NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 95. Fixing Your Franchise: Carolina Panthers

Episode Date: October 11, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers take a deep dive into the state of the Carolina Panthers franchise following the firing of Matt Rhule. The two talk what went wrong with the Rhule era, potential candidates to replace him at head coach, take a look at the depth chart and pending 2023 free agents/cap space, then end the pod with a mini 2023 mock draft for the Panthers.

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I got it this year. It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we have a very special, very first fix-your-franchise edition of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast featuring the Carolina Panthers. As Matt Ruhle has been fired,

we're going to take you through the timeline of what happened in Carolina, how they got Matt Rule as a head coach, why they hired Matt Rule, and ultimately, what didn't work. How did it fail over the last couple of years, the decisions that were made, some that were not. And of course, we're going to go even beyond that

as well to fix the franchise. We're going to go over plenty of candidates that they could have to replace Matt Rule as head coach. We're going to go up and down the depth chart, tell you what we like, what needs to get changed, look at the salary cap situation for next year, some potential free agents, and then end things off with a mini Carolina Panthers-centric mock draft to give you an early look of what they could be targeting in the 2023 NFL Draft.

I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers joining you guys on a special edition of the podcast. Connor, our very first fix your franchise edition of the show for 2022 uh as it is matt rule has been fired from the carolina panthers so we figured when could be a better time to fire up the series uh something that we were it feels bad to say looking forward to even though it's a fun analytical thing that we do i mean a guy got fired so it's a little a little bit of a uh fun i don't know

it's right it's kind of it's kind of a little bit of a an odd way to segue into that but this is a super deep dive that we're going to do for the carolina panthers like we're going to do for every team whenever they have a coaching change we'll go through why it happened whether we think it was the right decision kind of how we got to this point we'll talk about potential head coach candidates that could replace them as we go on this show we'll give a little bit of a roster overview and then we will end every fixture franchise episode with a mini mock draft a team-centric mock draft and even though it's early in the season we're going to do that here for carolina so connor how we doing today my friend good man i mean obviously this is a series that we don't decide when it begins because it is very heavily skewed towards guys that are fired

or guys that you ultimately know are going to be fired. Like, I don't think we're going to be doing five of these after Black Monday arrives. I think we'll have a good idea. But this one already happened. Matt Rule, as expected, the first head coach, let go during the NFL season, very early in the NFL season, as we sit here in the middle at best, being polite, calling it the middle of October.

It is probably a good time to take a little break from what matters most. I think we're going to hit some redundant storylines there. So we get a little breather from that and go full into what this podcast is about, and that is team building. And the Panthers are a team that they have fascinating decisions in that aspect of their organization right now yeah and i like doing deep dives and i know you like doing these as well um i'd rather do this than talk about tree tops of results and i i know that we we enjoy doing that absolutely because it's it's we get

to keep tabs on the league but But as a draft podcast, especially, a lot of what we pride ourselves on are team-building things, and there's going to be a lot of team-building things that happen in Carolina. So if you're ready, we can just get this bad boy kicked off, and I'll start with you. I'll open up the floor to you just to ask, when you heard that Matt Rule was fired, initial reactions?

Did you think, whoa, that was early on in this season? Didn't think it was going to be this early? Or did you say, did you think, shoot, about time? Should have been making this move? What did you think of the initial decision and then the timing of it with Matt Rule? Well, when he started to rocket up the odds boards of being the first head coach fired i did ask myself are they in a position that they have people that are capable of guiding this franchise for quite a few months that's really the first thing that an owner tries to gather when making this decision this early in

the year because you do have a roster of players that you are responsible for, and you owe them guidance throughout the season where you're not putting them in the tank either. And the Panthers are a franchise that under this owner and under this GM have selected some franchise cornerstones that they need to guide and develop and make sure they are right for the rest of the year so they're right for the next half decade now they were able to answer this question because they do believe they have adequate people to guide the franchise the rest of the time and most importantly trevor send up

the message to the rest of the league that this is an open job they have an owner that is heavily involved in david tepper who we know all about his money. According to Forbes, he is worth $18.5 billion. That is absolutely insane. Very natural. But the NFL, it doesn't always matter how much money you have. Does it help? Yes. But with the salary cap restraints and let's be real, Tepper came out and gave Matt Rule a ton of money and it didn't work. So now the door is open where, you know, they can spend a lot of time researching without doing it behind Matt Rule's back, who the adequate candidates are going to be behind closed doors and under the radar, a lot of gauging through agents of what guys would be interested in going to this franchise, under what conditions would they be interested in that. So I think it was the right move for Carolina. It was time. And this is a pivotal couple of months for them now

that they have to get the next one right. Yeah. You know, when you look at this situation, all right, well, I guess we'll just, we should take it back to the beginning and give some full context on rule and then we can kind of break down a lot of what did not go right and like you said i agree wholeheartedly i think the decision should have been made to move on from them shoot i i would have been there before this past offseason i really yeah it's kind of a little bit unfair when you sign a guy to a seven-year contract

and then two years into it you move on from them but it didn't seem like carolina was going in the right direction so instead you're here barely three years into a seven-year deal and you're getting rid of them regardless so i wasn't sure that things were going to get better in carolina i felt like they were going to fire him eventually because it just didn't look like the pieces were going to be any different they didn't have a quarterback in place which i know we'll get to in length here in this podcast but it was time it really was time and i agree with you you can't really sit here and just say yeah we're just going to accept this in carolina like this is what we're going to do you got to move on from what david tepper said in his press conference after the mat role firing them he reached a tipping point and i think the tipping point was simply the fact

that apathy was setting in like carolina panthers fans were about to completely check out they were about to be that was about to be the most empty stadium in the nfl if it kept moving and shoot it might even be going throughout this year but at least this tells you that's not going to be forever and it's going to immediately change whenever they can make those changes so you mentioned it matt rule signed a seven-year deal deal 62 million dollars coming from baylor coming from college football they ended up paying his buyout to get him as well which seemed like a massive contract for a guy that was not proven in the nfl that was kind

of that was kind of where i wanted to start this conversation is the contract that he was given that seven-year deal they still owe him 40 million dollars on this contract connor it's wild i i tweeted out the ed ocheron clip of hey that 40 mil still guaranteed okay what time you want me out what door you want me to walk out of basically and so yeah that's where matt rule certainly was with as much money as he had on this contract and look david tepper is a risk-taking owner he has said this himself he likes to take risks. But that contract right out of the gate always, to me, seemed like him saying,

let me announce myself as an owner in the NFL. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to put up the big bucks for these head coaches because for as much as it was nice what matt rule was able to do at the college level all right you remember what he was able to do at temple they went two and ten his first year back in 2013 ended up winning double digits back to back in 2015 2016 so just two years after that absolutely turned around that program he took over baylor after art bryles was suspended and then fired for all the sexual assault allegations that happened at Baylor so that program was truly an absolute dumpster fire they won one game in Matt Rule's

