How did the Panthers do, from a former football player’s opinion?

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Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Grainger. For the ones who get it done. We are joined in studio by Tim Donnelly of The Drive on 99.9, the fan of Raleigh. You were a quarterback in the league. We'll talk a little bit about quarterbacks. But first, we have breaking news to the breaking news sounder. This is big. I think you'll agree. You know the news is coming. It's huge, isn't it?

I mean, it's going to change the way we talk about football in the state of Carolina. That's very good. Thank you. It is pronounced Xavier Legette, not Legette, or not Legette. It's Legette. According to Xavier himself. Again, according to him. So that's the breaking news. Let's get the name right.

Legette. The breaking news might be Roger Goodell was right, which is unusual. Well, I mean, if you're Roger Goodell and you're announcing these guys' names.

You'd probably double check. You have to do it. Chuck Caton, former voice of the Hurricanes, 39 years, Whalers, Hurricanes, always went to the player. Seriously, he said this.

I always go to the player. How do you pronounce your name? So a few years ago, we were at Hurricanes Media Day. I went to Martine Neches because they pronounced Neches' name like 11 different ways. Say it fast so no one notices. Right.

No, it's pretty simple. It's Neches. How do you pronounce your name, Marty? Neches. Like the way it meant to the PA guy, Neches. If you talk to the head coach, like now they're just calling him Nechy because that's his nickname.

But Neches, Neches, what are we doing? I had a teammate in college who he was in my recruiting class and our senior year, he told us that everybody had been mispronouncing his name for the previous three and a half years. It took him three and a half years to feel comfortable going like, that's that's not how you say my last name. And he was one of those guys who like his last name was his name in the locker room. And it was wrong for three and a half years.

So some people just don't care, I guess. As a former PGA Tour player who lives in town, I'm friends with, his name is Brad Frisch. For five years, I've been calling him Brad Frisch. It's F-R-I-T-S-C-H. Frisch to me. He pronounces it Frich. And we did a show, it was, I don't know, some anniversary show for me, whatever. I've been here for a long time. And so he was a guest and it was a roast.

So he was in studio. He's like, by the way, it's Frich. That's how we started the conversation. So every time I refer to Brad to my wife, she says, it's Frich, right? You got to change it up even more so.

Call him like freshy or something like that. It's a total, double down. It is a total joke. So, yeah. Leagut.

Leagut. That was the breaking news. All right. How did you react to, because I said yesterday, if the Panthers trade into the first round, it's a sign that the owner can't keep his hands off things.

I think this is a little different. How did you look at it? Similarly. When, if you told me before that they trade in the first round, I would have expected they gave up much more and moved much further than one pick.

The way I'm kind of describing it is I don't love the player. I don't mind the execution of how they acquired him. Right. If you're going to get a wide receiver, trading into the end of the first is huge. We're seeing the wide receiver market explode, right? With Amand Rasen Brown's new deal, A.J.

Brown's new deal, you're going to expect C.D. Lamb and Justin Jefferson. The wide receiver market is darn near quarterback like. So for years, we saw people trade into the bottom of the first round for a quarterback to get that fifth year option and kind of rent control for one more year. Seeing it with wide receivers. Baltimore did it with Lamar Jackson. Exactly. Seeing it with wide receivers makes sense now that wide receivers are also 30 plus million dollars a year at the top of the market.

You know what doesn't work, though? If you wait until all five years are up to then sign the contract, which is what Baltimore did with Lamar Jackson, which is what Jerry Jones does with everybody. And I hope if the Panthers recognize that Liggett, sorry, everyone screwed it up, that Liggett is their guy and a stud worth paying whatever he's going to get if he's one of those top wide receivers. I would hope they would do it after year three. Yep. Right. And not after year four or five. Well, you do it after year three. Exactly.

Because you have those two years of rent control. Right. So it drops the number. It drops the average annual value. I would hope they would do it then.

I'm not sure I have great faith, not only in them, but in any organization to do it properly. And also the other side of Liggett is he's a raw talent guy, right? He's a late bloomer in college. He's physically gifted as far as being big, tall, strong, fast, all those things. You're going to have to, as you said, if you want to make that decision after year three to extend him, he has to look extend worthy.

Right. Within the first three years. It can't take you four years or five like it did in South Carolina for him to figure out, you know, how to have massive success in this league. So so it's a bit of a flex pick from Dave Canales saying, I'm going to take this ball of clay of tangibles and teach him savvy and nuance to be to be good in the NFL. Quick enough for us to take advantage of having the fifth year option.

Here's the other bit of strategy I think the Panthers punted on by doing what they did. Adam Golden Studio with my man coach Peter Ruder, Capital Financial Advisory Group. You have a 401k, but you're changing jobs. You're taking that 401k with you.

