Chris, what’s ideal for you, like 3 to 5 inches, 36? I’m thinking about the snow this coming weekend. I, I mean, I, I enjoy getting outside and sledding in those. I’m just kind of curious what is like ideal for you this coming weekend. I’d, you know what, I’d prefer no inches, um, you know, because I’m a tropical person, so I, I don’t want to see, uh, any white dust on the ground. OK, that’s fair. That’s totally understandable. I’m built for the snow, let’s just say that. I’m built for it. Can the Panthers and Dan Morgan stack up like snow this offseason? Let’s get this sucker started. Get dialed in, Panthers fans. Here comes an in-depth look at your team. Exclusive interviews, locker room insight. Let’s huddle up for Panthers Playbook presented by Wake Orthopedics, a WakeMed physician practice. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of Panthers Playbook. That’s Chris Lee. Dennis Cox here with you. Panthers Playbook sponsored by Wake Orthopedics. Folks, not only. This guy, what, who, what, this guy, who, me? Who, me? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Uh, folks, uh, not only do we want you to subscribe if you haven’t already, thanks to everyone who has, but please subscribe if you haven’t already. Hit that like button, hit that hype button, but most importantly, I want to know, Chris and I, we both want to know, what are you most excited about this Panthers franchise moving forward? What has you excited? What has you optimistic about this team taking it to an even higher level in the 2026 season? What part of the team takes you there? Um, and Chris, one of the things that you and I have Talked about that I know I’m definitely excited about is just what Dan Morgan has done the last couple of offseasons in terms of rebuilding this team. And, and Dave Canal is obviously being a big part of that as well. He definitely has his hands on the roster as well. So it was announced back on Tuesday. That Joe Brady, the offensive coordinator for the Bills, is being promoted to head coach. And I, I tweeted this out on Tuesday and it’s gotten, you know, at the moment of this recording, nearly 400,000 views, uh, which I thought was just kind of bonkers. Because I said, the Carolina Panthers at one time had Joe Brady as offensive coordinator with Sam Darnold, DJ Moore, and Christian McCaffrey, and it wasn’t. That long ago. Woo. It was not that long. It was 2021. Now, I understand that, yeah, woo. There were, you know, Chris McCaffrey had the injuries and there’s all kinds of stuff and then obviously, Matt Rhule thought, you know, Joe Brady was throwing the ball too much, whatever it was. So fired him, the, the whole thing. We all, we all know what happened. We’re not here to rehash the past. But the one thing that has, you know, I know you and I have talked about when it comes to Dan Morgan and, in terms of what he’s done with this roster and Dave Canal is again part of that too, is that the culture that they built is so different than it was just a short time ago. Like it really was. That culture under Matt Rhule, Scott Federer, it was a complete and total mess over there at Bank of America. Yeah, it was. It was one of those, it was one of those teams that was very hard to cover because, uh, I, I made a reference to this a couple of weeks ago when the seasons were over. The guys were ready for it to be over as well, you know, they were just like, you know, basically thank God this is over. I can go enjoy my time in Cancun at this point, uh, because they were just kind of over it. They were sick of it, and it really shows how far a bad hire can really set you back. That was the first hire of the David Tepper era, and it’s not like, you know, hey, the, the 2020 and 2021 Carolina Panthers, it’s not like they were the most talented teams out there. But they had some talent on those teams. They had some pieces on those teams with the right hire. Somebody could have taken that 2020 team and snowballed it into possibly, you know, making the playoffs, backing their way in the playoffs in 2021, and maybe even have a little bit more legitimate team in 2022, uh, even without having a solid quarterback or investing in Sam Darnold the right way, um, and maybe we don’t have to see what he’s doing now being in the Super Bowl, but, you know, the tweet comes from, you know, me and you had a, a quick text conversation and I mean, all that’s true if you look at all of these players who are so, um, you know, with the, with the Carolina Panthers, they are so, uh, successful right now at other places, and we’re not even talking about defense with Brian Burns and Hassan Reddick on that same 2021 team, you know like, Derrek Brown, like, you know, Derrick Lewis Frankie Lou. That’s crazy. There are pieces on that team that are doing well for other places, and with the right