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Speaker 1: It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristen Belboni and Will Brian presented by Morris Jenkins. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's that time of the week. The Happy Half Hour
Speaker 1: podcast is presented by Morris Jenkins and Mr Jenkins told
Speaker 1: me that he loves football and he looks forward to
Speaker 1: this show all week. When you're plumbing or air conditioning
Speaker 1: is acting up, called Morris Jenkins or visit Morris Jenkins
Speaker 1: dot com. Kristen here as always with my good friends
Speaker 1: Will and Matt and uh guys. We have a lot
Speaker 1: to catch up on since the last time we spoke
Speaker 1: last Wednesday morning. Number one being Scott Fitterer is officially
Speaker 1: the Panthers new general manager. It seems like forever ago,
Speaker 1: right we were still debating all the candidates that that
Speaker 1: was just last week. Oh my gosh, at this time
Speaker 1: last week have happened. So one thing I would love
Speaker 1: to do and will certainly get into the people that
Speaker 1: we've we've talked to about him and kind of what
Speaker 1: the rest of this week looks like, um as he
Speaker 1: gets settled in his role. Um. But one thing I
Speaker 1: think would be cool because up until about a year ago,
Speaker 1: I didn't know how all this stuff work. Is Like, Will,
Speaker 1: I would love for you to start out and myself
Speaker 1: as well in terms of how this all played out
Speaker 1: from our end, you know, because when you get the
Speaker 1: when you get the news, you got to spring into action,
Speaker 1: and you're one of the people that has to be
Speaker 1: I mean, you really had to be ready at any
Speaker 1: time because of the website. Yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: one of the things that we had to do was
Speaker 1: do our best to kind of prep um as many
Speaker 1: of these guys as possible as their names kind of
Speaker 1: popped up. Um. I think one of the things that
Speaker 1: this since usually this happened so quickly, as we kind
Speaker 1: of talked about over the last couple of weeks. UM.
Speaker 1: I think that the two week element of it maybe
Speaker 1: kind of lulds us to sleep a little bit. But
Speaker 1: as soon as kind of we I I gotta push uh,
Speaker 1: and then all the slack messages, all the text and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you know, you're kind of going.
Speaker 1: So it's it's building out, it's getting as many pictures
Speaker 1: as possible. UM, It's it's reaching out to folks from
Speaker 1: Seattle to to get in contact for uh, you know, bios, pictures,
Speaker 1: potential interview people. But I have to imagine about this though,
Speaker 1: is which I think is really interesting, is that I
Speaker 1: have to imagine that you can't you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: we knew who the candidates were this time last week,
Speaker 1: we knew that it was down to the final four.
Speaker 1: The Panthers released that UM on Panthers dot Com. But
Speaker 1: I have to imagine that while you're prepping, you can't
Speaker 1: get too far ahead of yourself in terms of reaching out.
Speaker 1: You just said you reached out to people in Seattle,
Speaker 1: where it's like, I imagine you can't tip your hand
Speaker 1: too much, right, Yeah, I mean you kind of try
Speaker 1: to you tiptoe around it, and a little bit. It
Speaker 1: was easier with some of the candidates for whom I
Speaker 1: already had some personal connections, you know, I knew some people,
Speaker 1: um with some of the other teams with where those
Speaker 1: candidates were, so it's a little bit easier to kind
Speaker 1: of navigate that than maybe a team where, um, you
Speaker 1: didn't have as many people that you kind of knew
Speaker 1: already in place. Um and uh and so yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I think there was a little bit of kind
Speaker 1: of some some blind cold emailing there with Seattle, but
Speaker 1: I mean they were great. And the thing that was
Speaker 1: interesting was that all the different people I talked to,
Speaker 1: and I've heard this from everyone else. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can certainly say this is as soon as kind of
Speaker 1: the news broke, everyone was like, oh my god, you're
Speaker 1: gonna love what a great guy. Now, I will say this,
Speaker 1: I have heard that quite a few times, but I
Speaker 1: will change it up a little bit. I was talking
Speaker 1: to Jim Naggi, who's the head of the Senior Bowl,
Speaker 1: and we'll get into that little bit later, but he
Speaker 1: worked with um Scott Fitterer for five years. They were,
Speaker 1: you know, both in the scouting department with the Seahawks
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you what he says. Well, oh my god,
Speaker 1: you're gonna love Fit. So I told him my goal
Speaker 1: is to to one day get to the level where
Speaker 1: I'm calling him fit too, because I think that's that's
Speaker 1: the thing, that's how you know you're in right. He
Speaker 1: was like, oh, fits the greatest And I was like, oh, Fit,
Speaker 1: I like that. What's what's he going to call you
Speaker 1: if you call him fit? Kristen hopefully? But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: and yeah, so things, I mean, things happen fast. I mean,
Speaker 1: that was what Thursday night and then we were getting
Speaker 1: getting stuff up. We you know, we we went out
