The interview process for the Carolina Panthers HC is in the works

Saturday, we got two games Saturday, three games Sunday, one game Monday. None of them involved the Carolina Panthers, although heading to week 17, we thought maybe, maybe against all the way since like week six, I've been team Steve Wilkes. I hope he gets the gig. D'Amico Ryans is going to interview, I believe for the Panthers job as well. He's the only other defensive coach that is on the roster of invites to interview for the job.

He is a really good young coach, but I still am team Steve Wilkes. Alright, so with the Panthers not in the playoffs, that means the draft is the only focus for Panthers fans. Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com, pick six podcast.

I appreciate your time. I know you are a mock draft guy and I was eagerly anticipating the first mock draft. Now that we know where Caroline is going to draft and wide receiver from TCU is what you have. What are the chances though that they do go quarterback?

It's a, if there's something north of a hundred percent, it feels like a hundred percent because I mean, you know, that's better than I do, Adam. It feels like David Tebber is going to be out. I would imagine on trying to find a quarterback via free agency or trade. Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield.

I wouldn't call those success, success stories in Carolina necessarily. And Derek Carr will be available. And we saw a report today, I think from Ian Rappaport that they're looking to move on from him and that's no surprise.

But does David Tebber want to go down that road again? But the concern is, and you mentioned that I had the Panthers taken a wide receiver because as you noted, Steve Wilkes was balling out down the stretch. They're out of the range now of those top three quarterbacks that are going to be in the conversation as we go through this process, right? Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Will Levis. And that means that old Mr. Tebber is probably going to have to trade up if he wants to get his quarterback.

So that'll be, that'll be fun to watch unfold as we get through this process. Trading up is something the Panthers are unafraid to do with zero success, however, in trading up. And I try to remember who I was speaking with, Joe Person of The Athletic who covers the Panthers. And I think my comment was kind of taken literally, it wasn't meant to be in that if you ultimately draft a quarterback in the first round, basically you're announcing to the world that right or wrong, trading up to get Matt Corral in the third round last year was a complete waste of the asset, of the future assets you had to give up just to move from the fourth round back into the third round to take Matt Corral, who we never saw because he got hurt. So we have no idea if he's going to be good or not. And I'm not even saying that they should, you know, let Matt Corral try to win the job. I'm just saying that it just makes last year's effort to get Corral a complete waste of the asset.

That's just a fair statement, has nothing to do with the player. Is Anthony Richardson, who I guess is QB4 in this draft, what does he bring, because I've seen a lot of other mock drafts that say that the Panthers should take Anthony Richardson, what kind of talent is he and would he be a terrible pick at number nine for them? Not a terrible pick. And I'm, I think I'm going to be higher on Anthony Richardson than most folks.

I know I will be higher than Anthony Richardson than most folks in the league that I talk to because the difference between me and a general manager, for example, is that I'm not going to get fired for having a bad mock draft. And there is a ton of concern about the volatility in terms of on-field production when you talk about Anthony Richardson. Prior to that, in 2021, he only took like 65 snaps. He attempted 65 passes because he was sharing time with Emory Jones. He started last year and man, it was a roller coaster of excitement.

And there were some highs that absolutely took your breath away. And there were some lows that made you think, so Anthony Richardson's been playing football for two weeks, it looks like, because it is just the variability is stark, but go back and watch that Utah game and don't watch anything else. And you will be convinced that he is going to be Josh Allen. He's going to be Dante Culpepper. He's going to be all those sort of physical freaks. He's going to, he's going to, he might run a four four if he runs. That's how physically dominant he can be. He can throw the ball a mile.

It's just the lack of consistency that's going to be concerned. That doesn't mean a team won't draft him. The issue in Carolina in particular and in general, bad teams for the top of the draft and Carolina is probably one of the best among those bad teams is that you push the quarterback out there too soon and the results could be problematic. And I think you hear sometimes comps when you talk to teams that Anthony Richardson is a bigger, stronger, faster version of Malik Willis in terms of the way he plays. You saw Malik Willis on the field, third round pick by the way, and he got benched for Josh Dobbs who had been on the team for eight or nine days. So I think that's the patience you have to take when you talk about Anthony Richardson.

