All right, welcome everybody to the Happy half Hour.
And isn't it a happy half hour.
It's a beautiful day outside in Charlotte, North Carolina, especially.
If you're a duck.
Severe thunderstorms, Yeah, it's we're underwater here in Charlotte. There are things falling out of the sky like giant limbs and everything else.
So we had an eclipse this week, the.
Eclipse the moon God ate the sun the other day. Fortunately it came back. I don't know, you know, cats and dogs sleeping together. There's your dated pop culture reference right out of the top. Let's get through with that and talk about the thing people came here to hear, which is the many many football things. Woo.
We need like a little audio run.
Yeah, we do when we produce this thing at a different level, which you know, you never know.
Stay tuned.
There could be some exciting news regarding your Happy half Hour coming up in the weeks and months to come, including a sponsor that I think is going to fit in perfectly with our whole little aesthetic.
We've got going on around here. Stay tuned for that.
But in the interim, what we've got to offer you, as many many football people in this stadium. It is finally starting to look like football again with the offseason conditioning program beginning this week, and there's a lot of dudes wandering around, and not just a lot of dudes, a lot of new dudes, a lot of old dudes.
It's still a little jarring to walk down the hall and say, oh, hi, Jadavian Clowney, I hate you are a person who works here now, because that is a thing that's happened since the last time we got together.
Jadavian Clowney, Derek Brown got his extension. I mean, they're shoring up the defense. One of the few things that I learned from Rben Meyer that can actually be taken away and applied positively to someone's life is that you build a team through the defensive line. And this defensive line now boast Derek Brown, a Sean Robber, Sin shy Tittle, and then you've got Jadavion Clowney coming off the edge.
Which I know Jadavion Clowney is going into his eleventh season, but Darreny came off one of his best seasons in his since his early career last year nine.
And a half sacks last year for a pretty good Baltimore defense was Yep, was a resurgence for Jadavion, and he's kind of knocked around and been on one year
deals for a little bit. But that's signing to me as much for all the stuff they did, and they've operated in bulk this offseason, and I would like to remind people this ain't how it's always going to be, and this ain't how they want it to be every year, because you don't want to be in the business of signing twelve, thirteen, fourteen free agents every March, because that means you've got a bunch of holes you got to fill.
The Baker's doesn't plus.
But getting him in was like the signal of Okay, that's the last big one, right, that's the last you know. I think people daydream about other things that might happen in the future. But now that you've got Jadavion Clowney in the building, you can put a team on the ft. Before that signing, it's like, who's playing the outside linebacker? Oh my god, I don't know. When I was in Orlando talking to Canalis at the owners meetings, you know, I asked him specifically prior to the Clowny signing, this.
Group you have here, What can you do with it? Can you go? Can you play?
And he's like, we like all these guys individually, but there was clearly something missing from the group, and bringing in a heavy hitter like Clowney lends a little bit of stability to do this thing.
I mean, it's.
Obviously not the same as it was, and people are going to miss Brian and Frankie for years to come because those guys were around here and made connections with people and all that kind of stuff. But I think in terms of the overall defense, this thing might be a little more stable and ought to be better against the run than it was a year ago because you've swapped out smaller bodies for bigger bodies.
You know, Deshaun Wims love him.
He's a great dude, created an NFL career out of an unlikely background, hometown kid effectively home state kid sort of. But you've replaced a six one, two hundred and eighty pound defensive end with a six foot four, three and twenty pound a Shawn Robinson, and Ashawn is just that kind of door frame big even among big people, he looks big.
He's the big one.
When big people get together, he's the he's the one there's head sticks up above the rest of the crowd. I love the fact that in his backstory his mom used to have to carry birth certificate to Pop Warner games to prove that he was actually five and not seventeen.
But they've done things like that.
And with Robinson coming up front to stand alongside Shy tut On Derrick Brown, with Clowney on that second line, you're a little more stout against the run, which you needed to be. I mean, the Panthers had to face way too many runs last year because they were always behind. But I think personnel wise, they're a little more stable there. So that in and of itself is a good thing.
