Luke DeCock joins Adam, like every Friday, and we kick things off with whether Luke feels the Carolina Panthers made a good trade with what they ended up getting for CMC?

Okay, this is making me sad now. I know it is sad but I kind of laugh. It's perfect.

It's the Adam Gold show. Victoria's in her fields because Christian McCaffrey is a San Francisco 49er. I don't blame her for being upset or being sentimental and emotional about it because he is a great player and he is he was a Carolina panther and he is no longer a Carolina panther and it's the the best players in your franchise are supposed to stay with your franchise. I got the Steve Smith thing he had to go because the best player on your team at that point was Cam Newton and that relationship wasn't good enough to keep Steve Smith around. I don't know if Steve Smith has ever admitted I think he has admitted that he was kind of a jerk about that whole thing but Christian McCaffrey should have been a forever panther but they had to do something because by the time they became good it was Christian McCaffrey probably wouldn't be not certainly not as good as he is now and I've termed this really a mercy trade. Like it was a mercy firing of Matt Ruhl put him out of his misery. This is giving Christian McCaffrey meaning to his career, serious meaning to the game that he's going to play however many he has left to play.

Luke Tkach of the News and Observer joins us as he does every Friday. All right sir let's start with McCaffrey. It's sad. Your thoughts overall on what the panthers got and what it means for Christian? Let's see I'm surprised that they couldn't get more but I think it's probably a realistic return. I mean when you compare it to what the panthers gave up for Sam Darnold it starts to look good. Yes but in the end would this team is probably I mean I think when you look at the offensive line you look at the defense this team can be competitive next year they've got to get these decisions right that they keep getting wrong but that said I think if you can get this many draft picks for a running back who's often hurt whose sell-by date is rapidly approaching and who has a you know very large contract I think they probably got out of this pretty easy. This was going to be an ugly divorce eventually because of the money involved given the circumstances with the team and the need to add some drastic it's probably a good time to cut the cut the cord with McCaffrey and move forward in the end they're going to need to use that salary cap space on players who aren't running back that's it's just it's not a running back lead I don't think that contract was a mistake because they had an asset and they had to keep it but it put them in a difficult position now they can kind of move forward and spend that money where it's going to help them more so I don't have any problems with this I'm surprised the return wasn't bigger I guess I shouldn't be and that's for McCaffrey if he can stay healthy he's going to a team that you know is maybe not the greatest team on the planet but now adds another weapon so the Niners have weapons they've got Devo they've got McCaffrey now I mean there's some talent there they've got Kittle it's it's a franchise that has assembled some weapons so if they can find the right guy whether that's a healthy Trey Lance or maybe it's Jimmy G after all or whatever they they put themselves in position to to do really what the panthers can't which is score enough points that they're very good defense can win games for them and that's where the panthers have to get to all right the rare moment where I think Luke and I are on opposite sides of the of a discussion here first of all I agree that moving Christian McCaffrey was the right thing to do as much for this franchise as it is for Christian if like the the sting song that I that kept popping into my mind this morning was if you love someone set them free so they love Christian McCaffrey so let him play games that have meaning if he can play another 50 games in his career they'll have meaning with the San Francisco 49ers or if he moves on beyond then that's fine I think he's going to stay with the 49ers for a couple uh for a couple of years whether it's that contract they'll restructure that contract anyway after this year because it's easily restructured um but I don't believe the panthers if if I thought the panthers could be competitive next year like legitimately competitive then I don't think you have to trade Christian McCaffrey I just don't think they can be I think they have more holes in their roster than I guess most people think they have holes in their roster I think they need serious help at not only quarterback but receiver I think they need serious help on the defensive line I think they need another quarterback I don't think that other than JC Horn I think they're kind of thin at that position um I think they have depth issues everywhere I think they're a couple of years away from being competitive I mean I just I look at the way the defense has played to start the year and if their offense has been even borderline incompetent as opposed to a complete disgrace right they'd have three wins I I just it's it's not a tough division it's a it's a league where everybody's kind of geared up to go 500 I don't I I mean obviously their draft capital is not great but you know who knew at this time last year that Baker Mayfield would be available the next season now that hasn't worked out but the point is guys become available you have to be nimble and flexible and have the cap space to make moves like that which the panthers did and it didn't work but it doesn't take much in this league I I think the defensive line is okay I think the the the defense is fine and if you can find a quarterback which is you know obviously a big if uh the panthers may not be that far away and we'll also see what Foreman and Hubbard have the rest of the season I don't think either one of them is a a card horse back but you never know an opportunity can do strange things um you know there's going to be guys out there whether it's Elijah Moore or whoever who might be able to help you and you can you can flip things around quickly if you make the right move do we trust the panthers to make the right I don't know that that's a question that anyone really