Hello, friends, Welcome to the Happy half Hour, and it's happier than ever because we were actually on a football field this week.
We've seen grass, we touched grass. As the kids say.
We probably all needed to.
It's good to be out there on a football field and remind yourself that this is a football product that we spent so much time talking about. Because for so much of the off season, when you're at the combine and doing free agency and everything else, this feels like an abstract concept. But then you walk out there in the sunshine and the blue skies and Dave Canalysis, you know, jumping around, twirling his whistle and having a big old time. It's like, Okay, yes, this is a football team we're
talking about here, an actual tangible product. And they were tangible. Indeed, yesterday, weren't they.
They were, They were in fact almost tangible completely as a team. Only three players not here. That's a pretty good attendance for the first day of voluntary mini camp in April.
I think.
I think Dave Canals will take that for his first time as a head coach.
No doubt.
And these things are voluntary, and the thing about attendance this time of year is you never know what's go guy's got going on.
I mean, people have things.
Playing before you know, they realized they were coming to a team where there's a you know, voluntary mini camp on this particular weekend, that kind of stuff.
So we're so a testament of It's not a commentary on those who weren't here, but we're so a testament to those who were.
Definitely, and I think there was an energy about the place, and a lot of that is coming from Dave Canalis himself. That's kind of his calling card. It feels like that's the first word anybody says when they're asked about Dave Canalis. They talk about that energy.
So Deonta n did you hear Deonta Johnson yesterday what he said?
Yeah?
That was classic.
He said it was so much energy. He didn't even realize he was the head coach until after dinner.
I wondered about that, and I kind of I thought to myself when Deontay said that.
Who do you think he was?
Did he think he was the writer for the website? Did he think he was podcast Matt? Did he think he was Yeah? I don't know what, but you know he.
Was, Yeah, somebody they just brought along to drive the car, like, yeah, somebody.
He's the young guy, he's the coach's son, or I don't know.
Because I would imagine he did the bulk of the talking.
Yeah.
And it's interesting to me though, because when you see Dave for the first time doing Dave things out on the football field, it's new to us, right. And I was careful in knocking around yesterday talking to people about Dave's first day on the job, basically, you know. And I asked his assistant, Jessica Beckinstein, I said, is this more amped up? And she was like, no, the usual amount, and this is just who he is. And we're still getting used to Dave and learning Dave's patterns and everything
like that. But some people get up for special occasions, but Dave kind of gets up to a certain caffeinated peak and then stays there for hours and hours at a time. So I respect the fact I also am mourning people. I do not get here at four forty five in the morning the way Dave Canalis does. But the alarm goes off not long after that, and we begin the day bringing you the very best product we can here at Panthers dot Com. But It was interesting to see it all out there in practice because we
can talk about what it looks like. We can talk about Deontay Johnson, we can talk about Robert Hunt, Damien Lewis, Austin Corbett moving to center. But when you lay eyes on him and you see it out there in the flesh.
And you see all of them together.
Right, it's like, Okay, now you see the start of this plan coming together. Now you see what it's beginning to look like, and realize what they've been talking about all off season.
As you stood there.
Cassidy, watching this thing kind of unfold brand new for the first time, what was the first thing that jumped out at you?
Well, Jadavian Cloney.
That's also just because he's large and he was right there near us. He was also the only outside linebacker really going through jail because he was the only one that was here and healthy and able to do so. But you almost got the sense too that if push came to show, Ja, Davi and Cloinney could take care of outside linebacker for this team by single hatedly.
Even in his thirties.
He was definitely moving around well, and he seems you know, we talk about Dave's energy. He's got a little rejuvenated vibe about right. We noticed that when he came in right after signing and we were talking to him and filming some stuff for the website, that kind of thing.
You could tell he was excited. You could tell he felt it.
But I get the sense that last year was kind of a boost for him because after so long that the weight of expectations when you're a number one pick kind of bears down on you and you wonder if you're ever going to get back to being that guy again. Last year in Baltimore, not in a Hatch Sackson regular season, another one in the playoffs. He was that guy again last year, and so that's why he was such a
central component of the work they were doing defensively. But there's still, you know, along those lines when you look out there with DJ Wadham still kind of working his way back from an injury last year. It's an incomplete group right now on defense, and it's also brand new because we got condition to seeing certain things over the tail end of last year. And then you look out on the field and there's a Sean Robinson and he's new.
