Roundtable time with Travis Hancock and Jeremy Greene!!

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It's only a model. And there's something deliciously ironic about today's roundtable. We bring in Jeremy Green from ESPN Asheville at ESPN Draft Nerd. He joins us and we are still actively seeking the other side of this debate. It's not a debate.

The other side of this conversation. Jeremy, it's just deliciously ironic maybe to the three of us. Well, it makes me feel better because I was frozen out last week. I wasn't going to say anything. I wasn't going to say anything. I'll throw myself under the bus. I've felt so bad about this for a week.

Dude, don't ever sweat that. Alright, let's get to it. We'll bring in our other combatant here in a moment. Let's start with the new hire. And we'll start with the second hire, Dave Canales.

You are a guy who fancies himself a deep in the weeds NFL guy. Thoughts on Carolina's new head coach? I've had a weird theory on how Tepper did this search. So obviously with him having the drink issue and the firing the coaches, this was a bit of a diminished asset. So it probably was not the most attractive job. You're going out on a limb there, aren't you?

Very much so. I thought Tepper was just casting a wide net of I'm going to search for the GM, I'm going to search for the coach and whoever blows me away, that's who I'm going to hire and I'll contour everything else to it. I feel like since they hired Dan Morgan first, people feel like they hired Dan and Dan decided to hire Dave Canales.

What if it's the other way around? What if he got Canales in the room, that's the guy I'm just blown away by and they asked him, what's your thoughts on GM? And they paired those two together that way. I think Canales is a phenomenal hire. If you look at what he's done with quarterbacks, that's the biggest part of this job. He has to fix Bryce Young because the team is so committed to it and he's done it everywhere with much less talented players. Geno Smith, Russell Wilson and Baker Mayfield.

Wait, wait. Russell Wilson is less talented? Than Bryce Young?

Yeah. I love Bryce Young. I'm probably not Bryce Young when it comes to Bryce Young. I do too. I don't know that he's less talented than not only Russell. He also drives me crazy.

The Let's Ride thing drives me nuts. Oh, of course. Russell Wilson is a walking cliche.

Yes. He's an after school special in a uniform and it drives me crazy. But yeah, I think he's incredibly talented. He just might be done. I mean, we have to come today to the possibility that he might just be done. We found the other, unlike last week, we found the other guy.

Just throwing it back at you, Jeremy. Here he is. Travis Hancock.

Mac and Bone in the morning on WFNZ. I just talked to you a couple of days ago. Real quick, a little behind the scenes stuff is that I texted Travis to see if he could come on earlier today. He told me that. And he said, no, I'm coming on at 2.15.

And apparently I was wrong. Surprise! I've never felt more respected my whole entire life than being asked to come on a show I've been booked on for 24 hours. To where the host had no idea who was on it. No, it's fine. Well, I'm supposed to be surprised.

That's part of the deal is that most of the time I don't know. I thought about, you know what, what if I just came on at 12.15 and popped back up? What if I just did a complete takeover for one Friday afternoon? That would have been hysterical.

I mean, seriously, I would have laughed the entire segment. And honestly, sorry, I'm late. I'm obviously wide awake and not napping at all right now. All right. Thoughts on Dave Canals? I like it. I mean, you know, I'm not going to say it's a great hire because I've said that previously. And yet I don't know if you guys are aware has not worked out too well in the scheme of everything. And as I tweeted today, this is the first answer hire I've liked since 2023 with Frank. I think it makes a lot of sense. I don't think Ben Johnson was ever really a realistic option because I don't think he wanted to work for Tepper. All of a sudden it looks like it's got a little bit of juice with the cap space, the draft pick, no Snyder.

I didn't think Ben Johnson was realistic. It didn't feel like Tepper was really too enamored with the bigger names, which I think is actually a sign of growth. Right.

We've seen before the shiniest, the shiniest object. I don't think it's a sign of growth at all. I think it's a sign that he knew that he would have to give up control.

Yeah, I'd also say, well, the growth part for me is this. I think that Canales is not an obvious guy. He's not interviewing in multiple places.

It's not a guy. He had to be talked into this to some degree, whether it's Dan Morgan or whoever. He had to be kind of sold on Canales. It wasn't an obvious name as some other ones out there. So the fact that Tepper, it appears, listening to people around him on this one, you know, now he's got to leave the poor guy alone for a while.

That's the next part of this whole issue here. I think he was convinced by a six-year contract. So if I have my math correct, in the last three hires, it's 19 years of guaranteed coach's money, right? Yeah, Jeremy, like this one, a listener today thought that Tepper may have signed him for a six-day contract. We had to explain, no, no, it's a six-year contract. We expect it to be there by the time the season begins.

We hope, we hope. So the joke on Twitter was he'll coach six weeks. Forget about six years. Six years for Canales, six years for Reich, seven years for Matt Ruhl.

We're in near five of this whole scenario. The wage bill for the head coaching spot for the Carolina Panthers is massive. Look, I think Canales is a good hire. The truth is that it doesn't matter who you hired. The answer is always going to be up in the air. We don't know if it's going to work.

