1st & Goal: Jake Delhomme, Former Carolina Panthers Quarterback

The NFL season is inching closer and closer.

Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? We have four downs to figure out your team's future. It's time now for First and Goal on the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty, Carolina Panthers day. Let's bring in a man that did lead the Panthers to the Super Bowl, played quarterback for them for a bunch of years and that's Jake Delome, kind enough to join us.

Jake, always appreciate the time. How you been? I'm doing well and I'm doing even better because training camps are starting and it's getting closer. So, when we look at Bryce Young, right, you played the position.

You know what it's like to go win with the Panthers organization. You guys had two different paths clearly, but what advice would you give to Bryce Young as he's getting ready to embark on year one in the National Football League? Well, listen, it's hard for me to give him advice. He's the first overall pick and I was undrafted and that took a little while. But I think the biggest thing is he's just got to continue to be himself and immerse himself in this football team, in this offense and still get to know all the guys. And listen, the kid was the number one quarterback coming out of high school.

He was the number one overall pick. Obviously, he has something that works for him. So, he needs to continue to doing what he's doing and just kind of be exactly who he is. And the NFL is different. This is not college. This is not high school. So, just continue on the path that he's been on and, you know, he has a great work ethic.

So, we'll see if that can translate. Certainly, it has from high school to college and in the NFL. All reports, though, from the offseason, he's done a fabulous job. And I'm a proponent of if the quarterback is ready, you put him on the field as soon as possible. I know some people disagree, but he's going to be the Panthers starting quarterback. Do you think that's a mistake or maybe they should have waited a few weeks?

You know what? That's so hard for me to say. I know I was not ready whatsoever. I could have never done that. And then you get a Peyton Manning who was like, absolutely, I needed to play. Was I ready? Maybe not, but it made me, it expedited my process in getting ready to play. So, I think what he's shown in the offseason is that it was a really good grasp of the offense.

And it just felt like the time was right. And it doesn't seem like it was too big for him. And Andy Dalton, I think, has been a major player in all this and that, you know, Andy understands this role that he has taken on this year. He might have to play a lot of games.

He might have to play none whatsoever. And he understands where he's at in his career. So, I think that's always great to have that in the room with someone like Bryce. But everything so far, he has shown that he is ready to move forward. And I look at the offense because part of that conversation is, is the quarterback ready and then does he have enough around him? I think the offensive line could be really good this year in Carolina. But you look elsewhere, they don't really have a number one wide receiver. Myles Sanders had a solid season, a really good season last year, but there's been some inconsistency problems there. How about the rest of the offense around Bryce Young here in year one? Well, I listen, I do like our offensive line, but you do have to remember Austin Corbett who started every game for us last year at right guard, he tore an ACL the last game of the season. So, it's, he's going to be a little delayed in getting started to the season. So, but we do have some pieces on the offensive line.

I understand what you're saying. We do not have a number one. Our true number one wide receiver is now in Chicago and DJ Moore.

But I think there is enough pieces around. Adam Seeland has come in and all indications are, it's not a washed up out Adam Seeland. And then you have DJ Chark who's coming, who has some ability and I know he had a surgery in the off season that has cleared up a lot of the issues that he has. Terrace Marshall, another one, a second round pick a few years ago, really made strides later part of the season.

Jonathan Mingo, second round pick out of Ole Miss. Lavista Chenault is a guy that I'm very intrigued by, traded for right at the beginning of the season last year, showed some flashes, but I truly believe in this offense. We could be more of a horizontal type of offense instead of a vertical and kind of spread you out and kind of give you, you know, a lot of eye candy and get the ball to some of these playmakers. Hayden Hurst as a catching tight end, certainly in Miles Sanders in the backfield, Chuba Hubbard coming back.

I truly believe there's enough pieces. I do understand the fact that there is not the typical number one wide receiver, but there's a lot of good pieces that can really stress you. Jake Delome here with us.

So what are your expectations here in year one for just Bryce Young as a quarterback? Well, listen, I'm very bullish. I said it last year. I thought this team had a chance to knock on the door to get to the playoffs. Did I think the team would start one in five and that rule would get fired and Baker Mayfield would be benched?

No, I didn't see that. But this team kind of turned it around and fought the good fight. Yes, I know the division was down, but I truly believe there's some pieces here on this football team.

How quickly can Bryce get adjusted to life in the NFL? That remains to be seen. But I think this is a wide open division that no one's in total control of this division. Tampa, everybody's waiting to see what's going to happen post Tom Brady era. And then New Orleans Saints, Derek Morris come in. I think that's probably the best roster, so to speak, in the NFC South. And I like what Atlanta has done.

I think they put the pieces around. The question mark is going to be the quarterback because they do have certain some great pieces on offense. But what will what will Bryce do and everything that all indications on the offseason and things of that nature that he's handled this extremely well. The offense, he's getting the offense down and you know, it's it's difficult in the NFL. I think we all know that, but nobody waits for you and we open up with two division games back to back. So we'll find out early on. Let's get the next down.

Take the loam here with us. New coach in Carolina, like you just mentioned, Frank Reich, who's been in the NFL for a long time. The last two years didn't go his way with the Colts that led to his firing. What does Frank Reich bring to this football team? I think I think you bring some experience of a head coach who's had some success in this league, both, you know, as a player, longtime player, longtime assistant coach and and certainly as a head coach.

