Happy Half Hour Episode 7: Training Camp

and off. Just it started too, so like that was it was. It was a scary moment, but we made it through. That is great. I haven't lost any I've lost power twice this summer since moving to Charlotte, but I have not lost it during a week day. So that's definitely a fear of like what if I have something scheduled? What do I do? Uh? Well, how are you? I'm good. It's funny. I was in the same boat

my power. Also, I'm literally like four blocks down the street from Miles, and there was one like really really bad thunderclap like during one of the rules answers that like knocked everything off, and I had no idea what was going on? So, yeah, that was something always fun. Right. Well, look, if you live as far away from the city center as I do, you don't have to worry about something like that. I'm sure I'm going to get it in

like twenty minutes. You guys tease me about. You know, I chose to live a little bit further outside of the action than you guys did. So that's the one time that I get to brag just a slight bit that at least my power didn't go out during the press conference or almost go out. Okay, what action is there? We're still all basically in quarantine. That's true. Uh So I just mentioned um coach rules press conference. He spoke with the media via zoom a little bit earlier today.

So in that vein, let's talk about what's going on with the Panthers. Where we all are now since the last time that we spoke. Miles, do you want to do the honor and phill us in on the latest? Sure? Well, at this point, the rookies have reported the veterans have started their testing process, so basically it's the same as what the rookies were doing last week. They have to continue to get negative tests before they can then be

allowed in the building. And so what I thought was actually kind of interesting was what Matt Rules talking about today, and that's the preparations that have gone into making Bank of America's city and very safe UM as an environment for these players. So what he was talking about is how they basically have made it so that every player is going to have a suite so that they can still do virtual meetings, but they will all be on site.

You have, he said that there are two UM outdoor weight rooms so that they can sort of take advantage of that base. You're gonna have players, you know, doing their strength conditioning work on the field, and that's also going to be outdoor. They've taken down walls in the building in order to expand things. They've converted different rooms, like the media room is not the media room, it's

an auxiliary room for these different places. So they've done a lot in order to prepare for players to come in and have as safe an environment as possible when they're trying to get a football season off during a pandemic. And frankly, it's going to be a tough task for thirty two teams to try to pull this off. But as it stands right now, it seems like the Panthers are in as good a position as you can be

in order to try and do it. I think the irony of all this is, as we talk about the future of you know, going down to rock Hill and building this great practice in headquarters facility down there, that right now in the Panthers probably have the largest headquarters facility of any NFL team, and that they have an entire stadium with all the floors available to them. Um So, I think it's it's it's kind of ironic the way that works. You know, some teams that might have a

much smaller physical footprint where their headquarters are. You know, the Panthers are taking over all of these suite levels, all of this this lower level area, you know, creating all these private rooms and meeting areas. Um So that's actually pretty cool, I think. And I think the thing that Miles that I thought was interesting was like the

contact tracing stuff. So they're wearing these, um these pieces of tech where if you're next to somebody else within six ft, uh, it will kind of like flash red um and then it'll like tell you if you've been within six ft that person for up to ten minutes, because that's kind of medically you know, when it really becomes a problem. So and they can find out like who you've been close to, you know, in case someone uh test positive, they can see who they were were

near at a certain point in time. So I think that was a really interesting tech piece as well. Yeah, those contact tracers are really important I think throughout the entire NFL right now, because it's not just the Panthers that are using those. All thirty two teams are using those, and they're basically being given to people who were in the Tier one and the Tier two status so that you can be in the facility but still socially distanced

within the facility as much as possible. And then as you're saying, well, you know, if you're on the field, if you're practicing, you're doing whatever you need to do, and you're a player or you're a coach, you know who you've been around for a long time because of those contact tracers. So it is really interesting and I think you know to your point of the Panthers having all of this space that they can utilize, you know, and other teams that I've covered, the rams, the Rams

not have that luxury at all. I mean, even though they built this big, beautiful stadium down in Inglewood, their practice facility is substantially far away from that in Thousand Oaks. I don't know how many people are familiar with the Los Angeles area, but they're basically, uh, two module trailers, if you will. It's a series of couple buildings with a bunch of module trailers, and they've had to reconfigure that.

