All right, Chris. Picks have all been made. Give me a grade. Right off the top, give me a grade. Panthers draft. A. A. All right. I like it. I was gonna say minus. I’m gonna say a minus, but overall, it’s pretty good. Let’s break it down. 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. You see all of it right there on the bottom of the screen for those of you watching on YouTube, all the Carolina Panthers draft picks in. 2025. Leave your grade for the Panthers draft down below. Chris, I think you and I on Thursday, we were, we were live reacting instantly to Tedderrolo McMillan being drafted in the first round, eighth overall by the Panthers. And you and I were kind of like, all right, look, we love the fact that a big playmaking wide receivers right there for Bryce Young, a potential number one wide out to be paired up with Theen, Coker, Ligette and others, including now Hunter Renfro. But we’re like, well, this, this, yeah, we will, but we were so cautious about, hey, the defense stunk last year. You spent a lot of money on defense and free agency, but there’s still the need for a marquee player. And then Dan Morgan cooked on day two, Chris. He cooked on day 20 boy, yeah, Nick Morton, I mean. He was in the kitchen, you know, he was cutting up the vegetables and everything. He had all the seasonings, he had everything put together and it was just a nice little gumbo of things. Um, I loved what I saw for the rest of the draft. It was one of those things where it’s just like, OK, Chris, shut the hell up. I was like, oh, OK, do his thing. Dennis. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I’m cooking here. Stop doubting this, man. Yeah, it’s like hell up, let him do his thing. This is Mike, you come in, you nag mom in the kitchen cooking. Get out of my kitchen. I’m cooking. That’s what Dan Morgan did to us, Chris, because that’s exactly what he did. And here’s the thing that, especially talking about squirting. I’m just gonna say Princeley because Princeley’s a lot more fun and easier to say than umm. Yeah, I’m gonna go with Princeley on this one. It’s easier than Speshnikov. I’ll tell you that. Hey, you know what, Sve might be because I’m black. I don’t know, but Uma Yellin just like rolls off the tongue easier than any Russian last name ever. That’s, that’s fair enough. That’s fair enough. But here’s the, here’s the thing about Skorton and Princeley. They, even though they are both edge rushers, guys that play on the end, they bring different skill sets, which I think is actually the thing, like these, the two guys compliment each other. Which is a great thing. It’s like squirting, which by the way, Mike Kay, the Charlotte Observer pointed this out. He doesn’t turn 21 until late August. So he’s still like the mold of clay that you can grow and develop. And he’s someone that can be a 3-down player that has better against the run where Princeley has that, is this the guy that can just disrupt the pocket, get into the backfield, disrupt quarterback. He had 55 pressures last season playing for Florida. First team all SEC. Like, again, these guys compliment each other in different ways and he still has room to improve and grow as well. I like the compliments of what these guys bring on the field, Chris, and hopefully they can be impactful day one. You know, um, I, I have, I had huge hopes back when, uh, we had Brian Burns in the 1st round, and I want to say 3rd or 4th round. Um, we got Christian Miller. I don’t know if you remember that, uh, but Christian Miller from Alabama, I think it was 4th round because we went through everybody 4th or 5th round, so we went through everybody. Chris Miller was a 4th round pick out of Alabama. So, uh, he didn’t play that much in 2019, 2020, he took the COVID year off and all that type of stuff. They still paid him and then he just never got back into it after that, and now he’s doing like sideline reporting or whatever. But, um, in practice, I remember going to that. Uh, training camp and going to that rookie mini camp and seeing those guys in in 2019 and being like, yo, if the Panthers can figure out with these two, they got two guys, two young guys coming off the edge with each other. Uh, both with great pedigrees, Christian Miller from Alabama, and of course, Brian Burns from out of Florida State, and it just never quite worked out. And once I was looking at what was going on when the Panthers made their pick for the 2nd round, then for the 3rd round, I was looking like, whoa. This is possibly, possibly what could have been with Burns and Miller. The difference is these two are probably more closer