What To Make of the Carolina Panthers Offseason with Mike Kaye

What To Make of the Carolina Panthers Offseason with Mike Kaye

all I would take a Super Bowl this year and we’ll be bad for the next 30 years just personally but you say that but having covered the Eagles I know that people say that in the moment and then it’s like “Oh wait but now they’re seven and seven and 10 a year later.” I think Atlanta the finale was the best performance of his career but I think a close second was Green Bay uh his rookie year you’ll see more of that the more that he gets an opportunity to be a little bit more chill those games were shootouts i think he’s going to go down as the best draft pick of the last three years and you can put me on record there i see a lot of AJ Green there like the game comes so easy for him princeley you a lot of fans wanted a Josh Sweat well they got Josh Sweat only four years younger on a scale of 1 to 10 how familiar were you with Glorilla before the past three or four days all right so we are here with Mike K from the Charlotte Observer mike thank you for taking the time to speak with me i don’t do a ton of collabs this full disclosure so uh I I do play nice with others that’s this just this I just have a crazy schedule so when I do have guests everybody knows it’s special so I appreciate you taking the time well I appreciate the invite i Erin I love what you do um I think you’re really important to the Carolina you know content creator community and media community and I I think you’ve really established yourself amongst your peers as one of the best in the biz so thanks for having me going to make me blush man going to make me blush uh first things first let’s start with the important stuff um on a scale of 1 to 10 how familiar were you with Gloilla before the past three or four days i knew the name okay i’m pretty sure I heard a song or two okay now I’m really familiar okay lyrics um uh you know I got to just some inside baseball but I guess Bash and I put it out there but uh I got to Bryce Young’s charity event and I’m typically the per first person to ask questions that’s just kind of my role uh I’m the icebreaker I guess and before we got started I just was like “How can I like mellow this situation out?” Because there was a bunch of people in a really packed room i was just like “Bryce have you heard any or have you seen any good music videos lately?” And he thought about it for a second and went “Oh.” And then started laughing so that was a little bit of fun there uh but now I am my Glorilla knowledge has gone up you know trifold I would say over the last week did you know Glorilla is short for Gloria hallelujah that’s her that’s as her first name no I did not wow now four-fold uh I honestly think she should have went by that as her like rap name that would have been better than I mean Gloria is clever but Gloria Hallelujah is such a it’s a real name too so um shout out shout out to her but speaking of her and the affiliation with Excel I think it’s a good segue what do you think about the off-field success i know a lot of fans are like eh about it because he had an up and down rookie year i know you’ve written about him having that rookie wall and just some of the struggles with the drops he even fell on the sword himself recently um when you guys kind of talked to him and just put it out there he was like “Hey I mean I dropped the ball i have to catch the ball i went through with the coaches they said that there’s not a lot of things wrong with my game outside of catching the football.” So like what’s your thoughts on that and just his self-awareness about where he’s at i think he’s actually really self-aware and I think you know in talking to Rob Moore as wide receivers’s coach I put out like this huge story or not huge story but long story yeah uh about um you know Rob’s outlook on the misconceptions on Legette and T-Mac who I’m sure we’ll talk about later i think that it would bother people if he wasn’t such a hard worker behind the scenes and that is kind of the gist that I get with Legette i think he’s somewhat misunderstood now the production speaks for itself he was terrible the second half of the season just flat out but I also think it’s important to note with the injuries that he had most of his success when the quarterback position was not delivering and was most chaotic and so I think there there’s a reason for optimism there i think you really saw the foot injury hinder him he’s already a very weird strider and I think when you when you have kind of an awkward stride to begin with the foot probably doesn’t help i think he was putting a lot of pressure on himself to to play a lot better um but from all all basically everyone I’ve talked to he is a really really hard worker and I think you know he showed up to Bryce’s charity event straight off that music video that was like his first appearance off the music video he could have big leagued but he was there um and he was very interactive very welcoming he’s the type of person that makes you feel like you’re the only