first year there and then two years later they're in the Sugar Bowl winning 11 games and competing for the top of that division so I think David Tepper liked the fact that he was this program builder whole great program builder culture builder but dude seven years 62 million dollars i would be very curious what other franchises were truly in the running for matt rule at that point what an agent matt rule has and i didn't look this up for the contract so i don't know who his agent is but like unbelievable job there by them to have that kind of an argument to get that kind of guaranteed length in the contract because he had not proven anything and it just it it did not go well we've all known the stats at this point he's 11 and he was 11 and 27 before he got fired so nothing even

close to a 500 record one in four this year which is why you make this change right now panthers 1 and 27 when allowing 17 points or more including 25 losses in a row when that was the case there's too much connor it was too much at that point i never really understood why they gave matt rule as much money as they did even if you liked what he was able to do in college going to the n, even if you had faith in it, which they clearly did. That much of a deal, that much of a guarantee, and we'll get to this in a second, but dude, he had full roster control in his contract. In his contract, he had full, last say,

roster control of everything that went on. Trades, draft, final 53-man roster, who was active on game day was all Matt rule this guy hadn't done anything in the NFL I that was that is the the crazy part to me when we tell the Matt rule story how that is how it began in Carolina with that much guaranteed faith in what he was doing yeah and he could thank honestly the New York Giants for all of that I had to go back and look this up before we did the show, Trevor. But obviously, Rule was an assistant coach with the Giants, I think, about a decade ago.

And Rule's a guy that's from New York. That's a big part of his background, his story. And when he interviewed with the Panthers, he had an interview scheduled with the Giants next. And to prevent him from going to that interview pepper a tepper threw around a lot of coin to say you're our guy what is it going to take to hire you yeah and what is it going to take for you to knock it on that plane and even meet with the giants which they knew he had been there under tom coughlin for a year he was from new york he's a guy, once again, was very vocal about his New York roots, was viewed as the Giants being his dream job, and they needed to hit a number that eliminated them even being under consideration.

And ultimately, the Giants had to change course, and they hired Joe Judge. There was a lot of conflicting reports that the Giants weren't as interested in Rule as probably a lot of people around Rule had on to believe. All that doesn't matter because Joe Judge and Matt Rule are no longer head coaches in the NFL. interested in rule as you know probably a lot of people around rule led on to believe all that doesn't matter because joe judge and matt rule are no longer head coaches in the nfl right but that just goes to show you and this is something that i think can happen to guys with unlimited money that are new to being owners in sports that don't really understand anybody saying no to them when there's a job on the line. And I say this as somebody who has covered the Mets and the Steve.

And I've really enjoyed the difference from the Wilpons going to Cohen because of his money. And we've seen Cohen operate under negotiations like hiring Max Scherzer and getting to the point where guys can't walk away in the NFL it can be a little bit more dangerous because you're working with the salary cap or you're working with a coaching Market that is diabolical at times like when you look at coaching markets in the NHL and the NBA and the MLB it's very modest modest, Trevor. The coaching market, and there are coaching-specific agents in football. They only rep coaches. They control all these things like a chessboard,

and they pit owners and teams and everybody against each other, and that is not making excuses for them, but that is how you end up with the outcome of Matt Rule getting an unprecedented deal for a guy coming from Baylor to the NFL. Yeah. And I also do think to piggyback off of what you were saying a little bit with Tepper flexing, I think that's what this ended up being,

you know, rule or sorry, Tepper in his post firing of Matt rule press conference. I don't know what to call that. What do I just call a press conference? I guess it's just called press conference moving forward but i'm trying to specify uh the his press conference immediately following firing that rule he said that he was humble enough to know that he hasn't handled things exactly the right way since becoming an owner and i really do think that when this guy

came on obviously buys the team for Jerry Richardson he was a minority owner for the Pittsburgh Steelers for a while before then so he was kind of itching to have full control instead of just minority control over team he does he gets control of a team and he wants to be an active owner he does and so I think that he took this process very seriously um at the time I believe it was marty herney the longtime director of player personnel or football ops who was also then the general manager after dave gettleman left he didn't have a gm to hire and so instead he was going through this process with herney it's not like he was i didn't think that he was going to fire herney right away but it felt like okay maybe that was

an inevitable thing he wasn't the guy yeah you know you get into a situation with matt rule and i genuinely think that there was all this talk about tepper tepper he's coming to carolina like this is gonna be exciting and he's like yeah look at me i you know i got all this money i got all this control i got his power over this franchise and to your point you talk about there being a salary cap on players and necessarily what you could do with players is no salary cap on head coaches. So if you're an owner, you could flex however you want on a head coach. It doesn't matter. It doesn't hurt anybody but you.

And I think he was truly wanting to – how he got his money is truly him being a risk taker. That's how he got to the point where having the net worth that he does. And I think he saw this opportunity, again, to say say this is my identity this is what caroline is all about we're gonna go all in on guys we're not gonna be afraid to spend money i'm not gonna be a cheapo about this and where fans loved it at the time right fans love how can they not you feel like the big dog yeah right right you never want to be that team that is gonna lose because the ownership won't allow you to be competitive because they're not going to be

competitive with their wallet no fan wants to be a part of that and i think tepper was trying to make a statement that that's not going to be carolina unfortunately clearly looked over a lot of things one of which being NFL experience and really being able to set up an NFL team. In that press conference, this is a quote from Tepper. He said, we have to figure out how to get a culture of winning here. This town, this team never had two winning seasons. So I don't think they've ever had a real culture of winning.

That'll go into a little bit of, I think, who we're going to bring up with uh potential head coaching candidates but i think that was something that what i gotta read you something from his wikipedia that i'm sorry you're on you're on a you're on a very intelligent rant and i need i'm interrupting it with just pure nonsense okay what is it though you need to hear this okay okay disclaimer for everybody out there this is wikipedia but under his personal life section uh there is a part that says and this is about tepper yes he told an interviewer in 2010 that sometimes in quotes if someone is an asshole like a waiter at a restaurant i I think, I could just buy this place and fire that guy.

That's unbelievable. Who among us hasn't thought of that? To be that rich and your brain operates that way. All right. Sorry, Trevor. Had to be said. It is one thing to sit there and imagine that. It is another thing to, like he said, just truly have the power. Be like, you know, what was the, what's the?

It gets better. Okay, keep going, keep going. According to the Post, he paid $43.5 million for the beachfront mansion of a former Goldman Sachs supervisor who had passed him over for a promotion then after buying he had the house demolished no come on i've had people that clicked on fixing your franchise we're not expecting us to no he's very interesting person that's kind of where we're trying to get at but this is all context this is genuinely context because dav Tepper is going to be involved

with who the next head coach is. And we're talking about how it feels like rash of a decision it was to hire Matt Rule to the contract that they did. Is this just in Tepper's DNA? Like, is this who he is going to be? I was just about to say it reminds me of. He operates as, like, God. Like, he's playing the Sims, basically.

