Did the Panthers make good draft picks?

Still basking in the glow of the Carolina Panthers, I believe, getting the first overall pick right in Bryce Young, quarterback from Alabama, but I am far from an expert. Let's talk to Justin Casey, who's an NFL scout for the 33rd team, which, look, we talked to Trey Wingo a lot, and he's with 33rd team, so it must be a reputable outfit, right? Do you have fans, fantasy players? Even betters.

So go check them out on the 33rdteam.com. Justin Casey with us. Did the Panthers get it right on day one? I believe so. I mean, if you're going to take a quarterback in this draft, Bryce Young was the guy to take, and thanks for having me on too, by the way.

My pleasure is absolutely mine. I know you're a busy man today. What about in the second round? Did you like Jonathan Mingo, the wide receiver from Ole Miss? I love Jonathan Mingo. I mean, he went right in the range where, you know, we have him going. I think he's got excellent size. You didn't see too many receivers in this class with his size at 6'2", 220 pounds, and he just glides. He has easy speed. He just glides by defenders like it's nothing. He has acceleration. He's got to refine his route running a little bit, but there's nothing in his skill set that says he can't do it.

He had a few concentration drops, but he's got hands to snatch away from his body. You know, he's got that big body to shield defenders, so I think he's got a real big upside with the Panthers and a great pick for them. It might be unfair to do this, but since they both went to Ole Miss, I'm just going to go there. Is there any comparison to D.K.

Metcalf? I mean, I don't think you're going to compare him in terms of play style or anything, or even A.J. Brown, but I think you can say that Ole Miss has had a track record of producing some pretty good second-round receivers, and I think he's going to be another one of them.

What are the downsides? I mean, somebody 6'2", 220, with big hands who makes contested catches, you would think that we just described a first-round pick, so what is it about him that has him being a second-round guy? I mean, last year was really his first year of big-time production. He was injured, I believe, in 2021, so I think that's part of it. I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised at all if he had gone in the first round, and I don't think it would have been a reach if he would have gone in the 20s. I wouldn't have been surprised by that at all.

I think it's really just that. He made some refinement in running his routes, but like I said, it's not his skill set. He can drop his weight and get in and out of breaks. Like I said, he had a few easy drops that were a little bit concerning, but it wasn't like a guy who lets the ball get into his body. He snatches the ball away from his frame.

He'll make plays with players around him, so it's not a contested catch issue. I think it was just the lack of multi-year production is really what probably got him. Everything I've heard, he's a good kid, so it's nothing off-field, so I think they got themselves a great player, great value in the second round.

Justin Casey with the 33rdteam.com joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. On third round, you know they were going to go for, they needed to get another edge rusher. I don't know if DJ Johnson is the prototypical guy because he almost seems like a defensive end, and I know they're going to play a 3-4. So what exactly do you think of DJ Johnson? I wasn't as high on him, obviously, as they were. I had a seventh-round grade on him.

I know Rick Spielman, who does work with us on the 33rdteam. He had him as one of his sleepers. He played tight end for most of his career between Miami and Oregon, and last year was the first year where he really settled in and played on defense. He's a little bit of an older player, too. He has the upside, though, with the athleticism, like you said, depending on what scheme they run, but no team really is a true 3-4-4-3 anymore. He's a guy that played with his hand down and as a stand-up guy. He ran a 4-4-9-4-8 bench, and you see some of that on tape. The thing that you don't see is the instincts and the quick trigger right now.

I think some of that may be from a lack of experience. I think that's kind of what they're counting on once he gets more experience playing on defense and he gets consistent coaching, that they can see that athletic upside come out more consistently than it does now. But he plays hard.

He flashes violent hands. He doesn't have a lot of variety or wiggle as a rusher. Again, some of that may be from coaching experience.

We'll see. That's probably why I was lower on him. He's great, but he has the physical profile that you'd be looking for in that position.

Justin Casey, 33rdteam.com, joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. Before I get to Chandler Zavala from NC State, the offensive lineman, you mentioned that nobody plays essentially a set defense anymore. There are all sorts of different combinations in their hybrids. Is that the Bill Belichick effect? I think it's more so the evolution on offense too and defenses having to respond to that. So you're having more smaller, faster, quicker coverage players on the field. So you've got a variety of defenses to try and counter that. The quarterback run game being more prevalent in the NFL now than it was five years ago. So I think those are probably the main factors why you see it that way.

We have so many different player packages. The college game really has flowed into the NFL game, hasn't it? It has, but you even look at it that it's the high school game has been influencing the college game, which has now influenced the NFL game. It used to be the other way around 15, 20 years ago, but now it really is more the other way around. And I think you see at the lower levels, coaches are more creative and they'll experiment more.

There's more pressure and more to be alike. And I think that is what has caused that to happen where it's kind of like bottom up instead of top down. Interesting. I'm waiting for the veer to show up in the NFL. I'm not sure it will.