Right, we can clum into who Like we said, with the nine and a half sacks, I think he even had ten and a half when you count the playoffs. You know he was in high forties and tackles for somebody in his tenth season coming off the edge. That's what you need that Darren. This is just getting off on a little tangent. I have a philosophy that that position is the most important position on defense in today's game, and when you have somebody who can still move the
way he can still move even at his age. At his age he's like thirty two. When you have somebody that can still move like that but also has the experience and the mind to know these quarterbacks, he's been he played in the AFC last year. He's so he's faced,
you know, guys like Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. So when you've got somebody who knows these quarterbacks, who knows where to be, he knows what to do, and he still has all of the physical attributes that once made him a first overall pick, that's got to be a little excited. I was walking out of an interview yesterday with Dave Canalis and I made the joke said, you know, you've got two number one overall picks now at two
of the most important positions. He just started smiling, and he's like, can you imagine how much fun we're going to have? And I think that's what they're thinking is, you know, we've got Jadavian Clowney on one side, we've got Bryce Young on the other with us with a very high ceiling still to come for Bryschong, Imagine how much fun they could be happy.
Yeah, And that's the other thing.
That's kind of become obvious walking around this building for the last couple of days, Cass is there are We've talked a lot about individual components of this thing that's being put together. But I think this week is important because now, for the first time, it is a tangible thing you're doing. You now see this group of people. It's not just the idea of Okay, we signed this guy to this contract and he's going to play this role. No, that's Jadavion. He lives here. He's from rack Hill.
This thing. He likes Bojangles, which we learned during our.
Ass the Old Guy video mail bag the other week, which day beyond, which you can enjoy on Panthers dot com.
What was his order?
He is a he is a Supremes guy. The fries at night.
In the morning he'll go chick, He'll go spicy file a biscuit, add egg.
Okay, I had my first Bojangles biscuit this week?
Is that right?
First one of my life?
How is that possible? You know?
Bojingles is not I lived in Florida for ten years where there's not any really bo Jingles. I lived in Green Bay for two years where there's not any and when I last lived in Alabama, they were just starting to get there.
So well, now you've come to the good Land, and now there.
Is one literally across the street from my house.
There you go and we can start pilgrimages. I can take you to Bojangles One, which is just down the street here, the mother ship where it all started.
What did you get at your first trip to Bojangles? While we're on this tank.
I just got a steak biscuit it and a doctor pepper. But last week I went there for the first time, and I had gone in college one time, and then last week I went for the first time since college and it was lunchtime. So I got a chicken sandwich in a sweet tea and the sweet tea was actually really really good.
You didn't get bow rounds?
Oh? I did get bow round Yes, I did. I forgot Thank you Matt for pointing that out. That's I'm all about some hash brons in the morning, and those bow rounds were really good.
Yeah, it's uh. We could do an entire podcast about bow Jangles.
And y'all are making me hungry.
I might don't even get me started on the bow Jangler on a biscuit instead of a bond no cheese.
Back to Clowney though. Yeah, I thought the most thing that stood out the most about what he told you when you were talking to him was that he waited to want to be here. Yeah, you know this is it's some people say that that's the worst thing that can happen to a guy is to go to his hometown team. And he purposely waited and I'll let you.
Finish, and he mentioned I mean he like at times early in his career he wasn't prepared personally for the pressure that comes with being the hometown guy, right, I mean, when you're surrounded by your friends from high school, you get all those little things. And I've actually known people in front offices here, you know, in the past and
even twenty years ago and beyond. Who would actually that downgrades a guy on the draft if you've got to worry about hometown friends being a negative influence on sometimes. I mean, honestly, in that in that Patriots documentary, that was a thing he wanted to go to Seattle.
So, but that's as far away as you can get from Boston.
But I think for Jadavian, he's coming back a different cat I mean, he is no longer the first overall picking a draft who made a guy's head roll halfway down the field against Michigan. He's now a old pro. He's kind of an old head coming into this place.
Who's he's a dad.
He's a dad. He talked about, you know, I hang around the house. I'm here with the kids and the family. This is not you know, I'm not out doing what I was doing when I was younger. And I think that maturity kind of allows him to walk into this place and a little bit in a little bit better spot. And that's what I was getting at. When you see these guys all together, all of these individual parts kind of came in at one time. When you see them
all in the room and you see them interact. When you see guys out on the practice field Monday, and oh yeah, Bryce is talking to a huddle of offensive teammates about what they're going to do that day. And even if all they're going to do is run and stretch and do some conditioning work and that kind of stuff, just the idea of creating that vibe, creating that leadership, creating those bonds.
You know, Canalist talks about it all the time.
