Jake Delhomme, Former Carolina Panthers Quarterback

What makes your skin crawl, no matter how absurd? I want to know.

Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums? I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. What makes your skin crawl, no matter how absurd? I want to know.

Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums? I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. We continue to the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. The Carolina Panthers back in the playoff mix right now. So we go right out to the guest line and welcome in former Panthers quarterback in Jake Deloam.

Jake, appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing well, Zach. It is exciting times in Carolina. You know, it's I think early in the season we had high expectations going into the season. And then it obviously didn't start well at all for this football team. And so now to see this team starting to play some pretty good football and hope it can continue this weekend against Pittsburgh.

It's it's good to see because I was one that, you know, I was championing the Panthers. I thought they could have been a seven, eight, maybe a nine win football team. And if you get hot along the way, you steal a win or two and this team could have snuck in the door for the playoffs. And, you know, it wasn't looking good for a while for this team and you could see some talent was there.

It just wasn't happening. And then Steve Wilkes gets the job and things kind of change to say the least. And it's a different mentality with this football team and they're playing some pretty good football right now. So Steve Wilkes and taking over as the interim head coach, their foreign for it begs the question, is he going to be back next year? Just what kind of has been the conversation and vibe in North Carolina about that?

Listen, let's be brutally honest here. I think when he was named the interim, I think everybody was kind of like, well, let's just play the season out and see who they hire in the off season. I think that's kind of what the mindset was. But he came in and I was told from his first meeting to his first practice, to his first everything, it was just different.

And the players went had a total buy in and every week you just kind of see something start to change a little bit more with this football team. And there's just something about him. He's just it's like an intentness with him. It's everything. There's an intent in everything that he does.

He's not beating around the bush. The players have really and truly bought in totally. And we're doing it with different quarterbacks. I mean, this team has had three quarterbacks with high ankle sprains this year. I don't know how often that truly happens. And and to be quite honest, there's not a true franchise quarterback on this roster.

And that's just that's just the reality reality of it. So they've done well. They've established themselves as a running football team, a tough, hard nosed defensive football team with a good young core of talent, especially defensively, that I think this is a team that you can continue to build because there's some young, solid talent on this team. The question is, if you get rid of Steve Wilkes, who are you bringing in that's going to be vastly better? And everyone goes to Sean Payton. I don't see the Saints and the Panthers working out a trade to get Sean over to Carolina. I've even seen Mike Florio throw out the name Mike Tomlin with David Tepper's ties to Pittsburgh. But who knows if the Steelers are ready to move on from Mike Tomlin? Probably not. That's my question. Like, who do you get in that is realistic and better than what Steve Wilkes is doing right now?

Listen, it'd be hard pressed. And and I've won. I've said it all along. And I did not I wasn't in Carolina playing at the time when Steve was there. He came after my time there, but got to know him and know the respect that the players had for him. He was dealt a bad hand in Arizona.

There's just no other way around it. That was not a good football team. And when he went there roster wise, they made the decision to draft Josh Rosen. And that hasn't worked out, to say the least. And that just wasn't a good, a good roster. And he got fired after one year.

I mean, it's very simple. He wasn't given a true chance. So this was a guy that was an established football coach, a very good defensive coordinator under Ron Rivera in Carolina. And he didn't get an opportunity. But now he's gotten an opportunity. And for the most part, he kind of looks, he acts and he smells like a head coach.

I mean, if you if you look at it, that's what you're getting. Jake Delome here with us. So is your expectation now that he's going to be the head coach next year? Do you need to see more? You know what?

Listen, I'm not writing the checks. I like what I've seen so far from him. I think there'll be many guys that you've kind of seen the heyday. They've been named the head coach, but there's no head coach qualities. And what exactly is the head coach quality? I think the biggest thing are your leader of men. That's one thing you got to be able to lead men.

You got to be able to delegate to your assistant coaches, hire a very good staff, a good support system. But the players have to believe in you. They've got to believe in your system. And they have to have their ears have to be open.

They've got to listen to your message and believe in that message. So I think he's done everything so far up until this point. Excuse me, if this team finishes out well, there's a chance then it'd be hard pressed for you to find somebody, in my opinion, that is, you know, done a better job than what he's done and can come in and do a better job. Jake Delome here with us. You talked about the quarterback, so the lack of it on the roster. We know Baker Mayfield is now with the Rams. You got P.J.

