Xavier Woods, Carolina Panthers Safety

Xavier first off appreciate you doing this. How you been? I've been great.

Thank you guys for having me. So Carolina right in the NFC South this year some intriguing level of interest with them with a brand new quarterback in Bryce Young but also a new football coach in Frank Reich. You were there last year now a new coaching staff coming in. Just kind of give me the vibe around the Panthers with Frank Reich now as the head honcho. I just had excitement man. We had an excitement with new coaches as well as the sweat as Bryce. Just having a new quarterback as well.

First round, first pick. Just excitement around. Yesterday we had FanFest and the crowd was great.

It was a great turnout. What could you guys take? I know the season didn't go the way that you wanted it but down the stretch you guys turned that corner. You were 5-3 in your final 8 games. What can you guys take from the way that you played in kind of the second half of the season? Defensively, just the way that we played at the halfway mark to the end of the season.

Only losing to Brady. We didn't miss the playoffs but just the way we played and just defensively we just think that we can win ball games. We have the confidence that we can win ball games just on us.

We just played on us. We can win ball games. That was one of the big takeaways that we took from last year. Offense was good here and there but we as a defense believe that we can win ball games and the confidence that we gained from last year. I saw the way that that defense was playing and when Steve Wilks was the Internet coach I go out he won't be back next year but he made me change my opinion on that quickly and I thought he should have been the head coach. Was it at all disappointing even though Wright Frank has been around the league for a long time with the connection you guys had with Steve that he didn't get the job?

That's above my pay grade. I'm just happy that he gets the opportunity with the 49ers. We know how great that defense has been so I'm excited for him for that but we've been excited with Coach Frank and all the coaches that he's brought in. Just the defense and the offense. We can't speak highly enough of them and just the job they've been doing with us.

It's a scheme that we've been putting in and everything. I would say those two guys are kind of the cornerstones, the pillars, the blue chips of the defense. We've got J.C. and Jeremy on the defensive side and you would say some more would be Dave Brown and definitely Brian Burns. The defense goals, everyone on the defense plays a role. But the defense can only go so far as your best players and we definitely know that those are some of my best players on the defense.

J.C., I feel like J.C. is going to have a big year this year. He's done everything in his power to make sure that he can get healthy. Sometimes injuries are a buzz over the draw, sometimes it happens. But he's done everything in his power just to maintain, just to be healthy. When he's on the field, he's a difference maker. And we call Jeremy a superhero.

He wears different capes. He can play anywhere on the defense. Just having him be on the field is a plus for us. When you look at a guy like J.C. and you brought up the injuries and you've experienced injuries, everyone has, how about the mental side of it when you've been kind of just given a tough blow to start your career?

How do you kind of fight through that mental adversity more than the physical adversity? I wouldn't say, I mean, he had his rookie year. The rookie year, I think he got injured early.

But as far as last year, he played all the way up into the last couple games. At the end of the day, that wasn't really, that's a broken bone. You can't have a broken bone. It wasn't a soft tissue issue.

It was a broken bone. So that's something you can't really help to think over. As far as his mentality now, he's moved on. He wants to be up there. He feels disrespected. He thinks he's the best.

And I feel as though that too. His mentality is just to go out and be the best. He's going to accept every challenge we throw at him this year. I think he'll excel. I know he'll excel.

Xavier Woods here with Dust for three more moments on the Zach Gelb show. Safety from the Carolina Panthers. This NFL Top 100 list, I don't know how much you pay attention to it, but I did see the rankings have started to come on out. And Brian Burns was in at 54. You talked about him. For me, that's the most notable name on your defense. I still feel like 54 is a little low for him, a little disrespectful. Do you think the national folks, and I know this is a player list, just don't give them enough respect still?

Definitely. But I mean, when you act, when you act, you act, other defensive ends, they have Brian up there as one of the better pass rushers. So, I mean, I think that may be motivation for him, but in the NFL circle, we know that Brian's one of the best pass rushers in the league. I absolutely love Bryce Young back when he played at Alabama the last few seasons. You getting to see Bryce Young up and close each and every day in practice.

Just kind of give me the vibe right now around Bryce Young and what you're seeing. Man, I remember I watched his first freshman game at Alabama and how smooth he was out there. I forgot who they played, but how smooth he was out there. It's translated to how smooth he is out with us in practice.

Nothing really bothers me. You can see that his technique is sound. He has a quiet type of demeanor, but you can tell that he's very confident in himself offensively.