together as far as ability is concerned. It’s just that Uman Mellan got drafted in the 3rd round later than what Skorton did. And uh I thought thought about exactly what you said. They both bring like two different things uh to the Carolina Panthers and You know, maybe we could talk about this as well, uh, you know, Dan Morgan and Dave Canalis were a little bit non-committal in talking about the future of uh Jayden, I’m sorry, Jade and Clowney and uh it was, it’s interesting when you now look at that room, that edge rushing room. Buy DJ Johnson, you know what I’m saying? Or, or, or maybe you keep them if you want to stay cheap or whatever, and you have other people who are going to um gonna play ahead of them, but then you’re gonna say bye to Jade and Clowney, but Uh, you have now these guys with Patrick Jones and uh DJ Waanum, those are the four that for sure looks like they’re gonna make their roster, uh, 553 man roster, you know, pending health, uh, by that time of the season. Um, but it’s gonna be good to see that these young guys, uh, can be in there in the rotation and hopefully they have an impact on defense as well getting to the quarterback. And don’t factor in how special teams plays a role in, in these guys as well. The so Mari Barno, who’s on the final year of a rookie contract as well, who missed a bunch of the season last year because of a knee injury suffered at the end of the 2023 season. I could see him sticking around just for special teams and for backup injury purposes. I mean, yes, and he’s great at that role. So, I mean, and also letting go of Jadeveon Clowney would say if Merra $7.75 million in cap space, which could be used to potentially add other guys. To the roster because there’s, here’s the thing, there are still a couple of holes that are still out there on this team. But there’s a surplus of edge rushers. There’s a surplus of interior defensive linemen like Shai Tuttle, who’s a veteran, might be forced out as well, especially after the drafting of Cam Jackson. Cam Jackson is in the, is in the mold of Bobby Brown. These guys play on 1st and 2nd down or run stuffers. That’s what those guys are. So it might force out again, because you have Derek Brown coming back, Ahaw Robinson. And I mean there’s also Trishaw Wharton that they signed as well. They’re so Jaden Crumaddy, last year’s 6th round pick. So Shai Tuttle might be pushed out even though he took a pay cut to stay. That’s just the reality of how things go. But they’re still thin at corner. I know they drafted Latham Ransom in the 4th round from Ohio State, the safety, but they might want to add another piece to that room possibly. So I, this roster is still not complete, but overall, there’s like they want competitions for spots, Chris. I found it, especially, I mean, look, I mean look at wide receiver just over the weekend who they’ve added. They drafted Teddero MacMillan #1 in the 6th round. They drafted Jimmy Horn, who I think if he’s gonna make the team at special teams, especially in the return game because he excelled at that at Colorado, and then you add Hunter Renfro into the mix. Are we gonna go, you know, pick by pick? I mean, we can, let’s, I mean, let’s dive into it. OK, because I was gonna say if we’re gonna stay on Jimmy Horn, I just, you know, I got a lot to say about this. OK, all right. I’m excited about because, and here’s the thing, and I was saying this to myself, I haven’t said this out loud, so it might sound stupid coming out loud, but I’m gonna say this, if the Panthers, let’s say they would have gotten uh Edge rusher with the first with their first round pick, still would have done something else with 2nd and 3rd or whatever, maybe still end up with Princeley Umami Ellen or Nick Gordon and some and something else. And if Jimmy Horn was their only wide receiver, I would have been good with that, because it’s exactly the guy we were talking about that the Panthers needed to add to their core. They had a lot of the tall guys, they had the route runners and all that good stuff, um, but we didn’t have the burner yet. Jimmy uh Horn was one of the guys when I watched uh Colorado and some when it was anybody not named Travis Hunter or with the last name Sanders, he was the one really standing out to me on the field, and he can absolutely, he says he can run the entire route tree. Right, I listened to some interviews with him. Yeah, and he says also that uh he was I guess clocked in at like 44 on the 40 or 45 or something like that. He says that it was a bad day for him. He feels like he can get in the lower 4-3s. That’s his real speed, according to him. And