The NFL's prom

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on Sports Hub Triad.

Man are we jam-packed this afternoon. But let me start with one of my favorite stand-up comics. I've loved Gary Coleman for years and in one of his specials I remembered he joked, I love the 80s but I hate VH1s.

I love the 80s. I have a similar feeling towards the NFL Draft. I've always loved college football and the NFL so naturally I'm a big fan of the draft.

However, I think it's a joke. The draft gets moved around city to city now and I hate that starting tonight the scouting combine is being moved into prime time. The NFL is discussing rather than making this just a four or five day event with all the on-field drills. They want to stretch it out over two weeks and put it all in prime time and move the draft from or excuse me the combine from Indianapolis to several different locations.

All of that laughable to me. The NFL combine is a lot like prom. There's a lot of buildup but it's always a letdown. Everything's a front both at the combine and at prom. I don't know what prom stories you may have Robert that we can share or if we've already done this segment before.

Sawyer Dillon he's at the control room as well. How many years removed from prom are you Sawyer? One year? Maybe six months? I think I'm three years.

Okay three years removed from prom. Intern now turned into a assistant producer on this show. He is the young he represents the very young demographic that we have here on Twitter at Sports Subtriad three three six seven seven seven one six hundred. Everything's a front. For the prospect you get cut up to try and impress a team. You get to the draft or again I keep saying the draft but I mean the combine in Indianapolis. It's on national TV. It's being put into prime time. So a lot of people are going to be paying attention because NFL following it's ravenous. Everything that the NFL sells or tries to sell we buy. Even a schedule release where we know all the opponents already they put that in prime time saying oh we'll tell you what specific dates they're gonna be playing.

It doesn't matter if it's already leaked by local reporters. No we're still gonna put it in prime time. Everybody's gonna watch even though we know the opponents and probably even know the games by the time the telecast happens. We're gonna nationally televised preseason games. What else is left for the NFL to broadcast in prime time? Genuinely asking because they put the draft in prime time when that used to be an afternoon deal. They put the Hall of Fame ceremony in prime time when that used to be an afternoon deal. They've taken the combine and put it in prime time. The schedule release put it in prime time.

What else is left for them to do? The build-up is everything here. There's more build-up than there is substance. Kind of like prom where you get all dressed up. You're trying to impress your date. It's been built up for weeks in school. Oh we got a theme.

You get there. Everybody else is dressed nice. Then it's just a massive bummer. Most of the attendees both at the draft and at prom don't even want to be there. In both instances most of the people just want to be drunk or eating a steak. Usually the ones that want to attend the event are the nerds dancing on the floor first. The players who are like I'm really excited to compete and show the NFL what I have.

Nerd. You think Joe Burrow is excited about the combine? Do you think Chase Young wants to answer questions from all these reporters and have medical staff members pick and prod him and sit in a room with six or seven different teams to be asked a bunch of questions just to try and see if he gets agitated?

I don't think so. So who's really excited about being at the combine? Nerds. Man I'm looking at this story that Wright Thompson wrote last year. You got GM's, team presidents telling Wright they don't want to send people to the draft any longer. They don't know if there's any value. Once again Robert ding a bell every single time. Do you have a bell sound? Ding a bell every time I say the draft instead of combine.

Yeah my apologies for that. They don't want to send people to the combine anymore. They don't know if there's any good out of that comes from it. You got Michael Lombardi saying in a book that 40% of quarterbacks taken in the first or second round turned out to have a productive career.

40% of quarterbacks taken in the first or second round and his definition of production career a productive career is starting for three years in the league. So I mean if it's that kind of random then why are we sending so many people to Indianapolis to expense these dinners and these social events if you don't even know you're gonna get good players as a result. But none of these GM's are gonna speak publicly. None of these team presidents are gonna speak publicly. Why would they? The NFL do you think they'd have issue with that?

I think so. You're trying to sell something on national TV and you have GM's and team presidents saying yeah I don't know if there's anything to this. Kind of like prom. It's all about the after party isn't it?

At least in my case yeah that's all I care about. Yeah that's where all the action happens for the combine. That's where the info is collected. Reporters they talk to sources. Teams continue talking about trades. What's happening with Cam Newton? What's happening with Tom Brady? So yeah there's gonna be news that comes out but it's not gonna be on the field with Buddy doing the the 40-yard dash.