person in the room when you talk to him as Glorilla you know astutely pointed out he is a charmer uh you know and so uh I think for him you know he seems a lot happier than he did towards the end of the year i think self-confidence especially wide receiver is really important and look I mean does it kind of remind me of Michael Oli in Van Wilder or like Darius Miles in Van Wilder or you know um I’m trying to think of somebody who’s like early in their career probably didn’t deserve the glow up right away but got it um but I mean look it’s a new age it’s everybody’s on their phones now everybody’s interactive and everybody’s got their own brand and I think Instagram and and social media have really kind of raised the profile of players and you know you only get to live this football life once you might as well do it while you can and if you’re working hard who’s to judge you yeah i mean he seems like a fun dude just seeing the interviews you guys have with him it seems like y’all have a lot of fun talking to him i think that’s the kind of draw for him the personality the accent of course um and just him off the field being interested in horses and all this stuff he’s just a um he’s had a crazy run i mean I have a Christmas card that Fanatic sent me and he’s read it’s like one of those voice ones and his voice is reading out like some kind of Christmas poem he’s just been on a a crazy run but he’s been on the field recently you guys have been at practice just me watching clips he looks a little bit more spry looks a little bit more sudden do you think that foot procedure I guess has really done some wonder for him because you’ve kind of characterized his run style as I’ kind I forgot what you said something about him galloping or whatever but Do you see any difference in the way he kind of moves yeah I think I Well I I’ve used a couple of different iterations of this but he runs like he has pebbles in his shoes and fire in his heart um yeah I think he’s looked a lot more smooth he got a screw put in that foot um and I think look his game is crossers i think they had him running too many you know you know out routes and too many goes that’s not his game i mean he is a guy who you could look at him like weirdly enough I think he compares more to Jordan Matthews than anybody would kind of like to admit and where if he’s running slants and he’s running posts it’s really hard to defend him because he has such a big body and he has understated speed and he can break tackles and I think part of drafting uh Tetro McMillan is kind of to open that up and underneath stuff like I think they think he can do some of the Debo Debo Samuel stuff but Debo Samuel isn’t a number one wide receiver he is not the focal point of an offense you know he had Brandon Aayuk now he’s going to have T uh Terry McLuren uh if he does sign a contract extension which he definitely deserves yeah they got um uh I think you know he’s best off as a number two wide receiver i think playing that Z-roll giving him space not having him focus on contact immediately then getting free then working your timing route then catching the ball giving him less to think about and not that he can’t handle more to think about but you want to set your guys up for the best success and I think his game speaks to that Z- roll a lot better than it does the axe yeah so and I think the system they the alignment versatility is key they use they mix it mix and match personnel a lot um I mean obviously T-Mac can line up outside inside XL can do the same like I said playing that Z spot and talking about T-Mac adding him to this unit um what do you think it says about just where they are as a team do you think it’s more of like a stamp of confidence in Bryce to give him more weapons do you think it’s something that was just like hey Canales really likes these big body receivers to kind of really unlock what he wants to do or do you think it was just like team building prowess and the way they kind of characterized it that they felt that it was a drop off at the receiver and they felt good about the edge group do you think it’s just kind of all-around team building or do you think there was actually intent behind that particular move to go get him at number eight yes basically all of that yes i think like I I think you summarized it really really well i think that last point about wide receiver drop off I think is very very astute um I think there were only two options at wide receiver from an upgrade standpoint and that was McMillan and my guy Matthew Golden who I think was going to lead all rookies in receiving yards this year um but that said I think McMillan really fits what they’re going to try to do this is a timing offense as you know he is a guy that look I thought they should have added speed which they later did with Jimmy Horn but I think the nothing big guys beat up little I mean big people beat up little people that’s just kind of the the mindset now in the NFL it was something Chip Kelly talked about all the time in the Philly so you’re a 5’10 5’11 corner well