So this reminds me of, have you ever seen the movie Justice League? No. No, you haven't? Okay, so at the end of the first Justice League, Superman, Clark Kent's mom's house gets, like, bought by a bank, and it was, like, going to get foreclosed. And so he was, like, kicking his mom out. And then, like, at the end of the movie, they moving all of their stuff back into superman's mom's house

and superman clark kemp henry cavill looks at bruce wayne who is ben affleck in the movie and just goes wait how'd you get the house back from the bank and This is the same thing. Literally. Literally, he operates that way. So that's obviously, we wanted to give you guys kind of a primer on what that is like because I do feel like Tepper's going to be heavily involved here. He said that there's no plans right now to move on from Scott Fitter, but he did say that the next head coach is going to be a lot more balanced, and that is very needed

you cannot have a coach who is certainly an unproven coach have all of that control there are very few coaches in the nfl who can handle having all of the roster decision making responsibilities very few in the nfl who could do that you know they tried to do with gruden for many years it failed belichick has done it but people would tell you that even Belichick, the GM, is not nearly what Belichick, the head coach, is. And for a lot of those years and a lot of those teams, Tom Brady and a few other key veterans that they had on both sides of the ball made up for a lot of that.

So it's hard to think that that really works out. It's great for the head coach, obviously. They're going to fight for it every time. They're going to want ultimate autonomy there. But I think it's going to be a little bit more balanced. Connor, I'll bring up this point too. Ultimately, I think that Matt Rule is gone, not only because he had that roster control

and because the team was not performing the way that they needed to. They bargain chopped at quarterback for three years in a row. Yep. Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that they didn't try at any point to do better than getting Teddy Bridgewater in 2019, getting Sam Donald in 2021, getting Baker Mayfield in 2022. But at the end of the day, that's what happened, right? If you go back to the timeline, they signed Bridgewater in free agency.

And remember, Bridgewater is coming off of simply being a spot backup with the New Orleans Saints they signed him to a three-year 63 million dollar deal which 21 million dollars a year for a starting quarterback Connor is what bargain shopping that is bargain shopping okay so they did that with Bridgewater a year later they trade him because they trade for Sam Darnold who you know very well was damaged goods coming from New York. They were trying to hit lightning in a bottle. And they gave up a ton for him. And then this year, they go get Baker Mayfield.

Throughout the entire time, in 2020, this is, I think, the biggest tipping point, the biggest learning spot that I have for the Panthers. In 2020, they had the seventh overall pick. You know who went fifth and sixth right before him? Tua Tungvaluwa and Justin Herbert. There was no way that they were going to go up and get Joe Burrow. That was not going to happen. But there were teams that were ahead of the Dolphins and the Chargers that I think they could have probably done business with to go up there. But they didn't. And I think they didn't because they believed they would have time

they believed they had time and let me tell you when it comes to getting a franchise quarterback you don't have the time you think you do you're either aggressive and you go get one or you're going to be fired that's ultimately why i think that rule was out the door because they went bargain shopping at quarterback. It's absolutely true. And to your point, God, they took Derek Brown after Tua and Herbert went. I mean, I would imagine the Lions answered the phone a lot that year when they took Okuda. I know they liked Okuda, but they probably answered the phone.

I could comfortably say that. Yeah, come on. You know, the Giants, the problems they had at that time, I still think they would have considered moving back to seven for the right price, knowing the quarterbacks going behind. There's just a lot there where you look at it and go, they didn't navigate the court. You know what, though?

This is a pivotal, if you're a Panthers fan listening to this show today, I think there's been a pivotal learning curve for Tepper in this process from a football standpoint, not just a business standpoint, from a football standpoint of the fact that they are going to be insanely, insanely aggressive to fix the quarterback situation. And Trevor, I always wonder the trickle effect of things like this and listen i can't say it enough lamar jackson's gonna get franchise tag there's not gonna be a world where i'd be floored i'd love to see it i'd be floored that a player of lamar jackson's caliber walks into the free agent market like kirk cousins did a couple years ago

and there's this unprecedented bidding war no for a player of that caliber. But it just makes you wonder, what is the Panthers strategy going to be with that spot, right? Do they finish with a top two pick and they just take one of the top two guys? Do they finish with the top two pick and instead of even taking the chance, do they call teams that are moving a good veteran quarterback to trade? So I think it's a great takeaway from you that out of all of this, if they've learned anything, it didn't really matter what Matt Rule or Phil Snow did for the defense.

The Panthers were never going to have success with all of the different options they trotted at quarterback. And they get blamed for that because they evaluated those guys and made those moves. Like you said, they gave Teddy money. The team released the video of them analyzing the sam darnold move before they did it and how much they loved him and then obviously one more swing with baker so i think that will be

the biggest learning point from them in all of this i agree i agree um i was just about to say i'm a little shocked that they moved on from phil, but I'm really not. I mean, Phil Snow has been – He goes with Rule. Matt Rule is defensive coordinator going all the way back to 2013 at Temple. He's been with Matt Rule the entire time. But I will say that if Phil Snow wants to stick around in the NFL, like if he doesn't end up being Rule's DC wherever he goes, probably in college football next year or the year after,

I think Phil Snow could coach the NFL, man. Absolutely. Frankie Lou Vu, Jeremy Chin, Hassan Reddick, J.C. Horn, Derek Brown. year or the year after i think phil snow could coach the nfl man absolutely frankie lou vu jeremy chin hassan reddick jc horn derrick brown i mean like all of those guys stephan gilmore last year all of these guys have played really well under phil snow they had a they were the number 16 in the nfl last year in epa per play allowed on defense which is really really good and they were the fourth youngest roster in the nfl like he was coaching up talented players no doubt about it but like he was making those things work and i think

that he could still coach in the nfl if he if he wants to do you agree i do i think ultimately here's the funny trickle effect here and i know this doesn't have to do with the panthers today trevor i think rule's gonna get a big timetime college job. Probably. And part of Rule's thing is, wherever he goes, is, hey, you've got to have money for my guys. Snow is guy number one, and he's going to get his money and just go with Rule and coach at the college level. And, you know, I would love to hear from Snow, what he thought of coaching NFL players versus coaching college kids

and developing them and throwing a lot of different things at college quarterbacks that confuse them. He's a great college defensive coordinator. So I agree he can coach at the NFL level, but I'd be really surprised to see him stay at the NFL level by personal choice. It's so different, the NFL and college football. And some coaches have the ability to be great at both, but it's rare that you find the guy that can really

be great at both college is so much more about and funny enough sean payton who i figure will probably get to as maybe a candidate for the panthers he was talking today which is monday on uh on the herd with colin coward and coward asked him you know is the carolina panthers job attractive and he said that it is and then he kind of dove into matt rule's situation and he talked about how like in college man you're talking to recruits you're talking to parents you're talking to boosters you're wearing a suit a lot like you're just you you're you're just basically like the front man for this team whereas the nfl you're just a coach like you are just a coach A lot of that managing of the team and that sales aspect of the job, it doesn't exist in the NFL.