Charlie Heck from North Carolina isn't gonna create headlines with his cone drill. No it's just a collection of people together. What's crazy is reporters who go to attend the event and you got thousands that are there aren't even allowed to watch the on-field drills.

They're not even welcomed in to do that which is also crazy. But the after party that's where all the actions at. I don't know how late the after party is gonna go now that everything's a prime time 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. the next couple of days. But with prom that was the end goal. You weren't talking about dancing you were talking about figuring out whose mom was cool enough to buy alcohol or which friend of yours has a fake ID.

That was it. That was the mission back when you were in high school. I'm down for taking bad prom stories on Twitter at sports I've tried three three six seven seven seven one six hundred. I don't think I had a good prom experience junior year dating somebody that didn't even go to my school.

Well that's probably a stretch. I asked someone to prom that didn't go to my school and then a few weeks later she said yeah I'm dating somebody who's 25 now and he said he'd beat you up if if I went to prom with you so it's probably not a good idea for me to go to prom with you. Could he come to like could he be her plus one? That would be interesting I don't know I don't know if the small charter school public charter school I went to would be completely cool with that.

And then my senior year I asked somebody to go and then she got busted with a bottle of liquor in her backpack a week before prom and they let her go still but her parents said that they were gonna drive her to and from which wasn't exactly awesome. So no lip-locking for you? No. Dan Bonner gonna join us in about 20 minutes ACC legend longtime ACC broadcaster played at Virginia the Cavaliers they get a big win last night Kihei Clark hitting a big shot in Blacksburg and we'll talk about that game in just a bit but while we're spending time on the NFL while I think Cam Newton is gonna get moved and this week's been all about cleanup duty damage control for Matt Ruhl and Carolina saying that he's gonna be the quarterback for the Panthers come September let me tell you what I hope happens. I grew up a Panthers fan in recent years not very emotionally attached to the team since I started covering the team but I'm pro interesting which means I want Cam Newton to return if I had it my way selfishly speaking here I want Cam on Carolina because there aren't many athletes we've seen in the league that are as polarizing as Cam I think the only quarterback in the last decade we've seen is Tom Brady on the polarity scale he might be the most polarizing athlete we've ever seen in this state's history the outfits his style of play his comments there are a few quarterbacks you can't miss their postgame press conference just because of the content mine it is Cam Newton is one of those quarterbacks also he's the most productive option available for 2020 now you might remember I said there are better alternatives for the long-term future for Carolina available Philip Rivers short-term contract you can maybe get some draft capital in exchange for Cam Newton Teddy Bridgewater probably would be more productive less of a gamble for the long haul since he's 27 years old Cam's a gamble but if he's as healthy as the Panthers think he's gonna be he's the most productive option Philip Rivers he's a statue behind that offensive line that's not gonna work out well in 2020 Teddy Bridgewater he's not very mobile as well and if Cam is healthy again a gamble give me Cam's productivity over Bridgewater's this coming season lastly it would be sad to end the Panthers greatest quarterbacks tenure the way it has transpired the last two years it shouldn't go out with the Panthers making the decision to move off of cam when he still has a couple of years left in the tank at least like even Jake the loam after throwing the six or seven picks having all those turnovers in the playoff game against the Cardinals got the contract and got another opportunity to redeem himself and even though he didn't the Panthers have never had a quarterback as good as cam never had an MVP winner before cam it almost feels like the right thing to do the right way for this story to end is for cam to get a shot with this new staff led by Matt rule whether or not that happens will continue to follow if I had to bet the day I think the Panthers move off of cam but if you're asking me what I would like to see happen personally professionally I want to see cam playing for the Panthers at least another season coming up the college basketball star that would be the Hornets dream pick in the lottery this summer we're looking ahead to the NBA draft next on the drive Josh Graham loves to talk sports he also loves to wear itchy clothes so he has an excuse to scratch himself you're on the drive with Josh Graham this is a very strong NBA draft we have coming up this summer but since we do a lot of college basketball around here and the Charlotte Hornets they're expected to be picking pretty high in the lottery I want to jump ahead and start looking at dream scenario for Charlotte let's say they have the number one or number two pick in the draft who is the player you'd most like to see playing in a Hornets uniform because for me I think it's Cole Anthony still I think Cole is the Hornets dream option not OB top in it Dayton who's had an excellent season not even James Wiseman who left Memphis early both those guys big men Charlotte they've gotten their fair share of big men the last few years with PJ Washington and Miles Bridges I think