This is the coaching rumor mill season and the Carolina Panthers are part of it because they do not have a current permanent head coach. I guess technically Steve Wilks is still the interim, although I don't know how that works. Maybe he isn't.
Maybe he doesn't even have an interim office. I don't know. Chris McLean, Mac from Mac Attack in the mornings on WFNZ in Charlotte joins us now on the Adam Gold show. So I know a lot of people balked at trading a first round pick for Sean Payton, but would you trade two? This is getting crazy and my biggest fear, Adam, is not like what I would do or what all of us as fans would do. My biggest fear is that David Tepper is so smitten with this man, the new shiny object, the new apple of David Tepper's eye. I'm afraid he might be like, hey, you want two? I like him so much.
I'll give you four. I'm really worried about what Tepper might do in this meeting tomorrow. Yes, it's going to be in New York and who knows?
I hope they don't go to a fancy establishment and David Tepper has a cocktail right before that happens. Here's the thing, because playing it out, even if we played the hypothetical thing out, would you trade the ninth pick for Sean Payton? No, I don't think I would. I mean, I would, if they did next year's first, I'd be more apt to do that. I really feel like, although the problem with that one is Adam, like if you want to get a Bryce Young or a CJ Stroud, you don't want to be down there and maybe like Anthony Richardsonville in the draft.
Right? Like I feel like you were going to need next year's first and more to possibly move up in the draft. And the problem with getting Sean Payton is either got to give up, you know, this first, maybe next year's first hell, maybe both, depending on what reports out of new Orleans, you believe I, I would rather use the draft collateral to get a quarterback than to get Sean Payton at all. Honestly, I think there's a good option. You mentioned them coming in.
I think there's a real good option there. And Steve Wilkes, I just think at this point, Tepper is so gaga over the idea of Sean Payton. I'd like, I don't even know, like if he bumps into Steve Wilkes in the office at the stadium, he might ask, why are you, who are you?
I'm worried he's a forgotten man a little bit. Oh, I don't think there's any question that David Tepper in his mind has moved on from Steve Wilkes. I thought he was enamored with Ben Johnson. I just read that like five days ago, he was enamored with Ben Johnson so much so that Ben Johnson decided to remain the offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions for a healthy raise, which he obviously deserved.
And that's cool because one year of OC duties, no matter how good it was, should not automatically make you the flavor of the month. But that's the way the NFL works. That's how we get all of these young coaches. That's how we get the Brandon Staley's of the world. That's how we get the Kevin O'Connell's of the world.
Because there's very little track record that all of a sudden there's a splash and boom, you're the next guy. I love Steve Wilkes. I've really been team Steve Wilkes since week two. I've talked about it so much that it's almost repetitive at this point.
So with the ninth pick, because it's obviously a joke. First of all, can you even close your eyes? I tried to go through this mental exercise yesterday. Could you even close your eyes and imagine Sean Payton on the Panthers sideline? It's weird. It's definitely weird. I got to be honest.
He is one of my least, he's one of my easily most hateable individuals I've had in the NFL in my life as a fan. But I got to be honest with you. I have no shame, Adam. I am so desperate to win. I will completely reverse all my feelings from hate to love.
I will do it that quickly. But it is a weird thought. There's no doubt about it.
It's magic to him there in that Panther gear on the sidelines like that. That's a strange one. But I'm so desperate to win. I will overlook any petty hatred easily. Well, you certainly, the phrase is that politics makes strange bedfellows. Team affiliation makes strange bedfellows. So what was once the enemy becomes your favorite when he's on your side? And I totally, totally understand.
We all want to win. Although that didn't work for me with Tom Glavin as a Mets fan. That never worked with me for Tom Glavin. I was against that from the very beginning. And I was proven right through five years. All right, with the ninth pick. See, if you could get number one, that's fine.
Because I agree with you. I think Bryce Young is the guy and the only sure thing in terms of being a good NFL quarterback in this class. I don't think CJ Stroud is a sure thing. I don't think Levis from Kentucky is a sure thing. I don't think Richardson from Florida is a sure thing. I think they're all rolls of the dice. Young, if he can stay unbroken because he's small.
If he can stay healthy, I think Bryce is the best of those quarterbacks. But if you can't get to one, you're probably not getting them. So if you can't trade to one, what would you do with none?
I don't know. That's, that's where it gets dicey. I mean, obviously you're going to take a look at guys like Levis and Richardson. They just, the boomer bust nature of both those guys worries me though. I mean, that would be some real Panthers bleep type stuff.
You know what I mean? Where they do take the quarterback and then that doesn't work out after trying a bunch of the retread veterans. I guess Levis has a little more polished than Richardson, but I mean, we watch, I know you watch him in Kentucky too. I just, I understand you'll he'll make a throw or two in a game, Adam, right? You're like, okay, that's the arm strength they love, but it's like, there's more than one or two plays in a game. It's just, I don't see special with him with Richardson.
I will say this. I at least do see, and maybe it's just the cam comparisons and maybe a huge cam guy, a Panther guy. Like I could see like that upside. The arm is big, man. He's this big guy that can run the football. He could run zone, read the QB powers with them, use them in a cam Newton sort of way. But like you you've seen it too.
I've seen games like the forest. They came at the Richardson completed 33% of his passes. I mean, there are games where he literally looks like a horrible quarterback.
So Stroud is a guy that if they can find a way to get him, I'm pretty intrigued. I thought he was solid at Ohio state, but I didn't know, you know, how much that was the supporting cast, the receivers and the weapons around him being so good. That Georgia game really was like that. That was really something the way he ran around more than he ever has the way he almost played like Bryce young buying time off schedule and finding guys downfield. So I do kind of put, you know, I get what you're saying on young. He's my favorite, but I do feel like Stroud's ahead of those next two guys. I just let this and Richardson scare me though, man. Oh no, I'm a hundred percent on board with you.
