Chris McClain | Host 92.7/610 WFNZ in Charlotte

When we spoke to our guest the last time he was on the show, Chris McLean, who is host of the Mac Attack on our Charlotte affiliate, WFNZ.

It's 92.7 or AM 610. When we spoke to him in July, it was right after the Panthers had traded for Baker Mayfield. And Chris, I'm sure you remember that you were giddy and that I'm not bringing this up to try to embarrass you or anything like that. Only that I can imagine your emotions have changed a lot.

So what is your reaction to what's transpired over the last few months? Oh Amy, now I see why I'm back on the show. Now I see why I'm back on here. At least I'm straight up with you.

Thank God you didn't break out the old audio. I gotta be honest. But yeah.

Wait, can I tell you something? We did think about it. We actually haven't and we decided not to. Listen, of course, my enthusiasm has waned here. And by the way, the play of Baker Mayfield, someone I thought was going to be a serious upgrade from Sam Arnold is a huge reason why we're here. I mean, I think you can make a strong case. His performance has been worse than Sam played last year, which is really saying something.

You could probably argue it's been the worst quarterback play since Cam was healthy all the way back in the early part of 2018. So that's a big part of it. There's no doubt about that. But yeah, I mean, the weird thing is I guess the firing, which was very popular here in Carolina because fans going back to last year and I honestly thought at the end of last year, I honestly thought the hoop probably should have been made, but David Tepper wanted to stick it out. This is his first hire as a head coach. You know how that goes, Amy.

He probably wanted to see it through, give him every chance he could. But this season really feels like a carryover of last year. And we did have enthusiasm, as you point out, I did. When we brought in Baker, the offensive line I think is improved.

I think that was part of the enthusiasm. The coaching staff had changed. Some of those moves have worked out.

Ben McAdoo has really struggled as an offensive coordinator here. So that one hasn't worked out the way we hoped. But I feel like it had to happen. It just felt like this was inevitable. So maybe do it now. Don't play out the string. And honestly, for Matt Ruhl, I mean, if he doesn't want to work, he can get $40 million is what he's owed.

But if he wants to start looking for those college jobs, which as you know, some of them already opened up, he can get a head start on that too. Why do you think it didn't work with Matt? Well, first of all, the quarterback position has to be, you know, one of the first things we talk about.

I mean, and you've seen it from the outside, Amy. I mean, first Teddy Bridgewater's brought in here. And honestly, in hindsight, they got rid of Teddy so quickly. Coach Ruhl and David Tepper both took shots at him in press conferences. It was really weird the way they treated him. And they sent him packing.

But honestly, he was the best one of the lot in the Matt Ruhl era. But since then, they've just, you know, they swung for the fences with Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay and Stafford get together in a hot tub in Cabo. And the rest is history. The Panthers' chance of the trade for him, you know, went by the wayside. And then they tried for the Deshaun Watson move, and that didn't work out. And in the meantime, it's just been left over.

Wait, hold on. What about Garoppolo? Would you have been as excited if they had brought in Garoppolo? Because apparently that was also in the works outside of his shoulder issue. Yeah, I think the shoulder surgery kind of threw that pursuit off, and then they kind of pivoted to Baker. I mean, obviously, after watching the two guys play on Sunday here in Charlotte, I would say I'd rather have Jimmy G. There also was the money that Jimmy G was owed, you know, at the time, was a factor. They were able to kind of barter the Baker money down where they only had to pay about $5 million. That's $5 million too much based on the way Baker's played right now. And now he's hurt. We're to P.J.

Walker. I mean, I guess this, Amy, is a long way of saying the quarterback position has been the biggest problem in the Matril era. They haven't got it right. And for people out there that are thinking, well, why do you hold that against the coach? I heard you talking about this earlier on my way in here to the station, like he was given, as weird as it sounds now, right?

Thinking about it. He was given coming straight from college, having only been an assistant for one year in the NFL. He was given $9 million a year, made the 5th highest paid coach in the NFL, and given final personnel say. So he wasn't a passenger. He was out there, as Bill Parcells would say, he was shopping for his own groceries, the quarterback. And I think that killed, you know?

Yeah. Well, and as we pointed out, it doesn't work with very many coaches. It's something that Bill Belichick's done, but really how many others have been successful? We know Pete Carroll has a lot of input.

He's earned that. A listener pointed out to me, Sean Payton, he had a lot of input in New Orleans, but yeah, generally, especially when you're talking about coaches who lack experience, it's a fine line to walk. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio, Chris McLean with us from our Charlotte affiliate in the wake of Matt Ruhl's firing.

What do you think about the fire sale concept? Because I was actually taken aback by that, especially when you're talking about guys like Christian McCaffrey. Yeah, this is obviously another storyline we have to talk about. I saw two more reports today talking about, you know, which players are generating the most calls. I think there was one from Jonathan Jones of CBS that brought up calls are coming in about McCaffrey and Burns. Albert Breer had one from SI talking about Burns and DJ Moore. Burns and DJ Moore, to me, young players at premium positions, pass rusher and wide receiver, I want nothing to do with that, quite honestly. Those are positions where it's hard to get premium talent and we actually do have premium talent there. The McCaffrey one, as much as I love CMC, the McCaffrey one is honestly one that I would explore if the price is right, because he has had this injury history.

Amy, you know how the deal goes with running backs. You give them that big second contract and they often will have injuries throughout those contracts. That second contract, he's dealt with those.

There's also, you know, three more years he's under contract, 36 total million dollars. So, McCaffrey, and I don't think it's a premium position. I don't think, honestly, as good as CMC is, I don't think, like, how many have we lost? How many games, how many years in a row have we lost with CMC on the roster? I don't think running back in this day and age is one of those positions that necessarily is the most important you win because of.

