Chris, you know it’s all about the boom. Roseboom. Adam Adam Cole baby Roseboom baby, Dan Morgan, Dan Morgan baby. He’s doing his thing. Yeah, he is. He’s doing the thing. Also brought a guy back to the state of North Carolina. Let’s get this k Let’s get this sucker started. Get dialed in Panthers fans. Here comes an in-depth look at your team. Exclusive interviews, locker room insight. Let’s huddle up for Panthers Playbook. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of Panther’s Playbook. That’s Chris Lee, Dennis Cox here with you. Uh, by the way, leave your thoughts in the comment section. What has been your favorite? Off-season edition so far here in free agency. Let us know what’s been your favorite edition. But Chris, one edition that happened the day that we’re recording this. Wednesday, Rico Dowdle, native North Carolinian coming home, the running back. I like it as a one-two punch there in the backfield with Chuba Hubbard. I still think they should add. A running back possibly in the draft, but we’ll go talk that here in a little bit. But Rico Dowdle had over 1000 yards for the Carolina, I’m sorry, for the Dallas Cowboys last year. He almost had 100 yards for the Carolina Panthers. He almost had, he almost did. But a 1-year contract, $3 million base could potentially get upwards of over $6 million depending on incentives and those kinds of things. But a one year deal for a guy that’s built similar, run similar or shoot by Hubbard, I don’t mind the move. Actually, in fact, Chris, I, I’d like it. I like it. I, I really like it. It was probably the biggest surprise for me. Um, I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite move. It’s one of my favorite moves that Dan Morgan’s done, not the favorite, but it was probably the biggest surprise to see his name come across and because he was. Just one of those, like there’s a few running backs like right now if you watched, uh, you know, 2024 Carolina Panthers, you hear their name and you’re kind of like, ah, and Rico Dodo is one of those guys because he, he, he gave us some games that we really just reamed the Panthers out. I mean, let’s go back to it. 25 carries, 149 yards. Averages 6 yards per carry and his his long was only 12. So it’s not like he was just, you know, getting 30s and 40s and all of a sudden that’s how he got the 149. No, no, no, no, he was just getting like straight up like 5 yards down the field without getting touched every, every single time. And so, um, you know, I, I like, I like the kid and uh it’s a it’s great that, you know, you can bring a North Carolina native back uh to the state. And with the performance that he had last year, that’s just one of those where you just gotta take your hat off to him and say, hey man, you had a day, and now I’m gonna be really paying attention at training camp to see what he does when he runs the ball, because if he’s getting 5 yards down the field without getting touched again on our defense, that tells me two things. One, he’s still really good, 2, our defense still sucks. Well, there’s that. Uh, we’ll get into the Christian Roseboom signing here in a little bit, but part of that Rico Dowdle is the fact that the entire offensive line is coming back, Chris. Brady Christensen coming back on a one-year deal worth just under $3 million. It was just over, actually just over 2.7 million. Chandler’s the following know is coming back. Austin Corbett’s coming back. Kay Mays is coming back. Brady Christensen, which again, the Swiss Army knife for that offensive line this past year, coming back, which was a, a big surprise. I actually thought he would probably get money to start possibly somewhere else. I mean, a high-end money, but still get money to go start. Somewhere else, but I guess that opportunity just wasn’t there. What was the strength of the, of the team last year, Chris? It was their offensive line. And guess what? Another year of continuity together with that group, more starts together, which in my mind, Robert Hunt in his peak, Damian Lewis in his peak, Iyanu, ascending player, Taylor Moten, like at maybe at the tail end of his prime, but still in those prime years. I love the fact that you have that continuity in the offensive line and, and Brico Da benefit, Huba Hubbard, Bryce Young, everyone’s gonna benefit from that continuity on offense. Um, one of the things I like about this is that outside of maybe a piece here or there, I’m trying to really think of. I guess maybe Miles Sanders getting cut. Uh, and maybe because Deonte Johnson’s not here, but he didn’t end the year with us. Like the entire offense pretty much is back. Um, I mean, even down to, you know, you have the backup quarterback, you have the starting quarterback, you have the, the three wide receivers that we like, uh, we don’t know if David Moore will be back. We have to check and see, you know, if, if he ends up staying on the team or whatever what they end up doing. Um, the, the two tight ends that we like are back, the entire offensive line. So the continuity for uh Dave Canalis as somebody who came in as an offensive mind, to not have to really teach that stuff again, right? You’re, you’re not starting from the bottom, you’re literally just picking up