Speaker 1: with something that was a little maybe unorthodox kind of
Speaker 1: in this world, but we posted and went live with
Speaker 1: um an offer that we had offered him, not that
Speaker 1: he had accepted the offer, but just that we had
Speaker 1: offered him, which I think in this uh in the
Speaker 1: world from kind of the team side, you don't really
Speaker 1: see all that much this time of year in terms
Speaker 1: of you know, the the head coach announcements, the GM announcements,
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. But knowing that that new
Speaker 1: story was going to be everywhere else and it was
Speaker 1: true we had offered him UM, so I think we
Speaker 1: kind of made a little some waves there from a
Speaker 1: Panthers dot com, you know, Panthers Social just kind of
Speaker 1: our whole our whole set of accounts that we announced that,
Speaker 1: and then four hours later later that night, um, we're
Speaker 1: able to follow back up and said that he agreed
Speaker 1: to terms. Um. So yeah, I mean, I think it
Speaker 1: was a really interesting sort of set of hours there
Speaker 1: of of doing something that maybe we weren't exactly expecting
Speaker 1: because we hadn't done it before. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of kind of the professional media and the NFL
Speaker 1: world were a little surprised by that too. I like
Speaker 1: it though, And so I had a I had a
Speaker 1: front row seat to all of those conversations. You know,
Speaker 1: we're all on the on the same text chains or
Speaker 1: slack chains, um. But but I really get to look
Speaker 1: at it, um from a completely detached perspective, because that's
Speaker 1: not you know, social and and the website are not
Speaker 1: necessarily my world unless I'm I'm hosting something for one
Speaker 1: of those places. Um. But so it was interesting for
Speaker 1: me to see kind of how that discussion played out.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think, like you said, people are like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is this is new, and this is different. But
Speaker 1: as you said, uh, stories are out there and you
Speaker 1: have to be when you're the team, you have to
Speaker 1: you can't just be like, oh, yeah, this is happening.
Speaker 1: He just like tweet out like, hey, this is happening.
Speaker 1: By the way, it's got to be you know, very specific,
Speaker 1: and the specificity there was, Um, the Panthers have extended
Speaker 1: a formal offer. And by that point, at least in
Speaker 1: my own experience as someone who's had contracts before, certainly
Speaker 1: I can't speak to that. I was not in the
Speaker 1: negotiation room here, but that's that's you know, both sides
Speaker 1: at that point are on board, and then there's you know,
Speaker 1: a more formal process and that that does by no means,
Speaker 1: Um that by no means, doesn't mean that he's still
Speaker 1: taken some time. Usually it's like okay, yeah, like let's
Speaker 1: do this, and then there's like the formal process of it.
Speaker 1: And I thought it was very cool that, um, the
Speaker 1: Panthers were updating every step of the way, because, as
Speaker 1: you said, well, a lot of times, as as a team,
Speaker 1: you don't always get to do that because you have
Speaker 1: to really, especially when it involves negotiations, really stick to
Speaker 1: the facts. Whereas someone else can have a report out
Speaker 1: from sources. UM, you can't do that on the official
Speaker 1: Panthers Twitter. No. I mean, and I think that that's
Speaker 1: been part of the goal over the last three or
Speaker 1: four years really is to kind of continue to keep
Speaker 1: pushing pushing those limits, pushing those boundaries of of what
Speaker 1: this world is and essentially of the Panthers UM, and
Speaker 1: our official voices are official accounts, are official platforms, really
Speaker 1: being in the mix of the way that a fan
Speaker 1: understands and is informed about this team. You know, we
Speaker 1: want fans to not only just subscribe to the different
Speaker 1: media outlets and their pushes, but you know, if they
Speaker 1: get it from us, they're getting it from us at
Speaker 1: the same time, UM, and they're they're being informed about it,
Speaker 1: and then hopefully from you know, yourself, and from Bill
Speaker 1: both and Darren Gant and from you know, excuse me
Speaker 1: maybe maybe you know, but like that from that within
Speaker 1: this group of really getting good insight and understanding why
Speaker 1: this not that UM, and trying to to not just
Speaker 1: hear you know, a potential hot take or you know,
Speaker 1: a clickbait link, but really you know, stepping through this
Speaker 1: is why this is happening, and these are the reasons
Speaker 1: behind it, and this is why you should be excited
Speaker 1: about it, or even you know, saying this is why
Speaker 1: this didn't work, um, and and this is what, you know,
Speaker 1: what the organization is going to try to do to
Speaker 1: fix it. You know. I think throughout the season, you know,
Speaker 1: I think we were trying to be as honest as possible.
Speaker 1: You know, I wasn't only just giving stats that that
Speaker 1: we're the good ones, you know, we we said these
Speaker 1: are the things that that aren't very good, and these
Speaker 1: are the things that they're gonna keep talking about and
Speaker 1: working on, and this is you know, what they are.
