All right, Chris, outside of Atlanta, Tampa, New Orleans, outside of those three teams, who on the Panthers schedule this year do you like the least or dislike the most, however you want to say I know you’re a nice guy. I don’t wanna say hate, hate strong word. And why is it? Yeah, yeah, it’s gotta be Dallas. It’s gotta be Dallas. Dallas. And and we gotta pay them back for last year with the guy that you hit us up with, right? Take Miles Sanders and try to do something with him. Good luck. Let’s get this summer 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. 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. Folks, on the Panthers schedule this season, which team do you like the least? Again, outside of the division. By the way, we, we asked everyone last week, who in the division do you hate the most? And there’s a pretty even split between New Orleans and Atlanta, Chris, pretty even split between those two teams, and I’m not shocked by that, not shocked by that at all. What’s crazy about it is like, um, I, I don’t like Tampa, but they’re not like a hateable team for some reason. Like they were a lot more hateable with Brady. They were a lot more hateable with Jon Gruden back in the day, you know what I’m saying? Uh, but Warren S Sapp made him likable. It’s something about. Yeah, I think it just, it left a lasting impression. It did. It definitely did, but who are some of these young guys, some of these rookies, whether they’re drafted or undrafted, that might help beat. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, the Cowboys, all these other teams. And from our impressions of what we were able to see out a rookie mini camp, Chris, you and I wanted before the draft was speed, speed, speed, speed, and a guy that you love that was drafted in the 6th round, Jimmy Horn Junior, by all accounts, popped. Listen, Chris, we’re gonna be ex-heads, we’re gonna be cokeheads heads, and we’re gonna be horndogs because Jimmy Horn Junior, I think is gonna have a great impact on this team. I’m excited, really, to have him on the team. I’ve told you before and I’ve said it on this. and I’ve said it plenty of times, uh, just in talking to friends or anybody who wants to talk to me about the Carolina Panthers in real life, that if the Carolina Panthers only chose Jimmy Horne Junior as their only wide receiver in the draft, I would have been very happy with it because I watched him at Colorado a lot. I thought he was a really good fit uh for them there. And he’s exactly, he’s literally what we asked the Carolina Panthers for coming out of this draft. I didn’t expect him to have two wide receivers, but we have two wide receivers and see Jimmy Horn with all his speed out there is great. Here’s the thing also that I like. We have, we saw some video from uh from rookie mini camp. We heard from reporters, um, and we’re hearing things coming out of Carolina. That this guy is impressing the coaches a lot more than everybody else early on. So it feels as if that uh he can have the best early impact, uh, possibly, you know, uh on the team, uh offensively, I should say, uh, because there’s gonna be some guys on on defense that’s gonna make an impact. Um, and I’m excited to see what the Carolina Panthers and Dave Canales with his love of wide receivers, what he can do with a weapon like Jimmy Horn Junior and how maybe he can use Jimmy Horn Junior to get other people open. How he can create opportunities for other people with Jimmy Horn. So, I saw something today, I don’t know if this is gonna be a stretch, but some people are saying. They think Jimmy Horn Junior could have an impact like DeSean Jackson. Oh, OK. Like not the DeSean Jackson, not the biggest guy. That that straight, I I mean that speed, that’s the biggest thing. So they can take the top off the defense. Uh, that’s, that’s a major thing that you and I talked about and by all accounts as well, Tedro McMillan showed that smooth stride, that smooth running ability, that massive catch radius again, like pieces and receivers that complement each other. I think that’s something that this team needed last year and this offense needed in, in particular, Chris, was they needed someone with that speed and that elusiveness. That can work between the hash marks, that can work in the middle field. Maybe Jimmy Horn could also Play on the outside. And we, we’ll, we’ll see what that’s, that’s gonna look like with Dave Canalis because you have all this size that can play on the perimeter obviously with McMillan in his 6 ft 4 frame. So I’m curious to see how things are gonna work out, but another name that keeps popping up is Kobe Hudson, the undrafted free agent out of Central Florida. His name keeps popping up as well. And a lot of people, I mean, Chris, you told this to me, um, off-air about a week or so ago that a lot of people think like, hey, maybe that’s this year’s Jalen Coke or the undrafted free agent. That can maybe show something now when they actually get pads on, they actually get to play, you know, 11 on 11, we’ll see how that stuff flashes again, you know, Kobe Kobe Hudson or Jacoby George. I’ve heard of Jacoby George being that I’ve, I’ve heard both. I’ve heard both guys. I’ve heard both, um, but they may have found a guy or two, which it