where you left off. Now, I’m sure there’s they’re gonna go back and make sure certain basics are covered and things like that, like most coaches will, but at this point, like, you’re not. Not starting over and you can like go straight into the high-end stuff, and maybe we start seeing the Panthers being able to pull off certain plays that they weren’t able to last year, um, just because of of that. Everybody knows the system now, everybody’s all in together, everybody knows what to expect. The other thing that I like about this too, man, it’s not just about Brady Christensen, um, and I’m sorry if this is too early. But we got Horn, Christensen, Trimble, and Cuba, all resigned, um, to come back to this team. And that is making that 2021 draft class look pretty good. And what have we been talking about? We need to make sure that we have good enough draft classes so that we look up four years from now and we can see some of these guys, at least there’s a core of guys that are staying. And now, now that we don’t have uh Shaq Thompson on this team. ROGs, the ones that are gonna be outside of JJ Jansen, the ones that’s gonna be carrying the Carolina Panthers torch, really, Derek Brown, and then these four, because these four all wanted to be back. I just did the math before we hopped on. Since they’ve come into the NFL and been Carolina Panthers, these guys are 19 and 49. 19 and 49, they have every reason in the world to not be here, to say, you know what, let me go try my luck at something else. But all of those guys, one, probably had opportunities to go elsewhere, but two, wanted to re-sign here with the Carolina Panthers. And you, you could absolutely hear that especially listening to Tommy Trimble today. Uh, in his press conference, he wanted to be here, uh, along with, uh, his other guys. And so, when you talk about people who are gonna set the culture, Who are gonna let the the new guys in, like, hey, this is what we do here, but also we’re open to bringing in whatever cultures that you have there uh with the places that you come from that have winning cultures, like, but this is what we’re gonna do here. This is the brotherhood that we have in this locker room, and we’re gonna stay with. In that in that circle. I love this. I absolutely love this because this is exactly what me and you’ve been talking about uh the last few podcasts, and this is, this is a sneaky, sneaky good signing, I think for the Carolina Panthers, not only to get new people and new faces because we absolutely needed that, but to get the key faces to return to help this thing have some continuity, absolutely love it. Uh, 100% they’re with you on it. Now, speaking of the offense, we’re talking again about the continuity. All 5 starting offensive linemen and the depth pieces behind them. Your top three wide receivers, your top 2 tight ends, your #1 running back. Obviously, quarterback is back. You’ve added running back into that room. OK, what else needs to be added in there? They need speed. That’s they need some speed in some way, shape, or form, and that’s probably got to come with, I, I still think they draft a running back with the depth of running backs that are in this class. Rico Dado again only signed for one year. Someone that can change the pace as a running back. Someone that can be speed. I, to me, I like the idea of Broussard Smith from SMU who actually was a, a former wide receiver at Miami. Go to SMU, moved to, uh, moved to running back. So he has those receiver skills so he can line up in the slot and still be that. Be in the backfield, still can run him, use him in the pass game kind of like Miles Sanders. I was gonna say, what’s the one thing I liked about Miles Sanders? Was that, was that as soon as you did that, I was like, I know exactly where you’re going with this one. But, but that skill set, put on a rookie deal because guess what, let’s say Cuba gets nicked up. Rico Dado can still be what Chuba Hubbard is, right? He can still take that role and you still have the change of pace back that can still be the compliment in the offense. That’s what I want to see speed in some way, shape, or form, not only the, in the backfield. But out wide as well. Maybe that comes in the form of if they find a number one receiver in the draft, let’s say they do go Tet McMillan. Maybe that is the route that they go. Maybe they go, they trade down, they draft Robert Gold and, whatever it is that they do, they need some level of speed on the perimeter as well. Someone that can stretch the defense in some way, shape or form. That to me is the biggest need on this offense. It’s speed. Yeah, it’s, it’s absolutely needed and I do expect that to be addressed in the in the draft. And I’ll say this, just overall with uh free agency and, and, you know, what we have here, I think I’ve, what Dan Morgan did exceeded my expectations so far. I wouldn’t say I had low expectations, but I think I, after last year, I felt like last year was, was so good. Um, because you, you knew that you instantly got better and those players lived up to it, uh, when it came down to the offensive line. Um, that was a lot of what I was thinking about. And so like now, I will, I will say they’re going into the draft where