Drafting for Size | JJ and Luke Ep. 6 | Carolina Panthers

0:00 Welcome in.

0:00 It is another episode of JJ and Luke.

0:04 That is the Hall of Famer Luke Keequley.

0:06 I am Panthers long snapper JJ Jansen.

0:08 And Luke, before I even find out how your weekend is, uh,

0:12 which I do want to find out about, uh, Panthers, breaking news.

0:16 Pick up the fifthear option on Bryce Young.

0:20 Uh, Dan Morgan had talked about this.

0:22 Uh, Brandt Tillis had talked about this, but breaking

0:25 news that that number just gets picked up.

0:27 Luke, uh, first impressions, how are you doing?

0:29 All the good stuff.

0:33 Uh, I think picking this option up on Bryce is awesome.

0:35 He's our quarterback 100% moving forward.

0:38 And you just look at the career trajectory he's had.

0:40 We were 2 and 14, 4-8, 8-8 this past year.

0:44 We go to the playoffs and then he's 11 touchdowns, 10 interceptions,

0:47 15 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and last year was 23 and 11.

0:52 He keeps he keeps doing this.

0:54 And I think the best thing too is we're

0:56 in year three of his development with Dave Canales.

0:59 And I think you can't understate that enough.

1:01 They're starting to know each other.

1:03 You look at the roster on the offensive side of the ball.

1:06 It's built for Bryce to have success.

1:07 We've built the offensive lineup.

1:09 We're big.

1:10 We're physical.

1:11 You look at that running back room.

1:13 There's four really good players in there.

1:15 And if we can get Jonathan Brooks healthy, I think we'll be dangerous.

1:18 And then we'll get into this.

1:19 Obviously drafting Brazil in the third round is going to be

1:23 a guy that can take the top off the defense.

1:25 You pair him with Coker and and T-Mac and Xavier

1:29 Legette were really big everywhere on the outside of our offense.

1:33 And I think you listen to Bryce talk and you talk to him in inside the building.

1:38 There's this confidence about him that has slowly been brewing.

1:42 And I think when you slap the fifth year option on him,

1:46 I think it just instills confidence in him that, hey, like we're behind you.

1:51 You're our guy.

1:52 We're going to draft people to help you continue to develop.

1:54 And the other thing is that fifth year option we talked about, it's not huge.

1:59 It's like 25 million bucks, which is obviously a lot of money,

2:02 but Dak, the top of the market is making 60.

2:04 That's going to be reset soon.

2:06 So for starting quarterback in the NFL that's on an upward

2:10 trajectory with the same coach for going into year three

2:12 with a tremendous roster around him to pay him $25 million

2:16 in two years I feel like is a pretty good deal.

2:18 Yeah.

2:18 So 25.9 is the exact number.

2:21 The new CBA made some sliding scale on the fifthear option.

2:25 Luke, you'll remember when you were approaching a contract,

2:28 the fifth year option was just a solid number.

2:31 Uh now there's they they call it the basic then there's a play

2:34 time and then based on Pro Bowls but Bryce 259 that'll come in 2027.

2:39 That money is guaranteed.

2:41 He's on the books this year for six.

2:43 So you're paying your starting quarterback $31

2:46 million in cash over the next two years.

2:49 So felt like a no-brainer coming out

2:51 of the regular season and the playoff run we had.

2:53 He was playing really well.

2:55 Dan Morgan, Brandt Tillis, everyone talked about that.

2:58 So, not a surprise, but it's it's awesome to see

3:01 this all set up for Bryce and and the Panthers.

3:06 And so, yeah, I want to get into the draft,

3:08 but since we we start with breaking news,

3:10 Luke, I do want to find out how are you doing?

3:13 We haven't seen each other face to face in about a week.

3:15 You had a you had a good weekend.

3:17 And uh just get caught up on your life a little

3:19 bit before we get to all the rest of the ball.

3:21 Well, I think I think the big thing

3:22 that we're working on right now is Charlotte Christian football.

3:25 We just hired a we hired a new head coach who hopefully

3:28 is going to take the program where we all want it to go.

3:31 You might not want it to go to [laughter]

3:33 No, I don't I I want to see you guys lose every game.

3:35 Well, just everyone else you can beat.

3:37 I don't care.

3:38 We're excited about it.

3:39 I know Greg Olsen's certainly excited about it.