There was an NFL Network feature on this and order to make it available for players to kind of socially distance there. So it's one of those California indoor outdoor spaces basically anyway, but it's not a big facility, and they've had to convert you know what we used to be a media room into an auxiliary locker room so

that players can spread out. So it's going to be very different for a team like that, which does not have the luxury of being able to put players in a suite but instead is putting a tent in the parking lot so that players can maybe meet outside. Um, it's just going to be very different from team to team based on what kind of facility you have at such a great point that both of you are are bringing up how ironically it really does benefit the Panthers

with all of this space. You know, I have been um to Bank of America recently, just for a little while, um, and you can really see it's just amazing that the red lines. You know, Coach Will talked about this in the press conference earlier today, but he was just saying how impressed he is with everything that has happened. You mentioned the contact tracers, you mentioned the renovations. Well, it's incredible. I mean, it really is incredible, and it looks so

well run. I didn't come into contact with anyone, you know, and and not having that Tier one or Tier two clearance, that's what's important. And um, you can see where things are are barricaded off and blockaded off. In the fact that each of the players has their own suites and everyone can can be together but still be safe. It's just it's absolutely amazing. And I've just been so impressed with with our crew and how quickly all of it has come together. Guys, I can't even imagine trying to

to pull this off in such a short period of time. Um. But speaking of the press conference and the stuff that coach Rule was saying, as I said, he spent a lot of time on on the processes that are going on, but he also had plenty of other things to say. Miles, what are some of your biggest takeaways? What is something

that stuck out to you that he talked about today? Well, I thought that there was abous a lot about how the Panthers are setting themselves up to be successful in terms of keeping everybody um, in terms of keeping the health and safety everybody a priority. But I also thought it was interesting how he even discussed not having preseason games and how he's used to that, because that could

be something that really affects different players. I think when we think of preseason games, we think of these young guys, you know, the the undrafted free agents who don't necessarily have that many opportunities to impress. So he was talking about how, look, being a college coach a there weren't preseason games then, so that's something that he's used to

creating those competitive environments within practice. But also he talked about how he wants to be able to make the Panthers a developmental place for young players that can go

from the practice squad to consistent starter eventually, right. So that's something that he even said when he took this job, he felt like things like that are a little bit are missing a little bit from the NFL because you see the time players go from being on the practice squad in one place to a starter in another place, right, And so how do you develop players like that and how do you make sure you retain them? That's something

that Matt Rule really wants to examine. And because the teams in the NFL this year are going to have expanded practice squads, that's something that the Panthers might be able to capitalize on. So that's something that he's thinking about in terms of how do you make sure you maximize everything and everybody that you have on this Panther's roster right now. Yeah, that's a great point that really

stood out to me as well. And I think the thing that stood out to me was not so much what he was saying, although he did provide a lot of great information, It was just Miles, did you and and well, did you guys pick up on how excited he seemed he was doing the presser from the building. Of course, as I said, it was virtual still for all of the media naturally, but you can just tell. I mean, he's a football guy and he was so excited to be back to football, even though it looks

a lot different. I think use the word ecstatic. And you know the fact that the staff is there and they've worked from home for so long, and the players are now slowly but surely getting to to come in and start the testing as it pertains to the Vets. But I just let you could just tell there was a difference in energy and will. I don't know about you, but I certainly feel that after working for I've never worked from home for this long, so I definitely get

where he's coming from. Where it's just like one step closer to football. Yeah, I mean I kind of wish I was in there with them, you know, like the same you kind of you want to be. You know, I saw a bunch of tweets this week about the the the peach in Gaffney heading down to Spartanburg from the media. You know, everyone was used to being down in in Watford right now, um, and I think that you know, we all kind of miss a little bit

of that camaraderie and about that excitement. You know, certainly the fans too as well that have always gone down to training camp. But you know, this is kind of the world that we're in, and you can tell, I mean just being probably being out on that practice field just running around, I'm sure feels so good for those guys.