it's time for Charlotte to draft the star point card because seven of the last eight lottery picks for Charlotte have been forwards Monken not monk but bridges in Washington they've been the hits the misses have been Noah Von Le Cody Zeller who's still in the roster Frank Kaminsky those have been the misses Michael King Gilchrist wasn't quite Anthony Davis being picked second in that draft behind the New Orleans Pelicans of course but seven of the last eight lottery picks have been boards and that monk guy Malik monk he was the only guard of the bunch and he wasn't picked in the top ten the last top ten guard the Hornets took Kimball Walker in 2011 ninth overall and rest assured Cole Anthony is a stall it's not hard to spot you don't have to justify it but his dad's Greg Anthony has all this flair going into college he has flair when he speaks he's confident he's mature that's probably the thing I'm gonna value the most in a draft that's pretty thin I'm gonna value maturity Zion had it last year John Moran had it RJ Barrett had some of it but wasn't quite as mature as the top two and I think that's a difference and how prepared the first two were versus the latter and their rookie season situation of course plays into that as well but Cole Anthony he's a mature guy I learned a lot from him in the way that he decided to return to North Carolina despite the fact the team was struggling there's a lot to learn from that in fact I take this is an interesting question to ask who would you take today Cole Anthony or Kobe white three three six seven seven seven one six hundred on Twitter at sports up try it because I'd take Cole today over Kobe understanding that Kobe has had this string of terrific games in the NBA my issue with Kobe white going into the league I didn't think he was very mature and also he didn't have a diverse skill set he's not very big he's he's an excellent shooter and a great score but defensively he didn't have much he didn't bring anything in rebounding Cole has a diverse skill set shooting driving rebounding he's gonna be a lot better of a defender in fact he's improved a lot since the beginning of the year don't let North Carolina's record fool you basketball people they could see through it Cole Anthony is a star he would be the Hornets dream draft pick if he's available wherever they're picking if Charlotte lucks out the way the Pelicans lucked out and getting the number one pick and getting Zion I think they draft Cole over Obie Toppin over James Wiseman over that shooting guard out of Georgia over lamello ball give me Cole Anthony I think that is the dream pick for Charlotte he'd become the face of the team around a good young core and just think about this backcourt you got Terry Rozier who you could trade away it's not a great contract but he averages 17 and 5 a game 17.5 rebounds excuse me points I should say you can move that contract somebody will take that contract when you're talking about 17 million dollars and a guy who averages 17.5 points a game but if you keep them you got Devante Graham Cole Anthony and Terry Rozier who can handle the basketball two of the three being combo guards Dwayne Bacon has shown good signs before being sent down to the G League on a stint and which he's been dominant of late PJ Washington Miles Bridges so I like what Charlotte is building and I think Mitch Kupchak and James Borrego have showed a shown us enough with the players that they have drafted for us to rely on these people to make a solid pick they took bridges they took Washington those are the only two first round picks we've seen from JB and Mitch and their time with the Hornets this isn't a rich show situation so this is gonna be a very important pick for Charlotte they just need to stop winning as much as they are beating the New York Knicks last night on Twitter at sports up try at 3 3 6 7 7 7 1 600 is the phone number we're going to be joined by Dan Bonner former Virginia Cavalier ACC television legend in about 10 minutes time speaking of Virginia to get the win last night and one scarce trait in college basketball this year that Virginia possesses that many other teams do not is reliability it's one of the most important things to me Robert you've known me about as well as anybody in radio if I say I'm gonna be somewhere odds are I'm there 10 15 minutes early I'm always there if you try to call me odds are I pick up or I'm gonna call you back five ten minutes time I'm a pretty quick texter I am reliable and that's one of my biggest assets it's one of the most important things to me if I don't show up somewhere I say I'm gonna be at call the police call the National Guard something's gone wrong same deal with Virginia if Virginia doesn't show up if Virginia gets waxed blown out in a game something has gone terribly wrong because it doesn't happen they are consistent in style and they're consistent with their effort they've only had one bad loss this year one loss that was decided by a dozen or more points and that was a loss at Purdue and it should be remembered Braxton Key didn't play in that game he was injured he injured his wrist in that game so that was way back on December the fourth they're consistent in style and consistent with their effort they have four guys who have hit massive shots in their career that could be relied on to hit a big shot mama didi Akita hit the most important shot in Virginia history against Purdue of all teams last year and Kihei Clark had the assist Kihei Clark had the game-winning shot last night in the final three seconds a dagger three North Carolina fans know what Thomas Walden tensize capable of Wake Forest fans saw it as well Jay Huff hit a corner three against wake that was important