I wouldn't hate it at nine. He would be the first quarterback taken in last year's draft class. But, but I mean, I say it all the time. You can't force these young men out there, but that's what happens when you draft a quarterback. Yeah.

I'm wondering, and look, I have no idea and I'm with you. I look at the draft very differently from NFL general managers. They're there. They are in a desperate yang to find the quarterback. And I understand why, because it's really hard to be consistently good without the quarterback. Kyle Shanahan would like a word and it really brings me to this, the success that Brock Purdy is having. And I'm not going to lie to say I have watched a ton of Brock Purdy, but I've watched enough highlights and I've listened to enough people talk that they believe that Brock Purdy can be a legit starting quarterback in the NFL.

He was the last player selected. So is something like this, cause I'm not saying this is Kyle Shanahan. What I'm thinking is that we just have no idea how the quarterback in college is going to translate to the quarterback in the NFL. Those are two completely different animals.

They're different species, even though it looks, it looks the same dogs and cats are this are both animals, but they're not the same species. And that's the way I look at college football and pro football, especially at the quarterback position. So is this, is this, is there a chance that we could start, start looking at the draft differently based on the fact that we have no idea how these players are going to translate? I think the general managers and pro personnel do look at the draft differently for the reasons you're talking about it, but it's not that exciting for us to talk about in the media. Like no one's talking about Brock Purdy in late April, the days leading up to the draft because he's Brock Purdy and he ended up going dead last. Here's the thing that's worth keeping in mind though, Adam, is that 2021 was a bad year for Brock Purdy at Iowa State. The year before there were some, some top 50 buzz coming into his final year at Iowa State and it just didn't work out.

And I think the, to follow up to your, your other point, it does feel like San Francisco is a unique situation. Nick Mullen went there and had a ton of success as an undrafted free agent on a Southern Miss. He's still playing. He started the other day for a team. I don't remember where he is right now, but the, but the point is that with that fit, with that Kyle Shanahan dialed up the plays, with those playmakers, Deebo Samuel, Chris McCavrey, who you guys are very familiar with, Branden Aiyuk, and then the best defense on planet earth, it makes life eminently easier. Now, I think if you put him on the Browns or the Texans or the Colts, he looks like the quarterbacks for the Browns, the Texans on the Colts.

So I think this might be a unique situation, but does it mean the NFL teams won't try to talk themselves into maybe taking a flyer on the Stetson Bennett, for example, and helping for the same results? Yes. Stetson Bennett, though, is sub six feet tall. Is Brock Purdy sub six feet tall? Maybe, maybe he is.

I don't think so. Right. So that's, I mean, they're shorthand, short, you know, short list of quarterbacks sub six foot that are successful to any degree in the National Football League. Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com pick six podcast moderator.

One more thing about the draft. How good is Jalen Carter? He's he's great. I mean, they had five Georgia kids drafted on the defensive side of the ball last year in round one. He has a chance to be better than all of those guys.

Yeah. And yeah, I know he didn't show up in the semifinal game, but he was disruptive. He showed up in the final game as much as you can shop in a game when you score 67 points or whatever.

He's special. Now, I've had teams tell me they like Jalen better. I've had teams somebody like Will Anderson, the approach right out of Alabama better.

Some of the things you'll hear about Will Anderson as well. He didn't show up this year. I said, yeah, he played every game and some teams like the fact that he did play every game. But I do understand the business decision. I'm not trying to blow your ACL against Alcorn State or whatever in a season where you could have very easily set out and still been a top three player.

So both those guys are special and they feel like layup picks so much the same with the Chase Young and Nick Bosa and Nate Hutchison were layup picks in recent drafts. All right. Well, we will talk more in the you know, in the coming weeks or so and we'll get into different position groups elsewhere.

Let's get to some real quick before I have to let you go. The some games this weekend. I know Dallas is a slight favorite in Tampa on the betting line, but are they the favorite or don't they feel a little underdogish to you?