So you can tell that, you know, the coaches are coaches are ready, the players are ready, um, and they're gonna take as much advantage of, you know, every opportunity, whether it's lifting weights, whether it's running sprints or doing plios, you know, all of it's going to be exciting for them. I'm sure I agree. Yeah, a lot of nostalgic tweets about the peach on my timeline this week, but even though it is gonna look a lot different this year,

we are still on the cusp of training camp. So with that in mind, I want us each to give everyone listening one player to watch as we get ready for training camp, and we can take that however you want. Whether it's someone that you think is going to have a great year, whether it's someone that you know fans may not know a lot about, however you want to interpret that. So we'll let's start with you. Who is your player to watch? Of course, I'm already gonna cheat,

so sorry. So, like you know, I take that term watch, and you know, training camp, it's hard to really see everybody because not everyone does the same amount of drills, are the same things in live action, and you can really tell. So I'm gonna give you a player that you can actually watch in training camp, and then a player's name that is gonna be really important for the season. And I'll start with um with Justin Burris the safety position.

You know, everyone's really really been talking about Jeremy Chin, the rookie draft pick, you know how excited they are for him, and obviously you have Trey Boston back there.

But I really think that Burris is gonna be a really big part of the secondary and it's gonna be really interesting to see how he fits with those other guys and how important his roles gonna be in this division where you're going up against Brady Breese, Ryan all these great quarterbacks, um, you know, and the corners that are covering these guys are only as good as the

safety help that they have. So I think seeing how how Burris is, you know, the veteran, you know, how he comes in, how he's gonna be a part of the secondary of this defense. Um, it's gonna be really important. And then my other guy is you know everyone's talking about you know, you have the Russell o'cum, you have, um, you know, the rest of this offensive line that we

you know, maybe you have heard more about. But I want to look at Johnny Miller, who uh was a veteran that signed you know, used to be with the Bengals, came in. He's going to be really really important to watch that guard position, um, because you know, I think there's still probably some battles for who's gonna win out that that guard spot after Greg Van Roten and Trey Turner um were on the team last year no longer

with us. So I think that Miller is going to be a really interesting name that most people don't know yet. But I've heard the coaches talk about him a lot, um, so I think he'll be someone to watch. All Right, you did been the rules on two players to watch, but you made such good points that I can't fault you for it. Miles, who is your I'm gonna say one player to watch, but maybe two, maybe three. I don't know where are you going? Well, I don't know

I mean, we'll broke the rules. So I feel like I almost I almost feel like I should pick three players. I'll pick four, We'll keep going. No, Um, there are a couple of players that I do think are gonna be really interesting. And I know this one's a little bit obvious, so I guess I'm gonna break the rule and pick more than one player. But I think the first guy city bridge Water, Right, I think, how does the quarterback really handle the offense after not having an

off season program? Can we will we really be able to tell that he knows this offensive system. Matt Rules said this today that when you have somebody like Teddy Bridgewater who is familiar with Joe Brady and the offensive system, it's almost like they can talk about level three and level four details of what this offense is and what it should be and what it can be. And you don't necessarily get that with somebody who would be unfamiliar with whatever the playbook would be had they not had

that familiarity. So how does that translate into um offensive production in practice? What does that look like once Week one happens? And does that make it any different than what it would be under different circumstances. I mean, because look at the bottom line is that the Panthers did not have any offseason practice time. They did have a lot of virtual meetings, as did everybody else. Um, but what does that look like on Sundays? I think practice is going to be able to tell a little bit

about that. And I'm also interested to see what these rookies look like, and especially Derek Brown. You know, it's kind of funny that you get a first round pick and he's number seven a roll and it almost seems like he's getting a little bit lost in the fray of everything that's going on, which kind of makes sense because we haven't really seen him out there on the

practice field in the Panther's uniform. But once pads come on and once we really start to see what he can do, I think it's gonna be fun to look at what he can do next to somebody like k K, who apparently is as healthy as it can be. That's a great point. All right, Look, I'm gonna stick to one player for my player to watch. Guys, I want you to remember this name. You may not know much about him now, Christian McCaffrey. I think this guy is

poised for big things in the league. All Right, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'm gonna go I'm gonna take this question just a little bit differently than I think both of you did. I'm gonna go with Eli Apple as my player to watch because I that's the player that I want to watch really just to see, you know, how he's gonna do, how he's going to fit into into Phil snows defense. Is he going to live up to those high expectations. I'm I'm really really interested to see