There's Josie Jewel and he's new, and he's next to Shaq Thompson, who's not new but wasn't out there a whole lot last year. And then there's Jadavia, and then there's Dane Jackson, and then there's j Fuller in the back, and you realize it's a brand new group.
And Nick Scott, which I know is technically a def it's a back, but it was really brought in for his special team's prowess. And at one point they were running a punt drill and you remember I even like said to you, like, who is that calling the play? Yep, And we looked out there and it was Nick.
Scott's number twenty one. You're a new personal protector, Nick Scott. So that that's gonna be one of those hidden wrinkles over the course of this year. Nick Scott, who has a career reception from Johnny Hecker. So we are, yeah, we are definitely looking for to putting that one into play.
But as I looked out there and again this was such a topic for so much of the conversation, but when you see that interior offensive line together, you a understand Austin Corbett is not a small man, right Austin Corbett is a large human being by any metric that mortals have available to them. When you see Damian Lewis and Robert Hunt on either side of him, it's like, ah,
that's different. Yeah, those two guys are not like the one in the middle, and Austin is merely huge and they are gigantic and that is on purpose.
Kids, And to kind of go along with that, you know, we heard from both Canalis and a little bit of Bryce yesterday too talking about how yesterday was they were going back down to the bear basics with both Bryce and Andy Dalton of you know, how to take your quarterback stance and to see around these large linemen, which is is going to be something that Canalis has talked about, is going to be something he has to work with with Bryce because he is on the what did he
call it, vertically challenged or height challenged or something like that.
He's not tall, not tall, and now.
You've got these huge guys, and so it's you know, even learning something as basic as what stance to get in to see the whole field from that pocket.
Ye, And so he's he's very very detailed.
And Bryce got the baptism by fire in that yesterday kind of going back to quarterback school as.
They Yeah, I like the fact that Dave called it quarterback school, and they are beginning. They're making no assumptions about these people basically. I mean, he talked about Will Harridser, the quarterbacks coach, teaching Andy Dalton how to get into a stance properly.
And I'm sure Andy's.
Thinking, thanks, I've been doing this for a little while.
I appreciate that Andy's a pro, He's here for a reason.
But and also has great hair, as Dave Canal has helpfully pointed out, Wow, like that best.
Hair in the league other than Patrick Mahoonmes. But Mahomes isn't.
Red, right, Yeah, so the red hair pushes it over the top. But it's interesting to see, I mean, and that's kind of the way Dave's been putting this thing together in terms of the on field product. He's being very intentional. He's starting at the beginning, making no assumptions and basically creating a brand new product. We get caught talking about things in the context of what happened to last year, and.
He's this is a brand new product.
This is completely different, and Bryce Bright it's easy for Bryce to say, Hey, I'm focused on this year. Don't want to spend any time thing about last year because last year was a disaster for everybody that was involved in it. So I understand not wanting to talk about it. But this is going to be a brand new product, so from new receivers in new spots, and you know, people are talking about Deontay Johnson's going to be the
first read on almost every play. So far, that group is still very much under construction and is probably going to change in the next four or five days.
We'll see how all that kind of goes.
But it was inve to kind of see the way they're approaching everything on the field from a very building block, very step one sort of standpoint. And you know, again, good to see that group on the field together as a unit after we've been talking about them all last season.
Let me ask you a question, and really this is a question for Dave Canalis, but I'm going to ask you.
Dave Canallis and I have many things in common besides the fact that we're both mourning people.
Right, I'm sure you're cafeated. You have to be if you're going to get up that early.
See like like Dave Canalis and Pete Carroll.
I got to work out him before this podcast. As far as you know, as.
Far as who's going to tell you you're.
Wrong, exactly nobody. There are pictures of me working out at some point, I'm sure.
Anyways, at any rate, So Canalis yesterday talked about how this was the same quarterback school that he's put all of his quarterbacks through. Russell Wilson, Gino, Smith, Baker Mayfield. We've seen what became of that, you know, consistently three of their like all three quarterbacks had their best career seasons or with Russell one of his second best.
