Is Frank Reich going to check all of the boxes needed?

It's time to bring in Jim Zocchi, who, I can't believe I'm saying this, has never appeared on this show, and that is really entirely my fault. Mr. Zocchi, analyst for the Carolina Panthers, how are you? I can't imagine it's my fault, Adam, so yes, let's play to you. We're off to a great start. All right, first of all, your thoughts on Frank Reichen?

They don't want to talk football with you. I think, you know, Frank's a great hire. I mean, I was really in the corner of Steve Wilkes. I think Steve Wilkes would have done a good job, too, by the way, but to take the hiring itself and live in the real world, the hiring of Frank Reichen is a great one. I think he'll do a really good job here. He's got a track record.

You know what you're getting? A guy that's, you know, had success in this league. He's rock solid. He's a fundamental football coach. He kind of emphasized that at the press conference we were at earlier this afternoon. I think he's what they needed here. I think they needed a professional football coach to come in and organize and lead the way, and I think he checks all those boxes of what you're looking for as far as what the Panthers were coming from and where they need to go to next.

It is interesting. One of the things that David Tepper did say today is that he does regret. He recognizes the mistake of hiring the, quote, unquote, CEO that Matt Ruhl was brought in here to be, and I think you said it better in terms of it's a college guy. It was always going to be a difficult transition for Matt, and different than it was difficult for Urban Meyer, because Urban Meyer came in here as a know-it-all who thought he could just treat everybody like a college player. I don't think Matt Ruhl did that. It's just, it's not the same game. It's just, to me, the two, they both use an oblong ball, but there's a lot of blocking and tackling. It's just not the same game, right? Yeah, to me, the biggest thing about that setup, when you do it that way, you're talking about the Matt Ruhl-type setup, is that then the CEO coach has the power to trade future graphics to save his current time there.

So there's all these moves. Did Scott Fitter do that, or did Matt Ruhl do that, or is it both, or was it mostly Matt? So it's like, you know, this will be a collaborative effort, no doubt, and Scott Fitter was very much emphasizing that, and Frank Reich as well. But it'll be done the right way. You know, the GM and the scouting department and everyone comes up with the players, presents them, and they do the legwork, and of course Frank Reich will have a ton of say-so with Matt, but there's got to be a structure to that.

You can't have a king out there just making all the decisions for everybody. So I think this is going to be, again, the traditional setup, as you said, of what the NFL should look like for a front office and coaching relationship. Jim Zocchi, analyst on the Carolina Panthers radio network, is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. Let's get into the football side of this. He referenced how good the defense is.

Let's start on that side of the ball. Obviously, the bones of a great defense are there, with the Brian Burns, the Derrick Browns, the Jeremy Chins of the world. Where else do you think they need to shore up? You see them every day, so tell me where else they need to shore up.

It's been really hard watching Hassan Reddick in the postseason. They had the bookend last year to Brian Burns, so to me, on that side of the ball, it's that other guy besides Brian Burns that could apply pressure because, you know, there are certain positions that are more difficult to fill than others, and they got a great corner in J. C. Horn a couple years ago, and Dante Jackson's a good one. But they have a great defensive end in Brian Burns, and they had that compliment in Hassan Reddick, and, of course, every team's working on a budget, so they can't keep everybody. But that would now be, to me, the priority, because you mentioned Derrick Brown with a great young defensive tackle, and you could find other guys like that.

So that, to me, would be the thing. And they really, you know, you think back to the days of linebacker, where you had TD and you had Luke Kieckler, these guys, they don't have that. You know, Shaq's a quality linebacker. He's been in the league a long time. He's a good player. But, I mean, we're talking about Luke Kieckler's going to the Hall of Fame. Thomas Davis is an all-time franchise player. You know, John Beese and guys like that, they need those thumpers and those guys that are just kind of sideline to sideline, three-down linebacker kind of guy.

So I would say that other edge rusher and then just somebody at linebacker that really is a standout type of player. Jim Zocchi is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. On the other side of the ball, of course, the shiniest object is the quarterback, and I think Frank did a very smart thing when he was asked the question specifically by Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer about the current quarterback situation. He didn't even acknowledge it. He just moved on.

Next question, after answering more of a historical question. Your thoughts on where this team is right now. Is the day one quarterback for Frank Reich in the building, so to speak? I mean, probably not. I mean, no one knows that answer for sure, but I mean, really the only guy that's coming back is Matt Corral.

They have no idea because he got injured in preseason, what his future is, and it's not going to be the day one starting quarterback. So I would say not. And so I would think I've been asked, do you draft one or do you bring one in? Yes. Yes.

Oh, all that. Maybe both quarterback room. You have to find your first and your second quarterback. So I think it's gonna be some combination of a veteran guy and that they'll draft one.

Scott bitter was asked. He said, ideally you draft one, which doesn't have to be a top 10 pick, but I think, yeah, that's kind of the thinking. Uh, you can move up. Obviously it makes some trades to get a little bit higher up. If you'd say CJ Stroud was your guy or whatever and make that opportunity. I've heard a couple of years ago, they talked about, they were, they were set, they're poised to take Justin Herbert.