It doesn't have to. The NFL tells you, no, no, no, no, no. We'll handle all of that. You just coach the team. And I think a lot of what Matt Rule brought to the table was that he was a great salesman. He knew how to sell the team. He knew how to create a pitch.

And when it came to throwing guys out there, I think that he had good coaches, clearly Phil Snow around him, and he was able to succeed at Temple and Baylor. But that's why I do agree with you. I think that we're going to see Matt Rule back in college with a pretty decent program. Hell, maybe it's even something like Nebraska, right?

We've seen them open up already. And so maybe it's something like that. But I genuinely think that that was a strength of Matt rules, coaching gig in college that just does not exist in the NFL. And that's tough then to, to succeed when you take away your biggest, your, your biggest asset as a coach,

I think. Is this a good time to transition to what they need to look for in a coach? No, absolutely. I would, I would love to do that. There's a handful of candidates. A lot of people have already talked about and what could be the next head coach uh in

carolina i'll let you have the floor first you could pick or throw out whatever name that you want to first you can throw out one two names i don't know if you want to ping pong back and forth yeah let's ping pong it to be fair i don't want to come in and swoop up all the uh is that that's a part of the i don't want to give it away i'll hold this for another show later on i almost gave i almost gave another show away i don't want to do that all right i mean trevor i think you know where i'm going to start here for me um the top coaching candidate that also i want to keep in mind i i am i do think particularly fits the identity of what carolina needs coming off of the rule failure is a guy like D'Amico Ryans.

And I bring up D'Amico Ryans for a lot of reasons. I've said a lot on this show. I think he is one of the best head coaching candidates across the NFL landscape. I thought he was kind of that way last year when he interviewed. And D'Amico ultimately, you know, I think internally felt good about staying with San Francisco for another year. And I think that why I say that, besides of how highly I think internally felt good about staying with San Francisco for another year and I think that why I say that besides of how highly I think of him as a coach and an individual is that I think they need an NFL lifer and I think when you look at teams how they often operate and

I could say this for many many years of covering the jets when they go from one thing failing they start to skew towards the other end of that spectrum and what i say by that is sometimes they'll have a player's coach and then that fails and they go with more of a hard-ass kind of coach that's a drill sergeant and then when that runs its course you go back to a you know there's a lot of different balance i look at domico and the difference of balance compared to rule is this is somebody that played at a high caliber in the nfl for 10 years and then he after one year of retirement joins the niners staff and has been on their defensive staff for now five years. This is his second year as the defensive coordinator. So you know that he has been so immersed in what the NFL has been

for the last 15 plus years as a player, as a coach, and as a leader. And I think that Carolina needs a guy like that that knows where the game is going who has also been in a room with one of the best offensive staffs in football for quite some time remember he's been with the niners since 2017 when you're on the defensive staff you learn a lot about what the offensive staff is doing as well so he's going to understand what kind of offensive coordinator he needs to bring with him to set up that franchise for success because i know a lot of people listening to this are like i don't want to hire a defensive guy quarterback's been our problem just hear me out here i think they need somebody that's a leader that can

move tepper aside just a little bit and handle the full football operation and understand how to handle the 53-man roster throughout because it felt like Rule didn't fully have the best grasp of that. So D'Amico Ryans is name number one for me. Dude, he would be a great name. Certainly, he was a guy who got head coach looks last year's cycle, which I thought it was a little bit early for that but that just shows you how much respect i think this guy commands you look at what he's done over the last two years never commanded a defense that's

been ranked third lower than third in uh in yards per game allowed which is incredible just to speak to what he's been able to do with that talent clearly he is respected by his players by the organization and by a lot of guys around the league by already getting up to that point the biggest area of pushback uh and i'll get to i'll get to the defensive coordinators did the defensive minded thing in a second the biggest area of pushback for me is that he is just 37 years old and you made a really great point about getting somebody in there that might be able to keep tepper at bay right command so much control and respect of that franchise that he can you know if tepper is saying this or that or trying to get involved here oh i got this i got this dave so remember

why you hired me you know it's somebody i was back on a team in 2009 and this you know what i mean like pull back real nfl examples to the owner that lets him see and hear you will age be an issue there because he's just 37 years old and like is age and i'll say because you're right he's got so much NFL experience but he is still green in coaching experience so does he have the Rolodex of guys that he could call up and be an offense coordinator or maybe call plays in the defense whatever it is that's something you got to figure out and then does the age thing matter how long that he's been there does that part matter the thing that shouldn't matter I'm glad that you brought to me go ryan's up because i absolutely think that he should be a candidate as well i think he'd be a fantastic head coach for some

football team whether it's carolina or not the thing that i do not think matters is that he is a defensive minded coach doesn't matter at all a lot of panthers fans that i have talked to already have said we don't want a defensive minded head coach our defense is already good we've got to figure out offense being a head coach in the nfl the best ones are really ceos first they are managers of everything you have so much you have to control within your coaching staff within the roster within free agency your relationship with the gm all of these things go into it more than just being an offensive-minded coaching defensive-minded coach hell we say every single week sometimes there are these coaches that have certain size of expertise to the ball they go and be a head coach somewhere and so many fans are saying god they got to give up play calling right i mean like

we got you got so many game day responsibilities. You got to worry about give play calling to somebody else. And a lot of the best coaches who do it for a long time are delegators more than they are even play callers and things like that. So I think that if you look at D'Amico Ryans and you interview him and you go, this is a leader, this is a person who will command a room this is a guy who will command a room of 22 year olds and will command a room of 56 year olds doesn't matter where you are this guy is an absolute leader that's the right guy for the carolina panthers

that's the winning culture that's a leader right there so i truly i understand why people would say hey we want a more offensive minded head coach but doesn't matter. As long as you have the faith that they could fill out a coaching staff, which maybe something goes into that with D'Amico being as young as he is. But as long as you have that faith that they could fill out a staff, all you want is a guy to believe in.

You want the leader there. You want the CEO. I do not care whether it's a defense or offensive-minded head coach. Shoot, look at what Brian D'Abel is doing with the New York Giants. Brian Dable is coming off of being a fantastic offensive mind at the college level with Alabama.

Of course, what he was able to do with the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen, I mean, we've talked about that so many times. He goes to New York, and Connor, what does he do? Hires Wink Martindale, says, you handled defense, Wink. I know you've got a lot of experience doing it. Just handle it, my guy. And he goes to Mike Kafka, and he says, Kafka you call the plays yep i'm gonna be the head coach this is brian dable hell you hired him probably thinking that he was going to be the play caller

for you i remember that was the exact same thing that happened with bruce arians in tampa they hired arians and arians immediately said nope not calling plays byron's gonna call plays a lot of people were like whoa whoa whoa kind of brought you in to call plays. And a lot of people were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Kind of brought you in to call plays. Like we're tired of the way that Dirk Cutter called plays and Todd Munkin called plays. We wanted you to call plays. And Bruce said, no, this is how it's going to work. And this is how it's going to be best.