And in India, I believe he had five quarterbacks, five different years in a row. So hopefully consistency at the quarterback position. But I think Frank brings kind of a true professionalism. He's a true pro as a player and he's a pro as a coach. But I just think the staff that he's been able to build, I just I'm a big fan of it. Yes, we all know Frank has his ties on offense, but having a Jim Caldwell as your senior assistant on the offensive side of the ball, Dom Capers as your senior assistant to go with a budding superstar in E.J., Coach Everill as our defensive coordinator. So I think we have really, really good pieces that are there. Josh McCown, another longtime veteran who played forever in the NFL, one of my teammates in the quarterback room, a young Thomas Brown who's considered an up and comer being the offensive coordinator. And we're mixing in a lot of the Sean McVeigh ish type of plays. Frank's not bullish to say we're only going to run my offense.

There's going to be different ideas coming from different offenses and they're going to put what they think is best for the Carolina Panthers. So I really like our staff. I like what we've done. I think we have some pieces. Are we totally there yet? In my opinion, of a Super Bowl type of roster, I don't think we're there yet. I think that can I think we're we're marching towards that.

I truly believe that. Whereas the last few years, I can't say that I saw that happening. Let's get to the next down. Let's get to the defensive side of the ball. You got Derek Brown, who's a really good player. Brian Burns. I know he had some surgery, but we know what he's capable of.

Shaq Thomas is solid. You hope that J.C. Horn can stay healthy. How you kind of evaluating this defense heading into the season, Jake?

Well, I think you hit it on the head. Derek Brown really kind of came into his own last year and was shown why he was a top 10 pick. Brian Burns is an elite pass rusher. I'm a little worried about where we're at on the other side of the line of scrimmage, on the other side of Brian Burns. I think we're kind of lacking in that regard.

I wouldn't be surprised that there could be a signing at some point to help to help there. We're fairly young at linebacker. Getting Shaq Thompson back, in my opinion, was very big for this team. And on the back end, you have to get a healthy J.C. Horn. If he's healthy, I think he's in elite corner. Dante Jackson coming back from an Achilles injury he suffered early last year. And Jeremy Chin, I think he's kind of the wild card. Jeremy Chin is this big safety, this big, massive safety who I truly believe is really good near the football.

He played more deep last year, and I think he disrupts more when he's closer to the football. So getting a Von Bell over from Cincinnati, Adam, one of the safeties, Xavier Woods, who was there last year, having those two back there and allowing Chin possibly to come closer to the football, I think that's going to help us out. But certainly, we need to stay healthy.

Burns needs to stay healthy and Derrick Brown because we're lacking a little bit more on the other side, on the defensive side, defensive end. And let's get to the final down. So Jake, I know that we were talking about this division earlier. It's not a good division on paper. Last year, we know Brady and company, Brady's no longer with the Bucks, won this division at 8 and 9. The other three teams are all 7 and 10. I think most people, like we were kind of talking about, and what you said in the past, are going to pick the Saints just because they have the best quarterback right now in the division in Derek Carr.

But I kind of want to go a different way. I don't like the Saints to win this division because I think everyone's going to pick them. And kind of they're banking on a lot of guys to be healthy as well. I'll take my chances with the other three teams in this division. I did a Sports Minute last week saying it was going to be Atlanta.

But how about yourself? Who do you go with to win this division? Oh, listen, I'm bullish on Carolina.

I'm bullish on this team. I understand that's asking a lot for a rookie quarterback, a number one overall pick. But I just don't think this number one overall pick came to a number one roster pick. What I mean is that usually a team picking first, it's a bad roster. This team is not good. But this, we have to trade up a lot of pieces to be able to get there. This is not a bottom of the barrel roster. I truly believe we have enough pieces there.

And if the ball can bounce our way, who knows what can happen? The Saints, you're right, they need to stay healthy, especially up front on the offensive line and depth wise, linebacker wise. There's not a lot of depth that they have at linebacker wise. Tampa, that's the wildcard. We're just not exactly sure how that's going to play out in Atlanta.

Love the weapons. I like some of the signings. I like what Terry Fontenot is doing there. But the question mark is Ritter, is the quarterback. We don't know. If you don't have a quarterback in this league, it's kind of hard to play really good football. Arthur Smith does a great job of running the football, manipulating plays for his quarterback. So Ritter is going to be the question mark there. Do you believe in Baker Mayfield? I know you got to see him a little bit last year.

It was a tough situation thrown into the fire late. I know you said he's a wildcard, right? That Tampa team's a wildcard.

What are you kind of your thoughts? Jake, the lowman Baker. Listen, I follow Baker, you know, when he was in Cleveland and certainly when he came to Carolina and I thought that he could have really done some good things, but I just think we started out poor last year and it could have been a lot with with Matt rule and I'm not exactly sure what was going on there. Just didn't ever seem like there was a cohesive unit, the whole football team. And then we're one in five and I know he had to battle some injuries place with a high ankle sprain and then showed up and played a couple of good games and then got hurt and then PJ Walker came in and then Sam Darnell came back and then they gets released and it was unfortunate because he did everything the right way and the players loved him and he gets an opportunity with the Rams and really does a good job and limited opportunity. So the talent there for Baker, he has a lot of weapons to throw to in Tampa Bay. I think that'll help him tremendously. It's, you know, a solid run game to go along with the defense.

I think he can play some good football, but it remains to be seen the last couple of years have been a little difficult for him and I know he's looking for a fresh start and possibly a home for a while. He's Jake tell them Jake always good to catch up with you. Appreciate you doing this. All right, Zach, take care.