coaches, with the right culture, um, things could have looked a lot different here, uh, in Charlotte, and now we’re just a few years behind. Yeah, that’s really it. I know you and I had talked to, towards the end of the 2023 season or even right after about just how that roster was constructed in terms of how long it’s gonna take to rebuild this thing. And I think you and I said 2025 at the earliest 2026 was really the time of when it’s gonna take to turn this roster over because, because of the sins of the past, this Panthers team, if you remember in 2023, they were pressed up to the salary cap. They were old, and they weren’t talented. Which is like hell for an NFL team. It’s like, wait, we’re old, we’re up against the salary cap, and we’re not that good. That’s a terrible place to start. That’s a terrible place to begin. We had, we saw Dan Morgan had to make some tough decisions. Remember guys like Von Bell getting released, Hayden Hurst, some of these other. Guys all getting let go, took these massive cap hits in 2024, but he had to do it in order to get guys out that he needed to get out. I’m not saying that those guys were bad people or anything along those lines, but they just didn’t fit the future of what this team needed to be. So they had to eat it. And they really had to eat it, and heck, even the 2025 draft, you were still paying on the mortgage of the trade up for Bryce Young. Like that was the thing, you’re still paying on that. So now that they’re finally getting clear of it, finally getting clear of it, we can really see the, the, we can really start to see the finished product, not quite the finished product, but we can see Dan Morgan really start to add the pieces that I think that he really wants to this offseason, whether it’s obviously in the draft, free agency. How does he create room and flexibility? Does a guy like Ayshaun Robinson get cut? Does a guy like Tommy Trimble get cut because of cap casualty in order to create space to fill other needs? And you’re picking number 19 as well. There are a lot of big-time decisions this offseason, Chris, but, again, we’ve talked about it before, Chris, that Dan Morgan and Dave Canales, that they have a vision and there’s a long-term plan here. Yeah, and I think along with that to continue on that to add on to this, um, I do think that Dave Canales should really consider some extra voices, um, that prop up his message, right? Like you don’t want a 2023 situation where you have guys who are kind of have their own agendas going on and they don’t really align with where the head coach wants to go. You don’t want that. But you do want some new ideas, and that is the one thing that I am a little bit worried about. Like, I know the new players are gonna come in, right? There’s clearly gonna be a draft. There’s clearly gonna be some free agents coming in. Uh, there’s gonna be some guys who aren’t gonna be re-signed, which is gonna leave room for other guys to step up or other guys to be signed, things like that. Um, but in the coaching, in the coaching rooms, and Uh, as these guys are getting, uh, coached up individually and schematically, things like that, bringing new ideas, uh, to the table, I’m wondering where that’s coming from. Um, I’m friends with Jennifer King. She was, uh, the first African-American, uh, female coach in the NFL. She started off, I’ve, I’ve known her since college, um, since like 2005 or 2006. Um, she went to, uh, I, I believe, uh, Guilford College here in, in, well, over in Greensboro while I was at UNCG. I remember when she got her internship uh with the Carolina Panthers, um, for that one summer with Ron Rivera, then Ron eventually took her to Washington and she eventually got the job with Chicago. And I remember talking to her one time over a summer. And I was like, what is your input, you know what I’m saying, during, uh, the year. And she said, you know, um, a lot of times, like, you know, in the offensive staff rooms, and you probably know this as a coach as well, um, we’ll go over what our base is, what our base plays are, but then how do we get little wrinkles out of this? What are some new ideas? And she was like, I’m, I feel proud that I’ve been able to Implement new ideas with Washington and with the Bears in this past year with North Carolina Central, uh, when she was an assistant coach on, on that team, and, uh, to say like, hey, and let’s, let’s run this, or I like this blocking scheme to get this person open or whatever. And I, I think the Panthers need a little bit more of that, uh, because I’m worried. That even with new pieces that what Dave Canales has going on is gonna get too predictable, if that makes sense, um, uh, because like, I, I, it, it feels to me that’s one of the reasons why, uh, towards the end of the year and into the playoffs, it maybe was a little