Yeah. And you know, what's funny, Adam, is that I've been down on Tampa Bay all season. I was like, this team is not a good football team. Tom Brady isn't who he used to be. And then the Cowboys lay that egg last week in a game that had implications.

They could have been the number one seed on their way. And Dak Prescott played like he you know, he might be left handed the way he was throwing the football. He's had interceptions in seven straight weeks. He's had 11 total interceptions over that span.

He is playing terrible football. Mike McCarthy should be in fear of losing this job if they get their doors blown off in Tampa Bay. And I think the Buccaneers as bad as they are and as much as I don't like them, I think they have a real chance to win that game. Oh, they they absent Tom Tom Brady's playing, right?

Yeah. I mean, look, I don't think they're all that good either. But if 12 is under center, I can't discount them.

There's just there's just no way you can legitimately discount them. Why do I think the Giants at the Vikings is going to be the best game of the weekend? I said this exact same thing yesterday. I love Brian Dable. I am pleasantly surprised at how how refreshing he's been for that team and that fan base. And it just goes to show you if you hit on the head coach, a lot of things fall into place. We're talking about Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco.

That's another example, obviously. And I think while Kevin Connell's done a great job in Minnesota, you can't have 11 one score wins and win, you know, and and expect that to last. And I think the Giants are scrappy. I think the Giants, the way the Giants played in week 18 with none of their starters playing against Philadelphia is indicative of how they're going to play when they get their guys back out there.

Daniel Jones feels revitalized. And I think they're going to give Minnesota all they can handle. And I think the spread is minus three or something. I like the Giants to possibly win that game. I do.

I like the Giants to win it as well. Minnesota, I believe in point differential being a thing. And Minnesota at 13 and four is somehow underwater in point different minus three and point differential. That's statistically impossible, I thought. Right.

But apparently it is it is possible. And the other game, what kind of a difference? We know he makes a difference, but does he make a difference really in the outcome of this game? Lamar Jackson coming back to play for the Ravens in Cincinnati. I thought you could ask me if Doug Peterson made a difference. Yes, he does.

So right. So here's the thing about Lamar. So he hasn't played, I think, in six weeks now. Even if he comes back, he is going to be so rusty. And how does Lamar do most of his damage? Initially, it's with his legs. So I think this is just a worst case scenario for Baltimore, even if Lamar happened to come back.

John Harper pushed back against the idea that Lamar's angling for a new deal. And we'll find out in the coming weeks once the season's over. But I think the confidence with which the Bengals play and it starts with Joe Burrow and all the bad things that happened to Baltimore, starting the quarterback situation, losing all those double digit leads that they had.

I think they had four of the course of the season. Portends bad things this weekend. And this game could get out of hand. I feel like Anthony Brown might have to play. And I think the Bengals are just sort of warming up on their way back to another Super Bowl run.

I agree with you. Here's the thing about the the Ravens. I don't believe or Lamar Jackson, I don't believe that he's holding himself out because he's angling for a new deal. He went into this season knowing that he was willing to play on the franchise tag next year. He I mean, I don't think he has any problem getting what even if they made it make it non-exclusive 30 some odd million dollars to play next year. I don't think he has any problem with that because he's thinking about the big deal. I think he's legitimately hurt.

Yeah, I mean, otherwise we would have started to see this in the beginning of the year, not necessarily in week whatever it was, week 12 or something like that. So he needs an agent. Somebody needs to tell him you'd be better off. I mean, I realize he maybe doesn't want to pay the three percent or whatever it is.

But my gosh, you'll save yourself a whole bunch of headache if you have somebody else to fight your battles for you. Do you have an agent? No, I was going to ask you. Yeah, I don't have an agent either. No, if you want to be my agent.

I'd be more than happy to be your agent. You're a star. Ryan Wilson, CBS Sports dot com, pick six podcast. Super friend. I appreciate your time, Ryan. Thank you, Adam. You got it. Brian Wilson.