It's fantastic. It's 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.280 the kind of thing. Of course, an offensive lineman lives 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.520 in an RV. Yes, sign me up for some of that. 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.680 This is a person I can like. Uh, Johnny Hecker 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.560 is is hilarious. We are going to have some fun. 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.520 I I predict hijinks in the special Teams meeting room 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.360 with you know, J. J. Jansen and Johnny Hecker in 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.800 the same place. Yeah, that's gonna that's gonna be good content. 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.640 So it is. And there are a lot of guys 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.800 who just have a kind of a personality. If there's 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.800 another through line with all of them, A lot of 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.520 these guys do have something to prove, you know, even 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.560 Austin Corbett, who was the big money contract of a 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.720 lot of them. Corbett was a guy the Browns couldn't 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:39.960 get rid of fast enough. They drafted him with the 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.720 first pick in the second round in eighteen, you know, 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.120 thirty third overall and he kind of disappointed there and 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.160 they traded him to Rams for a sack of beans, 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.959 and he turned into a pretty good player, and he 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.160 talked I talked to him the other day about that 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.720 and getting to the point of believing in yourself again. 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.080 And a lot of these guys have that that. You know, 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:03.640 this is you know, Bozeman's here on a one year 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:05.880 deal when a lot of people thought he would make 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.320 more money on a longer term deal at twenty seven. 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.840 Uh So, all these guys kind of have something to 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.360 prove and and and that should make for a more 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.880 competitive environment. And at the same time, they also have 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.520 some experience in the playoffs. You know, putting these guys 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:21.960 bios together, a lot of these guys not only played 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:24.440 in the playoffs, they advanced, you know, they played in 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.400 conference championship games, They won conference championship games, went to 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:29.719 the Super Bowl. You know, obviously Corbett won it last year. 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.240 MS three Super Bowl rings walked in the door this week, 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.160 you know, I mean, Wilson in a couple of rams in, 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:37.880 Hecker and Corbett, yeah, and and and other guys that 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.160 that were there, and we're close and have that experience 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.200 in the playoffs. So you know that that can do 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:44.000 a lot to a locker room, even if it's not 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.200 the guy that you see on the poster. You know, 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.160 it's a guy that, hey, you know, I know what 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.880 it takes to win in this league. Yeah, no doubt, 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.560 And I think that is important. And you know Bozeman 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:57.600 comes from. You know, if there is a team lately, 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:01.000 and I say lately over the last twenty years that 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.599 you would kind of consider this stable franchise in the 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.640 NFL would probably be the Ravens. So go get guys 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.079 who played for the Ravens, Go get guys who played 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.920 for the Chiefs. Go get guys. You know, the Steelers 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.480 are a team that's kind of always been considered that category. 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.320 And they hadn't brought him boy in from Pittsburgh, but 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.160 you know, those those consistent winners and guys who have 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.040 been in that environment. I do think it matters when 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:27.319 a team is this young, and you know, the Carolina Panthers, 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:29.319 there are a couple of stray guys around here who 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:31.439 have been on teams like that, but this team is 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.480 still so young and so new in its development that 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:37.720 I think the more of that you can add to 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.000 the room, the better it will be for those young kids. 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:42.840 All right, So the big question everyone wants to know, 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.600 and I think it's probably it's gonna be one of 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:47.920 the people sitting around this table. I'm just kidding that 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.520 the Panthers. This week, everyone's been out looking at these 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.720 pro days. On Monday we had Kenny Pickett and Pitt, 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.640 we had Malik Willis yesterday with Liberty, and then Matt 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.840 Corral with Old Miss this afternoon. Darren, what are the 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.920 things they're looking for? You know? So the coaches, the staff, 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:06.800 you know, Scott Fitter, they're all there. You know, what 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:08.160 are the things they're trying to get out of these 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.720 pro days? Right now? Listen, I'm as I'm as jaded 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.360 as anyone can be about this process, having been around 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.560 it for so long. Of course, a pro day work 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:21.080 out is scripted to highlight a guy's strength. So to 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:25.560 have a bad Pro day workout is negligence on somebody's part, 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.120 probably the people who scripted your pro day. So you 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:30.760 you do things to make him look good. And what 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.040 we know about Malik Willis, we know he throws a 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.240 good deep ball, so they set him up to get 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:38.520 off platform and he've won sixty five yards down the 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.200 field and everybody saw it and he jumping up and 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.880 down and and laughing and having fun, and everybody goes 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.360 who and I And we know it's scripted. We know 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.840 it's supposed to look like that, but when it looks 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.640 like that anyway, it's hard for your eyes not to 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.000 be like the cartoon dog and sort of bug out 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:59.560 of your head like that. Um it was. It was interesting. 