Well, Chris, it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for the season’s over. Thank freaking God. I know Chris you can finally breathe. I can finally finally breathe. It’s only gonna get worse. Let’s get the sucker started. The state of North Carolina covers 53,000 square miles. It is the habitat of the get dialed in Panthers fans for an in depth. Look at your team exclusive interviews, lock a 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. Thanks again for, for, for tuning in tapping in all season long. We got one final recap episode for you all. So make sure you subscribe once again because we are gonna have episodes through you throughout the off season. You know, when there’s obviously a new coaching search going on, who knows, happens with general managers, what you doing there bud and there’s a lot of other decisions that are gonna be coming this off season for the Carolina Panthers. So we’re gonna have Panther’s Playbook for you throughout the off season at different times. So make sure you subscribe if you’re on 99 9, the fans youtube page or on your favorite podcast platform to make sure you don’t miss any of the stuff that Chris and I dropped and Chris, speaking of dropping Panthers dropped the second straight game where they put up zero goose egg, goose egg. Nothing. Not on the scoreboard offensively. I guess that game against Green Bay, that 30 points that they put up was an anomaly this year, man. It really was, I mean, that was their last ditch effort, right? Like that was the final game that everybody used to put some good stuff on tape. And it really felt like last week in Jacksonville and this week at home for the final game, everybody was like, all right, season’s over, there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s no first round pick that’s coming from this and you got a list of all of these, you know, unrestricted free agents that, uh, may or may not even return to the Carolina Panthers. So they’re just like, all right. And, and that’s what it kind of felt like, uh, for, for the game. So, um, you know, if there are more games left, if this, if this, if this was the middle of the season, I think I’d be a little bit more upset. But right now it just, it feels good to know that I’m not going to be talking about a Carolina Panthers loss next week unless Scott Fitter is still in the building and that’s still in L so. Well, that’s, that’s a big thing. That’s, that’s the biggest thing for this off-season, I think. Or at least the first big step. Is that all right. What’s the decision at General Manager? Because we already know that they’re looking for a head coach. I mean, that we’ve known, but in terms of general manager, I mean, I can’t imagine that Scott Federer is going to be gone. Now, the time that we’re taping this in the evening on Sunday, you and I waited a little bit longer just to wait and see that. Maybe we heard reports of him getting let go. So we did wait a little bit and maybe, but I, I can’t imagine by all reports, by the way that David Tepper has actually hired like an, an agency, like a consulting firm, search firm to help with the, with the coaching search, which I think is good and I think he needs to do the exact same thing, use that same firm when it comes to actually hiring a general manager because that coach that GM need to be on the same page because if there’s another bad season, you’re gonna be getting rid of Scott Federer next year. Anyway, might as well just go and just start all new, just go and just wipe the slate clean, start fresh, clean out the front office, clean out the scouting department, clear out most of the, most of the coaching staff and just start a new. Yeah. Um, you know, uh, I, I, I’m hoping that David Tepper does the right thing. I don’t know if I can trust him, uh, to do the right thing. But, you know, if he does, then I hope that, uh, it comes with Spike Lee in a, in a nice movie too. If he does the right thing, just do the right thing. Do the right thing now. Well, real quick, real quick on this game because I was really hoping that after the shutout loss last week, it’s like, ok, let’s, let’s see if the offense can have a bounce back. Let’s see if they can actually do something here. I was like, but you know what, it’s almost worse. It was, it was awful. It was so bad and there’s a couple of moments in this game that were just a microcosm of the Panthers season, like Bryce Young gets flushed out to, out of the pocket rolls to his left. Finds DJ shark coming across the field down the left sideline is on a great throw. Like it was a great throw and he’s streaking up the left sideline. He dives for the pylon