Who should the Carolina Panthers go after in the 2024 NFL Draft?

This is the best of the Adam Gold Show Podcast brought to you by Coach Pete at Capital Financial Advisory Group.

Visit us at capitalfinancialusa.com. NFL draft starts tonight. Round one today. Panthers on the clock first thing Friday. Mike Felder, Michael Felder at In the Bleachers on Twitter.

It's Felder the Substack. Our Mr. Football, football analyst extraordinaire, my friend. Are you extra excited for the draft? You're kind of chill about everything. How do you feel about the draft tonight? I feel pretty good. I'm going to be in the air, actually. I'm not doing night one.

Bleacher Port's doing the show three days. We're doing every pick, but night one is going to be, I got booted for Micah Parsons and CJ Stroud, which, you know, that makes sense, I guess. So, but it's all good. I am.

I'm doing the cool thing is, and it's the part of drive I really like is day two and day three. Right. That's where you make your, that's where you make a football team.

Right. You can get a franchise player on night one, but at the end of the day, your football team is built on these guys. They're going to, you know, the football team lives on their backs. And so I'm excited to get to talk about that because I don't know if we're going to see a running back get picked in the first round. I don't know if we're going to get to see, I don't know how many defensive players in general are going to go in the first round of this draft with all the offensive lineman, the wide receivers, and then obviously the quarterback conundrum. So I feel pretty comfortable with it.

And I also mean they get to spend a little bit more time with my family before I fly out to the city. All right, good. Well, here's the thing about the, the draft for me because the Panthers with 33-39 and then at the top of round three, they, they're not going to get involved in the quarterback offensive tackle wide receiver mess from round one. But I am, I am curious. Let me, I want to start with what, yeah, they're not trading into the, if, if I will say, I've said this before, if the Panthers trade into round one, the franchise is doomed because that's, that means that David Tepper is making that decision. Okay. Yeah, no, I, I, I don't disagree with you, but I do see that if you have 33 and 39, that's enough capital to put you into the first round and now what, what would they go after in that first round?

I don't know. Maybe it's one of these wide receivers, but at the end of the day, like it's a very, it's, it's, it's, if you're a Panthers fan, I would be worried that that could be what happened. Right?

No, I just, like I said, nothing would surprise me, but it would, it would make me, it would make me angry as a Panthers fan because the whole point, I talk about this all the time. You can't, bad ownership will never win. Right. And that to me is bad ownership. They need bodies more than anything.

They need, they need multiple players. I would consider trading out of 33 if I got two, like third round picks for it. If I were the Panthers more, more so than trading two picks to get up into the first round real quick, even though the Panthers are likely not going to get either of these guys ranked the top three wide receivers for me in your eyes.

All right. Top three for me, I go, uh, number one is Marvin Harrison Jr. And the reason I do that is because he there's, it's not just his skill set, right? It's not just his production. It's also, and this is why I kind of, I don't think he's as good as Larry Fitzgerald. I don't know if he'll ever be as good as later to show, but much like Larry Fitzgerald, he grew up in a locker room. He grew up in the NFL. So all the trappings of guys like Laquan Treadwell or any other wide receiver that we see not paying out because they don't understand how to work in the NFL.

They don't understand how to be like that it's a business and how they don't understand all those things. He doesn't have those. And I think that might be the best quality that he has. It's not just that he understands route running. He understands work ethic.

He understands how to get open. It's also, he understands this is a business. This is my job. I have to show up to my job.

I have to get my job done. And that's a cool thing. And I saw the Marty Smith interview with him and his father and his dad said he should ask for the ball more. And he was like, I'm, I'm not, I'm, that's not, that's not a thing. And I was like, okay, well, it could be a youth thing. If you, when you get into year two, three, four, and five, and you're clearly the best player in the team, which is what Marvin Harrison had to wait to do was once he realized I need to get the ball more than five times a game for Peyton Manning. And now I can yell at Peyton Manning. That's an interesting like dynamic.

So Marvin Harrison junior one, I go with Roma dunes at two. I love this kid's game. I love that he has a complete game, a complete route tree, complete catalog. You put on his tape, you put on anything that he does.

And there is a screen followed by a dig followed by a post followed by a post corner followed by a takeoff followed by a shallow cross. Like he can do everything in your, in your playbook. And so he's number two for me, three is neighbors. Neighbors is incredibly, he's a slot guy that has the size of an outside guy, which makes him incredibly terrifying. Like as a defensive back, like the idea that a guy can do everything that little guys do, but he does it at the size that he is.