Walker. You also have Sam Darnold. That's also a compelling thing with the Panthers are going to do this offseason because it's better that they're playing well. But they're also moving themselves out of a top 10 draft pick where, you know, they could have been easier in play for a franchise quarterback, maybe.

Yeah, you're exactly right. But then the question is this. Is there a franchise quarterback in this draft?

It's a fair question. I would say Bryce Young is someone that I believe in. And I think he's going number one after that. I like C.J. Stroud.

I don't love C.J. Stroud. Yeah.

And that's something that to say that I've studied these guys enough, that would be a complete lie on my part. But is there a franchise guy? I'm just a believer in this. I truly believe if you just kind of build your team, you got to build this team, build your football team, especially both sides of the football, a solid offensive line, and you get a nasty defensive line that can get after the quarterback and you just build your team. And hopefully somewhere along the line, you can find that quarterback. Be at the draft.

Maybe you hit on somebody in free agency or whatever it may be. But you just got to continue to build this team. We're getting draft picks back. We traded Christian McCaffrey away. We've received some draft capital for that.

So this team is set up to add to some of the young core that I truly believe is present already on this roster. Talking to Jake Deloam right now at his Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, staying in the NFC South. A lot of questions about the future of Tom Brady. Is he going to stay with Tampa? Is he going to go to Fox? Is he going to be playing somewhere else next year? But what do you think Tom's going to be doing next year?

You know, that's I don't think anyone knows, to be quite honest. I truly thought last year was his final year. We spoke briefly about a month and a half ago when the Panthers played Tampa on before the game. And it was time myself and left by left, which we go way back. And and it's kind of funny. You know, Tom was like, hey, you need to come back to play.

I'm like, buddy, I just said, hey, just a number. And that smile on his face and just look in those eyes. He truly loves what he does. I know last week was not good for them against San Francisco, but the week prior against the Saints watching him walk into that press conference and just that glisten in his eye. And that's smart.

Just like we drew it up. I mean, that's it's a drug to him. It really and truly is. And he loves it. And he's still a really good football player. What do you think Rogers does this offseason? I know they just signed into that contract extension, but this has been a miserable year for the Green Bay Packers.

No, it has. I'd be shocked if he'd walk away. I just think the Christian Watson kid, what he's done all the time that he's missed and what he's done in the last month. And I think they could add a piece or two here and there. I truly believe he comes back.

That's just my opinion. I don't see Rogers going out like this. Jake Deloam here with us. Another interesting thing is Matthew Stafford, because he's made all the money in the world. He now has a Super Bowl. He probably won't ever be a Hall of Fame guy. But now he's dealing with a lot of injuries and you start to talk about a neck injury and other things as well. Elbow and concussions. I just wonder how much longer he's going to be able to physically play. And I wonder what those conversations are like this offseason.

Well, I'm sure they'll be real. And I'm not so sure of all of his medical deals. Exactly what's going on right now.

Yeah. Was the concussion now a neck and then he had the shoulder deal. So that's something that maybe we're not privy to just yet. But the biggest thing is they've got to protect him. And there's no draft capital there for them to to protect him to get offensive lineman.

And how do they fit under that salary cap and things of that nature. So that's going to be the one to me that that's going to be the wild card this offseason. Jake, I'm here with us when we look at the AFC right now.

It's Joe Burrow. It's Josh Allen and it's Patrick Mahomes. Who's the team? Because those are the only three teams I could really see get into the Super Bowl in the AFC.

Who's the team that you roll with? Buddy, I'm a huge Buffalo Bill fan due to Brandon Dean, Sean McDermott, Josh Allen. But Patrick Mahomes, what he has done and I just continue to marvel watching him play. Joe Burrow, I watched him play 45 minutes down the road from where I live in Louisiana at LSU and what he's done. But gosh, I truly believe we're going to see a Buffalo, Kansas City rematch in the AFC Championship game.

And needless to say, we need to watch all 60 minutes and plus because we just don't know exactly how that will end up. But those two teams, to me, look like they are kind of above everybody else. I understand Cincinnati did beat Kansas City the last three times that they played them. But it's just Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. They're just different right now. And Joe Burrow, you just see it coming.

