NFL draft is 8 days away!

Coming up eight days from now is the NFL's first round of the draft, and the Panthers have the first overall pick. It is exciting to be a Panthers fan. Jim Zocchi from the Panthers Radio Network, at Jim Zocchi on Twitter joins us.

But first of all, thank you so much for being available on short notice. This is a big, it's obviously such a big day coming up in eight days, and it's so exciting for the Panthers and their fans to have this pick. Last time they had the first overall pick, they did pretty well with it. Rick, before we get to the second round, what is your take on the, I guess the angst over the size of Bryce Young? Yeah, they were addressing it, Adam, yesterday at the press conference we were at with Scott Bitterer and Dan Morgan and the crew there, and yeah, they feel like, you know, Scott comes from Seattle, so he's referenced Russell Wilson a couple times, who's one inch taller than Bryce Young. His combine weight was the same 204. I think a lot of people feel that Bryce Young drank a bucket of water to get to 204 at the combine. That's probably not his real weight and probably not sustainable for now, but you know, as we all do, Adam, as we get older, we all age, we all get a little bit heavier, so I think they feel like in time he'll get a little more girth on him, and they can help him obviously in the weight room, nutritionally, all those kind of things, like when you've got your high school son that needs to put on weight to play football all of a sudden. I mean, putting on weight's not the worst thing they have to do, so I think, you know, the fact they talk in such detail about it, they seem pretty set on that being, you know, what most people think it's going to be as far as their picks.

I think here that they're not concerned about that. The two passes that were batted down his last year in college are things they reference that he knows how to find passing lanes and how to free himself to throw, and again, something they can help them with with their coaching staff. By the way, before we get to the second round pick, you know, just going through the coaching staff, I mean, you got to give them incredible amounts of credit.

That is, I mean, we could call it an all-star coaching staff, and it sounds hyperbolic, but it's kind of an all-star coaching staff, isn't it? Well, especially quarterback-centric, right, with bringing in, you know, a recently retired player at Josh McCow, the pair with a NFL quarterback head coach. Obviously, you guys know Jim Caldwell very well, and bringing in Thomas Brown with the Rams and all they've done with their successes.

So yeah, he's got a village of great people. Then a veteran guy, 35-year-old Andy Dalton, who's had a really good success in his past with the Bengals when he was a starter in this league. So he's got a wealth of people around him, smart football people, and I think they'll also, beyond all that, know how to bring him at the right rate of speed. You know, whether he starts day one or not will be up to them, but whatever that decision is, he's got smart people making all those decisions around him.

Jim Zocchi is joining us here on the Adam Goldschule. All right, we know they're going quarterback with their first pick. Do we anticipate that they add a wide receiver, even though they did really well with Adam Thielen and DJ Chark? I mean, even kind of the, you know, bringing back Demir Byrd has some value to it as well. What do you think they do with their second pick?

I think, you know, what they've set themselves up to do is not to reach for any one position that they can really follow their draft board and fill various needs. When Scott Thura was asked yesterday about, you know, where else are you looking in this draft after you get your quarterback? And again, I'm not saying it could be CJ Stroud, just to kind of backtrack that a little bit, just my focus is on Bryce Young, but I think CJ Stroud, I'm not ruling that out either, but I would say I want to say Terrence Marshall does in year three. To me, it's not make or break, but it's the, he started to show some big play potential last year. So add him into the mix with who you mentioned with the veteran feel and the speed guide shark, bring him back to mere bird.

I love viscous. You know, obviously does some things in the right setting when you use him the right way as a physical wide receiver who can block. So I don't think they have to reach for a receiver, but there is no DJ Moore and that's huge.

So I think they'll look that way. Or another compliment as a pass catching tight end to bringing in Hayden Hurst, because it happens to be a very good tight end draft that there'll be some guys depth-wise may not be second round, but third round or so forth, where you could find a really quality young tight end to pair with what you got with Tommy Trample and some of the guys there. You know, what's funny is that about, I would say two months ago, I was looking at mock drafts that had Darnell Washington from Georgia, like in the third round.

And now I see, now I see him in the, in the, in the last third of the first round in some places, because the more you look at him, the more you go, well, how is this guy not going to be good? And how does Georgia have so many really good tight end players? It doesn't make a difference what position they play at Georgia. They're all future NFL players.

Yeah. Even the backup tight end is like a future pro bowl guy probably there too. But yeah, it kind of speaks to the strength again of what you're saying of the, the depth of certain positions in this draft. And, and Scott, again, the first thing you got in his mouth was, it doesn't mean this was like their first need, but you know, he said edge rusher. Uh, he'd mentioned wide receiver, uh, depth on the offensive line because they do have their starting five back once they're healthy, but not initially maybe with some of the guards who got injured late in the year. But, um, they are, I think a corner because there's gotta be some concerned obviously about Dante Jackson coming back from the Achilles. And we don't know about CJ Henderson, uh, being, uh, you know, good all the time. Uh, he's got ups and downs.

So how, how smooth and level is his game consistently opposite a really good JC horn. So I would think, you know, a young corner would be really attractive. I think if someone like cam Smith out of like South Carolina, if he happens to be around around that spot, he's projected as maybe a early second round guy in some drafts.