And guess what? He was right. He became a CEO. He became that delegator. And so, yeah, I agree. I think that D'Amico should be definitely a candidate, but I don't care that he's a defensive line head coach. Who else you got?

Number two on the list, and I know you could speak very well to this one, would be Raheem Morris for me. And I think when, listen, it's no secret the Rams are having some problems this year. They are suffering, whether you want to call it a Super Bowl hangover. I think it's obvious they lost, you know, plenty of talent. There's no denying that. The two and three start is not what they envisioned. But ultimately, the Raheem Morris argument for me is kind of the honorable mention compared to D'Amico Ryan's, where you look at him, he's been in the NFL for a very very long time Trevor I know you've spoken to this very well I think he's already learned a lot

of shortcomings as a head coach that were not all on his shoulders but he still had to endure his first go around when he was 32 years old and was a head coach in this league. And I think the fact that he was Falcons pass game coordinator there and has all kinds of different staff experience around the NFL, I just look at him and think he's a guy that deserves another shot, that's learned a lot, that's seen a lot of the evolution of the new NFL. And if you're worried about giving a guy like tomiko ryan's a shot because you're worried about the age and the first time head coaching kind of thing you don't want to go down that road again you could look at raheem and make

the argument and say okay he's done it before he has a wealth of knowledge all of this experience and we think we're going to build an infrastructure for him to succeed here that he did not have his first time when he got the shot in tampa dude he's got a well-rounded resume at this point and i'm glad you brought that up because that's that is a really good point he got screwed when he was named the head coach of tampa when he was just 32 years old he went from being a defensive backs coach to the head coach of the organization and the reason why they made they gave him that jump is essentially because ownership was like hey you want to be the head coach he's like sure and it was like uh he was like a scapegoat ownership wasn't going to

spend any money for the next three years mark dominic wasn't going to spend any money as a general manager for the next three years and raheem morris was going to have to make chicken salad out of chicken shit basically for the next three years that he was a head coach and it eventually came back to bite him because it was a setup that was doomed to fail they were tired of spending money when john gruden was there for the last whatever it was eight years or however long gruden was there so he was a scapegoat and he was basically just a journeyman head coach that they elevated probably before he was ready and you said it and raheem has said it himself. He's learned so much since then. He's been on both sides of the ball since then.

He went back to being the defensive backs coach after that. But then when he went to the Atlanta Falcons as an assistant head coach, he was the pass game coordinator. He was the wide receivers coach at one point. Then he was also the defensive coordinator, became the interim head coach at one point before now being the DC for the Los Angeles Rams playing it at the highest level. He's a Superbowl winning defensive coordinator. So so i think his resume is right there as well much older much more

experienced now 40 what is he 46 years old so it's a lot uh a lot of time between then and when he was uh when he was just 32 33 taking over the head coach so i think uh i think that's a really good choice as well man one more i'll throw on here because we have to do it, right? We have to have the conversation. This would not be my choice over the other two guys I mentioned, but you know it's going to be a pretty hot talking point for a while

because of Tepper's financial power and his unlimited resources where he isn't salary capped. Is this a job that sean payton there it is maybe nipples does he now it's so fun we've heard so much about payton and the cowboys or whatever every big market job that could be available and obviously d, I'm not looking at them all right now in that regard, with the way they've won with Cooper Rush. Yeah. Is this a conversation when you look at Tepper as a guy,

as we have clearly outlined for everybody on the podcast, he likes to show people that he can get his way with his financial muscle, and this is a hire that people will look at and go, Sean Payton, how many holes are you going to poke in a Sean Payton hire? People would do that with D'Amico. I don't think it's justified, but people would do that with D'Amico because you brought up age, Trevor, you brought up the shorter coaching resume. People would do it.

We wouldn't be those people, but people would do it. Raheem, you know know that's a trickier one because of how long he's been in the NFL and the success he's had as an assistant Sean Payton if you Tepper's a guy if you watch that presser today he doesn't really enjoy the media challenging his shortcomings as ownership if he's a guy that's looking to make a hire that won't really raise any questions until it ultimately fails he'd open up the checkbook for sean payton it's a matter of sean payton one wants to coach again we all believe he does two if he would go to the panthers think about that the division implications. And three, of course, if Peyton believes in the potential roster infrastructure that they could set up depending on their draft or financial capital.

I think the number one reason why you fire Matt Rule when you do right now is because of Sean Peyton. Because you could talk to him. That's what I think. I think that the reason why you fire Matt Ruhle when you do right now is because of Sean Payton. The reason why? You could talk to him right now.

You have full reign. You're the only team in the NFL that really has that ability as the one job that is open. Do the Saints still have any contractual rights over him? I truly ask that. Do they because of retirement? I'm not sure.

When I was thinking of hedge coaching candidates, and I can keep going while you're saying this, if that's the case, right, we looked at Sean Payton. We were like, oh, you know, Sean Payton, you know, he's going to sit there and he's going to wait for the Cowboys job. Oh, the Cowboys are going to be disappointing again this upcoming season. They're going to move on from Mikey McCarthy because if Sean Payton really wants to coach again,

Jerry Jones is going to make it happen in Dallas if both sides really want it. Dallas is sitting there 4-1. They're sitting there 4-1 with Cooper Rush, a quarterback. So ain't nobody jumping to fire Mike McCarthy. Do you have it? Yeah, he's under contract through 2024, which means they would,

a team would need to send compensation to the saints for his rights. Right. But can they talk to him? I think I'm assuming they would have to clear that with the saints. Okay. Okay. All right. Well,

let me, let me, that gets somebody who is, that gets a little bit trickier because it's a divisional opponent right it's carolina so the saints could yes tell him to f off but being very real here as two people on this podcast that have had uh late night beverages and indie when free agency starts even though free agency doesn't start yes there are many channels that no matter what you hear or think that these

conversations always find a way to right and and that's true and i really do think that sean payton is the number one candidate in in carolina i do just from listening to what matt or sorry what david tepper said what he is emphasizing for the this next head coaching hire the only area that i push back on is that balance between general manager and head coach. I don't know if Sean Payton is going to want that entirely. He'll probably want a lot more control than other head coaches were, but setting up a winning culture,

getting a guy who knows a winning identity, understanding how to win in the NFL, Sean Payton, Sean Payton, Sean Payton. It's all right there for them. That to me is probably who Tepper would go after number one right now. And contract situation aside, whether they have to clear with the New Orleans Saints or what's going on there because he did retire and I did forget about that,

I honestly felt like with the Cowboys sitting there at 4-1, with nobody talking about Mike McCarthy being fired, I figured that Sean Payton's probably like, eh, let me open up my options. And if Carolina's the first one to get in his ear and Carolina's the first one to figure out what he wants, what they need to do to make this happen, how they can make it happen over the next couple of months.

