Speaker 1: Hi, this is Dewey Jenkins. After my four years in
Speaker 1: the Navy, you're an A and I moved to Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Even though neither of us were from here. I was
Speaker 1: from the mountains of Virginia and she was from Florida.
Speaker 1: We agreed that Charlotte was where we wanted to build
Speaker 1: our future together. I was a full time student at
Speaker 1: U n c C by day and ran a janitorial
Speaker 1: business that night. And a few years later I bought
Speaker 1: a little air conditioning company and that's how I met you,
Speaker 1: and I'm really glad I did. It's time for the
Speaker 1: Happy Half Hour with your friends Kristin Balboni and Will
Speaker 1: Brian presented by Morris Jenkins. That's right, it's that time
Speaker 1: of the week, The Happy Half Hour podcast presented by
Speaker 1: Morris Jenkins and Mr Jenkins told me his plumbers and
Speaker 1: a c Tex secretly where panthers jerseys under their uniforms.
Speaker 1: When you're plumbing her conditioning is acting up. Cole Morris Jenkins,
Speaker 1: or visit Morris Jenkins dot com. Kristin here with my
Speaker 1: good buddies Will and Matt and guys. A lot has
Speaker 1: happened since the last time we spoke. Last Wednesday, the
Speaker 1: season has concluded for the Panthers, and UM, we are
Speaker 1: in the throes of of a GM search right now
Speaker 1: and it is it's going quickly. So excited to talk
Speaker 1: about both of those things with you guys. But will
Speaker 1: I think we should start with the latest on the
Speaker 1: GM search. And you know, again we're recording this Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: It could all change by the time this comes out.
Speaker 1: But but this is what we know right now, which
Speaker 1: is that the Panthers have interviewed six candidates already, will
Speaker 1: go through them in just a second, UM, and we
Speaker 1: expect them to continue interviewing candidates. UM. So that's where
Speaker 1: we are. If you if you remember this time, literally
Speaker 1: this time last year, the Panthers were interviewing head coach
Speaker 1: candidates and you thought, you know, maybe they're this the
Speaker 1: process might take a little bit, there'll be a lot
Speaker 1: of interviews, UM, and then May zeroed in on Matt Rule.
Speaker 1: They made that decision quickly, and things happened very quickly.
Speaker 1: So that's why we're you know, we're recording Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: But by the time this comes out or you might
Speaker 1: get a chance to listen to it, things could be
Speaker 1: UM moving in place. Really really really quickly. So UM,
Speaker 1: it's exciting. I definitely am looking forward to to kind
Speaker 1: of seeing um who they end up zeroing in on
Speaker 1: and kind of what what's gonna come next. Yeah, let's
Speaker 1: go through the candidates that they have interviewed already. There's
Speaker 1: a great piece on Panthers dot com detailing all of
Speaker 1: those candidates and it goes in alphabetical order, So that's
Speaker 1: what we'll do as well. So first up as Quaisi
Speaker 1: Adapo Mensa will what do we know about him? Very young?
Speaker 1: The VP of football operations for the Browns. Um went
Speaker 1: to Princeton, kind of has a background that's a little
Speaker 1: bit interesting. Not necessarily tons of years in in kind
Speaker 1: of scouting or personnel, but Um has spent time as
Speaker 1: a commodities trader. He was with the forty nine for
Speaker 1: seven years prior to the Browns football research and development,
Speaker 1: So you know, kind of these words that we've heard
Speaker 1: a lot on the Panthers organization, uh with Dave Tepper
Speaker 1: and kind of looking at a different way of of
Speaker 1: seeing this. So UM really really interesting and UM intriguing candidate. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Cleveland going to the playoffs this year for the first
Speaker 1: time in a long time, so you know, has that
Speaker 1: going for him. And he was one of the two
Speaker 1: persons um that were interviewed on Monday, so too were
Speaker 1: he and Jerry Reece for re interviewed on Monday, and
Speaker 1: then the other four yesterday on Tuesday. You know, it's
Speaker 1: interesting because anytime there is something in a candidate's background
Speaker 1: or a football person's background that doesn't start with like
Speaker 1: they were in the football front office right out of college,
Speaker 1: we always talk about it. But he did spend seven
Speaker 1: years with the fort so and so in my opinion,
Speaker 1: that just adds to the football knowledge that he's acquired. Um,
Speaker 1: and and then this year with the Browns. So um
Speaker 1: eight years in football and as you said, will former
Speaker 1: life as a commodities trader just really interesting. He seems
Speaker 1: just um. He seems like a very cool, engaging candidate
Speaker 1: from the interviews that I've watched on him before. And certainly, um,
Speaker 1: what the Browns have done this season. Certainly hope everyone
Speaker 1: is healthy and safe there with the news yesterday, but
Speaker 1: what they have done over all the season has been
Speaker 1: great and he has a lot to be proud of. UM.
Speaker 1: So let's go next. As I said, alphabetical order, we
Speaker 1: got Nick kiss Ario. We just take him out. We
Speaker 1: already know that he has been hired by the Texans,
Speaker 1: right well, yeah, the New England Patriots director of player personnel.
