Happy Half Hour 73: Could Have Been Awkward

Will Brian and Darren Gant. Welcome to the Happy Half Hour podcast. Will is on special assignment this week once again, so we have got the incredible Augusta Stone here with me and Darren for the second week in a row. Augusta, it's great to have you. It's always great to be here. I'm excited to be you know. It's my the third appearance now, I think, so, you know, getting getting into the swing of it. I'm always happy to be here.

How is everybody well, We're good. I mean, it's an exciting development because we are coming to you from Charlotte for the first time in a long time. We were all sleeping in our actual beds at our actual homes um for the first time in quite a bit. Darren, how good does it feel? It's pretty nice. I'm not gonna lie. There was about thirty six hours there where I was walking down to my basement wondering where the guy at the omelet station was and why I wasn't

wearing the same set of clothes every day. Uh, that kind of thing. Yeah, it's weird. It's it's good to be home. But it's also one of the things you lose sight of when you're down there is when we're in training camp mode and on the road, all we have to do is work, and then you come home and it's like the fancy is falling down. You've got a call a guy about that, you know, your kids have appointments, you gotta talk, you know, all the real life stuff that we were able to forget about from

moth all of a sudden is a thing again. So it never really stops, that is true. All right, We're gonna get right into it because we have got a lot of news to talk about, some of the good, some of it not so good. But we we got to start with quarterback news. Quarterback news. I was trying to do money. I was trying to do a little big voice guy there. Um alright, Baker Mayfield was announced as the starter for a week one, officially ending weeks

and weeks of speculation. Darren, how long in advance had you written that article? Now? I'm just kidding, kid, think about it is and and it's interesting. I was doing a hit on Sirious last night with Alex Marvis and Ryan Leaf and they they basically asked how serious was his competition? And I said, listen, everybody expected Baker to win it, but they wanted to see him win it first. They wanted to you know, Sam was like the baseline,

and it's they failed, all right with Sam. If they hadn't have made the deal, they would have gone in the season with Sam starting. So they needed to see something more than that. And I think after a couple of weeks of training camp you started to see it. I mean, Baker is um is a guy who is a little more willing to take chances. He's moving the

ball downfield. But about two weeks into camp you started seeing at click and you started to see him do things where it's like, Okay, that's what he needs to do. To be the guy and not just win the job, but be successful in it. I mean, I think, you know, working with the first offensive line being able to throw to Dj Moore instead of the second and third groups of receivers made a huge difference. And I think it about that two week markup camp is where you saw, Okay,

this is probably where this is pointed. And also just getting comfortable with the offense. So got here a couple of weeks before training camp. I asked Ben mcado, I said, you know, when do guys get comfortable in your offense, specifically quarterbacks? And he was like, you know, it's not really until their junior year. Really that I would say

they have a full mastery. Um, and then what Baker had, including four different offensive coordinators and four years, so we certainly will versed in how to do this, but we also take that for granted a little bit. Augusta. Just how long it takes to to feel that's somewhat comfortable in a brand new offense. Well, that's exactly what I was thinking. It took him time to learn, Like, you can't come in even though obviously you acquire Baker Mayfield to play Baker Mayfield. You don't just get him in

trade for him not to play for him. So logically speaking, it makes sense that, but but at the same time, like you can't just hand it to him when he's had two weeks with the playbook before they get to Spartanburg, and so you had to give him time to learn. And I think one of the things hearing from Matt Role and hearing from Bit mccadoo is how impressed they were with how quickly he learned, how quickly he picked everything up. You know, he's and it has to do with,

like you said, the four different offensive coordinators. He's had time and time to to really build the repetition and you know it wasn't gonna be handed to him. But being a quick learner, having that Baker Mayfield Moxie, that the word that we've talked about. It's just one of those things where he came in and now he's already showing that command and he's really he he has that mojo and he has the chemistry and he's he's building

on it. But um, even like he told us this week, you know he still has the room to grow as well. But he definitely took some time to learned everything in training camp, taking those reps, splitting with Sam Donald. I think it was helpful. Yeah, And the thing that will stand out to me about this training camp experience, they are extremely lucky that Sam Donald is the caliber of human being he is, because this should have been awkward. This should have been cringe e to watch, and it

never was. And I think people kept watching for it to be difficult and it never was because Sam and Baker both were just such adults about this thing. And I mean it's weird that we consider that unusual because that ought to be a baseline for society, but it's not always. And it's just listen, Sam's bombed out that he's not the starter. He's still a little salty, uh in the right way, but he is also going to be a good teammate throughout this thing. I mean, like