Well, then move up two spots. And if he's your guy that you think is a franchise guy, give a future first away. If you think that highly, cause that would been worsted or suggested that Hubert coming in here because they need that guy.

They've been looking for him ever since then. That was Marty's last year as GM. So to me, it's like, yeah, it's going to be probably a combination of draft. And in some way, a veteran guy, whether that's free agency, a trade, somebody who's just not on a roster right now, but they, they need to address it in a couple of different ways. And they need to not do what they've been doing, which is that the one year, you know, Baker Mayfield and, you know, Teddy Bridgewater, they need to go out and identify that stability that Frank was talking about today. And, and yeah, Frank talked about, it's not the best way to do it too.

I mean, in, with the Indianapolis Colts, he started five different seasons with five different quarterbacks as the intended number one. That's not good for anybody. It's not good for coaching longevity. It's not good for a, for a football team trying to break through with some stability. And according to what his, his plan is, the, the top end is championships. The bottom end is playoffs. You can't, that can't be your low point without stability at quarterback.

Yeah. And of course, you know, when he started there, they had the one year of Andrew Luck and he threw them that monkey wrench, you know, right before the season began, which Andrew Luck has said since then he regrets doing it, the timing that he did with that. So they, they've been trying to recover ever since that, because those are so incredibly difficult to come by. I mean, you can spend a top five, top 10 pick on a guy and he may completely wash out or he turns into Andrew Luck and is a really good quarterback. But just, you know, Andrew moved on with the injuries.

So yeah, it's, it's easier said than done. And hopefully you identify the right guy because past year we had two of the top three picks of whatever draft that was 2018 draft, right? Two of the top three picks quarterback. So you had your pickup, two of the top three guys. We still don't know if they can play five years later.

And we, we don't think either one of the high level guy, by the way, we're just, we're just trying to figure out is either one of those two, a competent lower end starter or possibly cap out of the middle of the pack starter in the league five years later. So that's how elusive it is to come up with these guys. It's funny. I went back. I actually did. I did. I did the research for people because everybody's just draft a quarterback.

Okay, do that. But there's a time investment. It's not forget about the money when you draft a quarterback, you are drafted. You, you are investing time in that player. And if you guess wrong, you have simply set your back, set yourselves back further. And the math says that it's about a one in three chance of even if you draft in the top 10, it's a one in three chance that you get it right. In terms of finding a legit franchise quarterback, you can find a starter. We, but we like, do we know that Trevor Lawrence is that guy just yet?

Or do we think he might be? It's hard. I think, I think I like his potential in particular, but you're right overall in terms of the math you just did. Absolutely true. I mean, because you could find, you still have to fill 32. So some of them aren't really starters, but there are 32 teams. So therefore there have to be 32 starters, but anyone who plays fantasy football knows once you get past about eight or so, it's kind of like a bunch of interchangeable Jared Goff kind of guys that are out there.

So it is just a, it's, it's, it's difficult. And I feel like we cycled out of a great era of quarterbacks, and now we've got just a small handful of Patrick, my homes and Joe burrow and a couple of guys out of Josh Allen come to mind. So there's that small group of guys that go, okay, that guy, for sure. That's a guy that's, you know, a 10 year starter. He's a, he's a potential hall of fame guy, but there's not very many of those in this current era of what the league has, which is weird because we're in a passing era of football. You would think there would be even more and they come out more ready out of college than it used to be back in the day.

Yeah. I'm not sure they come out ready to play quarterback the way the NFL wants them to play quarterback. And that is the, that is the big difference before I let Jim Zocchi go. Give first of all, I love the fact, I love the way they reconstructed the offensive line last year.

I expected to start basically where it is given health. I know Brady Christensen was in a boot. They had some other guys who were hurt at the end of the year that hopefully will be back and they can continue maybe to add to what they've done. But if you could forecast other than a quarterback that this team obviously needs to go into the season. Give me a position that they must improve on the offensive side of the ball. I mean, they, they need that again.

I mentioned the compliment bookend to Brian Burns. I think a wide receiver is the other one and Robbie Anderson wasn't that guy, but they essentially traded off a starting wide receiver last year. And with the guy they've got your Terrace Marshall could be good, but I mean, they need another threat besides DJ more because you forget how much Christian McCaffrey did in this office as good as they ran the ball.

He was such a pass catcher. Obviously they just lost so much in the receiving game and God forbid we ever have a receiving tight end. That would be that I'm getting too deep into the draft, but I would think at least at some option where it's a tremendous receiving threat.

Cause really is you do line up against us that the only thing you're focused on is let's contain DJ more who's, you know, not like top three or whatever, but he's very good. So I think another really high end threat at receiver in particular would be that position. I've been saying that the entire year that Carolina's got one wide receiver. They don't have a pass catching tight end. It's really hard to be a good quarterback. If your only targets are DJ more and Christian McCaffrey out of the backfield.

They need they definitely need to upgrade those positions. Jim Zocchi. I appreciate your time. It will not be the last time we talk unless you didn't enjoy yourself in which case it will and I want to say thank you very much and we'll talk to you maybe down the road. I had a great time, Adam. Anytime you got my phone number. Thanks, Jim. Take care, man. Thanks. Bye.