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The drive starts now on WSJS. Happy Friday, everybody. It is the drive right here on WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad. Where It's nice out. We got some great guests.
We have a very important this or that we gotta get to 15 minutes from now. And I'm glad to have you in here. I'm Will Dalton. Also known as the W D, rocking with you right here. On the early parts of the weekend, really, for some of you.
It's already begun. Mine's already begun because we're talking sports. And how fun is that? To begin. We gotta talk about the Carolina hurricanes.
We can't bury the- Yeah! Drink it out! Crank it up because now we officially know. When the series between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Philadelphia Flyers will get underway. And that's going to be tomorrow night.
Eight o'clock puck drop. A B C In Rollywood. It's going down. And A couple of things to look into. Ahead of this series.
So For starters As mentioned before. On yesterday's show, this is pretty historic. This is the first time.
So the canes made history. In their first series with the Senators, where They've now I had eight straight years where they've at least won a playoff series. They did that. And now they make history with the Flyers in the sense that these two have never met in the playoffs before. Fun fact you can take with you to a bar tonight, maybe win you a free drink or something.
I don't know. And In this series kind of just breaking down things. In the regular season The Canes have gone 3-1 against Philadelphia. And The fun thing is, if you're a Flyers fan, just to look at this from all sides. They have not lost to the Kanes in regulation this year.
Haven't done that.
So the three games that the Kanes won All came in overtime or on shootouts.
So From that perspective, this has all the makings of a really, really fun series.
Now, obviously, things can change from the regular season to the postseason, as we know. But if that was our preview, those four games, and even the game that the Kanes lost, that was on shootouts.
So that's If that's the preview, that's pretty exciting. And Looking at some other details. In this seasons match up between these two. The hurricanes, if you're looking for some edges here and some details, the canes practically. Doubled.
Shot attempts. in terms of like them versus the Flyers, like it was practically a two to one difference. Looking at the actual numbers here, the Kanes in total had one hundred and eighteen shots, Flyers had ninety.
So Practically doubled it. And The Kanes, we know they have a ton of playoff experience at this point. The real question is: the thing that I'm going to be curious to watch. Is Are the Flyers going to be able to get the Hurricanes off their game in terms of in the gutters, getting them in the gutters? Because the Senators tried to do it.
If you recall... It got chippy between these two at times, but luckily. As Mike Manascalco, friend of the show, Mike Manascalco, we need to get him on the show here pretty soon, of Fandil Sports Network. Carolina didn't take the bait. He's not too worried about this.
Listen. I think that the test against the Ottawa senators and how Carolina passed it, all I needed to know about. How are they going to handle that as the playoffs move along? They sent the notice. And they have torment.
AKA Nick Delaurier, who You know, for not playing, I think he played, what, four and a half minutes? Maybe and a little less than that, but If somebody wants to go there, the Kanes now have that deterrent. And you're not going to want to go there. You're not going to want to do that.
So, look, I know it's one series that's against Ottawa, but Ottawa tried to do that. And the Kanes did not take the bait. No, they didn't. They passed the test.
So That's something to keep an eye out. On in this series, is whether or not the Flyers are going to be able to do that because they're probably going to try. They're probably going to try to do that similarly to Ottawa. But. The Kanes I'm not overly worried about them in that sense.
Also, it's going to be a question of health. Is Elers and the Keishin able to go? You know? They started practicing the other day. Um so you hope that they're back potentially by tomorrow night?
But At the end of the day, Like just listening to Some of the Philadelphia flyers, podcasters out there, people that cover the flyers more closely, they're not thrilled about this draw. They're not thrilled about getting the canes. Like I I was listening to one of the One of these podcasters actually talked about, yeah, it feels like an eye of the storm is genuinely headed our way. What we're going to have to deal with now after dealing with the penguins. But.
Speaking of people who cover the Flyers, let's look at it very quickly from the Flyers' perspective. Bill Meltzer. Uh is a uh contributor to flyers.com. And he joined Adam Gold. Adam Gold does the Kane's Corner podcast.
out in Raleigh and He joined him to kind of go over some of the points that could potentially. work in the Flyers' favor if there are some. I would say Van Vladar has to continue what he's been doing all season, especially in the playoff series. Goaltending goaltending cures a lot of ills. The Power they had to figure they had to get something on the PowerPlay.
The PowerPlay was once again ranked dead last in the NHL.
So special teams, they're going to have to generate something. And the third factor again is getting back to locking down the neutral zone because the Kanes will bury them. If the Flyers allow time and space, the Kanes are a faster skating team. than the penguin, so the flyers will have to adjust to that. And by the way, In terms of the health of Nikolai Ehlers and Alexander Nakeshin, both.
Uh, we're in regular jerseys today on the ice, so that's pretty good news ahead of tomorrow night's. Game And we'll monitor that and we'll keep you posted if we learn anything new. But the Kanes, the Flyers, tomorrow night for the first time in the playoffs. It has all of the makings of a really exciting round two matchup for the Kanes. 336-777-1600 is the number to call.
If you're a Kanes fan, how many games is Carolina winning in? How many? I want to hear from you. Call us in. Get in our YouTube chat.
The drive with Will Dalton. You can chime in on the comments or go to WSGS Radio on X. We stream there as well. Morgan Corson, is the executive producer of the show. He's in a really good mood, a good mood, because he had his little Caesars today.
I did. What did you get? Just a pepperoni today. Simple but effective. Shouldn't have gotten the crazy bread.
Regretting that. I'm a little hungry. I was disappointed last time with the crazy bread. It wasn't up to snuff. It wasn't crazy enough.
It was just bread. There wasn't much seasoning on it. It was quite lacking.
So, just to be clear. Is the crazy bread just like what they call their breadsticks or is it like something?
