Chris, I have a stat for you. 33.8. That’s the number of points the Panthers are giving up per game. That is if it keeps up, the rest of the year will be the second worst points per game ever in NFL history. I think behind the 1966 New York Giants. So you’re saying that in modern football terms, the Panthers defense is historically bad. Is that what you’re saying? It is a big pile of, let’s get this stuff dialed in Panthers fans. Here comes an in depth. Look at your team exclusive interviews, locker room in sight. Let’s huddle up. Let’s just do it for Panthers playbook driven by Carolina Ford Dealers. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome to another episode of Panthers Playbook. That’s Chris Lee, Dennis Cox here with you. Leave your thoughts in the comments section because there’s a couple of things that we wanna hit here in Panthers playbook. First of all NFL, trade deadline is approaching, we’re already seeing a lot of moves across the NFL and there’s a lot of conversation of, should the Carolina Panthers move on some players and acquire draft capital and so forth. And also Bryce Young, should he play sometime soon? Leave your thoughts in the comments section. Panthers playbook brought to you by Carolina Ford dealers with the Ford F 150 Ford F 150 on your team. It’s a game on, see your Carolina Ford dealer today. Chris, let’s go to the trade deadline. We’ve seen a lot of guys already on the move. We’ve seen a couple of wide receivers get traded already with Amari Cooper as well as Devonte Adams. We’ve seen a running back and Cam Akers get traded from Houston up to Minnesota. Now we saw a defensive lineman from, we saw a defensive lineman from Jacksonville get traded to Seattle. So the, the seal has been broken. But the question is, where do the Carolina Panthers fall into this? And what should the approach be for Dan Morgan as a general manager right now, the way things sit, the Carolina Panthers have nine draft picks next season in 2025 9. They’ve won in every single round and I remember practically an extra seventh and an extra fifth. That’s where things currently sit. So nine picks. When’s the last time we could say that happened for the Carolina Panthers? It’s been a minute, it’s been a minute. But I’m also, I, I have the mindset of what we’ve seen this team trade away great players and they haven’t gotten really much of anything in return. Who’s to say it’s gonna be different this time. I’m kind of torn on this one, Chris, um, I, I am torn on it as well, um, with the nine draft picks for, for next year, it makes me comfortable with where the team currently is and, and means that they don’t have to make a desperate decision, right? Uh, at the same time though, um, there are certain things to consider. Uh, you have two guys specifically whose names keep coming up who are balling out this year, Tuba Hubbard, who, as of this recording is third in rushing in the NFL and Deonte Johnson, who I just looked at some Pff stuff. He is the second best at creating space on his routes in the NFL right now and playing well and those guys are, are playing well right now and they’re both on expiring contracts. And so if they, if you let them walk, because more than likely, like, are you gonna be able to afford them next year? It’s a big question. There’s a lot of things you’re gonna have to try to move around some hard decisions, maybe some people to cut some, um, some, uh contracts to, to try to restructure. Um, a lot of things to consider if you want those guys back, specifically Chuba Hubbard in my mind. Um And if you’re not gonna have those guys back or do you wanna get some value for them and see what’s out there? It’s, it’s really tough because like there’s so many different chess pieces to think about on the board. Uh when you’re thinking about this stuff because it’s all about whatever they see their approach as if you see this year already. As we’re just trying to get in and implement our system with our core group of guys. We’re not worried about the amount of wins, the amount of the wins at the end of the year does not matter. And we are fine with and we’re expecting to pick in the top five, then trade some guys if you feel like no, we can try to win and we need to set winning culture and winning habits right now with the guys that we have and we’re gonna try to go for as much as we can and try to continuously improve and we don’t care if we’re gonna pick at number one or number 12 at the end of the year that it will be as high as 12, that will be as high as 12. But if we don’t care about that, then you keep guys. And so it just depends on which, which philosophy they’re thinking about. And I really don’t know where I land on that. I think this is a big question that Dan Morgan has to answer. And this is also Dave Canalis factors into this too. Is that who do you want to keep if you want to keep Tuba Hubbard approach