feels like again. With the rookie mini camps, it’s kind of hard to tell because you’re not wearing pads. You’re not actually running, you know, drills. There’s a lot of limitations by the league about what you’re allowed to do. So, again, you’re running routes on air. So obviously, people are gonna stand out a little bit more when you’re a receiver. It’s kind of hard to judge what a defensive tackle or an edge rusher is gonna do. Because you’re not going against anyone, but it feels like by all accounts, Chris, something you and I talked about, there’s gonna be a lot of competition for wide receiver. Like David Moore’s gonna get pushed. Hunter Renfro, not a lot to make this team at all. You know, after having sat out this past season, it’s only on a one-year deal. There’s gonna be a ton of competition for wide receiver, and then we all know that Dave Canalis, like you said, loves to rotate his wide receivers depending on, you know, different personnel groups. What he wants to do. He loves rotating guys in and out. Here’s the Carolina Panthers have have really a lot of good problems because if you do look at uh all 90 of the, you know, on the roster right now, and you look at all the wide receivers within that 90 man roster, there’s a there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to that, right? Because there’s a lot of different um combinations you can’t have. I’ll say this. The thing that Hunter Remfro and Adam Thielen both have on their side that everybody else doesn’t necessarily have outside of David Moore is experience. Uh, because you have you have and the craftiness, you know, so that’s one of the things where you’re right, I don’t think he’s a lock, but I don’t think that he has to necessarily flash. Uh, at his best, right? Because they understand he’s coming back from a year off, he was dealing with, uh, you know, uh, you know, his, his illness, and he, you know, lost a lot of lost a lot of weight down to 150, and he’s working himself back, um, so he does have the experience and the craftiness on his side, but you look at all the like the possibility of the young people making this roster, like, we like Jalen Coker, but there’s gonna be some guys coming after his job, right? You know, and him being an undrafted free uh free agent uh rookie last year, um, it doesn’t mean that his job is safe. Somebody like Xavierguette, I would say his job is safe, but you really have to start producing because there’s some people behind you that’s that’s waiting, you know, to pretty much take that spot. Um, I’m excited to see what the Carolina Panthers could do offensively, and I will say that I am a lot more excited about this wide receiver core and what it could possibly look like. I think more than any other team, I I like more than any other team for the Carolina Panthers in the in the uh in the past, just the Panthers, not any other any other team in the NFL. But that’s different. Yeah, yeah, that’s, you know, I just want to make sure I was clear with that, but um. You know, it’s, I, I think the Versatility that could be with this core, depending on who’s put together. You have Tet, Xavier, Jalen, the big long guys, uh, paws that can, you know, catch almost anything, um, and, you know, can really put a lot of stress on smaller DBs. And then you have the crafty guy and, you know, Adam Thielen and also Hunter Renfro, and then if you have the speed guy in uh Jimmy Horn Junior, and then, hey, last year they started the year with 7. Do you, do you add a Jacoby George? Do you add a Kobe Hudson? You know what I’m saying? Do you add a Dan Chisina? Anybody like that? It’ll be interesting to see what what ends up happening for the Carolina Panthers, but I’m excited just seeing what that wide receiver court looks like. It’s, it’s, it’s noticeably by. Paper. Again, these guys haven’t played on the field yet together, but it’s noticeably on paper much better than what it was two months ago before the draft. Like much better. And there was a major question mark going into this upcoming year. Like, OK, what else are you gonna add to help Bryce? And I think that’s something as well we have to take into consideration as well is that, you know, if Bryce is getting, again, on paper, these added weapons, added versatility like you said, or versatility to the offense. Like how much is this gonna benefit Bryce Young to have a, a speed guy in Jimmy Horne Jr? Maybe Deta and Sanders, we hope, takes the next step. Maybe Mitchell Evans on that 10 yard split, he was like one of the fastest tight ends of anyone in the entire draft coming out in that 10 yard split. Maybe having that guy that can possibly in two tight end sets can get open along with JT Sanders as well in the middle of the field. Again, it might be for a 78 yard game, but now you’re 2 and 2. Hey, I had to turn to hand the ball to Chuba Hubbard. Guess what? I pick up 5 more yards 1 and 10. Let’s keep things moving. You know, like that versatility is gonna be a big thing. The Panthers last year. Ran 3 receiver sets, 71 or 72% of the time, ran 3 receiver sets. And Dave Canal loves rotating guys in. If he has the ability to make it. 65% and use multiple tight ends as well and then also rotating guys in and out. Hope everyone can find a role and