wants to answer at this point no look uh we have no idea if Scott Fitterer is the guy to rebuild yeah we we knew that Dave Gettleman wasn't we've we kind of identified that early on that Dave Gettleman wasn't the guy um but look they have again I think they have serious holes in a lot of places that are going to be very difficult to maintain what they have and then fix other areas I would have been an advocate for selling off almost everything except for like guys who are in their first or second years I would have been fine with just selling everything for parts getting as much draft capital as you could and starting over uh but that's not the way I mean to consider DJ Moore a foundational piece I think they could if they I just don't know what you could get for DJ Moore the the biggest asset they have is Brian Burns sure they could have gotten a first and a third probably maybe even more for Brian Burns and uh but I understand why you wouldn't want to get rid of him he's 24 years old uh and he's one of the best young players at his position I don't know if he's one of the best players at his position but he's certainly one of the best young players at his position he's got four sacks already through six games so maybe he's going to have that bust out season um but I don't know do you think Baker's going to be uh the quarterback here next year I don't think there's any chance of it he's just not right since the shoulder surgery he can't elevate the ball he's throwing the ball into the back of his lines and helmets it hasn't worked it was worth a shot yeah he didn't give up much they spent some money they gave up the draft pick it didn't work and honestly look I people think I'm crazy when I say this if you go back to the first three games of last season when the offensive line was healthy and Christian McCaffrey was healthy Sam Donald looked like an NFL quarterback now you and I disagree wholeheartedly on this and now that McCaffrey's gone I don't think you'll ever really know but I would have liked to have seen what a healthy Sam Donald could have done in week two or three of this season when it was clear that Mayfield wasn't getting it done uh with McCaffrey with this offensive line which I think it's fine I don't think it's great it's fine I could have kept Donald upright I would have liked to have seen that that that shift has sailed they're gonna have to figure something out whether it's someone from somewhere else I I'm not I I say this all the time I am not a draft evaluator I'm not crazy about the quarterbacks in this year's class maybe the Panthers are so great um I'd rather use that that really high pick to get a an impact player and try to find a quarterback somewhere else but they're gonna have to figure that out it's not Sam Donald it's not PJ Walker it might be Matt Corral in two years but will we ever know it's certainly not Baker Mayfield that that they got to figure that out or all the rest of this is just you know song and dance no question they're gonna have the first pick in the draft they're good they're good they're that they're that good if you will uh they're gonna have the first pick in the draft all right Luke Tkach of the news and Observer let me ask you this question about the Carolina Hurricanes uh four games they lost last night obviously uh late night it was a sloppy game I don't think Freddy Anderson was on top of it um Andrei Svechnikov absolutely was on top of his game so give me your your view four games into the season stuff that you have really liked stuff that Jerry's still out on for you yeah all right really liked obviously the best case scenario for the Hurricanes was was both Svechnikov and Marty Nate just looking like they had turned it up a notch because these are two guys with with so much potential and even Svechnikov hasn't scratched the surface of the potential yet we're seeing that now we're you know two weeks into the season but that's what you wanted to see off the hop and I think that's that's great um you know I you can almost throw out the Oilers game of stupid penalties it's one at least one pretty bad goal you can't do that against a team like the Oilers on the road I mean you're just not going to win that's not something any team's going to overcome when you make those errors uh I I've been interested watching Brent Burns adjust it reminds me a little bit of when Dougie Hamilton got here in the fall of 2018 when you have guys who are that cerebral and play the game at that higher level uh it's uh it's really difficult for them to adjust to a new system sometimes because they they play without thinking most of the time and now you're asking them to think uh and it just he feels like he's just a a hair millisecond behind where he's going to be when he gets more comfortable um but that I don't think that's a bad thing in any way it just reminds me of the sort of Dougie Hamilton transition four years ago other than that you know Freddie wasn't great last night but he and Ronta have been finding their opportunities so far they've taken care of business on the road against bad teams which is the mark of a good team and in Edmonton last night they didn't bring their best game they made some critical mistakes and they were still right in it at the end so uh you know really I this is a train rolling right down the tracks I don't really see anything that that really worries me obviously there's a couple guys who haven't gotten started yet looks like Tara Bynum feels like it's still training camp where he's always terrible uh but you know I I over the course of his career you have faith that he'll get it going and you know it'll be curious to see that you know I think the the stall Fafney Fof line is is going to get some some tough assignments in the next couple games will be interesting to see how they handle those because that is a new group and there is a little more tread on the tires tread off the tires for those guys and and that that to me is not something that has raised any alarm bells for me so far but certainly bears watching yeah it's funny because I think the stall Fafst Stosney line was broken up in the uh I think late second into the third period Jordan Martinook was uh bumped up there uh but they really haven't had an opportunity except for the home game when they played against Columbus