him about a contract? Before the trade deadline. And if Tuba’s price is too high, the agent that you’re trying to negotiate with if the price is too high and you feel like you know what that’s, that puts too much of a strain on us also, you got to factor in that. Jonathan Brooks is now being on his 21 day window to return from into reserve or the non football injury list and he might be playing sometime soon. Those are things you have to take into consideration. Same with Deonte Johnson. Hey, talk to his agent. What’s it gonna cost to keep you here? And if the demands are too high and like, no, we can’t afford that because we have so many other needs. Ok? Then I see it also guys like Xavier Woods, for example, Xavier Woods is on an expiring contract and there’s a team out there that says, hey, we need a little extra depth at safety because someone’s a little bit nicked up. Ok. We’ll, we’ll offer 1/5 or 1/6 round pick or seventh round pick for, for Xavier Woods or even 1/6 7th round pick swap. Ok. That’s fine. If you know, as Dan Morgan, you’re not gonna bring somebody back then that case. Ok, then I’m ok trading those guys away, but we have seen so often in the past great players get traded away. The Christian mccaffrey trade. I, I totally understand you’re gonna be in a rebuild. You maximized but it’s also I, I I’m with it. I, I really don’t understand. But, you know, you, I guess you painted yourself into that corner to where you had to, but you could have prevented that, but keep going. You could have, but it’s all about what do you do with the picks, you can get draft picks. But for example, go to the 2022 draft for the Carolina Panthers, the only one that’s actually contributing is Ikey Kwan, the only other guy on the roster was Cade Mays who they cut and then because of injuries signed off the practice squad from the Giants and then Amari Barno is hurt because he’s dealing with an injury that he suffered at the end of last season. Go to the 2023 draft class. Bryce Young’s been benched. Jonathan Mingo has already been passed by an undrafted rookie in Jalen Coker DJ Johnson’s been non existent and then you have Chandler Zavala who’s been a depth piece on the offensive line and Jamie Robinson who’s been pretty good teams player who’s been pretty good. He has this year but Chandler Zavala so far is probably the best draft pick for that either probably. But that’s where we are where we are, we are now Dan Morgan in this, in this draft class of 2024 we’re still waiting to see on Jonathan Brooks what he can do. Xavier Liget has shown some really good flashes and I think you and I both really, really like what we’ve seen so far. Janie Crum, still kind of waiting to see. Tr Wallace feels like he can be a dude. Shaw Smith was starting to get some more. Yeah, and Dean Sanders probably had his best game this past Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. So there’s no guarantee on what draft capital is gonna offer you. But it’s, it’s amazing the position that this Carolina Panthers organization is in right now because all the draft capital they used to try and get Bryce Young, which obviously has not worked out and then the salary cap situation this team is in sucks. A few days ago, it kind of flew under the radar. The Panthers restructure the contract of DJ one. I want them to save $1.5 million a salary cap just so they can get back under because of all the injury situation that they’re dealing with right now. That that’s the, the, the hell of that this organization is in. You’re pressed against the cap and you lack talent, the worst spot you could be in. You know, there’s gonna be some hard goodbyes to go back to what you’re saying. If are there any untouchables on this roster? Um I would love to keep Tuba Hubbard. I’m gonna, I’m gonna put that out there. I would, I would love to keep Deonte Johnson. Likewise, but they are not untouchables. Uh To me, it just really depends, but going back to what I was saying, it really depends on what your philosophy is for the rest of the season. Uh, untouchables for me. It will be any of your rookies. Um, the offensive line and Derek Brown and literally, that’s it. I’m gonna be real, that’s it. That’s it. Like those are even JC. Oh, ok. I mean, he’s starting to, he played, he had a pretty good game this past Sunday. There’s some, he gave up, um, you know, some, some touch, he gave up a touchdown, he gave up some, uh, some passes, you know, we saw some of the, the things that we haven’t liked from JC this year, uh, and Sunday, Sunday’s game but he did grade well, um, for, for Pff, but that, you know, that’s not everything, but he did grade pretty well for most of the game. There’s some, there’s some places he made that don’t show up in the staff sheet like a couple of times, like, wouldn’t, like even like Kyle Pitts to get off the line of scrimmage free. Like he’s jamming. You pointed out. I