It's crazy. And so that's how I would put them. And I don't think the people are going to get either one of them, but there's still a lot of good, wild, wild receivers that'll be on the board in the second round, depending on how I think we're going to see two. Well, I think we're going to see three runs starting tonight. The first one will be on quarterbacks, right? The second run is going to probably be on wide receivers. The third run is going to be on offensive winding and you can switch the order around wide receiver, offensive line, but I think those are going to be the three runs that we see tonight. I think it's going to be a rough night for defense.

And as a defensive guy, I'm kind of glad that I don't have to like, just sit around and like wait. So it's going to be really interesting. Dallas Turner's probably going to be the first defensive guy off the board. We agree, right? Yeah.

Dallas Turner, probably the next one will be probably carrying Arnold from Alabama to Alabama. Yeah. The corner. And like, I don't know if we're going to get to see, I don't know. Cool. I'm hoping, and this is, this sounds bad.

I want cool. I would consider to get picked in the first round. Adam Gold here with my man, coach Pete, the root of capital financial advisory group, are most of your clients hands-on or they just give you their money and let it work for them about 90% give the money. And then we meet every year to go through status reports, have a financial pit stop, making sure everything's fine. It is like a puzzle Adam, but for the next 10 of you will solve your own retirement puzzle at no cost or obligation. Call and claim your comprehensive review with coach paid in the team, triple eight, eight, four, three double O 13 or text Adam to 600 700. Adam Gold is a paid spokesman investment advisory services offered by capital financial advisory group, North Carolina registered investment advisor. But if I get a chance to talk about him on Friday, I'm going to love that for me, but that's selfish.

And I don't want to be selfish. I hope he gets picked in the first round and you have guys like chop Robinson that are going to be in there. So this is going to be a really interesting draft. Like I think about Jeremiah Trotter, right? This is a guy that we know is a really good linebacker and people are like everyone expects them to just sit around until day two, because they're so worried about all these all offensive, whether the pair from Washington, the pair from Penn state, the guys from Alabama, you got all these guys. And then you also throw in all these wide receivers and it's going to be really interesting to see what this looks like. Oh, by the way, people are saying that there might be five, might be six quarterbacks taking the first round, which is crazy.

It is crazy. I'm a big Michael Pennix fan. You know, if I think I actually think he's the fourth best quarterback, I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.

Mike Felder at in the bleachers. You are Mr. Football here. And even though quarterbacks, not something I wanted to really hit on, but sure, let's do it.

How do you rank those? I think Jayden Danz is the best quarterback. Okay. I think that he played for an NFL coach, which again, we talked about it with Marvin Harrison Jr. But also here, it's this idea that you work in this system and you understand what's going to be asked of you.

So you understand it. I think Caleb Williams is going to be the number one overall pick. I think we all agree on that.

That's the consensus. Caleb Williams will be drafted number one. I think he's the second best quarterback. And then I think Michael Pennix is number three. Um, Drake May is four for me, but that's, but here's the question.

Do you trust Pennix and his injury history? Because Drake may doesn't have that. So if that's a problem for you, then you flip those guys.

That's fine, right? If May is three for you and Pennix is four, especially because of the injury situation or because of Drake may not having as many weapons. Cause we're getting, we're talking about Polk McMillan and a doomsday and, and Drake may didn't have that. So I understand if people have those guys flipped, that doesn't bother me. And then we start to get into the bow necks and the JJ McCarthy of it all. And I, I don't like bow next for me really showed, he showed really well, uh, to be at five for me or was that four, five, five, that's five. Yeah. Yeah.

And then JJ McCarthy. And the question then becomes, did Michigan not let him do stuff or did Michigan not trust him to do stuff? And those are two completely different questions. And like you, I think about that a lot, like, you know, you're a dad, I'm a dad, like there's stuff I will not let my kids do because I don't trust them.

Like use the stove cause she's sick and there's stuff I don't believe she can do. Right. Like those are two different things.

Like one feels like it's going to damage like our house or my, our family. The other one is like, eh, this is just not a thing you can do. So yeah, Mike Felder is joining us here, uh, on the Adam Gold show. I don't know, man. I think, uh, your, your, your daughter, but much like her dad is kind of a savant, um, interior offensive line. Let's just say centers because that's another position. I think that the Panthers are likely to target, um, is the best center. Uh, Barton, Graham Barton from Duke, even though he played tackle last year, he played center before and everybody lists him as a center. Is he center one? Uh, and how many centers are likely to go in around one? Cause the Panthers definitely want to look at somebody like that for the future as well.

So here's the thing, and this is the craziest part. And one of the things with, with, um, with interior offensive line is you have no idea where these guys are going to end up because there's so many guys that play guard that can kick that can kick in the center. And there's so many guys that play guard that cannot do that. Right. And so we're looking at it and everything gets labeled.