because Rod Brind'Amour controls the matchup uh but the uh you know whether it was Seattle or um or Edmonton or San Jose they were they were trying to attack the Kokoni Emmy line and we saw that didn't work for uh for at least until Edmonton last night nobody really it was just a pond hockey game for the most part it was all over the place very sloppy um so I don't even know about stall Fafst and Stosney I I it I mean I don't think Paul's played great but I also don't know that anybody on that line has played great I think Jesper Fass is probably in the best player on that line but again I think it's kind of I don't know I that line hasn't had really that many opportunities to show what they can uh show what they can do I'm glad that you said that about Brent Burns though because my feeling is that we we have to kind of temper our desire for Burns to be great immediately when through watching we know he's not he's been fine he hasn't been bad I think he made one maybe two mistakes last night that cost a goal he thought that Natius was back on the shorthanded situation and Natius was not there and Burns went to the passer as opposed to just leave him to Anderson and maybe that prevents the two-on-one from scoring and then McLeod scores the shorthanded goal which was a killer and I think it cost that I think it cost him on the next goal with which Burns was also on the ice for uh with that um but I so I thought he kind of made maybe two mistakes last night that cost them Anderson wasn't good uh but I'm I'm not worried about Brent Burns but I I think you're right I think he's thinking there was a play in the either the first or early in the second period where he had the puck in the slot and rather than shoot the puck from the deep slot he passed it and no shot was taken and then that's got to be a shot yeah like Dougie he's a guy who's going to play the game and sink the game at a higher level than most I mean most of the mistakes Dougie made you know like letting guys get behind him at the blue line or whatever was trying to make plays nobody else tries to make um and he he would he got that dialed in the longer he was there that first season and then he got hurt and and that set him back but um you know I think when you look at Burns you just you just see a guy who's not quite the player that he usually is because he's not as comfortable as he usually is and and look again like with the saw line I'm not there's no alarm bells here this is not this is just something that is an observation more than anything it's going to be interesting watching him sort of get up to speed get to know Jacob Slavin a little better um he's going to be fine I mean there's nothing in his history that would suggest he's not going to be fine but it's just sort of interesting to watch that and you know the the old guys too I mean that line has got to has got to figure it out they don't get the chances you're right on the road uh but they also should on the road if they're not playing in the opposition's best line all the time that line should the way it plays be creating opportunities for itself and I don't feel like we've seen that to the same degree as last season no no question chemistry as you said they were broken up and Martin has got a chance there um but but I I think those are just they just bear watching I don't think there's any reason for panic yet but um you know there's a lot of good things going on I mean I think Aho has been good uh I think you know obviously the Svechnikov nature's Kokiyemi line I don't think Kokiyemi has been exceptional but those other two guys have been so good no one cares it's great to be a center playing with those two guys because you look like Wayne Gretzky no matter what you do I think Kokiyemi has done the little things well he has not been an offensive contributor but he's winning a lot of face-offs and I think he's been good in the middle yeah he's been fine fine and they and I've always said that's all he's got to be for me that because the other two guys are going to do so much uh to create offense and I think they're also both playing defense final thing real quick for Luke Tkach the return to Spectrum Center for Zion Williamson for the first time since 2019 when he was wearing a Duke uniform I'm sure you saw the highlights at least of Zion when the Pelicans went to Brooklyn and absolutely beat the brakes off the nets uh just just the smile to see Zion that always jumped out at me about Williamson was how much fun he always had playing and I'm glad we get a chance to see it again yeah it's funny I wrote this the year after he left if we were in an NIL world I'm convinced he would have come back for a sophomore year Duke because he would have made 10 million dollars and he would have had the most fun of anybody in college basketball uh it's and someone else was you know uh had tweeted something about Zion going back to the Spectrum Center I still say that's one of the best UNC Duke games I've seen if it may be maybe the best uh that's semi-final in Charlotte with the winner playing Florida State Zion second game back I think it was up and down it was crazy you know he hit the last shot and I think Duke missed one and UNC missed two shots that would have won it for either team and and remember you know after they won it Zion celebrating on the floor with the devil and all the confetti coming down and that was that we we had missed that whole second half of the season their last third of the season because of the the his shoe broke um and all that and so for him to come back on that stage and play the way he did in Charlotte um was was pretty remarkable and and uh well that was just a just an epic game one of the probably one of the better ACC tournament games I don't think it's up there with State Maryland but one of the better ACC tournament games one of the better games in the rivalry um we maybe have topped it since but at the time that was that was up near the top yeah Zion Williamson his his year at Duke however many games he played because he missed he missed a bunch just a year that we were all lucky to be able to be around for Luke Tkach of the NNO I appreciate your time at Luke Tkach on twitter uh eventually the hurricanes will come home and I'll see you at PNC Arena soon maybe all right take it you got it Luke Tkach of the NNO