And I agree. Stroud is the second best guy, but I even, I think that there is, I don't know what percent, let's say 50, 50 chance that he's good in the NFL and I am not willing to make that risk. First of all, he's not going to be around at nine. You're going to have to trade up to like three or four for a chance at CJ Stroud.
So you're spending more assets. And I keep saying this Brock Purdy to me broke the draft. He completely broke. He should. And this has been a long time coming. We don't have to go back very far. First quarterback taken in a draft was Baker Mayfield third quarterback taken in the draft, Sam Darnold, the 10th quarterback taken in that draft, Josh Rosen. I mean, Darnold's the best of those three, right? I mean, in my opinion, Darnold's the best of those three. Zach Wilson taken second last year.
He's terrible. The Jets don't know what to do with, with Zach Wilson. It's so hard that when you get the last player taken into draft looks like, Oh my gosh, this guy might be better than the player taken third in the last draft. That's how, that's how crazy the position of quarterback is.
And you don't know. I wouldn't take a chance unless I knew the guy was going to be good. I wouldn't draft one. I didn't. Do you go David Carr? Do you try that?
Do you go? I mean, a lot of fans here are crazy over the idea of trying to get Lamar Jackson, but you're talking about like hundreds of dollars guaranteed to a guy that's missed 11 games last two years. You're talking like what close to $50 million a year, two first round picks that they franchise them. Like what's the alternative though is my problem to trying to take a shot in the draft. I think you, you, you make a very good point and it's, there's really no answer for, well, what's the alternative, except that I always have thought that that's the wrong question to ask.
I know, but, but no, no, no, but I, I understand why we ask it. It's, it's the same, it's the same discussion about, well, we have to pay this guy. What's our alternative. That doesn't mean you have to give somebody a bad contract, right?
But the alternative is, is for a lot of people, part of it. But once you've given somebody a bad contract, it's over because it impacts so many other things. What, what I would certainly be interested in getting Lamar Jackson. Uh, there's no way, like I know Lamar thinks he's going to get a fully guaranteed deal because Deshaun Watson did, but he's not, he's not going to get that. He's not going to get that from Baltimore. He's not going to get that from anybody. I mean, he might get it from a terrible organization, some desperate team, which wait a second.
Did you just, as I say that self-aware as a Panther fan, that's true. So maybe he will get it from Carolina because if you, if you guarantee him $50 million a year, then that's your cap hit. And that's the problem with, with his, with all of that is what does the cap hit do? And even though the cap is going to go up, uh, I don't know, could they guarantee him 40 million a year and make it fully guaranteed for six years? I think they could get away with that. Cap's going to continue going up because the NFL makes all sorts of money.
Like the way he plays, I'm worried that this is the start of a trend. These five and six games missed the last two years. Right.
I like, I also understand that, except that there's no way to predict it. Right. You know, Christian McCaffrey stayed healthy this year. We just thought the same damn thing.
He was with the Panthers all year when he stayed healthy. Probably not. Well, it all depends if you, if you ask Frank Garcia. Uh, so I remember those conversations.
Those are great. Uh, look, I, I just think that if you, if you try to guess whether or not he would stay healthy, then I just might as well not even do it, but, uh, I, I would just go into, he is that good, good of a player. And, you know, maybe, maybe over time he runs a little bit less. I think the underrated part of his game is his throwing. I think he's a great thrower.
Yeah. So, uh, it's going to be fun, man. Uh, who, since it's not going to be Sean Payton, who's it going to be? I, I do think it, I think David Tepper takes a swing at Peyton here and if, and if it doesn't work out and I think I wouldn't think it would, although he worries me a little bit with what he might be able to give up, willing to give up. I think if it's not paid and ends up being Wilkes, ultimately. I mean, I did hear that he did have an interview that his offensive plan was, I don't know any details of it sadly, but it did impress them and it did make a mark and compared to, you know, the other interviews they did early on, they did feel like it was the most impressive. So I almost, I feel like Wilkes is kind of sitting there as like, you know, the, the safe option for David Tepper, but in the meantime, he's going to go out there and, you know, shoot his, his Yolo shot at Sean Payton.
Right. He's such a Steelers guy, David Tepper, right? The greatest example, because I think there are similarities between Wilkes and Mike Tomlin. The greatest example of somebody whose biggest strength is his ability to communicate and his ability to lead is Mike Tomlin.
And that's what I think Steve Wilkes best trait is as a coach, the ability to communicate and lead and be the face of your franchise and be a solid human being. I just don't understand why that's not, those things, unfortunately, in the NFL don't jump off the page. They just don't. No, it's, well, that's the thing. And you look, you know, someone asked me today, why isn't Wilkes interviewing for other head coaching jobs? And it goes to what you're just saying.
I mean, people are looking for a type, right? And you can often, it is that young offensive whiz kid and Steve Wilkes, unfortunately, for multiple reasons, we can certainly get into that, you know, but it's not that type. And, but the Panthers saw it. That's the thing. Other organizations can't tell from the outside, but the Panthers internally, David Tepper has to know how everybody there responded to him and feels about him. You know, just look at the results over the 12 weeks that Steve Wilkes was the head coach, that team went six and six under Steve will and should have gone, should have gone a game better if Eddie Panero had just made a kick. I mean, seriously, just make the kick.
And it's a game better. Who knows? Chris McLean, Mac Attack, WFNZ in Charlotte every morning. I appreciate your time, my friend. We'll talk to you soon. Anytime, man. Be good. You got it at Mac WFNZ in Charlotte.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-01-19 18:11:24 / 2023-01-19 18:17:47 / 6