Speaker 1: And I think that honesty and that that openness UM
Speaker 1: hopefully has has been good for our fans and um
Speaker 1: maybe attracted some new ones. I think that's certainly a
Speaker 1: better way of break news. Then. I think it was
Speaker 1: the Falcons not too long ago that said, sources say
Speaker 1: we're close to doing something, and it was the Falcons
Speaker 1: own page, so they were they didn't even they were
Speaker 1: the team, yet they were using sources. I wonder who
Speaker 1: their sources were, right, and and that and that's because
Speaker 1: they're so there. If you don't really have good alignment internally,
Speaker 1: and you don't have people that are the power burgers
Speaker 1: in the room vouching for Hey, oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: I need confirmation on what we can do on our
Speaker 1: social channels. You know, when you're when you're kind of
Speaker 1: a too far steps outside of that process, you kind
Speaker 1: of have to play a little bit safer. And we
Speaker 1: we've got some really important people, um that have that
Speaker 1: have really vouched for the uh, the ability to do
Speaker 1: this night. I think it's it's invaluable. Are I mean
Speaker 1: it might seem like a small little niche all you know,
Speaker 1: who cares, Like four hours later they said it and
Speaker 1: I heard it anyway, so I knew about it. But
Speaker 1: I think it does make a difference, um a little
Speaker 1: bit when the team and us and when we can
Speaker 1: all kind of be a part of the conversation UM
Speaker 1: or A l L. Yeah, I agree, And I think
Speaker 1: we should make it clear that we're not saying that
Speaker 1: the Falcons or any other team doesn't have that backing
Speaker 1: from there um higher ups. I just think that for us,
Speaker 1: for the Panthers, um, you know, because we don't know
Speaker 1: what's going on in any other organization. But I think
Speaker 1: for the Panthers we have been lucky and we've all
Speaker 1: felt it UM to have people who UM are higher up,
Speaker 1: who really value transparency and UM keeping fans in the
Speaker 1: know in an honest way and trying to do it,
Speaker 1: you know, as quickly as possible, UM all throughout the season.
Speaker 1: And I think that's been incredible for me to come
Speaker 1: into and and see it happen in real time because
Speaker 1: I'm still a fan, you know, and so when there's
Speaker 1: something like this that happens that I'm not directly involved in,
Speaker 1: you know, we expect to do. You know, I've done
Speaker 1: interviews of people who who know Scott Fitterer expect to
Speaker 1: be talking to him soon. But really, when it comes
Speaker 1: to the breaking news like this that goes on the website,
Speaker 1: I got to sit back and see how it all happened.
Speaker 1: And it's very cool for me, as someone who was
Speaker 1: a fan of this organization before coming into work here
Speaker 1: UM to see all that play out in real time
Speaker 1: in the commitment to keeping the fans in the loop
Speaker 1: and and not letting the story go by, just because
Speaker 1: we have to be a lot more buttoned up about
Speaker 1: the way in which we express things and how you know,
Speaker 1: it's an important part of every conversation is you know,
Speaker 1: we got we gotta put this out there, like we
Speaker 1: got we gotta put this out there for the fans.
Speaker 1: So I think that's awesome. So since we've put it
Speaker 1: out for the fans, what are the things that you
Speaker 1: feel like you've learned, um, from all of your conversations, um,
Speaker 1: from the people you've talked to, from the people that
Speaker 1: Darren Gan has talked to over the last week about
Speaker 1: Scott Bigger. Yeah. I think this is gonna sound cheesy, um,
Speaker 1: but it's the truth. Like I'm not just saying this,
Speaker 1: this is really the truth. It's it's really what you
Speaker 1: said earlier, will As when you said people are like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, you're gonna love him, and talking to
Speaker 1: people on video and seeing their faces, you know, Darren
Speaker 1: said a lot of phone conversations. I'm sorry he's had
Speaker 1: some video conversations as well, but seeing a few of
Speaker 1: the people the same and Farmers who's a good family
Speaker 1: friend of him, as well as being just an amazing
Speaker 1: NFL writer for the l A Times, and um, um,
Speaker 1: Jim Naggie of the Senior Bowl, as I mentioned, their
Speaker 1: face like lights up, you know, like they just have
Speaker 1: a smile talking about him and you can tell that
Speaker 1: it's deeper, um than just a professional relationship. And I
Speaker 1: think that's pretty cool. And just you know, Sam Farmer
Speaker 1: talked to me about him being just like such a
Speaker 1: good guy, and uh, Sam Farmer said, you know, I
Speaker 1: was texting with a colleague the other day and sometimes
Speaker 1: in this industry there are people who are great at
Speaker 1: their jobs, but not necessarily the most genuine people, um,
Speaker 1: and you see them go on to succeed. And he said,
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of rare, um that you see a
Speaker 1: guy that you just know, Man, this is a good
Speaker 1: dude that everyone is gonna like. And also he's gonna
Speaker 1: do his job so incredibly well. And so I've gotten
Speaker 1: that sense will um. And I don't know if that
Speaker 1: I think that's also come through articles and and the
Speaker 1: people that Darren has talked to as well. And that
Speaker 1: seems to be the general consensus is like for the
Speaker 1: purposes of this higher no one has a bad word
Speaker 1: to say. Everyone is so incredibly complimentary of the job
Speaker 1: that he's going to do, and so Panthers fan should
Speaker 1: be excited about that. But then in addition to that,
Speaker 1: it seems like a real good dude and everyone I've
Speaker 1: talked to us, mentioned his wife whose name is cherished,
Speaker 1: his kids, Like, you can tell that that stuff is
Speaker 1: um and those are you know, former co workers, are
Speaker 1: a writer who's to cover him, who developed into a
Speaker 1: family friend, and so I think there's a that's told
Speaker 1: me a lot about him and so Um, as Sam
Speaker 1: Farmer said, it's cool to see good people, you know
Speaker 1: from everything we've heard, succeed at this higher level. And
Speaker 1: I think I'm excited to get to know him better.