ball gets knocked out of his hands short of the end zone. Tampa Bay recovers the ball in the end zone touch back. It’s like you’re right there. But, uh, guess what ends up being the other team’s ball and then Raheem Blackshear scores a touchdown on a beautiful run. But our man Terris Marshall Junior finally in the lineup because Jonathan Mingo is out because of the foot injury terrace. Marshall Junior doesn’t line up on the line of scrimmage. So it’s an illegal formation play comes back very next play, strip sack fumble. Tampa Bay gets the ball. It’s like there’s, there’s the, the epitome of the Carolina Panthers season. Like that’s the epitome of the season. That’s the gonna be the season right there for this team. It’s just like nothing went right, whether it was mental mistakes, self inflicted wounds, you name it offensive line, not protecting all that kind of stuff, all just wrapped up, all just wrapped up beautifully in this nice little wonderful bow whoever David Tepper has to pay, uh, to come here for next year, whether it’s GM and head coach or just head coach, they have, uh, they have a lot of work ahead of them. Um, you know, and, and I think part of the work is like, really looking at who do you want back and who do you not want back? And there’s a lot of a, again, there’s a, a list of, I think 21 unrestricted free agents and then you have a few exclusive rights guys and a few restricted free agents guys, like you could probably, honestly, 80% of those guys probably shouldn’t even come back. You know, just, just to get some, from some freshness into that locker room and to have fresh faces, fresh ideas, uh, guys who are excited to put on that jersey and wanna win. Um, you know, one of the, the main things that, like, I feel bad for Chris Tabor for is that his team gave up on him the last two games and I don’t even know if that’s even Chris Tabor’s fault. You know, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s the position these guys are, are in the season is going so bad. Uh, and, um, nobody, you, you see, I wonder what the players are thinking all week when nobody is talking about them, everybody’s talking about the owner, David Tepper as a player. What does that do to you when it all becomes, your season’s already so bad? And now the only thing people will have to talk about is David Tepper. It’s not like, it’s not like, uh, this is, you know, Dallas where the owner and you have, you have the owner and you have the, a winning franchise right now and, and things like that and it’s just different. It just, and the owner is gonna overpay for everything and it’s everything is good and all that, blah, blah, blah, you have a good relationship with them and things like that. Like Jerry Jones seems like a guy you can go have a, have a beer with David Tepper is not, doesn’t seem like that type of guy at all. He pro, he probably thinks he’s that type of guy. He doesn’t seem like that type of guy. So it’s, it’s different when people are talking about your owner for the wrong reasons. And he also just doesn’t seem like the best guy. So, uh, I don’t know, man, it’s, it’s, um, I’m, I’m really hoping that, uh, just the fresh faces for, for 2024 can just start this thing in the right direction and you know, yeah, it’s just sad. Yeah, it really is sad because just look at, you’re talking about new faces, fresh faces. This team needs it at three new offensive linemen starting at least three and one of them might be moving. Icky Kwan inside the guard. Like, I’m sorry, like that’s the thing. Like they might need a new left tackle if you move, Icky in a guard, they still need a new center of my opinion because Bozeman was below average this season. The guards were awful this year. Granted, they went through tons of injuries, but they might need three new starting offensive linemen. I know Brady Christensen missed the year, be pretty much missed the season because of that biceps injury if I remember correctly. So there, there’s questions about the offensive line, I think they think you need at least three guys at least can be starting caliber on that offensive line. You still need a couple of starting wide receivers as well. You definitely need starting defensive linemen help alongside Derek Brown. You still need someone that can line up consistently and be a threat opposite of Brian Burns. You still need someone that can line up opposite of JC Horn at corner and you need someone that can step in and actually be ready to play when JC Horn actually goes down that corner. Like there’s a lot of big time problems for this Carolina Panthers teams in terms of roster. I it’s just, do you want to go through the list