Welcome to another edition of Wrl Triangle and two. I’m Mark Bergen. He is Wrl Sports Pat Welter Pat your boots on the ground. Earlier this week, Panthers OTAs is underway and still many months away from the start of the regular season, but wanted to chop it up with you here. Talk about what you saw in the expectations for the Carolina Panthers in the 2024 season. Wow. Where do we even start? I mean, it’s probably safest to not have a lot of expectations for the Carolina Panthers just to protect yourself as a reporter for your expectations of what you got to see. Uh, and as a fan because it has not been good, uh, since David Tepper took over and they’ve compounded the bad by making rash, uh, quick fix type decisions that have set them back even further. I think the case in point really is the massive trade up to take Bryce Young number one overall and him not looking like the guy in year one. So, where are we now? It’s trying to make him look like the guy we thought he could be coming out of Alabama and what they’ve done is they’ve hired a new coach and Dave Canalis who’s an expert in quarterbacks. So, we’re told he’s got a good decent track record with, uh, Geno Smith in Seattle and, and Baker Mayfield last year, uh, in Tampa Bay. And they brought in a lot of new weapons surrounding them. Now it’s ot A, so a lot of those weapons were just standing around, Mark, but at least on paper, the weapons, to me, it’s standing around also look better to be than the weapons they had last year. Yeah. And you look at the, a lot of the books, they’ve got the over under win totals for the Panthers at 4.5. So expectations are not sky high but two, I think. Right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Coming off a two and 15 season, I look at it from the standpoint though. The Panthers have done enough to put a few more players around Bryce Young in year two compared to last year where it was like, the guy can’t throw the ball to himself because, you know, you bring in, uh, you know, you draft a receiver, you trade for Deonte Johnson in year two with new coaching, hopefully better coaching. You can at least see what you have in Bryce Young to say in year two. Is this the guy or not moving forward? Am I reading that right? I mean, I think the weapons that they surrounded a rookie quarterback in year one last year was, was borderline criminal. And, you know, they made the signings they could, I guess in free agency, like you’re only as good as the market, you’re only as good as, as your assets that you have available to trade. So Scott Fitterer was a little bit, you know, hand tied there because they, they’ve missed so much in the draft. Like that’s really where this all comes back to Mark is like they invested so much on the defensive side with uh Matt rule. And even there, there was mixed results on what they hit on. They completely negated the offensive side for that whole time period in the draft and just don’t have a lot of homegrown talent. So when you’re trying to sign guys, you know, there’s a reason they’re available. So when they come into last season and they’re bringing in Adam Fein who looks like he’s basically preparing for a career in the media and thank God he still had more in the tank. He ended up being really the saving grace of the entire offense last season, but in the league built on passing, Adam feeling can’t be your number one option. So they at least tried uh with new GM Dan Morgan to bring in some, some higher end players, but again, you’re only as good a as the market, so. Sure. Ok. Um Deontay Johnson, ok. I mean, you’re a Steelers guy, I mean, you, you know him. Well, I’m a Steelers fan grew up in Pittsburgh. A lot of drop issues didn’t do a lot under Kenny Pickett. He has, he’s a good player. He’s a good player. He’s not a great player. Yeah, he’s not a true number one. I mean, you go, when you, when you bring him in, you’re looking at that year, a couple of years ago, 2021 before Kenny Pickett, 100 and seven receptions over 1000 yards, receiving eight touchdowns. Yeah, that, that sounds really enticing. Um, and they invest a ton on the offensive line in the guard position, you know, not maybe I ideal but you gotta spend that money somewhere. So they, they, they did the best that they could, I guess. I’ll say that they did the best that they could to give them some weapons. Yeah, 100 and 50 million between Robert Hunt and Damian Lewis and that’s what they can make. That’s, I always look at the guaranteed money with football, but you’re making that kind of investment up front and it’s like year two with Bryce Young coming off a rookie year where I’ll be honest with you, Pat, I don’t think his coaching was great but 29th in total. QBR 33rd in completion percentage, 28th in touchdown passes if he’s gonna be the number one pick. And by the minute that trade with Chicago gets more and more lopsided, but you have to start to see a return on investment and an improvement in year two, considering at least there are some more pieces this season coming in compared to a season ago where again it was just like, I’ll go ahead and say it pat. I mean, you said it was criminal. I think they probably had the worst skill position players surrounding Bryce Young with, to where I don’t care who you would have put back at quarterback does not make excuses for Bryce Young. The Panther skill position players a year ago, bottom five in the league. I, I mean, I don’t think that’s hyperbole by any stretch of the