look, people can just say whatever, but he went out on an actual interview and said this. And so, if that’s what he feels like he can do in the 4 3s, that’s the type of guy that the Panthers absolutely need on the field. Um, I, I know that they resigned uh Raheem Blacks year for a lot of the, the special teams, uh, needs and things like that. Jimmy Horn can add in with that, but I do see a world where he could be the 6th wide receiver on this roster and make a huge impact on 3rd down, uh, if, if, if needed. So listen. I, I think Jimmy Horn, unless he just sucks and he messes up, he absolutely makes the roster, in my opinion. Uh, we’re not there yet. We’re way far, not there yet, but to me, if he buckles in and shows what he could do uh with the Carolina Panthers like what he did at Colorado, I think he’s making a roster. He’s, he’s one of the, the picks that I’m the most excited about. And he might, he might force out David Moore. Like David Moore might not make the team if that’s the case. Um, you gotta look at the receiving quarter now. We also had, you know, 5th round draft pick Mitchell Evans coming in from, from Notre Dame who might be really good as an inline tight end to help compliment Tommy. Tremble as well as tota and Sanders, you add these two guys into the mix. You add Trevor ETN, the 4th round picked the running back out of Georgia who spent some time earlier in his career at Florida. Another like a little bit of a change of pace to what Cuba Hubbard and Ria Dowd will bring. And then you look at the, again, the wide receiving quarter adding T Mac. You already have Legette, you have Coker, you have feeling, you add Renfro, you add horn. I’m like. Yo, Bryce got some guys to cook with. Like, let’s be real, like that is a, like, you look at and say, oh yeah, that’s a good, that’s a, that’s a good group right there. That’s a good group right there. And a lot of, again, young guys that can still grow together. That’s the thing, Chris, that for me on the offensive side of the ball, there’s a lot of really good young players on this team. Again, that can grow with Canalas, that can grow with Bryce Young. We’re not picking the 53, but already the wide receiver core to me looks like Theen, Tack. X, Coker, uh, Horn, and Renfrew. That’s 6. I mean really good. That’s that’s a really good 6. You’ve got a little bit of everything in there. Uh, you for sure have uh 3 guys who are, how tall is uh Renfro? I don’t know, but you have you have 4 guys who are 6 ft or taller, including Theen, right? Renfro feels like if he could work out this year, could be the replacement for Theen. After this season is over, because it feels like Delan is is probably in his last year, um, you know, in, in on his last legs. But the following year of his contract. He’s, he’s known as Remfro is, is just one of the best route runners in the NFL. We saw what happened when one of the best route runners in. NFL spent a cup of tea with the Carolina Panthers last year, and he had an amazing year with the time he had with the Carolina Panthers until he started running his mouth and he went somewhere else and he wasn’t used at any of those stops. So, uh, Hunter Renfro can step into that spot. And occupy that spot along with having a a a TA and along with having a Jimmy Horn who can stretch the defense, man, like exactly what me and you were saying that the Panthers needed. They got and so on offense, I honestly don’t feel like there’s many question marks. The only question mark is now go out and do it and prove it, right? You don’t need to lean on Mitchell Evans because I feel good with uh with Jata and Sanders and Tommy Trimble, but if Mitchell Evans adds anything to you then. Can’t complain. Amazing. The, the questions are really gonna be on defense, uh, and I love, I love everything that the Panthers did on defense, besides not getting enough help in the DB room, but I do love everything they did on defense in this draft. Overall, overall, there’s again, there’s competition then there clearly was an emphasis on guys playing in the front. Uh, and obviously, and, and stopping the run, you know, more the, the, uh, the safety that they signed from the, the Vegas Raiders helps out in the run tremendously. There’s also, uh, you look at the for front pick, Latham Ransom also really good at coming up in the box against the run. And then also you again, you added Bobby Brown who is a true nose tackle. Like I’m talking big body guy, same with Cam Jackson. Cam Jackson. 