Happy Half Hour Episode 70: Checking Boxes

with you. It is May, right, yeah, it's May. When made that happened that that we woke up and it turned to May. And we're sincerely apologized that we slept through April and didn't talk to you all. But here we are. So this is gonna be like the live concert album. We're gonna go two and a half hours of the Happy Half Hour. As far as you know. We also looking at me like we're doing what it's live action. It's I have a meeting after this. I

can't do that. But here we are. We have a we have a full draft class, we have rookie minicamp starting in forty eight hours. We have things to talk about, things to describe. Darren, where do you want to start again? It seems like it's there's so many things that have happened. But I mean, we did cover the last time we visited. We did talk a lot about the free agents see class and all the blanks they filled in that way. I the thing I keep coming back to on this

draft classes. These things just don't happen. The Carolina Panthers walked into a draft with the only two reel boxes to check off. They need a left tackle and they needed a quarterback. Of course, simple as that sounds easy when you say it that way, but it's it's rare to be able to do one of those things in a draft. And again I say this with the with the preface of we don't know if these guys can play yet or not. We're pretty sure Ikey a Kwantu can.

Jury is still out. We'll see what happens with Matt Correll, We'll see how Matt Cooral develops. But it's extremely unusual for a team to be able to find the top left tackle on their board the top quarterback on their board in a single draft. It's it's pretty unheard of, to be honest with you. And if those guys both work out, you'll look back on this one and say, holy cow, how did all the pieces fall into place? But to have gotten Nikkia Kwantu sixth overall. If you

only do that, it was a successful weekend. Because you roll your eyes at me every time I bring up Jeff Otab. But it's been since two thousand eight that the Carolina Panthers have drafted a tackle in the first round. Not only did you draft a tackle, and they were kind of prepared to draft a tackle one of those three guys we talked about a lot, but then they

got the tackle. They got the first offensive player. They got the guy who was the highest rated player on their board, the guy if they would have picked first, they would have chosen first. And now, all of a sudden, all that instability that we talked about last year, thirteen offensive lens in seventeen games, all the different people who have started at left tackle since Jordan Gross retired, there's an opportunity now for all that settled down a little bit.

And suddenly what was in stable all last season now instable in stable unstable Anyway, I just made up a word, um and a word for a living um. What was not great, Bob last year is suddenly looking like an area of depth. Yeah, I mean you think you think that word is now in play. Depth. I mean you Brady Christensen, Deante Brown, Michael Jordan's, all of these guys, Cameron Irving, you know that can now be used kind of what they were, Pad elf Line and Bradley Boseman,

Austin Corbett. You know, all of these guys in there that can be used as depth, that could be used in different places. But you have this group that can start and be really good. I mean they went through stretches last year and no offense to any of these guys who have worked hard to try to achieve their dream of playing in the NFL. But they were literally dragging guys in off the street last year to have

seven or eight dressed for a game. And they some of the people they dragged in tested positive for COVID and never saw the light of day, and you had to turn them around and bring somebody else in and replace. So last year was on the fly. But now after going out early in free agency, you know, when you when you stand up and say our priority this offseason fixed an offensive line, you go out and signed Brett

Austin Corbett. Day one of free agencies. It's like, Okay, here's a guy who started every game for the Super Bowl champions last year at guard, so good step. Then you get Bozeman on a cheap one year deal when his market doesn't develop the way you he thought it might. And those are two pretty good pieces in the middle. And then you add ikey a quanto to that, and now of a sudden, as you said, you're imagining guys, guys who were just written in the starting lineup as

best case scenario, are now competing for backup jobs. So they're in a much better spot. And when you talk about those three big editions, then plug in a sixth rounder like Cad Maze, throw him in the group with Deante Brown, Michael Jordan's you know, I think pat lf line. You know, all of a sudden, the second line is almost as good as what the first line was at

times last year. And that's probably a little bit of a stretch, but um, it is a It is definitely a better offensive line situation than it was a year ago. And if that's all that happened on draft weekend, you take it and you run and you don't apologize, and you're just gleeful for the rest of the spring, Darren.

For those that haven't, and I assume everyone that is dedicated to The Happy Half Hour has read every single word of it, of course, but you wrote about eighteen thousand words, all the words used, every word in the English language at one point in that story. You really did.

