NFL Draft is Thursday (Friday for the Panthers)

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Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Grainger. For the ones who get it done. I am just baffled that Sinatra's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because it's clear that we're bringing in other genres, and we should. Not everybody in the Rock Hall is a rock and roll musician, right? Or rock and roll artist. Out of my playlists.

Exactly. However, I do love all of those artists too. I don't generally delve into your playlists very often.

You'd be interested, I'm sure. Just a little too aggressive for me. I'm much more mellow. But I love Sinatra, but he's not in the Rock Hall because technically I guess not rock and roll. He's a crooner. Darren Gantt, panthers.com, ask the old guy also.

He's kind of a crooner to me. And he joins us as we are four days away from day one of the NFL Draft. Panthers get involved in day two.

Unless. So, hi Darren, how are you? I am well, and ha pessas amaya to you, my friend.

Hopefully everybody's having a fine holiday. Yeah, while we're on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it's a good thing they don't let me be a selector for that one. Right. Cher? What's wrong with Cher? Is anyone less rock and roll than Cher? Dolly Parton's in. Dolly Parton should be in. Nobody's more rock and roll than Dolly Parton. Did you listen to Dolly Parton's Rockstar?

I did. All the way through. Oh yeah, yeah. And I love Dolly. Dolly is an American treasure and must be protected at all costs. Cher, really, you couldn't have found a spot for Sinead O'Connor or somebody else by making Cher way. Plus Cher's pulling the T.O.

thing now. She's doing this whole, oh, I wouldn't go now even if she invited me. She'll go. Yeah, she'll be there. No questions asked.

No questions. Cher's not necessarily my cup of tea, but she's got a place. Look, I'm not an Ozzy Osbourne guy, but I recognize that Ozzy Osbourne has a place in the Rock Hall of Fame, so I'm okay here. Well, I mean, he's already in as a member of Black Sabbath, but you know.

But he's got a lot of his own stuff that stands on its own. All right, let me just like we say in football, you can't write the history of rock and roll without Ozzy Osbourne. There you go. There you go. All right, let's get could write it without Cher.

But I guess you didn't call to talk to me about Cher and Ozzy Osbourne, did you? It's entirely fine, Darren. And yeah, for people who don't know the holiday Passover. Right. So why is this why is this conversation, Darren, different from all other conversations as I try to worm my way into some Passover humor?

Yeah, there you go. It's sort of like Passover food. There's no good Passover food.

A veteran of satyrs going all the way back till I was like four. Sorry. Don't lie to yourselves. I was sitting with Sendak watching State's Final Four run and I said, why so bitter? That is quality Passover humor. Oh, my gosh, people. I apologize.

Where were we? I was I think I was going to ask you that the Panthers don't have a pick in the first round. Would you be completely shocked if they package those two early seconds to get into it?

Yeah, I kind of would at this point. I just think that when you look at the positions where they need the help, that kind of syncs up with a couple of spots where there is some depth. And I think more than anything else, Dan Morgan knows that this is not a one year job. I think he is. They got into business of chasing things, really going back to trading for Sam Darnold in twenty one, if we're being honest with ourselves.

Yes. And even going back to the trading a two or four and a six for Sam Darnold kind of put him on a bad path. And we saw this back in the early Marty Hurney days once you get in that get in that flow of trading future stuff for right now stuff, you get behind and you start chasing it.

And I just think Dan Morgan don't want to chase it anymore. You don't want to give up premium picks. And by premium picks, I basically mean in the first three rounds, you don't want to give away those picks for stuff that may or may not help you in the future. So I just think he's going to lean a little conservative with those assets. And if you can sit at thirty three and thirty nine and come out of that with a receiver who could end up starting a cornerback, a pass rusher who could end up starting, I think you do that instead. So I've been messing around.

I keep telling this to people. I'm addicted to the ESPN dot com. We're talking with Darren Gantt, panthers dot com.

ESPN has a draft, a mock draft simulator. Adam Golan studio with my man Coach Peter at a capital financial advisory group on your website. And I love the term financial termites because there are always things eating at your money that you can't see. So you don't want financial termites. Termites in the financial world are risk fees, unnecessary commissions. All the bad things that we see and we hear about on TV are happening many times inside your portfolio you don't see. So you need a financial exterminator. Well, for the next ten of you call, we'll put together for you your very own total retirement plan at no cost. Call 888-843-0013 or text Adam to 600-700. Adam Golan is a paid spokesman.

