Happy Half Hour Episode 66: The Raging Rhinos

but I'm gonna move on because I'm a professional journalist. Okay, Well, I won't ever tell anyone to read your mailbags again since you just kind of lean into it there, so no more plugs for you. Yeah, all right, Well it's it's old because I'm in Central time in Alabama and I'm not quite sure what day or time it is, so, you know, abstract concepts like time have lost all meaning for me right now by the beauty of the Internet. Darren is in mobile? Am I saying that? Right? Did

I say right? Mobile? Mobile rather than the move? Got it? That? That's somewhat similar to when I was calling in from where was it in the outskirts of North Carolina? And yeah, that's it one the cone to town. Um So, anyway, Darren has been doing some journalism doing the real, the big j journalism down in Alabama, covering all of the prospects.

We'll get to some of that here in a second, but Darren, first, I want to get your rapid reaction, which you're so good at doing, to the new Washington commanders. Immediate thoughts. It could be worse. I don't love it. It doesn't move me. I mean, it's a it's a little you know, they're leaning heavy into the military thing, and you know, I guess if that's going to be a brand, that's one I suppose a lot of people are gonna like. But I mean my big thing on

them is it beats the alternative. So I I was kind of digging on the Washington football team. It had kind of a it was like sting as an artist. You know, it's qua without being over the top. But uh, yeah, it could be a lot worse. I mean, it's not a particularly in terms of design. I don't know that it's brilliant or cutting edge or anything like that. But I think it's good and it's solid, and it certainly fits the vibe they've got going on with Ron Rivera,

I know that. Yeah. I mean I'm okay with I'm okay with safe on things like this. You know, I don't like going all the way overboard into some sort of you know, cartoonish fantasyland when it comes to logos and mascots and all that. And I think it's I think it's interesting both between them and in Cleveland of maybe mascots or or of nicknames that aren't necessarily used

everywhere all the time. And I think that the logo marks and kind of the representation is more based around you know, the city or the letters, which I think is more of a kind of a soccer vibe, which I kind of like, moving away from just cartoony representations of weird parts of society. I don't know, you know. And we went through a stretch in the nineties where every base every minor league baseball team was the Something Dogs, you know, the Diamonds or whatever it happened, the River

Dogs exactly. But it's, uh, you know, it's good to branch out a little bit. I mean, you're right in that it would have also been a mistake to get too cartoonish with this thing. I do remember that once upon a time, back in the nineties, there were there was at least one consultant who thought it would be a good idea to name this professional football team the Carolina Rhinos because there was some you know, alliteration. I suppose, uh there in the two sounds of the words, and

that would have been awful. That would have been you know, ungodly. So the Raging Rhinos of Carolina would have been something. Yeah, it would have Yeah, that would have really been something, is what it would have been. That's a whole other podcast. We'll do that one as a special edition, um Darren.

Since we last spoke to our our great listeners, the Panthers added a new special teams coordinator and a new offensive line coach, James Campen coming from Houston and previously with the Green Bay Packers, and then Chris Tabor from the Chicago Bears doing special teams. Tell us what you know a little bit about those guys. Yeah, these two guys.

I mean, I think there's been some criticism of the coaching, some of the coaching hires here in the past because it was a lot of guys coming straight out of college. These two guys are both you know, legit NFL assistant coaches with a lot of experience, kind of the same way been back into you know, as your offensive coordinator. As long as he's just all in your plays. I think a lot of people around the league think that was a good, solid higher. And James Camping and Chris

Taber are are those guys. I mean, they've been around the league, they've worked in other places, got a lot of respect, and they've performed. I mean, if you look at Chris Tabor, it's kind of um. The standard for special teams play is a calculation come up with Rick Goslin, a longtime Dallas football writer and Goose has put together his special teams rankings every year for about the last thirty years or so. And the last two years Chris Taber's teams were UM. Chris Taber's teams were in the

top ten. So it's UM yeah, I mean it's a good higher. Tabor is good at what he does. He is um. He has had big time um, big time return talent in the past, and we'll see how that develops here. But James Camping is a guy and it's interesting with him. He's got a reputation in Green Bay for turning mid round picks into productive players and then some I mean they've got a Pro Bowl left tackle and David Bactieri, whose fourth round pick. And Campings a