I expected them to go like, Out of your 9 picks, if you keep all of them and don’t trade any away for other players or whatever, you better go at least 6 defense. And now I’m like, They don’t necessarily have to. He, he is in a position where I think you can really go best available after the first round, cause I still, I’m, I’m not gonna move on this. We need an edge rusher that we can grow with, a young edge rusher, uh, in that first round with number 8 overall. I will, I will be very upset if it’s, uh, you know, unless somebody is just not there, somebody with a 1st round grade just isn’t there, but somebody should be there, though, that’s the thing. Uh, if it’s Tet and and Jalen, uh, Jaylen Walker, is that his name? If he’s still there, or another edge rusher there, the guy from uh from Marshall, I can’t remember his name right now. If, if those guys are still there and we get tat, like, I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be pretty upset. But after that though, um, you know, I, I really think you can now start playing around, and you don’t have to go as heavy on defense. Uh, there’s still a need for another safety, another corner. I think you’ve you’ve addressed the linebacker enough, we’ll talk about that coming up soon, um, but you can go and, and, you know, get that speed and get some, some toys to play with. I, I, I still think on the defensive side, I think there’s still some holes to fill. Um, there definitely are. So Christian Roseboom, they signed to a one-year deal also coming from the LA Rams. Guy had 135 tackles last year. Also on top of that had interception, also had 4 passes defended. So an off-ball linebacker, which they needed to have the depth on that because Chris, we saw last year when Shaq Thompson went out, it was down to Josie Jewel and Trevon Wallace, who was a rookie. Well, Josie Toole got nicked up and we saw Trevon Wallace get nicked up. They were just, it was like claw and Cheerless and, and others. They were down to literally middle linebackers like 78, and 9. It felt like actually at different points last year. And that’s, that’s a lot of strain on the defense, especially when you’re expecting those guys to try and go sideline to sideline, also calling out the signals and stuff to the defense. They needed to boost that up. I, Christian Roseboom helped. I still think they can go get another one because 100% can still get another one because you have another bad injury, guess what, you’re down to 2 quality and then, then you’re, again, you’re thin. Question is that safety as well. They just, the Travon Mori that they signed away from the, the Las Vegas Raiders like the signing. Outside of that, it’s just Damani Richardson, who last year was an undrafted free agent rookie. Who else is gonna be there? Like, do you trust Richardson to be that guy? OK, well then who’s the depth pieces behind that? At corner outside of Mike Jackson and JC Horn, who can you trust on the outside? Same thing with the slot with Shaw Smith Wade. Who else do you trust there? There’s still a lot of depth pieces that still need to be filled. And to be frank, again, that starting spot alongside with edge rusher as well, they still need to get that premium edge rusher. It’s been a, it’s been a minute, by the way, it’s been a minute since they’ve had someone get double-digit sacks. It’s been a minute. And that’s, that’s one of the reasons why I still think at number 8, you’ve got to go edge rusher because you’re, you’re not done there. Uh, you absolutely have to go, uh, get that there. And, uh, I would say the only thing that I probably am. I don’t wanna say disappointed with, uh, but the the thing that I think maybe I expected more from the Panthers when it came down to free agency, and they mostly exceeded my expectations, right? But the one area is And and it’s still early, it’s safety, right? Because we’ve heard it’s a, it’s it’s not really a good safety draft, right? You could probably get a couple of good guys in in the top, uh, you know, a couple rounds, you know, there’s there’s uh the guy from uh from Georgia out there that’s been floated around possibly for the second round, things like that. Even ones from South Carolina’s rising up draft board. Any of those happened, that’s cool, right? But I think I would have been comfortable if I would have heard of two different safeties coming, uh, you know, through free agency first, and then, you know, figure out what you can do in the draft. But then, of course, this is not the end. There are gonna be guys who are still gonna be floating out there. There’s still guys who still could possibly come back that I’m comfortable with in a backup role like Sam Franklin, right? Uh, that is always still a possibility. And and also you have that trash talker. Yes, and he’s also a dog on on uh uh special teams. So I mean, there’s there’s still a lot of possibilities out there, but that that’s the one position where I I I expected a little bit more. Uh, but I agree with you, there’s still some holes to fill out. Um, with that, but I I, I still like the position that they’re in, um, when it comes down to the needs that they, they filled in this year. And I don’t actually expect them to have all the