Speaker 1: The report last night UM that they came to an
Speaker 1: agreement with the Texans. UM. I don't know that that's finalized,
Speaker 1: finalized yet, but it seems like he's pretty much pegged
Speaker 1: to go to Houston, all right. Next up in alphabetical order,
Speaker 1: Jeff Ireland, as you said, one of the candidates that
Speaker 1: they spoke to yesterday, and of course this is one
Speaker 1: of the more well known names on this list. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was the former general manager with the Miami Dolphins, UM,
Speaker 1: and he's currently the assistant GM for the New Orleans Saints. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we know what the Saints have done the last twenty years, UM,
Speaker 1: but he's uh, he's been with them more and more
Speaker 1: more rea and ly obviously that draft in two thousand
Speaker 1: seventeen with yeah, I mean, oh my goodness, like that's
Speaker 1: that's kind of set them up for for all these
Speaker 1: NFC South titles that they've had. So certainly he has
Speaker 1: a lot kind of on his resume. But as you said,
Speaker 1: which I think is an interesting point, um assistant GM
Speaker 1: in college scouting director, but he, to my knowledge, will
Speaker 1: focuses pretty heavily on on that on the college side,
Speaker 1: on the draft. That's kind of his niche with the Saints,
Speaker 1: which is which is just an interesting point when you
Speaker 1: look at what, um, what the Panthers have said they
Speaker 1: are looking at overall, which of course he's been a
Speaker 1: GM in the past, but um, that is kind of
Speaker 1: his role. I'm trying to, you know, drill down on
Speaker 1: what each of these guys is doing currently and where
Speaker 1: they're um, I guess strengths or experiences lie. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think we can talk about this a little bit
Speaker 1: more after we go through these. But you know, I
Speaker 1: think the Panthers are certainly looking for you know, a
Speaker 1: little bit of everything. Um. You know, very obviously strong
Speaker 1: background in that college scouting universe, UM, you know, really
Speaker 1: strong set for success, um and knowing that well. But
Speaker 1: I think also you know, a sense of you know,
Speaker 1: not to be puny here, but you know, general management.
Speaker 1: You know, like literally don't seem like to be important
Speaker 1: for the job, right, But it's not. It's not just
Speaker 1: looking at film and scouting. It's it's so much more.
Speaker 1: It's building a team, it's it's coordinating that team, it's
Speaker 1: working with Matt Rule and the coaching staff, and let's
Speaker 1: be real, it's there's an understanding of where this thing
Speaker 1: is going in the next several years down to Rock Hill,
Speaker 1: and you have to be engaged with a much larger
Speaker 1: vision for the football operations within that world. You know,
Speaker 1: this this world is getting a lot bigger than it
Speaker 1: has been in Carolina, up here in Uptown Charlotte, and
Speaker 1: I think having someone that's ready to embrace that rather
Speaker 1: than see it maybe as a distraction, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure, but I think at least someone that embraces
Speaker 1: all of the new opportunities that that presents UM as
Speaker 1: well as making sure we're getting the right players in here,
Speaker 1: absolutely all right. Next, we have Monte Austin fort Um,
Speaker 1: director of player personnel for the Titans, but spent a
Speaker 1: long time with the Patriots organization. Yeah, so I think
Speaker 1: his background, obviously with with the Patriots, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of lens to uh, you know, seeing their success, seeing
Speaker 1: what they were able to do with UM with relatively little.
Speaker 1: You know, they were able to bring people in and
Speaker 1: put them in in the right places. And they want
Speaker 1: a lot of championships doing it. So I think whenever
Speaker 1: you see that Patriots line on a resume, you know
Speaker 1: it means something, UM, and I think that that's that's
Speaker 1: a big stamp for him. Absolutely. Next in alphabetical order
Speaker 1: is Jerry Rees. You mentioned that he along with Quasi
Speaker 1: Adapa Mensa, were one of the two candidates that interviewed
Speaker 1: Monday night. UM. You know, of course a well known
Speaker 1: name as well. Yeah, he was the general manager for
Speaker 1: the Giants. UM was was let go in two thousand seventeen. UM,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that that's who Dave Gentleman took his position,
Speaker 1: and UM when when Gettleman went up to New York,
Speaker 1: the former Panthers GM that took his position in New York. So,
Speaker 1: but I mean he's obviously years and years and years
Speaker 1: of experience, UM in the job, has done it before.
Speaker 1: UM won some Super Bowls with the Giants, so you know,
Speaker 1: very experienced kind of knows knows what he's doing for sure.
Speaker 1: And then finally UM in alphabetical order of the candidates
Speaker 1: that the Panthers have spoken to for GM is Joe Shane,
Speaker 1: who UM is currently the assistant GM under Brandon Bean
Speaker 1: with the Buffalo Bills um, but has a panther's background,
Speaker 1: a heavy panther's background, got his start with the Panthers. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean it feels like almost everyone in Buffalo has
Speaker 1: some sort of panther's background. But it has been incredible,
Speaker 1: incredible and really great to see how much success. You know,
Speaker 1: people were talking about Brandon Bean is the executive of
Speaker 1: the year up there. Obviously Joe Shane's worked very closely
Speaker 1: with him. Um, you have Dan Morgan that's up there
Speaker 1: working in that in that department. Um. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot of names. And Shane you know, started here, you
Speaker 1: know as an intern, um, you know, working in the
Speaker 1: scouting department with the Panthers. So he knows the organization. Um,
Speaker 1: he knows what Carolina is about. Uh, and he's kind
Speaker 1: of seen a lot of things with the way that
Speaker 1: that being has kind of tried to set that organization up.