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:03.119 But they go up there too to talk to support personnel, 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.080 talk to coaches, talk to equipment people who knew him, 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.040 and you how I think you can learn things from 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:12.720 how a guy who treats the equipment manager and the 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.760 scouting department goes through all that over the course of 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.200 the year anyway, And they've got a file on these guys, 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.440 but it's just a chance to sit down with them, 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.640 talk out, I have a meal, you know, get to 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.000 know these guys at a little different level, because when 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:30.360 you're talking about quarterbacks, that personal relationship is huge because 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.320 you've got to be able to trust this guy for 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.240 multiple years, and you've got to make sure you're not 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:40.000 jumping on the wrong train because this is a commitment 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:44.920 and it is I think that decides people's careers and 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:48.560 and whether you get to stay in certain jobs. Um 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.320 long enough. So it's a crucial decision for a lot 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.400 of people around here, and you use this time at 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.480 these pro days to get to know these guys. So, um, 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:00.560 pick it is. You know, I think if we're trying 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:04.040 to characterize these guys, pick it's probably the high floor 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.160 guy like Mac Jones was last year. Like you can't 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.120 imagine Kenny Pickett go into the league and becoming terrible 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.320 at football. I just donna, I don't think anybody anticipates that, Um, 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.640 Malik Willis is the high ceiling guy where it's like 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.440 it might take him a minute to get there. Boy 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:25.040 what if? And that what if is tantalizing. I mean, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.440 it's the kind of thing that's you know, intriguing for 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.080 teams when they see that kind of raw talent. Mac 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.080 Real has got a lot of good tape to if 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.520 you look at what old Miss did over the last 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:40.080 couple of years, specifically last year, he's played some high 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.520 level football in a system that you know, he's had 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.239 to make some checks, he's had to do something. So, uh, 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:51.480 it is a fascinating conversation and they're continuing to look 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.080 at all those guys they're continuing to look at just 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:57.800 about everybody else under the sun, and they're trying to 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:00.080 figure out if there's a way to get Tom Brady here. Know, 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:02.760 I'm just kidding that it's not possible. I don't think 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.080 maybe next year, because Tom Brady's gonna play until he's 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.600 seventy five years old. Um, I may never get to 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:11.600 vote for Tom Brady for the Hall of Fame because 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:14.359 he's just not ever going to retire, at least not 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.760 before I do. So. Anyway, that's a long way of 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.240 saying there's a lot of stuff still going on, but 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.119 the bulk of the bulk of the roster construction is 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.640 now done. Other than the quarterback thing, this is kind 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.439 of what it's gonna be. And I think over the 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.920 next month, we we look to the draft, and right 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:37.520 now they're sitting there at six, and then you wait 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.600 a while, it's gonna be one thirty seven until they 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.760 pick again at the tail end of the fourth round 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.520 after the trades they made last year, which is not ideal. 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.280 But I also don't know that that's a final number either. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.840 I think there are things they could do, you know, 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:56.119 and we can spend the next month talking about what 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.960 do you do at six? Or who's the target at six? 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.399 And you know, I think for today what they've done 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.000 is and this is the way smart teams use free agency. 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.120 It's to fill in as many blanks on your depth 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:13.800 chart as possible, so you don't walk into a draft 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:21.000 with glaring knees and have to pick certain players at 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.199 certain positions just to feel your depth chart right. You know, 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.639 best as they say best available, you know it, as 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.320 many times as you're able to do that, the better um. 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.120 And they'll have a lot of options there at six. 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.240 And we'll have plenty of time to to kind of 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.000 talk through that. You know, we have another month of 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.399 of Darren writing five, six, seven stories a day. And 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.439 this this is all this man does around here. You know, 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.920 you got to give him the clicks, Darren. It's it's 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.760 and maybe it talk me off, this talk me off, 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.280 this rant. Does it feel like this offseason is some 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.160 sort of see change for the way that the NFL 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:01.760 may work in function in terms of the stars of teams. 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:03.480 You know, you looked at the NBA of the last 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:08.040 five ten years and these guys, you know, Kawhi Leonard 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:10.560 wins the championship the next year, he's somewhere else. You know, 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.359 these guys just move around. You know, I can't even 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.800 keep track with where James Harden has been over the 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.199 last five years, or Kevin Durant or whoever else. And 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:23.640 now you have what Russell Wilson and Denver Matt Ryan 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.080 and Andy Carson Wentzon Washington. You have all of this 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:31.200 quarterback movement, Jimmy Garoppolo and potentially leaving San Francisco after 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:35.320 a after a playoff run. And it doesn't it feels 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.880 like these things can just kind of keep changing now 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:42.359 in a different way. Is that something that's gonna linger here? Yeah? 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.360 I mean, if if you thought my biscuit thoughts were 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.920 gonna set this podcast off in a new direction, let's 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:51.960 talk about the tectonic shift of labor relations in the 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.359 United States at the present moment, that'll really drive this 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.159 thing straight into the ditch. No, it is fascinating because 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:02.040 the NFL has always taken advantage of the fact that 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:05.760 the NFL players Association, as unions go, is a relatively 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:09.960 weak one. And you know, the system is designed to 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.960 put people in a certain place, uh and keep them 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.760 there and give teams the ability to exercise all the leverage. 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:19.840 I mean, the franchise tag is a way of keeping 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.480 the best your best player off the market and reducing 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:25.560 the leverage they have. But players have taken it back 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:30.200 and listen for all the other storylines that go with 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.720 Deshaun Watson, the fact that he got a fully guaranteed 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:36.760 contract is a game changer. I mean, not even Aaron 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.280 Rodgers did that. So you know, we're getting to a 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.160 point now where the next quarterback that comes up, I mean, 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:45.840 what happens when it's time to talk about Patrick Mahomes 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.760 in the future. Well, of course he's gonna want fully 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.480 guaranteed five years at a time, because this guy got it. 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:54.520 And then you keep advancing it a little more and 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:57.960 more and you get you know again, Russell Wilson dictated 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.400 terms and decided Denver is the place he wanted to be, 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:05.840 so Denver was his next destination and that had to 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:08.920