I'm also not sure I'd be able to recognize it if it did. You know, one thing is like things are cyclical, right? You know, so we've seen this tremendous shift towards the smaller, faster players. And then you saw last year in the NFL that the average yards per rush was higher than it had been in like 15 or 20 years. I think that's because you've seen all these softer coverages and smaller, quicker players. So now offense is starting to realize, hey, you know, we can actually gain an advantage by mashing these smaller players. And I think that may even be a reason why you have the running back have a little bit more value in the draft and what people, you know, have been thinking with the devaluation of that position, you know, you know, the last five to 10 years. Really surprised that two running backs went in the first part of the draft, but teams do what teams do. Let me ask you about Chandler Zavala, who's a guard who played at NC State, played next to Iki Iquanto a couple of years ago and is a pretty good story in how NC State really lobbied for an additional year. He's also an older player.

Your thoughts on him. 92% of households that joined Peloton early in the year are still active a year later. Yeah. If you like cycling to EDM.

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See additional terms at one Peloton dot com slash home dash trial. You know what he is? He's a wide, you know, he's a bit of a late riser in the eyes, I think, of the media because he was a non combine player. He's a wide body, physical, strong. He's got strong lower body, strong upper body, strong lower body to absorb rushers.

And he's got strong, violent hand to really control defenders once he gets his hands on them. So I think that was a good, you know, value thing. But I think, you know, the the the Panthers that their roster is really pretty strong. And I think if they get a few of these things right here, you know, this year with different coaching staff and with Bryce, you know, like they have a chance to really make a major improvement this year. Yeah.

Final thing. And then I'm going to ask you about a little bit more about Bryce before we have to let you go. Your thoughts on Jamie Robinson, the safety out of Florida State, who I thought had a great start to the season. I don't know if he got hurt or whatnot and think it was as good at the end, but he is certainly a prospect. You know, I'm glad we had time to hit on him. He was one of my favorite players in this draft to evaluate. I had a second third round grade on him, like we all of us in our group, we all liked him. He was our number two ranked safety. I mean, he's a ball seeking rocket like he arrived at the ball with a violent attitude and eagerness to make a play.

You know that the size I mean, it's under 30 inch arms and they only ran a four or five nine at the combine. But he plays much bigger and faster because he's a quick trigger to diagnose. He had good short area quickness and he had no for a guy who's small and is doesn't have great length. He's violent with his hands and like you've never seen him get blocked on the perimeter, even when he's down in the box. So I mean, I see him as a guy that's immediate contributor on special teams and I would not be surprised at all if he develops into a starter down the road. Yeah, I think they like him. I think that's incredible value in the fifth round.

All right. Finally, before we let you go, Justin Casey, 33rd team.com. What is your favorite thing about Bryce young and why you think he will be?

I guess if you're first overall, you got to become a star. So what do you what's your favorite thing about Bryce? I love like the calm that he plays with like it to me, the game looks slow to him. And even though there's chaos going on around him, he just navigates that with no problem at all. He's always got his eyes downfield. It's like even when when things are clean, he makes the quick decisions when things are messy. He just handles it with such poise and calm.

He's just in command, I think at all times. I mean, if he was six to 210 pounds, there would have been zero questions. He would have been the conferences, number one quarterback. Like he would have been like generational type guy that everyone's talking about.

Like this is the guy can't miss prospect. It was the size. Size is a concern. You can't get around that because you just haven't seen, you know, you can't really compare them to like Russell Wilson, Tyler Murray different.

They were thicker and Kyler Murray was an elite athlete by saying doesn't rely on his athleticism, but I think it's underrated. Like when he's out in space and he needs to run, he can, and he just has a great feel for, you know, the spatial awareness where everyone is around him. So he doesn't take the shots when he's, you know, out in space and he's tough in the pocket. Like, you know, I mean, that's a concern because he'll take stand in there and he'll take shots.

And you know, that's where the, the slight frame is a concern. Like, you know, he weighed over 200 pounds in the combine, but you know, no one believes he weighed, you know, over one 90 really when he was playing at Alabama. So that, you know, that's where the, he's an outlier in that sense, but I, for me, the quarterbacks, like that's who I bet on. He had so many rolls of quarters in his pockets.

It's ridiculous. Justin Casey from the 33rdteam.com. Check him out online. I appreciate your time. Enjoyed it. We'll talk again. Enjoy Adam. Thank you. You got it.

All right. Look, I've said this before about Bryce Young and I want to talk about one other thing real quick here in a second. If, because Justin just said it, if he were 6'2", 210, and I would just say if he were 6'1", we wouldn't even be having a discussion. And the Panthers wouldn't have the pick. The Bears would have kept the pick.

If there were no questions about at all about his size, the Chicago Bears would have drafted Bryce Young number one. Oh yeah. And Justin Fields might be Carolina's quarterback.

Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying that they would have done that, but they would, it would not have been, maybe they would have traded up to number two and gotten C.J. Stroud. Yeah, some thought that Fields should have been in Carolina anyway.

Well, yes, we can go back. My opinion on Justin Fields is that the whole quarterbacking package isn't good enough. It just isn't good enough. The whole quarterbacking package. And you can get away with, for a period of time, being a great college quarterback in an NFL system.