Listen, I'm going through this draft doc and everything trying to get ready for tomorrow for myself. And it's IOL, it's always listed as IOL, interior offensive line, except what they don't realize is that snapping is important. So I think you're right about the kid from Duke. I do think, um, the border Lenny kid from Wisconsin is going to be an interesting mix, interesting guy in the mix as well. And then you get to Coleman from TCU. And so what we're looking at is like, can you step, can you consistently snap?

Because if the staffs are pro that's the first thing that happens every play. If that's your problem, you've got a real, in the words of like, like, yeah, you've got a really big problem. Take peg.

I was going to say peg plus cat, which is a TV show on PBS kids that says we've got a really big problem. And so it's one of those things I'm curious about this kid, Mason McCormick from South Dakota state, uh, where he fits into the mix. Is he a late day to early day three guy? Where does he fit?

Uh, how much do people actually like him? And this is going to be really interesting this year because that's a position. Oh, the other guy, um, from BC, what I, the BC kid, I think he could play center. And I think that BC, regardless of who is coaching there, their track record for offensive lineman is immaculate offensive line, defensive line.

It's just amazing what linemen are like coming out of Boston college. Mike Felder is joining us. Our Mr. Football.

All right. Wheelhouse for you. Cornerback.

You already talked about, you hope Kool-Aid McKinnistry is there so you can talk about him on Friday. I've been addicted to ESPN's got a mock draft simulator. I've done at least 20. I'm not kidding.

I, I'm not even that into it, but I am addicted to that. And if McKinnistry or Rake straw, uh, has, uh, has been there. I have been all over that at even 33, if not 39 or 39, if not 33, um, how many of these guys are legit good shutdown corners that the Panthers should jump on early in round two? All right. That's the thing. I don't know how many are legit shut down corners. I really don't.

Like, I don't think there are many aren't like, listen, we mentioned BC just a second ago. I think Elijah Jones, a really good corner. I think he's a lot more Josh Norman, right? Then JC Horton.

Okay. And that means he can play zone. And if you play it in three, you play him at two, he's going to make plays and he's going to make plays off of his space because he's got a really good eye for seeing through to the quarterback. Obviously, I know he got hurt for the last four games of the season, but I liked him. I like, um, Mike Samer still, I think he might be the steal of the draft and he is what everybody thought your grill peppers was going to be. So I love Mike Sanders still coming out of Michigan. Uh, Quinon Mitchell is interesting kid out of Toledo. Again, very good zone corner. He plays great in cover three, sees through to the quarterback again, fits into that. Like he's long, like when Kevin King was coming out of Washington, ended up at green Bay taking around one. I think Cooper to Jean, if Cooper to jeans, they're taken like he's so he's incredibly talented. Like I think he's a plus up Desmond King. And there's just a lot of guys. Like I'm looking at my spreadsheet right now.

This is, this is one of the first things that I do. I've got like, I've got, um, Dwight McGluther from, from Arkansas, probably going to be a day three or excuse me, a third round guy. But he's someone that reminds me of Ambrey Thomas come out of Michigan where he had flashes.

And now we have to see consistency. Uh, DJ James from Auburn. I absolutely love. Like you can tell that this is the thing that I spend the most time on. Yeah.

It's your wheelhouse, man. I love him. I think that he, I think DJ James is better than Nehemiah Pritchett.

Those both Auburn corners purchase faster, but DJ James is more aggressive and he does fit a little bit more into that JC horn mold. And he's someone that wants to fight. Like he, he'll, he will fight you.

And I liked that about him. So it's going to be really interesting to see where all these guys kind of fall and where they fit. And I just think like obviously Terry Arnold will be off the board. And I hope cool is off the board, but if he's not, you better believe we're going to work. We might go long on that segment.

Excellent. On bleacher report with Michael Felder at, in the bleachers, a defensive tackle. When, when we talk about premium positions in the NFL, like I think we're starting to call defensive tackles premium positions. When you see the, the amount of money that Chris Jones gets and that Aaron Donald got and some other guys are getting. I think we're obvious.

It's obvious that it's, it's a premium position. Quinnen Williams of the, of the jets, who are the best defensive tackles? And will, I mean, will more than one go in the first round? Man, this, I don't, I don't think more than one's going to go in the first round. And when you look at it, the problem with the defensive tackle position, I guess is like, yes, you have the men's kid from, or not men's men's is the OT. You have the, the Newton kid from Illinois, right?