guess what you’re going to have to cover this 6’4 219lb wide receiver as he go runs go routes and catches 50/50 balls that are now going to become 8020 balls i think like that’s the logic there is like instead of single coverage being deterred by speed it’s going to be deterred by size so now you need a safety to double team him similar to how Julio Jones got double teamed right like so I see a lot of AJ Green there uh somebody randomly brought this up to me on social media and I was like “Huh I’d never thought about that.” But then I went back and watched the film and I’m like “Oh my gosh I totally see it.” Like the game comes so easy for him as far as catching the ball getting space he’s not fast he’s kind of deceptively quick i love kind of what he does in space but also I love what he kind of does in a crowd he’s got kind of like a Gumby like ability yeah there’s a play I’m trying to remember what college it was against but there’s a play where he catches the ball literally pivots around three guys and then picks up like another 20 yards like he is a basketball player playing football in a lot of ways um which AJ Green I think a lot of people would compare that as a prospect um I’ve been talking to people around the team and something that wasn’t really brought up in his draft profile was his intelligence and from what I understand he is really engaged in meeting rooms he is asking a lot of really good questions he’s very mature um I know that video is out from when he was like a lot younger but I I think he so far he has passed the test as far as maturity and flying color since he’s been in the building and listen it’s it’s June like stuff can change we all know that Deontay Johnson was getting along with everybody and and and a good teammate by and large by July and August um so like what I would say is I think he fits kind of what Dave Canales wants from a personality standpoint he fits what he wants from a from a um intangible standpoint and I think look the way the wide receiver market is going like we just I just saw a report that the Patriots offered Chris Godwin $30 million a year $30 million for Chris Godwin are we like for real like off an injury yeah off of injury like I mean T higgins again another guy who I think is better off as a number two wide receiver he is more valuable to the Bengals than he would be to another team when you look at stuff like that and everybody’s trying to build their Chase Higgins Brown Smith uh Iayuk Samuel like sort of wide receiver duo doing it on the cheap is a lot easier especially when you know you’re going to potentially have to pay a quarterback contract down the road you’re going to have to continue to build this team and I think 2026 is a very big year for the Panthers 2025 is big too but I think 2026 is no excuses just win make I mean make a run right no I I I I don’t disagree but I personally had a two-year mark on it just cuz I’ve we see so many teams turn things around fast and it’s not always realistic per se you have to have the right people in the right place you kind of got to get lucky as well there’s a lot of things that have to go well and that’s not even talking about health um which is usually the biggest factor in terms of the NFL and making a deep run um but I guess you you and I and I and I watched the um uh the your your podcast and you and uh Alex go went through the schedule and I think your prediction was what 710 or six and 11 he had seven and 10 i had eight and nine okay and and go ahead yeah oh no what I would say to you is I think the Panthers look at this as they want to contend for years like several years as opposed to being like the Dolphins or um I’m trying to think of another example or the Giants where they got to the playoffs everybody was stoked and then they immediately had a drop off because guys left or they had regression or they lost a coordinator or what have I think this team is building long term and I think when you look at the Bengals that was I mean just out of necessity they have built long term i think when you look at um a team like the Chargers they tried to build long term it didn’t work out they get a better coach and now they they’re a little bit better like I I think there are two ways of going about it there’s having that instant gratification where you kind of overload and get lucky or you’re building so that you can not rebuild in the next two or three years because as much as I think people would be really stoked by 10 and six 10 and seven year here if the followup was six and 11 well then what was 10 and seven about and you just lost maybe the first round of the playoffs right like so I think it’s about the end goal I think it’s about building a long-term competitor whether they’re going to do that or whether they’re right is a whole other story yeah i personally me being a fan for so long and being starved of any type of success or significant football in January or December outside of the magical Steve Wils run I would take 10 and seven all I would take a Super Bowl this year and we’ll be bad for