means. And you knew it going into the year too. I remember like tweeting out and I’m looking at this roster, I like Brian Burns is the only playmaker, playmaker on the entire team offense and defense. I could maybe throw Derek Brown in there, but they had nothing anywhere and I Iguana was their, their, their tackle for the future and it’s even looking like they missed on him. So this is a lot of negativity or we’re throwing out into the universe. So I’m gonna, I’m gonna change gears a little bit in positivity in there because it is in a good situation. Everybody knows that we’re not telling anything new to Panthers fans out there. Dave Canalis does seem like the kind of guy equipped to handle this incredibly negative situation, at least through the power of positive thinking. Now I have no idea if this is the guy, I would probably bet against it being the guy based on just how NFL coaching works, based on how David Tepper’s hires have works where he goes and hires Matt rule, which is the hot college name. Then he goes, he goes like, oh, well, that didn’t work. Let’s get the experienced veteran in here who by the way was, was just fired. But we bring in Frank Reich, the experienced veteran. Uh, well, now, ok, that didn’t work. Give me the young hot offensive mind. So that’s Dave Canalis who does not have a lot of experience. He was an offensive coordinator for one season. So it is a quick rise for this guy, albeit he’s been in the league for about 15 years, even though he looks, uh, younger than either of us. And he’s, he’s, he was much better than I do right now. My bags under my eyes and the guy looks fantastic out there on the sideline, great shape, credit to him. Um, but not a lot of experience, but he comes from the, the Pete Carroll tree of positive thinking and that’s what this team needs because there’s not a lot of positivity around them and beyond just, you know, that kind of, you know, a California guy that kind of Zen, he’s thrown out into the universe. I did take from Ot A’s mark that he at least seems like he has a plan like he’s not talking up there in a lot of the platitudes that Matt rule and even Frank Reich did last year, which was a lot of empty promises and kind of spin zone, which it was with Frank Reich a lot. You know, he’s talking about the offense, he’s talking about the plan for Bryce Young, he’s talking about his footwork. He’s talking about not giving the offense too much, too soon. Um, you know, all things are actually tangible and, and applicable to playing on the football field. So I at least like that from the start of OTAs and the start from Dave Canalis, you know, tenure here. I mean, how do you feel about the hire? Yeah, and this is why I wanted to talk to you Pat because you were boots on the ground there earlier this week. I, I always don’t, fans don’t always want to hear the wait and see approach, but here’s where I’m at with this. The preseason is like a war reenactment so you could light up the scoreboard in the preseason. It doesn’t mean anything but how I’m going to evaluate this is four games in eight games in and it’s not necessarily the record which Panthers fans might not want to hear, but I wanna see the buy in. I’ve watched football for a long, long time pat and there’s a slogan. This is very true. The sideline will tell the story if he has buy in from the players watch their body language to where they believe in what they’re trying to work towards how they’re trying to improve and progress throughout the season. Let’s look at that through the first four games and the first eight games. And is that better than it’s been for the last several seasons for the Panthers who have had what it’s like five or six consecutive losing seasons now. So that’s what I look at in your one with Dave Canalis. Is, is, is he getting the buy in from his players? And that’s the buy in that he had a year ago when he was in Tampa where Baker Mayfield just got a monster contract with them. A team in your division. You had buy in from veteran players like Mike Evans who’s been in Tampa more than a decade right in believing in the system that he brought forth in getting the best out of players that buy in. And it’s hard for first year coaches more often than not first year coaches fall flat on their face. But what I’m looking at is four games in eight games in. Do you have that buy in? Even though the record might not be a winning record or you know, where you wanna be to say, hey, they’re an NFC contender. We’re still at least a year away from that. But that’s what I look at of. He did it with Baker Mayfield, he did it with Geno Smith. I’ll steal your point there. But I look at the body language and I know that’s not always quantifiable, but trust your eyes in looking at that to see if the veteran players are buying in to what he’s preaching and what he’s coaching them to do. That’s what I look at when it comes to coaching in the NFL. And I, I don’t think this point’s made enough either the coaching matters, the coaching matters. And I look at the last two games of the Panthers at the end of the regular season when the offense is Putrid, where it’s just like they’re sending Bryce Young out there to get fed to the Wolves. There’s no game plan at that point and all hope is lost. You, you’re gonna have ups and downs with young players in this league. But do they have the buy in? And that’s what I’m looking at in 2024 early on in the season, first quarter, first half of the season. Well, because