Happy Half Hour Episode 69: March Madness

I me in a poor mood that you just gotta seed the clouds to get me talking about my favorite food item in Charlotte fast food history. Yeah, no, I mean no, no, I just I want to hear it in you know, and not Twitter form. The boj Angler contains multi tudes. I love it every year Bojangles during Lent because a lot of people eat fish on Fridays. During Lent, Bojangles sells a delicious fish sandwich that they

called the Bojangler. But in my quest for maximum deliciousness in my life and against the uh preferences of my cardiologist, I like mine on a biscuit rather than a bun. Now, if you if you want to confuse a fast food worker who really just don't need this in their life. They're just trying to you know, people just trying to go to work and send out some biscuits and chicken

and get on with their day. And here comes this guy with a special order through the drive thru, and it's like boj Angler on a biscuit instead of a bun. There's your hashtag on a biscuit instead of a bun. You get that thing with tartar sauce it comes with when they give it to you, it as a sandwich. It's got tartar sauce and cheese. I've always thought, even back to the days of the McDonald's philet fish, the

piece of cheese was kind of extraneous. We don't really need, you know, my fish experience, it does not need processed American cheese food. So I will usually do away with the cheese. Uh. Sometimes they put it in the area slips by the goalie, but the key is tartar sauce and hot sauce. Like if bowt Angles was really committed to this bit and would come up with a Cajun tartar sauce, something with just a little pop, just to kind of cut um. Just cut some of that cream

us of the mayonnaise based tartar sauce. I could get down with that. But yeah, a little bit of heat, you know, it's got the bowtangle spice on the fish already. A little bit extra heat, little tar sauce on a biscuit and your day will be happier. And you have spent the so much of Lent. You know, Lent is about about giving things up. But you know Darren has taken this on this mission to to evangelize to the masses. I have given up personal grooming for Lent. I've taken

that on as my burden. But I am adding as many bow j Anglers as I can. I think I'm up to six now so far. I've kept tracked for some ridiculous stres. So do you have a day of the week that you eat it on or is it just whenever the mood stream? I mean a lot of times I feel like doing it on Friday because your cause. But like Saturday when I was on my way in here for Dante Jackson and d J Moore. Yeah, I you know, Saturday was like the first time I slept

past five thirty in two and a half weeks. And so I get up at ten and I'm kind of grogging. It's like, okay, there we go, Here we go Dante's you know, see at the office. It too okay. So I get up and I get the news out and then drive through my neighborhood bow Angles third Street, represent it's my favorite. It's the home office. Um, and grabbed a couple of bow j Anglers and came on in and it girded my loins and I was ready for

another day of around the clock football. Wow. Well, for those that are still listening, I wanted to get some football content today. Sorry, we're gonna we'll jump into it now. How about do we want to go in reverse chronological order and and work our way. Panther's off season is the bo j Angler on a biscuit of off seasons. They've just crammed so much delicious nous into a condensed space that now it's, uh, it's weird because this offseason

has been kind of drunk, even by NFL standards. I mean, you know, I think I just gotta push about craziest offseason Sharon Rodgers, Willie or Wantie didn't do full breadth far, but you know we had to go through that drama. Russell Wilson gets traded today. I had my head down writing for an hour and I missed the Tyreek Hills saga. You know, I mean that thing. That thing began and ended in about it less time than it takes to

watch a movie. Um So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on, and and the Panthers haven't done the gigantic, huge thing that creates that reaction, but all the stuff they've done, Yeah, while none of them individually rise to the level of, Hey, Martha, did you see that, it's still a more stable football team than it was a couple of weeks ago. It's a more solid football team. It's a deeper football team, and it's a football team that's kind of checked off a lot of the boxes.

When Scott Fitter went into this thing this offseason, he talked about the number one priority was being more solid on both lines, specifically the offensive line. And when you go out and you sign Austin Corbett, who started every game for the Super Bowl champion Rams, you go out and get a bargain deal on Bradley Bozeman, who started forty eight games the last three years for the Ravens, and he's coming in here to compete. That's not even

a guarantee of a starting job for that guy. And he A lot of people around the league who do not work here have talked to me about that's good signing, you know, and when other football people are like, yeah, that's a good one right there. And on the other side of the ball, adding matt Ionidas gives them somebody to stick next to. Derek Brown, who is strong and is good against the run and has demonstrated the ability

to rush the passer. I mean he had a he had a run in Washington two years in eighteen nineteen where he had sixteen sacks twenty seven quarterback hits. He can get after it. Now, he's had some injuries, like I think third most of defensive tackles in that span in those two years. And you know he is he Aaron Donald. No, he's not, nobody's Aaron Donald. But he is a guy who gets consistent pressure up the middle.