66, 328 pounds with long arms that can just stalemate guys in the middle. If you’re gonna run in a base 34, you need someone that can be a two gap guy in the middle of that defense. Now you got two of them. You had none of it last year. Now you got two guys that can do it, along with Derek Brown coming back and Ahaw Robinson and Travon Wharton. I’m like, there is so much that they put on in the front. And then like you said, you add Patrick Jones, you, again, very situational pass rusher to go with Princeley and scoring. Like all of a sudden, you forget, you put a lot of resources into that front. They better stop the run this year. Holy damn, they better stop the run this year. I want to talk about the safeties really quick. Yeah, um, again, we talked about, uh, picking up Trayvon Merrick. I love the fact that he was there and, and we picked him up. Um, only thing I didn’t like about picking Lathan Ransom is that Everything that’s talked about him, like I’m gonna like him as a player. I’m not saying I don’t want him on my team because I do. Um, but everything that’s been, you know, talked about with him as far as like how he plays the game, his scouting reports, things like that, looks like Trayvon Merrick. We knew that Trayvon Merrick is more of a strong safety, so we needed a free safety. So that’s something that I’m looking at is, is, um, is Mayer gonna be able to play a little bit of free safety? Is Ransom gonna be able to play a little bit of free safety? Are we looking at those two as the starters? And maybe they can, you know, switch roles, or are we still looking to fill um that role of free safety maybe in agency because, you know, everybody isn’t signed yet. So those are, those are probably the quick questions um that I have in my head as far as like, you know, what is, what it’s gonna be for the Carolina Panthers moving forward. But I like the idea of, of Lathan Ransom comes from a, a winning program, um, can bring some winning to the locker room for the Carolina Panthers, and uh I feel like he can, he’ll look really good right a song, right alongside of Merrick, man. I, I’m, I’m excited to see. Uh, both of those guys, um, together, but those, that was my only question because I think there’s still a little question mark for free safety. Will one of those two or both of them be able to switch off and and do that particular position? I know Julian Blackman was a a guy that was brought in and, and discussed as being a potential free agent. He was a safety the last 5 years with the coach Julian Blackman. So he’s still a free agent, so he’s a potential, he’s 26 years old, someone that could be brought in to help fill that void and allow Ransom to be the, the backup. Safety along with Damani Richardson. Maybe that’s something that does potentially happen. Maybe, maybe the Panthers are waiting until after the draft before they made that decision and go to sign them. So we might see that by the time this actually gets posted and you’re watching this for the first time, that actually might be the case. So, again, still a couple of small question marks, but overall, Chris, This is a much better roster than what we saw last year. Much better roster than we saw finish the season back in January. It is a much improved roster. How much are they gonna win this year? Obviously, that’s to be determined. Tim Bryce. on the offense, pick up where they left off. Can they do what they like what they, what we saw the last 56 weeks of the year. Can they do that over 17? Like that’s a big question mark because again, we haven’t seen that yet. In Bryce Young’s career, we’ve seen a good 6 weeks. Like overall, we’ve seen a good 6 weeks. We haven’t seen a good full year. Dave Canalis, year 2 as a head coach again, young, building, growing on offensive side of the ball. What does it look like over 17 games? That’s the big question mark that we still have going forward. And then now, hey, Is Evero, defense last year stunk. We all knew the pieces that just weren’t simply weren’t there, but overall, the defense was historically bad last year. There’s been a lot of money. Money spent on defense, a couple of high 2nd day picks brought in on defense to help out. Make it work. Like don’t give up over 31 points a game this season. Make it work. Don’t give up 3000 yards plus rushing. Make it work. A lot of question marks, but overall the roster, Chris, it’s so much better than what we saw last year. So let’s stick on that for, for just a second and, and we also hear. You know, Trayvon, I’m sorry, Trayvon, I’m calling everybody Trayvon tonight. Dan Morgan, his name’s not Trayvon, not anywhere close, uh, always said we love to bring in people for competition. So, uh, go through the different position