So, that one I would look into, honestly. Robbie Anderson is another name out there that I think has been a disappointment since his first year here. Also, it can be traced back to the quarterback.

I mean, if you're, you know what I mean? Like, if you're a receiver and you only get to impact the field when the quarterback gets you the ball, that's also a direct correlation. This is very fair. This is very fair.

That's true. He can't throw. As Giselle once said about Tom Brady, I don't mean to bring up the situation. Oh, dear.

Now that the whole other lane we're going to go down here, we're going to be a divorce court. But Amy, as Giselle said, you can't throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. So, that's fair. Is there anybody on the roster that you would say is off limits? Brian Burns, definitely.

One of the best young edge rushers in the league. There's no way I would do that one. DJ Moore, they gave him a new contract where Burns was on his first contract. Still, they gave Moore a new contract.

I wouldn't do that. His lack of production this year is completely because of what you just said. You can't catch a ball that's sailing, you know, five feet wide of you, you know, or passes that aren't even thrown to you when you're open and that's what's been going on with DJ Moore. I wouldn't want to trade Jeremy Chin off the defense, JC Horn corner off the defense, Derek Brown, I'm not real interested.

To me, the young defensive core and DJ Moore are the ones that I would be protective of. You know who I feel bad for and actually feel bad for us that we aren't getting a chance to see him is Matt Corral because he'd be taking, he might have taken over already at quarterback if they thought he was even remotely prepared. I know he's injured but man, I mean the problem is Chris that they probably would have been able to see what he was capable of and see how much they could teach him and train him this year even if they didn't play him and then just let both Sam and Baker walk because they're in the final years of their deals and that way you could start fresh with Matt. It does suck for him and when that injury happened we all kind of thought man this is a lost year for him and it really does suck and then when you start thinking Amy about what could be in our future, I don't want to act like I'm one of these crazies that looks at mock drafts early in the football season but I am all right. I live in Carolina, we look at mock drafts very early in the season.

That's sad Chris, it's just sad. Right now our number one in the draft order as of now. Now there's a lot of football in play, we'll see what Steve Wilks can do as interim coach but like Amy this is supposed to be a great quarterback draft right according to the the experts and if the panthers are drafting really high, I mean I'm sorry to Matt Corral but it's like how do you turn down the chance to get someone that seems like you know almost can't miss a franchise quarterback compared to a third round guy that has a lot of ways to go you know. Okay so then let's talk about the coaching position.

Not a who necessarily Chris but what. What do the panthers need? What should they be looking for in a coach? Well you got a lot of panther fans here that would love to see David Tepper throw tons of his of his money at our former arch enemy Sean Payton. The problem with that is the Saints he's still in the contract with the Saints so anybody that hires him as you know is going to have to be compensated they're going to compensate the Saints in the form of a draft pick so and the Saints I'm sure aren't going to want him going into the division they're going to ask for the sun and the moon I would think.

To me it's offensive mind though like you look at a guy like Brian Dayball and what he's doing Mike McDaniel before all the quarterback injuries in Miami. You look for these young guys that are coordinators and are creative and young that's what this team needs especially if it's going to be Matt Corral or a first round quarterback if you're going to want to groom a young quarterback I would love to have a schematic mind that can work with that quarterback from day one that's one of the things that I think killed the rule era Amy is that they went shopping for quarterback leftovers you know instead of just drafting and grooming someone early letting them grow with the regime. So Chris this is this is something that it's you know you think about and and it's hard to kind of like wrap your brain around it because we have to see who's available we have to that kind of thing but if you're talking about a guy who has the technical side for a quarterback specifically and if they don't draft a QB let's just say they don't aren't they in the same cycle again like who who else would they even think about in the league that they could get? No it's a great question and one that honestly is going to depress me if I start thinking about it.

I'm sorry. I don't that's why I'm saying to me it's the perfect time now to do what you didn't do in the last regime in the rule regime go out there I mean how many times you see it Amy new coach comes in you're usually drafting fairly high right because the coach is replacing a coach that was losing and they take that opportunity to draft the QB and the coach and the QB are kind of linked together that's what happened here with Cam Newton and Ron Rivera right in Ron's first draft you know they're picking number one overall they we stunk and they go out and they get Cam and Ron and Cam grow together and it's it's by far you know the best years that we ever had here in Carolina so to me it would be the perfect timing to do that there's no doubt about it. Interesting I mean Cooper Rush might be available. Amy we had that there you could not throw a name out there we haven't talked about by the way we have definitely noticed Cooper's work and I wonder if GM Scott Fitterer has noticed it as well. Okay so I have one more offer to make as a Broncos fan I'm willing to pay you to take Russell Wilson. If we during our last conversation I would have said oh it sounds like a deal I'm not sure necessarily right now Mr.

Unlimited has become Mr. Limited in Denver and I don't know what's going on there. I just want you to know I feel your quarterback pain just so you don't think I'm laughing at you I'm laughing so I don't cry because I feel your quarterback pain. You're not going to get any sympathy out of me. I remember Super Bowl 50 Peyton Manning's arm was throwing off but your dang defense was so good.

Oh yeah Von Miller, Von Miller freaking amazing that's true. All right you can follow Chris McLean on Twitter at Mac WFNZ that's our Charlotte affiliate and he's got a lot to do a lot to talk about top of the hour host of the Mac Attack. This was all in good fun Chris you know that I would never want you to feel bad. No not at all I'm sure this there was not some joy here that the last time I was on I completely sounded ridiculous. I'm starting to think my wife put you up to this Amy. You're like a 12 year old girl you were that giddy. I just love that you're a man who can own up to the fact that he was wrong how about that. I get a lot of experience I have to do that a lot unfortunately. Good stuff Chris great to talk to you we'll talk again soon. All right be good.