So that might be a possibility. Jim Zoki is joining us just kind of expanding more on the defensive side. Uh, somebody opposite DJ burns, maybe somebody else in the middle of the defense, whether it's a defensive line or even as a linebacker, uh, you know, run stopper, who, where are there, where are there holes to fill on that side of the ball?

Still, certainly edge rusher would be the other one. And it sounds like they're going to keep Brian Burns around with the, with a big contract extension. So you want the complimentary piece piece that you once had and no longer have because of, uh, you know, again, looking at the budget and trying to keep what they could in the past. Uh, but you know, they, they Derek Brown, obviously they're very high on the way he bounced back last year after being a little uneven his previous year, they brought in kind of that big one stopper guy into Sean Williams in free agency and Ty Tuttle can do some things along the line, but now you're getting into the depth of what you're talking about, where you could draft a guy in one of those middle rounds, uh, to again, fill out that rotation. Every team likes to have a, again, this is 94, three, but a three, four, but it's theory just to generalize, I got four edge rushers for middle guys.

So you just rotate in and out and keep them fresh. So I think that's what they're looking for more or less. And, you know, again, being a three 14, that's a base, but not always gonna be in a three four. I think Frankie Lubeau was somewhat of a breakout player last year. So if he progresses again as an edge linebacker hybrid kind of a guy, I think it got like Frankie Lubeau could be really valuable in terms of what he brings. I'm glad you brought him up because he was basically a special teams guy two years ago and they brought him back and you'll, you'll love the energy. And then he takes the next step and goes from a special teams guy to a guy who, who seems like he can play, uh, in all situations in every, uh, a three down linebacker. I, I don't mean, did they get lucky there or did they see something that maybe other people didn't? I think he just earned it.

I mean, people get tired of hearing some of these, you know, cliches. I used to get practice guy, even like on Wednesdays and Thursdays and things like that. So he's just a hardworking, good kid who took an opportunity and grew. So I think, you know, yeah, you throw it in camp, right?

80, 90 players at the wall, you see which 53 are going to stick. And I think he's just one of those guys that took his reps in his snap seriously and has the ability to back it up. So where we're opportunity meets ability is where he is. I think Frankie Lou was one of those guys that, uh, wasn't as high profile, but is growing into a nice NFL football player. And, uh, like you said, I'm glad they brought it back with a two year contract last year. And he could really solidify his NFL career and future by kind of growing it from here. We've seen guys, obviously every year for a second round, just complete flops and they're just only on the roster because they think, well, we got to give another chance that an undrafted guy wouldn't get it. They were drafted that high, but Frankie Lou has done it the hard way. Two things for Jim Sookie.

And then we'll say goodbye. The first is what of all the moves they made. And I mean, let's exclude trading from nine to one to get the first overall pick.

Uh, which, which did you like the most? Which do you think will have the biggest impact? I think, you know, the biggest star clearly to me is miles Sanders. I mean, this is about a money ball situation as great as Christian McCaffrey is one of the top running backs in the league.

Uh, not in the budget and they build the, you know, you know, champagne case on a beer budget. I mean, it's $16 million a year running back versus a six and a half million dollar per year running back. He's coming off a pro bowl season and 1200 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. And earlier in his career, uh, was a pass receiving a thread. And I think they could read, they could revitalize that here in this offense and, you know, more than get more than the 20 catches he had in Philadelphia.

They didn't need him to do that with getting well in the players they had in Philadelphia. So I think miles Sanders is, is the biggest attraction to me out of everything that they've done in that position. And I do think Hayden hearse will be huge for them because it's just been just a non pass receiving position since the days of Greg Olson, basically. So they talk about Ian Thomas and some other guys, but nobody ever catches more than 20 passes in a year and never for any big production. So I think a veteran guy, he's still got a lot of tread on the tire and hated hers that will be any quarterbacks helper, whether it's Andy Dalton filling in or one of these two young quarterbacks projected to go at the top. I think Hayden Hurst at a pass catching tight end and something that Frank Wright's always had in his offenses. I think while the bigger impact in that position's had in a long time here. All right, Jim Zoki, you're a legend in Charlotte. Tell me, as we say goodbye, tell me what this move to get number one has meant to the organization and meant to the fans heading into this year.

Yeah, I think there's a buzz and there's an excitement. It was about Adam about as down as I can recall in that rules last game, that something from the San Francisco 49ers on an otherwise sunny afternoon, it was in a sea of red and Niners fans, jerseys all over that stadium. And that was, that was it. That was the last game of that.

And that was just really the kind of darkest moment. I think now they have hope. I think there's excitement and it'll be a while before we know whichever quarterback they pick, how they pan out in their career. We're still trying to figure out how good Baker may filter Sam Darnell might possibly see as they enter year five or six of their career. So I think, you know, it'll, it'll, it'll sell hope.

What either one of these guys are gonna be a good kid with a lot of abilities and hopefully the pans out. But for the time being to answer your question, I think it's created a lot of buzz and excitement. And so that's been lacking for a while here. There is no question. It has created a lot of excitement for the, uh, for the fans of the Carolina Panthers.

And look, I know a lot of diehard Panthers fans that are still a little questionable, but their confidence level is still not high, but at least there is interest in the worst thing that could happen in professional sports apathy. And that stuff is, seems to be gone. Jim Zocchi. I appreciate your time, sir. We'll talk again. Thank you, Adam. Appreciate it.