Okay. Yeah, the crazy bread is their breadsticks. It was just bread. There was no seasoning on it, so I didn't order it, but I should have. I'm still a little hungry.
Well, that's bland. And I like the breadsticks at Little Cecil, or the crazy bread. Do they call it crazy bread or you call it crazy bread? It's crazy bread. That's their branding.
Nice. I love that for you. I'm excited for this series. Very excited for the Canes and Flyers. Both fan bases are wild.
Philly is known for the Hurricanes. They have some good fans and they have a very good environment. It should line up to be an amazing series. I have the Kanes. I think in f I'll say six.
Kane's in six. I want to say five. I will. I feel like.
some when they go to Philly Something might happen when they get there. I don't know. But Philly's in sick, or Philly's. Hurricanes and six. Got your sports mixed up there?
Yeah, I I'll go Keynes in five. Maybe that's bold, but Again, with the overtime shootouts. This has the making of a really exciting series. Let's actually transition. Because we saw the expansion take place of March Madness?
The NCAA tournament. We saw that happen. Uh earlier this week, going from 68 to 76. I was listening to uh the guys on the field of 68. Uh Jeff Goodman and Rob Doster the other night.
And they were talking about whether or not they're going to rebrand or not.
Sounds like Jeff Goodman isn't so sold on the idea. Guess we'll see what they do with that. Maybe we can ask Terrence Oglesby next time he joins. Um,. The NCAA, but that expansion, it did have me thinking about.
the college football playoff. and college football. Playoff expansion. Again. Because it's already being looked at, it's already being talked about.
Um Here's where I land on this. They're not the same thing. This expansion from the in for the NCAA tournament And college football playoff expansion, they're not the same thing. Because for one While the move from 68 to 76 was not necessary, we don't love it. It's not The end of the world.
It's really not. Um Because I mean, college basketball for a lot of people, for most people, I mean, we live over here in Hoop in the Hoop state.
So we're a little bit of a different breed. But for the most of the country, like college basketball peaks in March. You know what I mean? Like, it peaks in March. Die Hards are still going to watch the regular season for the most part.
And then but your casuals, that's when they jump in, you know, is in March. College football, on the other hand, is a sport that thrives in the regular season. In fact, you could really make the argument that most people like the regular season better than the postseason. and bowl season.
Now it depends on who your team is. Michigan. you might enjoy the postseason a little bit more. I love the postseason. I'm sad that people are.
Not celebrating the bowls as much. Yeah, well I mean So a lot of these bowl games, they just there's not many much It's not much to them, you know. Cool. Like the Pop-Tarts is fun. That one's good.
Some of the high-caliber bowl games are fun, but like when half your roster doesn't play or your coach isn't there anymore, or a quarterback's not, it's not as fun. But College football. thrives in the regular season in a way that college basketball doesn't. Like it's all about I mean okay think about it Why is that? Because of the stakes of And Alabama.
A Georgia. A Michigan, Ohio State. Losing to the right 500 teams a couple of times, and now look, you're on the cut line potentially, and now we got to wait till. The selection day to find out if you make the playoff or not because you cut it so close. Heck, Notre Dame, who's not in a conference, if they lose to the two best teams on their schedule, a la, what was it?
this past year or 2024, whatever it was. You might not get in. I think that was this year. I think that was. Didn't they lose to Miami this year?
That was just okay, that's right. You might not make the playoff. You might not. The sport revolves around fall Saturdays, tailgates. On campuses.
thrives off of that. And to me, like if you expanded from four Or when you did expand from four to twelve. That at least gave teams more access, which is what you wanted to achieve. Get some more games in there, obviously. But you didn't sacrifice the exclusivity of it all.
like the special club of it all. But if you go out to 24 teams, which is what they're looking at. It's what the Big Ten apparently wants and others. What are you going to see? You're going to see some eight and four teams getting in there.
That's not great. That's not fun. It waters down the regular season in a way that... The NCAA tournament expanding. doesn't quite get to.
And basketball, that is.
So And the only people that want that expansion in the college football playoff. Who is it? It's coaches that want to be able to keep their jobs. Yeah, I think expansion could work if they do it the right way. But the way they're looking at it right now, I think, is the Big Ten want six to eight automatic qualifiers, which is not the way to do it.
If you're gonna do it, give the Big Ten champion one, give the Big Ten runner up one. That if you're in the finals games, and also move the season up a week. Mm-hmm. Every Maybe maybe like Eliminate the week zero? I don't know.
Yeah, I would take week zero, make that week one. Yeah. And then. The current playoff is like every Two weeks is a game? Why not just have a game every week?
Every round, once a week, it would fix everything. It'd fix a transfer portal issue. It fixed a lot of issues here. See, I was reading Mike Elko. former coach at Duke, as we know around here.
One of the things that he said is like the people that want this the most are the coaches that. will keep their job if they have, oh, they made the playoff on the resume. That's the people that want it the most. And then A D's for their schools to get in. Um But the last thing that college football The playoff needs is to try and become March Madness because they're just.
They're completely different. Two different sports, two different situations. It's what I was thinking about. Last night, just staring at the ceiling. It's what keeps me up at night.
Really does. What are you talking about? What's he talking about? I'm talking about the one and only. Will Dalton has your afternoon sports fix.
You're on the drive. Back at it on the drive, right here on WSJS. It's a Friday drive.
So we're all in a good mood around here. And what makes me be in a even better mood than what I already am. is when we talk about food. When we talk about food thing, you would think I'm fat. For as much as I like to talk about food.
I don't know. It's just a fun everybody likes it. Everybody has to eat.
So, everybody has thoughts on what they like to or don't like to eat. It's a good discussion topic.
So, that brings us to today's. This or that's where we Morgan compiles a list. of Two options a piece. And I have to decide is that this Or is it that? It's this or that with Will Dalton.