of the unrestricted free agents? I mean, we can, we can go through some of, there’s, it’s a long list like you said, but it’s just, I mean, I’ll just, I’ll just mention to people that I feel like I would want to stay. Yeah, obvious one. Brian Burns and Frank. I mean, you have to, by the way, if you do not bring Brian Burns back, everyone that’s worked in that front office the last two years should never work in the NFL again because twice, two years in a row, you turned out multiple first round picks for Brian Burns. And if you don’t even at least franchise to him this upcoming off season, you should never work in the NFL again. The fact that you turn down multiple first round picks and then if you let a guy walk, you should never work in football ever again. I would think that, um, a new contract or a franchise tag would be the two top priorities for the Carolina Panthers this off season and, and, and the next priority after that, uh, would be to try to go ahead and lock in, um, uh, uh, Derek Brown and then after that get protection and weapons for Bryce, uh, Young, now I’ll say this right. And I don’t know if this will be popular, but in the few games that Gabe Jackson’s come in for the Panthers, I wouldn’t mind him as a depth beast at go on the offensive line. He was, he was, he was decent. You know what I’m saying? Like I wasn’t mad at that. So he’s of course an unrestricted free agent. Then you get down to the wide receivers. Uh DJ Chark and Lavis Chana. Uh Laska can go. Yeah, sorry shark. Sorry, I’m 5050 on, I’m 5050 on him. I’m not, the only, the only reason I’m 5050 on them is because I can’t forget what I saw at training camp. There’s something there between him and Bryce and I don’t know if it’s the combination, if it’s just the like maybe Bryce didn’t have enough time, the injuries for shark or a combination of all of that. And also like the scheme was just bad. And I also remember the good game he had where basically he was the only offensive flash for the Detroit Lions when the Panthers spanked that booty on Christmas Eve in 2022. Tark was like the only thing going for the Lions in that game and that’s one of the reasons why he left a good impression on me. So I’m kind of wondering Dennis, you get the right person in there, Ben Johnson, who he worked with right to come in and put together the right offense. Maybe, just, maybe it works. And I’m also kind of wondering if you like, I guess you’re still gonna have, um, uh, Adam Thiele next year. If you take away too many guys, like maybe keep one or two. If you take away too many guys, there’s no familiarity and Bryce is starting all over again and that concerns me. He’s starting all over again because it’s gonna be a completely different offense. Yeah, I just, I still like there’s still certain tendencies, depending, even though like different offense, a different offense is gonna come in. Some guys still have certain tendencies within, you know, certain schemes. So II I still like to hit for him to have some sort of familiarity. So that’s why I’m 5050 on chart. But here’s the thing, like you said, he flashed like he flashed in that one game last year, like he flashed in a couple of games this season, but there’s plenty of times where he flashed in the negative this season just to look at the last couple of weeks and multiple drop passes this week loses the ball to fumble like he only flashes at moment. So that’s the thing I don’t want. I, I can’t rely on somebody who only flashes and has also been throughout his career, hurt constantly throughout his career. I do not disagree with you. That’s why I’m like, no, let him go, let him go. That’s fine. Let him go. All the defensive ends that are, you know, that they can go. Um, Marquis Haines and it two gross Matos, Um, Marquis Haynes was hurt this entire season and it, I kind of wonder if he is healthy because this is the first season that he’s been like hurt the entire season. Um If he’s healthy, maybe he helps out Brian burns on the other side. You two gross mottos to me took a step up, but if he’s looking for a bunch of money, let him go. You can find another guy like that to draft, but he did, he did impress me this year to me. He stepped up and he changed his position. Yeah, if he’s, he’s more of like the rotational guy like the third guy that can come in and spell, you know, for a couple of series here and there. I’m like him in that regard, but if the price is right, um, then you have guys like Kamu Gour Hill, um and other guy, other linebackers. Yeah, you let them go. CJ Henderson, let him go, Troy Hill, let him go. Shaquille Griffin, let him go. Jeremy Chen I’m sad to say, but he’s going to