the next 30 years just personally what you say that but having covered the Eagles I know that people say that in the moment and then it’s like oh wait but now they’re seven and seven and 10 a year later or four and you know like I I get it man look there are no excuses this year if they are not in contention for the division this year then something is drastically wrong and I’m not saying don’t have hopes for the playoffs i just don’t know that they are going to make the surge that they that everybody is asking for listen if they go if they go uh nine and eight and somehow get that last wild card spot or win the division this is probably a nine- win division as it always is i mean I think that that would be great but I think their end goal I think if you ask anybody in the building making getting nine wins is not what they want long term they want to be a an 11 12 win team for years to come and in order to do that they’ve kind of paced out the way that they’re spending the way they’re allocating resources listen I don’t blame any fan for wanting to win now you guys have dealt with seven years of this I get it man i get it i’ve perfected the the losing lead in a in a story i understand um and I also was there in Jacksonville when they came off a basically a decade of losing and then went to an AFC Championship game i know how electric that can make a city i know you know a market like this could really benefit from a winner i also just covered the the Savannah Bananas and they packed that place with 74,000 each night and that was the best I best attendance I’ve ever seen since covering the Panthers so uh I know that there is a love and an interest in in this city i think Panthers fans get a tough rap um but and you guys deserve a winner but I I’d also say long term I think what they’re trying to accomplish makes sense yeah i mean I guess my question in terms of what do you think is I guess it’s twofold i’ll ask it in two parts because you were I mean I guess you were kind of you left I don’t know if you were covering Philly Steel around 2022 i’m looking at your LinkedIn just FYI to live uh so I got here 10 days before Matt Rule got fired okay all right so I’m just kind of thinking about the the trajectory and just in terms of comparing Bryce to Jaylen because I know you’re that 2022 season was really like when he absolutely took off there were big question marks about him coming into that year and he absolutely I mean obviously they they did a lot more roster-wise but there were just big questions about him coming in and he was an MVP candidate he really stamped himself it got them paid and that’s kind of what set them up to hey go all in um I’m wondering like just the vibes that you feel obviously they won the Super Bowl so it’s kind of a hard stretch but just the vibes of like what do you think a a Bryce Young big year could do for this team could it could it accelerate the timeline of what you’re talking about um in terms of just when how they compete or how the team feels in terms of even in terms of during the season if they made an aggressive trade or signed somebody off the street or something do you think it alters their timeline if something like that was to happen or do you think they’re kind of just going to be fairly disciplined like they say they’re going to be well I think with Jaylen the situation was a little different they had kind of a readybuilt roster for the most part in that 2022 season um obviously uh so I covered his first two years i covered his rookie year and then his first year with Sirani when they were like rebuilding and they still made the playoffs um another you know situation where it was a quick turnaround but most of the co year was a lot of injuries and and Doug Peterson kind of losing the locker room in a sense um I think that a common trait that both guys have is they can lead anyone and I think that that is really important beyond that I don’t think they’re comparable players uh I think Bryce if you Well here’s a comparison if you take Bryce’s rookie year off the table I know you can’t do that as somebody whatever i think his final stretch last year kind of compared to Herz’s final stretch of his second year in that it wasn’t great it was very good and it was very encouraging he has not arrived he has not I don’t think you can say he’s earned anything other than to be the QB1 right right uh I wouldn’t put him in any top 15 list i wouldn’t do any of that stuff that said when you have a little bit of success in this league as a quarterback it can propel you significantly i think there’s an argument to be made that he didn’t have a lot of weapons around him the same could be said about Jaylen Herz um you know that rookie year he had Devonte Smith Dallas Goddard and no one else um and so I I think you know having McMillan having uh Legette maybe mature and healthy and you know I mean mature as a player not like as a his talent wise I’m not saying that he was sorry I don’t want that to be miscon um and having Thelen and having Jatavian Sanders whose game is maturing I mean