Two choices. One answer. No offense, sitting. You're in or you're out. This or that.
Yeah. Today, on this or that, it's ballpark food. Love this. I love this.
So I've got seven for you here: seven this or that. Wow, that's a nice, that's a nice list right there. Yeah, it's a hefty list. You're a hot dog or a burger. Hmm.
I feel like when you go to a ball game, Like The hot dog is synonymous with a ball game. To me. Bye. This would maybe be a different discussion if we were going to a cookout. Potentially.
But if I'm going to a baseball game It's gotta be the hot dog. It's like the OG of baseball or sporting event foods. It's gotta be the hot dog. Chicken tender basket. Ooh, or A pizza.
I love pizza. It might be one of my favorite foods. In fact, it is. It is one of my favorite foods. But again.
When I'm going to a ballgame, I don't Chicken tenders are a little bit cleaner to eat. Potentially. And now Depends on the pizza as well. Depends on how saucy it is. Or greasy, but a lot of times ballpark pizza is a little bit more on the greasy side.
Chicken tenders, it's easy. You just. It's an easy thing to eat. You get your little sauce there, put it in the basket. Chicken tenders never misses.
Cool. Chips or fries?
Now you are you talking like nachos or like bag chips? Like a bag of chips or some french fries? I can get a bag of chips anywhere. If I'm going to a ball game, I want some good quality fries. I want some good quality fries.
Now, it also depends on... What type of fries are we getting? Is it crinkle cut? Is it curly fries does does any ball game have curly fries?
Someone's got to here. Let's see. I don't know about this. I don't know if any ballpark has curly fries. But no, like that.
The way I look at it is: I can get a bag of chips anywhere. I can get a bag of chips at the grocery store, wherever. Fries, I feel like I'm getting a little more of my money's worth on fries. Yeah, you uh Apparently a few MLB parks do kinda have a sort of curly fried with their fried foods dish. Do we know who those teams are?
Uh, not at the uh, actually, yeah. The Marlins and San Francisco Giants do. Among some others.
Well, whenever I go to a game out there, I'm getting curly fries. Cracker jacks or a bag of peanuts? It's just tough because I really don't do either one. Really? Yeah.
So here's how I would answer it. As a ball player. It was always peanuts. Because in the dugout, you could just crack them open and just let the shells fly because it's the dugout. Baseball players out there, you know what I'm talking about.
Or we would do sunflower seeds. That was a little more common. As a fan at a game I don't, again, back to the making the mess, like with the chicken tenders, to maybe a greasy slice of pizza. There's too much happening with peanuts. I don't want to just drop them all over the place.
And plus some Cracker Jacks is a little sweet. Just pop it. Yeah, cracker jacks. Yeah, I'm the guy that leaves the shells everywhere. See, I'm I was fine with that in the dugout, but I don't know, I just yeah.
How about a soft pretzel? Or nachos. Ah That's such a difficult decision. I love both of them. Chips and salsa is literally like my vice.
I just feel like they're not as good at the stadium, whatever the ingredients are: their salsa or their chip, or the nacho cheese. Because your nacho cheese is that little cup. It's not like. That's not even real cheese. What is that?
Is that real cheese? It probably is, it's probably just like really crappy.
So, I'm glad you made that clarification and brought that to my attention. Because, as somebody who loves chips and salsa, as somebody who absolutely will go to a place like, oh, I don't know, village tavern. One of my favorite restaurants. And get, and they're not paying me to say that because they don't need to, because it's that good. I will get like the tavern nachos, which is a meal in and of itself.
That's high-quality nachos. What you get in a ball game, not so much. And I love a good pretzel. I get some mustard. I dip the pretzel in mustard.
That's my move. Pretzel every time. Forget the ballpark nachos.
So uh yeah, that's they call it cheese sauce. AKA not real cheese. Yeah, it's not real cheese. Fraud.
Okay, this is a little bit odd, but A sweet option, like a dessert, in quotes, dippin' dots/slash ice cream. Or cotton candy. Climb. Cotton candy's so overrated. I don't even mess with cotton candy.
So we can sub cotton candy with like a pack of like MMs. Or like a little box candy? Dots say dipping dots every single time. dipping dots every single time. Boom!
I remember the first time I had Dippin' Dots. I think I was at a Braves game. And like it blew my mind. I'm like Wow. These little dots are so good.
I went to Yankee Stadium. Yeah. And they had the little Yankees hat. Yeah. So I have the Yankees hat.
I still have that. They do this at grasshopper games, dash games with the little helmet. Yeah. Cotton candy, you heard it here first.
So useless. It's overrated. The last one's not food related. But since we're talking about baseball, I had to bring up the question. Turf or grass fields?
Oh Snuck that one in there. See? This is something that I'm very qualified to answer because I was a baseball player all the way through college. Uh I've played on many a turf, artificial turf field, including the couch. Played some, I remember playing some high school travel tournaments out there.
And so. The thing about artificial turf fields is From a player's perspective, They get really hot in the summertime. And Like I remember out at the couch. Many years ago, playing a tournament, and me and some teammates, like Uh I think Like we were like sitting. Outside of the dugout, like on the turf, and so like you could kind of see ground level.
And We could see the heat waves coming up like off the turf. It gets really hot.
So that's not ideal. But on the other hand, again, from a player's perspective, that maybe as a fan or somebody that's never played the game, you don't really think about. You get such Clean hops like on a ground ball on that artificial turf field, like no bad hops are coming. And as an infielder or an outfielder, that is so nice because you don't even have to think about that ball potentially hopping over your head or something like that. You already know what it is.
This is all a long way to say. Ooh. There's nothing that beats a real field. A real Field. I mean like minor league, major league quality, kept up field.