bit harder to catch teams their guard. Now people know. Who the Carolina Panthers are now people know what the Carolina Panthers are capable of. So you’re not gonna catch people off guard next year, not at all. So what are some new wrinkles? What are some new voices? What are some new ideas that can be implemented during this year? And I also think that could help with the culture. Yeah, I agree. I, I think also when it comes to the offensive side of things in terms of that evolution is that. What’s the piece that you add that can help unlock part of the offense? You and I have talked about maybe there, I mean, if Dan Morgan himself has even said it. He said it on our airwaves on 99.9 The Fan. He said it that they need to find somebody on offense that could take a five-yard catch. And turn it into a 50-yard game. That, that they need to have someone that can be that consistent threat. They need someone that can be that on a play in and playoff basis where defenses have to go, maybe 2, maybe 2, and I’m OK with that. But where you got to watch out for that guy, not just, OK, we know what Tedero McMillan could do, but if you let this guy sneak out underneath and you give him a lot of space, he’s gone. And that’s the, that’s so, it’s, it’s another threat that you have to worry about. And layers of your offense as well. So I think that’s something that might unlock Dave Canales, but also I wonder as well is that I’ve, I’ve heard coaches and I even heard, um, It was Peyton Manning that said this, is that. Sometimes offensively with coaches, and I was guilty of this when I was coaching lacrosse, is that sometimes you can get a little bored. Cause like the boring stuff is working, so you get a little bit bored and then all of a sudden you’re like, well, what if I try this, or what about this? You start creating all this crazy stuff in your mind, and then all of a sudden you’re like Completely out of whack as an offense because you didn’t stick to the boring stuff that was working, you know, so sometimes it’s good to have, again, the mundane things be your base stuff. And if teams keep giving you that, then obviously take it. But sometimes that little boring play when you have just the right playmaker, all of a sudden that, hey, that little just five-yard stick route turns into a 27 yard game. And all of a sudden you’re in like plus territory, you’re in the red zone. Now you’re in striking distance, you have the, the other, your opponent on their heels. That’s a personnel thing. And that’s where I’m wondering if what Dave Canales and Dan Morgan are gonna do this offseason in terms of approaching that because there are still needs on off, on, on offense, Chris, but there’s some major needs on defense too. Let’s circle this back around. OK? Yes, there were injuries. They had that in 2021. You know Christian McCaffrey, Christian McCaffrey, I would even say DJ Moore. I mean, he’s the type of guy who can take, you know, a screen pass and take it 50 yards, you know what I’m saying? Like he’s, he, when he gets the ball in his hands, uh, he runs it like a running back. Um, he’s a, he’s a free agent coming up too, right? He might be actually. I wouldn’t mind a reunion. Yeah, bring them, bring them home, you know. Come home. Actually I’ll look and see who’s wearing 12 this past year. 12 might be open. Because I know he can’t, he can’t wear 2 because that’s, that’s Mike Jackson. But we can give him the old school 12. Anyway, I digress. I, I just wanted to throw that out there. You’re looking at the roster, yeah, and he’s not, he’s not a free agent though. Oh, OK. All right. Now, Zakia is from Chicago is a free agent. OK, well, maybe we can wait another year for DJ. Yeah, Bring him home either way. Bring him home either way. But I, I, I, I wonder again what the approach is gonna be this offseason. This is where Dan Morgan has to be tactful as well about the approach because. There’s still a, a need at edge rusher, which is a premium position. I think there’s still a need to add to that group to go with Skorton and new Mami Ellen and Pat Jones. I think they, that there needs to be an addition there. Someone that could be a true get to the quarterback threat on a, on like on a down by down basis. Off-ball linebacker is a big need, but also the injury with Ike Awanu makes tackle a big-time need as well. So if you address the, let’s say you address those three positions, your 1st 3 picks of the draft, because again, those are high need. What do you do now, offensive weapon? Are you going 4th round? or are you just trying to give Jimmy Horn Jr more reps? Are you going the free agent route? Like what, there’s a lot of, I, I think the Ike Awanu injury really changes the offseason formula for Dan Morgan. I think it really does because you do have Taylor Moten at right tackle who is getting