mean, he, he’s good at jamming guys right there in a lot. Um, but, you know, other than that, like I’d say, like if you feel like you can get something, uh, you know, more draft capital or whatever and you can get some of these, uh, rookies in here next year who are gonna be a lot cheaper because think about it, if JC Horn balls out this year and of course, he has the fifth year, he’s gonna want to have some money for a contract. You don’t have to worry about that for a little bit. Maybe they, they start talking about it, you know, at the end of this season, we’ll see what happens. Maybe they say, hey, look, you’ve been mostly injured so we can offer you this here. Now. You can sign it to, to go ahead and, and lock in some stability or, you know, maybe you can just like, you know, bet on yourself and see what happens, but you can go ahead and try to lock this in now. Hopefully, maybe that happens and he decides like, ok, let me just go ahead and get that stability. Uh, Cuba, you’re gonna have to pay or I was even thinking he’s somebody that, um, you could put the franchise tag on but that get really expensive. I don’t know if the Panthers can, it can, but also, I’m expecting some people not to be here next year. Maybe Shaq Thompson, you mentioned Xavier Woods. Um, maybe Ian Thomas. Um, there are some other people who have some, maybe Johnny Hecker. I, I don’t think Eddie Piero’s, I don’t think Eddie Piero’s gonna be here. Maybe Taylor Moton. Taylor Moton his, his contract. I think he has a $31 million cap hit and if you just release him in the off season, you’re gonna save $18 million. There’s so there’s so, so many of those guys where like they are. I would rather not get rid of Taylor Moton. But if you’re just looking at who’s eating up some of that cap that you need to save, Josh Nyan isn’t as good as Taylor Moton, but he did a decent enough job in, in, in this past game. Um And, you know, so, you know, those are things to think about. Maybe even Austin Corbett, if Brady Christensen continues to look good because Austin Corbett remember cost them some money too when they picked him up from the Rams void years on his contract. So I think he, he’ll be a free agent after this year anyway, I don’t see him coming based off of the injury history recently and the price tag. So, you know, there, there are guys that you can for sure, um decide to part ways with to, to save some money if you wanted to keep somebody like a Deonte or a Tuba Hubbard uh in some type of way. But also if a desperate team out there, let’s say the Chiefs are like, look, we want to give you, I don’t know, a 3rd and 1/4 or a third for Tuba Hubbard because you know, we’re, we’re down right now. We’ve got two practice squad guys who we’re using as running backs right now because Isaiah Pacheco was hurt and, and Clyde Edwards Hilar is starting to come back from, uh, mental health, uh, sabbatical right now and we just need something that’s sure I’d take it. I, I’d have a hard, I’d have a hard time saying goodbye to Cuba because I like he is what I think a Carolina Panther, like an old school. Carolina Panther should be. Um, but man, at this point, you really do need to rebuild and you need to start thinking about all your options. There’s a lot out there. I honestly, again, I want Cuba to stay. And honestly the way we saw Tyler Algier and Rejon Robinson, the way they were used this past Sunday, I was like beautiful. That’s what I want with, with Hubbard and Jonathan Brooks. That’s, that’s my dream. That’s my dream where they each get like 18 touches a game and over 100 yards each. You, I mean, you know this, but like for the people who don’t know this, I’ve been saying this since Christian mccaffrey was there. Like I, I’ve, I’ve been saying like I hated the way they used Christian mccaffrey. Like there always should have been a great 12 punch and they had it, you know that one year of Mike Davis and there was a couple of other guys, they Sprinkle in there, but they only really use Mike Davis and Christian was hurt. Um It would have been cool to have that 12 punch. Of course, Christian is the guy. But then you got another guy who’s, you know, a completely different style runner, a different body type who can give you a different look and the way they use their running backs, um, in, in Atlanta, I think is definitely like the perfect way to kind of look at it and you could possibly have that with Cuba and Jonathan and, uh, Brooks. And that’s the reason why I want to keep Cuba. Honestly, the, the, the running back to trade is the one that you paid already. Oh, yeah. Miles Sanders. Oh, yeah. So we’re talking about trading somebody who’s a running back now again. Um, I, I like Sanders a lot more this year. I like him as a slot receiver but, you know, you can motion him out the backfield. Uh, but like, as far as like when Jonathan Brooks is ready that running back depth chart