guy who helped develop those guys. And it was interesting when I was down here Senior Bowl uh this week talking to Scott Fitterer, I mean, we talked about how important that was to add that to the staff because, as you may have heard, the Carolina Panthers may need some help on the offensive line. And while they've got the sixth pick in the draft and could use it on a tackle or something, uh, they've also got more

than one job to fill up there. So we'll kind of, uh, we'll sort of see what um, We'll see how that develops. The Campings a guy with a great reputation for both evaluating guys and finding guys deeper in drafts and then developing them once they get there. And that's exactly what the Carolina Panthers need, because not just the guys that they might draft or add this year, but but guys that are already on this roster, like a Michael Jordan's,

like a Brady Christians and like a Deante Brown. I mean, these are still young players who could use a little polish. And Camping's a guy who's well regarded, and yeah, for sure, you think about everyone just wants to go get the big ticket left tackle and just call it a day, and they're they're more than one ways to kind of to do this. I mean there's a combination as you just talked about being able to develop and bring guys along and the relationships that he has with players across

this league. You know, we put out a video um that NFL Films did with him and you know, Aaron Rodgers and so much of what they did in Green Bay UM and the respect that he has uh with guys is really well documented. So I really excited to see what he can bring to this group as well as the people that they have coming in the spring. So speaking of you mentioned Scott Fitterer, you also have had him to speak to him uh down there at the Senior Bowl. We put out a little Q and

A on Panthers dot Com. Jordan and Jake actually referenced it in their podcast earlier today. So see the people are reading thereon their people are reading. What do you take away from that conversation with Scott that maybe didn't necessarily go um into the Q and a The people have already read well, I think, you know, it's easy.

I think a lot of people saw that Q and A. And one of the takeaways was, you know, when Scott was talking about quarterbacks and and he mentioned or I asked him about, you know, given the economic advantage of a rookie quarterback, do you almost have to make sure you don't have that guy there? You know? Or if you've got a shot at one of those guys, don't you almost have to lean that way? And the answer

was effectively yes. I mean Scott's background and we all learned from our backgrounds in football, and Scott's is in Seattle where they turned a third round pick in Russell Wilson and a lot of good veteran defensive players into a Super Bowl ring with a guy own a rookie contract. So and Scott was pretty open about, you know the fact that if you think one of these guys can

be that guy, you almost have to take a shot. Um. I think when people hear that, one of the things they forget is the if he's that guy, And the evaluation is very much ongoing, and it's and it's not clear right now if they absolutely are convinced that Kenny Pick it's the guy or Malik Willis is the guy, or Sam How's the guy? Or Matt Correll who's not here this week but had a great UH senior season for role miss if he's the guy, and if they you know, that's the thing. It is kind of incumbent

on teams. If they think a guy has the opportunity to be the quarterback who can take you to the playoffs, then you might lean that way. But if he's not the guy, you go another direction. And I mean last year Fields was sitting on the board and they went another direction. So read into that what you will about their value aation of justin but you know, you're get in that situation and instead of taking just a quarterback,

they want to make sure they're getting the quarterback. If they're taking one right and and obviously the other, there's so many other options. You know, from a line standpoint, you know, from the offensive line. You know they've talked, UH Scott Fitter talked in his end of your press conference of how important it is to to start your team on both sides of the line, you know, to have that foundation built because that everything else emanates from

that um. And of course, when you have the six pick if you can, if you can turn that you know, he talked about that kind of cliff around sixteen or eighteen of that first round. If you can still get a guy that you like in those top sixteen eighteen picks and add picks back in the second and third round. Um, you know he's gonna look hard at that too. And obviously what happens in free agency UM can influence how

all these evaluations go. Uh this week as as you pointed out a number of times on the site, but a lot of moving parts. And it's gonna be a fascinating off season as we go through this thing, because you know, really once everybody gets back from Mobile and then the Super Bowl passage we capture super Bowl, guys are gonna be in for free agent meetings and draft meetings and setting boards and everything and getting ready to go.