Now. with some of your more like recreational fields. Or high school fields, even some college fields, I'll take an artificial third field all day long because sometimes with those fields, you don't know what you're getting, especially in high school. But there's nothing better than a well-maintained major league field. There just isn't.
It's a beautiful thing. And screw you again, Cotton Candy. I I I just don't get it. After the first time where you like experience the novelty of, wow, this melts in my mouth. It's like, okay.
Cool. Anyway. Glad I got that off my chest. Really am. The Triad's only live sports talk show, The Drive.
This is what rush hour sounds like when nobody holds back. Back at it on the drive on a Friday, right here on WSJS. And as he does every week at this time, we are joined by Will Pelagic, the voice of Charlotte FC. Willie P, what's happening? I'm bracing for the moment that you make me angry during this position.
I really am. How? How can I possibly do that? It's Friday, the sun's out. I assume it is in Charlotte, too.
What can I possibly ask? I think you have a demonstrated history of burning my britches when it comes to situations involving the teams that I may or may not root for outside of the ones that I cover. Yeah, I don't know what you can mean by that. I guess stick around to see if you find out what it is. Let's start with Charlotte FC.
So, got a match tomorrow night on the road, 7:30 p.m. You can listen to it right here on WSJS. New England. Going to be taking on Charlotte FC. But let's actually go back a little bit.
The last. few weeks for Charlotte because This week, you had a round of 60, a round of 16 match. against Atlanta. It didn't go so great. Lost to Nashville, lost to Orlando.
What do you What do you think seems to be off right now with Charlotte FC? The vibes seem to be a little bit off. This would be an easier answer, Will, if the same thing went wrong. In all three matches. And again, there were maybe some semblances of some common threads between the three of them, but.
All three of those games were different games. The Orlando game, you came upon a very desperate team. Where I don't think Charlotte FC thought they were going to get pressed as Sufficiently as they were against Orlando. Orlando took advantage, and before Charlotte could adjust, it was Katie Bar the door when it came to the goals they scored, and they had a problem creating in the final third. You could say that they were a little bit better in the final, third, and the second half of the Nashville game, but unfortunately, it was a slow start against a very formidable offensive team.
Might be the best team in the Eastern Conference when it comes to playing Nashville. The Atlanta game, I think, is a standalone situation where you didn't have your full complement of players available to you. And I think, again, part and parcel, you stack up the rosters one versus the other. I still think Charlotte's roster is a better roster than Atlanta's is and a better build than Atlanta's is. Just Atlanta had maybe a little bit more quality on the pitch.
And even though I thought the lineup that Charlotte FC put out there was adequate enough to win the game, they just did not get it going at a large enough level. They conceded early, which put them very much on their heels and just really never had the ability to get themselves back in. The second goal they conceded was incredibly frustrating. And I think, again, is magnifying a lot of the problems that they've had when it comes to communicating at the back. You had a goalkeeper and a center back who really had never worked together aside from one game in the U.S.
Open Cup earlier this year.
So that's kind of the fault you get into here with these mixed teams when it comes to these secondary competitions. I don't say secondary in terms of trying to degrade the U.S. Open Cup, but secondary in terms of not necessarily being your primary focus, which is the 34-round MLS regular season, which again culminates with the MLS Cup postseason.
So I say all that to say: if there was a common thread, I would say that would be punitive. things happening in games that have led the goals. But it's not been the same type of mistakes happening at every time.
Sometimes there's some man marking issues. There have been some issues at Goalkeeper. And I also think, too, again, you're really missing Tim Reem out there. Unfortunately, he won't be back tomorrow. I'm curious to see If there's a difference in play this weekend against New England side, that while they have some quality, they don't have the quality of a team like a Nashville.
And I don't even know if they have a player. even like Orlando has in Martinojeda. I think Orlando is a team that's much better than their record would show. I think unfortunately the manager maybe had had his message run a little raw on that team, and they did not replenish at certain positions that they absolutely needed to, but it's still a team that has quality. I don't know if the Wings are a team that has that kind of quality.
They've gotten some wins on the season. They've got five victories on the season, but I look at their roster, I look at their build, and I also look at their schedule. They have not beaten anybody that's above Charlotte on the table.
So I look at the say this is more evenly matched up, I think, than even the Ozmakers will tell you. And the fact that Charlotte FC has also won up in New England here very recently. They did so last season in a 2-1 victory against largely the same team. I know that it was a different manager and they've changed things and they've got a brain new manager in Marko Mitrovich, who's brought a lot of guys from the U.S. under 20 and the U.S.
under 23 national team, players that he coached when he was at the U.S. Youth National Team Program and Pipeline. Mm-hmm. When I look at this and say, Charlotte. I'm not going to say they will win this game, but they have the quality on their side to be able to win this game.
And for all of those reasons. You should be listening right here on WSJS tomorrow at 7.30. To listen to Charlotte get that win. That's what you ought to be doing. Will Pelagic with us here the voice of Charlotte FC?
Anna Witte will be on the call with him tomorrow night as well. Let's get to a couple of Carolina Panthers. uh items here because Bryce Young. Shocker. The fifth year option did finally get picked up the other day and You know, when you look at the things that Dan Morgan did in free agency, when you look at the way they drafted going with the tackle out of Georgia in the first round, it seems it smells like they believe Bryce has all he needs.
To either get this extension this year or not, they think he's got everything he needs. How do you read it, Willie P.
Well, I I I think it is very, very telling that at nineteen when they could have gone with a weapon like a Makai Lemon or a Casey Concepcion. or an Omar Cooper Jr. Or, you know, maybe even traded up a couple of spots to get a Kenyon Sadiq. It is a situation where you look at it and you say they had a lot of options on the table. But instead of going with the obvious weapon option.