older. I know he’s got, he signed an extension, but You also have to look at what you think Ike Awanu can be as a left tackle long term so that you might go after a, a starting left tackle at number 19 if you feel like he’s there in the draft. That might be what you do. And I, I, I don’t hate that decision if that’s the case. I think it really means that you don’t have any draft picks to waste because you know, you want to be in a situation where all of your draft picks next year are contributing in some form or fashion. You would love it if all the draft picks, or at least 90% of them, are on the 53 man roster, uh, when you start the 2026 season. You would also hope that maybe you hit on a couple of undrafted free agent guys as well, um, like you did, you know, with, uh, uh, Jalen Coker and like you did with Demani Richardson at one point, you know, you’ve had a few guys. I’m sorry, Corey Thornton and Corey Thornton, like you’ve had some guys that were able to come in and contribute, uh, from that. And I think this year, this might be Dan Morgan’s most important draft because again, you talked about it before, you’d be disappointed if they don’t get at least 10 wins. And you know, if they’re, if I mean right now 8 and 9 is literally the baseline and you’re gonna have a little bit tougher of a schedule next year based off of, you know, the finish from this year and, uh, you’re gonna have teams that again will have a full year of good Carolina Panthers football to dissect and look at. So what curveballs are you gonna be able to throw at them. And how are you gonna be able to kind of use that high tide to, you know, raise all ships in this type of situation. Uh, this is gonna be a very important offseason for the Carolina Panthers, and it, it really could be to go back to, um, the water, uh, analogy, it really could be sink or swim for them at this point. Like this offseason could determine whether or not Dave Canales and Dan Morgan eventually get fired in a year or two. And I’m not speaking out into existence. I’m not saying I want that to happen at all. I don’t want that to happen. I like what’s going on with the Carolina Panthers, but just looking at what’s real about the situation, um, you know, there’s, there’s a lot to massage here. There’s a lot to maneuver here. You don’t have as much room on, on the cap, um, and now you also have to keep this year in mind because you’re gonna have to make a decision on Bryce Young and whether or not you’re gonna really sign him to an extension. There’s so much riding pretty much on this offseason in 2026. This will determine a lot for the future of the Carolina Panthers. So let’s go back to where we started this at 2021. Is this going to be one of those inflection points where we’re gonna look at and say, well, they squandered it all and In 5 years, Tedderoy McMillan is balling on the Rams and Bryce Young is, you know, somewhere looking really good, like maybe in Arizona or whatever, and, uh, you know, Chuba Hubbard is getting it done in, in Buffalo because that’s where all old Panthers go to die. So, like, you know, we’ll, we’ll have to see, we’ll have to see what ends up happening, you know. So, uh, this is gonna be a very important year. Yeah, I, I, I think you actually, you bring up a really, really good point is that this 2026 season. It’s going to determine a lot again about future because like you mentioned, there’s the Bryce Young of it all. If, if he has a fantastic season, now you’re talking to a big-time contract extension, which, uh, that kind of money impacts what you can do on the rest of your roster. This is the reason why we always talk about quarterbacks needing to. To elevate guys around him like you’re gonna get paid this much money right now. Well, you know, you don’t have a defense because you, you paid a lot of money to your quarterback and to two wide receivers and guess what, you can’t stop anybody. You blaming Josh, Josh Allen for, for falling flat in the playoffs. But there’s pieces that the Bills are missing because Josh Allen’s getting paid what, $56 million? Something like that, getting paid a bunch. That’s a lot of money for other pieces that could help you get to the Super Bowl. I’m just saying, this is why you have to draft well. This is why you have to draft well and you have to pay the right guys. You have to draft really well and pay the right guys. Like, yeah, you, you to get the nail on the head, Chris, because if this draft falls flat, now, the 2025 class for the Panthers rookie season, like, Hell of a rookie season, like hell of a rookie year. Can you continue to elevate your play as you get older? In 2026, you gotta stack it on top, because if you, if you, if you flop this draft. It can set you back. Like you said, Dan Morgan can’t miss. It’s a great point. Dan Morgan can’t miss. By