is Tuba Brooks Sanders. That’s the one that you can get rid of. I’m 100% with you on that. 100% with you on that. But the big question going forward is what are you doing, Bryce? What you doing with Bryce? Chris? Huh? You’re playing the guy. There’s a lot of people out there that are throwing out the, uh, they’re floating out the idea. Yeah. You know what, if you’re losing, you still have to see what you have in him. I know those first two games sucked. It was a big pile of, that’s what it was Chris. But we all know we all know that at some point this season, at least I feel that Bryce is gonna get back out there on the field and start a game. I know he had the mop up time in Chicago. But if you’re gonna try and trade him this off-season or really trying to give another chance to see. All right, young man. What can you do? I think he’s gonna play at some point this year. But the question is when, and I think it might be week 13, week 14, maybe. I don’t know. That’s, it’s, it’s, it’s being floated around out there and it’s, it’s, I think right now you do stick with Andy because I think Andy’s been playing fine. But I think, I think we are going to see Bryce Young at some point and more and more sooner than we think. Yeah. Um, so I think that goes back to the philosophy, uh, question like, you know, what, what do you see the rest of your season as, um, as of right now? No, you don’t give it to Bryce and I saw, I saw a lot of that from Panthers fans for some reason after Sunday’s loss and it wasn’t on Andy. Yeah, Andy threw, uh, two interceptions. The, the, the, the one bad one was the first one, you know, the last one you can, they’re trying to come back and of course you’re gonna be a little bit more, you know, you, you’re gonna, you know, take more dangerous shots down the field. The, the really bad one was when he was trying to force it into Ian Thomas with three guys covering him. I, I don’t understand that one. but like that’s not enough to bench him in my opinion because I remember what the offense looked like with Bryce Young at the helm and, and I, and I know what the Panthers have looked like, you know, honestly, like for three and a quarter quarters of the Atlanta game, that was a competitive game. It was 2820 when the Panthers were moving the ball down the field. 2820 was before the pick happened and, and I’m not sure, I am not sure if Brys Shawn can step in right now and make things competitive because I’m a little scarred from what I saw the first two games of the season. I’m a little scarred man and I think he, he needs a little bit more time. Um, but if you do get to down to the fact, like if let’s say that we lose through the bye week and you come back after the bye week and you, you lose a couple after that, ok, season’s over pack it in. We’re gonna have one win this season put in Bryce and let’s see what we got because that could help us make our decisions for, for the NFL draft. I am still not necessarily out on Bryce Young if they decide to get rid of him, uh, in the off-season. I’m fine with that also, but I’m also fine with the idea that Bryce Young could come back next year, um, as a third year player playing better with an established offensive line with Young, um, you know, weapons that are starting to step up. I mean, think about how young his weapons are right now. Nat and Sanders stepping up, Jalen Coker is stepping up Xavier Lits stepping up, Jonathan Brooks. Hopefully we see him soon if they keep Ch Chuba Hubbard. That’s amazing. Like it’s, it looks good as far as the outlook as, as far as that is concerned with that. Um, but yeah, I just not anytime soon. Not, not right now. Yeah, I, I’m, I’m with you on that and I think it’s also here, here’s the side of the fence. I sit on that. The reason why I don’t think you play Bryce so soon is because what is Andy Dalton giving you consistency to win consistency. Well, not just a chance to win, but I think it’s also good for guys like Lee get and Coker and everyone else on your offense to actually have competency at quarterback, which is something they didn’t have the first two games. Like you didn’t know what your team really was. The first two games when Bryce was starting and then when you put all Andy Dalton in, it’s like, oh, ok, Xavier Liget actually has a chance to catch a ball. Um, Jalen Coker actually has a chance to catch a ball as and same with Deontay Johnson, their production in terms of receptions per game, yards, per game touchdowns, per game. All that has increased since Andy Dalton has come in. It’s, that’s just, that’s just a simple fact. Those are just the numbers, but I do, I feel like the organization does have to give Bryce at least one more shot at some point at later on this year. This is why you don’t play Bryce right now. The, the touchdown pass to Xavier Le get had to be perfectly placed over a defender in the corner of the end zone does