he looks terrific I’ll tell you last year I didn’t think he looked like he was in terrific football shape this year he looks fantastic i say that myself he looked a little soft in the midsection that’s kind of how I judge athletes and I think that’s kind of why he fell in the draft his combine performance wasn’t the best and his athleticism just didn’t translate like I thought it would from what we saw at Texas but I’m glad to see that what you’re saying and how he looks and the movement that’s the number one thing I wanted from him just naturally coming into your body and just making those changes yeah I think he I think he Legette I think you’re seeing a lot of uh player professionalism maturity there um because Legette looks bigger he looks like he’s in terrific shape and I think having some of these weapons having an offensive line that’s returning every guy’s back and then some i think if there’s stability at center too I think that’ll help him a lot i think he has to do what he did those final five or six games throughout the season to really kind of reach that next echelon but I think it’s in him like I’m not running away from this i’m big on accountability as you know Aaron we’ve talked about it before i remember breaking down CJ Strad and Bryce Young during the draft and I naturally gravitate towards CJ Strad because I’m a pocket passer guy carson Palmer is my favorite quarterback prospect of all time that’s who CJ Stra reminded me of okay um but I completely understood why the Panthers took Bryce because he was the most dynamic on film as a college prospect and if anybody wants to dispute that I would love to watch film with them he was significantly more dynamic i think CJ was a significantly better passer more accurate but I think if you’re just doing it based on film and not necessarily projection I think Bryce was more dynamic and I totally understood that decision now that said so far CJ Stout has outperformed him exponentially i think if if Bryce is set up better as with any quarterback I think he can have some more success i also think it might help if he’s not having to put up 30 points a game every single game that’s like the thing is like I don’t think people realize how much that weighs on somebody like in p in in baseball when you have a pitcher and he is just he’s got like a 2.1 erra but his team can only score two runs a game he’s going to have more losses than he’s going to have wins that’s just like the reality of the situation and I think Bryce has been kind of put in that situation to kind of stress on every drive and I think if we saw him kind of you know I think Atlanta the finale was the best performance of his career um but I think a close second was Green Bay uh his rookie year and I think you’ll see more of that the more that he gets an opportunity to be a little bit more chill those games were shootouts yeah yeah and and I I I would agree i think Green Bay was more so of like what you what the Bryce Young we know from college like buying time being creative getting outside the pocket the Atlanta one was like “Okay this is the element of his game that he has in terms of just using his legs to hold defenses accountable um when they try to run man coverage because they have confidence in the lack of weapons that we had and just really making them pay on the ground and through the air and which we saw down the stretch against the Cardinals um the Giants game it really came out as well i think that’s the element that really shine and I think the next level that he can go to to continue to press that button not necessarily be somebody that I mean Philly kind of spied him a few times but nobody really accounts for him in the run game so he can make them pay when the opportunity is there and just not being hesitant to do that um real quick before we’ll do one more question before we just do a quick rapid fire and wrap up um your thoughts about why this year the team may not be able to I’m assuming it’s the defense so I guess what are your thoughts in terms of that because I know you’ve been on record talking about a veroa not really leaning into young guys but there’s a lot of young guys now and with the exit of Javian I mean Javian Clowney we’re going to have to probably lean on these guys and kind of on the blueprint we heard their idea for uh Scoutton and um Princeley is going to be probably behind Wanom and uh and Jones to start out with but what are your expectations for the defense as a whole and like what kind of impact do you think those edge those young edge guys have early on and just in general throughout the year yeah let me let me go into the young guys thing real quick because I think I’ve been taken out of context by other people and just based on what I’ve seen i get text messages all the time and I’m like I didn’t actually say that like I’ve seen people say like Mike K said that he doesn’t like rookies or he doesn’t like starting rookies period no he has just not been quick to start them in seasons typically he’s had um if you look at you know with Bradley Chub