maybe Jimmy Horn Jr.s role also is helping with the return game. It’s something that Travis ETN could do like Raheem Blackshear is gonna be pushed for a roster spot. David Moore is gonna be pushed for a roster spot. The more that you can have on at at your disposal, I mean. I, I know I’m excited for Bryce Young in this regard, but I’m excited for Dave Canalas too, as a play caller to have all these options. Like, oh, hey, I got chapters in the playbook that I wasn’t able to open last year. Now I can. He might be able to cook because we saw him get in his bag late in the year, Chris, last year. We saw Dave Canal, especially in that landing game, get in his bag. Absolutely he did, and that’s a good point that you bring up because, um, there’s a few things. I think a few times last year, we were saying, Um, we said this two years ago, uh, that we wanted that the Carolina Panthers to use more motion, uh, before, like pre-snap, because, you know, it really didn’t happen a lot under Frank Reich. They did a little bit more last year, but probably not to the level that we were satisfied with. Go Jimmy Horn Junior now. Right? Like, have that guy ski scatting around in the backfield and see how crazy things will go, well, you know, for those DBs who’s trying to figure out, OK, what’s your assignment, what are we doing? What’s the contingency plan if he were to come out, you know what I’m saying? Like there’s a lot that could happen um with just that alone, and so you’re absolutely Correct, the, the, the different weapons and the versatility gives Dave Canalis a lot more room to be creative, um, and when you don’t forget Troll McMillan can run on the slot too, possibly, yes, and when you have the different, uh, people with the different skill sets and and different things they can do. Heck, you know, you never know what could end up happening. We might even see Rico Dowdle out wide, you know, at some point, because he can catch the ball out the backfield and he can run some routes as well. So, uh, it’ll be interesting to see how all that is is fit together and uh I, I really hope that if Dave Canales loses sleep, he’s losing sleep over all the great possibilities and nothing too stressful. Great opportunity, Chris. Great opportunity. So Dave Canalis is gonna say it’s a great, great, great opportunity. I feel great about playing football right now. That’s a direct quote from Dave Canal. A direct quote from him every day. Yeah, I know, it really is. I feel great about playing football right now, but I, I, you know what, for him being a 3-year play caller, Bryce Young being a 3-year quarterback, this is a, this is a really young group. It’s a really young group overall. Again, all the guys that we talked about, the skill position players. Guys that we know are gonna make the team that aren’t on rookie contracts, skill position wise, Tommy Trimble. Adam Thielen, Cuba, Cuba. Rico Dowdle, like, that’s it. Like, everyone else skill position wise is that’s, that should make the roster. It’s not a rookie deal. Now David Moore might Hunter Renfro might, but again, those guys aren’t locks. They’re not. There’s a lot of young talent on this team and I’m excited. All right, Chris, so talking about the defense, there’s gonna be a lot on the plate of the young edge rushers that were just drafted, Nick Gordon, Princeley, Uma Melen, especially with Daveon Clowney not there. The only edge rusher right now that I feel is there are two guys that are actually truly locks to make the team outside of those rookies are DJ Wadham. And Pat Jones. Like that’s it. That’s it. Nick Skorton is gonna be relied upon a lot. Princeley Umami Ellen is going to be called upon a lot this upcoming season. And I like the fact that these two highly drafted rookies are gonna play a lot right away. It seems that way, and in my opinion, they need to play right away. They do need to play right away, uh, and we saw last year where you had guys like Jatavi and Sanders and Trevon Wallace who had a lot of playing time that they may not have had, um, you know, if the Carolina Panthers, if Shaq Thompson, you know, wasn’t injured, does Trevor Wallace, you know, play as much, um, you know, those are those are things to really kind of consider and to think about, but um. I think these guys will get that early playing time, they’re gonna need it and they’re gonna develop early. Here’s something else I’ll add. One of the quiet parts about letting uh Jadeveon Clowney go? Is that, no, he’s not a locked to make the team. But now, you are looking DJ Johnson square in the face and saying, Prove it. This is, this is literally your prove it year, not even a year. This is your approve it offseason for us, because we gave away assets, we traded up to go get you. You haven’t shown us anything. Now, you’re good at setting the edge. I think he’s good at that, right? Like, he’s good at setting that edge, and if there’s a run forcing a run on the inside or whatever, but outside of that, he hasn’t really produced, hasn’t really put up stats, and so letting Jade and Clowney go actually makes room for DJ Johnson on this roster. Maybe maybe, maybe if, but if if Jadeveon Clowney was on the roster, right? If he, if he wasn’t let go, you still had Pat Jones and then the two rookies