Speaker 1: And obviously, you know, if you can have success people
Speaker 1: talk about sometimes in in free agency and in the
Speaker 1: you know, in the the scouting realm of like oh,
Speaker 1: you know, can you sign a free agent to a
Speaker 1: place that's not a huge market. If you can get
Speaker 1: people to come to Buffalo and be successful in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: then you can be successful anywhere is you know, I
Speaker 1: mean they're what they're doing up there is is incredible
Speaker 1: and I think that's a new kind of stamp of
Speaker 1: people wanting to to find some Buffalo people to bring
Speaker 1: into the organization. Yeah. Absolutely, So those are the six
Speaker 1: candidates UM that have been interviewed by the Panthers. That's
Speaker 1: what we know right now. As we've said, uh quite
Speaker 1: a few times already, this could all change by the
Speaker 1: time this episode comes out. But but even so, it
Speaker 1: is I think value able to see the people that
Speaker 1: they are bringing in UM and and and what they're
Speaker 1: looking for. So will you talked about it a little bit,
Speaker 1: but let's talk a little bit deeper about you know,
Speaker 1: what we know that that David Pepper and that rule
Speaker 1: are looking for in a general manager. As you said,
Speaker 1: it seems like based on what we've heard, they want
Speaker 1: someone that's going to be um, you know, more than
Speaker 1: just the football side, as you as you put it
Speaker 1: so well, general managing, right, I think there's certainly going
Speaker 1: to be an element of you know, that catch word
Speaker 1: analytics and all the various things that that means. I
Speaker 1: think that's become it's almost become a mockery of itself
Speaker 1: that like this word oh, you know, like going for
Speaker 1: fourth down and so you know, there's what it really
Speaker 1: entails is just it's a larger view of all the
Speaker 1: different tools that could be used to help do your
Speaker 1: job better. And uh, it's not just one stat it's
Speaker 1: not a computer program, it's not some you know, I
Speaker 1: T person that you it's it's all of these things
Speaker 1: that make help make decision making easier. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: baseball went through this, you know, with saber metrics and
Speaker 1: analytics several years ago. And that doesn't mean that you
Speaker 1: know that they just use those numbers and that's it,
Speaker 1: and there aren't scouts and things like that. It's just
Speaker 1: a I mean, this is right up there with Will
Speaker 1: saying that someone needs to be able to general manage
Speaker 1: to be a general manager. But it's I think you're
Speaker 1: looking for a well rounded candidate that um you know,
Speaker 1: puts a good puts a good scouting team into place,
Speaker 1: puts a great evaluators into place, but also um has
Speaker 1: the bigger picture in mind in terms of all of
Speaker 1: the different things that are that are going on, and
Speaker 1: that that role entails. I also think, you know, as
Speaker 1: you said, analytics is a buzzword, but with the salary
Speaker 1: cap projected to be much lower, UM, I think everyone's
Speaker 1: gonna have to get creative. And so I would imagine
Speaker 1: that that that is UM on their minds as they
Speaker 1: look for someone who can really come in, as you said,
Speaker 1: look at everything and then try to make the best
Speaker 1: decisions with the widest amount of information available. And and
Speaker 1: it really is it's working with with head coach Matt
Speaker 1: Rule and kind of his vision for UM. You know,
Speaker 1: he he has a very clear vision for building a program. UM.
Speaker 1: And this isn't you know that this is a there's
Speaker 1: a long term view to this UM. As I mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, there's rock hills on the horizon. Uh, there's
Speaker 1: a really really young defense. UM. Obviously there's question marks
Speaker 1: kind of in different places on the offense, maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit UM in terms of you know, who's who's
Speaker 1: going to be a free agent coming up this year.
Speaker 1: So there's some of those things to deal with in
Speaker 1: the near term. But in the long term, I do
Speaker 1: think it really is about putting a lot of things
Speaker 1: in place to have sustained success. UM. You know that's
Speaker 1: something that that uh, David Tepper has talked about he
Speaker 1: he wants us to be great for a long time. UM.
Speaker 1: And in order to do that, you have to you
Speaker 1: have to kind of have a plan in place. You
Speaker 1: have to create that foundation, and then you have to
Speaker 1: kind of win on the margins. Um is something that
Speaker 1: you've heard him talk about before. The NFL is a
Speaker 1: play that wants a team to be in the playoffs
Speaker 1: one year and out of it the next, and another
Speaker 1: team to be out of the playoffs and always have
Speaker 1: a chance to go right back in. UM. It's a
Speaker 1: league of parody that tries to make things as equal
Speaker 1: as possible. So to have sustained success, you have to
Speaker 1: have kind of ways to to win in places where um,
Speaker 1: you know other people aren't you know, to to find
Speaker 1: to find those little edges, um, to to to gain
Speaker 1: and to hold them. Um. And I think that will
Speaker 1: be really important in this search. Just listening to you
Speaker 1: talk right there, did you throw your hat in the
Speaker 1: ring for GM? I think you just made your pitch.
Speaker 1: Is that a good well? Your stats guy, you take
Speaker 1: a bit, you know, but you take a larger view.
Speaker 1: I was an intern for the Panthers back in the day,
Speaker 1: which apparently, you know, makes makes me a candidate. You
Speaker 1: and Joe Shane Uh, We're going to take a quick
Speaker 1: break here on the Happy Half Hour Podcast and we
Speaker 1: come back. We're gonna wrap up the season with our
Speaker 1: own version of exit Interviews. Hi, this is Dewey Jenkins.
Speaker 1: After my four years in the Night the RNE and
Speaker 1: I moved to Charlotte, even though neither of us were
Speaker 1: from here. I was from the Mountains of Virginia and
Speaker 1: she was from Florida, but we agreed that Charlotte was
Speaker 1: where we wanted to build our future together. I was
Speaker 1: a full time student at U n c C by
Speaker 1: day and ran a janitorial business that night. And a
Speaker 1: few years later I bought a little air conditioning company
Speaker 1: and that's how I met you, and I'm really glad
Speaker 1: I did. Back here on the Happy Half Hour podcast
Speaker 1: presented by Morris Jenkins, and Mr Jenkins told me that
Speaker 1: he loves football and he looks forward to this show
Speaker 1: all week. When you're plumbing your air conditioning is acting up,
Speaker 1: called Morris Jenkins or visit Morris Jenkins dot com. All right, So,
Speaker 1: at the end of the seasons, as most football fans know,
Speaker 1: the guys come in, they clean out their lockers, and
Speaker 1: they do exit interviews. You do it an evaluation. They're
Speaker 1: just like any any job when it's time to say goodbye.