Next step. Well, a lot of people leave it behind, which is not a good thing. I mean, if you're not at the company anymore, your 401k shouldn't either. That's when it's time for my 401k survival. Oh, look at that.

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I don't know. Is there that big a difference between Liggett and Ladd McConkie or who or A.D. Mitchell? Is there that big a difference where you couldn't have just said, well, you let Buffalo baby alerted the Panthers to the fact that people were calling about. Well, there's only one wide receiver that could be picked at thirty two. So the other two guys now, maybe they had Liggett way ahead of them. Maybe there was a Wal-Mart sized gap in between and parking lot.

And exactly. So so we don't know what their board looked like. But there couldn't have been that big a difference between those, you know, Liggett and McConkie or Mitchell to the point where even though I'm not giving up a lot. How about the possibility that at thirty three you get so many calls overnight that you can go from thirty three to like forty something and pick up a high fourth or another pick in the late third round?

Because I look at it, they need bodies, good bodies. And there is depth over the next two or three rounds in this draft. Well, that's kind of why I said I don't like the player they picked by like the execution of it because the fifth year option makes sense.

But you're you're you're right. He wouldn't have been the receiver. I would pick out of this group and and for the simple fact that he only has one year of elite production. But if you if you look at like right now, all the best available lists, three of the top five or six are wide receivers, right? So that's usually not when you trade up for a wide receiver, when you look right at the best available and there's a bunch of wide receivers. You trade up for what is it? Jerzon Newton, maybe who's the the defensive lineman who is there's him, then a bunch of wide receivers, a bunch of corners, a bunch of off ball linebackers before you get to the next best available player at his position.

You kind of want to trade into the last of a tier. It seems like the middle of a tier of wide receivers and they traded up that that one pick. What it is is conviction by Canales and Morgan if they have that Wal-Mart sized gap between wide receivers, even if we don't see it, they are 100 percent convinced that it's there and they're acting on it. So it's it's like, you know, you're you're standing sticking to your guns a little bit here and saying, we know how to evaluate football players and this guy is way better, which I like that they're doing.

But now you have to answer for if it's if it's the right decision or not. Tim Donnelly is with us. He does the afternoon show after me.

He kicks me out of the studio here on 99. It's a passing of the baton. Absolutely. We never dropped the baton. No, absolutely not. Clean exchanges at all times.

Sometimes it takes a little bit longer than than other days. The next pick for them, let's say they stay at 39. I think with the cornerbacks that are on, that's what they need.

Like they just did pick up the 50 or option. It says of standout quarterback J.C. Horn. I think he could be great. I don't think we've seen anything that says he will be because he can't stay on the field. I don't care how good you are. If you're not on the field, the most of the best.

Yeah, that was the best ability is availability. And he's been barely available. The standout. I joked he's standing out on the sideline watching everybody else play, but they need another corner. And if you could get a second, you know, something that resembles an elite quarterback. Now your defense has a chance to be really good.

If you can cover. That's where I would go with the next pick. I would be OK with that if it's one of the three guys.

Again, if you look at the talent evaluators, Cooper Dajean would not be surprised if someone's trading up to 33 to grab him. Kool-Aid McKinstry has been mocked a little bit to 39 to the Panthers in the last 12 hours. And there's one more from Missouri, a guy who I was. And it's Rakesh. Yeah, there you go. I was looking at his film earlier today. Seems like he's got he's got some goods.

It's one of those three guys. I think, you know, you used to turn in the cards. I always like you run. They don't turn in cards. Well, you just call it in because a lot was the fun in that. Yeah, I want somebody like skipping up there to show how how happy they are.

If it's one of those three, you skip to turn in the metaphorical card. If not, again, then you start looking at Powers Johnson, the center. You start looking at a few other guys, maybe somebody like Newton, if he falls. And I don't know if the three wide receivers are still there.

Maybe you just maybe you just go, let's get Bryce Young, you know, a four wide wide receiver group that we love. Have you played around with the ESPN mock draft simulator? I've not. I've done so many.

It's not even fun. I've done three today. Yeah, I was going to say I like to do them by hand occasionally. So, so which one? So I did.

I grew up with. Okay, I could wait at number 39 twice. I know I've done it three times and Cooper Dijin at number 39. He was still there. I don't think he's going to be there. If he is, though, you skip, you skip that card up there and you put it in.