And for those that haven't read it or read it and still want to hear about it, give me something that you pulled out of that night or those sets of nights that you were able to put into that story that you know, really kind of encapsulates what you saw and what you experienced, and you know, really to kind of give our readers a look into that draft room.

I think if if you, if you've ever had the opportunity to witness what happens in that room and all the and not just that night while they're on the clock during the draft, but in the weeks leading up to it. Probably the word that gets tossed around the most is conviction And do you have conviction about this guy?

And we sort of in talking about offensive tackles before the draft, we talked about a Quantu and Evan Neil and Charles Crosses, like this unit of human beings like pick one from Allah May and that's what it would be. But Ikey was the guy everybody in that room loved. I mean it's like like him, like him, really like him, sort of think. And it kind of fell that way with Matt Correll as well. I mean there were there

were quarterbacks in parentheses. There were a group of quarterbacks that we talked about in mass a lot, but corral was kind of the guy that separated himself in the minds of the evaluators, in the minds of the coaches because of some of the things he can do. I mean, he's got a unique ability to get the ball out in a hurry. And we're still waiting to see what

the Ben maca Do offense looks like. But I think in general, based on what he did in New York and the success he had calling place for Eli up there before he became the head coach, um, I think we can generally assume it's gonna be a lot of first read, second room boom boom, get it out, get it out quick, keep it moving, put it in the hands of guys like d J. Moore who can make a play, like Christian McCaffrey, who can make a play

and let them get out in space and do their thing. Uh, Matt Corral's ability to get the ball out quick suggest that that could be a fit. Now, they're not gonna rush Matt Corral. In fact, everything from the moment they go through that process decide on Matt. Draft Matt. The first words out of their mouth where Sam Darlen's gonna open the season, start, gotta play today. Sam's a starter. Now Matt's gonna have chances. I mean, everything around here

is going to be competitive. That's just kind of the culture they want to have. But there's no rush. I mean, if Matt Corral is not ready to go in week one against filling the blank um, they'll start Sam and kind of bank on some of the things they were talking about last year, which is put playmakers around Sam. They've certainly protected Sam a lot better now than they did a year ago with the people they put in place, so you you can kind of it gives Matt Corral

an opportunity to bed down. But that conviction was real. I mean it was not. Once you see it, and once you talk to those guys and the build up to the draft, when you're picking six, you can't lock in on one guy. You can't say, oh, man, if I could now, And that's what I asked Scott at the owners meetings about a month before the draft. I said, if you're picking one instead of six, who's your guy? And he was like, oh, yeah, I mean it was.

It was without a doubt. And I think as you talked to coaches, as you talk to people who are down in that room, they felt kind of the same way about Corral, like among that group, that was the one right there, that's the one we want. And there's you know, not to put any more pressure on ache than there already is, because there probably is a lot

you know, hometown guy and see state. You know, this Panther fan growing up, went to Providence Day, you know, all these these things that are kind endemic with what it is. But the thing that people kept talking about was, you know from your story that this personality of leadership, this this taking on of the responsibility to lead others from his position, which is not always the case for

offensive lineman. And you know, it's hard for a year old rookie to come in to a locker room and say all right, like I'm gonna help turn this around. But I think if anyone has the gumption or has the ability to kind of step in and be at least be a part of it, if not the guy, but to be a part of leading. I think it's him. And it is a lot of pressure. I mean, because of all that build up and all the time that's past. You know, it is tempting to say, all right, kid,

go b Jordan gross right exactly. You know, play hard. That's a pretty big job. We've just asked you to feel right there to you know, replace a hall of honor guy. And and if there is, based on what we know about him right now, based on what we've seen it in see State, he does have that characteristic of this ain't too big for him. He does lead people,

you know, everybody. The other thing they all say about Ikey, all the scouts and that, and that was one of my favorite parts of that kind of behind the scene story is talking to four layers of scouts, you know, the guys who see him progressing up the ladder as this thing goes on, and every one of them used the phrase tone center, home center. Ikey's a tone sitter, and he's mean and he enjoys putting people on the ground and he plays violently, which is one of those

coach words, um, but he enjoys too dominate people. I remember at the combine he talked about growing up as a Panther fan watching the Panthers, and he and he talked about Steve Smith dominated people physically. Well, Steve is much different in terms of size than Nicky, but they dominated people in different ways. But he he's got that vibe. I think it's real and we'll see. I mean, nobody

ever wants to turn a rookie into a leader. You know, Taylor Moten sitting in that room and he'd been pretty good at this for a minute, so you know, that's kind of the personality of that room right now. But I think adding somebody like that, adding a little bit of edge to that group, is certainly something they needed because Corbett and Bozeman are both long term starters for great franchises. I mean, Rams just want a Super Bowl.