And in a situation where you're kind of transitioning and you wanted to be a little bit bigger, upfront, and you didn't want to go through another season with less than five hundred pounds of pass rusher In Burns and Hassan Reddick, you know, suddenly you're a little more stout, you're a little better able. They've done some moves along the fringes, brought back Marquis Haynes, brought back Frankie Luvu.

Burns is still there. But that line, both those lines are are not oh my god, would you look at but they're both better than they were a month ago. And that's the key. That's all you can do when you're in this situation. You fix what you can fix. Darren, I think we're both trying to pull this up. All of the free agent signings that have happened, and I think one of the themes for me so far, I think going into the last month of the season, it was this feeling like, oh my gosh, the Panthers are

losing a lot of players on this current team. A lot of these guys are gonna walk. And then at this point, you know, obviously Hassan Reddick, you know, big contract with the Eagles, but and Gilmore are still out there. But otherwise, all these other guys Dante Jackson. DJ Moore extended, you know, Rashaan Melvin resigned today for some death piece in the secondary. But as you said, Marky's Haynes, Frankie Luvu, like all of these guys that are kind of coming back.

I think that speaks to, you know, some of the foundation building they're doing right and Brandon and so there's a backup kicker on the roster. Now, um yeah, I mean, and again, nobody's gonna freak out when you re signed Brandon Hilstra, but it's it's still a solid piece of

business because he does feel so many roles. And one of the other things I guess an offseason inhus they wanted to get better on special teams and brought in a new coordinator in Chris Tabor, who's respected across the league. That's another guy when I was walking around Mobile or India at the combine and people would be like that was good, that that was a good thing they did and bringing him in. So um Tabor. Now all of

a sudden, he's got Zane Gonzalis back to kick. They go out and signed Johnny Hecker, who was only the all decade punter of the two thousand tens Um and can throw the ball around a little bit and is a funny guy and I think fans are gonna love getting to know him. And you've got J. J. Jansen back, so now there's stability on special teams. And you know, they've again not sexy moves, but solid moves, and solid

is what you want to be in this situation. I mean, they're there are ways, you know, the one big question is still lingering up there, and anybody's gonna want to know what's going on at quarterback and that's still TBD, and they're going to continue to work through all the options and I think, you know, some options are better than others, but we can't say with any degree of certainty right now whether it's going to be x Y

or Z at quarterback. But all the other stuff, they've kind of done a pretty good job of putting those pieces together. And we're gonna get to that in a second. Everyone, just fast forward about five minutes in your your podcasting here, Darren tell you who the next quarterback of the Carolina Panthers is going to be. Little Teas, Darren, you've met some of these guys coming in. I think there's some really interesting stories. Um, and we're just beginning to kind

of unwrap the onions on some of these guys. What are some of the tidbits that you've picked up that fans may not see in an article or in a tweet that you know, you you know this guy is going to be interesting, because yeah, I think there's a lot of that. I think, Um, Corey Littleton, who is among the last wave of guys to come through. Littleton played in college with Shack Thompson, so there's some automatic familiarity there. Damien Wilson, Uh, no, Shack, And I said,

how do you know Shack? And He's like, well, we were in the same draft and Wilson and Thompson we were kinda last in alphabetical order, so we were always in line next each other. Okay, well, you know, and Austin Corbett and Bradley Bozeman were roommates of the Senior Bowl, so it is kind of a small world. Um, you know, and we and we will, we'll get into all this stuff. Damien Wilson's actually got family members on staff here, so well we'll get to that at some point on Panthers

dot Com. Stay tuned for all that. But Yeah, it is an interesting group of people. And I think there are a lot of characters in here that people are gonna respond well to. You know, Bradley Bozeman story about driving around in an RV and living in the r V with his wife for a while. It's fantastic. It's the kind of thing. Of course, an offensive lineman lives in an RV. Yes, sign me up for some of that. This is a person I can like. Uh, Johnny Hecker is is hilarious. We are going to have some fun.

I I predict hijinks in the special Teams meeting room with you know, J. J. Jansen and Johnny Hecker in the same place. Yeah, that's gonna that's gonna be good content. So it is. And there are a lot of guys who just have a kind of a personality. If there's another through line with all of them, A lot of these guys do have something to prove, you know, even Austin Corbett, who was the big money contract of a lot of them. Corbett was a guy the Browns couldn't

get rid of fast enough. They drafted him with the first pick in the second round in eighteen, you know, thirty third overall and he kind of disappointed there and they traded him to Rams for a sack of beans, and he turned into a pretty good player, and he talked I talked to him the other day about that and getting to the point of believing in yourself again.