how he's going to pan out. He has a great opportunity to to make a big impact at a position that the Panthers could really use some help with. And I'm excited to to see what he's going to do in training camp. Um, you know when when they signed him, Phil Snow said, you know, he has he has speedy, as the intangibles, and it's our job as a coaching staff to to help take him to the next level to make sure that he puts all of that into

action on the field. So I'm I'm excited to see what we're going to get from Eli Apple, And of course that starts with training camp. So him and a you know someone named Christian McCaffrey. Those are those are my two if we're going to go to But speaking of Christian McCaffrey, the NFL Top one hundred is being revealed this week. We know almost all of the players, We know the top ten, We know the CMC is

in the top ten. We don't quite know where he is going to land on that list until tonight, but we will of course be covering that um as that comes out. But you guys, the both of you have some thoughts about the NFL Top one hundred and now look at someone who's never worked for a team before. You know, I know the drill. The NFL network releases the the yearly list. It's the top one players and

it's as voted on by the players. Um but you guys were like, we got to talk about this today, so so will give me the inside scoop on on why you have a beef with this list. Look at you use an inside scoop man, I know I was talking about Look it's cross promotion. You can check it out Panthers dot com search inside scoop talk about brand centered. It was an accident, I promise. Yeah, Okay, So I saw this tweet this morning, and like it kind of like jogs jog my memory about this because I haven't

been doing this for at least two years. But it was from let me look real quick, Darius, and they were talking about like if only the fans knew how the players actually vote on this, because you get all this conversation in chatter, which of course is what we all want to do in July and August before season,

you know, is argue about where people are ranked. But really the way this works is there's a blank piece of paper with a hundred lines on it, and they're just handed to players as they're sitting at their locker and it's like, hey, can you just write down your top one hunder players and then hand this back in.

You know, it's not like these guys are sitting in front of the computer and looking up stats and you know, really comparing, you know, who are the top you know, tackles and guards versus defensive ends and really seeing how they compare. Looking at you know, deep analytical models and all this stuff. They literally fill out maybe their favorite top ten or fifteen players. Oh man, that guy had

a great year. You know, this guy's have a great yere, you know, this guy's elite, and they just put that down and then for the most part, they don't even touchy. They just kind of turn it back in. So I don't even know how those numbers really get filled out. Some guys will just put people that they know or they played with and just fill out random names that

they can remember. But like when you talk about why a guy isn't you know why Carson Wentz is not in the one hundred or why Tom Brady, who you know, last year rank seventeenth and passer rating was still fourteenth overall, Like it's just because of these Tom Brady and these guys don't they're not looking at this stuff. They're not really spending a lot of time with it. So anyway, that's kind of how it happens, and I think that gives a little more insight into why these things are

so wonky. I did not know that. I have to be honest, Miles. You said, now we we have a group text chain, and you were chiming into so do you have the same gripes as Will does does this match with with your experience? It's really all because I didn't know this well. Kristen is just pulling out all of the different names of Panther's related podcast. Now I'm just kidding. Um, So what happens, I think is exactly

what we'll just said, right. It's it's a weird process, first of all, and I don't think that it is something that is taken all that seriously. And I mean, look, that's why you get so much fluctuation between one year to the next, and it's it is based off of what guys see on the field and what they do and la la la. But I just I don't know, I'm just so drained of that kind of thing, like, oh, yes, Top one d it's so nice. It's just I I

don't know. There are a lot of things that like, I really really love about football and I love about covering football, and the Top one hundred is just not one of them. I just don't I don't think it really matters very much, and I don't think that people care all that much about it. But you know, at the same time, I guess it's kind of cool. It's nice. It's nice to have a layer that code that plays for the team you cover. In the top ten. It

makes your life more interesting, that is for sure. But does it really matter in terms of like awards and stuff like that and eccolades. I don't know that it matters all that much. Well, here's a question. I was gonna say, we found another thing alongside fireworks that that Miles hates. I think that's just like we're just gonna try to find something every week that like really gets it going, you know what really relns Miles gears. That's a really easy thing to do, just find things that

I don't like. That's that's that's not hard. Well, but I think that the exercise in and of itself could be better. I mean, I think it's a relatively interesting thing to try to compare a safety to a running back and try to compare you know, a quarterback to a defensive lineman, and who overall is just a gets

a better overall rating. And I think that there's so many things, as we talked about last week, you know, with these advanced stats, that I think it's a really interesting, long potential process, in a fun process to try to do it. Just is it shouldn't be for like players sitting at their locker that don't they're just sitting there, you know, like they're they're not in front of a computer. They don't have time to really look all this stuff up.