I said, there was that point. I remember that one specific day where they were doing two minutes stuff at the end of game and Baker and Sam both got him into the end zone that day. But when Baker throws a little catching run to DJ for a touchdown, Sam was back at the huddle pumping his fist. I mean, he was fired up for Baker. So that makes everything around the rest of the roster go a little bit more smoothly. Because in Matt Rule talked about it the

other day. He said, if a guy comes up to me ask him for more reps, all I got to do is point to those two guys and say, look at how they handled it, look at what they did. And so I think for the function of the team as a whole, having Sam being as mature about this as he's been is going to help them not only through a transition, but also if Samon's up playing again, because listen, Sam became a pinata last year. I think to a lot of people for reasons that didn't have

anything to do with Sam. Christian gets hurt. You're firing offensive coordinator in the middle of the year. Fourteen lines in seventeen games. There was a lot of stuff beyond his control, and when things were going well, Sam was okay. So I think having him around in that role helps them both in terms of the locker room and what they've gotten a backup quarterback. Now, have you guys ever watched Great British Bakeoff? I promise this is going somewhere.

I really love it. The one thing I love about that show, it is so soothing to me, is that it is a very high stakes competition, especially in Britain. Everyone watches it, you know, like the Royal families watching. Everyone watches it, and they are competing at at the highest level. Right, But they are so nice to each other because they know that they are competing with themselves

more so than with the other people. Right. If if I performed to the best of my ability, I don't need to take you down, right, I can be supportive. I want you to do well. I want me to do well, right, and so I gotta I gotta figure out what I need to do. And I got that vibe from both of those guys. And Darren, you just talked about what an adult Sam was. I think Baker would have been the same adult had it gone a

different way. And I know we've talked about it. You know, if you watch Camp Confidential, you will see this, this friendship that is formed between them. But I mean, guys, when the cameras aren't rolling, we've seen it, right, we're traveling. I mean they're making jokes with each other, they're laughing. And that's not to say that the competitive spirit wasn't

there all throughout training camp we all saw it. But just what a what a lovely way to handle As you said, Darren, what is an awkward situation, no doubt. And again that is genuine And I love what Confidential shows. I mean because you see those little interchanges, the interplay when they're not on the field and in different scenes. So it it's refreshing. I think for society to think, hey, we can all get along, it can work. We can get together and compete for things and still be nice.

I like it. So so let's go to the second piece of quarterback news, which unfortunately isn't as great, and that is that mcarrel got injured, uh toward the list frank ligament in his left foot during the Patriots game and was officially placed on injured reserve yesterday, effectively ending his season. Uh, Darren, you wrote the articles and it

just it just felt just like bad luck. Man. I was out on the field when when it happened, he was getting checked out, and it's just man, No one ever, no one ever puts enough in this on what a role luck plays in the NFL. I mean, some things are just bad breaks and people want to yell about this or that or the other. Uh. Sometimes you get fallen upon, sometimes you get stepped on. Sometimes you run into someone at the wrong angle and you're down. And

it's unfortunate for Matt. I mean, realistically, I think this was going to even if he had been on the fifty three man roster all year. I don't know how much he would have played. It would have been late, if at all, is my guess. Um, he needs time and and he gets time now to learn and kind of absorb what it's like being in an NFL system. Unfortunately, it's while he's also rehabbing from a pretty dramatic foot injury,

which is tough for him. Um, But I don't know that it changes the trajectory of his rookie season that much, because this was gonna be a year to sit and watch anyway, and that's good for everybody. I mean, you talk about macadoo, he was in Green Bay with some cat named Aaron Rodgers. Now, neither Baker Mayfield nor Sam Donald is Brett Farve. But the ability to sit back and not have to do the thing immediately is good for any rookie at any position, I think, really, and

it's um you know, it's tough, it's unfortunate that he's hurt. Um, They're going to put stuff around him to support him, you know, through the injury and all that kind of stuff, and then you know he's gonna go about the business of being on the chalkboard, being in the meetings, watching the film with those guys all year and getting more comfortable with NFL offense. Yeah, Darren, that was something that I asked you, but I'm glad you brought it up.

But Um, I asked you about it yesterday and I said, what if if you want him to learn how to be a being, a huddle, to get under center all of those things, how much does it change that trajectory? Can can you get a good grasp on all of that stuff with those mental reps as we call it, um, while you are rehabbing And you said, just like you said here, which I felt very heartened. I'm sure the

fans feel very heartened about. Is that, uh yeah, he can still do all those things, and hopefully by the time his rehab is is complete, he's not as far off as um as he might have been in getting a chance to sit on the bench and much right. And I thought one of the one of the things people overlook about rookie quarterbacks, especially coming into the NFL, is there there are certain parts of the job description that Matt Correll has never done, like get under center,

put a team in a huddle. It's just it just wasn't his offensive mechanically. He never did that in college. So of course he's taken some time to get used to that part of it during training camp. But that

part he'll miss. But all the stuff in the meeting room will be there, all the stuff with Baker, with Sam over the course of the year, He'll still be around for that, and I think he's going to benefit from it, because again, I think the expectation game is probably the most difficult part for so many people because when you hear of a guy who some people thought was going to be a first round pick or this or that or the other, you know, they think, oh, well,

he must be ready to go right off the bat. Very few people are ready to go right off the bat, especially at that position. So I just think this kind of gives it an opportunity to be where it probably should have been to begin with. And you know, the first and foremost we want all the best for him and are wishing him all the luck on his rehab journey. But Darren, as you mentioned in the articles that you wrote about this, this also does change some suster math

a little bit, adds a wrinkle into it. And both of you have been covering, Okay, what does this? What does what do we think this roster is going to look like by final cuts next Tuesday? So I thought that'd be a great segue into where are we guys, what are you both looking at when it comes to position groups or players, and and what should we be

keeping an eye on and for the next week. Yeah, I mean, of course, the most direct impact on of the Matt Corral injuries on like Richard Higgins and Julian Stanford and John Chandler and people like that, right, I mean, not having to keep a third quarterback basically gives you another spot for something else. And we've talked a good bit about wide receivers this year, probably one of the most competitive groups. There's like eight guys for six jobs

or seven depending on where you count. Andre Roberts not really receiver, but he's a return guy they want to keep. So I think, you know, it's really twisted and I hate saying it because it's horrible for that, but it does open some doors for other guys. If anytime there's injuries, the roster math changes. But when they were going to have to keep three quarterbacks, that was one less of something else. That's a tenth offensive lineman or a sixth

linebacker or a tenth dB. And now it opens the door. And there's a lot of stuff going into this last game that still kind of up in the air. And Nu Gusta, what have you identified, um in terms of guys you know, Shy Smith we were just talking about. You tell me what you're looking at and what you're hearing exactly. Well, I think there's so many receivers like Darren just mentioned, just across the board especially. I mean, there's been so many injuries in camp, which is gonna

happen either way. But because you've had guys like Robbie Anderson Um just sideline for a minute, you get to see more of certain guys. You see more of a Shard Higgins who that he gets so many reps it feels like, you know, they're really like wanting to see. And then I think he benefits as well from Baker being QB one, just because they have that Brown's connection.

One thing that both Matt Rule and Ben McAdoo, we were sitting in our preseason TV meetings and we you know, went through the receivers and they both they were not in the meetings together, right, that each o their own time slot. First word that they used to describe a Shard Higgins with savvy, He's just savvy. He just finds ways to get open. He uses his experience. We've seen him with that connection with Baker, I guess, as you were just saying, we saw him catch a touchdown pass

from Sam in the first preseason game. I mean, it's just he just has that innate ability to be a wide receiver. You know. It's almost like maturity too, because he's one of the older guys on the roster and that's something. I mean, it's a very young roster in general, so I feel like there's benefits to that as well. Um, but yeah, Shy Smith, I feel like the camp that he's had just it can't be talked about enough. He's

just had such a good camp. He's been lining up in the slot, he's been taking back kicks, he's been taking him back punts, now and um, that's something that Rule said, you know, they like to see in these preseason games because it's kind of hard for them to replicate it in practice. So he's been returning punts and that's something you know, Um with Andre Roberts out with c J. Saunders who was taking a lot of those reps out until this week, you know, he's he's kind

of stepped up there. So Shot Smith is really making himself versatile and useful across all of it. I think it was Matt Role yesterday said that he's competing for a starting role even you know he's he's one of those guys that they just really seen a lot from. So there's a lot of receivers. I think there's a lot of good cornerback depth, ironically because you know they're Adam people. But I feel like Tay Hayes is one of those guys who's probably a custom guy that they

were excited about. The team loves him first of all. At practice, Oh my goodness, you hear Tay Tay. They love him. They were so excited for the picks. I mean, but how how could you not be? But in the New England game, just that incredible play that he made the sideline erupted, and I'd say for like a good five minutes, like it was just they were so excited for him. And you can tell August exactly what you said, who are the guys that that make that locker room better?

That just add a lot that we don't even see beyond the place. But he's always making a play. It was such a neat scene and one of my favorite things. Chanel Smith, Walker and Kenney Richmond, our photographers nailed it. There were two parts of that play that I love. Number One, Tay Hayes is just stiff arming Bailey's Appy's helmet off or Bailey Well he deserved it because he put fifty nine on Appalachian State in the Boca Raton Bowl last year and I'm still not over um. And

then Davean Nixon picks him up in the air. It's like in dirty dancing, holding them up in mid air. It's It was just such a neat scene and and I love the fact that our photographers had both of those shots. I mean, it was just perfect because it was just a great moment for Tay and you know, he's a guy who has inserted himself in two conversations. I mean that cornerback rooms as deep as anything on this roster going into camp, and you know, he sort of made himself a guy you look at and say,

what do you do with this one? Look? And yes, and the roster is deep, but there have been some injuries over the course of camp. You know, Kei Taylor is back now, c J. Henderson is back. But you can never I would I would say that Phil Snow would say probably you could never have enough enough depth at corner right the secondary in general. Now, of course it all goes back to roster. Matthew can keep everybody.

But yes, exactly, you said, there are these guys that um force themselves into the conversation because of the play that they have day in and day out, and it's fun to watch them. Yeah, it's complicated now. It makes it a nightmare this weekend because, like I said, the meetings matt Rule and Scott Fitter are going to be having.

You know, they're basically going to be deciding, Okay, who do we need more this tenth offensive landman or the sixth linebacker or the sixth or seventh receiver, and how do we count Andre and all the you know, there's a lot of stuff going on, and they've got to they've got to get rid of twenty seven people from

this roster or in the next five days basically. So that's gonna be tough, and it's it's creating a lot of anxiety, uh down there on the second floor where they're making those decisions, and you know, to sit here and say, we know exactly what they're gonna do it, most of these spots you can't right now. And I think a lot of it's going to be determined if there are any more injuries, how long is certain guy

gonna be out? Uh, if he's injured right now? And I think there's still a good number of positions where uh to steal one of Dave Gettleman's lens, the answer might not be on the roster, So I mean, especially like defensive tackle, defensive end, those are probably places where they still need help from outside and are going to be looking around to see who gets cut, who can

be traded for that kind of thing. But but even with that, you know, Matt Rule talked about that a couple of times over the last couple of weeks, which is over the last two years since he's been here. Team has been looking a lot more at the fifty three cuts, you know, looking to pick guys up, and he said, you know, we're not. We have depth right now, which is a great thing, and it does, but it

does create a lot of anxiety. I would not want to be the people making those decisions because it's it's people's livelihoods, it's um people's futures, and there is a big sense of responsibility. And there's also you know, a big sense of responsibility in terms of, Okay, we can't know what's going to happen, but we have to put this person in over this person and hope that it's the right decision. So what did they say? With great

power comes great responsibility. And you know, by having all of this depth and these guys competing at so many different spots, it is tough to make the cut here. I feel like this is in honor of Will. I look this up this morning. You talk about depth and how difficult these decisions are, and how you you know, you alluded to what Matt said about wanting to keep the guys who are already here rather than picking through

the waiver wire. A year ago, they go out and claim Michael Jordan's off waivers at final cuts and he ends up still and most of the season. For They've got among their backup offensive lineman forty five starts in the regular season last year alone. When you go through cam Irving, Michael Jordan's, Dennis Daily h Bradley Bozeman, Sam Tecklenburg all started games. None of those guys are on the starting line right now. And compare that to the spot the Carolina Panthers were in a year ago. When

it's Hi, my name is congratulations, you're starting. Um, it's night and day. It really is so Darren, As you said this all, there's a lot of questions still to be answered. A lot of guys can can make a final push. With this third preseason game, it's going to be at home Bank of America. Say, oh, I feels so good to say that. You know, first two preseason games were on the road. This one is at home