The Ravens most consistent team in the NFL probably for the last twenty years, who are built on running the ball, and those are nice, but this is a different personality. This is that kind of lead dog personality that they just introduced to the room. And I think that's what you know. I had people in personnel tell me over the offseason, we need uh filling the blank word you can't say on a family podcast, but we need one

of those. And they may have gotten one. And as you talked about on the Thursday before all this stuff went down, they maybe they're getting one back on the defensive side of the ball. In a way that's almost like another first round pick. It's almost like you're adding j. C. Horne, who's this lead dog kind of guy back in the

room yet again this offseason. Oh, by the way, j C. Horn, And and it is almost like a bonus draft pick because he only plays three games last year and and he is he's also got that kind of burns hot personality. I mean, it's not as visible because of his job description. He doesn't put people on the ground the same way Ikey does. But when you see him out on the field, it's easy to point to j. C. Horn and say

that one over there, that one is different. The other kids are not like that, and just out there watching during off season workouts now, I mean they're out there on the field a little bit. And there was a scene this week where somebody threw a ball and j C just sort of casually twist his body about two seventy degrees around and pulls one out of the air one handed. And I'm re enacting this in the studio. It's like theater of the mind. You have to believe

you're seeing it. But he just casually does this incredible body control move where he talks himself around and reaches behind him and catches the ball one handed, and it's like, yep, could use one of those. Everybody could, so um, you

hope that And again, it was kind of interesting. It did get lost a little bit in the course of the draft weekend, and you sort of knew it would, but talking to him about his rookie season, it was a little bit of an eye opener because it does remind you of, oh, hey, that's a pretty good when coming back, and you just hope everybody stays healthy and

he can deliver on it this year. As we say this on Wednesday morning, we're in the midst of probably maybe two to three days of of the things that are big things that really aren't things at all, And so I'm curious of like Darren's draft of the things we do that don't matter between rookie Jersey numbers, Rookie Minicamp, and Schedule Release, all of these things happening in the next three days that are going to get you all of the clicks on your website so you can do

the business. Yeah, man, that like it's you said the other day, like schedule release. We've known these matchups for at least four years, Like we know who they're gonna play, and then we added one more and it's like, oh cool,

that's that's that's fun. Let me let me preface this all by saying schedule Release is a huge deal and you should absolutely spend the next seventy two hours of your life on Panthers dot Com and the Panthers App to find the latest information and entertainment regarding this life changing event. The I would trade Schedule Release day for a seventh round pick, and I don't value Um Yeah, I'm just kind of I guess, having done enough of them, I'm sort of still in disbelief that this is a thing.

It's like the NFL has turned this into a tent pole event. We already know who the Carolina Panthers are playing. We're just finding out when and it's a huge deal for fans because you book travel schedules, you plan your fall schedule. You know, my wife's looking at me, like when do I know what weekends I have available in the fall, and so those things are all important, but

I'm just kind of baffled. I look at it like I watch it the way I would watch a sport in a foreign land, played in a language, played by people who speak a language I do not understand. By rules I've never been able to comprehend. I mean, it's just weird to me that people are into this, but hey, they seem to like it, so it must be cool. Um. Yeah, and that's coming and it sort of washes over us like a wave, and it's a huge deal. And from the portions I've seen of our plan, it's going to

be amazing. You are going to love this. And this is coming from someone that was actually in the video last year, so I obviously took a lot of pride in that one, but I can swallow it to tell you that this one tops it for sure. It's pretty cool. People are gonna dig it. I don't have any doubt about that. But yeah, it's scheduled release week it's rookie numbers week. Matt Crowd's number nine. What does that mean to you? Uh? The last quarterback that war number nine

in a regular season game was Rodney Pete. And I say this and I and I feel secure saying this this podcast. Family, I mean, you're like my family. Yeah, I have. I have already said this at home. One of the most inspiring sites I've ever seen personally in Bank of America Stadium was Holly Robinson Pete wearing an extremely fitted Rodney Pete jersey to sing the national anthem before a game in oh two or three something like that. And it was Rodney looked at me after the fact.