And really, once you get into uh first week and may or may see I struggle with time and a really imperson and I'm we need to get you back to Charlotte, man, we really do in my own bed and my own familiar settings and timeszed um. But once they get into March, yes, March, that's the month after

February and to get to the combine. That's kind of the kickoff to the personnel season in terms of free agency, because there's a lot of agents up there, and even though you're not talking about deals, people know parameters of what's gonna happen once they get up there. So it's, uh, it's gonna be an interesting couple of weeks, that's for sure. Darren. You've been around this league. You've seen every prospect there is. You're an incredible talent evaluator, and you've spent the last

three days evaluating talent yourself from the front row. Tell me what you took away from Leek Willis, Sam Howell and Kenny Pickett three really really interesting features profiles that you've written about those guys. What are a couple of nuggets that you really took away from those conversations with them? Well, here, here's the thing about Malik Willis. He is he is short,

but he's not small. Uh. It kind of jumped out to me that Dan Campbell, Thellions coach who's running the the team that Willis is on down here, he was like, he looks like he's built to last. I mean, Malik Willis is thick for a six foot guy. He's two twenty pounds, he's muscular, he's pretty dance and listen. He's got the best arm of any of the quarterbacks down here. It's he can throw a hundred mile an hour fastballs, and every now and then one's just a bit outside.

But he's got that thing that the the evaluators call arm talent. Whatever that is, he's got it. And he can throw the football over the mountain, big time strength on throws to the sideline. You can tell why he is intriguing. I think in an ideal world, somebody could park him for a year, let him learn an NFL offense. But that's not always the case. I mean, guys who were drafted in the first round don't always get that luxury.

And you know, I think if he gets in the right situation with the right coach who can develop quarterback, I think he's gonna be really good. I think Kenny pick It is Also I don't know that Kenny Pickett. I mean Joe Burrow's name comes up in regard to Kenny Pickett because that last year was a huge year in college. He went from being kind of a middling prospect. Oh my god, did you see what so and so did.

He doesn't have that Joe Burrow arm. Uh. He also has small hands, which you may have heard something about, because it's become kind of the thing with Kenny kid and blessed his hard He left his hands under the table the whole time we were interviewing, and the other day just he wasn't gonna give anybody any cheap ammunition to make jokes. It is. But here's the thing I know about Kenny Pickett's hands. They threw for a lot of yards and a lot of touchdowns and pit on

a lot of games. Uh. With Kenny picketted at the helm, he is a good player. I don't know that he's necessarily that Joe Burrow caliber of quarterback, but it's kind of weird he's got. He gives me Andy Dalton vibes. Unless people think that's a slur. That's a guy who came into a good defense with a stable coaching situation and took a team to the playoffs a good number of times and was a good, solid NFL quarterback for

a long time. So that's not a slide in the least. Um. You know, Picket doesn't have that dominating talent but he is able to do things and you saw that this year a pit. I mean, the guy made a lot of plays. One of the things I love about him, even though it was dirty play and would get quarterbacks killed, that slide at the a c C Championship game. It just speaks to an awareness of what's around him and

when things are getting weird, he makes stuff happen. And that's a positive rather than a negative, even though it's great for every quarterback forever that that's outlawed now. So um yeah, I just the guy's got that it of knowing how to make a play at a certain time. Sam How is an interesting case to me. I had a chance to talk to Kevin Donnelly, who knows him from U N SEE and seen him up close down there about him and and How's also an interesting kid.

I I think if he could have come out a year ago, he would have probably been a higher pick. But you know, he went through a rough season at U n S. You know, four of his best offensive weapons get drafted into the NFL. He's breaking in a lot of new guys on the flight Carolina last year and you know, the results weren't the same, and it was a little bit of a shine taken off Sam himself.

But he's also a smaller guy. And listen, quarterbacks, just I keep waiting for Dan Fouts to walk out of the locker room, and they just don't come, all right, we don't. We don't see those guys walking into the Senior Bowl or anywhere else anymore. So even when you see like Desmond Ritter from Cincinnati down here, he's kind of a tall, skinny kid. Um, they just don't look like they used to look. And I think we just kind of need to accept that football volumes over the years,

believe it or not. And you know, Sam how is not a great big kid, but he's interesting because he can play and he can throw. He's got a good arm, not a great arm, but he's extremely mobile. I mean, Sam How is a kid that can run around and make play, you know, somebody down here compared in the Baker Mayfield. And I think that's just because he's short and he's got a beard. But I think that, you know,