groups, we’ll take, uh, you know, the offensive line out of it because we know what’s there. We know that they’re. uh at cornerback, so we don’t necessarily have to talk about that. We talked about the front, uh, when it comes to the defensive line, who’s gonna be there between Derek Brown and Ahaan Robinson, Bobby Brown, and maybe Jayden Cromaddy is in there. There’s LeBron Ray who’s in there who’s gonna try to make the team. Um, and then of course, uh Tshaun Wharton and Cam, uh, who was just uh drafted as well. And then, uh, if we go through. To linebacker, uh, off-ball linebacker. I like the idea that you have Trevon Wallace, Christian Roseboom, and Josie Jewell right there with John Ratigan who’s gonna be there for, uh, special teams purposes. We’ll see if Claude and Sherri makes the team or not, but look, if he doesn’t make the team, so what, right? This is why the competition was, was brought in, um, and then we move to. We talked about the edge rushing. So right now, automatically, I love the two guys that we drafted. Uh, I love Patrick Jones, I love DJ Wanna. After that, is it gonna be Jadeveon Clowney? Is it gonna be Nun? Is gonna be DJ Johnson, I’s gonna be Omari Barno. I’m gonna see, but like that’s already 5 guys right there. Competition so much better than what it was last year. Um, and then we go to that running back room. Raheem Blacks here who could, who could be there if we need them to, right? What we have, we don’t need him. Chuba Hubbard, uh, you got Rico Dowdle, and now you’ve got Travis Etien and uh Amani Bailey is on the team, but I’m not expecting much out of Amani Bailey. I don’t expect him to be on the team, but it’s already better competition in that room as well. Talked about safeties, we need more competition for the safeties. And then tight end, remember, Jordan Matthews is still on his team. Still? Still on his team for now. Jataon Sanders, Tommy Trimble, um, and then now, uh, what’s my man’s name? Mitchell Evans, right? And I’m not gonna even really count Colin Granger, he’s a cool little story, but between all of that, like, we’re gonna have a good tight end room. Um, with that, there’s more competition there as well. And then we talked about the wide receivers. uh Xavier Legat, TJ Luther, uh, Dax Mine, uh, Jalen Coker, Dan Chisina, Hunter Renfro, David Moore, Adam Thielen. Uh, Bryson Tremaine and of course, um, you know, we got Jimmy Horn and uh and TAC. Bro, all the competition all around for the different position groups, so much deeper. So once they actually make these cuts, here’s one of the things I always love about, I talked to, I think I’ve said this to you before, Dennis. One of the things I like when you look at the NBA. Sometimes you can tell who’s gonna end up having a really good um main roster by how good their G-League roster is, their development team is, right? The Canton Charge for a long time was the standard of the G-League. Right now, who’s one of the top teams in the NBA and the Eastern Conference? It is the Cleveland Cavaliers and that and the Canton Charges feed into the Cleveland Cavaliers. For a long time back in the day, uh, the Spurs used their affiliate to to feed in. Same thing you. talk about um in, in, you know, Major League Baseball. Back in the day, the, the, the farm system for the Chicago White Sox was off the hook. I mean, there were so many great folks in there. I mean, they’re not, you know, as good right now. You know what I’m saying? So it’s kind of going down, but like in that 2015 to 2021 range, when they had so many great players within their farm system, that if somebody went down, they could just start calling people up. Um, and, and now, for, for football, what you have for that is, is the practice squad. We’ve named off a lot of people who would have maybe started for the Panthers last year, who probably gonna end up on a practice squad this year. That is a sign of a good team right there. One year you could be a starter, the next year you might be on a practice squad because things have gotten that deep. That’s what we want to see for the Carolina Panthers. A lot of competition, a lot of healthy competition, folks. Give us your grade. Also, of all these draft picks, give us your favorite pick. Give us your favorite pick. Give us the one player that you’re looking forward to most watching in a Panther uniform. I’m looking forward to you saying Princeley Uman Melen. Princeley Uman Melen, there you go. See that’s what I’m talking about, man. Tap into that black side. La Dennis Michael Cox. Let’s do it. Let’s do it, man. We’ll see y’all next time

Source: wralsportsfan.com