Friday night against the Bills Augusta. You just wrote the article the five things to watch on Panthers dot Com. Go check it out. Everybody that's a plug. Um, what is what is standing out to you? Who are we looking at to make the push? Beyond what We've already

talked about how much are we going to see of people? Yeah, so we will see all the starters for at least a quarter, which is very exciting considering we didn't see any of them except for one of my people to watch Ikey Akwanu and Brady Christians and they did play um just building that chemistry on the left side of the offensive line. They were the only as if I'm correct, they were the only starters to play um against the Patriots because the rest of them, you know, it was

a twos and threes kind of night. But um, we'll see all the starters, so we'll see them kind of building back up their chemistry. I think. I think, um, the first preseason or the second preseason game, the first for Ikey as the official starting left tackle, was a big learning moment. That's what we've heard from from Matt Roland Ikey himself. You know, he's just he's looking to two almost you know, if you're gonna make mistakes, the

tom to learn is in the preseason. And I think these next two or this the past game and then this next one and is a good opportunity for him to continue to learn from Brady Christians and who has a year up on him. But I mean even still, it's a valuable year to learn from someone, um along the offensive line. So I'm excited to see you know, the starters and especially on offense, seeing Baker you know, build a connection with Paddel line at center. That's something

that he's been talking about a lot. We've seen them kind of building up through through practice this week. You know which receivers we get to see, who's who's healthy, who's not. Will we see Terris Marshall when we see Robbie Anderson. Um, But I'm really excited to just just to see um that that growth from from Ikey and just you know what, what he's able to do. I think, Um there, I think that's what I'm really looking forward to see him. But yeah, at least a quarter is

what we've been told that we'll see. And and Ikey needs to buckle up because when this thing gets real in a couple of weeks, that guy over there, that's Myles Garrett, M go get him, M have fun. You know, let's keep Baker on his feet so he can do the thing that people want to see Baker do. Um, it's gonna be tough and and Ikey's got lessons to learn.

You could sort of see on one of those sacks the other night against the Patriots when it's over, him and Brady are talking to each other, basically talking about how to pass off twists and stunts. And when guys go between two offensive lineman and then they turn and start talking to each other, you realize kind of where that was born from. And getting getting that communication down with him, and every rep those two take next to

each other in a game setting is good. And that's why I think you saw them play into the second quarter when some of the other starters were done the other night. They want to put those two together and listen, Ikey and Christiansen next to each other could be a

thing for a long time. So get those two on the same page, get him a quarter and change out here against the Bills, and then every practice rep going into Buffalo or going into Cleveland game, that's all you and and I would just point out to that they were playing against the Patriots starting defense in in that first quarter as well, and you know it's they need to get Ikey once he got that starting left tackle spot. I mean, he did the joint practices with the rest

of the starters, which we saw those guys get. That first practice was two hours and forty five minutes, and I think the second one was two and a half hours, and it was it was live wraps the entire time, a lot of two minutes. So he did all of that, and then he came out with the starters before the Patriots game. As Augusta said, most of the starters did not play except for those two guys. He came out and did a practice with the starters and then went and played the first half of of this game. And

then we're gonna see him a lot. So they are just throwing everything at him and saying, all right, this is the starting left tackle role. Let's see what you're doing here. Yes, absolutely anything else that we're looking at in this game, Darren. You know, I am I'm still curious to see and this is wonky, but I watched special teams personnel and you see who's going to be those core guys for Chris Taber, and there's certain guys.

Brandon Smith has showed up through the preseason. He's a guy who's probably not going to get a lot of time on defense because they've got an established Corps veteran linebackers, but he's shown up in the kicking game. There are certain guys like Stanley Thomas Oliver, like um Keith Taylor has been one of those guys, has been a good

special teamer. Spencer Brown was getting a lot of run before he gets hurt, so kind of the that's one of the hidden things about roster construction over the next five six days is Chris Tabor has got to put a punt team on the field, and who's going to be on it. I mean, Frankie Luvu was one of those guys a lot last year. He's gonna be playing an expanded role on defense. Can you really commit to having Frankie out there for four special teams? Maybe not so.

I think watching how that stuff comes together is gonna be kind of an important piece of this puzzle too. And Chris Taber told told me that he thinks for special teams coach, the preseason is the hardest time because you're trying to see exactly what you just said, Darren. You're trying to see who's going to fit in there, and then also have they got enough playing time to show what they could do? How did they fit in on the defense? All the things right, Um, so'll definitely

be keeping an eye on that on Friday. Guys, this was fun. It was great to be back here in Charlotte. Was Darren. I feel like he got something to say. It's like, this is not my beautiful house. Where am I? This is where are we supposed to be? We're actually back in Charlotte. It's a good thing. It is it is and hope to see all of you at the game on Friday. Thanks for listening to the Happy Half Hour podcast. We'll see you next time.