Speaker 1: So I thought we would do our own exit interviews
Speaker 1: for this season, just kind of wrap things up. I
Speaker 1: got just a couple of questions here. I want to
Speaker 1: see what you guys think. Okay, are you are you
Speaker 1: going to evaluate my job performance? Kristen, Yep, you'll get
Speaker 1: a you'll get a grade. It's submitted to hr Man.
Speaker 1: I'm tell you right now. I'm gonna tell you right now,
Speaker 1: there's room for improvement already. We haven't even started. I
Speaker 1: feel awkward. Should I be here? Yeah, I'm kidding all right,
Speaker 1: But isn't that very well? He's like, is this gonna
Speaker 1: is this gonna be on the test? Am I getting
Speaker 1: evaluated here? Like in high school? I got to open
Speaker 1: up my notebook. First question, biggest surprise, biggest surprise of
Speaker 1: the season for you. I'm surprised that we had a
Speaker 1: full season. Yes, I did not think that was possible
Speaker 1: with with everything going on. I was just fully prepared
Speaker 1: for a the season not to start, and then when
Speaker 1: it started to have to shut down at some point,
Speaker 1: um just because of everything going on, and you know,
Speaker 1: from my perspective, I think at least in this building,
Speaker 1: they have done an incredible job with with keeping everyone safe,
Speaker 1: contact tracing, daily testing, uh, to ensure that we got here,
Speaker 1: and um, a lot of people have worked incredibly hard.
Speaker 1: So I just think it's I think it's really incredible
Speaker 1: when you look back at it, that that we were
Speaker 1: able to get to this point. You know, the playoffs
Speaker 1: will continue, and that's an accomplishment. Well, what's your biggest surprise? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I would add to that of I think
Speaker 1: it's an accomplishment league wide, but I think it's an
Speaker 1: even more Panthers centric accomplishment of how well they handled it.
Speaker 1: You know, there there obviously a few cases at different
Speaker 1: times that you know, made things difficult, but I think
Speaker 1: for the most part of this organization, this group of people, um,
Speaker 1: from staff, from Eddie Levin's, from you guys, from everyone,
Speaker 1: did a really fantastic job of keeping the Panthers as
Speaker 1: safe as possible. And I think you know the number
Speaker 1: of cases and the things that that happened or didn't
Speaker 1: happen here reflect that. So I would just add that
Speaker 1: to it. I mean, my, my, your you have yours
Speaker 1: is the right answer, honestly. Uh Mine is just the
Speaker 1: kind of generic Twitter answer, which is Jeremy chin Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I was that a surprise though, because he
Speaker 1: was getting he got drafted, and then immediately I saw
Speaker 1: not a ton of stuff, but I saw some blurbs
Speaker 1: that were like, oh, the potential defensive Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year candidate. And I was like, wow, how this guy,
Speaker 1: you know, fell all the way to the Panthers in
Speaker 1: the second round, but immediately people were talking about him
Speaker 1: as soon as he got drafted. Did you see that too,
Speaker 1: Will Or was I really deep doing my research right
Speaker 1: before I was going to interview him for his draft? Yeah?
Speaker 1: But I mean it, I don't know, like so much
Speaker 1: of that stuff in in and I've been burned by it.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh my gosh, look at this this guy,
Speaker 1: this guy, you know, like there's so much optimism. I
Speaker 1: think in April that another word for that is pressure.
Speaker 1: That's how I felt when I read that. You know,
Speaker 1: he just got drafted and already there are these high
Speaker 1: expectations for him, right I think coming in, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't know how much some of these young guys
Speaker 1: were going to play. You know, I don't know that
Speaker 1: you knew. Uh, you know, you obviously know they're they're
Speaker 1: leaning into it with seven rookies in the draft or
Speaker 1: seven defensive players in the draft, but you never really know,
Speaker 1: Like sometimes it's like we got to bring him along
Speaker 1: a little bit. You know, how much is this guy
Speaker 1: really going to be involved? And you know the fact
Speaker 1: that I mean they they had a third round pick
Speaker 1: that they trade it up to get him, So it
Speaker 1: wasn't like, you know, we had a second round grade
Speaker 1: on him. Maybe not everyone did, um, but you you
Speaker 1: go with with Shannon, He's played, you know, almost the
Speaker 1: highest percentage of snaps, he's played in almost every position
Speaker 1: on the defense, lead the team in tackles, had ridiculous
Speaker 1: stat lines across the board, had the Minnesota game that
Speaker 1: stood out, you know, two time defensive player of the month,
Speaker 1: Defensive rookie of the month. I mean it's hard to
Speaker 1: you everyone would have laughed at any of us if
Speaker 1: we would have predicted that. Um, you know, even if
Speaker 1: we were like, oh, when I really go out on
Speaker 1: the limit, I mean it just you can't say that
Speaker 1: in April and then for him to come through and
Speaker 1: do it. Um, So yeah, I mean, I think we
Speaker 1: we figured it out pretty early on, but he kept
Speaker 1: it going and he was consistent throughout the year. I
Speaker 1: was gonna say the offensive production. I thought losing Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't put together the type of and I know
Speaker 1: we didn't score lot of points, and I know we
Speaker 1: struggled in certain areas and like the red zone and whatnot.