that we uh that we brought in. I think DJ Johnson already knows that he’s he’s gone, right? That that opens up the possibility of that spot for him. And so, uh, I think that’s gonna be very interesting for him, but anyway, I just wanted to point that out. There stillmari Barno, who was a big who when he wasn’t hurt, big time on special teams. And that’s something you gotta replace as well because no Lonnie Johnson, no Sam Franklin, some of those core special, no Felipe Franks, those core 4 special teamers. Mari Barno can be that because I don’t know if DJ Johnson can be. Yeah, I’m, I’m with you. I’m with you on that. Um, but as far as, uh, Uma Yellen and Nick Skorton, I’m excited to see what those guys can do. And, uh, Nick Skorton feels like he can do a little bit of everything. Umman Byellen feels like he’s more of a 3rd down. We got to go after 3rd and long. Type of guy we gotta go after the passer and so I wanna see if he can develop into being able to play in in different in more situations than just those. Um, I do want to bring up a name and I’m gonna be real, I don’t know a lot about this kid, but I’ve read a little bit about him. He’s another undrafted free agent. And listen, we like to, if if somebody reminds us of somebody that we’re fond of, we like to play something on their shoulders. This may be unfair to this kid. Tu Avii Nomura from um Fresno State, linebacker, undrafted free agent. He’s somebody that a few people have been starting to talk about. He was a killer. On the field at Fresno State, a sure tackler. He played like his hair was on fire. He was able to, you know, play middle linebacker and go get people. He’s also able to play on the line and go after the quarterback. Who does that sound like? Sounds like, tell me. Frankie Lou. I I didn’t want to just say that because they’re both uh Pacific Islanders, but There that’s somebody that like, as I was reading a little bit about everybody who’s coming in, there were a lot of people who were excited about, especially because um we said the linebacking core is a little thin for our liking, you know, we, we have Roseboom coming in, Trevon Wallace coming back for a 2nd year, Josie Jewell with his 2nd year with the team, Josie Jewell’s gonna be the guy with the green dot. Um, but there’s room for somebody else because as we saw last season. There were injuries that happened, and you’re gonna need guys to step up cause you might be down to clawed and shareless, you know, and so how do you, how do you, do you have people you can trust? And there’s a few people that believe that. To avii Nomura could be that guy. We’ll have to see, right? Nothing is guaranteed, but I just want to at least bring up his name, uh, and he’s not somebody that I watch. I didn’t watch Fresno State football, I’m not gonna even lie. I watched a few highlights. I did, uh, you know, not really a deep dive, but I read a little bit about him at uh Fresno State. Everything that I read about him checks out. Not sure why he didn’t get drafted. But he’s somebody that, uh, maybe it’s because, you know, it’s a smaller conference, uh, but man, he seems like somebody who could possibly contribute, uh, to the Carolina Panthers if he were able to make the roster. First team all Mountain West this past year, might be, you never know, might be a special teams guy to start things off. You know who was also undrafted? The guy you just mentioned, Frankie Lou. Frankie an undrafted guy. Started his career being a special teams guy and eventually developed into what he is now. So you never know. You, you gotta find those. You have to find those little diamonds in the rough. Some of that could possibly contribute right away in, in a special teams role and then eventually can develop, you gotta find those guys, those little diamonds in the rough. I’m, I’m excited for this upcoming year, Chris. I, I know there’s still a long way to go for this Panthers team. Obviously, there’s still an offseason you have to get through, you know, unfortunately, stuff’s gonna happen, knocking on wood. No, no one gets hurt, no one gets nicked up. Hopefully guys can. Stay healthy and trained as opposed to get injured and have to rehab to get ready just to play in the preseason or in the regular season. That’s, that’s the last thing you wanna do. Like we saw last year, we saw Xague kind of deal with a little bit of lower body injury during the offseason as well and it hampered him a little bit during camp. And guess what? It hampers your development as the season goes along. So hopefully everyone can stay healthy. Hopefully you all. Subscribe, join us. Every single time we put out content here at Panthers playbook, Chris. Happy Memorial Day weekend coming up, by the way. Thank you. Um, I will not have the day off, you will not have the day off because we got some, oh, no, wait a minute, no, you’ll have the day off. I was I was gonna say Carolina Hurricanes, but there’s no game at home. Yeah, so I was thinking about the home game, you’re gonna be there, but no, you’re you’re not gonna be there, it’s gonna be in Florida, but there will be the special show that uh we’re doing here at WRL. So there you go, so make sure you stay locked in on that. Y’all be good, we’ll see y’all next time, love y’all.
