These 3 things HAVE to happen for the Carolina Panthers to be successful next year…

Three things and yes, we could make a list of a lot more than three things that the Panthers must do to turn this around. But it's got to start somewhere. There's not enough money nor draft capital to get it all turned around in year one under new head coach Dave Canales and new general manager Dan Morgan. They have first of all, they have to have to build a staff. They have to get ever have to put an offseason game plan into place. We don't know the players that are going to be involved here. But I've got three things that must happen and I think they need to happen in this order.

For the Panthers to even start the road back. I think this is going to be pretty simple. Some of it you will go Yeah, of course. First order of business.

And by the way, there's going to be some pain involved here. But first order of business is to trade Brian Burns. Don't even go into the franchise tag like Right now according to the website spot rack or spot rack.

I don't know how you pronounce it. I don't think it matters. Which tracks a lot of things about teams in all sports, but it has a salary cap database. The Carolina Panthers are according to the website roughly 31 million dollars under the cap for next year. But it does not include whatever contract would be handed out to Brian Burns. Does it include that?

So what do you do? If you look at what edge rushers around the league have gotten. I would say that almost all of that 31 million will be given to Brian Burns. Now, I'm sure there are things that they can do in the off season to lessen their salary cap number without necessarily jettisoning players. But it's not going to suddenly bring about an additional 30 million in cap space. So if you sign Burns, then you're really dealing with very little cap room.

And they have a super amount of holes to fill. So in my opinion, it doesn't matter that, you know, what the deal could have been a year and a half ago. The deal that you can get for Brian Burns now is what? What can you get? Can you get a first round pick for Brian Burns?

I don't know the answer to that. My hope is that you still can get a first round pick for a guy who is still pretty young, like 25, Burns. So there's still a lot of good football left in him. And he probably has a lot more value to a team on the cusp of winning than he does to the Panthers who are at best three years away from being a good enough team to think, yeah, we can make playoffs and have something to say when we get there. So I would trade Brian Burns, especially if you can get a first round pick. It doesn't even matter if it's like pick number 26. I would do that. And then I would either keep that pick.

Or I would trade it back and trade or trade the other one. The first pick in the second round. The Panthers must come out of this draft with more than the six picks that they've got. And frankly, a bunch of fourth, fourth round is still, there's some value there, but a bunch of fifth round picks doesn't really do it for me. They have to come out of this draft with right now they've got two picks in the first two days. It's bad. That number must be doubled.

Yes, at least. At the very least, that number must be doubled. You can get guys who can play, who can start, who can theoretically be great in the first two days of the NFL draft. They have their own second. They have their own third. If you can trade Burns and get a first round pick, you can flip that first round pick for another second and another third.

And suddenly now you've got your four. There's enough value in this draft to do that. Also. Read up on who the draft, what position the draft is deepest in. And the answer is exactly in line with what the Panthers need. It is a great draft for the offensive line. Yeah, that thing we should have been working on years ago.

Well, they have been working on it. It just hasn't worked like Iki Okwondo was drafted two years ago. Yeah, but he's a disappointment. He's been a disappointment, right? That doesn't mean he has to remain a disappointment.

No. But he has been like year two was a regression from year one. We had Darren Gannon from panthers.com and he's a smart guy and I understand he works for the team. He's not going to be super critical of the team. But he did point out that they had 14 different players or 15 different players who played guard for them last year. Whatever the silly number and he's right that when you when you have so many injuries and you don't have any continuity. It's hard to be good on the offensive line. But if we took the best that they had to offer. On the offensive line.

Is it still good? And that's my point. I think at their best along the offensive front, they're okay. And you need to be better than okay. So Bozeman wasn't good last year was Bozeman not good because there wasn't a guard on either side of him.

That was really good. Took a long time for Austin Corbett to come back from injury. And then how good was he when he came back?

I've never been a huge Taylor Moten fan. He's fine, but he's I don't think he's great. And obviously what happened with Icky this past year means that left tackle. You're also just okay and you can't just be okay at left tackle.

So even at their best, how good are they? So they trade Brian Burns a mass enough picks in the first two days at least double what you've got. Maybe more because there are other players to trade. Can you get a third round pick for Jeremy Chin? Can you get can you trade JC horn or Dante Jackson and get a second day pick? All of these things would be on the table for me all of them. And the third thing is rebuild your offensive line. Those three things have to happen if they don't. It's I don't know what Dave Canales is going to do. Unless you get super lucky and hit on your second your third the two fourths a fifth and a sixth.

I think it's two fourths a fifth and a sixth. You've got to hit and find players who will contribute throughout the draft. Has it been done before? Look at Houston's last draft. Like yes, they had two ones in the first three picks, right? They had a CJ Stroud to Will Anderson three by the way, when they announced the award offensive rookie and defensive rookies of the year. They're going to have that. But if you look deeper in the draft, they got players who could play. So.

You either you get lucky or they would puka nakua who? Yeah, right now that is a Rams special right there. And some of that might simply be Sean McVeigh is a witch and knows how to get the most out of otherwise. I'm not saying ordinary, but he he can scheme players open. What did we talk yesterday about confidence, right?

Yeah. And once you become a confident player, you become faster because you're not thinking you're just being. Carolina didn't have any of that last year. Not a single player became that, including the quarterback who just was waiting for the next bad thing to happen. And maybe that's what we need, some crystals or something. Maybe Dave Canales can do that. Maybe he can scheme ways to make Jonathan Mingo a thing in year two. Right. Maybe Mingo takes another step or horn. Keep him healthy on the field.

Yeah, good luck. Yeah, exactly. He's been hurt since he's been here.

Yes. So he's played. He's missed more games than he's played. Unfortunately, since he's been here. And that is in part why, if I were the Panthers, I would consider moving him. Jeremy Chin, who, for whatever reason, didn't fit the defensive scheme.

Now, is your Avro is still there. He's still right now the defensive coordinator. So, if he's still the D.C., is Jeremy Chin part of the plan? You might want to see what you can get for him. But that's what they've got to do. Trade Burns, then take that pick and figure out a way to double your haul in day one and day two combined. If you trade Burns for a first round pick, now you've got three.

Well, you need to get to at least four. They need more kicks at it. Because, to be honest, the difference between a late first and the first pick in the second round, ain't a lot. You're basically drafting from the same pool of players. And you can make the argument that the second round pick is better than the first round pick from an economic standpoint. And you're really drafting from the same pool of players. So, that's my plan. Trade Burns, take that pick or others, double your haul, and rebuild the offensive line first. Do that. Give your quarterback a chance. You can find receivers in the fourth round, in the fifth round.

Look around. Puka Nakua. Exactly.

If somebody's name is like, is that a real name? Draft that guy. Exactly. Like, who would draft somebody in Puka Nakua? Draft that guy. Yep. We'll find it.

More incentive. I'll do a search. I'll do a search for the craziest name we can find among wide receivers. Just draft that guy. Exactly. Surefire win. Okay.