I think that what the NFL did for their NFL one hundred last year, when they really were looking at all these things and trying to evaluate and create these top lists of you know, all time, this and all time that. I think those were really interesting and I think the process behind it was pretty sound. Um. And I think they could, you know, rethink how this works

and you know, maybe have more analytical data behind it. Yes, the NFL All one team that they and those specials that they had with Rich Eisen and Chris Collinsworth in Bill Belichick, like, those were really, really, really good. And I agree what you could tell the thought that was put into those things. Um. And yeah, if maybe I don't know how viable let us do every single year, but if you're doing it more like that, and then

I think it would be more enjoyable. So my question is, and Myles, I'll start with you on this knowing now a little bit more about it. Um, do you think the players care because on the one hand, they know how it's done right, they know how you get a blank sheet of paper. Um, they probably know that look it's it's not a huge slide if I'm if I'm not mentioned or what not. But then on the other hand, I think all of us would go to the mat

if someone set up Christian McCaffrey's not top ten. So do you think they care, knowing how this process goes down if they're not where they think they should be. I think it depends on the guy, honestly, And it's hard to say from the respective of what the Panthers locker room would be, but in past locker rooms that I've been in and been around, like, I don't, I don't. I really think it depends on the guy. Like Aaron Donald,

I think knows how good he is. Aaron Donald is another one of these guys that's in the top ten again, and he was He's been regarded as one of the best players in the league for years and years and years. But I don't think that's something he really cares all that much about. I think he knows that he is as good as he is, and you know, he's just as going to kill out and continue to be as dominant a force as possible. Um, But yeah, I don't, I don't know. I think it probably depends on the guy.

From what I know about Christian McCaffrey, I think that there would be a part of him that says, Okay, yes, this is nice to be acknowledged. But at the same time, it's not. It's not winning a ring, it's not winning MVP. It's it's almost an award that you should have gotten back in like January or February, right when all of

the rest of these things were coming out. Because now as we sit here in on July nine, as we record this, it's more about the season than it is about nineteen and this really is a recognition of what he's done in the twenty nineteen season. So it's interesting. I I don't know, I don't know exactly. Uh. And that's not a good uh radio answer, but that's the answer that I've got. I love that you said depends on the guy, which is like incredibly nuanced and incredibly right.

And I was like, you know what, darn it, that's a good answer. Of course, it depends on the guy. It's not all players feel a certain way. Gosh darn it. Uh. I am excited to see where c mc lands on the list, and I will be checking Panthers dot com. Look at all those plugs I've done in the last ten minutes for Panthers dot com. I'll be checking Panthers dot com and you know, maybe while I'm there, I'll check out inside Scoop Will. I don't know, maybe I'll do it. Um, But I want to to end as

we always do on our Weird Question of the Week. So, sitting here thinking and following all of the news, there's a lot of discussions this week about bubbles and and no bubbles. I've seen the NBA bubble, the NHL bubble, and of course the NFL is not going to be in the bubble. But it did get me thinking if you were going to be stuck in a bubble for the NFL season. Mile So I want to start with you, what is the one thing you would have to have with you? Like, you can't go anywhere else, you cannot

live without this thing. Where do you bring in with you? I feel like my life is already like this. Uh that's my phone. Well don't say no toothbrush, no laptop, anything like that. I know, um my my would be a Bluetooth speaker, probably because uh yeah, I like music. I need to have music, especially like when I'm working, Um, I like to write to Stevie Wonder albums. There's like a string of five albums that he had in the seventies that are pretty much making the greatest songwriter of

all time. And I will fight people on that. Um, So that would be what I would need. I would need to have a Bluetooth speaker and at least some device, whether it's my phone or not, that could play Stevie Wonder albums. I like it. I like a good choice. Well what about you, what's the one thing that you couldn't live without if you were stuck in a bubble for the season. You're, Miles, You're really gonna put Stevie Wonder over Taylor Swift's folklore debut that just came out.