Speaker 1: The one of the quotes from John Schneider, who's the
Speaker 1: GM of the Seahawks, who is Fitters boss over the
Speaker 1: last a decade or so, Um told Darren and I quote,
Speaker 1: first thing you told Darren you guys are going to
Speaker 1: kick ass. It'll be a really fun culture. Can I
Speaker 1: say that on the podcast? Okay? I mean I will
Speaker 1: put it on Matt if we get fine. MAT's going
Speaker 1: to take care of it and cash it's it's on
Speaker 1: my back that that just speaks to I mean, that's
Speaker 1: the first thing that he said when he, you know,
Speaker 1: talked to this writer from the Panthers. Oh man, you
Speaker 1: guys are gonna kick ass. Like he was so excited
Speaker 1: to talk about who Scott is and what Scott's going
Speaker 1: to do well. So much of it is is relationships, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, especially coming up through the scouting world, it's
Speaker 1: it's relationships. And that's what we've heard a lot about.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that's yeah, no, no, I mean, and
Speaker 1: I was saying, I mean, in some ways, it's almost
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of sad that like he's walking into
Speaker 1: this sort of COVID world, you know, where like I
Speaker 1: I want to get in there and meet him, you know,
Speaker 1: and you know, you want all these other people to
Speaker 1: kind of be around him, because he seems like this
Speaker 1: person that in the pre COVID world where you could
Speaker 1: really kind of uh have this you know, tight knit
Speaker 1: community and have all these people really relating and being
Speaker 1: close and being in physical proximity to each other. That
Speaker 1: that's just a world where he thrives um and so
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully we can we can quickly get back
Speaker 1: to that world and um and and kind of utilize
Speaker 1: some of those those aspects of him. But like one
Speaker 1: of the things that I think kind of moving moving
Speaker 1: forward of you know, what our fans want to know
Speaker 1: is Okay, so drafts coming up in three months Senior
Speaker 1: Bowls next week, Like, what is this guy's approach? And
Speaker 1: I think that one of the things that that Schneider
Speaker 1: again said was that he's really calm and really level
Speaker 1: and even um and has this kind of level headed
Speaker 1: spirit to him. Yes. UM, I think that's gonna be
Speaker 1: really interesting to see how that takes place both within
Speaker 1: kind of a draft weekend scenario, um, and in the
Speaker 1: ways that he kind of handles his scouting department. It's funny.
Speaker 1: Jim Nagy said the exact same thing. Um. He called
Speaker 1: him a calming influence. He tweeted it and it got
Speaker 1: a lot of UM, got a lot of was and
Speaker 1: he said, you know, he's he was such a calming
Speaker 1: influence in the draft room. And I don't think I've
Speaker 1: ever heard anyone described that way. And he said, well, hey,
Speaker 1: I just want to I just want to make it known.
Speaker 1: As I was talking to him, he was like, the
Speaker 1: rest of us weren't crazy, Like we didn't need like
Speaker 1: we didn't necessarily need the calming influence. But that's how
Speaker 1: he described him. Um, so that's really interesting. We gotta
Speaker 1: he was like the co director with Trent Kirshner, who
Speaker 1: also used to work for the Panthers back in the day,
Speaker 1: and um, Schneider kind of called them fire and ice
Speaker 1: a little bit that Kirshner was was kind of the
Speaker 1: fire and kind of really you know, push the limits
Speaker 1: and was and then uh, Scott was more the ice
Speaker 1: of of kind of pulling, pulling things back and really
Speaker 1: centering where where things needed to be. Um. And this yeah,
Speaker 1: again this calming influence. And I think you look at
Speaker 1: the success of these Seahawks drafts and a big notable
Speaker 1: thing that sticks out to everybody is their ability to
Speaker 1: trade back. Um. And that's something you know, obviously a problem.