But still.
We saw like five Pro Bowls, Comeback Player of the Year for Gino, a Comeback Player of the Year nomination for Baker, and so we've seen it have success. Do you think it will be those But here's what is the difference between those three guys and Bryce Young.
They're all more established at the time he's getting to them.
So that's my question. Do you think it will be easier or more difficult to take a second year quarterback through this quote unquote quarterback school or would it have been because with an established player on one hand, they're already they already have habits and it's probably harder to break them of those. But on the second hand, they already have seen a lot of NFL defenses.
Yeah, the one thing I know about Bryce I kind of picked up from. And this is not anything anybody's necessarily said. It's just from watching him and observing Rice ain't scared to learn, He ain't scared to put in the work to improve on things. I mean, he's constantly asking for feedback. He's talking to coaches on the side and afterward about you know, how he can do different things. That was last year and that's going through this year.
When I talked to him the other day, he was very clear about wanting to continue to do that work, wanting to continue to improve on the football stuff. Now he also talked about wanting to improve as a leader. So I think that's going to be a twofold thing for Canalis. I mean, along those lines. He doesn't have the same background that Russ Gino, Baker and those guys
all had when they got to this job. But he is still almost an unshaped piece of clay, and from the standpoint of Dave Canalis, so he gets to work with something fresh, and I think it's going to be interesting to see how that turns out.
Yeah, exactly.
I did have one more observation for mystery at me, probably move on and you could speak to this maybe even a little bit more, because you saw these guys last year before the season started. By the time I cut to them, there was a.
Lot of they were broken.
They were just.
Weighed down, yes, broken and just you know, kind of like, oh, let's just get this over with. Obviously, that was a much different vibe yesterday, even like we saw Bryce bounce in there and make jokes about basketball and hold his own little uh press conference vice versa, Yeah, asking everybody all the.
Rolls up and starts asking us questions, what do you guys do in the off season?
You know, what else does your job do?
But there was one unit that kind of stood out to me, and that was the running back unit and and kind of just how they were handling themselves and their vibe, and especially with Cuba Hubbard and one, it was kind of fun to just see he and Bernie parmeally have kind of already established their little like side show, like ribbing each other and kind of staying on each
other but in a fun way. And but then also every time Parmally would teach something, Cuba would then turn around and make sure the other guys had it and kind of go over it again with him while Parmally got something set up, which seems like very very much he's embracing. Okay, this is who I have to be in this unit.
Yeah, one of the really understated things about last year, And it was easy for things to slip under the radar with the way he last year went. But for Cuba Hubbard to start the years of backup and end up running for nine hundred yards and catching thirty nine balls for a team that was always always behind is a minor miracle for a couple of reasons. Number One, it was hard for them to run because they were
always behind. And number two, Cuba was not a natural catcher of the football last year, and through the sheer force of repetition and hard work, he has turned himself into a competent pass catcher. So I've got all the respect in the world for the job Cuba's done kind of growing into this role and it's not as if he's there just because Miles Sanders didn't have the year. People thought he was going to have last year. He's
earned this. He has made this his own and kind of staked out that area as the lead back in this situation. So I'm encouraged to see what Cuba's done, and I think it's been impressive. That's what you want out of fourth round picks, That's what you want out of anybody, is take the stuff you're bad at, get better at it, improve, keep working.
Do you think, if properly used behind this offensive line, could Chuba Hubber be a top ten back in this league?
I don't know. I don't know.
I get the impression that this is always going to be a little bit committee based. I don't think Cuba is so far and away, you know, physically dominant, that he's going to be that guy. He's not ever going to be a three hundred carry a year guy or anything like that. But I think he is absolutely a quality starter in the league. I mean, we've shown he's shown that he's got long speed. Every now and then he can break one. He's shown over the last couple
of years that he's a capable interior runner. So I don't want to put a sea on what he might or might not be but I'm just impressed with how far he's come in three years so far in terms of making that making that.
Job his own next year.
Exciting to watch, no doubt, no doubt, And we'll have more to watch today when we go out there.
We are coming to you live on a taped basis.
It's like one of those old sitcoms taped live in front of a studio audience, and there is your dated pop culture reference for today that nobody else in this room gets.
The sitcoms I used to watch when I was a kid. We're always filmed in.
Front of I'll accept that.
So friends, everybody loves Raymond.
Family matters.
I appreciate that.
So anyway, we will get back on the field here in a little bit later on this morning. Uh, and then we will sit around all day on Thursday waiting.
And it's gonna be exactly what we do.
Yeah. I think we will probably just spend our time listening to Taylor Swift records over and over something like that.
It'll be excited Orchard beat writers departments.
We'll have so much time is that you can go through all thirty one songs once and then we can go through them again. As I give you the background of each song.
So this is going to be like after a football game when the coach says, well, I got to look at the film before I can break that down.
Right, I've done the film study.
I'm ready.
You're prepared for this. You're a swiftie.
We are going to be sitting in literature class as we go through each song.
This is going to be interesting to me because I was thinking about this and I kind of I lobbed a grenade in the foxhole and ran with some of the criticism of Taylor Swift's album the other day. I didn't realize what a passionate defense I was going to get. It would be like somebody rolling up on me and saying, you know, Darren, I think bo'j Angle's kind of overrated. I didn't realize what I was starting. But yeah, you can go on and on about this game.
I'll take fifteen seconds because I can't go on all but I'll take fifteen seconds to say this. I have no problem with criticism of the work. Everybody has their own taste in music, as she's done this across like four different genres now, so it's not gonna be for everybody all the time. I do think this album was more for the fans than that. It's not for the Grammys or the critics, but whatever. But my issue with like the review that you sent me is more so
about the person than the music. And it's like, let's just review the music. If this is what we're doing, let's just review the music, Okay.
One of the things I keep that short.
Yeah. One of the things that's interesting to me about Taylor Swift. And I don't know a few people are aware of this, but I am an older person. I am aware of her presence. I am not very familiar with her work.
I mean, are probably are more than you realize.
I've heard it and it's been like background music, and I'm aware of it in a general sense. But I don't know anything about this person other than she's had a lot of boyfriends and a lot of relationships and most of them in poorly well.
I mean, wouldn't you be able to say that about all of your relationships except the ones that are a success.
That's just in general, not you, that's any person.
Yeah, I thank god there's no Daring Gaant Tortured Poets album.
Imagine there could be. I'm sure there are some stories.
Yes, no, thank you, this would be a very different podcast with a very different clientele.
Point many many were.
Probably heard a song and not realize it because she writes a lot of songs that other people record.
That's fair, and we'll have a lot of time to get into that while we wait and wait and wait. No, we don't, I mean, And again, that's kind of the way this week is because we're over here on football and then there's going to be that you know, waiting period where nothing's going on, but we're anticipating a lot of stuff and we do have some cool stuff. I will encourage you to stay tuned to Panthers dot Com throughout the entire week because we've got a lot of
good stuff lined up. And once we get to Friday, after we wait through Thursday and watching thirty two teams make picks and do their thing and have fun and introduce new people, then the Carolina Panthers are on the clock from about eleven o'clock Thursday nine until seven o'clock Friday, when this thing kicks off.
We'll have a lot of time to break down what could happen.
And as you look at this Sin Cassidy you're probably like me and have looked at a million mock drafts and point you're mock drafted out.
What's it going to be.
I think we'll see a receiver early on.
I think they.
I think they stay pad at thirty three and thirty nine, I think they would have I that's not to say that they couldn't trade up and or trade back, but I think if they do that, those will be phone calls coming from outside the building. I don't think Dan Morgan's making those calls to try to trade.
Does that make sense, Yeah, it is.
I get the sense from being around Dan, watching Dan over the course of the years that Dan's going to be a little tighter with his resources. He wants to make sure he's got those picks, and I think there is a value, you know, again not ideal, not having a first round pick, but thirty three and thirty nine gives you two of the top forty, and I think he kind of wants to exercise those picks. He wants to add people of that kind of quality to this roster.
So you know, if somebody wants to call, I guess you listen. But just over the course of the years, there hasn't been terribly much value in that that pick's only been traded three times in the last twenty five drafts. And basically, yeah, the thirty third pick has been traded three times in the last twenty five years, and the biggest haul anybody's gotten has been moved back a couple spots in the second and getting extra third round next year.