To me, that totally makes sense because Sean Payton also is somebody who figured out quarterback while he was in New Orleans. Now it was Drew Brees. He was a hall of famer, but they took a chance on him because they were able to evaluate him where he was and they got him instead of Miami. So I think that all of those things go into it. Probably why Tepper loves him.

I'll also add another veteran coach, kind of in the same boat. Dan Quinn, defense coordinator with Dallas Cowboys. Dan Quinn had an interview with the Denver Broncos, and I was shocked that the Denver Broncos did not hire Dan Quinn as a head coach. Now, I think Quinn backed out of that. He got courted and walked away and i i wonder if that was again a situation where dan quinn went let me be dc of dallas one more year and if mike mccarthy doesn't have a great year i'm sitting in the wings i'm taking over his interim head coach

i'm a fast track guy to keep that job and then all of a sudden he's a head coach again with the team that he knows and having a lot of experience there. Dan Quinn is another guy who I understand things did and one even the terrible starts that they had to both of those seasons in which they went seven and nine the players did not give up on this dude at all they fought for this dude till the very end and that's the kind of identity he has as a head coach that again I think that Tepper would love to establish in Carolina so I think those are two veterans if you're not going to some of the younger guys those are two veterans. If you're not going to some of the younger guys, those are two veterans that make sense. I also think that Jim Caldwell makes sense, but for whatever reason,

the NFL has just been out on Jim Caldwell since, oh, I don't know. He was the most successful Lions head coach of the last like 20-ish years. That's strange. Very strange. But those are the two, or those are the three, I would say, veteran coaches that came to my mind

when it came to potential guys who aren't that next man up, new prodigy coach that I think could make a lot of sense in Carolina. No, it all makes sense. And when we do Fixing Your Franchise, you'll hear repeat names because we are going to outline the coaching cycle. But why the Panthers was so extensive is that, you know, I mean, this is the first one and we're trying to introduce you guys to hey you're gonna hear about these names a lot and

man it's it's crazy jim called when you brought up jim caldwell it's just crazy to me such a bizarre 36 and 28 three winning seasons from 2014 to 2017 they fired him it's crazy they're the lions no offense lions fans i truly i don't mean any offense but like y'all haven't won and then you had a winning coach and then it was just nope that wasn't good enough for us it's even more strange how he's just hasn't been doing a lot since then it's very odd very odd only two other guys that i wanted to bring to the table before we get into a little bit of roster talk and then get out of here. Get to a mock draft and then get out of here.

Steve Steichen, who is the offensive coordinator of the Eagles. His name has already been one that I have heard is kind of circling, is one that everybody's interested in. He is also 37 years old. He's been the Eagles' offensive coordinator since last year. Obviously, Eagles had an incredible rushing attack last year. Really nice, balanced offense this year with the improvement of Jalen Hurts. Steichen was with the Chargers since 2014, was the QB coach from 2016 to 2019, then the offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2020.

I think a growth in that offense and how it's gone from simply a rushing attack to definitely building around Hurts and his improvement. A lot of people like Steve Steichen because of that. And then the other one is Ken Dorsey. Ken Dorsey, offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills, 41 years old. Miami's national championship quarterback, the University of Miami back in 2001. Bill's past game coordinator since 2019.

But the connection here is that he was the Panthersthers quarterback coach from i think 20 what was it 2013 to 2017 so that's correct cam newton's mvp season he was cam newton's quarterback coach so he's been around in carolina he knows carolina i actually think that might work against him because tepper might like want somebody new. But he has that Carolina connection, so I just wanted to throw him out there too. I like that Ken has just transformed into looking like a mad scientist now whenever I see him. He's really adopted the, like, I don't sleep anywhere but my office game planning.

I am the destroyer of booths. So Ken Dorsey, everyone. Yeah, and he has the iconic clip where he just lost his shit yeah it's amazing on the microsoft service all right brand building we'll get into some of course everything's brand building baby we'll get into the roster in a second got to talk to you guys about our friends over at no house advantage they're changing the game by offering the most dynamic fantasy sports platform available today you'Em Contest versus other people for a shot at winning 250K cold card cash. Download the app, choose a contest,

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no house advantage today and experience daily fantasy sports redefined because it's not just how you play it is where you play and you guys will not want to miss out on this connor when you look at the depth chart some of the pending free agents here for the carolina panthers how we fixing this franchise how do we look with the roster? What does the next head coach have coming to him in Carolina? Yeah, so when you look at this group, man, it's interesting, right? It's been a disappointing year for DJ Moore, but he's a fine player. It's out of his hands. It's not his fault.

They drafted Icky early, so they believe in the direction of this offensive line while having Taylorlor moten obviously under contract it's not a bad offense i look at this offense and go man you get a little bit more out of the quarterback play i'm fascinated to see what they do at christian mccaffrey at the deadline because that could change things real quickly if they move on from him you gotta move them yeah i think they need a little bit more. I agree. You need a more consistent player across from DJ more than what Robbie Anderson's been. So I think they need a wide

receiver unless Terrace Marshall could show you a lot down the stretch here. You're ultimately going to need a running back, but you can find value in that. And this defense has a lot of young talent. I think they need more of a presence up front they definitely need another pass rusher across from brian burns they do need a player in the middle of the field as much as frankie lou vu has been a nice story so yeah yes they're not a bet it's crazy we're having this conversation as they're the first fix your franchise this is not the worst roster we're gonna go over in the series it's not even close in my opinion i think this team would look so different with better coaching and better quarterbacking that i don't

know if i'm chopping up salaries here left and right because i think once they are able to clear some expiring money and build some draft capital there are some foundational pieces in play. Look, I think exactly what you said is why this is the first team that we're talking about a fixture franchise. Because the roster is not bad. And they suck. Like, Carolina sucks. They're terrible. That's why we're talking about them first,

because they're moving on from their head coach. Why does this team stink so bad? It's just ruling the quarterback, man. Okay, eighth youngest roster in the NFL with an average age of 25.7 this has been one of the youngest rosters in the nfl for the last three years um the projection on the current roster puts them at 10th for 2023 still one of the younger rosters in the nfl unfortunately for the panthers and some of the free agent signings and decisions that Matt rule has made over the last three years, they have a projected cap for 2023 of negative 17.6 million. Not great. Normally when a team is very bad,

that means they have a lot of money to spend because the roster is bad, but that is not the case in Carolina. They're in the negatives. As of right now, they have some ways to get around that. I'll say that in a second, key free agents, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, both of them are going to be great gone um matt ionitis is also a free agent who has played well um don't know if they're going to bring him back i think that that's probably more of just a um micro move more than a macro one so if they bring him back if they don't it doesn't really move the needle too much