Speaker 1: Really wasn't just Scott pulling the trigger on that. It
Speaker 1: was a group effort. Um. But you know, this propensity
Speaker 1: to trust the work that they've done, that they had
Speaker 1: done with their scouting, with the way they set up
Speaker 1: their draft board, and knowing that they could still find
Speaker 1: value and find really good value by trading back and
Speaker 1: doing it correctly and doing it well. Um, which will
Speaker 1: be really interesting to see. You know, what does he
Speaker 1: what does he do with the eighth overall pick? What
Speaker 1: does he do in the second and third round? Um?
Speaker 1: You know how you know he's found a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys that have been starters in really big contributors for
Speaker 1: the Seahawks, you know after the third and fourth round,
Speaker 1: you know, and he he really feels that there's a
Speaker 1: lot of value to be found there. Um, and that's
Speaker 1: something that I think the Panthers haven't always had in
Speaker 1: recent years. Um, you know, late round draft picks that
Speaker 1: have really flourished. So uh, that that will be something
Speaker 1: I think everyone's really looking forward to. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: let's let's continue that. Let's start to look ahead after
Speaker 1: we take a quick break right now. Mr Jenkins told me.
Speaker 1: Mr Jenkins told me. Mr Jenkis told me to always
Speaker 1: make it easy for the customer. That's you. A lave person,
Speaker 1: will always be here to answer the phone. We're here
Speaker 1: till midnight, seven days a week, so you never have
Speaker 1: to take off work. And it's the same prices in
Speaker 1: the daytime. We're the ones you want to call. We're
Speaker 1: the ones you want to call. We're the ones you
Speaker 1: want to call. You're gonna love these people, I guarantee.
Speaker 1: See gotta Morris Jenkins dot com. All right, well you
Speaker 1: brought it up, and I think it's it's so smart.
Speaker 1: As we look forward, I mean, he's gonna come in
Speaker 1: and be thrown right into it. Not that I mean,
Speaker 1: not that that's something he's not prepared for at all.
Speaker 1: But he's gonna go right into the Senior Bowl. Because
Speaker 1: the Panthers coaching staff will be one of the staffs
Speaker 1: that's um, that are coaching in this game. And and
Speaker 1: that starts really this weekend, even though the game is
Speaker 1: not until next weekend because it's a full week. Um.
Speaker 1: But but what a great opportunity for um Fitterer and
Speaker 1: this coaching staff to get so much time with these guys.
Speaker 1: And we saw over this week, h Mac Jones. It
Speaker 1: was announced yesterday the Alabama quarterback is not only gonna
Speaker 1: be down there with several um other guys from that
Speaker 1: championship team, but um, he's also going to be on
Speaker 1: the Panthers team. So what a great opportunity for everyone
Speaker 1: to just hit the ground running and start, especially this
Speaker 1: year when you know, the combine situation is different, the
Speaker 1: off season will be different, um, And and the draft
Speaker 1: is really right around the corner in terms of you know,
Speaker 1: in GM terms, it's right around the corner. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, this next week is vital. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: very very important, and obviously there's gonna be plenty of
Speaker 1: potential prospects that won't be at the Senior Bowl that
Speaker 1: weren't necessarily the seniors are invited. Um. But so far,
Speaker 1: they've announced most of the offensive groupings. UM. I think
Speaker 1: probably by the time you hear this, they'll have announced
Speaker 1: some of the defensive groupings. But so far, what we know,
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing that stands out obviously is
Speaker 1: as you said, Mac Jones, Um, Kyle Trash, Kelen Man,
Speaker 1: and Jamie Newman are the quarterbacks that the Panthers will
Speaker 1: have on their side. Um. Trash obviously from Florida, had
Speaker 1: a big year, Kellen Mond, Texas Ay and him Jamie
Speaker 1: Newman a name. He was at Wake Forest and then
Speaker 1: was going to transfer to Georgia but then ended up
Speaker 1: opting out of the season. So yeah, Jimmy told me
Speaker 1: that he thinks he's the most Yeah, he's he's probably
Speaker 1: the biggest question mark. UM. I don't want to quote him.
Speaker 1: He might have not a said question mark, but he's
Speaker 1: the biggest unknown I guess unknown commodity coming into this
Speaker 1: because of opting out. So what a great opportunity for
Speaker 1: for them to get time with all of these guys,
Speaker 1: a lot of different skill sets, different players UM in
Speaker 1: that quarterback group and and I think so much of
Speaker 1: what Panther fans are looking at is that eighth pick
Speaker 1: and you know, what do you do right there? And
Speaker 1: I think what's critical is what do you do after it?
Speaker 1: Because getting some of these guys, and some of these
Speaker 1: guys end up maybeing second and third round type guys.
Speaker 1: UM and really understanding what's there, what's out there. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not just about finding your guy, but it's about
Speaker 1: finding who you know, really understanding what other teams may
Speaker 1: be looking at, what you might know that another team doesn't. UM.
Speaker 1: One of the things I really took out of your
Speaker 1: interview with Jim yesterday UM on Panthers dot com. Please
Speaker 1: check it out is what he said the like, all
Speaker 1: the coaches and staffs are down there. Everyone's down there
Speaker 1: and they're all doing interviews and they're all watching practice
Speaker 1: from the sidelines. But what they don't get to see
Speaker 1: is meetings. Who shows up early, who who shows up late,
Speaker 1: How guys respond in meetings, how they're interacting with coaches,
Speaker 1: how they interact during drills, how they interact after practice.
Speaker 1: Those are really very exclusive sort of things that you
Speaker 1: get for an entire week just with this set of
Speaker 1: players that none of the other thirty teams you're going
Speaker 1: to look at well and really get. Don't you get
Speaker 1: the sense that it couldn't be a more perfect fit
Speaker 1: with this Panther's coaching staff because Matt Rule Phil snow
Speaker 1: they will they will say this as a point of
Speaker 1: pride that they are elopmental staff that they want to
Speaker 1: be referred to as that you know, they give in practice. Um,
Speaker 1: there twos and threes get just as many, they way
Speaker 1: more reps than on a normal NFL team, with the
Speaker 1: thinking being these twos and threes could could become our
Speaker 1: ones by the end of the season, and we certainly
Speaker 1: saw that play out in a variety of different ways.
Speaker 1: They also substitute liberally on the lines, so we're seeing
Speaker 1: a lot more players um in the mix, and we
Speaker 1: saw them really developed that that young rookie draft class
Speaker 1: and and some of the undrafted free agents. You know,
Speaker 1: I talked to to Matt Rule not too long ago,
Speaker 1: and he talked about the Miles Hartsfields and the Joe
Speaker 1: Charlton's and so I just think it's a perfect fit. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know even if even if things weren't so complicated
Speaker 1: this year, but they are of of a team and
Speaker 1: a coaching staff that likes to develop young talent. Get
Speaker 1: in there and see all the things that that you
Speaker 1: were just talking about. The Jim Naggie said, you know,
Speaker 1: who's who's here to learn, who's willing to take coaching?
Speaker 1: Who do we think we see something in that maybe
Speaker 1: other people might have missed because we're going to get
Speaker 1: to have these practices with them. So I just think
Speaker 1: it's a perfect fit. I mean, let's be really. You
Speaker 1: can you can absolutely hit on the perfect first round
Speaker 1: pick and could be an incredible Pro Bowl starter and
Speaker 1: at any moment you might have to go to his backup.
Speaker 1: You just don't know. Um in this league. I mean
Speaker 1: you look around the NFL playoffs right now. I mean
Speaker 1: there's there's plenty of evidence of needing depth and needing
Speaker 1: really good depth. UM, and that's what successful NFL teams
Speaker 1: were able to do. I mean, you have to have
Speaker 1: great starters, but you have to have really good guys
Speaker 1: backing them up. So like as we look a couple
Speaker 1: of the other position groups, this one it's not the
Speaker 1: sexy one It's not the one that maybe casual fans
Speaker 1: may know about, but Alex Leatherwood Google that name. He
Speaker 1: was the UM left tackle for Alabama the last several years,
Speaker 1: one unanimous All American, the Outland Trophy. UM. I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of talk of uh, you know somethingtential.
Speaker 1: I mean, what for free agents on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: So the offensive line will certainly be a point of
Speaker 1: emphasis this offseason. UM. And you have Leatherwood, you have
Speaker 1: Deonte Brown. UM also needs an interior linement from Alabama,
Speaker 1: Tray Smith, an interior linement from Tennessee. All of these
Speaker 1: guys are in the top five or five or ten
Speaker 1: of the best offensive lineman in this draft class. And
Speaker 1: they're all gonna be on Carolina's team, UM at the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl or at the Senior Bowl. So I think
Speaker 1: that that will be a big point of UM point
Speaker 1: of interest. And you know, seeing what these guys are
Speaker 1: about and and really how they do in some of
Speaker 1: these drills and what their ability is to pick up
Speaker 1: different formations and and take coaching. So, UM, that will
Speaker 1: be something. I it's not the sexiest thing, for sure,
Speaker 1: but it's UM it's vitally important. And I think this
Speaker 1: will be a huge edge for Caroline's coaching staff. And
Speaker 1: also just Alex Otherwood one of the best football names,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like it's just I always
Speaker 1: think about football names and I'm like, wow, like that's
Speaker 1: a great one. Um yeah, like Slay like place reliance, right, Lay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so good. I just think Leatherwood like that. Just like
Speaker 1: you know, even if you didn't know him and you
Speaker 1: said Alex Otherwood left tackle, Like even if you didn't
Speaker 1: watch Alabama, you'd be like, oh, that guy means business, right,
Speaker 1: Like it just commands respect. Chant Bailey, I always love
Speaker 1: that name. That's a great one. We'll watch draft football
Speaker 1: names after this. That's next me um so a couple
Speaker 1: other names just before we move on. Um Davante Smith,
Speaker 1: the Hudsmond Trophy winner. He they announced he will be there.