needs taken care of in this offseason, cause it just may not fall to you, you know what I’m saying? Like, it’s it’s hard to just rebuild a team and put depth at every position that you need it at in one offseason. Um, so, um, we might still go into the season 2025. And have a really thin safety room. Doesn’t mean that Dan Morgan didn’t do a good job, right? You know, so that’s that’s still something to potentially look out for. I do want to say this though, OK? Um, I don’t know if you had a chance to listen to Mike Jackson in his press conference. I did not have a chance. I, I’m actually in Charlotte, by the way, so it actually took place right down the road from where I’m currently sitting at right now. That guy wants to be here. Yeah, I, oh, I did see some of the quotes, yes, like, and like listening to it. And what he’s saying, like, as far as how his career is gone, the teams he’s been cut from, and they’re gonna, he’s gonna get a chance to see the Cowboys. He’s gonna get a chance to see the Patriots, he’s gonna get a chance to see the Seattle Seahawks, and he’s saying like, look, they see me as one thing going out the door. I know that I’m different from that, and they’re gonna go see that new version of me. But not only just that, I got my brothers with me, and The fact that he said, if I would have been signed anywhere else. I’ve been looking at Panthers tape for the last month. It would have messed me up in the head because he wants to be here. And also giving JC Horn props and saying, look, I want him to exceed play on his contract. He’s like, there, I’ve seen players get a new contract and don’t play up to that potential. I’m going to push him on that other side. Now that we have a year together and I know how I can push him, and he knows how he can push me, I want to make sure he lives up to that contract and exceeds that. Contract. When I heard that, I was like, boy, I, I, I think I’m not, I’m not worried about Shaq Thompson not being there now because now you’ve got these veterans here who are gonna keep people in check, who feel solidified in their role. And if Mike Jackson is talking like that, And if he’s already, he’s been training for a month, like it’s training camp already, so in February, he was training like it’s training camp. This man is gonna be ready in September and um I’m really looking forward to if that our two starting corners can stay healthy. And our defensive line can get to the quarterback. You’re talking about some possible lockdown coverage right there. Oh yeah, I’m with it. Yeah, and we’ve heard Dan Morgan say, hey, we want to find the guys that, you know, everything wasn’t handed to him, you know, where everything was just easy. Like, hey, you’re the top guy, like Mike Jack fits that, like a guy who Had to grind his way to get to where he is right now. And which, by the way, real quick, quick, quick note on Mike Jackson, the, uh, the NFL has like, uh, a pool of money that they give out to players that exceed their contract based on like number of snaps that they play and things along those lines. Our boy Mike Jackson got a cool million dollars. Based off his play from last year, based off because he played over 1200 snaps and all that. So he exceed exceeded far what his salary was. So 25 players were awarded extra money. Some guys like, for example, Brock Purdy playing on a rookie contract as a quarterback. 7th round, far exceeding, you know, his contract. So they, you know, get a pay bump. They got an extra million dollars on top of the contract he just signed, Chris, that shout out to him. That comes directly from the NFL. Yeah, I think it’s like teams, I think it’s comes from teams like it’s like a pool of money, but yeah, comes directly from the NFL. So shout out to him. Shout out to him. Uh, but yeah, like you said, we’ll, we’ll wrap on this note here, Chris. I’ll wrap on this one stat here for you. Um, you’re talking about how like the front of the defense can help the back end of the defense. Back in 2017, the Panthers had two guys. Two guys get double-digit sacks. Mario Addison Julius Peppers in 2017. 2 guys. Since then, Only two guys have gotten double-digit sacks for the Panthers. 2021 Hassad Reddick, 2022, Brian Burns. That’s it. That’s it. And you know what was interesting about that? The the most wins that the Panthers have had since 2017 was in 2022. It’s only 7, but it’s in 2022. It makes sense. That’s why you go edge rusher with number 8 overall. I’ve been seeing people talking about Ashton Genty as well. In the last 7 seasons they’ve only had someone go double digit sacks twice in the last 7 years, like y’all, bro, y’all just hard facts. You can’t be serious, man. Like love Ashton Gentty. Nothing wrong with him. If he ends up being a Carolina Panther, I will welcome him. I’ll also be pissed at the same time because. We need an edge rusher. We do. We need a star edge rusher. Folks, leave your thoughts in the comment section. Again, your favorite part of free agency so far for the Carolina Panthers, Chris. I’m in Charlotte Fake that rule will make an appearance this week. I’m gonna join you in Charlotte. I’ll see you in Charlotte, and we’ll see you next time here at M’s Playbook.

Source: wralsportsfan.com