They went with somebody who they felt can actually. Maybe help him a little bit more, yeah, in an immediate left tackle replacement in Monroe Freeling. And look, the The thing I don't like about the freeing pick, and I know we talked about it a little bit last week, is the fact that it does seem like they're kind of, in a way, Slapping the back of Ikeyaquano in a negative fashion because I don't think that they've done very well by him by basically saying, hey, you know what? We're giving platitudes on his timeline and he's looking good and this and that, and not really giving us a definitive answer as terms of what does it hurt the Panthers to say, hey, by the way, we don't think Icky's gonna play until the second half of the 2026 season, if at all. Like, and I don't know if that's necessarily the case.
It could be something, a situation where he misses training camp, maybe only the first three or four weeks of the regular season. I don't know that. But I don't know if they're telling you without telling you they don't think Icky can play. I think maybe they're telling you without telling you that they don't think Icky can come back from this injury and be the same player. And even the same player being somebody who Wasn't a smack down, like slam dunk.
Hey, we're going to give this guy new money because Vincent played during his 40 years with the Carolina Panthers.
So. I say all that to say, they got somebody who's the polar opposite of Icky Aquano and a much better pass blocker than Icky is, at least coming out of college, he was. And that's been a part of Ikey's game that still is yet to really develop the way the Panthers want to. I also think they made some different moves to try and help him as well. I love the Chris Brazel pick.
I think it's something they absolutely needed. Another long, lanky dude who can stretch the defense. Hopefully, he turns out more like a prototypical slot, tall wide receiver as opposed to Calvin Benjamin, because it's up, or just any of the other Tennessee wide receivers that have been there. And I'm sure you've heard many people who cover the draft who have told you that Chris Brazel is somebody who you. Look at and say, watch his two-lane tape more so than his Tennessee tape because that actually gives you more of a sense of what he can do from a pro-style offensive perspective.
And I like what they did on defense. You know, Lee Hunter is somebody I think can be on the field right away. I think, you know, the only, I like going with the center, Sam Hecht as well, not to completely neglect the offensive side of the line completely. I have.
Some qualms with them not going linebacker in safety sooner. You know, Wheatley is somebody who I feel like, again, is a wild card, you know, somebody you throw a flyer on and and you know, the linebacking corps, you know, they they they went and got the the one guy, and it's it's a situation where you look at and you say, Hey, You take a flyer on that guy too as well. I just come back to it and I say, those are two positions I really wish would have been maybe taken care of a lot more. And they also told you what they also told you how they felt about tight end by not taking one. And I think that's something that was incredibly curious because I think we all kind of wondered: hey, could this be another situation where the Panthers go out and they throw a flyer in a tight end just to see?
But They feel good about Jatavion Sanders and Mitchell Evans and Tommy Tremble. And I I know that uh it basically turns into a prove it year for uh Carolina's number zero. And not only that, it's, I mean, the second year in a row, pro football focus gave the Panthers an A.
So Dan Morgan. He's out here making things happen for sure. It was an Eat Your Vegetables draft for the Carolina Panthers, and sometimes you have to do that. It's very true, and you know, they just kind of let things come to them, like no reaching, things like that. Will Pelagic here with us on WSJS?
Let's uh Let's talk some baseball. Do we have to? We actually kind of do. I'm like contractually obligated to do this every week.
So The Mets let me see the papers. It seems they're gonna back Carlos Mendoza. And they don't intend to make a change here. Despite A 10 and 21 start. Uh, and the uh, the quote that I read here: they don't view this as a manager problem, they you know.
Blame needs to just be throughout the organization, but you're the Mets fan. Uh Get on your soapbox. I'm letting you have it as your friend, the Yankee fan here.
Well, it i it's an organizational Disconnect, definitely. positing blame The majority of the blame does go to the general manager, who they're not going to fire because he's on a very lengthy contract, a very expensive contract. And has the ear of the owner, which is probably the worst thing in the world because He has the owner believing that he actually knows what he's doing. And that's a real big problem. The general manager does not want to fire the manager because.
The general manager put together this cast of misfits. for the manager who was two wins away from a National League pennant to potentially manage and win. The problem is the manager is a substandard manager who in twenty twenty four, the team won despite him. And nobody seems to know that except people who watch the games as closely as I do. For the people who say that it's not a managerial issue, you've not watched enough New York Mets baseball over the three years Carlos Mendoza has been in charge.
Is he the most putative reason why the Mets sit at 10 and 21? No. But he doesn't help. And his mismanagement of the bullpen is incredibly. Proficient.
I can give you market examples of all of it. I think he messes with. The hitting lineup way too much, and I know you're supposed to do that in 2026 because these guys get tired, but. The fact that You can't see that you have, at least on any given night, two to three people playing out of position. Tells me that they did not care about run prevention.
They did not care about things that get you towards winning. All they cared about was. Trying to figure out some way to justify the collapse they had this year. And the way they justified the collapse this year is they got rid of three of their biggest leaders in the clubhouse: Pete Alonzo, Jeff McNeil, and Brandon Nimo.
Now, I know Nimo got hurt, and I know that Alonzo's not hitting a ton right now, but. You can't do those three things. and replace them with Sips and people who just don't know how to play baseball at their position. I mean, they're. They're awful, Will.
They're very bad. I mean, they're not getting better. They're not getting better. And I know that people will sit there and say, well, you've changed the manager. You're not going to change anything.
It'll make me feel like they tried something. Instead of beating their head against the wall. Without recourse. And, you know, they have. The worst start.
Of any team That's ever taken the field as the New York Metropolitans in the 64-year history of the franchise, which includes a team that at one point lost 120 games, which was the most ever in the history of Major League Baseball at the time and for a very long period of time. They are at a worse off pace than that one.