the big potential moves i think connor on this team and i'm curious what you think about each of them shaq thompson their linebacker longtime linebacker turns 29 next year he jumps from 13 mil on the cap to 24 million on the cap next season big hit they can save 13 mil in cap space if he is cut next offseason robbie anderson almost the same way. He jumps from $10 million on the cap to $21 million on the cap. They save $12 million if he is cut. So those, I think, are... Both guys are gone. You've got $25 million in cap space that you can save with both of those guys being gone. So that would get you a little bit into the positive. The big domino, though, look, every team in the NFL, Jay Glazer obviously tweets out, okay, a lot of teams are going to be calling

for all the Panthers players, and then we all just sit here and fire off these tweets because we love the imagination about it. But DJ Moore is not going anywhere. I'd be so shocked if DJ Moore gets traded. I also can't imagine Brian Burns getting traded. Yeah, that one, I saw that name float out there. I'm like, that one doesn't make sense. Brian Burns is so good. Ben Solek said this on Twitter. The only

one who has a higher pressure rate than Brian Burns this season is Nick Bosa. Like Brian Burns has two more years on his rookie contract left. If you move on from him, you are hitting a rebuild button that is then not going to be very attractive for the best head coach candidates in the NFL. It doesn't matter what draft picks that you're getting back for Brian Burns. You got to get like two first round picks back just to make it worth it. And I don't think they're getting that. So I'd be shocked if they move on from Ryan Burns. The only one that I'd really think about is Christian McCaffrey because

McCaffrey's cap hip goes up to 19 million over the next two seasons. So next season and the season after that, and then it goes to $15 million. Time is now. Unfortunately, they don't save a ton if they move on from him. They only save $1 million in cap space, and then it doesn't get until 2023 where they really get to save money. They could save $8 million if they moved on from him then.

But what you really got to do is you got to trade Christian McAfee. You got to trade the contract. You got to get him off the books, and you got to get that contract off and and you have to do so by not giving up any kind of draft pick with it right you can't go to a team and be like oh take on our massive contract running back and we'll give you a little bit of a draft pick in return it's a good point they have to get something back in return now mcafree to a contender would i think mean enough to where they don't have to do that. We've heard that the Buffalo Bills have already called out for Christian McCaffrey.

Yeah, that was shot down while we were doing this show, but you know how that goes. Oh, was it? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, we didn't call. We love him. No, we didn't call. Oh, no, of course not.

It's the worst kept secret that the Bills want a star running back for the Super Bowl push. Who's got a phone? You got a phone? Phones in this day and age? No. Who's got a phone? We call anybody. No, we text. We text. So, yeah, no, I think that there's going to be plenty of teams that are going to be calling about McCaffrey.

He's the one that I'm most curious for. But, yeah, I agree with you. The roster's actually in a good place. Want to try to make it a little better here? We'll the first two rounds sure yeah we'll give you a mini mock draft here so unfortunately connor said we'll do the first two rounds normally when we do fix your franchise i think we're going to do three rounds for these teams but there's no one is doesn't have a third rounder right now for 2023 carolina only has a first round pick a second round pick fourth round pick and a fifth

round pick so not only they ain't got no money in cap space they ain't got no draft picks either they traded their third rounder as part of the matt corral trade to move up to go get him last draft they traded a six round pick for stephon gilmore last year and they traded a seventh rounder for uh lavisca chennault earlier in this offseason didn't they trade for cj henderson too like there was there was some kind of yeah they did but that last year last year last year's yeah so the patriots own their third rounder so normally we will give you guys a little bit more on these today it's only the first and second rounds blame matt rule not us all right uh i blame matt rule for this whole episode actually it actually is his fault so in this scenario, have the first overall pick,

which is almost too easy on the show. Not of who they take. There is a conversation there. But what they take, it's a quarterback. The Panthers, with the number one overall pick here, take a quarterback. I lean where i left summer off that it would be cj stroud he hasn't done anything to lose that qb1 spot in my eyes

but it will be fascinating to see them go through the process of what we are assuming is cj stroud and bryce young trevor are you on the same path and do you lean a certain way yeah i have to be right i mean i mean, I have to be the quarterback spot. Unless you're getting real frisky about it, trying to use that first overall pick to like— Get Lamar Jackson. Yeah. Which is like, we're not doing that yet.

We're not at that point of the Lamar Jackson saga. If Baltimore really doesn't want to give him that massive contract uh if they believe in a quarterback but i mean that would just be a nightmare for baltimore if that ended up happening but you know i think to myself in my head like if justin fields actually shows promise down the stretch but chicago is still terrible chicago's picking like third or fourth do you trade one number one overall for justin fields i don't think you could do that again and because of the history i look i'm just happy no no i know but imagine if carolina trades for another failed first round it would be bad no i don't i do not think they're going to do that again so that was all to say things out loud to basically say no they can't do that i think

that they have to pick a quarterback um at the top of this year's draft whether it's one two three wherever they are um i think it's cj stroud or bryce young i'll go cj for now um i'll i'll say that cj will probably wow a lot of nfl teams and just a lot of the fundamentals that we went over i think bryce young certainly has so many intangibles that there's going to be GMs and owners and head coaches in the NFL that are just going to go. No, no, no. Bryce Young has what you can't teach. And there's going to be a lot of GMs that I think are in that camp.

But of course the measurables not exactly ideal. I mean, the dude is five foot, 10, 185 pounds soaking wet. I mean, so it's, it's not like he's this physical specimen where stroud is more built as a quarterback and he's got a bigger of an arm um his mechanics are fantastic so i think that he is certainly getting better as well but i'll say stroud going number one overall uh over bryce young here to the carolina panthers but i i really could see so many different head coaches and gms going either way on these two quarterbacks, depending on how much you value that it factor that Bryce Young continuously shows us that he has. So I think that I think it's got to be a quarterback.

I'm with you. Yeah, there's just no way around it for them. Once again, they are one of the easier teams because their problems are so evident once they make that head coaching hire. Where we can have a little bit more fun with this and where there's some debate is ultimately what you think their next building block needs to be. As in this scenario, they are picking 36th overall second round. It's the fourth pick of the second round. Is there a certain way on this roster right now, Trevor, knowing that they have very limited cap flexibility into the offseason and having a very, very early look at this draft class that you kind of lean here?

And even if it's a couple of positions or a couple of players rather than just narrowing down one pick as we sit here in October. Obviously, it's a massive draft-knit cliche to say, well, you got to look at who's ever on the board. Yeah, I can't tell you. I think it's such a massive draft-knit cliche to say, well, look at who was ever on the board. Yeah, I can't tell you. I think it's such a great cop-out answer. I love to repeat it. Works every time.

I look at wide receiver. That's where my eyes immediately go. I would the same way. Especially if you're cutting Robbie Anderson. You've got DJ Moore and Shai Smith, I like, as a nice wide receiver depth piece. LaVisca Chennault, clearly not the player that we thought he was going to be when he was coming out of the 2021 NFL draft.