I mean, he's there already, but you just see it more and more. So that's going to be a great deal in the AFC. And on the NFC side, it's... Seems like it's Philadelphia. Philadelphia, yeah. Now San Francisco, that is a nasty football team. Sure.

They're nasty. And the Purdy kid, listen, it's two games. But running that offense and what he does to kind of distribute the football, if they can get Debo back and get Elijah Mitchell back to pair with Christian, that could be a scary, scary proposition also. But certainly Jalen Hurts is done in Philadelphia and what they've added in the offseason, the AJ Brown.

Wow. That's a nice piece to pick up in the offseason, to say the least. Now, Kyler Murray's dealing with the torn ACL, was not having a good year this season. Just what advice would you give to Kyler Murray? Because I'm starting to wonder if he's the guy, but he's getting paid like he is the guy.

Listen, he got paid like he's the guy. And we've seen... We've seen flashes. I think that's the biggest thing. And I saw it firsthand this year. The Panthers are up 10 to 3 at half in Carolina. And I'm watching a dejected football team walk into the locker room at half. But yet they came back in the second half. They made some plays. He was able to run around and make some beautiful passes. So this is going to be a tough offseason for him. Having to rehab, how quick can he come back and what do they do? I mean, they signed extensions to the head coach and the general manager.

And there's a lot of people getting paid a lot of money and there hasn't been a whole lot of success. Before we let Jake Delum run, last one that I'll ask you about, just in terms of the whole quarterback situation right now. Who's someone that you've just thoroughly been impressed with this year that maybe we did not talk about yet? You know, I'm a huge fan of watching Trevor Lawrence play. I really and truly, I try to watch him as much as I can. Sundays are difficult because I'm calling the Panther game, but I try to watch him.

I think you have to really flush last year. I don't think there was much going on in Jacksonville last year. You get a veteran like Doug Peterson and Press Taylor, what he's doing, calling plays. Young up-and-comer, he'll be a head coach at some point. Mike McCoy, long-time quarterback coach, head coach.

He was my coach in Carolina and I know the kind of call Mike can bring to the quarterback room and watching Trevor Lawrence play. That's been pretty impressive because we saw he hit a lull over in London, made a couple of bad plays in that game in London, kind of cost his team the game. But he's answered in some of the plays he's made. But he's won that.

That's exciting to see, to watch him play. All right, I'm going to put you on the spot. Last question for Jake Delome. We talked about the Panthers in the beginning. I still think the Bucks, and I don't believe they're that great of a team this year, obviously, are going to win that division. Are you still going with Tampa to win that division, or are you going to sell me on Carolina? Listen, I'm selling you on Carolina. We do a weekly podcast, a long-time left tackle.

I'm Jordan Gross, and I do one on panthers.com every week. I said it two weeks ago. I said we're going on a five and we're going on a run.

It's very simple. We were going to beat Denver. We were going to have a bye, kind of regroup, refresh, and Sam Darnell would get a little more time to get acclimated in this offense with the ones. We went to Seattle and got a win. We had Pittsburgh coming to Carolina on Sunday. I think we'll play well.

The test, to me, the next big test is Detroit on Christmas Eve. This Detroit football team is playing as well offensively as anybody in the National Football League. I truly believe this Panther team can make a run. Then you have to go to Tampa to play them. Listen, we beat them once already.

Why can't we continue to do that? Tampa hasn't been playing great. I know they beat the Saints on the Monday Night Football, but they were down 16-3 with five minutes left to go in that game. If Mark Ingram gets the first down instead of running out of bounds, that game is over with. They haven't played the best football in the Saints. It's just been one thing after another with the Saints.

I truly believe the Panthers can finish off this season extremely strong. Always fun to chat with Jake Dellum. Jake, appreciate the time as always. Thanks, Zach.

I appreciate it. What makes your skin crawl, no matter how absurd? I want to know.

Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums? I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm interested in making money.

I'm not interested in hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio.

Season two, The Dixie Mafia, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Is there something really absurd that skeeves you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball? A fear you can't shake? I'm going to leak ocular fluid down my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from.