these are guys that many of them were on the team last year who have been in big games seen big moments hit big shots how many guys on Duke do you trust to hit a big shot Trey Jones and Trey Jones great team Duke better team than Virginia just not as reliable Louisville I like a lot of players on the team but I haven't seen Ryan McMahon hit the biggest shot in the game David Johnson even Jordan Wara to a degree Virginia they've been battle-tested for guys who are key players on the championship team returning I mentioned d Akita I mentioned Huff Kihei Clark keys another one he was the leading rebounder on Virginia a year ago how's this for numbers though Virginia's played a lot of one possession games it's not just that tournament run they went on last year where they had all those wicked close games overtime against Texas Tech the free throws from Kyle guy at the end of the Auburn game Purdue a scare in the opener against Gardner Webb in the 16-1 those guys experienced that but this year they've played seven one possession games their record six and one how about we widen things a little bit more make it two possessions games decided by six points or less Virginia's had eleven of those games they are nine and two that is reliable you don't see a lot of reliable in college basketball this season so that's something I value I'm not saying Virginia's gonna go on a run like last year they don't have the talent they did with guy and Hunter and Ty Jerome but they do have a lot of experience at key spots they have those four key players from that team they're battle-tested and they're reliable consistent style consistent effort so Virginia is a team to keep an eye on when you're filling out your bracket as I mentioned Dan Bonner he went to Virginia has covered the league for over 30 years what will be the biggest story heading into the ACC tournament in Greensboro two weeks from now Dan Bonner will tell us next on the drive stand by as we continue our dig for the truth and the toy at the bottom of the cereal box you're on the drive with Josh Graham on sports hub triad Dan Bonner has been one of the best on the ACC and all of college basketball for a very long time he's gonna be on the call from Michigan Ohio State on Sunday but in my book he's an ACC legend and in the triad we're very excited about the return of the ACC tournament to Greensboro it's returning in a little less than two weeks for the first time in five years and Dan there are a lot of storylines going into this tournament North Carolina gonna be playing on a Tuesday for the first time you have looking at some of the other things here the obvious return to Greensboro 9 AD's currently at place in place of the ACC have never stepped foot in the Greensboro Coliseum and it's been a bit of an uneven year in all of college basketball but especially the ACC so maybe things are ripe for a shocker what do you think's the biggest story heading into the ACC tournament Wow Josh those are really interesting things 9 AD's have never set foot in the Greensboro Coliseum that's amazing crazy right yeah it's crazy of course there's 38 teams in the ACC now so you know I think the biggest story going in to the tournament is sort of the same thing it is every year I like the fact he's back in Greensboro when I was in school that's where the tournament always was and so Greensboro sort of feels like home to me for the ACC tournament although I understand their desire to move it around but Greensboro is always the place that felt like home to me but I think the story is the same as it is every year and that is who if anybody is going to be able to play their way into the NCA tournament at the ACC tournament and NC State is one of the teams that it looks like it short of beating Duke later in the regular season with a few games left probably needs to make some noise in Greensboro we'll have Joe Linardi on the show a little bit later on but what needs to happen you think for the pack how many wins in order for you to feel comfortable saying they're in well you know I that's that's a very good question Joe Linardi is the guy who invented all this stuff and I guess is he gonna take your call from his mom's basement that's where he has to live along with all those other guys I hope there I hope there's food in there there's like are there food is there drinks you know all those guys who do that they come up with all those numbers you know I you know it's one of those things where North Carolina State has put themselves in position where they can play their way in or play their way out and the easiest way to play your way in is to win as many games as possible I think obviously would really help them to beat Duke again which will be a very difficult task and there are other games I think they play pit and it escapes me who else they play but they're two winnable games but that doesn't mean they're going to win them they can't afford to stumble down the stretch here in the regular season and they would be very well advised to at least win a couple in Greensboro but even if they do they're gonna be right at the bottom of the pack bottom of the list of people who might get in and they could be very subject to bid stealers from other leagues because there will be teams in other conferences who aren't supposed to win who do and will take a bit away from a team like NC State so they are in a position that I don't envy. Dan Bonner with us here on Sports Hub Triad watching Sunday Michigan Ohio State does great work college basketball analysis for CBS Sports also for ACC Network what shift things to Virginia you're a Virginia guy that's where you went to school as you mentioned and last night they get the win and Kihei