he had Rand Randy Gregory and uh who was the guy they traded to Miami um Bradley Chub bradley Chub right so like so you know they’re not playing Nick um Bonito right away right like so I think with the Panthers so far that he’s had you know Trevan Wallace Jamie Robinson um Shaw Smith Wade right like those guys were later round picks for the most part and they had guys in front of them and so I think that’s part of the issue they don’t have that issue this year nick Scorton and Princeley Mean should be rotating with each other uh I think you could look at Scorton as more of like the parallel to uh Pat Jones and I think you can look at Princeley as more of the DJ Watom of the two i think most defenses you want a speed guy and you want just a a combo guy you don’t want a dude who’s too like I mean there’s DJ Johnson who’s specifically there to stood the edge he has no pass rush whatsoever but I think when you look at DJ Wanom he’s more of your weak side edge rusher so is Princeley i think you look at Scorton and and Pat Jones they’re guys you can move inside outside one of the most impressive things that I heard from Nick when he got drafted was that he watches a lot of Brandon Graham film and if you know anything about Brandon Graham Brandon Graham is a guy who could be used basically everywhere he’s a guy who’s not going to give you 10 sacks a year typically but he is so important from a versatility standpoint from a pre- snap standpoint um and he’s an exceptional run defender that draft pick to me showed a lot of maturity forward thinking nick Hordon’s 20 years old uh he’s growing into his body he’s just lost 28 pounds uh he had great production at Purdue pretty good production at Texas A&M he by he by and large is a studier of the game he’s a student of the game i think he’s going to go down as the best draft pick of the last three years you can put me on record there uh better more important than McMillan more important maybe even I mean if Bryce works out Price works out but like but I think from the standpoint of value from the standpoint of age from the standpoint of long term I think Scorton is a guy who can immediately give you something in the run game I think Princeley you a lot of fans want a Josh Sweat well they got Josh Sweat only four years younger and um he’s tremendous I I think Princeley is going to be an immediate contributor as a pass rushing specialist he can stop the run i don’t know that I’d put him out there on early downs i just think he pin his ears back like you remember like how they used Maris Haynes like for most of his career that’s how I would use him as a rookie i’m the long-term outlook is Princeley and and W Princley and Scorton starting opposite each other but I think from a rookie standpoint you want to lean on Watam he’s in the final year of his deal you want to see what he can do he’s healthy now well for the most part he has that back flare up um and then Pat Jones they were really excited about before the draft um I’m pretty sure they’re still excited about him he’s a guy who’s going to move around a lot too i think you’ve got like a pretty cool night like upside top four there um I wouldn’t be surprised if Princeley and and Scorch had five sacks a piece which I think would be great a great outcome if if you can combine those two for 10 i think I think that feels pretty good and then you got Pat Jones and Juan out there early um setting the tone but I would not be shocked if Princeley and Swordon are starters by the end of the year does the defense is that the reason why you think the team doesn’t go to where I guess like a division title or whatever to make take that huge step is that the kind of your biggest hiccup i think there’s just so much change that it’s hard to project we also saw how important Derek Brown was and we don’t know what Derrick Brown’s going to look like after meniscus surgery uh I’m getting I’m hearing rave reviews about Turk Wharton who I in my opinion should probably just be a rotational pass rusher um and I think that’s initially what he will do um I think they’re a lot more confident in him as a run defender than I am because if I were an opposing offense I would just run at him every single time i mean he’s like 61 280 um especially if they’re in a in an oddman front yeah um Bobby Brown though if Bobby Brown works out I’m just telling you guys the nose tackle is here to stay in a very big way i think they are really high on him i think the Cam Jackson pickup was great but again you’re going from historically bad run defense historically bad scoring defense to saying “Hey here’s a bunch of new pieces right?” I think they are a little light at corner um I think their safety plan will surprise some people and I don’t want to give up too much there but I would say they’re going to use Merrick in a lot of different ways i think they’re really high on Lean Ransom uh Demani Richardson’s going to get a shot um and I think they’ll be patient with the secondary depth uh a little bit more than I probably expected probably after the draft but yeah for