Terrace Marshall's only played in one game this season. Barely plays. He was getting a little bit healthier, I think. But even then, man, I mean, he's barely played over the last couple of years. And this is a team that has needed playmakers. So if Terrace Marshall was lighting the world on fire in practice, I feel like he would have been out there because it's not like they could have. They could have been picky. It's not like they could have been picky.

It's not like they had that luxury. So you go into next season, if Robbie Anderson's off this team, you desperately have to get a playmaker. So what playmakers might be available at the top of the second round? For as much as I'm not so sure that Jackson Smith and Jake was going to blow anybody away athletically, I feel like he is so reliable that he's probably gonna end up being a back half of the first round pick kind of a wide receiver i'm not the biggest

k-shon booty fan um you know that going back to summer scouting i think i had him as fifth fourth how about your guy in the spot i i thinkT. Perry is a really nice fit for what they would need. A.T. Perry definitely gives it. Right. He's another one where I'm very curious to see how he runs because I think that that kind of separation is fleeting from his game at the college level. It doesn't get any easier in the NFL,

so I'd be very curious to see what he runs. But Quentin Johnston, you and I have talked about him. The show's consensus, why he's Super 1. I think we're a little bit higher on quentin johnston than the nfl is so yeah he finally got going this weekend after a horrible september right and i think it feels as though even though i still like him sure you still like parts of the game as well he could definitely be had at the beginning of the second round as we're projecting things right now so i think that he is in the mix as well dude i'd love jordan addison for carolina but i don't i don't know super high floor i don't know if he's gonna be there if he is man if if they get themselves cj stroud and jordan addison go to battle beautiful beautiful for sean payton i mean

what who what are we talking about i't know, but what do you think? What do you think, top of the second round? That's where I stand. If you want to lean into another position, you know, I still think they need more pass rush. My guy, Jared Verse, would be my pick here in that spot. I loaded up with traits. He'll test well. I think he's in this range right now.

So if you want to get away from wide receiver which you and i are very unified on should be what they're looking at in this spot i would throw versus name into this ring i would look man maybe get another corner but they do i think they're okay at corner i mean obviously horns a really really good player they had they brought back dante jackson their offensive line is icky had a really good game this weekend by the way i thought against the niners he had some big time run blocks so i really just think they need to draft a quarterback and worry about his infrastructure over anything else and that's why i just go back to wide receiver you don't you don't want him going into a situation where let's assume mcafree's gone and if dj moore is kind of just the guy

that's not a good situation for a young quarterback so playmaker i mean the the biggest dark horse here and people will probably kill us if i kill me if i mention it but if if somehow bijan robinson didn't go in the first round and you traded McCaffrey, I have no problem taking him here because I think he'd be such a dynamic, wide-receiving weapon for your young quarterback as well. And for everybody that just slaughtered the Brees Hall pick, he's making life so much easier for the Jets and their young quarterback right now. So the second round, if you can get a difference-making running back

for your young quarterback, there are scenarios where it works. I look at defensive tackle as well. I mentioned Matt Ioannidis, the free agent. So if they move on from him, maybe that's something that you could go after the top of the second round, Jalen Carter,

Brian Brzee. They're not going to be there, but Siaki Ika. Siaki Ika. I think, you know, I, I was only going to bring him up if you brought him up because him at the top of the second round might be insulting to you

because I know you love him. But, dude, if he's right there at the top of the second round, I think that he would be a good selection. Gervin Dexter as well, who has been playing well. Man, Florida's just running him into the ground, man. It's crazy the success splits that he has in the first half versus the second half because of how much he's playing. But he's another incredible talent on the defensive line too too so i think that's something that they look for but

ultimately i'm honing in on playmaker you got to go get quarterback at the top of the draft and you got to get a playmaker at the top of the second round especially without having a third round pick to me that just you just got to lock in on a play. For as much as you, quote unquote, got to do something here in October while we're recording this podcast, it feels like that's where you're going to end up leaning for Carolina. I'm with you, man. It's crazy to say, but this is one of those jobs where I think the pathway is kind of clear.

Like, I think you got to get the head coaching hire right, and that's going to be really hard. I think this head coaching market is going to be very competitive. I think it's going to be not a deep pool of guys that you jump out of your skin for. We highlighted most of them. Now, once again, Tepper has the money to hopefully have some pull there. But once you get all of that sorted out,

I look at this roster and go man if i'm picking in the top two i know what i'm doing and i know what i need to supplement that player with while the money will be tight at least i have an idea of where we have some foundational pieces compared to a total i bought the the plot and i don't even have the floor built on the ground. It's got to be a lot more organized for Carolina. And, you know, there were, there are some, I don't want to call them excuses, but things that happened during the rule era that were tough to navigate. In 2019, Cam Newton plays last year as a Panther.

Luke Keekly ended up playing his last year as a Panther. Greg Olson played his last year as a Panther. Luke Keekly ended up playing his last year as a Panther. Greg Olson played his last year as a Panther. Those guys all leave, so you're trying to rebuild some cornerstones from the franchise. Marty Herney was there for one year while Rule was there, and then you get Fitterer in, and he's only got one offseason with you before you start making some big decisions.

So the timeline of both the roster and the front office didn't exactly gel together. But I do think this time they have an opportunity to really, I don't want to say wipe the slate clean, but start where they need to, both from the roster and the front office, to where the timing of both of those things aren't really going to disrupt the other.

It's not like one's going to throw the other one off. So I agree with you. I think that the plan has a chance to really work out for carolina but it all starts with nailing who that next head coach is going to be so we gave you guys a handful of candidates there for carolina ran through the roster told you the salary cap expectations of this group where some moves can be made and he gave you guys a little bit of a mini mock draft there. And it as well. This is our first Fix Your Franchise episode here on the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. Connor, a lot of information. But I enjoy this stuff, man.

I do too. This is what the pod's all about. The details of team building. So this is a lot of fun to kick this one off. Yeah, I just don't think a lot of people do this the way we do. Especially in October. So for me, we always talk about differentiating our content. And we love talking about the NFL, and we love talking about what's going on at the college level. And you're going to get all that

tomorrow with the Stock Up show. But this is something that I think makes our podcast unique, just like the summer content we do that we care about the bad franchises too. In the NFL right now, the franchises that are going through it that are going to figure it out. They're going to get out on the other side, but have a long road ahead. If you're listening to this podcast for the first time, cause you were a Panthers fan or you're just interested in hand head coaching candidates.

First of all, what's up? Welcome to the Attics. Also, smash subscribe on YouTube and on Spotify, Apple, wherever you're listening to this podcast. We'll be going through all sorts of stuff like this throughout the entire season. Connor mentioned we're going to have

our weekly Stock Watch episode that we are doing tomorrow. Good teaser there. Good stuff on you, Connor. But we're also going to be doing all sorts of mock drafts, player rankings, everything. So if you are listening to this podcast, looking for some futures talk and everything like that, we got plenty more coming for you,

not just this week, but throughout the NFL season as well. I am Trevor Sykema. That is Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye.