WEBVTT - Happy Half Hour Episode 122: School's Out 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:03.360 This week on a Happy Half Hour. 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.240 You've seen the connection with Bryce and Deontay Johnson developed 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:10.880 this week through Mini Camp and canals are saying that 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:13.680 they've told Bryce Deontay is going to make the right 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.919 football move. Deontay's going to make the right decision, trust him. 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.520 So that'll be a fun connection to kind of watch 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:21.560 continue to develop. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:28.760 To'sdow cow Wha. It's time for the Happy Half Hour 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:34.760 presented by Southern Star, an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers. 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.800 Here are your hosts, Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill. 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.320 Hello friends, And if I sound more excited than normal, 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.320 it's because it's the summertime edition you just get of 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.920 the Happy Half Hour. Yeah, me being in a good 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.920 mood scares people. Welcome to it. If you've been listening 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.920 to The Happy Half Hour, you know that already, so 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.800 welcome to it. This is a very special episode of 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.959 The Happy Half Hour presented by a Southern Star, an 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:08.160 official bourbon partner of the Carolina Panthers. Celebrate the spirit 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:12.440 of the Carolinas. And we're celebrating because we're about to 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.000 get some time off for a little bit tier in 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.520 a little bit. But before that, we had a lot 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:19.399 of football, and we got a lot of football to 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.280 get to. But yeah, it's definitely got a feeling around 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:27.160 the building today. It is now Thursday afternoon, and this 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.319 place is cleared out pretty good. There was initially a 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:34.639 walkthrough on the schedule for the Panthers after yesterday's final 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:38.240 practice of mini camp. That walk through got canceled and 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:40.760 so dudes were bolting out of here after the last 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.600 team meeting before training camp, and I heard a couple 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:45.840 of them saying, hey, win's your flight winds your flight Well, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:47.360 it was gonna be nine, but now I'm gonna move 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:47.680 it up. 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.040 So everybody was. Everybody's excited to just take a break. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:52.840 I mean it's not that you know. 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.080 They hated it or anything like that, but as with 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.720 any school year, when you get to the end of it, 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.680 everybody's in a little bit different mood, you know. I 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:02.960 remember back in the day, I would call into a 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.800 radio station and request that they would play Freebird, which 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.360 was stupid and self defeating because every radio station I 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.520 listened to played Freebird all the time anyway, didn't. 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.280 Have to request it. But nowadays you request, like do 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.200 you ever have you ever heard the vitamin c graduation song. 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:24.799 It's like, as we go, oh yeah, that feil. That's 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.400 what that song says to me that schools out because 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.200 radio stations start playing it at the end of the 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.640 at the end of the school year to like say 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:33.959 goodbye to all the seniors, and that means it's summer. 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:34.520 Yeah. 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.320 Well, and in my day it was either Leonard Skinner 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:42.919 or Alice Cooper schools out for summer. But anyway, before 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.240 we get everybody in trouble with copyright music violations, we 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:50.520 should probably we should probably go ahead and talk about 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:54.000 the football because I think in this kind of way 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.680 I tried to write it yesterday at the end of practice, 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:00.359 was now that we've been through an entire offic season, 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:05.000 now that we've met the cast of characters, after watching 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.440 these guys for the last three months on the field, 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:10.440 what have we learned about this crowd and cass as 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.720 you go through this thing. I know you've spent a 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:15.680 lot of time on the Dave Canalis Bryce Young relationship, 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:18.160 the two point seven second release time, that kind of 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.799 thing when you think about what you've seen and where 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.079 they were in March and where they are now, kind 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:24.800 of what's your big takeaway. 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.160 Ooh, so many takeaways. Let's see what's the big one. 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:32.200 I think, more than anything, it's just how comfortable those 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.880 two have become in their relationship with each other, and 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.640 how trusting they've become. And the fact that you know, 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.680 Canalis is always in Bryce's ear dear in practice, he's 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.600 right there next to him. He's, you know, changing little 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.760 things here and there. Of course, you have Will Heringer 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.800 the quarterback coach, Nate Carroll the passing game coordinator. Brad 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.360 is like the offensive coordinator. But right now, Bryceshong is 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.560 Dave Canalis's pet project, so to speak. And there's a 0:03:57.600 --> 0:03:59.920 lot that they're just kind of working on here and there. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.320 And it's more than anything, it's helping Bryce understand you 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:07.760 don't have to do everything. You don't have to be superman. 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.600 You don't have to play hero ball when you get 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:12.600 out there, which is what it kind of was becoming 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.040 by the end of last season, you know, as much 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:16.840 as I could. 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.440 Ball, yeah, because there was nothing else to do other 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.400 than it became kind of yellow ball at a certain dame. 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.080 YOA. That's a better way of putting it. 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.400 And nobody wants to go back to those days. 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.440 And I think just in conversations that I've had with 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.880 coaches with players here and there, it's a lot of 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.800 making sure that this offense is built around what they 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.359 want to do, but more than anything, what Bryce does well, 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.800 which sounds like that should be a given, like let's 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:43.839 build it around what our quarterback does well, but that's 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.680 not always the case for whatever reason. And you know, 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.039 when he was coming into the league last year, there's 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:51.760 a caveat there. He's a rookie coming into the NFL. 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.560 You don't necessarily know how the skills from college are 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:56.479 going to translate. It's a little bit of figuring it 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.680 out as you go. But this coaching staff has a 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.320 pretty good grasp of what they think Bryce does well, 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.000 and they're making sure to do that. You know, Dave 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.480 can Al has talked this week about how much Bryce 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.480 has been scrambling in practice, and he was saying, you know, 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.240 I want him to be first read, second read. If 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:17.040 there's nothing there, he needs to be moving. And that 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.080 was something that Nate Carroll and I talked about as well, 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:22.760 and that story is up on our website about kind 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.800 of building from the ground up and starting with Bryce's 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.320 footwork and the footwork has been the biggest focus this offseason. 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.320 You can't do anything up top until you fix your foundation, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.080 and so they've they've kind of been tueling with his 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.240 footwork and making sure he stays on the move because 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.560 that's where they feel like Bryce Young is at his best. 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.080 You know, Nate Carroll gave me a really good example about, 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.960 you know, certain quarterbacks and I won't make names because 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:48.479 they're still in the league, but he was saying, certain 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:53.160 quarterbacks can only roll left and they can't necessarily roll 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.279 right or vice versa. And it was a, you know, 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:58.919 it's a very like Zoolander sort of situation there, and 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.359 he said, Bryce has the ability to throw while rolling 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:06.279 left or throw a throw while rolling right. That's a 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.640 tongue twister, hm, he said. And that's not every quarterback 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:11.320 can do that, and so when you have a guy 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:12.680 that can do it, you want to be able to 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.240 take advantage of it. And so it's not so much 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.560 a scramble drill as it is just getting Bryce on 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:20.839 the move where he can kind of feel free to 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.719 move the pocket if he wants to, and he's not 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.280 standing in a pocket and taking sixty two sacks. 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.520 Yeah, one of the things I've noticed, and I mean 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.479 I think early on and we've been in the business 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.560 of new coaches a little bit around here, is you 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:36.920 might be aware, but when a new guy comes in, 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.320 you get kind of caught up in the personality. And 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:41.840 it's good they want to do this and they want 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.279 to do that, that sort of stuff, but you never 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.760 it takes a minute, I should say, to figure out 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:49.240 what they want to do on the field. 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:50.560 And for a couple. 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.080 Months, all we ever heard about, all people talked about 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:57.040 with Dave Canalis was positivity, personality and that kind of stuff. 0:06:57.240 --> 0:06:59.320 What I've found out about Dave in the last little 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.760 bit is he is still a very granular football coach. 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.320 He enjoys, you know. 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:11.080 The hands on on the field practice, you know, repetition, 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.520 do the drill, do it right, do it the way 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.720 we talked about in a meeting. If not, let's bring 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.240 it back. You know, I think we talked previously there. 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.560 There was a scene at one point during OTAs where 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.040 they were doing two minutes stuff and he had instructed them, Hey, listen, 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.760 the way we want to do two minutes. Run the 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.240 ball back to the center, give it to Austin, let 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.679 him spot it. So the referee can get it going 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.559 and we can go. Well, somebody, there's no use calling 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.840 anybody out because everybody is learning each other. Somebody just 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.840 kind of chunked the ball back toward the huddle. 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:43.880 Little lax days. 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:44.560 Yeah, it was. 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.360 It was a little casual and a little more casual 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:51.000 than Dave wanted. So he basically blew the whistle and said, Nope, 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:52.720 that's not how we want to do it. Remember we 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.680 talked about in a meeting, and it wasn't a big 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.120 scream and yelling, holler and cuss and anything like that. 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.520 It was just very matter of fact. Hey, listen, we 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.440 talked about this, we want to do it this way. 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.360 And he just kind of read down the script of 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.880 how they wanted to do it, and then he blew 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.360 to whistle again, bring it back, let's start his segment 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.480 over the next time they did it correctly, and all 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:14.440 the times after that they did it correctly. And I 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.600 think that's the kind of coach Dave Canalis is. It's 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:19.760 easy to get caught up in some of that thirty 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.120 thousand foot He's trying to bring positivity, he wants to 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.840 build a culture. What he is is kind of a 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.720 ball coach. He enjoys that part of it and he's 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.840 really into it. And I think people who've had conversations 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.160 with Dave knows that Dave Canalis is an extreme eye 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:38.200 contact guy, and when you're having a conversation, you get 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.880 every bit of him. And he coaches that way too. 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.960 I mean he's very involved, you know, from talking to 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.320 Brice talking to a bunch of guys on offense. I mean, 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:48.880 he is not afraid to get down in the weeds 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.440 of what he wants to do offensively. And I think 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.720 that's been good because it's safe to say this is 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.160 kind of a fresh start for everybody. I mean, last year, 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.240 let's just pretend didn't happen and kind of move forward, 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.079 and I think everybody would be happy with that. 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.040 But they're building this offense from scratch. 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:09.760 The other thing I've kind of picked up on from 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:12.080 watching these guys over the last couple of months is 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.440 Dave Canals hain't lyin when he talks about running the football. 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.360 That's what they You know, we should have known that 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:22.959 when he said it to begin with. We should have 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:25.840 figured that it was going that way when they spend 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.000 one hundred and fifty million dollars on six hundred and 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.600 fifty pounds a guard in free agency, and then when 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.120 we watch them practice, that's what they. 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:35.040 Want to be gang. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.400 I mean, he talked about running stubbornly in Tampa because 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.080 they weren't particularly good at it. You just keep beating 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:45.360 you ahead against the wall. There are signs that this 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.160 could be a pretty good running team. Now, again, they're 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:52.439 not in pads, it's not full contact. They're not exerting 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.760 their will and pushing defensive lines back or anything like that. 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:00.080 But when you see Robert Hunt, Austin Corbett, Damian and 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:04.440 Lewis move inside, and pair that with what we know 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:09.240 about Cuba Hubbard that Cuba is a very able, a 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.760 very willing to run inside and get dirty yards kind 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:16.400 of back. When you pair that with Miles Sanders is 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:18.800 pretty good coming out of the backfield as a receiver 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:20.640 and has got some speed when you get him out 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:24.880 in space. When you pair that with the eventual contributions 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.440 of a guy like Jonathan Brooks who's coming off that 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.600 acl in college and may not be ready to go, 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.040 it's start a training camp, which we kind of knew already. 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:37.800 You can kind of imagine this being a productive running game, 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.240 and as you're trying to rebuild Bryce from the ground up, 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.040 including confidence after a season that went so sideways, that's 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:46.520 a pretty good place to start. 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:48.520 And you know, Darren, I think they've even got four 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:53.120 backs and Canals has talked about wanting to keep that room, 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.440 you know, flush, and I think they will because you 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.680 also got a guy like Raheem Blacksheer who can be 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.480 used the return game. But remember he had a pretty 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:08.480 solid end to last season and he's been the fortunate 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.840 recipient of Miles Sanders sort of just nursing some injuries 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:15.800 here and there, and it might also be fine. It's 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.920 just you know, taking some precautions. Raheem's been the recipient 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.720 of those extra snaps in practice and he again there's 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.559 not pads, they're not full on hitting. It's not full speed, 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.080 so there's always that caveat that goes with it. But 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.920 he sees the field so well and he's got such 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.080 a such a burst when he takes off, and that's 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.480 a nice little weapon to have in your back pocket, like, oh, hey, 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.800 here's our returner. Let's pop him in there to the 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:42.440 running game as well. Use him if we need to 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.280 flex him out and you've got that. I think you 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:48.320 could legitimately see them use all four of those guys. 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.319 Yeah, And I think Raheem's an interesting cat. I mean, 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.000 he's got he's got some pop. That's why he's good 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.320 in the return game. I mean he and I could 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.560 see him being the beneficiary of these new kickoff rules 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.920 because he is a very decisive runner. He hits the 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.199 hole with intent and he's quick to it and can 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.120 push through. I mean we've seen him. He's good in 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.840 two point situations. I mean even in even in weird situations, 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.560 he's shown that he's got some skills. So I think 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.160 it's an interesting room. You know that've got a bunch 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:23.840 of guys. And Dave talked about the running back room 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.120 and the tight end group at length when he was 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:31.920 talking about particular position groups yesterday. But this thing, I'm 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.480 not one of the things that I think happens reflexively 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:39.640 when there's a new coach. New coaches get to places 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:43.920 because things went poorly previously, so everybody assumes there's an 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.720 immediate reflex of, ah, now we fixed it, we figured 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:48.800 out the secret sauce, this is all going to be 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:49.400 better now. 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:50.280 And I'm not. 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.480 Suggesting that this offense is going to go from what 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.960 it was last year, which passed the Southern Star. 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.520 To a good offense now. 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.000 But there are times out there on the practice field 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:04.840 over the last couple months when you can sort of 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:06.760 see between the cracks and it's like. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:11.319 Okay, I can see how they might score points this year. 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:13.800 You know, I mean, you sort of see things coming 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.840 together in a way that makes sense. And I know 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:22.560 that sounds almost patronizing, maybe insulting, but that's where I 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.760 think you've got to start with the Carolina Panthers. This 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:29.160 offseason is Okay, we're beginning at zero. You can sort 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.320 of see some tangible steps, and again, none of this 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.320 is going to matter to you getting a season. I 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:36.800 think people, based on what they saw last year, are 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.560 going to want to see a little more in the 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:43.160 preseason than they did, which is reasonable and fair. And 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.240 I do think there is some degree of burden to 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:50.040 build on some of those positive results and justify some 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.640 of that work to say, Okay, yeah, that's what it's 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:53.640 supposed to look like. 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.240 But I can sort of see some of that. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:58.200 I don't think this is gonna be one of the 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.679 top five passing games in the league any stretch of 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.480 the imagination. There's still a lot to be figured out 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.959 on that side of it, but I can imagine this 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.560 team ought to be able to run and run well 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:11.959 over the course of the year, and. 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:13.720 The running game opens up the passing game. 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.600 It always does, and you know, it's. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.520 Just speaking of the passing game. Something that Dave Canalis 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:20.960 said on Wednesday that stood out to both of us 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:25.400 was that they've kind of been telling Bryce and you've 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.280 seen the connection with Bryce and Deontay Johnson developed this 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.120 week through Mini camp, and Canals was saying that they've 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:36.000 told Bryce, Deontay is going to make the right football move. 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.760 He's going to make the right football decision, Trust him 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.120 to be where he needs to be. And that kind 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:44.960 of goes into as well, you know, just helping Bryce 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.280 understand you don't have to play hero ball do your part. 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:50.600 But I thought that was telling that Canal has said 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.080 that part out loud. You know, Deontay's going to be 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:58.120 Deontay's going to make the right decision, trust him, and 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.400 so that'll be a funn to kind of watch continue 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:02.200 to develop it. 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.800 And again because of you know, Deontae was off doing 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:06.240 his own thing. 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:06.720 For a little bit. 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.240 I'm sure everybody saw the social media video of him 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.760 out working out on his own, but when he's been here, 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.960 you've seen a pretty significant difference in that passing game 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.160 because he's a different kind of receiver compared to what 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.720 they had on Ham previously. And you know, Adam Feeling 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.360 was the target last year by default, he was the 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.880 one thing that worked in the passing game. I don't 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.080 know that it would be realistic to expect the same 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.280 kind of production out of him this year, not because 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:33.520 of anything he's doing or not doing, because they got 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:37.560 a few more guys that it's possible. And you know, 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.960 Xavier Leaguett was in and doing some things, and you 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.240 see him running around in OTAs and it's. 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:45.920 Like, oh, well, he's big and fast. 