Bryce Young throw that ball. No, no, he doesn’t. And we’ve, and we’ve already seen, we saw him in, in his, in college in his final year at South Carolina and we just saw this past Sunday, like, and I, I think I tweeted it like, that’s the reason why you drafted that guy where you did because you didn’t have that contested catch, you know, shorthanded guy that could go up and sky over a defender and grab that thing and come down with it. You didn’t have that guy before and now you’ve got that guy and so now you need a quarterback who’s going to get that guy the ball and give him a chance, not only place it in the right spot but just the, the gumption and the stuff I don’t want to say the other word to, to have to throw that ball and, and right now I’m not sure if Bryce throws that ball. So that’s, that’s why I wouldn’t play him right now. I don’t think, I don’t think he’s, he’s ready for that. I am open to him still being the guy of the future. Look, I was thinking about this today. You remember how badly people talked about Jared Goff. Oh, yeah, like literally, like, I think what, it didn’t really turn around until Sean mcveigh got there and what that was his third year, third or fourth year in the, in the league, maybe his third year, maybe even as early as his second. But yeah, Jeff Fisher was the initial head coach, like even Jeff Fisher May got fired after his first year, first year of golf and, and I think like they were like, folks were down on Jared Goff big time and now he’s legit, one of he’s a, he’s probably top 10 quarterback in the, in the NFL right now playing great and because you have the right weapons, you have the right system and you have the right offensive line, right, offensive coordinator that believes in him. And so that could be Bryce and he’s only been in the league for a year and a half at this point. You know he’s got time but at least we can let him sit back and, and watch behind somebody like Andy Dalton again. If he is cut or, or he won’t be cut because it’ll be, it’ll cost him too much. If he’s traded somewhere then. Ok, I’m cool with it. But if you, but if you say, hey, we’re gonna stick with our investment going forward. I’m cool with that too. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see him at some point again this year. The question is just when, but I do know that you can see Panthers playbook this Sunday after the Panthers take on the commanders, Chris. So make sure you subscribe and also again, leave your thoughts in the comment section down below. We’ll have an episode for you after we see Jay Daniels torch this defense. I, I was, I was about to say, can I make an, make a confession? Ok. I’m scared, scurred, scarred. I’m scarred because Jada Daniels. I just like when I first, when I first saw this on the schedule, I was like, ok, Bryce year two, Jaden Daniels year one, OK, year two of I eo oh, our defense is about to go there and cause some havoc and cook up. And Jaden Daniels looks better than Caleb Williams and we saw what Kayla Williams did and he’s so hook too. Oh my God. Hey, you know what? Pay the pay the Panthers defense and let’s get right game for you now, Caleb and pop up on and you got Frankie Lou and Jeremy Chen who just waiting on the other side. Yeah, bro, I’ve never been this, so this nervous before playing Washington. It’s been a minute. It’s been a minute. It’s been a minute. It’s been a minute. Oh, gosh. You know, to think that, you know, the, the top five drafted quarterbacks the last two years, Bryce Young CJ Strout Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake May. It was five. You got the one price, like the one that’s kind of like, and you took him first out of all of them, jury, jury is still out on Drake May. Yeah. But I think you’ll be good. Anthony Richardson though. Yeah. That’s, I don’t know, I don’t know, bro. You know, you know what’s funny? I know up on this. It’s funny they talk about the small guy and Bryce Young, not, you know, stay healthy. Now, the big guys hurt to handle all of it. Keeps getting hurt. Go figure. Such is life, man. Such is life. I don’t know, Bryce could, Bryce could possibly turn it around. Well, yeah, I’m not going to hold my breath on that one though. It’s, it’s really, but we know what it is. It’s really here. It’s not ability, it’s not the, it’s not his physical ability. We know it’s, it’s this. Oh, yeah, I get so discouraged every time somebody asks him a question about what he’s motivated. For and he’s like, I don’t have external motivation. I’m motivated by the Lord, bro. Hit, hit the button real quick and hold your, you know. You know. Yeah. You, you know. Mhm. And playbook brought to you by Carolina Ford dealers with a Ford F 150 I game game on, you know what I’m saying? You know what I’m saying? See you Carolina Ford dealer today. We’ll see you on Sunday.

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