be gone. I had to say, but he’s gonna be gone. I want him back but EO doesn’t use him. But if a new coach comes in and says I don’t want eo and he brings in a defensive coordinator that likes Jeremy Chen. I don’t know if, uh, and then Sam Franklin, I think, keep Sam Franklin special teamers guy. I like him. I like him on special good feeling guy too. JJ. Jansen JJ gotta bring JJ back. Please bring him back. Those are, that’s there was other unrestricted free agents, but that’s the list. Um And then uh restricted free agents, Giovanni Ricci and Stefan Sullivan and me Smith Marcet, I say keep him. I like him. I like the way he say 67 weeks of the year. I like him. Exclusive rights. Uh free agents. The only one that’s uh worth bringing up is Raheem Blacks year. I like him as a return guy and a change of pace guy even though, you know, he didn’t have a good day today. Um You know, he’s a good change of pace, 3rd, 3rd string back. Uh And so, you know, hey, keep that guy around. Yep. But that’s it. Everybody else like literally everybody else and even if their contract is not up, maybe you can cut some people, maybe you can trade some people, you know, try to try to see if you can get some fifth or sixth rounders back for some other guys. Um even seventh rounders because you can find some diamonds in the rough in those later rounds. Um You know, hey, just give it a try. But a lot of those other guys, it’s funny, I was saying that at the trade deadline and people were like, no, you shouldn’t do that. I’m like, ok, much rather take that seventh with a flyer than just letting dudes go. Well, I mean, I’ll say it right here. Janu January 7th 2024. You were right. We should have done that. They need picks. They need, they need so many of them. They need that. So many, I think before the trade deadline, like nobody, not a lot of people saw two and 15, like, I guess a lot of people thought that maybe after the, uh, after maybe the, um uh by week that maybe they get their act together and they can go and start getting some wins. But clearly they had one win at that time. I was like, no, this team ain’t going anywhere. That’s not the case. I mean, not that I thought they were gonna go somewhere but like, you know, you’re at this point, you’re trying to win, like at that. Like what we’re saying right now, you are clearly starting over and the message from the Carolina Panthers from before, even when they started with Matt rule when they started with Frank Reich, we’re not taking, that was their message to us. That’s one of the reasons why Panthers fans are upset. That was their message to us. So that means we expect wins. So at that time, I think that’s why I was thinking, hey, let’s try to go after someone wins. Let’s not just give up guys for these later round picks now. Just just do it, let’s freaking do it. You need every pick possible. You need every pick possible. Have you seen, have you seen what their, what their home schedule is gonna be for next year? I actually have not looked at the schedule this upcoming year because they are gonna play a last place schedule this upcoming year. So, congratulations. You know what the funny thing is they’re gonna play against Chicago, right? They’re gonna play against the Bears. It’s gonna be at home. It’s gonna be a way for them. Oh, so it’s gonna be away for the Pan away for Chicago away for Panthers. It’s gonna, they’re gonna go to Chicago, they’re going to Chicago. It’s funny they’re gonna go play against that first round pick that they traded away. They’re gonna go play against the first round pick that they traded away. But you know what, it’s not good at home though, like because you got, of course you got your, uh, divisional guys. You gonna play the Giants at home. The Giants are gonna be salty from this year. They’re going to take a step up, you’re gonna play the Cowboys at home. Are they gonna go away? No, you have the Cardinals at home. Maybe that’s winnable. You have the Chiefs at home? Oh, there you go. You have the Chargers at home. Depending on the coach they get, that could be an L, maybe that’s Ben Johnson and the Chargers coming to Carolina. Right. Think about that. What’s that game for Ben Johnson? And you got the Bengals at home? Bengals are down this year. That’s the last place team. Imagine that for next year. So, um, they, they about to get spanked, they about to get spanked, they about to get, they about to get it. They’re about to get it next year. This is gonna be a three year minimum rebuild, three year, minimum rebuild for this team at their minimum three years for this team. They’re away at Philly at Washington at Chicago at Denver at uh Las Vegas. A