Speaker 1: He won't be doing active drills. He's on the Miami side,
Speaker 1: so he'll participate. He'll participate in meetings, but we will
Speaker 1: not see him out on the field, right. But they
Speaker 1: will see Cornell Powell on Mari Rodgers too, wide receivers
Speaker 1: from Clemson. Um that some fans in the region may
Speaker 1: know pretty well. They'll be on Carolina side. Um. And
Speaker 1: then another kind of local name that some fans in
Speaker 1: North Cloom they know is Noah Gray Um from Duke.
Speaker 1: Uh So, what had Jim said that he was the
Speaker 1: best practice players since Peyton Manning. Well, he's we got
Speaker 1: to clarify. Um. So Jim told me that David Cutcliffe
Speaker 1: told him, So, you know, I mean I think that
Speaker 1: makes it even ten times better. Um, So Jim's not
Speaker 1: saying he's the best practice player since um Hayton Manning.
Speaker 1: David Cutcliffe, who was Peyton Manning's coach, UM said that
Speaker 1: he was the most the most committed practice player since
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning or like around that area, like the closest
Speaker 1: he's ever seen, which I just I don't think you
Speaker 1: can get a better compliment than that. Right, It's pretty good.
Speaker 1: It's pretty good. I'm excited to see, uh, to see
Speaker 1: what he can do. And and it's you know, certainly
Speaker 1: a position that you have to think the Panthers at
Speaker 1: tight end um are are looking at. So, like I said,
Speaker 1: I just think it's it's a perfect marriage, this Panthers
Speaker 1: coaching staff going down there and getting to work with
Speaker 1: not just as you said, like the other teams see
Speaker 1: these guys, but getting to work with these young guys
Speaker 1: and and hopefully you know, there'll be some good defensive
Speaker 1: players out there too. You know, I think everyone figures
Speaker 1: that this draft is going to be all offense since
Speaker 1: last year was all defense. But they're they're still looking everywhere,
Speaker 1: and I think there's still a lot of places to
Speaker 1: be found. Um. Yeah, it's not like you have to
Speaker 1: switch like just because we didn't just because all defense
Speaker 1: last year. It's not like, well, but it's time time
Speaker 1: for the all offensive job. I yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: think you can still there's still probably some places of need, um,
Speaker 1: you know, on on all levels. And you know, I
Speaker 1: think especially probably head linebacker. Um, you know, maybe at
Speaker 1: cornerback or at safety. Um, I think you can still
Speaker 1: find uh some young guys that need to be filling
Speaker 1: in there as well. Completely agree. All right, you're listening
Speaker 1: to the Happy Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins,
Speaker 1: and Mr Jenkins told me that he loves football and
Speaker 1: he looks forward to this show all week. When you're
Speaker 1: plumbing or air conditioning is acting up called Morse Jenkins'
Speaker 1: more Jenkins dot Com. All right, well, to round us out,
Speaker 1: you have come up with the weird question enough the
Speaker 1: week that's true. Do you want to say? Yes? So
Speaker 1: this is the Senior Bowl where all of these seniors
Speaker 1: from college you're going to work out for the NFL.
Speaker 1: So I'm thinking, what was I doing January of my
Speaker 1: senior year, UM, when I was in college? And what
Speaker 1: bowl game would I have been invited to go to? Um?
Speaker 1: What would I have? Bad Boy Mower's Gasparrella Bowl. Right,
Speaker 1: that's it, that's the one. So yeah, so what what
Speaker 1: bowl would we've been invited to as seniors? What would
Speaker 1: we have been, UM an elite member of? So that
Speaker 1: that's my question. You go first, I think the first
Speaker 1: I think the first thing that you're assuming is that
Speaker 1: I was an elite member of anything in January of
Speaker 1: my senior year of college. UM, the dangerous assumption. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say if I had to choose, though, I
Speaker 1: think it's got to be the quizble. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it trivia. I always love trivia, watch Jeopardy
Speaker 1: all the time and get very serious about it. And
Speaker 1: you know I like cross words. So I just, um,
Speaker 1: I'm not I was never physically gifted enough to like
Speaker 1: be super competitive at any sport because I was just
Speaker 1: never good enough. But let me tell you what. You
Speaker 1: put me in a you put me in a trivia thing,
Speaker 1: you put me in a quiz thing. I get competitive.