Investment advisory services offered by Capital Financial Advisory Group, a North Carolina registered investment advisor. And I have been obsessed with this. I can't even tell you how many times I've done it just as we were in the commercial break. The only thing the only thing worse than that one is the pro football network and the pro football focus versions of it that allow you to make trades. I was goofing around with this one night and I ended up trading down and trading down and trading down.

I didn't pick till sixty five but I ended up with a first four seconds and three thirds in next year's draft. That's good. Like that's it. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. It's also when it's time to call last call and feed yourself the bed. So yeah, those yes, those things are addictive and that's on purpose.

So here's they are addictive and I've had I've had so much fun. I have not traded anything for futures because I wanted to use these picks in my own little my own little game. But I would support because there were a lot of a lot of people who think that the Panthers might make that 33rd pick first in the second round might make that available. I think the only way I would trade it is if I knew I was getting to day two picks in return and out. And I don't want them to be, you know, really any further back than where the Panthers pick at sixty five. Or if I knew I could get an additional first next year.

The only way I would move out. Right. And that's not how that works.

I mean, so I went back and looked it up in since the year 2000 year 2000. Since the year 2000, the 33rd pick has been traded a grand total of three times. The biggest return has been an extra third rounder next year. You know, in addition to moving back a couple of spots in, you basically get an extra third rounder next year.

And to me, that's not worth it because I think there's going to be somebody sitting there at 33 when they get through Thursday night. There's going to be a pretty good idea, I think, in Dan Morgan's head up. Oh, well, we're a lot better team with this guy on the roster. So I would I don't know what Dan's going to do. He may end up trading. But to me, unless the unless the cost is astronomical, unless there's a quarterback that causes somebody to get desperate and overpay for the privilege.

Right. I would sit tight and just take a guy who you believe is going to help your team. Yeah, that's what I would do. And if I was going to trade either of those, I would trade 39 to go back. But using your research and I appreciate that the trade that I offered in my mock draft simulator to Arizona, they would never accept, which was two picks early in the third round that the Panthers could get.

But if you're saying that's not going to happen, then it doesn't really matter. But other than I think we agree that wide receiver is probably the still the position of greatest need. Yeah.

So, I mean, Deontay Johnson's one year as the Carolina Panther, potentially a 34 year old, Adam Feelin being the top of the depth chart makes you think that's a draft priority. This is why we listen to you and respect you so much. Thank you.

Thank you so much. But I thought it was a huge priority last year. They didn't do a great job of addressing it. So what do you think they'll use? They'll certainly use one of those two picks, 33 or 39 on a wide receiver.

Do you think they could use both? I mean, it's possible anything's possible. I mean, for instance, if you believe Xavier Legate, who's out there telling the world that the Panthers have already told him they're going to take him. And by the way, tune in to panthers.com later this week for a very similar story that didn't exactly work out that way. We had some good stuff coming your way. Always.

Yeah, I think it there is a situation. I mean, the need is such that if you use 33 and 39 on wide receivers, I don't think anybody's going to really throw rocks at you. Now, you still need another cornerback who can play. You still need a pass rusher. You could use a backup center.

You could use, you know, there's all kind of stuff. But here's the thing about the spots Carolina Panthers rent. Obviously receiver is an acute need. Most other places on the roster are places where it's like, OK, if 39 happened to be a fill in the blank, I could see that. If it's an inside linebacker, say, for instance, Adrian Cooper still sitting there at 39 and you really love him.

What does he do? Joesy Jewel and Shaq Thompson's in the last year of his contract. Do you need one of those next year? You probably do. You could justify things like that.

Austin Corbett's twenty nine and going into the final year of his contract. So if it's a center, you could justify doing that. I think you could do that with a lot of positions.

Pass rusher corner safety inside linebacker center tight end. You know, it's the right guy is available at thirty nine sixty five. I think you can absolutely justify going a number of directions. So I think that's why Dan's trying to be covetous over his resources and not trade multiple picks for one other pick. I mean, I just think he sees this as a place where he can add two or three contributors this year. And all of the this year contributors will also be able to be contributors and years through three and four down the line when they don't have all that many of those. I mean, they've still just got like twenty six guys under contract through two thousand twenty five or beyond. So this is still very much a draft for the future.