Which I don't know where you, like, it's frustrating because he's only six feet tall. Like, what are we going to do? What do we like? But I guess you can sit on like most, but teams aren't playing. So there used to be this traditional style, right? Of the three, four, the traditional style of the four, three, where you had a guy set on that center and he would either eat a double team or just move the center around. And now we're seeing these, these teams play with more penetration. So I don't know what we're going to look at from that position, because when you look at these guys play, they are, they're way more athletic than they've ever been for starters.

And they are being asked to do more than they've ever been asked. I like Christian Boyd from Northern Iowa is a guy that is kind of under the radar, but he's an assignment player. Like he will split a gap.

He'll make himself skinny, go do a thing. Mike Hall, another guy that coming out of Ohio state, he played out of position at Ohio state. He won't go in the first round, but he played out of position or Ohio state. And then they played him at a zero or they played him out of shade. And instead this guy's going to play three. He, to me is like a knockoff Grady Jarrett.

Okay. That's a huge compliment. Like the idea that cause Grady Jarrett again, coming in to the NFL, people thought he was undersized. People thought he didn't have a position.

You plugged him in at that three in Atlanta. And all of a sudden he is getting penetration. He's causing a problem. As you mentioned, it's becoming a position of real value because there's danger.

Everybody spends so much money on this, this quote unquote edge. And what you don't realize is when teams are spending money on tackles, they're spending less money on guards. So if you're spending less money on guards and less money on centers, then you get guys that are really good in the interior. Those guys are better. So they can split gaps, make plays, create pressure from the interior, flush the quarterback.

And now you're that deep into venue, spend a ton of money on. Now he gets to make a play, but he's making that play because of the other guy. Let me ask you about two more players and we'll let Mike Felder go and get his spreadsheets ready, get ready for the draft, which he will not be involved on Bleacher Report until tomorrow because you know, Micah Parsons wanted to be. Micah Parsons, CJ Stroud, my buddy Adam Lefkoe and Mike Renner are going to be, it's going to be a really good show.

I'm super excited to watch it. It'd be better with you on it, but that's fine. That's too many people. That's too many people. And it's too many people that don't do TV on the regular. I have a really hard time with like not speaking to format. So it's a good idea to like bring me in when it's just for you guys. You would hate this show then. I haven't stayed on time or on format for forever.

I've been doing this for 26 years now. But, but tomorrow I'll be able to watch. I have a hockey game I have to concentrate on tonight. I love Braden Fisk or Fisk, I don't know how to pronounce the name, from Florida State. I think that guy is impossible to move. And so I want you to tell me about him. And on the low, I kind of dig Dwayne Carter from Duke. What do you think of those two players? I literally, I was watching spectrum and they did a feature on him and I was like, let me go back and watch this guy.

And I love it. Like he's speaking of Carter. Yeah. Carter is, yeah. Spectrum's not going to do a feature on a kid from Florida State.

So no, I, I really liked him. I think that for him, I think he's probably a three technique. He might be able to play. Like if you're in a, if you're playing two twos, he can do that. Um, Fisk is interesting to me because he's a guy from Indiana and they obviously ends up at Florida State. The thing for me is his athleticism test off the charts.

Yeah. And I, he's not big. Like he would at the combine, he was under 300 pounds.

Right? So even though he is hard to move, it's like he's college, not hard. He's college hard to move, but it's six foot four, two 92. That becomes a guy that I still want to move out to that two, three, four space.

Right. Cause I don't want him sitting over top of the center where that guard can come down on it. Like, could he be a, like a three, four defensive end, which are basically a defensive tackle anyway. Yes, exactly.

That, that was the thing I was going to, I was, that's the thing I was going to bring up next is this guy. That's why I said four, I think he could play a five. He might, even if you lost, you know, listen, there's different positions. Some positions come in and they weigh in heavy at the combine. Some positions come in and they weigh in light at the combine. I think that he weighed in, I think two 92 is heavy for him.

So if this guy's actually going to play football at two 87, now the seven got a six foot four guy with 31 inch arms that can play a five. And I think that will be really fun. All of it's fun. I will be watching you on Friday night, Mike Felder at in the bleachers, hit the sub stack and it's Felder is always awesome. My friend, I will talk to you later.

All right, man, you take it easy. You got it. Uh, Mr. Football, Mike Felder from now on the, uh, when we will be Kyra on the screen for Mike Felder, Mr. Football, I want the same thing for Brian Geisinger, Mr. Basketball. We need to, we need to brand them. We need to brand them.

Like we have Trip Tracy coming on in about a little over a half hour. Mr. Hawk. No, Mr. Hockey has been taken. That's Gordie Howe. I apologize to, uh, to Gordie Howe. Lock your meds dot org slash NC.