lot of those sound like losses to me. Yeah, it’s, it’s so year to year. It’s year to year. It’s week to week when it comes to the NFL. So who knows Washington maybe is a win, you know, because they’re, they’re in flux right now. But everybody else outside of the divisional guys, we see it’s gonna be salty. We’ll find out on Monday, a lot of the firings taking place in the NFL. Right. Black Monday as I like to call it. But here’s the thing. Carolina. I don’t know, it might be six, might be seven, might be eight jobs available. Carolina’s number bottom, whatever that is, it’s last, it’s last, it’s dead freaking last because the Chargers are probably gonna be the most sought after if you’re a head coach because you’re gonna have Justin Herbert as your quarterback. And they’ve got some dudes there. I know they got a tough salary cap situation but, you know, you got your, you know, you got your guy at quarterback locked in place. So the commanders, that’s the second most attractive, you know why? Because they’re gonna have the number two overall pick. It looks like number two overall pick. Plus they have two second round picks and two third round picks coming up. You could probably draft Drake May as your quarterback and I get two seconds and I get two thirds this upcoming year. I could really start with the core of my team if it’s a new head coach there and you don’t have to worry about Dan Snyder as an owner. Guess what? Carolina? You’re dead last, dead freaking last. Terrible roster. No, first round pick this year. And you got David Tepper as your owner. Sorry, you’re dead last in terms of coaching picks dead freaking last. All I know is that this off off season is gonna be very, very entertaining. It’s gonna be more entertaining. It’s gonna be very entertaining. Like the next three months are gonna be so entertaining. It’s gonna be way more entertaining than watching the Panthers offense this season. I can tell you that. Yes, because I also want to see how the, how the Panthers themselves are going to like, try to spin us, how are they gonna spin us, you know, with, with what they had, you know, and the, the best case scenario for the Panthers, you get either Ben Johnson, Steve Wilkes that ain’t happening or Jim Harbaugh, that’s the best case scenario. And I don’t think Jim Harbaugh is happening. So you’re really placing all your bets on if Ben Johnson wants to come home or not or does he want to go to L A? And then after that, you need to figure out a way to get some free agent wide receiver in the building and do as best as you can do. You got to spend that money, but you also got to spend money on Brian Burns and Derek Brown too and possibly Frankie Lou as well. So they’re, they’re in a tough position. It’s gonna, it’s gonna be one interesting off season and uh it’s, it might not get any prettier anytime soon. That’s all I know. But I will say this. What I do know is we’re gonna have another episode for you all this coming Thursday here on Panthers playbook. Make sure again you subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Make sure you also also leave us thoughts in the comments section here below on 99 9, the fans youtube page and subscribe for us as well. Hit that like button. It feels good. And honestly, Chris, this is an awesome year. I mean, we’re still we putting out episodes but for the start of this season. So now, I mean, we had nearly a quarter of a million views here on youtube, which is awesome. Uh And thanks to you all for watching this and listening to it. Seriously. It’s awesome. Thank you guys so much. Um You guys have been awesome in the comment section, leaving your thoughts. You just agree with us. That’s great. We want to hear your, uh hear your takes on, on the things that we discussed on the Panthers, but ultimately, we can all say we want the Panthers to win. We, we’ve gone through a lot of pain together. This is not the year uh or the outcome that we all expected. However, uh as Dennis said, I echo those sentiments. You guys have been so awesome and uh we thank you guys for, for listening, watching, sharing, um talking to us when we’re out in public and, and telling us what you thought was funny about something and like literally spitting back out our lines, back out to us and all that. That’s really great and, and we really appreciate that. So thank you guys so much and we’re not gonna leave you hanging. Uh As soon as we get a new head coach, we talking about it. Oh yeah. As soon as we get a new general manager, we talk, we talk. Let’s be real. We need a new one. Let’s be honest with you. We’ll see you guys on Thursday. Bye Federer. Bye bye.

Source: wralsportsfan.com