But it's really hard. He's not Cam Newton. Cam Newton had a much better foundation in the passing game, in spite of what people want to believe, than Justin Fields does. And Fields, Fields can do a lot of good things.

I don't know. I'm not saying he won't be. I just think that we haven't seen quarterbacking from Fields at this point. And Cam became a really good quarterback. That's why he won an MVP. Yep.

Right. He was a great athlete initially, but he became a great quarterback. He just couldn't stay healthy because apparently he wasn't big enough. That's all I got on that.

He just wasn't big enough. Alright, I want to thank, once again, I want to thank the Carolina Hurricanes for giving me the weekend off. That was very nice of them. It was. I appreciated it like you couldn't believe.

It allowed me time to mow my lawn, which was nice. Look, the Hurricanes are, it's hard to quantify what they are as a team other than gutty. And all year long, we just assumed, alright, they'll be able to score goals because you've got Sveta Gov, you've got Tara Vainen, you've got the Ahos and Natures of the World. And Max Pacioretty will be back.

And now, no Max, no Andre, no Tevo. And Tevo's not coming back unless the Hurricanes are likely in the, at the very least, the Conference Finals. But it's probably the Stanley Cup Finals. And thanks to the Boston Bruins capitulating and leaving the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Hurricanes have home ice advantage for every series that's left. For them.

I mean, that is amazing. With this roster. And I, I always say, I would tell fans, whether it's through the Cane's Corner podcast or Stormwatch or Aftermath, whatever. I always tell you, the roster doesn't look like a Stanley Cup roster. But the way they play will give them a chance against anyone. Now, the further you go, and the better these teams are playing, and the Hurricanes are going to watch the Devils and the Rangers tonight, they get the winner of those two.

And I am here to tell you, I don't think it matters who they play. There are pluses and minuses to both. I think there are things that they do that can bother the Rangers. There are things that they do that can bother the Devils. And I understand the Rangers' goaltending, theoretically, is better than New Jersey's.

But I also think the Rangers probably give up more goals. Yeah. But it's, again, it's six of one, half dozen of another. So I have zero preference.

And I, I'm absolutely not lying. I don't care who the opponent is. But Carolina's got to play a certain way. And if they do that, they can beat anybody.

I don't care who it is. They can beat the Rangers. They can beat the Devils. They can beat the Maple Leafs. I sneaky think the Maple Leafs are the most difficult matchup for Carolina, more so than the Rangers, more so than the Devils. But you'd welcome that chance. And I do think Toronto is going to advance.

I think Toronto will be Florida. 92% of households that join Peloton early in the year are still active a year later. Yeah, if you like cycling to EDM.

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See additional terms at one Peloton.com slash home dash trial. Although Florida was. They turned it on. Like all of a sudden, Paul Morris's influence on this team showed up. Yeah, like the last month of the season, the Paul Morris influence showed up and there was already a ton of offensive talent on the team, right?

Matthew can chuck is a perfect player for them. But the Maurice, I mean, grinded out style showed because that's what they did to Boston. They just hung around and made Boston work for everything.

And it wasn't easy. And I think Boston kind of thought that they were going to blow them away after scoring the first two goals. Last night to make it three to escort so quickly in the immediate 30 seconds into the third period. And then I think it was posture knock scored the next goal.

Yep. And I think posture knock and Bertuzzi. It seemed like they scored every goal for Boston, but man. Florida scoring with less than a minute left to extend the series into overtime. And then when you went into overtime, you could tell Boston was a little they just weren't all there. I know Boston had two chances to score, mostly because David posture knock had the puck, but neither of those plays were great scoring chances. They were just Oh, David posture knock shot so it could go in.

Yeah. Weren't they on power plays too? No, no, no, no, not an overtime.

Oh, no, no, no. But the during the game that the reality is that Florida dominated overtime. Oh, yeah, they had they had the kachuk breakaway for Hagee had another chance in the dead slot. He basically whiffed on still almost went, but he basically whiffed on it got 15% of the puck. And then he didn't pass on the next opportunity. And that wasn't even a great scoring chance.

It was just a shot that Jeremy Swayman never saw, never saw and real quick before we get to halftime. Lena Solmark, the goaltender for Boston this year, if you look at his numbers, and you stack it up against what the rest of the league did in net this year. He had a historically great season. I mean, as good as Boston was based on whatever metrics you wanted to look at basic or otherwise. Lena Solmark was arguably better than the team. And the team won 65 games this year. He was that good. And he wasn't that good in the playoffs. He just wasn't. I have no idea why. He just wasn't.

Yeah. And maybe he's not that good. Maybe the season just was better than Lena Solmark. And then when you get to the playoffs, we see truly what you are. Maybe it's the President's Cup curse again. 10 years in a row.

The last time a President's Cup winner, which means that you had the best record in the league, the last time that team even made the conference finals, I believe was 2015 or 2014 or 2015 when the Rangers did it. Otherwise, it's a recipe to get out. Yeah. That's all it is.

Well, you're not a threat. You have the President's Cup. Right. It's a recipe to get the heck out. 92% of households that join Peloton early in the year are still active a year later. Yeah. If you like cycling to EDM.

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