in the NFL, like II I, in one respect, I don’t blame T David Tepper for wanting to have a quick fix all the time because we see every year you can have a quick fix, but it takes hitting on a series of events. You know, you look at the Texans last year. How did they turn it around so quickly? They hit, you know, you talk about draftkings and fanduel and those same game parlays, they hit the same game parley. They nailed the coach hire Tamiko Ryans who brought in his offensive coordinator, which was a perfect fit. They get, you know, the fate falls into their hands where CJ Stroud is a generational quarterback and the Panthers passed on him with their front office, which I still can’t believe to this day that had unanimous agreement on Bryce Young as the number one overall pick, regardless what you want to think about Bryce Young. I still have trouble getting past that point that you have unanimous consensus on a 510 quarterback that played with some of the best weapons in the world and it has nothing to do with Bryce Young. It has to do what history has shown us of players of that size and stature at the position of is this player going to have success? It’s not impossible, but it’s, it’s not as likely. And let me add your parlay to pat. They also traded up and got Will Anderson Junior at the third pick who is the defensive rookie of the year. No one talks about that. Everyone focuses on the stroud facet of it also not the best edge rusher. So the Panthers, I mean, it’s hard not to see the mirror images. The Panthers are gonna be inexplicably tied for the rest of time to the Chicago Bears and the Houston Texans who the Houston Texans take Tank Dell in the third round. He pops. He’s a borderline star now. He’s, he’s, he’s dealt with some, some off issues and injuries lately, so hopefully he can get back on the field, but he’s an incredible player who do the Panthers take in the second round. Jonathan Mingo, another bust. And I have to say you’re already calling Mingo a bust. Ok. I mean, receivers can pop pretty quick now. He didn’t have a lot of support and a lot of offensive scheme. I mean, there’s some talent to him. There’s some Ole Miss track record to him. I’m gonna tell you right now. I’m worried about Xavier Legget. There’s a lot of hype around him. I don’t want, I love the story. I love the accent. I love the size speed combo, but I’m worried Mark because what can you learn from the veteran players that are above him to where at least you have a little bit more depth at that position, at least on paper going into this year. I mean, they trade up for him again. It’s like they traded up for him. They traded up for Brooks. Why, why are they trading up? You need to like stack trap capital, not keep giving it away. But the reason I am worried about Xavier ligue, it’s because of the track record in South Carolina. I mean, this is a guy that he didn’t produce until his super senior season at, at South Carolina. Yes, the numbers in that year are great. Uh We were like 71 receptions, um, over 1000 yards, eight touchdowns, seven touchdowns, but prior to that 18 receptions, three touchdowns, his entire senior year, single digit receptions every year after that, I’m going through this point was he hurt every year. What happened? No, he played a lot of games he just didn’t produce. So that’s concerning to me, at least from the standpoint of Panthers fans expecting this guy to come in right away and be like the number one that he’s gonna be DK Metcalf all of a sudden. Well, the track record call suggest is that this guy needs some time to develop that he, he takes maybe a little bit longer than other guys. So maybe he’s a late bloomer. He figured it out in his fifth season and he’s gonna come right in, but I would look at the resume and say that it points against that. So again, I’m worried, you know, it’s a new front office, but it’s the same front office in some respects. Dan Morgan had been here before and maybe some of the same res uh mi repeating themselves again. You probably said the same thing about Jonathan Brooks. All right, let me go glass half full then is what new edition are you most excited about? In terms of the Panthers, you could go free agency trade draft. Which new player are you most excited about? Well, I’m gonna go a little bit off the board because we already talked about Deonte Johnson, we talked about the, the lineman, we judge, I just like lit fire under the Xavier Legget hype train. So I’m gonna go on the defensive side of the ball, which has been the one thing that this team has been, had a leg to stand on the last couple of years. And the one thing that we know can deliver. Ri Rovero is a defensive coordinator is a rising star in this league. They hit on that hire. He did a lot with a little last season. And the one thing I like about the players, they signed on the defensive side of the ball is there was fit and what we saw under Frank Reich is he brought in a lot of things that like seem good on paper, but they didn’t necessarily fit him. They didn’t necessarily fit his scheme. They didn’t necessarily fit the philosophy or the organization. So there was no like synergy anywhere. Well, E Vero brings in a guy like Josey Jewel to play linebacker. Well, he played for him in Denver. He brings in. So that’s probably the guy I would say it’s like, ok, I like this guy. This guy is from what he went to Iowa, you know, good track record there as Sean Robinson defensive tackle played for Rivero in