That's the greatest thing that's ever happened in a bubble or in a pandemic. Come on, Well, I appreciate you saying. Will knows how much I love Taylor Swift and Sodas Miles, I wasn't gonna say it because Myles did say he would fight people, So I was going to leave that one alone. Um, but I'm with Will on this one. Well,

I'll let you take the fight there, Okay. And the reason that I'm willing to take this fight is because the one thing I'm going to keep are my dumbbells, which I've had to procure one at a time from Amazon as as like throughout this pandemic, because you can never actually buy two dumbells at the same time. I don't know if I haven't even seen one. I haven't even seen exactly. I got lucky to find one, So they're not exactly the same. They're relatively close, but they're

definitely different brands. But yeah, I spend most of my day when I'm on these like Zoom meetings or these these Microsoft teams meetings just like turning my video off and doing random things with my dumbbells, and then coming back on and like saying two things and then going back to do doing like shoulder presses and stuff. Oh my god, I pray that one day you accidentally leave your video on and I'm on that Zoom meeting, because I will hit the record buttons so fast that video

will go up on Twitter. I'm hoping this happens at some point. Quarantine. That's the problem. I'm not sure if I if I've avoided it or not. I'm trying to like make it not quarantine. I may or may not have ordered an exercise bike from my apartment, so we can see how that goes. It's good to know I was looking into a rower or the other. We're all like, who would have thought it would be so hard to get dumbbells? I was just looking the other. I try to check in like once a month to see if

I'm like, oh, our weights available now? Nope? Still not so Will. I'm jealous. It's already get this stupid bike too. Man, all right, you guys have picked pretty pretty reasonable stuff. Miles is going to be, you know, making sure that he can continue his writing. Will Will is going to make sure his muscles keep growing. Um, I'm gonna go.

I don't know if this is boring or just so weird, but the first thing I thought of, and I've traveled so much over the last three years, um as I know, you guys have the one thing that I could not live without. Lint roller. Lint roller, like I I have to have one. I just I wear a lot of black, were a lot of dark colors, and I just think there is nothing worse if I walk out of the house or say, I'm you know, we're in the bubble whatever. I see people and I've got just like fuzz all

over my clothes, Like nothing makes me feel worse. I'm like Drake at a Raptors game, just lint rolling all the time. I love a lint roller. I don't want to go anywhere without them. I I just have to have it. That'd be the thing that I would be so upset if it didn't make it with me to the bubble. Is that weird? A went roller like that is? That is a very interesting and animate object that I just, you know, I don't own one. I think. I don't know that's a problem. That's a problem. It probably is.

But you know what, I also haven't really worn clothes, like real clothes and whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is a g rated podcast. I know, I gotta hit pause, right, That's not what I meant. I'm not really warned anything other than like gym clothes and pajamas. There we go since March. Aside from the times that I flew across the country. There I put on jeans because it is Larry David will tell you, like, don't you don't wear shorts on a plane. You know, you just don't really

want to do that. That's nobody wants to see your legs, and that's just kind of weird, you know. So I agree and I adhere to that restriction. Well, thank you, thank you. Well, I don't know super weird scale one to tend weirdness of my answer, I can see it. I do own a link roller light, Miles, Um, I haven't used it all that much, but I do own it. I means, every once in a while I have to, I just like take my hand and just like lick it, just like, Oh, I don't know, Miles isn't wearing clothes.

Will his lick in his hand to get stuck? I don't. Okay, Um, I feel a little bit better and exactly maybe I should try that sometime the next time I'm without my lind roller. I'll keep that in mind. Well, guys, what better place to end it than than right there with Will saying that's how he gets the lintop is closed. Um, thank you both, Thank you everyone for listening to us. That is going to do it for us this week, But we'll talk to you again next week. On the Happy Half Hour, podcast