sure um look I think it’s just like a you know I wouldn’t be stunned if they won 10 games i think if you’re predicting somebody a team to win eight games you you have like kind of a sphere of six to 10 right like I think you give or take two maybe they’ll surprise us honestly you know I was pretty high on the Frank Reich Panthers and I was wrong so maybe I’m wrong again who knows that’s funny yeah I’m the the gamble on the secondary is interesting maybe they use this the front to try to play front to back um it’s a good way to go i know if Arrow talked about getting knocked back in the run game is their biggest thing versus whatever they were doing which is whatever the opposite of knockback is um last year against the run but uh yeah I’m I’m curious i I think nine eight or nine wins is is fair i think I agree i think nine gets the division i think there’s question marks pretty much everywhere except Tampa i mean if you want to throw a question mark at Tampa this is their third coordinator it it can’t fourth fourth it can’t keep it can’t keep working out i mean grant they have the talent of course but it just can’t keep working out where their offense I mean and sometimes it was a struggle i mean Canalis it was a struggle for them at times as well and they figured it out eventually because this division is just that bad that you have time to reinvent yourself during the season to still make things happen it’s a long year um but I think but I think I think sorry to cut you off but I think the key to this division is winning division games if you can win division games and you can beat the teams that you’re expected to beat you will have at least eight to nine wins i think you know a lot’s going to be made of the schedule about the road trips but these road trips are against teams that have just as many questions as the Panthers and if they can steal a couple I think they’re going to be in really good shape heading into the second second half yeah and they play the right teams at the right time of year in terms of weather and climate too so uh final thing is Jier Alexander the news came out today he’s a local guy you know the connections are there i have my thoughts about him that may not be that agree with most fans um he What do you think about the potential of Matt do you think that’s a realistic option for them um obviously him being a free agent makes him a lot more attractive than trading for a guy that’s only played 14 games in two years was getting a huge contract but for all intents and purposes according to PFF at least if you’re into that if he’s on the field he was a top 10 quarter rated by them funny how they ding JC Horn for being injured but not Jer Alexander another whatever but final thoughts on that do you think Jire is an realistic option i think it’s going to come down to price i think playing 34 games in four years is a really tough sell especially for this group i think you’ve noticed that in how they’ve done their signings i think DJ Wam and Jonathan Brooks were lessons um in handling injuries but also uh projecting injuries um I you know they just paid JC who in my opinion is the sum 41 of corners does not get enough credit for what he does musically does not does not get uh enough credit for his leadership does not get enough credit for um his ability to make big plays um does a lot of things away from the ball some I mean some 41 does everything away from the ball they’re not play but um I think that JC C needs to be the guy in a room i think it’s time i think Derek Brown this is Dererick Brown JC’s defense that’s what it is and I think adding Alexander in a one-year deal that’s probably structured in a way that it’s like heavily incentivized when you just paid Mike Jack i I just look Mike Jack’s going to regress that’s I mean he literally played at the most optimum level you possibly could that said he played all 17 as well he he’s probably an average number two corner at best right like if we’re if we’re being like 100 on that one i mean I think like I agree he’s But here’s what I will tell you here’s what I will tell you shaw Smith Wade is getting raved reviews like rave reviews behind the scenes um they love what he’s doing in the film room uh every time we’ve been out there I mean I guess it’s only two times but he has made a play yeah um I think watch out for him as a blitzer this year because I think Merrick gives you coverage in a way that he can kind of move around and and be available pre- snap i also think you’re going to see some different wrinkles from the defensive front that open up spacing uh I’ll leave that at that but uh I’m sure you can figure that out as a film guy and I would say too like I think they I wrote this in in the Access Panthers newsletter sign up for it for free on charlabs observers.com i think they like their quarterback group a lot more than anyone else does for better or worse like I do think they really like a Caleb Evans okay um which Okay cool um Shamar Bartholomew another guy that they’ve really liked uh Cory Thornton’s a guy I saw at the