there is some Russell Wilson to his game. He can move around and and move pockets and and do different things with his feet other than just running, you know. I mean he he's got that knack to make plays on the move. So a lot of interesting guys down here, and it's gonna be one of those, you know what you prefer. Some people like blonde, some people like Brunette's and I just think depending on your offensive system what

you're looking for. There are several guys in this year's draft who I think are going to end up being starting quarterbacks in the league. One of the interesting connections with willis Um obviously came out of Liberty but started at Auburn and originally from the Atlanta area, has a connection to Cam Newton, and you spoke to him about

that and that was part of your article. But we're gonna hear a little bit of that conversation you had with him, uh, kind of his answer on what it was like to kind of grow up around Atlanta and what he's learned from Cam. Was definitely cool because he went to the Super Bowl like second year in the league, and he came from like fifteen minutes from where else, and so that was really cool. You know, but we're in anything. We were all trying to make our own way,

our own names. So it's like if he could do it, we could do it too, the type of things. So, Darren, what what sort of lessons do you think a guy like that can take when when you're growing up. I mean, he talked about trying to take things from all sorts of quarterbacks, from Russell Wilson, from um uh, different guys, Aaron Rodgers, different. Yeah, Matt Ryan. Don't don't tell anybody, but he he likes the way Matt Ryan plays too. But Cam, you know what, what did he take away

from Cam? You know? He It's interesting because Cam is Cam was such a force of nature as a quarterback, especially early Cam, that you lost sight of the fact that he was also good at learning football and you know, the work ethic, all those intangible things that you've got to do to be good. Because he was so talented,

a lot of that stuff got overlooked with Cam. And you know, I thought it was interesting that Malik, you know, told me he was like, listen, a lot of the stuff Cam talked to me about to us about was not football stuff, it was how you had to work. And I thought it was interesting the way he said, you know, the time you're against somebody, that's ten percent of the job. It's the other six days a week.

You're not playing them when they're trying to get better, and you've got to advance yourself too, So it's uh, it was kind of a neat connection hearing him talk about Cam. But Willis is a guy he's kind of he's also sort of possessed of that. He's kind of got that vibe. I mean where he comes across as the guy it's not too big for him. He knows when to crack a joke, he knows how to talk to people, look him in the aisle, all those kind of things. He's got that leadership vibe about. Uh, we've

spent a lot of time talking about the quarterbacks. For the most part, the top offensive line prospects aren't really down there with you. Is that correct? Yeah? I mean at least those top three tackles and the guys we're going to talk about so much, Evan Neil and Charles Cross and you know, like Kwanda from NC State, Uh, Charlotte kid, Ikey Um, let's get used to calling and Mickey and Ikey is a big man, and those three are all those guys are all top ten prospects, which

it left tackles for a long time. And again it's gonna depend on who's picking where those three guys aren't here, but there's a pretty interesting crop of guys. Uh Trip Fanning from northern Iowa is down here. The tackle who fascinates me here and it's because I'm a weirdo is Uh file Lay from Minnesota. He's mountainous. He's like six eight four pounds. He looks like Jordan my Lot a

little bit tackle. We didn't have a lot of traditional football background, but he is, you know, obviously playing at a high level in the NFL. Uh And because of him, other mountainous guys are gonna get chances. And and I'm interested see file because he moves well for somebody who's almost four hundred pounds. You don't think of an athletic

or pounds, but that's what he looks like. Now. You know, again, he's not necessarily I think somebody you've taken the top ten or you know, I don't want to get into where you saw him now, but he's probably gonna go in the first couple of rounds. But he's definitely a guy you look at because again, even though the Panthers are in a spot where right now they've got a Big Golf from six to probably somewhere in the one thirties when they pick again with that Rams fourth round

pick um. I think it's going to be interesting because they're gonna evaluate all of these tackles and guards anyway, and if things change over the course of the spring, if they do trade back, you know, they know they've got an opportunity with some of these guys to uh find pretty immediate contributors of guard or tackle. So that's

what that's what makes it a fascinating week. There's a number of interesting prospects along that line, and we're gonna get more into that on Panthers dot com later this week. I love it, Darren. Let's finish. We're gonna get you back here so that you can get on the right time schedule and figure out the right days. I don't know that if you knew it. But coming in a week in a little bit, we're gonna have a Super Bowl. We now know who's gonna be in it. It's not tomorrow,