And a lot of these guys have that that. You know, this is you know, Bozeman's here on a one year deal when a lot of people thought he would make more money on a longer term deal at twenty seven. Uh So, all these guys kind of have something to prove and and and that should make for a more competitive environment. And at the same time, they also have

some experience in the playoffs. You know, putting these guys bios together, a lot of these guys not only played in the playoffs, they advanced, you know, they played in conference championship games, They won conference championship games, went to the Super Bowl. You know, obviously Corbett won it last year.

MS three Super Bowl rings walked in the door this week, you know, I mean, Wilson in a couple of rams in, Hecker and Corbett, yeah, and and and other guys that that were there, and we're close and have that experience in the playoffs. So you know that that can do a lot to a locker room, even if it's not the guy that you see on the poster. You know, it's a guy that, hey, you know, I know what it takes to win in this league. Yeah, no doubt, And I think that is important. And you know Bozeman

comes from. You know, if there is a team lately, and I say lately over the last twenty years that you would kind of consider this stable franchise in the NFL would probably be the Ravens. So go get guys who played for the Ravens, Go get guys who played for the Chiefs. Go get guys. You know, the Steelers are a team that's kind of always been considered that category. And they hadn't brought him boy in from Pittsburgh, but you know, those those consistent winners and guys who have

been in that environment. I do think it matters when a team is this young, and you know, the Carolina Panthers, there are a couple of stray guys around here who have been on teams like that, but this team is still so young and so new in its development that I think the more of that you can add to the room, the better it will be for those young kids. All right, So the big question everyone wants to know, and I think it's probably it's gonna be one of

the people sitting around this table. I'm just kidding that the Panthers. This week, everyone's been out looking at these pro days. On Monday we had Kenny Pickett and Pitt, we had Malik Willis yesterday with Liberty, and then Matt Corral with Old Miss this afternoon. Darren, what are the things they're looking for? You know? So the coaches, the staff, you know, Scott Fitter, they're all there. You know, what are the things they're trying to get out of these

pro days? Right now? Listen, I'm as I'm as jaded as anyone can be about this process, having been around it for so long. Of course, a pro day work out is scripted to highlight a guy's strength. So to have a bad Pro day workout is negligence on somebody's part, probably the people who scripted your pro day. So you

you do things to make him look good. And what we know about Malik Willis, we know he throws a good deep ball, so they set him up to get off platform and he've won sixty five yards down the field and everybody saw it and he jumping up and down and and laughing and having fun, and everybody goes who and I And we know it's scripted. We know it's supposed to look like that, but when it looks like that anyway, it's hard for your eyes not to be like the cartoon dog and sort of bug out

of your head like that. Um it was. It was interesting.

But they go up there too to talk to support personnel, talk to coaches, talk to equipment people who knew him, and you how I think you can learn things from how a guy who treats the equipment manager and the scouting department goes through all that over the course of the year anyway, And they've got a file on these guys, but it's just a chance to sit down with them, talk out, I have a meal, you know, get to know these guys at a little different level, because when

you're talking about quarterbacks, that personal relationship is huge because you've got to be able to trust this guy for multiple years, and you've got to make sure you're not jumping on the wrong train because this is a commitment and it is I think that decides people's careers and and whether you get to stay in certain jobs. Um long enough. So it's a crucial decision for a lot of people around here, and you use this time at these pro days to get to know these guys. So, um,

pick it is. You know, I think if we're trying to characterize these guys, pick it's probably the high floor guy like Mac Jones was last year. Like you can't imagine Kenny Pickett go into the league and becoming terrible at football. I just donna, I don't think anybody anticipates that, Um, Malik Willis is the high ceiling guy where it's like it might take him a minute to get there. Boy what if? And that what if is tantalizing. I mean, it's the kind of thing that's you know, intriguing for

teams when they see that kind of raw talent. Mac Real has got a lot of good tape to if you look at what old Miss did over the last couple of years, specifically last year, he's played some high level football in a system that you know, he's had to make some checks, he's had to do something. So, uh, it is a fascinating conversation and they're continuing to look at all those guys they're continuing to look at just about everybody else under the sun, and they're trying to

figure out if there's a way to get Tom Brady here. Know, I'm just kidding that it's not possible. I don't think maybe next year, because Tom Brady's gonna play until he's seventy five years old. Um, I may never get to vote for Tom Brady for the Hall of Fame because he's just not ever going to retire, at least not before I do. So. Anyway, that's a long way of saying there's a lot of stuff still going on, but the bulk of the bulk of the roster construction is

now done. Other than the quarterback thing, this is kind of what it's gonna be. And I think over the next month, we we look to the draft, and right now they're sitting there at six, and then you wait a while, it's gonna be one thirty seven until they pick again at the tail end of the fourth round after the trades they made last year, which is not ideal. But I also don't know that that's a final number either.