Clark hits a big shot I think they're getting overlooked a little bit Dan when you consider they have a trait that's scarce in today's college basketball reliability they've played in seven one possession games they're six and one in those and they are nine and two in games decided by six points or less I'm looking at guys hitting big shots like Diakite, Jay Huff, you got Kihei Clark you got Walden Tinzai who's been big at times these are guys who can hit big-time shots and have proven it this year they're battle-tested in my mind what do you think Virginia's ceiling is this year? You know I think it has been an amazing year for Virginia I think Tony Bennett has done a great job developing that team and that's something that in this day and age of college basketball with the way we measure things with all these metrics that we use we basically insist the teams be really good right out of the box and if you're not then there's something wrong with you and so I think that Virginia has actually developed their team I think they have overcome that that criticism you know they lost by 29 points at Purdue and at the time that was like a big disaster but it wasn't a big disaster for Michigan State when they lost by 29 points at Purdue or for Iowa when they lost by 36 points at Purdue and so winning all those close games I think has gotten Virginia past that narrative and now people are talking about wow you know they're really good in close games and Josh they've only played in in the conference they played 17 games and they've only played four games that they have been the results have been decisive where there hasn't been any question down in the last couple of possessions now of course they lost by a large margin to Syracuse but that was an overtime game they fell by more than one possession at Louisville but that was that was a game where they were actually ahead with three minutes to go so given the fact that they play so many close games they could just as easily instead of being 12 and 5 they could be 4 and 13 or they could be 17 and 0 their defense is good enough that they can win every game they play their offense is bad enough that they lose every game they play and so I think that if I was a Virginia fan that I would really have to have my blood pressure medication with me if I watch them play maybe the same for Duke as well because when they're playing outside of Cameron indoor stadium they get off to rocky starts just like they did against Boston College and North Carolina and at NC State last week I was at the game in Winston-Salem and of course they lose in double overtime to Danny Manning's bunch coach K he's he talked about after the game that this team he's hoped that they would mature they would get older quicker than they have when you look at a team that loses to Stephen F Austin seems to be unreliable playing away from home what are your concerns for the Blue Devils as they look ahead to March I'm not sure that they're unreliable when they play away from home I don't you know that I did that game against Stephen F Austin and Stephen F Austin just Stephen F Austin looked like an old experience tough group of guys playing against a bunch of kids and that's exactly what it looked like in Duke wins that game if they just make a couple of free throws so I I didn't get in a panic that a lot of people did about that game in terms of getting mature well you know you can get mature and you can get some experience but most for most of the key players that was their first time playing in front of the crowd at North Carolina that was their first time playing in front of the crowd at North Carolina State and against a desperate North Carolina State team and that was their first time going on the road at Wake Forest you know there are three North Carolina rivals there's a lot to what's going on there and that was their first time experiencing that at those various places so okay maybe they shouldn't have lost the games but I just don't it just doesn't affect me I think they're a very good team I think they have a chance to make a deep run into the NCAA tournament and team sometimes you know they struggled during the course of the year I I don't think there's anything to worry about with Duke it's gonna be such a wild tournament can't wait for it to all get started in the in Greensboro for the ACC tournament two weeks from the day we're gonna be seeing the top four seeds play in the ACC tournament in Greensboro then of course it's the big dance which for us is fittingly gonna start in Greensboro as well first and second round action Dan look forward to watching you on Sunday thank you for squeezing in the time thanks really appreciate you having me you got it that's Dan Bonner ACC legend from CBS and the ACC Network we got our weekly ACC rankings 1 through 15 up at ACC sports.com and there's a lot of agreement between David Glenn Brian Geisinger and myself we go 1 through 15 we all have Florida State as the number one team BG has Duke second while me and DG had Louisville second the top three I mean we know who they are Virginia four this is where it gets kind of sad so it's East a right there at 500 and they are the fifth best team in the ACC like all three of us agree they're the fifth best team then it's some combination of Syracuse and Notre Dame and after that God knows like I could tell you about the bottom five and really they're starting to be some shakeup there DG's dead set that Boston College is terrible and they're 14th but they actually have a pretty good conference record believe it or not Boston College I have them 11th Wake Forest they still have 14 deacon fans probably not a big fan of that but larger sample versus smaller sample