Speaker 1: And I know our running game wasn't super consistent, but
Speaker 1: like what we're talking about last week, and it is
Speaker 1: in full effect now, we have four one thousand yards
Speaker 1: from scrimmage players. But it's a double sided coin. I'm
Speaker 1: a little surprised in the lack of production from the
Speaker 1: tight ends because when Joe Brady was at l s
Speaker 1: U Thad Moss and a couple of the other guys,
Speaker 1: they were pretty involved. So I was a little surprised
Speaker 1: that it wasn't that. But I think Curtis kind of
Speaker 1: filled that that tight end role and he ran the
Speaker 1: ball pretty effectively too. So I would say the offensive production,
Speaker 1: in spite of losing Christian McCaffrey being so high, that's
Speaker 1: a great point alright. Next one, uh, we talked a
Speaker 1: lot about how young this team is, especially on the
Speaker 1: defensive side. Who's somebody you look at and say, oh,
Speaker 1: that guy is gonna be good, And you can't say
Speaker 1: it about Jeremy Chin. I'm taking Jeremy Chin off the board,
Speaker 1: because that's what we would all say. Who somebody will
Speaker 1: that you look at and you're like, wow, give him
Speaker 1: a couple of years, give him, give until next season,
Speaker 1: you know. Troy Pride, I I think he was thrown
Speaker 1: into the fire. I think that he's a guy that
Speaker 1: has a really good approach to all of this. And
Speaker 1: sure there are some moments where it's like, oh yikes,
Speaker 1: But I felt covering Julio Jones as a rookie, you know,
Speaker 1: so as you said, there's gonna be a learning curve,
Speaker 1: right he was out there on islands, and I think
Speaker 1: you could see his progression. You could see him getting better. Um,
Speaker 1: and I think you can only if he takes this
Speaker 1: offseason the right way rather than like, man, that was rough.
Speaker 1: But if like, if I could do that, I can
Speaker 1: do anything. Like it's never gonna get any harder than
Speaker 1: it was this year. It really it can't. So I
Speaker 1: think if you take that that approach to it and
Speaker 1: keep getting better and saying it's gonna get easier, it's
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna get better. This is all gonna get better. Um.
Speaker 1: I think he's got a really bright future because he
Speaker 1: he really embraced the challenge that he was put into.
Speaker 1: And I think that, you know, hopefully, obviously hopefully he's
Speaker 1: okay and did the season on I R R UM.
Speaker 1: You know, you can you know, rehab a little bit
Speaker 1: from that, But I know, I think that he's a
Speaker 1: guy that you're going to be hearing his name a
Speaker 1: good bit in the next couple of years. Mine is
Speaker 1: Derek Brown, and that's it's a little obvious because you know,
Speaker 1: he was the first round pick. The first round picks
Speaker 1: don't always pan out, um, And you know, I think
Speaker 1: by the end of the scene, mean, he's just he's
Speaker 1: a full grown man, and we saw him start to
Speaker 1: get comfortable. He told me, Um, you know, the biggest
Speaker 1: difference between college and and the NFL is that you
Speaker 1: can't just like out physical someone on the line like
Speaker 1: you have to. They're they're using their brains. They are,
Speaker 1: you know, um so intelligent. Offensive. He was like, you know,
Speaker 1: NFL offensive lineman. It's just it's totally different. It took
Speaker 1: him a while to really um to get there, you know,
Speaker 1: to to really I think he knew that from the beginning,
Speaker 1: but then just to figure out hand placement all that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Um, and he had he stuggled with
Speaker 1: penalties earlier the season, and I think that tapered off
Speaker 1: towards the end there. But man, I just think when
Speaker 1: he fully comes into his own, when he is completely comfortable,
Speaker 1: when he has that year one to year too, um
Speaker 1: jump and you know, that experience under his belt, I
Speaker 1: think he's going to be a force on that line
Speaker 1: for for years to come. And of course another guy
Speaker 1: that was thrown into the fire because KK short sn
Speaker 1: not beside him. Um, you know, Zach Kerr was out
Speaker 1: for a few games here and there, and so he's
Speaker 1: he was really like sometimes like the most experienced on
Speaker 1: the interior beside Braban roy Um. And then you got
Speaker 1: the tour on on on the edge. And then Brian Burns,
Speaker 1: second year player, he's like, you know, the wily veteran
Speaker 1: out there just in his second year. And I thought
Speaker 1: that line, I mean, you look at what they did
Speaker 1: against Aaron Rodgers, who had been sacked like fourteen times
Speaker 1: going into that game. Overall, the season, and and they
Speaker 1: got to him five times, and and Derek had two
Speaker 1: of those sacks. And I'm pretty sure, if my memory serves,
Speaker 1: created that pressure for Brian Burns to get there at
Speaker 1: least one. So I think he's We've seen him develop
Speaker 1: progress and start to come into his own and I
Speaker 1: just think the more and more experience he's get he gets,
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be scary out there. So I
Speaker 1: saw him pick up two offensive linemen in one of
Speaker 1: the first games, just like on brute Force, and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my gosh, like wow, um, So I'm
Speaker 1: excited just to watch him progress. Yeah, that was my
Speaker 1: answer to just because I think, like you were saying,
Speaker 1: the emergence of Brian Burns in his second year and
Speaker 1: how dominant Jeremy Chin was at points in this year,
Speaker 1: I think he kind of got overlooked. But plus he's alignement.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not always he's not going to necessarily
Speaker 1: get the ten sacks or whatever that that some of
Speaker 1: these defensive ends get. But I thought he for a
Speaker 1: top a top ten pick. I thought he was absolutely
Speaker 1: as advertised, and I thought he dominated at points in
Speaker 1: the season. And so I think he got a little
Speaker 1: overlooked because of the Jeremy Chin and Brian Burns emergence.