So tell me, is it the manager's fault? Is it the general manager's fault? Are they all just freaking stupid? Because that tells me I think they probably all are. Listen, I'm not sure.
And the owner should get some of the blame too, because his negligence, you know, the man could go sell two paintings and pay for David Stern's buyout. He refuses to. Wilpelogic. I'm glad I could give you that sounding board. That was my guess.
Sit court side again at a Knicks game, Steve Cohen. Sit court side at the Knicks game in the second round, Steve Cohen, and see how well you're treated by those around you.
Okay. Will he pee? With a Mets hat that doesn't fit. I appreciate the time. I'm glad you could get that off your chest.
I hope you feel maybe a little better. Is that calmer than you were expecting? Is that calmer than you were expecting? No, that sounded about right. I hope that made you feel a little better, at least.
It probably didn't, but I didn't think so. Charlotte FC. Charlotte FC, New England, 7.30. That'll be better tomorrow night. I hope so.
I hope you can. We'll catch you next week, Willie P. Thank you, Will Dalton. I'm gonna talk about like the craziness that revolves around sports. The only thing moving faster than I-40 are the sports takes.
Now, back to the drive. Back at it on a Friday drive, right here on WSJS, Mike Kay of the Charlotte Observer. Going to join us.
Next hour to talk Carolina Panthers post-draft, some of the more surprising things they did and didn't do. in that draft. But very quickly to close out the hour.
Something I've been thinking about. Really, since the Dexter Lawrence move a couple of weeks back, is. I feel like the Bengals are a fringe Super Bowl contender. That literally nobody is talking about right now. Like, right now, it's all Rams.
It's all Seahawks, Bills. Ravens even. Chiefs are back up. But them Cincinnati Bengals That Joe Burrow guy. That guy on that Sports Illustrated cover right there on my shelf behind my shoulder.
Joe Burr. No, but not enough people are talking about them. And I am being serious. I mean, yes, I like to talk about Joe Burrow because he's one of my favorite players. But in a serious note, The defense was the problem last year.
It wasn't the offense. the offensive line was, but not the offense itself. Especially when Burrow got back. I mean, you They were out of it. But When Burrow came back right there at the last few weeks of the year.
There were people that actually were saying if they went out, maybe. Like Jamar Chase, one of the best. You might think he's the best receiver in the NFL. You could go Jackson Smith and Jigba. You know, you could go Jamar Chase, Pook.
Like, you got options here. He's one of them. And that defense that was one of the worst in the league last year. We looked it up. What was it, like 30th or something?
And points given up per game.
Well, now they got Dexter Lawrence. They've made some real moves in the offseason here, in the draft, to try and help shore things up. And now Again, this isn't me saying the Bengals are going to win the Super Bowl. I'm just saying. I believe because of the things that they did to shore up the defense.
And with Joe Burrow as your quarterback. And those pieces on offense, like Jamar Chase and company. I think they should be talked about as a French Super Bowl contender. They should at least just be right in the conversation. That's all I'm saying, and I believe that.
Morgan, your thoughts. I mean, yeah, Dexter Lawrence is great, but so is Trey Hendrickson. Yeah. Like, is it really that you traded away your anchor on the defensive line and just got a new one? I don't know.
This defense needs to prove it before I'm 100% certain that they can make the playoffs. And the O-line has to show that they can protect Joe. That still, to me, is the big question. That one. I mean, cause again, trading for yeah, Trey Hendricks and all that's great, but Adding to the Dexter Lawrence, like they added some edge rusher help, defensive line help.
So, like, defense is going to be better this year for the Bengals, which was the glaring issue outside of the O-line. Uh Just saying. Bengals with some of the things they did. They should be talked about. as a fringe Super Bowl contender.
That's all I'm saying. Uh You've got to take, prove it, call WD. I tell you girls, he... He's the one. Back to the Triad's only live sports talk show, The Drive.
Uh Back at Una Friday Drive, right here on WSJS. And now we're joined by Mike K. of the Should Observer. who has plenty going on. And we appreciate him taking a little bit of time for us post-draft.
Mike, how are we doing, my friend?
Well, I just woke up from a nap five minutes ago. I'm exhausted. I love it, man. I love it. We won't keep you too long or take up too much of your time.
But I did want to catch you now that the draft is in the books. Um So taking Monroe Freeling. Out of Georgia, the tackle. Um I found that to be a really interesting move for a couple of reasons. I felt like it was.
Want an investment in Bryce Young because it's going to help him even more so have a clean pocket in a year that he is trying to get an extension. But. I also find it interesting in the terms of what the future could look like for Iki Akwanu, who. Dan Morgan has not really budged much when it comes to what his status could be this coming year. With drafting Monroe Freeling, what do you think this could mean for Icky whenever he does get back whenever that is?
Well, I think it gives the Panthers optionality in that they can look at this as. Freelanced Rasheed Walker. If he wins the battle, awesome. If he needs some time, not the worst case scenario, but you're covered either way. Ikwanu is not likely to return to form even if he returns to play this year.
That patellar injury and that surgery take some time to adapt and time to kind of regain strength and regain motion. If Iquano comes back, doesn't play well, or he misses the entire season, he's likely to opt for a one-year deal, a prove-it deal after this. They also have Taylor Moten at right tackle, who they can save $14.6 million by cutting next year. If Equandu is willing to take a cheap, team-friendly one-year deal, they can move freely into right tackle and open up space and save about $4 to $5 million, probably. by bringing Icky back and cutting Taylor.
If Iquani wants to find a long term deal somewhere else. You got your left tackle of the future in Freeling, and Moten is your right tackle probably for 2027.
So they have all these options. Freeling is a guy who long term is going to mold into A long-term starter. He's got all the athleticism, all the length, all the size to eventually develop into being an all-pro talent. He reminds me of Lane Johnson on tape. Mike Kay with us here of the show at Observer on WSJS.
One of the stories that I'm very interested to follow. Going into camp and preseason and into a new season is that third receiver spot. Because you got T-Mac at the one, you got Jalen Coker at the two, but then three could be. Maybe Xavier Legette, who's trying to bounce back from a tough sophomore year. You got John Mechie that they added in free agency.
You've got Chris Brazzle now that they drafted out of Tennessee, which a lot of people around the NFL seem to like. How do you view that third receiver spot shaking out as we get closer and closer to the next season?
Well, you know, you've got three different styles there when you mention Mechie, Brazil, and Legette. Legette is a guy who's going to win with his strength and size. Brazil's going to win with his speed and size, and then Mechie's going to win with his technique and shiftiness.
So it depends on what you really want there, especially if you're working that guy out of the slot, if you're moving Jalen Coker to the Z position. In 11 personnel, three receiver sets.
So they have to figure out first what type of passing offense they want to be. It has not necessarily worked. Going with the shifty guy, it has not necessarily worked going with Xavier Legette. Brazzle is unlike any player on the roster. He can run a go route and beat you one-on-one.
He can take the top off the defense. He's a guy who's going to open things up, especially at the Z position. And if Coker stays in the slot, it will open up. Lanes for him to catch passes over the middle. and perhaps get some mismatches because of his size as a big slot receiver.
I think the offense is going to always go through Tetoreau McMillan, but Brazil's got to leg up because he is so dynamic. And I think. Being able to create space for the running game, which they have talked about wanting to run the football first. Constantly throughout Canalis' tenure. It gives that appeal.
I think Leguette is one of those guys where he's got the pedigree, he's got to put it together, he probably needed to lose a little bit of weight. And I think he's a guy that if he doesn't win the number three battle, you're looking at him as a returner first and not a receiver first. And I don't think that's a great predicament for him to be in as he enters his third year. You know, one of the things that really surprised me Going in or after the draft was that they didn't really address tight end. I thought that might be something they they would try to do, like if a Kenyan Sadiq.
was maybe available. Do you think a move at tight end could be? in the Panthers future at tight end or what do you think the future holds there? I think Dan's being genuine when he says that he believes in his tight end group. I also think there's one football.
You've got Tetra Macmillan, who you're giving a ton of. Targets too. Brazil's coming in. Jalen Coker hasn't had a full healthy season, but if he did, he's taking up a pretty good chunk of your past targets. You just brought up Legette.
I don't think they view the tight end position in this offense to be A dynamic game-changing weapon, and I think they want to win with 11 personnel, which is the three receiver sets. That said Kenyon Sadiq was not in consideration for their first round pick, according to the conversations that I've had, even if he would have made it there. Obviously, they didn't get a choice one way or another. But I think when you look at the totality of the offense, they really want to win outside the numbers.
So. Those two outside wide receiver positions, they're both big guys. They both can catch passes over the middle, but they're mostly known for winning on jump balls. And then you bring in this dynamic. Weapon who's a speed threat.
Who, when you run with three wide receivers, he's probably on the outside and he's probably running a lot of go routes and trying to tick the top off the defense because you have to respect the speed. I've been asked a lot about David Njoku. He's about to turn 30 this summer. Um I don't think he's really a a fit for the culture that they're trying to build where it's like they're going younger. They want to have guys who can block and block first.
And I think this is a big year for JT Sanders. I mean, JC Sanders has to become a dynamic weapon for this team, or he's just going to take a backseat to Mitchell Evans and Tommy Tramble, who they really, really like. I mean, he's a guy that is probably, they would probably view as underrated. By the fan base. internally.
Mike Kay of the Charlotte Observer with us here on WSJS. Be sure to go read all of the stuff that he puts out. Um Finishing up on the draft aspect of things, this is now back to back years that Dan Morgan and the Carolina Panthers as an organization have gotten an A plus draft grade from Pro Football Focus. I don't know how much stock you put into that, but it is a thing that's happened. What has impressed you most?
watching Dan Morgan operate these last few years as the GM in the draft.
Well, I think he wants to win the right way. He wants to win the trenches. And they had never drafted an offensive lineman. He went with two this year. They I was a big A big concern of mine was: how do you replace A.
Sean Robinson, who was inarguably the number two defensive lineman for this team over the last two years? Um, they were able to find Lee Hunter, who is extremely athletic, has great bursts off the line. He really kind of. helps you make The most of Bobby Brown and Turk Warden because of how he can rotate in the rotation. I thought Sam Heck was their best draft pick for both value and need in this draft.
I think he will be a starting center before the midway point of this year, if not week one. Just depends on how many rookies they want on that offensive line in front of Bryce. I gave it a B. I think there's a difference between, like, there's this debate going on about consensus boards. I think consensus boards are really important, but I also think there's also.
contacts that's necessary, right? Like you're looking for Fit, you're looking for how the process of how they went about acquiring that player. you're looking for what their long-term projection can be. I think this draft was unique in that a lot of guys were much older than you would prefer. Philosophically, I would not draft a guy that was over 22 prior to two years ago.
But NIL and COVID and everything that's happened during these kids' college careers, it's affected the way you've evaluated and changed some philosophies. Um They're also guys that have been around, well traveled. Been to three schools, stuff like that.
So I think. You have to consider all that stuff. You have to consider the way they fit the culture, their outlook from an athletic standpoint. The fact that they didn't take any chances on guys with major injury histories is notable. I think they handled this the right way from an overall franchise philosophy.
But I think if you look at what was around when Chris Brazil was taken or Lee Hunter was taken, you kind of scratch your head and you say, well, safety is still the same for the most part. And that was a position that seemed very logically easy to upgrade. And that was not what happened here. Mike Kay with us of the show at Observer. A few more things on the way out here.