East West Shrine game he’s getting pretty positive reviews as well um and I think some of these free agent corners and safeties they just want a ton of money and are not like kind of realizing hey it’s you know almost you know it’s mandatory mini camp week and you’re not signed like there’s a reason uh so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle the secondary um I don’t foresee Alexander or Jaylen Ramsey for that same reason i expect them to be patient um I think rollover cap’s going to be huge in 2026 i know that’s not something fans want to hear but that’s kind of what this podcast is about right just the truth um and look I covered Jaylen Ramsey the first few years of his career uh he is exceptional and frankly his star tape at FSU is the best film I’ve ever seen of a player of a defensive player ever that’s not hyperbole go back and look i remember at one point asking a former teammate of him like “Yo we’ve got to talk about the Star Tape why did he move a corner?” and he just moved a corner because like basically they had no one because I think uh LaMarcus Joiner went to the pros and it was just like basically him um I think he could help this secondary in a lot of different ways but he’s also plus 30 his contract if you trade for it immediately becomes guaranteed based on like purpose and even if the Dolphins are willing to pay some money for it it’s like you know are you just going to do this for a year like how what’s the long-term plan here and again I think it’s really important that JC Horn is is kind of the voice of that secondary with I think they’re going to try to make Merrick Brown um and Horn kind of like the pillars of the defense um if Bobby Brown or Scorton immediately works out maybe those two guys are interchangeable there too but I I I do think they like the youth movement they like where they’re at capwise and I think they like where they’re at trajectory wise okay well I’m it’s good to hear about Shaw he was probably my biggest question mark switching to Nickel is not easy and I think just seeing what the the Cooper De move did for the Eagles defense last year just him actually moving inside just shows me the importance of the nickel position in this system being used as a linebacker in the box and being able to hold up but Deian’s 200 plus pounds shaw Smith Wade is not that being used as a blitzer and coverage just the toughness on the outside in the perimeter especially with as much nickel as we play and just the NFL in general it’s a key position it’s almost a starter at this point so you I mean I think it’s the hardest position to play on defense really yeah and here’s what I’ll I’ll leave you with this Nugget i think they’re going to platoon Nickel i don’t think that Nickel will be a solely Shaw Smith Wade sort of equation thinking Richardson rotating probably uh think heftier paycheck JC come on i’ll give you one more is he off the streets oh Mo yeah gonna be the uh I think he’s gonna you’ll you’ll see him kind of move around the secondary okay um I think they’re going to be very very versatile in the way they use personnel would be my guess yeah I’m I’m I have a video coming out soon about the front and the different combinations they can use just because I like the I like the skills that the guys have the inside out ability for a lot of the guys um just the things they they can get creative with but you said it’s a lot of moving parts we’ll see how long it takes for them to click um obviously the seat is hot with Ajiro but it is what it is you guys make sure you sign up for the Charlotte Observer the what is it access Panthers newsletter yeah the access that one’s free and then we’re running a sale right now $1.99 per month for six months uh just click on one of my articles subscribe um I don’t know you know not to toot my own horn but I don’t know that anybody goes into football detail the way we do when we cover training camp and I know you guys can’t be out there but if you’re looking for a way to view it through a beatw writer’s eyes we’re we’re going to have you covered alex Utllo Scott Fowler myself have a lot of good video a lot of good stuff you can see my ex handle right there you can follow me on Blue Sky i’m on there as well um and come interact with us i I like to chat and talk ball with pretty much anyone’s no offense to Alex and Scott but you are the reason why I actually am a Charlotte Observer subscriber and I haven’t been for years but I did I think in January of this year i think you guys had a special going on or something like that before the offseason so uh I went ahead and That means a lot to me thank you yeah and then and of course I’m on the Access Panthers newsletter as well but yeah you guys know where Mike is located here at the bottom in the details we once again appreciate Mike for taking the time to come by the channel uh big big big time respect for you i appreciate you tuning in all right guys we’re out of here

The Carolina Panthers are in the final stretch of their offseason as they are preparing to head into Mandatory Minicamp