I mean, they've spoken highly of him as far as him just being a leader over there. And then just as a team, he definitely stole the show when we made the rookie sing. That was like our first time him standing in front of the room with all the eyes and ears on him. He stole the show, man. What did he sing? The Fantasia song. I forgot the name of it. He's a Fantasia or Keisha Cole.

One of those two songs. He definitely did a great job, man. Standing ovation. So you were impressed with how he was as a singer. You didn't think he had that in him?

I did, man. I think he's been the best rookie singer so far. Guys like that are just so obnoxious. Because Bryce Young, he's perfect. I know some people say, oh, he's not tall enough. And I go, I watched him in Alabama and never thought that his height or lack of it was a problem. There's nothing this guy could do wrong, it seems like.

He's just fine. I think that he knows his height. He knows his limits or whatever he made.

He thinks he has a limit. But he knows how to get up in the pocket, find those windows, find those scenes in the pocket to where he can throw the ball. So far, he hasn't been a problem. So hey, you talked about it earlier, how confident you are with what your defense is able to do. Now you get a franchise potentially changing player in Bryce Young and the offensive side of the ball. This NFC South is wide open. I'll ask you since you're here with us Xavier Woods of the Panthers, what do you think your football team could accomplish this year? I would feel that we can definitely win. I would say just as a team, just what we went through last year and how we were playing for the playoffs. The second game of the year, we were actually playing for the playoffs and just how dysfunctional it was and everything.

But we won't be seeing Brady again, hopefully anytime soon. So that just gives us another little confidence to where we know how bad we were at the beginning of the year last year and just how we put everything together. We still had a 50-50 chance to make the playoffs. It was all on us.

We didn't have to rely on anybody. It just gives us a confidence to think that we can make it this year. You gotta be happy Brady's no longer there in Tampa because that's the biggest roadblock.

I think the whole league is just happy. For you individually, going into now year 7 in the NFL, you've seen almost everything. What are you hoping to prove this year individually as you go into a new year? I just want to make the playoffs. Win and make the playoffs. That's my main focus.

Everything else will fall in line. But just win and make the playoffs. I haven't made the playoffs since my second year in Dallas.

That's my main focus, just making the playoffs and having a chance in the dance. You have a unique story, attending Louisiana Tech and making three All-Conference USA teams when you were there. When you look at this journey, what do you want to tell us about it, what it took for you to get to this point of not only getting to the NFL, but being able to clearly stick around and play in this league?

Just perseverance. Once you get there, just taking advantage of every opportunity that you get. I was a 6-round pick. It wasn't looking too good as far as my spot on the team, my freshman year in the OTA.

But something just clicked. I just took advantage of all the opportunities that I got. I can say that ever since the halfway mark, I was playing in packages. The first half of the year, my rookie year in the halfway mark, I started. And ever since then, every game that I've been dressed for and not been injured, I've started. Just perseverance and just taking opportunities by the horn and just not letting them go. Of course, you've got to have a little bit of competitive nature in you.

I'm getting up there in A's at the team, the guys call it. See the rookies coming in and just being maybe sometimes faster, but just having the IQ to just learn the game and learn the ins and outs of it. I know he was already in the league for a year when you got there in Minnesota. He was entering his second year. But when you first got to see Justin Jefferson up close and personal being a teammate of his, your reaction was what? This guy is special.

This guy is special. I was around Dez, my rookie year in Dallas, and that was different with him just because I looked up to Dez. Dez was much older than just being in high school and watching his highlight tapes and just looking up to Dez and seeing his work ethic and seeing how he practices, how he plays, and then going to see. That's about the best achievement that I've seen up until that point with Dez. And then Amari Cooper, and then I got to see JJ.

Man, that guy is special. You also got to see Dak Prescott as your quarterback when you're with the Cowboys. We know Dak Prescott is a good quarterback, but everyone wonders does he have it in him to win a Super Bowl one day? What do you say to people that question Dak Prescott if he could one day hoist that Lombardi trophy? Man, that's one of the better quarterbacks in the league, man.

Don't let no one. The media can say that. The media can have all these negative things to say about them, but Dak's one of the better quarterbacks in the league. Man, I think if a team didn't have a franchise quarterback, any team would take that that didn't have what they would call their franchise quarterback. When I was there, I thought he was one of the best.

Even now, man, some of the stuff that he does, just watching him, he's definitely up there. Xavier Woods from the Carolina Panthers. Good health, good luck this upcoming season. Excited to see your football team play. Thanks for doing this. Thank you.