Speaker 1: I love it. Have you watched the new show UM
Speaker 1: with Ken Jennings and those guys that chase No, it's
Speaker 1: this like it's essentially all the best winners from Jeopardy
Speaker 1: that are taking people on and just kind of like
Speaker 1: a Jeopardy type show. It's pretty cool. Look, Okay, I
Speaker 1: will check that out. I will play I'll play along,
Speaker 1: all right, who's next? I gotta I gotta hear wheels
Speaker 1: first before I can give mine, because I don't think
Speaker 1: I don't think I have one that's inceptional Bill or
Speaker 1: Bill will go, that's nervous. That's nervous, right, I ascribed
Speaker 1: I ascribed to that. That uh kind of crazy, Malcolm
Speaker 1: Gladwealth theory? What is it? Ten tho hours makes you
Speaker 1: expert at something? Yes? D it sent that? I don't
Speaker 1: know if utter thousands? Yeah I didn't. I certainly didn't
Speaker 1: spend ten thousands, but I probably spent more than I
Speaker 1: should have. UM. I took a class in college called
Speaker 1: Interactive Digital Narratives. UM. It was a video game class.
Speaker 1: I love that name. Don't you love when a when
Speaker 1: a class has a name like that, that's all interactive
Speaker 1: digital narratives. How incredible is that? So? Yeah, so that was, Um,
Speaker 1: that was a class I took, I think end of
Speaker 1: my junior so going into senior year. My my project
Speaker 1: for it was the I can't remember the mode name now,
Speaker 1: but it's essentially where you go from high school to
Speaker 1: like all America. Remember are you talking about this? Yes, yes, um,
Speaker 1: I would. I'd be the wrong person to know the
Speaker 1: name of it, but I remember you briefly saying this, yep.
Speaker 1: So yeah, So I I felt like I put a
Speaker 1: lot of hours into that and got pretty good at
Speaker 1: play calling in I mean, you know, everyone can play
Speaker 1: video games, but that was one of the ones I
Speaker 1: felt like I was I could take most most commers
Speaker 1: in both my class and my uh my, my, my
Speaker 1: dorm hall. So I would be invited to the Bowl
Speaker 1: of n C double A two thousand seven. I love it.
Speaker 1: I gotta say I did google it while you were talking.
Speaker 1: A hundred thousand hours is eleven and a half years approximately,
Speaker 1: so you could be on your way. You could be
Speaker 1: on your way. But I think it's not like ten
Speaker 1: thousand hours. Um is the one that everyone knows about.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, you were nervous earlier, you called will Bill.
Speaker 1: What do you got farable? I'd probably say wasting time.
Speaker 1: I'm good at that. I don't know. I probably wasted
Speaker 1: tens of time. I can definitely take a good amount
Speaker 1: of time and just do nothing with it. Especially in college,
Speaker 1: I did a lot of nothing. Um, I like that one.
Speaker 1: I would say that. But if I have to get specific,
Speaker 1: something I was good at and put a lot of
Speaker 1: time in was Super Smash Brothers, the game for to
Speaker 1: so I, me and my friends probably have put in
Speaker 1: at least a few thousand hours into that. So I'm
Speaker 1: pretty good at that, I suppose. Yeah. So you look,
Speaker 1: you've got these You've got these guys going into the
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl, you know, top of their their class, great
Speaker 1: at their craft, perfecting it. A lot of them will
Speaker 1: be going pro making tons of money. But I tell you,
Speaker 1: what are they? You know, the champions of the Quiz Bowl,
Speaker 1: the Wasting Time, Slash, Super Smash Brothers Bowl, or what
Speaker 1: is it n C Double A Football two thousand seven? No,
Speaker 1: I think not so. Really, who's to say who's doing
Speaker 1: better in January of your senior year of college us
Speaker 1: back in the day for them right now, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I couldn't tell you. It feels pretty even to me.
Speaker 1: I think we left it was better. I can totally
Speaker 1: do better at college football in a fake way, playing
Speaker 1: fake versions of them than they did of them actual
Speaker 1: their actual selves in real life. I'll take any of
Speaker 1: them on in Jeopardy. I'll tell you that so so well.
Speaker 1: I have to ask, what is your favorite n C
Speaker 1: double a football game? Like year? Yeah, because I have,
Speaker 1: I have to, and I'm wondering what yours is? I
Speaker 1: mean that one I played a lot, because I think
Speaker 1: that was the first version that had that, the one
Speaker 1: with Reggie Bush on the cover, right, I think so, yeah, yeah?
Speaker 1: Or maybe it was the next year. Um, I'm so
Speaker 1: bad at this. Mine was oh three, Yeah? Which one
Speaker 1: was three three? I believe had Joey Harrington on the
Speaker 1: cover the Oregon I never played that one, and then
Speaker 1: oh five with Larry Fitzgerales also a close second. But anyway,
Speaker 1: Regie Bush, Yeah, Reggie Bush. I think that is the
Speaker 1: Reggie Bush cover. Oh seven I could probably name. That's unfortunate,
Speaker 1: all right, well that's next week. So at the end
Speaker 1: of next week you gotta go from from most recent
Speaker 1: to least recent times. I won't even look it up,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll tune in for that next week. Thank
Speaker 1: you guys, Thanks everyone for listening. We'll see you next
Speaker 1: week on The Happy Half Hour Podcast m