I said, nice jersey, and he said, you like that, did you? I was like, Holly Robinson beat and in your jersey. It never looked quite like that on you, Rodney. But I remember saying, mac corral in a very fitted number nine jersey is going to be something fans will want to see. It might hit different, but I hit different. But I think people will be interested in that. Yeah, and it'll be curious. I mean I'm anxious to see

what he looks like on the field. Yeah, because the guy made plays at a high level and oh, miss so, and that's what And he's kind of got that another version of that thing we were talking about with Ikey that people follow him vibe and that happens on Friday. You know, I remember last year you said, you know, the main thing you took away as we just kind of talked about when the rookies came out there and you know, shorts and T shirts and hats was J. C. Horne is big. You can see him when you look

at it. Just a bunch of field of dudes. That guy is different. You know, I'll be curious how you know, offensive lineman don't do a lot in these rookie minicamps. You know, they're not they're not touching, they're not contact contact. There's no there's often not even a defensive line in front of them, right, So what will we be looking at and seeing from a corral from an Ikey from I mean even a guy like Brandon Smith who might

need to play a role this yere. Yeah, and I'm kind of curious about Brandon Smith, to be honest with you, because what does he do? I mean, he is a different size human being than a lot of the other linebackers they have around here. I mean, this is a big old Jamie Collins sized man in a place where the linebackers have been maybe too thirty over the last couple of years. And he's just this big, you know,

long armed, massive dude who can run. And so we've talked a lot about Phil Snow and how he moves people around and matches up and looks for different things. If they can get this guy trained up, now he is more you know, the back of his football card at Penn State is not full of stuff. Uh. He is athletic, he is toolsy. Let's see if he can play football. Uh that it's hard. I've seen some of

those heads. That'll be the next challenge. But again, a big old what is it, six four to fifty body that can run a four or five forty those don't happen a lot, and I ask, it's kind of an unfair game sometimes. But when you ask scouts or coaches four comps, you know, and a couple of guys were just scratching their heads because there's just not one it looks like him on this roster or on a lot of rosters, honestly. So I'll be interested to see kind of where phil puts him and what they ask him

to do. And you know, once they get deeper into O T A s and mini camps and stuff like that, what it looks like, I mean, is he is he the guy Frankie Luvu is walking around and teaching how to do Frankie Luvu stuff? Or is he out here in space and Shack Thompson's trying to teach him how to be a linebacker and that kind of stuff. So he's an interesting it's an interesting mix as a lot of those second day guys are. And obviously keep it tuned. We have tons of stuff coming for the next couple

of days for you, many exciting developments. Click click click click them. All of your clicks belong to us. Now it's gonna it's gonna be fun. I mean there is many camp stuff. You know, we can joke about it because I've seen a million football practices in my life and these are going to be two of them. Um, these are two. And it's always but there's something new.

There's a first day of school five about them all every year where it's like okay, ikey a kwantu has existed as this abstract concept and now we can point to him and say, hey, that one right there, number seventy nine. Look at the photographs of him on Panthers dot com. Do it many times a day. All right, Darren, We're gonna leave you with this um because you have a lot of sway. Most of the times I see you wearing your Pro Football Hall of Fame shirt, which

shows you how much sway you have? Are you calling Roger today and requesting when the Panthers by is going to be? And if you did, when is the Panthers by going to be? I would ask for it earlier, uh than it has been Christmas Week thirteen or whatever it's been the last couple of years. Yes, I would enjoy. Here's my wish list. I want a bye week during which I could drive to Boone and watch an Appalachian State football game and it leaves in a color other

than green. That's my wish list, right, Okay, I will try to deliver that. See if you can make that happen. I'll try in your next meeting. See when that comes up. I have four so I'll try to do it in one of them. Holy cow, that's a lot. But yeah, I would like a little bit early by week because when you factor in, this is gonna be a long preseason because there's some stuff happening in the preseason in addition to regular old training camp summer sort of stuff.

So it's gonna be a long haul and I don't I would hope to not go to December before weekend off anyway. But in our next podcast we can I can give you my revolutionary scheduling idea that would solve everything. I can't wait. Well, everyone, thanks for tuning in. We'll be back in six months to talk about week seven in October. Yeah, no, we'll be back sooner in that, I promise, I do. We we'll work on it. Thanks everyone for sticking with us. I love you guys,