And it gets me to the next point. The only way it works is if the personnel of the team gets better. So I'll go back to you, Travis. Dan Morgan, we know he was a great player for the Panthers. We know he's got a lot longer history than just the last two plus years in player procurement with Carolina. But is Dan, was Dan Morgan the right hire or was he the only guy who would accept the gig?

This is a tough one. And this, this was a tough spot for both Mack and I during the week to talk about because every once in a while, sports talk radio, I'm sure you guys have been through this before too. Dan Morgan's a friend. We've known Dan Morgan a long time, was a regular on our show when he was done playing to do some analyst work before he got back into the personnel side. So he will reach out to me still now and say happy birthday and like Merry Christmas and stuff. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you think about like a guy that's got all that going on, that's a good dude, man.

That's a top of the line person that I can't say enough about. But at the same time that the big concern that I think all of us kind of have is whatever was going on in that front office, whether it's Fitterer, Morgan, the scouting, nothing was working. So instead of clearing it all out, you know, they, they, they retain Morgan in house and that leads to a lot of trepidation of, okay, what Morgan had to be involved in, in some of the stuff. So what, and none of it really worked. If you look at the lions, the Niners, the Ravens, and you look at the amount of hits they have past the first round for depth, it's out of this world.

And we have none of that. And it's hard to just absolve Dan Morgan from any blame that he didn't, he had to like some of these guys. So that's the big concern. I did talk to a source this week that knows the Panthers well, and, and no longer with the Panthers, but knows the inner workings that Fitterer did get pushed around a lot by the coaches to make certain moves. And that was plus, so Fitterer even wasn't sure about some of the stuff, but Matt Ruhl got his way.

Even Frank Wright got in the staff got that way on some picks, which was weird. So I don't think Dan Morgan's going to be pushed around, but I felt more comfortable, believe it or not, with Canalis because it's fresh, it's new, really than I did with Dan Morgan, because I don't know what else he was involved in, in that front office. Jeremy Green from ESPN Asheville is with us here as well. Your thoughts on Morgan?

To me, the fact that they worked together in Seattle is a plus, but how do you separate Morgan from the last two plus years? Well, I'm glad Travis said that the way he did, because I like Dan as well. I don't know him that well.

We've crossed that a couple times. He doesn't know when your birthday is? No, he has never wished me Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, or Happy Fourth of July. I actually told him where my birthday was, so then he could tell me happy birthday. I text him, it's my birthday, and that's when he wishes me happy birthday.

It's a perfect system. Yeah, can you come to my birthday party, Jeremy? Then days later, I can't make it, happy birthday. Oh my God, he's happy.

Yeah, that's how I did it. Perfect. I invited him to my birthday party.

He's yet to text me back. I'm going full circle on Dan Morgan, because I didn't like to hire it first, because I thought it was, my fear was that it was Cam Newton 2.0. The fan base is in a riot. I'm going to harken back to the days of old, because Dan was the linebacker in the glory days. And then I started hearing the Canales thing, and it made it make way more sense, because my fear with Morgan was exactly what Travis just said about Scott Fitterer. I'd heard the same thing, that he got pushed around in the front office. Some of these decisions weren't necessarily his, and if you look at the track record in the draft, it makes it make sense that you had two completely different coaching staff that were, they wanted different things. That's why Fitterer's draft record was so hard to figure out, because there was no real consistency to it. And I was afraid you were going to get an arranged marriage, where it was going to be Dan Morgan with Raheem Morris, or one of these guys that he had no affiliation with. And that's where I think Tepper has messed this up the first two times. You've got guys shopping for the groceries that don't know the cook, and I look at this and go, all right, this has a chance to work. And I'm going to the Senior Bowl next week, I will see two of the guys that interviewed for this job that I know pretty well, and I'm curious about that narrative of would anybody else have taken it.

I struggle to believe that, but I've heard it a lot. Well, yeah, I mean, in terms of, I thought that the head coaching job was way more attractive than the general manager job. That's the way I looked at it. I wonder how many people were truly interested in the player personnel community.

And Dan Morgan, I mean, he's a legend here as a player, and it was easier for him to take. But man, he's got a huge job ahead of him simply to restructure the roster. I think it's a major reconstruction and not just, well, they have to add this and add this.

I think they've got to tear it down and build it back up. All right, let's get to the two games that we've got coming up on Sunday. All right, Jeremy, San Francisco, Detroit 49ers, seven and a half point favorite, who you got and why? I'll take Detroit plus the seven and a half because I think that number is absolutely insane. And I don't love Jared Goff outside either.

If you look at his splits, he's way better in a dome. I just look at Detroit and this team has absolutely nothing to lose. You've got a coordinator that you openly know is already the coach of the commanders. They can't say it, but we've all known it for two weeks.

And so this kind of feels like it's the band is possibly going to fall apart. I said this earlier today that this could be the window for the lions. Ben Johnson has a lot of control over that offense. And the offense is what's stirring the drink. Aaron Glenn's getting some love because they're not allowing touchdowns. They're getting slaughtered between the 20th. And that's my question in this game is I know San Francisco is going to get the red zone. I don't know what you're going to see out of the most Samuel, I think 75% at best. And if he's, if he's worse off than that, and he's really just a decoy on the field, I kind of like Detroit to win this game by San Francisco as much as everybody else does.