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.600 We kind of knew that based on South Carolina, but 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.880 when when you see him out there on the field, 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.520 you understand the difference between him and all these other kids, 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:56.680 and then you know, looking at the rest of the 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.720 passing game. Canal has talked about Ters Marshall having a 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.440 good spring. I don't know that Jonathan Mingo is a 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.800 guy that we should count out of the mix here either, 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.280 because you know, with legat out the last couple weeks 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:11.440 with that hamstring. I mean, he's taken a lot of 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.040 those reps and he's looking pretty comfortable. I mean, Mingo 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.720 is another guy. He's not as fast as Exavier, but 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.200 he's got a similar kind of skill set, similar kind 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.080 of frame, and I think he's learning a little bit. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.480 And we'll have some more on him and all these 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.280 guys over the next couple of months. But things are 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:34.880 ratcheting back a little bit. We're easing into the training 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:38.120 camp mode coming up soon here. It'll be honest before 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.720 we know it. But you know, just seeing that first 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.960 impression of that offense, I feel reasonably safe saying it's 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.360 going to be better. 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:49.880 Let me put the car before the horse here and 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.240 ask you a question. Do you think they have a 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:54.080 thousand yard receiver again this year? 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:55.280 I don't know. 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.480 That would be nice. It would certainly be helpful if 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:01.600 there was one of those guys. I think if they're 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.400 gonna have one, it's probably gonna be Deontae. 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:05.359 But we'll see. 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:08.760 I think, you know, in a perfect world, you would 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:13.959 see a situation where Feeling's still getting his Now, you know, 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.960 eighty catches for Adam Thielen might turn into seven hundred 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:21.960 yards but in a normal situation, but I don't know exactly, 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.040 and they're still they're still putting a lot of this 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:27.400 stuff together. I kind of asked one of the offensive 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.399 coaches the other day kind of a granular question about 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.160 what the offense was gonna look like, and he said, honestly, 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:36.880 we're gonna find that out in training camp because they've 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.280 got all the stuff installed now, and now it's gonna 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.399 be getting out there in pads, running it at full 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.920 speed and seeing what it looks like, and that's gonna. 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:47.639 Determine a lot of it. 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:51.000 I think you're gonna see, you know again, You're gonna 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.080 see a lot of run game, which means Bryce is 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.240 probably gonna be under center a good bit. We know 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.040 he's good in the shotgun based on what he did 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:00.160 in college. But I think they're still trying to see 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:02.080 what some of that stuff is going to feel like 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.000 once they're out there, almost said Spartanburg. 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:06.840 Once they're out. 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:10.840 Here, happy outside Bank of America Stadium, on the practice 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.960 fields here on this property for training camp details to come. 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.359 Stay tuned to Panthers dot com for all the latest 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.960 on that. But they're still working through that thing. I 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.480 could see it, but I think Deonta's obviously the best 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.280 shot at it, just based on the way they've been 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:29.639 running around and kind of the quick connection they've had 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:31.119 in a little bit of time they've worked together. 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.200 Yeah, and he's you know, people talk about his ability 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:38.480 to create separation. He's opened more often than not when 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.400 Bryce has throwing him. It's not a contested catch. It's 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.320 easy to pick up an extra ten twelve yards when 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.479 there's not a defender in your hip pocket. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.480 Yeah, I mean that's how that was probably one of 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:51.720 the first signs last year we should have known we 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:54.840 had entered the upside down when Adam Thielen was among 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.639 the league leaders in yards after the catch, right, because 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:02.479 that ain't really his jam he was. He was up 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:04.800 there early in the year simply because he was the 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.200 guy who could move in space and get himself open 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.000 among those guys last season. So anyway, but there's you know, 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.440 we spend all our time talking about offense because that's 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.840 the thing that went so spectacularly wrong last season. 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:21.040 There's lots to dissect. 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:22.160 I mean, there really is. 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.399 But on the other side of the ball, it was 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.920 almost it was almost funny to hear Shaq Thompson talk 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:29.760 about it yesterday because. 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.520 Shack's like, you know, there's a lot of new over 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.919 here too, But it did. 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.240 I think we got so many it was so easy 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:40.000 to say, Okay, well, the whole defensive coaching staff returned, 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:41.840