So, Bryce Young. Got his fifth year extension officially the other day, which, as expected. I view this from the outside uh as Dan Morgan prob like whether it's the things they did in free agency. And the things they did in the draft all combined, it seems like they feel in that building that Bryce Young has everything he needs now to go out and make this thing happen and answer any questions that might still be there in the building. But as somebody who is there all the time, how do you read the situation?
Well, I think you're on point. I think they have set him up in his fourth audition to land the part, right? Land the part of being the franchise quarterback. If he can't make this work, then What what what do you what do you How do you evaluate him moving forward? And I think That might be the cynical outlook.
But I also think it's It's time, right? It's time. They have invested a ton in him. They have backed him in every which way. Since the benching in year two, and he has shown.
Flashes of brilliance. The thing for him now is he needs to put it all together this year and then he'll cash in. But until that point, until he proves that he's a top sixteen quarterback in the league, it will be very hard to justify giving him a massive contract extension. The fifth year option gives them leverage to negotiate against. But it also helps Bryce in a way that if he explodes And he has a great year, his cap number is massive next year.
So he can negotiate against that as well to lower that cap number.
So they both have leverage, especially if Bryce Young performs at the level they are entrusting him to perform at. And if he can put it all together and lead them back to the playoffs and win the division in earnest instead of moonwalking into a division title, I think they'll feel pretty good about paying him. They want to pay him, by the way. They want to pay him. It's a matter of can he earn that paycheck?
I'm a big Michael Jackson fan, so I appreciate the moonwalk reference there. It's it's good stuff from Mike Kaye. I saw that you went to an alumni event for App State. And got to chat with Dow Loggins, the head coach, and Steve Wilkes, who's now working with the athletic department there in Boone. What were some of the highlights that came from that?
Well, I talked to Loggins about Xavier Leggett, who has obviously been through it the last couple of years. He worked as his offensive coordinator during his breakout South Carolina season before he got drafted by the Panthers. He thinks that Dave Canalis His approach to coaching is good for Legat. And I think. They're going to come in with a plan.
They feel good about where he's at. There is still a belief in him. And they'll see where it goes from there. But he's facing a massive, massive summer. Loggins, I also thought was really great about his coaching staff and the way he's been recruiting.
I think Loggins comes off very well for a guy who's only been a head coach for a year. He obviously has a ton of NFL experience. And he's a guy who really likes Entrusting these young players and these young prospects. Uh, on his team to develop, and he wants to make an impact on them. I think NIL has really changed the way everybody's looked at things.
But having that NFL experience, I think both he and Wilkes are prepared for this type of landscape because they've had to deal with free agency, they've had to deal with the draft, they've had to deal with all these different things. They look at high school recruiting as the draft, and then they look at the NIL stuff and transfer, and the transfer portal is free agency. I think that that's a really healthy way and professional way to go about the entire recruiting process. I also think Steve Wilkes isn't done necessarily in the NFL, he called this kind of a break. For right now, and he's a guy who cares about App State.
If you, you know, I covered him in 2022. I got to tell you, of the football coaches that I've covered in my 12 years as a beat rider. He is no less than in the top five of people that I respect that I covered. I just think he's got a way about him. I think he genuinely cares about people.
And I think he's a great motivator. I understand San Francisco ended poorly, the Jets ended poorly. At some point, you look at that, right? But I think at least what I saw from the 2022 season, it was one of the best coaching jobs I've covered. By a really large margin.
Mike Kay, check out his stuff at the Charlotte Observer. Follow his coverage on X. Mike underscore E underscore K, we appreciate you getting up from your nap to join us for a little bit, and we'll do it again sometime soon, my friend.
Sounds good, man. Rookie minicamp, Mortal Kombat 2 coming up. I hope you're ready. Hey, let's go. I'm in.
I'm in. Let's go. There he goes. Mike. Kay from the show at Observer.
Man, Michael Jackson reference, Mortal Kombat? Just can't get enough of it, man. Can't do it. I'm fired up for this Carolina Hurricanes Philadelphia Flyer series. I really am.
Hit that horn. Wake it up. Come on. Come on, let's go! I can't wait, dude.
I mean, Every game Now, the Keynes took three or four. Just want to point that out. But I mean, two of them in shootouts, one of them overtime, the one the Flyers won, that was a shootout.
So technically, nobody has won in regulation. Nobody. It's going to make for a very exciting series. Can't wait to watch it. 8 o'clock tomorrow.
In Raleigh. Fire it up. By the way. WSJS.com. Fire that up.
Hello? That's where you can listen to the show for one. You can stream us live there. As well as all of our other programs here on WSJS, whether it's 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Try today, Jeffrey Griffin. 9 a.m. to 10, you got Daily Pulse, and you got Dan Patrick from 2 to 4 in the afternoons. Colin Cowherd, the herd, comes on every day after us at 6.
So you got options. Plus, you also have options to win. Springtime winning, which Officially, like, usually a new batch comes out every week.
Next week's batch, it starts today. You get to get in early here. Extreme international ice racing. This sounds like a lot of fun. They go zero to 60 in under three seconds.
No brakes on these motorcycles or ATVs that are on the ice. No brakes. None. None. Got tickets for that.
That's at the Fairgrounds Arena over here in Winston-Salem. Then you got the TST. At Wakemed Soccer Park in Cary, May 27th through June 1st. That's a thing at Chad Ochosinko. You watch Nightcap?
I do. Ocho, he's going to be out there. We've seen Pat McAfee out at this thing before. Like, this is a lot of fun. This is cool.
Kiss Jansen. Easton Corbin. May 22nd at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Indoor Arena. These are all the tickets that we have available for you. And of course.
Bowman Gray tickets are always on WSJS.com.
So. Go there, register. See Ping Win.