am i right so if you want to check out the ACC rankings for Brian Geisinger myself David Glenn 1 through 15 you can find that on my Twitter page at Josh Graham radio also you can find that at ACC sports.com all right I want to return things to the NFL scouting combine I feel like I'm obligated to do that a bit before we do that though I can see Tom Brady playing in three places and three places only I'll tell you what those decks destinations are next here comes the life of the party the drive corrupting the minds and the hearts of our children with Josh Graham program for low expectations on sports hub triad I love the NFL scouting combine but Robert our executive producer on the other side of the glass seems to love it and he keeps peppering me with 40 times being ran by Titans I've never heard of so this is what I want to do Darren Gants now joining us one of our favorite guests from pro football talk calm after every single one of Darren's answers Robert I just want you to give me give the audience a sense of what I've been dealing with during the commercial breaks and just tell me the name of a tight end and give me his 40 time as the scouting combine has been put in prime time it just started in the last 30 minutes Darren how goes it happy scouting combine day yes hello friends it's it's gotten a little ridiculous and I'll be honest with you this thing stopped being about football evaluation a long time ago this is TV inventory now and that's the reason they're doing drills in this early afternoon in the evening is because the league wants few more eyeballs on its network and you know I'm sure all the evaluators who were used to starting this process at 9 a.m. so they could do interviews at night then go drink beer with their colleagues are kind of disturbed by the fact that their beer drinking is being put on hiatus for a few hours but I I'm sure the gang at prime is is still taking care of business there after hours because as we all know that's the true function of the scouting combine Albert Ockham the guy the fellas name who I could not pronounce earlier he just ran the fourth fastest tight end time since 2003 with a 4 4 9 what's the appeal Darren of this being put in prime time we talked about the draft being moved and I don't really know it's a great television show the draft and I like the draft but the idea of it being a spectacle sport is a funny idea to me but what's the appeal of the combine guys you'd have to ask somebody else I wouldn't consume a lot of this if I wasn't being paid to I don't think the 40-yard dashes and stuff I mean listen if you get little fast guys running past 40s I enjoy watching Olympic track I mean watching fast people run fast is interesting and I'll do that for a little while but I guess it's kind of like watching the XFL you you just have to love love love football to consume this product year-round and ultimately that's the NFL's goal is to keep their product on the minds of their customers the entire calendar so rather than passing up the opportunity for somebody to watch college football hey let's give them this to look at and and we'll put some three cone drills on TV and they'll be really excited about that Hunter Bryant the Washington tight end just ran a 4-6 Darren Gant with us from pro football talk calm so I'm conflicted on what I heard from Matt rule earlier in the week did you sense damage control with his comments or sincerity from the Panthers head coach saying that cam is absolutely going to be a Panther this year I don't take anything Matt rule said is meaning absolutely anything and and I you know I'm not saying there's nefarious intent involved here but the only honest answer to any questions about cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers in 2020 can only be I don't know and I understand that nation nature abhors a vacuum and I don't know is the worst possible answer to give on any topic in our hashtag content driven culture but nobody knows right now the Panthers don't know if he's well enough to play in June or August or September the Panthers don't know if he's willing to take a physical for another team who might be interested in trading for him so they're sort of stuck right now and it's a bad time to be stuck in that position because you know you're walking into the most waterlogged market for quarterbacks that we've ever had I mean Tom Brady's a free agent Phil Provers is a free agent Jamis Winston Marcus Mariota went one and two in a draft or free agents there are a lot of guys out there who can fill a lot of jobs and the Panthers might be stuck with cam Newton at the moment and unable to move him that being said being stuck with cam Newton ain't the worst thing in the world if cam Newton is cam Newton again and if he's healthy and if he's well then there are a lot worse fates from that rule in his first year as a head coach than walking into an offense with cam Newton Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore because that's how they'd have to win games they don't have the kind of personnel and defense to be competitive right now and if cam Newton's gone they're not going to be competitive period but if you have to go into a season with cam as your quarterback and then figure out the contract stuff later you know there were spots to be in Tennessee tight end took his time running the 40 Dom Wood Anderson Renee four eight five so I do like I love the way that four eight five in the 40 is perceived as slow faster than anybody speaking or listening to this radio show can run I'd love to take a foot race there's a park in Charlotte where they've got a radar 40-yard dash course and I went out there one time and I thought okay yeah this will be fun take the kids out there running around I'm in jeans and boots because it's winter or something and I put a seven something on the board now granted I wasn't trying or training but you don't understand how fast a five-second 40-yard dash is unless you're one of the people that can do it and those are not many Toby Parkinson look kind of slow too with a 483 I couldn't do a 483 40 if I fell out of an airplane I do wish somebody would just be honest and say they don't know with cam David Tepper tried to do that but here's the thing with Tepper Tepper is a guy who never is back down from any uncomfortable subject in any way he's gonna talk about non-disclosure agreements at his first press conference he's gonna talk about or the lack thereof he's gonna talk about MLS when that's not a thing and a lot of things have to happen in order for it to take place he doesn't mind talking about the stadium he doesn't mind saying that kneeling football players are patriotic but it was a really not surreal but interesting image to have Tepper against those lockers in that locker room not wanting to really expound on anything regarding his quarterback so I wonder how did you interpret Tepper's comments paired with possibly related incidents cam on his Instagram saying all I want is commitment and Tepper sending a letter to PSL owners which the crux of the message was we need to tear down before we rebuild yeah I don't think it was accidental on cam's part at all and that's where this kind of a tricky situation there you know they've got a human being to manage as well and cam's not like the other kids he can be high maintenance most quarterbacks or MVP level can be but it's a tricky situation because cam and and I don't mean this particularly about cam if Aaron Rodgers was in this situation Aaron Rodgers would not want to be going into the final year of his contract coming off an injury without any security I think any quarterback of that stature would be in a similar spot if Matt Ryan in Atlanta was in a contract year and coming off an injury he would want a little security too so this stuff is in particular to cam or cam's not a bad guy because he wants his stuff but it does leave a little man management for Matt rule to handle and I think that as much as anything is what I took out of his comments this week is when he said hey I'm the coach my job is to coach up the guys I've got and even though we all know Matt rules got the run of the building and you know I'm not saying he's actually the GM but he's gonna be the guy who makes big decisions and he's able to stand back and say yeah I'm gonna work with who I got and why wouldn't I want to work with Camden well of course Camden's great at football why wouldn't you want to work with a guy like that so it's natural that he says that but there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to manage some feelings and to keep people you know on the same side of the boat so to speak because it could go sideways in a hurry I mean all it would take if cam's feelings are really hurt and in June he says I don't ever want to play you're really stuck because then this entire markets gone and Tom Brady's found a new home and Phil Fritters has found a new home and maybe Jamis Winston has too and everybody's getting paid and if you get to June or August and he says now ain't coming without a new contract that's a problem right now they're just trying to push and avoid install and hope it doesn't become one down the road the often forgotten LSU tight end Steven Sullivan showed some fleet feet running a 4-6-4 Darren Gant with us from pro football talk calm he's on Twitter at Darren Gant also NBC Sports you're also waiting for Gilbert's 40 times since we've gotten Sullivan in so far today you're also somebody who is a Hall of Fame boner a voter as we've discussed and in addition to that you might be no Stradamus as well because I asked you what show you would like to see next on the Bank of America Stadium lineup that we've seen in recent years include Billy Joel or in recent months it's gonna start with Billy Joel and many other star acts are gonna be going to Bank of America Stadium you said you'd like to see the Rolling Stones and apparently David Tepper and company might have been listening yeah either that or I might have been listening to something I shouldn't have heard earlier or something like that one of those two things could be possible it's gonna be exciting and I've got my tickets and I swallowed hard and wrote a car payment to go see Mick and Keith and the boys on July 1st but it's gonna be worth it I mean I would I would hate to think that I would look at that amount of money if something happened to the goats guys down the road man I regret not seeing that last show in in Charlotte so you know I swallowed hard bought the tickets but that's one of those it it's the stones you you stop worrying about about the amount of money you paid for that ticket the minute they hit the first lick of start me up CJ Oh Grady the Arkansas tight end just ran at four seven flat Darren appreciate you spending time with us in addition to you bringing insight Robert brought you some during the segment as well so maybe a change of speed there I feel like we all learned something here today Thank You Darren see y'all that's Darren Gant from pro football dot com NBC Sports joining us and he seems to have similar feelings about the NFL scouting combine to me up next why the scouting combine really reminds me of prom Oh prom keep it your own the dry sports hub triad presents the pre-k priority of Forsyth County high school athlete of the week let's go each week nominated high school athletes will be recognized for their accomplishments