You know, if you can create a family he I think he tweeted this out the other day, create a family, the winds will come. They're in the process of creating that family this week because all the cousins at the reunion who don't know each other are meeting each other for the first time, and they're trying to figure out where they fit. And that's kind of what happens here
in this phase one. To use the football parlance, it's a lot of weightlifting and run around and exercising and stuff like that, with some meetings involved.
They're not actually out there running.
Routes on the field or being coached and that kind of stuff that's against the rules this time of year, and no football, no, you know it's not football.
Ye.
But they're learning each other and that, after what this team has been through for the last couple of years, is as important as any schematic thing or any personnel thing that's going to happen. I mean, I have said before, this team has to kind of reset. This team has to adopt normal for five minutes. You know, you've got to. We can't worry about reinventing the wheel. We can't worry about revolutionizing football. We just got to be evolutionary for
a minute and do the normal things. Well, what's get the football rain? And that's yeah, get the football right. That could be the secret word for our podcast. One of these days we'll go full pee Wee's Playhouse on that go secret word. And when Dave Canally says get the football right, streamers come out of the ceiling and there's confetti, cannons and everything.
Mett'll clean up the studio.
I have a question. What is pee Wee's Playhouse?
You might as well tell me you'd never been to Both Jangles? What pee Wee's playhouse? Pee Wee Herman looking up her pee had a children's show that aired on Saturday mornings.
It was very fun. Him and all his.
Friends got in adventures to entertain kids. And one of the features was the secret word. And the secret word might be something as innocuous as rain. And if somebody accidentally said the word rain and that was a secret word, everybody go. It sounds like it was a more playful Peewee not the Isn't he like pee Wee's no longer among us? Oh that's all right, I will forgive you for that one.
I new something happened.
Yeah, he's in the basement of the Alamo.
Now where is this podcast gone?
Do you know who else is down there?
Jimmy awful, Matt, you were worried about this one coming in, and I think we've lived down to your every expectation. What on earth are we doing here? So anyway, all right, we've covered a lot of the big news. Clowny's here, We talked about all of the free agents and previous incarnations. The other really big thing is, and you kind of mentioned it out of the top, Dereck Brown has the contract and you want to talk about something that is
a statement. Telling Derek Brown here's a pile of money, stay here for the next four years is a big one. But to me, as good as Derek was on the field, the important part of Derreck Brown signing extension here is Derek Brown's going to be here. And we've seen I mean for too long, and people who listen to this show or fans of this team know all the history. I mean, Christian McCaffrey's not here, DJ Moore's not here, Brian Burns is not here anymore. But giving Derek that
contract kind of says Okay, the buck stops here. We're gonna keep ours now starting today. The guys who are from and of the guys who grow up here and become stars are going to be part of this program moving on. So, I mean, I think Derek carries symbolic weight that is as important for this team as his actual weight, which is considerable, exactly.
And like you said, it shows the other players that are here that if you put in the work and you put in the time, you'll be rewarded for that as well, and you're not going to be traded away. And it shows to Derek, we trust you to be
a foundational piece for this team. And it also says to this team, we're not just completely in rebuilding mode year after year, like we're going to keep these pieces, We're going to build around them, which is essentially what they did by you know, shoring up that line by bringing in Robinson. I mean, imagine Ashan Robinson is going to get a lot of attention, and that frees up Derek Brown. Like imagine the wrecking ball that can come
through a line like that. And so, like you said, it makes a statement, that was the best word for it. It tells the players there. Put in the work, you'll be rewarded. It tells Derek Brown, we want you here, we want to build around you, and it tells this club and this fan base we're going to we're building for the future, but we're actually building, We're not just saying we're going to be doing it.
So there you go, Jadavian Clowney. Check. Big piece of business. Derek Brown secured for the future. Check. Obviously, the next.
Couple of weeks offer even more big stuff for the Carolina Panthers. There are guys in here this week for pre draft visits. That's a lot that's gonna happen. We will have, I promise you this is my vow. A pre draft edition of The Happy Half Hour coming up in the next couple weeks, and that's obviously a big thing. I've got two picks in the top forty thirty three and thirty nine. I know a lot of people have probably been wasting a lot of time on the mock
draft simulators on the internet. It beats working, is that, And yeah, sometimes it's research, darn it. But we will get into all that on the next episode of The Happy Half Hour, along with many more earthly delights. You never know what you're gonna get here, so until then, have a happy half hour.
Everybody