Speaker 1: But I thought, I thought, I think we have a
Speaker 1: really good one in Derek Brown for years to come.
Speaker 1: I agree. Okay, So next up in the exit interview you,
Speaker 1: I want to revisit a couple of things that we
Speaker 1: talked about um earlier in the season, at the quarter
Speaker 1: season mid season mark position group you most want to
Speaker 1: hang out with. We all had our answers back at
Speaker 1: either the quarter pole or halfway through. I know, I
Speaker 1: said d Line, I said receivers. Well, you might have
Speaker 1: said receivers. Is it still the same? Are you still
Speaker 1: Are you still riding with the group that you picked
Speaker 1: earlier in the season, I thought, I said d Line.
Speaker 1: Maybe we both said de Line and Miles said receivers, right,
Speaker 1: because I feel like I stole it from you because
Speaker 1: you got really mad. You're still going with the line
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, have you, I mean,
Speaker 1: have you watched any of the teammate tests. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my idea. We have. I watched them, You
Speaker 1: watched them? Yeah, he's awesome eat obviously he'd eat Ziggy
Speaker 1: Zach all right, And last thing I want to revisit
Speaker 1: from from earlier in the season in weirdest moment. We
Speaker 1: talked about that, I think four weeks in what what's
Speaker 1: been the weirdest moment of this just very unique, challenging,
Speaker 1: uh wild season where you just kind of looked out
Speaker 1: and said, wow, I would say mine just off the
Speaker 1: bat um and I might have said this earlier in
Speaker 1: the season. Was my first NFL game on the sidelines.
Speaker 1: It was one o'clock. There were no fans there um,
Speaker 1: which may be the only time at Bank of America
Speaker 1: Stadium that that ever happens. And I was talking to
Speaker 1: coach Rule about it, and he said, you know, really,
Speaker 1: in retrospect, it almost kind of felt like a scrimmage,
Speaker 1: like when you really got out there like and and
Speaker 1: I completely agree. I was like, oh, this is like this.
Speaker 1: As soon as I got out there, I was like, well,
Speaker 1: this is going to go down in the wind lost
Speaker 1: column and it just didn't feel like that. Now they
Speaker 1: played like it did, and you know, they tried to
Speaker 1: make this come back against the Raiders no preseason, but
Speaker 1: it was just it was hard to imagine the atmosphere.
Speaker 1: So that's but at the same time, very grateful that
Speaker 1: we had football and we're able to do it. But
Speaker 1: that way is I think kind of the weirdest moment
Speaker 1: um for me this whole season and just a real
Speaker 1: microcosm of of what the season was. Well, what's yours?
Speaker 1: So I guess so two points one. I'd say Also
Speaker 1: with that game, watching sur I mean, there are so
Speaker 1: many things of serve her from that game, but watching
Speaker 1: Surper just with the flag all by himself. He he
Speaker 1: came to work that day, Per came to work. I
Speaker 1: remember saying, I was like, he is bringing the energy.
Speaker 1: How hard it is to do that an empty stadium? Right?
Speaker 1: He was literally he was more energetic than I've ever
Speaker 1: seen him in an empty stadium just running around with
Speaker 1: this flag. And it really was I mean, there was
Speaker 1: a reason that Robbie like brought it up on the
Speaker 1: bench because it was all that was going on it
Speaker 1: Like what is that bear doing? I mean, it really
Speaker 1: was um so like that. But I'll also I distinctly
Speaker 1: remember the um the intro and then the beginning of
Speaker 1: the Thursday night game against Atlanta and we you know,
Speaker 1: we had the windows open while we were sitting and
Speaker 1: obviously that was you know, one of the first games
Speaker 1: where they had maybe a little bit more fans, um,
Speaker 1: like the Roaring Riot had a section for it, you know,
Speaker 1: people wearing black, you know, wearing the all black. It
Speaker 1: just felt in that moment like okay, now I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, because it kind of felt like it had
Speaker 1: been so long since you really kind of got amped
Speaker 1: for for a football game with really it was what
Speaker 1: still like a third a quarter full, you know, less
Speaker 1: than that a fifthful, but it just felt like we're
Speaker 1: we're inching our way back. Um. You know, obviously wish
Speaker 1: that game would have gone a little bit differently, but
Speaker 1: you know, right there at the beginning, it felt good.
Speaker 1: It felt really good, uh, from everything that people were doing,
Speaker 1: from like the production team, from from all the stuff
Speaker 1: with working with the Riot to get them a section,
Speaker 1: and the fans that were there and standing and cheering
Speaker 1: like it. That that one felt really good and kind
Speaker 1: of a sign of hopefully, you know, future future season's
Speaker 1: future games to come. For me, it was without question,
Speaker 1: all the radio broadcast, especially the road games and it
Speaker 1: being so different because I think we only traveled to
Speaker 1: one road game, correct, I think too? Okay, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: so the rest of six road games we're doing from
Speaker 1: here and not to mention because of all the protocols.