Oh, all right. Uh, I love San Francisco. Uh, Travis, who you got? I like what he said there about the seven and a half, especially when it went up to seven and a half is I think this game might play out like last week's Niners Packers game. I think it's going to be, I think it's going to be a field goal.

I think it's going to be that close quietly. The Niners are not as dominant as maybe their talent suggests, right? They, they win a lot, but it's not that really in dominant fashion per se. I think the Niners, I think it's their I'm in the NFC still. I think they figure out a way to win, but yeah, I think it's, I don't, I can't see a Dan Campbell led team to what Jeremy said in this last stand of at least Ben Johnson, uh, rolling over. I think they're going to fight. They're going to be hard to put away. They, the Niners do eventually, but man, I think this is going to be right down to the Niners win by a, by a field goal.

Uh, I think the Niners win and they cover, all right, Baltimore, Kansas city, Travis. I'm starting to develop a rule and I know that every once in a while it can come back and bite you, bite you in the tuchus. And it's the same rule I have for Nick David where we debate games. I say, Hey, I'm just going to save it.

And then we'll go from there. I was at my homes. I'm not doubting that dude anymore. Last week I picked him to be Buffalo last week. Cause I thought, you know what, how many times do we see Tom Brady have to go to Pittsburgh? He went to San Diego once he went to Denver. We said, Oh, they're on the road. The great ones don't matter where they're playing, especially at that level, like the homes and the Brady's of the world. And I knew they'd embraced the challenge of Buffalo last week, but Baltimore's defense is much healthier.

It's a massive challenge. But I think the chiefs right now almost enjoy like, Hey, we're on the road. We're being doubted by the point spread again.

I think that the other part of this game that looms large is the big game confidence that the chiefs have. They don't wilt in these moments. They've been there. They know that they're champions Baltimore for as talented as they are in the back of their minds.

They know that they have that in this regime lately. Hey, they don't always finish the deal. I think Kansas city figures out a way to finish it. And I think, again, I think it's close, but the Kansas city wins this game probably by a field goal also. Did Jeremy did Baltimore do anything to rid those doubts by beating Houston? Houston didn't mean a ton to me. That felt like a buzz saw where you've got a really young team that's going into really loud Baltimore. Baltimore needs the win because that's been the big knock on Lamar Jackson. The fact that they've been blowing out good teams and they got nine wins of 14 or more.

That's, that's unheard of. I do have a rule though. I don't give Andy Reid or Pat Mahomes more than a field goal. So in terms of the line, I will happily take Kansas city plus three and a half or four wherever it's sitting who wins. I just feel like Baltimore is the best team in the league.

I, and I thought that for quite some time. I actually, you gave me our first viral video with win loss record is not a quarterback stat. I'd yet to thank you for that. You also gave me a near death experience when I heard you say the AFC was awful and I was driving in my car. I did something I never do, which is try to send a text message and I almost got sideswiped by an 18 wheeler and I got to send you the message.

Cause I threw my phone down and went, that's why I don't do that. Exactly. And I forgot to respond of the AFC is not awful. It was then it looked like it then when I, whenever I said it, cause I'm never wrong by the way, just Justin Tucker wins the game with a 57 yard field goal.

Oh, I had made that up. Um, all right, final thing for, I do have some money on the, uh, the over unders for field goals for, for each one Tucker that one and a half and butters also at one and a half. Yeah. Each of those guys is hitting two field goals and I, they're not going to miss a note out with to me. That's an easy one right there, especially the way the game is going to play out. That is a that's free money. That's what we call that.

Um, uh, and I have, I have a Kansas city to cover Baltimore to win the game. Uh, all right. Final thing.

And I just need a one word, a one word answer from maybe two words answer from both of you. Uh, Travis, uh, Jurgen club successor at Liverpool next year. Uh, yeah. Uh, Jeremy, you're Jurgen club successor at Liverpool next year. I understood some of those words to be English, but I missed the noun and I'm not sure why I not believe the best manager, not named pep Guardiola on planet earth. And I can't get something out of either of you.

That's fine. It's singer ball week at this point. If it's not football, I do. It is football. It's actually football played with the feet.

Hey, I got a, Hey man, I got a horn. It's pregame show tonight against the rockets. I'm focusing on right now. All right.

I thank both of you for coming on. Travis Hancock and Jeremy green, Travis Hancock from WF, NZ and Charlotte. You're good flop, not flop, clop. Hey, they're still, they're going for a quad this year.

They're, they're still alive in all four competitions. So you guys be, be nice. Don't feel, don't feel bad guys.

I'm in that same boat too. All right, gentlemen, I understand Victoria. I understand Victoria's UFC tweets better than that. I figured I knew I would get both of you with that. All right guys, I'll talk to you very soon. Thank you, man. Thank you. Come on. It's Jurgen Klopp.