I think there are things they could do, you know, and we can spend the next month talking about what do you do at six? Or who's the target at six? And you know, I think for today what they've done is and this is the way smart teams use free agency. It's to fill in as many blanks on your depth chart as possible, so you don't walk into a draft with glaring knees and have to pick certain players at

certain positions just to feel your depth chart right. You know, best as they say best available, you know it, as many times as you're able to do that, the better um. And they'll have a lot of options there at six. And we'll have plenty of time to to kind of talk through that. You know, we have another month of of Darren writing five, six, seven stories a day. And this this is all this man does around here. You know,

you got to give him the clicks, Darren. It's it's and maybe it talk me off, this talk me off, this rant. Does it feel like this offseason is some sort of see change for the way that the NFL may work in function in terms of the stars of teams. You know, you looked at the NBA of the last five ten years and these guys, you know, Kawhi Leonard wins the championship the next year, he's somewhere else. You know,

these guys just move around. You know, I can't even keep track with where James Harden has been over the last five years, or Kevin Durant or whoever else. And now you have what Russell Wilson and Denver Matt Ryan and Andy Carson Wentzon Washington. You have all of this quarterback movement, Jimmy Garoppolo and potentially leaving San Francisco after a after a playoff run. And it doesn't it feels like these things can just kind of keep changing now

in a different way. Is that something that's gonna linger here? Yeah? I mean, if if you thought my biscuit thoughts were gonna set this podcast off in a new direction, let's talk about the tectonic shift of labor relations in the United States at the present moment, that'll really drive this thing straight into the ditch. No, it is fascinating because the NFL has always taken advantage of the fact that the NFL players Association, as unions go, is a relatively

weak one. And you know, the system is designed to put people in a certain place, uh and keep them there and give teams the ability to exercise all the leverage. I mean, the franchise tag is a way of keeping the best your best player off the market and reducing the leverage they have. But players have taken it back and listen for all the other storylines that go with Deshaun Watson, the fact that he got a fully guaranteed contract is a game changer. I mean, not even Aaron

Rodgers did that. So you know, we're getting to a point now where the next quarterback that comes up, I mean, what happens when it's time to talk about Patrick Mahomes in the future. Well, of course he's gonna want fully guaranteed five years at a time, because this guy got it. And then you keep advancing it a little more and more and you get you know again, Russell Wilson dictated terms and decided Denver is the place he wanted to be, so Denver was his next destination and that had to

get worked out. So um, you saw it a little bit too with Matt Ryan when the Falcons sort of had to circle back and make things right by him. It's like, okay, now we've done this, where do you want to go? And they didn't get a lot of return. They got a third round pick from Matt Ryan. But Matt Ryan's hold and uh, he's on the downside of

a of a great career. But it's just it's weird to me that out of all this stuff that at for the first time since what two thousand six, I'm gonna cover a Panther's Falcons game and Matt Ryan's not gonna be at it. That didn't make any sense. So, um, it has taken a turn. Players are more empowered. I am generally in favor of labor in these situations and

people having as much liberty as is humanly possible. Um, but it is a different way of doing business for the NFL, and a lot of people are gonna have to get used to it. And a lot of people are gonna have to get used to this news cycle spinning at a pace it has not spun in the past. Well, that that's fun for both of us. He sleeps overrated. Well, on that note, I don't want to keep Darren any longer. I think our our listeners would love more and more of our half hour. But Darren needs to go get

a nap. No, honestly, and I know I sound like a horrible person, but you could literally talk about this stuff all day. There's that much happening. I mean, we we talked for thirty minutes here about what's going on

in the Panthers offseason, and we didn't even mention Xavier Woods. Yeah, and that guy's walking straight into the starting lineup and they're going to depend on him to do some pretty important stuff back there, and we didn't even get to it because, you know, while he's a key piece for a defense that's kind of retooling around some of those young guys. It's like flashing light, flashing light over here, explosion, look over there. And that's just kind of the way

March has become. It's it's madness. I see what you did there. Yeah, that's good, not bad. Will Brian good? Well we'll end on this, Darren. Who's your final four? Do you have one out of this this group that's left? I'm going St. Peter's St. Peter's Yes, if only because I grew up a member at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Conover, North Carolina. I may or may not know the guy who does the church sign out front. I

suggested to him for the church signed that he should put. St. Peter's is still dancing in Parhaeses, unlike those Baptists down the street. Uh he did not go with my suggestion. But yeah, so I'm I'm all in on the peacocks. I love it. Peacock Nation, you heard it. Darren Gant is all behind you. Win one for d G this weekend. I'm a