And that's not really the kind of game changing, you know, payoff that I think a lot of people are expecting. There are people who just bithely say oh, they should trade back, of course and add more assets, without realizing what those assets actually are. And I don't know that they're in that three times better than a quarter situation here where you know, I just think with where this roster is right now, they're better served seeing what's there,
what's available of them. There's going to be someone who can start for this team at thirty three. There's probably somebody who can start for this team at thirty nine, and maybe at sixty five. To me, that's a stay put and see what you can get right. If you need fiber, if you need to move back, then you've got one, one, two, and somewhere in there you can move around and try to add some later picks if later picks is the thing you need.
But I think this is.
A very much a quality rather than quantity kind of situation.
And then to that point, I think that because of where the draft classes, where the unit classes kind of fall in this draft, I know that the thinking is like, Okay, go receiver and go interior alignment.
Early.
I think they did a lot to kind of work on that interior line. Obviously, they still need some depth there and they need to be looking to the future, of course, but I don't think it's as much of an immediate need as it was two months ago, right, And so I wouldn't be surprised if they go receiver and then edge rusher.
Yeah, I think they're kind of at a point and I have hesitated getting down in the weeds of this guy versus this guy or particular names or you know, we can't make these positions monolithic and say just position because.
It's got to be about a particular guy.
I just think where this roster is right now, when you're on the clock at thirty three, if there is a inside linebacker, if there is a cornerback, if there is a pass rusher, if there is a receiver that is sticking out a big chunk on your board above everybody else, I think you just do it. I think everybody's hung up on receiver and locked in at thirty three because that's been the most talked about thing. But I think it's just one of a number of needs.
Of course, they're going to address it at some point this weekend. It'll be a huge surprise if they come out of the weekend without receivers orl But at the same time, I don't think they have to do any particular thing at thirty three. So if it's the pass rusher, as you said, I think cornerback is a place that needs to be addressed. You know, they like Dane Jackson as somebody who can come in and start opposite JC.
Horn, but you need another corner.
We've seen that over and over during the years of You've got to have four of those guys over the course of the year. So I just think they could go a number of ways. That's why I'm hesitant, and it may sound like a cop out, like I don't want to say any particular name, but I just think there's so many ways to go. It's impossible for them to lock in on anyone spot, and they have a little.
Bit of a luxury of the fact that receiver and linemen are deeper classes. Here at rusher corner, they're not as deep I would argue in this class, and I'm probably somebody's gonna send me something to prove that's wrong. But you almost want to take one of those positions earlier because you're gonna get more. You're gonna get more bang for your buck there where you can still get bang for your buck taking a receiver or alignment a
little bit later. I don't think I would take a receiver later than sixty It is sixty five, right, that's just playing way too late for what you need this receiver to do. Yep, But I mean that doesn't have to be what's done at thirty three.
Yeh.
All right, inside the draft room, what's Cassy Hill's secret for a successful draft when you're up all night Thursday and Friday and Saturday. What's the one thing that nobody knows happens behind the scenes that you have to have?
Well, I started with a Venti iced coffee from Starbucks. You just got to hit it off with that.
And then is venta mean is that large.
Denty is like the largest one.
Okay large.
I'm going to send you a Paul rud Cliff about this, and then from there to just kind of get through the night, I go with super super healthy diet, Doctor Pepper and Nerds gummy clusters, hi, those that keeps me kind of going that artificial sugar.
Yeah.
I have a very strict and pre set draft weekend diet. I basically eat whatever's in front of me all weekend long, and lots and lots of coffee, you know, heavily caffeinated. Whatever food passes in front of my face. It's like, yes, I believe that chicken finger, sure, barbecues at Yeah, okay, whatever.
I mean. That's just you know, we can want to do certain things, we can want to be healthy, but the reality is we're going to be trapped in a windowless room all week and long bringing you the latest on Panthers dot com.
But we do it for the people. We do it for you, the listeners of the Happy half Hour and the readers.
Just send some gummy clusters up here to building appreciate it.
So diet, Doctor Pepper, gummy clusters or whatever they throw in the trough for Darren. Once we get on the other side of that, we will see you again post draft. Here on the Happy Half Hour by