And I think you need to treat it as such. I could not agree more wide receiver center. I still think defensive tackle is an area of need for them. Somebody to maybe pair with Derek Brown over the next four or five years.

I don't know if they're going to it depends on who would be there. But if somebody that maybe had a first round grade on their board is there at thirty three or thirty nine, I wouldn't be shocked to see them go defensive tackle in in the second round as well. But tight end is another position. Tommy Trimble is I mean, he's good, but. For the ones who work hard to ensure their crew can always go the extra mile and the ones who get in early so everyone can go home on time. There's Granger offering professional grade supplies backed by product experts so you can quickly and easily find what you need. Plus, you can count on access to a committed team ready to go the extra mile for you.

Call click Granger dot com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. And again, I keep going back to what's what's the roster look like in twenty twenty five. You know how many tight ends they've got under contract for twenty twenty five zero zero is the answer. So, you know, when you look at it from that standpoint, everything is a long term calculation.

So I think you can justify a lot of different stuff. Now, I do think Tommy Trimble is a guy. Here's another piece of research I did the last time Dave Canales called plays for a NFL offense was, oh, you know, last year in Tampa. You know, you know how many tight ends caught more than five passes for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year? One. Really?

So, yeah. Kate Otten caught forty seven of the fifty five passes caught by all Buccaneers tight ends last year. So I think while it's a need, Dave has at least shown you some evidence that it's not such an acute need that Tommy Trimble and friends couldn't probably fill in and do a decent enough job.

This year. I also think we've been waiting for the Tommy Trimble breakout for a minute. You know, he had three touchdowns last year and a very broken offense. Could I see Tommy Trimble catching forty balls and four or five touchdowns this year? That's reasonable. I could see that.

Absolutely. Well, that would that would certainly be good and something that Bryce Young would like to see. Certainly he would theoretically be throwing them to Bryce Young and we'll close on this with Darren Gantt, Panthers.com.

Ask the old guy. He's got great stuff coming out. He always has great stuff coming out.

That's redundant for all the things that we talk about. Adam Thielen was on Sportsman like ESPN's morning show and is still in a very positive mode about Bryce Young as we are as we are here. What are your thoughts on year two of Bryce Young and how easily everybody forgot or ignored all of the obstacles that were in front of him in year one?

Yeah, I am willing to consider. I've always told people, ask me in November how Bryce Young is going to turn out because everything last year was broken around him and it would have been impossible for any quarterback. People always say, well, if CJ Stroud was here last year with the mess that last year turned into, it wouldn't have looked all that much better.

I don't think if at all better. I mean, I just think that the systemic brokenness of last year's offense made it impossible for anybody. And you know what? Speaking of teases, we've got more from Bryce on this very subject.

Stay tuned to Panthers.com for the latest on that. And he's just, I think he's got an opportunity this year. I mean, it really is clean slate. I mean, nothing that happened last year should count against anyone.

So start fresh. He knows there are things he's got to get better at. He knows there are things he's got to improve, but he also is aware that things got to improve around him. And that's coaching, that's play calling and that's personnel.

So I think they've taken some pretty significant steps. I mean, Deontay Johnson is one receiver of the several they need. But when Bryce gets down behind Austin Corbett and takes a snap tomorrow in a mini camp practice and he's got Robert Hahn on one side and Damian Lewis on the other. I mean, man, that's about nine hundred and fifty pounds on the roster and it's probably over half a ton on the hoof, if we're being honest with ourselves. And that's going to make a significant difference for a guy who got sacked 62 times last year. He just like people have completely ignored.

And this is no disrespect to anybody. It just didn't work out. The coaching dysfunction, the fact that there were no weapons to throw to that the running game didn't get established until well later in the season. The offensive line, you how many times have you written about the number of players who had to play many, many times? It was impossible.

He would have he would have had to have been a savant to have been able to to be effective through all of that. Darren Gantt, enjoy the draft. It seems to be I think this will be a fun day, too, because there are so many possibilities and I appreciate your time as always.

Darren Gantt with two Ts for extra talent. Enjoy your herosis. I always do. Have a good one. We'll talk to you soon, Adam. Take care. Darren Gantt Panthers dot com at Wake Med, my care.

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