Speaker 1: We got some people in the studio, we got some
Speaker 1: people in Booth eight, some people in booth two, so
Speaker 1: everybody was kind of spread out. Kristen was in a booth,
Speaker 1: not with Mick, and then sometimes she was downstanding, not
Speaker 1: even on the sideline, but in the stands. So all
Speaker 1: that was just kind of funky. But if if you're listening,
Speaker 1: especially the untrained ear, I think it went off without
Speaker 1: a hitch. And I thought we all sounded great. Well,
Speaker 1: not me, but I thought you all sounded great. And uh,
Speaker 1: that was super bizarre at first, but by the end
Speaker 1: of the year it kind of felt like we were
Speaker 1: professionals at it. So I was very fortunate and happy
Speaker 1: to be a part of that. And it was definitely
Speaker 1: an odd experience, but when I'll definitely remember, yeah, and
Speaker 1: hats off to our entire radio organization, which is also
Speaker 1: the podcast organization, but you know, everyone under executive producer
Speaker 1: David lincton. It's the amount of work that went into
Speaker 1: making those broadcasts, as you said, um, hopefully indistinguishable from
Speaker 1: when we are actually there was was just incredible. That's
Speaker 1: a great point, all right. Last up, to to round
Speaker 1: things out, Will, We've been doing stat of the Week
Speaker 1: all season long. I think we need will stat of
Speaker 1: the Seasons of the week. Well. Yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 1: a combo of stats. I think it's just you look
Speaker 1: at the the offense and you look at you know,
Speaker 1: the four guys with over a thousand, a franchise record
Speaker 1: for fewest punts, franchise record for most fourth down attempts. UM.
Speaker 1: It was kind of a watershed year for a different um,
Speaker 1: a different amount of offensive production. And yet you know,
Speaker 1: the red zone. They were only scoring touchdowns in the
Speaker 1: red zone. And I think you look at that number
Speaker 1: and I think it's a little misleading because there were
Speaker 1: some weeks, some games, some stretches where they were really
Speaker 1: good in the red zone. UM. Part of that was
Speaker 1: the three games that Christian McCaffrey played, UM, and I
Speaker 1: think that is hopefully a harbinger for kind of what's
Speaker 1: to come. Like you get Christian McCaffrey back, this team
Speaker 1: can move the ball. They're not gonna go three and out.
Speaker 1: Fewers three and outs ever, I mean they're not gonna
Speaker 1: go three and out. They're gonna move the ball down
Speaker 1: the field. And then it's just about figuring out what
Speaker 1: to do with the weapons you have, kind of inside
Speaker 1: the thirty, inside the twenty. Um you know, there were
Speaker 1: there were some really rough games where it's just really bad.
Speaker 1: There was some really good games. It wasn't just a
Speaker 1: they're kind of bad every game. Um So, I think
Speaker 1: that's an interesting way of looking at all of the offense.
Speaker 1: And I think it's a way of saying we're close,
Speaker 1: you know, rather than like, oh my god, like there
Speaker 1: were so you know, we should have won all these games.
Speaker 1: That's like I would say, Okay, I think it means
Speaker 1: you're close, rather than this kind of depressing outtake on
Speaker 1: the way that Twitter has looked at it. Um So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess I guess those are all the
Speaker 1: kind of the things that feed into a very interesting
Speaker 1: statistical year on the offensive side. Do you think those
Speaker 1: stats are unique? They're obviously not unique to the Panthers,
Speaker 1: But do you think that those stats are indicative of
Speaker 1: any type of league wide change in schematics so the
Speaker 1: way that the game has played, or do you think
Speaker 1: that that is truly just a huge credit to a
Speaker 1: coach rule and coach Brady in the offense, I think
Speaker 1: everybody's going for it more on fourth down, right, isn't
Speaker 1: that right? Well, across the league that yeah, for fourth
Speaker 1: downs up, punts are down. I mean, this is the
Speaker 1: fewest punts I'm pretty sure the fewest punts or second
Speaker 1: fewest in the last forty years. Um. So I think
Speaker 1: more people are going for it, more people are there.
Speaker 1: There's just it's just really hard to get a team
Speaker 1: to go three and out now. I think so many
Speaker 1: teams are kind of employing past plays or run plays
Speaker 1: where they're gonna get six yards on first down because uh,
Speaker 1: you know the way defenses have to handle things with
Speaker 1: pass interference, you know the way that that's regulated. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just it's just really hard to kind of go
Speaker 1: one on one, pin your ears back and you know
Speaker 1: jam receivers. So there there really is there's a lot
Speaker 1: of space for that kind of second and four to
Speaker 1: get that second and four, and we all know how
Speaker 1: hard it is to stop a team, um when when
Speaker 1: they get that. So I think more and more teams
Speaker 1: are getting first downs, they're moving the ball. There are
Speaker 1: very few three ounce and punts, um, and teams are
Speaker 1: going for it. Like if you have fourth and one
Speaker 1: or fourth and three, you're probably gonna go for it. Um,
Speaker 1: do you think that, sorry, I mean to interrupt, you
Speaker 1: do do you think that there will be more teams
Speaker 1: in the future, immediate future with two, three, four players,
Speaker 1: maybe five players on a team like the Chiefs who
Speaker 1: get those one thousand all purpose yards. Yeah, I I
Speaker 1: would say so. But it's also it is really hard
Speaker 1: to um. It's it's it's pretty unique, I think, because
Speaker 1: it means that UM and and I don't mean this
Speaker 1: is like a slight to anybody, but you know, Robbie
Speaker 1: got it pretty early, and Robbie hasn't necessarily you know,
Speaker 1: his last maybe five games weren't nearly as productive as
Speaker 1: maybe his first five, UM, but Curtis's were. So it's
Speaker 1: I think it's rare sometimes where you kind of have
Speaker 1: a huge shift in productivity from one to another to
Speaker 1: kind of allow that. It's it's so much of kind
Speaker 1: of a statistical anomaly. I think you're more often going
Speaker 1: to see guys get two thousand yards like Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: where they're the guy and they're the bell cow or
Speaker 1: you know, two or three guys that are really but
Speaker 1: to have four, in some ways it means that some
Speaker 1: guys are gonna, you know, get a lot at some points,
Speaker 1: and then they may not get as much at other points,
Speaker 1: rather than they're always the ones getting the ball um
Speaker 1: And so I think that was kind of that's that's
Speaker 1: what made this one even more rare or more interesting.
Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna close it out with our weird
Speaker 1: question of the So since the Panthers are conducting their
Speaker 1: GM search, I thought, why don't we conduct our own
Speaker 1: with fictional characters? So what I want from both of
Speaker 1: you best and worst fictional GM candidates? All right, No,
Speaker 1: there are no restrictions. Doesn't even have to be a
Speaker 1: human if you don't want, It's up to you however
Speaker 1: you want to take it. Who would be? You know,
Speaker 1: we talked about the criteria for what makes a good GM.
Speaker 1: What the Panthers are looking for. Let's start with best, Matt,
Speaker 1: what fictional character would be the best GM in your mind?
Speaker 1: So I have I have a couple, but I think
Speaker 1: the first one that came to mind was Lucius Fox
Speaker 1: from the Batman trilogy with the Christopher Nolan, Because that dude,
Speaker 1: he always he always meets demands and he could get
Speaker 1: some weird requests from from Bruce Wayne and then he's
Speaker 1: always on the cutting edge of new technology and new analytics.
Speaker 1: So if we're looking for a tech savvy, analytics savvy guy,
Speaker 1: I think I think we can trust Morgan Freeman as
Speaker 1: Lucius Fox and then Saw Goodman from Better Call Saw
Speaker 1: and Breaking Bad. He's creative, problem sever and he'll go
Speaker 1: above and beyond for the clients. So I think those
Speaker 1: are Yeah, you're very so proud. Oh my gosh, face
Speaker 1: looked up a little bit. Um. Alright, I like your hires.
Speaker 1: Will he got anybody? I mean, how can you follow that?
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I love this question. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: Brad Pitt, I mean obviously Brad Pitt from Moneyball and
Speaker 1: you know it wasn't but he's been. But that's Billy
Speaker 1: Bean though he's already in a different yeah, like he's
Speaker 1: in a different sport. But Billy be I don't know,
Speaker 1: like loved his daughter, like I always cry that movie,
Speaker 1: you know, like that song is so perfect. He like
Speaker 1: he gets it. He should have gone to Boston whatever. Okay, alright,
Speaker 1: I like whatever, I'm gonna go. Cheryl Yost from Remember
Speaker 1: the Titans, I mean I think she showed potential at
Speaker 1: a very young age. She was really running that team's Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's a love football since she was a kid. You know.
Speaker 1: She she told um Denzel that he was running a camp,
Speaker 1: you know that she left from what she could see,
Speaker 1: Coach Boone ran a solid camp here. So I think
Speaker 1: I think she's one of those people that you know
Speaker 1: as an adult, Um, you know, she's rising through the
Speaker 1: ranks and you go she and she says like, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've you know, loved football since I was eight, you know,
Speaker 1: was there with my dad every step of the way.
Speaker 1: And she had she had a conflict of entrance to
Speaker 1: with Denzel taking over for a dad, and she still
Speaker 1: was unbiased. So that's that's a really good I mean,
Speaker 1: she's showing that at eight. What's what's she going to
Speaker 1: be like after, you know, years of experience rising through
Speaker 1: the rinks. That's my pick, all right? Um, how about
Speaker 1: worst Matt Joffrey Brat Although he's dead, so I guess
Speaker 1: he wouldn't make a very good Like I said, no restrictions,
Speaker 1: but yeah, that would be it would not be very good.
Speaker 1: Just off the top of my hope. That's a good one.
Speaker 1: Uh well, what about you the uh the FBI guy
Speaker 1: and die hard over from Carl Winslow or whatever. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that guy was awful. I like it. Um, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1: I can't believe you didn't do this one will. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go Michael Scott for obvious reasons. He'd be friends
Speaker 1: with everybody, but it would be a terrible It would
Speaker 1: be a bad would want to be friends, he wouldn't.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't cut a single player, even if they deserve
Speaker 1: to be cut. He would just keep them out of
Speaker 1: fear that sign them to stuff, yeah, sign them to
Speaker 1: stuff if they got upset with him. His press conferences
Speaker 1: would be great though, Yeah, they would be phenomenal. They would.
Speaker 1: They would be Twitter look at the media and just
Speaker 1: be like, how the turntable mug, world's best GM, world's
Speaker 1: best GM. Absolutely, that's the mug, all right. I think
Speaker 1: Matt won this game. Matt really came to play. Okay,
Speaker 1: one bonus, one honorable mention. I don't know how I feel.
Speaker 1: You guys need to decide, or that's why you have
Speaker 1: to decide. He's listed as a wild card. Frank Reynolds
Speaker 1: from Always Stunny in Philadelphia. He's always been considered a
Speaker 1: ruthless businessman in his prior life and then his funds
Speaker 1: seemed to be endless, and he provides all the schemes.
Speaker 1: He's always got the money and the plans, and so
Speaker 1: I don't know, he's kind of a wild card because
Speaker 1: he's like a like an anti hero or an anti GM.
Speaker 1: So you guys will have to decide that one by
Speaker 1: any means necessary, which is I mean, look, salary caps
Speaker 1: going down, you need somebody like that. Yeah, good ideas. Um,
Speaker 1: my initial reaction was worse, but then you kind of
Speaker 1: talked me into it. I don't know, Well, what do
Speaker 1: you think I'm I'm all for it. Hey, I'm all
Speaker 1: for it GM with the Panthers. You heard it here first.
Speaker 1: I'm the happy off our podcast. Yeah, Matt came to play.
Speaker 1: Um you did. Uh, we're gonna leave it here. Who
Speaker 1: knows what we'll be talking about it this time next week.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's an exciting time for the Panthers. So
Speaker 1: thank you everybody for listening, and we'll see you this
Speaker 1: time next week.