the way, they have, uh, their own 1st, their own 2nd, their own 3rd, their own 4th. They have Minnesota’s 5th, they have their own 5th-rounder, and they have their own 6th. So they still have 7 picks. In this draft, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 2, 5ths, and the 6th, wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some trading back at certain parts, um, of the draft there to get more, you know, more draft capital, um, because, you know, listen, the, the youth movement so far is, has definitely been working out, and I, I believe in, you know, what I was just saying a few minutes ago, I’m just kind of putting out there how important it is. I do believe in the direction of the Carolina Panthers right now, uh, so I do believe that things like this will pay off, but Man, like, if you look up in, in, you know, 3 seasons, this is a really young team where a lot of the draft, uh, you know, has hit. Draft picks have hit. You have minimal, um, you know, big free agent contracts, uh, coming in. I mean, kind of like the way the Green Bay Packers kind of have been for a while. Like Green Bay really hits on their draft picks and so they’re able to like take the, the big money and spend, uh, in areas where they need it like quarterback or whatever. Now it hasn’t fully paid off for them as far as deep runs, but they’re In the playoffs, a lot, you know, they have a really good head, head, head, head, a really good head coach. Oh my God, I can’t talk. And, um, you know, to me, uh, I feel like he’s a good head coach and a good offensive mind. And, uh, they’re always in a conversation, you know, and, uh, they, they’re great organizationally, like you don’t worry about them, uh, too much. It’s almost kind of the way And I don’t know if, if we call Pittsburgh a good drafting team, but like, as far as the consistency of Pitts Pittsburgh is more so what I’m referring to. So, also, one thing that you see teams as well, like, for example, like Philadelphia, a team that drafts really well, but because they’ve signed guys to, to bigger contracts, they have to let guys walk. Like Milton Williams is playing in the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots. Um, you have guys like Hassan, um, I’m sorry, like Josh Sweat going out and playing for other teams as well. But because those guys get signed to big contracts, get what the, guess what the Eagles get? They get those compensatory picks in like the 3rd, 4th, 5th round, and they just get to draft even more guys, and they draft so well that that’s how they’re able to fill their roster and all that kind of stuff. But that’s, that’s a byproduct of being successful though. Beautiful spot to be in, and I hope the Panthers can get there. I hope they can get there. You know how beautiful like this, this may not, Panthers fans may not, uh, agree with this, but if we look up and we have to make a decision in 3 seasons, right? 3 offseasons. Do we pay Nick Gordon or do we pay Princely Umami Ellen? One of them has to walk. What a beautiful position to be in because that means that the, that means that the 2025 draft worked. It means it worked. Who do we pay? Cause we can only pay one. Possibly I mean it it depends though. I mean if you draft well around them, maybe you can keep both. That’s also true. That’s the thing if you draft well around them, then you can keep both. That is also true. I mean, just saying. We’ll see what happens this offseason, but yeah, this is, this 2026 offseason is going, and just season as a whole is gonna determine a lot about this Panthers’ future. It’s a lot. You hit the nail on the head on that one, Chris. Let us know your thoughts again. Go ahead. No, I was just gonna say I, I’m really 100% behind Dan Morgan. I believe he is gonna bring it home and have a good offseason this year. And Dan, we trust. And Dan, we trust. By the way, again, let us know your thoughts in the comment section. What are you most optimistic going forward with this Panthers franchise? Let us know in the comments. And if you haven’t, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, hype this video, and big shout out to Wake Orthopedics, the sponsor here at Panthers Playbook once again. Chris, stay safe out there in the snow. If we get it this weekend, yeah, um, unfortunately my full-time job is talking about me potentially being off of sports and in the snow reporting on why you should stay out of the snow, but keep putting me in the snow. Yo, can I join you? Do you wanna take my place? Do you wanna take my place? I’ll do it. Let’s go. I wanna be inside. So, um, we’ll, we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you posted personally. I’ll do it. Maybe we can record Panthers playbook for next week out in the snow. Yes. Yes. Yes, I’m for this. You’re a psycho. I am. We’ll see you guys next week.