I don't think he's going to be there. And then after that, I twice I went right back to a wide receiver. And once I went to the defensive tackle from Texas, what, to Vondrey Sweat, who had the DWI, but we know was a big 12 player of the huge talent. I mean, if you look at what the other young quarterbacks are getting, Caleb Williams got Roma Dunes, a addition to D.J. Morin, Keenan Allen, Jayden Daniels is reportedly actually the Washington and New England are both super involved in Debo and Brandon. So they're looking to increase their young quarterbacks kind of Arsenal. I have no problem if the commanders want to make the first two days of the draft. Let's make Bryce Young's job easier celebration day. So if if Ladd McConkie is there, if Mitchell, who you brought up from Texas, is there, I really or Keon Coleman, even if they fall in love with him, although, you know, he's another big wide receiver.

He might want to vary it up a little bit. I really like any of those guys. Yeah, I did. I do too.

And there's there's value later on in the draft. Hey, if they came out of the draft, the kid with Jalen, was it McWilliams? Oh, Oregon. No, from Washington.

Washington. McMillan. Played with the Dunes and Polk. Like, I think McMillan is the better of he and Polk, but a little different. Also a little bit range here. If they could end up late, like fourth round, fifth round, something like that. I think it's a two wide receiver minimum draft. Oh, absolutely.

If you want to snag them both in the first 39 picks. Also, if you want to, we have Mike Felder on from at In the Bleachers on Twitter yesterday. And the other day I asked him best tight ends, not named Brock Bowers.

And there's an enormous talk about it again. Tavian Sanders is my guy. OK. He gave me a couple of other guys that I guarantee will be around later that he loves as project night and make the draft a celebration of putting more talent offensively around Bryce Young. And I am a OK with it.

Yeah. The only defensive players I think they the Panthers need to get out of this draft are at corner. And I'd like another defensive tackle to pair with Derek Brooks.

A'Shawn Robinson is good as well there, but you can't have too many interior defensive. No, no. Plus, I mean, they they wrote him through Derek Brooks round. Yeah.

Look, me and names are not getting long. Derek Brooks is available. I don't think it's not a position of need. I don't think I would have them now. Could you see him drafting Peyton Wilson without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running?

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Count on real time product availability and fast delivery call click Grainger dot com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. I I think Peyton Wilson is a guy who's plug and play on most defenses. He's really gosh darn good. I think the Panthers have have needs that that is the only thing that it's not.

I did. I did knock him once every interview. Peyton Wilson works in that. He idolizes Luke equally like he's putting the back signal out like come get me Carolina.

Luke equally is my guy, but but I just think they have so many other needs. It's it's tough to go off ball linebacker and in in some ways. That's why I wanted to stay at 31 of them to stay at 33 to use that maybe as a chip to compile a couple more chip patterns and let you go on here chip Patterson. Well, no, it was Darren Gannon way out on earlier this week said that he went back and looked and that there hasn't been a trade for a high day to pick that netted another day nether multiple day to picks. So you would get not even like a future day to or for that draft for that for that draft. So yeah, that's funny because I was the assumption is at 33. You can double up on your day to pitch and that's what he said. He was late third. That's funny.

Who knows? Maybe the Vikings wanted no picks in some ways. I don't like what the Vikings did in theory, but the way it came out, they got the quarterback. They wanted they trade they moved up one spot and they got maybe the best defensive player in the draft. They played with fire a little bit by by stick like just kind of holding tight and not jumping up and giving a Kings ransom for to go up and get JJ McCarthy.

But then when once he falls down near them, it ended up. I think they ended up looking pretty smart. They're lucky, but pretty smart Giants don't want a quarterback. I mean, maybe maybe they believe Daniel Jones is serviceable that or they think Daniel Jones is is so awesomely not great that it's going to lead to high draft picks in the future that that could you know, that's the the other way to get a quarterback is to tank naturally rather than trade up and get your guy and they've got an elite wide receiver next year when they plug a real quarterback. It does we saw with with Bryce Young. It's nice to have great wide receivers before you get the quarterback because it's really hard for the quarterback.

If you do it the other way. That's one quick thing. I talked about this Drake May is going to a very similar situation as Bryce Young was in. I've been saying for the last two weeks. The the real winner is whoever falls to Minnesota because you get Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. So Drake May gets the bragging rights of hey, I'm a top three pick and then he gets the must much taller challenge of hey, you have to turn a whole bunch of fours into playing like sevens and eights and and you're the one that has to be the tide that raises all boats and they don't have a great offensive line. That's the thing.

If they have a better offensive line, it will be better, but they don't it's just okay. Vermont Jerry Stevenson check it down a hundred times a game and you'll probably lose by two scores, but your completion percentage will be high. That'll be great. That's Tim Donnelly. You'll hear a lot of these things. I'm sure you didn't hold anything back either.

No, not at all. That's coming up at three o'clock here in Raleigh. Thank you very much.

My friend. Thank you 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.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.