Los Angeles. So, are these guys exciting? Are they stars? Are they necessarily playmakers? Are the guys that, you know, you’re gonna get fired up tweeting about on, uh on your Twitter when you’re at OTAs. No, but like that’s the kind of stuff that makes a difference when you have guys that can step right in, produce in your scheme. And that already understand what the coaching staff is looking for. So those are the kind of moves that you start stacking and that’s what ultimately, I think leads to wins. It’s not some of the splashy splashy signings. I think it’s very telling that you retain your defensive coordinator despite changing head coaching staffs. I think that’s very telling and I know that Aveo is one of the most sought after coaches to where he’s had other interviews with other teams, potentially for head coaching gigs. And I think that’s in his future, but you retain him of what was maybe one of the few bright spots of this team from a season ago, interesting decision there. Uh I’m gonna stay on offense and with Bryce Young’s development, we can talk about receivers running backs. All of this. A good tight end can be a young quarterback’s best friend and this tight end they got out of Texas, Javon Sanders. Uh, he’ll have familiarity with Jonathan Brooks out of Texas too. So you have a Texas connection there which I like. But with Bryce Young’s development, security blanket big target, a guy who can serve as an extension of your offensive line in the running game, mismatch problems in the passing game. Uh, listen, Pat I was at the combine, the Texas guys, the Texas guys of the LSU guys. Listen, we got Paris Olympics here in a few weeks. If we need someone to hop in on the four by 100 or the four by 400 team, let me introduce you to some athletes either from Texas or LSU. These guys are not only massive, they can fly. So I get really, really excited when I see that. And I think we talk about positional value draft capital. I think it’s a good pick to pick a tight end in the fourth round versus say in the first or second round where it’s like I need this guy to be a stud from day one but with Bryce Young’s development, give him all the help he can get, get that security blanket at the tight end position. I get excited about that might not happen right away in the 2024 season. But on the back half of the year is this team progressing. Is this team better say in week 18 compared to week one. That’s what I’m looking at to where it’s a marathon and not a sprint this upcoming season. Yeah, cause they got hit on one of these mid round picks eventually. I mean, like that, that’s how you win right? Like every year you see it around the whole entire NFL like Panthers just came to hit on their first round picks, let alone be mid round. So, yeah, Sanders, let’s go. I saw him standing next to Jonathan Brooks, you know, the rookies, they weren’t doing much and Brooks coming off coming off the AC L thing. So, let’s go, Texas. Right on. All right, let’s, uh, wrap here schedule came out the other week and to me there’s really two choices. I would probably take the international game against the Giants, November the 10th in Germany. Uh, I would argue that that’s the best game on the schedule. But let’s start, we’ll turn it over to you. We’ll give you the keys to the Cadillac Pat. Let’s say you what’s the best game on the Panthers schedule in the 2024 season? I guess I just have to start out by saying why is everyone so fired up that they’re not in prime time like you, is that what you want to spend your evening doing? Even if you are a Panthers fan like we are, this is a merciful decision by the NFL to not put people. Did you watch the Saints game early in the year? I was there. I was falling asleep in the press box. My God, you don’t have to watch the New York Giants and Jets all year. We would, they need the Panthers in prime time. Yeah, that is from the soul right there. That is from the soul and you’re up late covering the game and you still have to do your stand ups and you look, live from the next day. That’s from the soul of a TV reporter who’s been out in the field. Oh, I appreciate that perspective. Yeah, it’s, but look, the only team in the NFL without a prime time game in that luster where a year ago you drafted, the number one pick is just worn off and, yeah, you get the international game but not to have a single primetime game. Now, uh, football fans know this, but they could get flexed into a game if, say they’re in competition in the NFC South race late in the year. They could get flexed into a primetime game. But as it stands right now here in May, uh only team in the NFL that to me is what’s the telling part about that pad of? Yeah, I mean, do I want to go see the Panthers get smacked in a prime time game? Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night. No, but the only team in the league, the national announcers do a great job of the storylines and selling it and it’s just like it was, the team was tough to watch a year ago period and I think even in garbage time they didn’t even produce in garbage time. So that, that’s really, that was probably one of the hardest parts of the season, but II I, I’ll give you one. I, I’ll say the Bears, right? Like we talked about how they’re gonna be tied to that franchise now forever. Caleb Williams is coming in and what I love about the Bears, what they’ve done, they’re gonna play at Chicago week five. The Bears have the quarterback, but what they’ve been doing is building up around him slowly through a lot of Panthers capital and players like DJ Moore, but, you know, they draft the receiver out of, uh Washington a doomsday with their, with their own pick in the first round. You know, they brought uh more, they made all these signings, they’ve invested in the offensive line like they are ready now to be a team that goes from zero to hero pretty quick. They could potentially follow the, the Texans formula here and turn things around quickly. And so, you know, and then the, the Panthers go in that game and don’t deliver if they lay an egg again. It’s, I mean, it’s piling on at this point, but that’s what’s on the table and Bryce Young kind of downplayed it like he was asked about it. Apparently there’s video of him like rolling his eyes or shaking his head when that game was announced. I I haven’t personally seen the video, he denied it. He said it was like coincidence. He was like, no, it’s not me versus Caleb like I love Caleb. I know Caleb, we go way back. California guys respect, support him. It’s the Bears versus the Panthers. Respectfully, Bryce Young. It is you versus Caleb Williams. That’s how we talk about this league. It’s a quarterback league. You guys are tied forever and people don’t care about all the other players on the field. It is you versus him and we’re gonna see how that looks. But Caleb Williams comes in with a lot of talent. That was a guy that the Panthers, if they had the patience, could have, could have waited for this draft class, you know, I mean, it would have been really hard to do from where they were coming off with the matt rule era to ask the fan base to just sit through a year of Andy Dalton. But ultimately, in hindsight, when you look at it watching Andy Dalton last year would have been better TV, probably than watching Bryce Young. Uh they, they tried to do that when he had his phantom ankle injury, which I think was maybe legitimate for a week. And then they said, oh, well, no, he’s not ready. And let’s try to keep Andy Dalton on the field and I don’t know if at that point, Frank Wright was starting to figure out like, oh my gosh, I could lose my job in year one. but game is one of the best games, the offense looked all year, you know, and, and that tells you a lot. Yeah. Yeah, the Chicago game, it’s not just that trade with Chicago, but it’s also looking at what the Texans have done with CJ. Stroud, what the Colts could still do with Anthony Richardson in year two where he’s coming off his injury because those are also two other players that you could have. So the Chicago pick is a good one and that was my other choice in week five. But the Germany game to me against the Giants and it’s not so much against the Giants, but in international game, one of only a handful this year. And that’s also in week 10, November the 10th and you’re going into the bi week after that. So where you stack up at that point in the season? Is there that progression? What are the things that you need to do on the back half of the season for me? That’s just a good litmus test game of where you’re at through your whole body. You’ve worked through 10 games to that point and getting to play internationally too. Uh Let me say this. Uh I want to advocate for you, Pat Welter. Let’s put you on a plane and send you to Germany to go cover this one. I’m putting it out there already. Let’s go give me the goulash, the Wiener Schnitzel, the Das Boots. I might need a little bit more of that if I’m gonna watch the Panthers play in Germany. But yeah, sign me up for all of it. I, I let’s go, I’ll get all the features you want. I love it. I love it. So the regular season week one against the Saints, that September 8th, still a lot of time between now and then, of course, 33 preseason games as well. Pat Welter, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Is there anything that you need to plug here? I know we got the US open here coming up next month here in June. But anything you need to plug, uh, over with WRL Sports, uh, the floor is yours. If there’s anything that you’d like to, to talk about with your coverage here in the coming weeks. Yeah. Well, this is a quick turnaround. It’s a podcast, right? It’s immediate. So I got some cool coming out today. Got to hang out with, uh let’s talk about college baseball right. The time is now AC C tournament, UN C Duke NC State uh Forest ECU. Like what a time in our state for college baseball and the best player arguably in the history of North Carolina, which is a story program is Vance Honeycutt who set the home run record for the school this year. I got to do a one on one with him, got to hang out with his family a little bit. So I got a profile coming out tonight. Uh We’re gonna air it at six o’clock and that’s a perfect timing because UN C plays this afternoon, NC State and Duke play tonight. So check that out on Wry All Sports fan as well as uh the six o’clock news tonight with uh with Chris Lee. Yeah, honey. Cut definitely a player with uh an MLB Future Pat. So first round, check that out and uh you can see that uh during our Wrel broadcast, check that out also WRL Sports fan.com. He’s Pat Welter, I’m Mark Berg. And this has been another edition of Wrel Triangle and two. If you’re watching on the 99 9, the fan youtube page hit that subscribe button. Apple and Spotify five stars and five stars only. We’ll see you next time till then. Take care so long. Everybody.

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