I promise. Don't make plans right for tomorrow. It's not then. We we still have some time. No guacamole, I don't. I'm unfed. So that leads me to two things. One who do you think is gonna win between the Bengals and the Rams? And two what is your ideal super Bowl spread? Uh? My ideal super Bowl spread is my couch. Um No, that's uh. I'm a big guacamole guy. I Uh, it's weird for me after watching so much football in exchange for money over the years, I'm not a big

super Bowl party guy. Um, or if I am, I am content to not be laser focused on the game because again, you know, we do this a lot for a long time and it's fascinating, but um, sometimes it's good to be in the world. I I mean, the Rams are gonna win, aren't they. They're just better than you know. But didn't we didn't we say that the last three weeks against whoever Cincinnati? We probably did and we were probably correct. And you know, I think it's

one of those situations. If the Chiefs and the Bengals played nine ten times, I don't know that the outcome is the same all ten times, and uh, it might have been flipped most of those times. But yeah, Joe Burrows fascinating. He's got those guys on the run and they're you know, kind of young and dumb enough to not know what they don't know. And they are, um, they're certainly believing in themselves and that matters a lot. But the Rams just they've got too many guys who

are that guy? I mean, it's when you get into games, when you've got two weeks to game plan. You know, you think back to Bill Belichick, what he did so well for so long. You you game plan and try to take the best thing out of somebody's game plan. Well, how do you do that against the Rams defense? When there's Aaron Donald up from when they've got all the pass rushers they've got, when you try to throw the ball and Jalen ramsay v like what, yeah, what are

you are you talking about? How do we do this? And you know, they've just got so many guys And oh, by the way, Matt Stafford is really good at football. He is. It's been a great quarterback for a long time, been stuck in Detroit where wasn't able to translate into anything, and he's just playing at a really high level right now. I think, you know, they are favored for a good reason.

I think they're more talented, I think they're will coached, But listen, it's hard for me to believe the Bengals are gonna get blown out of this thing or anything, because they're playing so well too. It's uh, and it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun to see Joe Burrow on the big stage, even though we're still sort of in that COVID world where it's not the spectacle it has been in the past. But they're going out

a couple of days earlier than anticipated. Just sort of soak it all in and enjoy the moment because I think Joe Burrow being in the spotlight is good for football because he is fun and football should be fun. Do you think it's weird that we've got that? We went what fifty three years, fifty two years with a team never winning a Super Bowl on their home field, and we could potentially get it twice in a row? Sure? Why not? Yeah? That's that's my Panthers stat of the day,

I guess. Yeah. So, so when's the Super Bowl coming to Charlotte Will Yeah, I know, we got we're working on that. We're working on that. Now, we've got a practice field. Now. I don't want to be I don't want to be a bad host, but I kind of having been to enough Super Bowls, it really makes a mess of your town for about a week and a half and even a lot longer than that with all

the build up. It's, uh, it's a lot of chaos, and it's a lot of congestion, and it's the world's party and they all everybody wants to come to it. So um, I mean we're hosting. We're gonna host a big thing over on Seventh and Pekan Like that's gonna be a major hub for the NFC team. And so you know, Darren, you can. You can throw down right

there outside Crunkleton, no question. And and my friend, my friend Nicky Wolf and I we've been planning to bring the Olympics to Charlotte for a long time, and uh, that's going on right now. I'm I'm watching some women's hockey that is being produced by her friend Mike Bonner, and I'm all about the Olympics. And when we bring the Olympics to Charlotte, that'll be a good test drive for the Super Bowl. I like that Winter Olympics in Charlotte.

It's gonna be perfect. Yeah, We're gonna all the mountains in Gastodia. You've seen the TikTok they're right there. I know, right, but we're going to create a luge run from the top of the Epicenter. It's gonna be fantastic. It's gonna go right down Fourth Street. Okay, I think we've I think we've lost it at this point. I'm I'm glad to know that you're going to be a normal human this year. As long as you know what day Super Bowl Sunday is. Um it's the day before Valentine's Day.

Just f y. I so plan a plan accordingly and figure out your spread. I may bring some guacamoley over just to help you out. Sounds good. Awesome, Thanks Darren, and get home safe, all right, See y'all,