3:42 Um we've been working with the kids the last couple weeks and it's

3:45 fun to get back out there before before school starts under the lights.

3:50 couple days it was really cold out and it just

3:53 you start feeling football and spring ball for you guys

3:55 over at the stadium and it's a little bit

3:57 of spring ball action for these kids over at Charlie Christian.

4:00 So we get a really good opportunity to uh to work with those kids.

4:04 They're fantastic and as much as it helps them I'm sure hopefully it helps them.

4:09 It gives us an opportunity to talk football and and I really I really like it.

4:14 I know Greg really [laughter] likes it.

4:16 I know I know Stu really enjoys it.

4:17 Greg's dad really likes it.

4:19 We're just we're so lucky that we have an outlet to go talk football

4:22 with these these kids that soak it up and love it just as much as we do.

4:27 We This isn't a surprise to anybody,

4:29 but Charlotte Christian Middle School team's

4:31 got the world's greatest coaching staff.

4:33 The head coach is, you know, a leading analyst on Fox and 14 years in the NFL.

4:39 The the linebacker's coach, the defensive coordinator is a Hall of Famer.

4:43 The the best running back in Panther history is a running back's coach.

4:47 And oh, by the way, the team assistant

4:49 is a New Jersey State coaching hall of famer.

4:53 Like that's the that's not name necessarily the uh low man on the totem pole,

4:58 but the guy with the least uh football NFL credentials

5:02 might be the best coach of the of the bunch.

5:04 He's got more coaching years than all of us combined.

5:07 And I tell you what, he he knows exactly what he's doing.

5:11 This is Greg.

5:11 This is Greg's dad, Chris Olsen.

5:13 That's right.

5:13 He knows exactly what he's doing.

5:15 He's really good with the kids.

5:17 He gets the most out of all of them.

5:19 And he just loves He's like Greg.

5:21 He loves football.

5:22 He's got tremendous passion for it.

5:24 And the kids all love him.

5:27 And as the season goes on, the kids love

5:29 Greg's dad more and more and more each time.

5:31 So, I think Greg's love for the game of football came

5:35 from Chris and his coaching love comes from his dad, Chris, as well.

5:40 They're just a special family,

5:41 and it's fun for all of us to have the opportunity to go out and do that.

5:44 Have you learned, I mean, you know everything about football,

5:46 but have you learned any unique nuggets

5:49 from a guy who spent his whole life coaching?

5:51 You've been a player your whole life,

5:52 but now you're in the coaching world a little bit.

5:54 What have you learned?

5:56 I just think his overall knowledge of football from offense to defense

6:01 to playing a wing TE to he'd go back in time

6:05 35 years ago to when he was coaching a team that ran

6:08 the wing T and how he aligned against it and he's like,

6:11 "Hey, our defensive front looks very similar

6:13 to the defensive front I had in 1995.

6:17 And this is how we played the wing

6:19 TE and they were predominantly a buck sweep team.

6:21 So when teams went buck sweep, we lined up.

6:23 Instead of it being a shade, it was a two.

6:25 Instead of a two eye, it was a five eye or a four eye, it was a five eye.

6:29 He's got all these nuggets just based on the amount

6:33 of time that he's accumulated coaching the game of football.

6:36 And he's very well thought out.

6:38 And that's the thing that I've learned the most of is his range of football.

6:43 And the one thing that I think he's got a great feel for is

6:47 is the grade school kids and the high school kids and what works for them,

6:50 how to motivate them, how to talk to them, and how to get the best out of them.

6:53 He's he's like Greg.

6:55 He's one of a kind.

6:56 And I think Stu and I have all learned so much from him.

6:59 So that's cool.

7:01 Again, I I wish you nothing but terrible luck against Charlotte Latin.

7:05 [laughter] But the but the rest of rest of the games you guys go have at it.

7:09 It's really cool.

7:09 It's a special thing for the kids.

7:11 you guys have started up now there's a new

7:13 varsity football coach over there at Charlotte Christian.

7:15 Were you part of the uh hiring committee or did you stay out of that?

7:18 I stayed out of that.

7:19 I was just getting I was just getting updates.

7:21 So, um no, we're pumped about it.

7:24 That's fantastic.

7:24 Congrats to you guys and uh Charlotte Christian.

7:27 All right.

7:27 When we come back on JJ and Luke,

7:30 we there was a draft and the Panthers did really well.

7:33 We're going to get into all of that, who we got, what that means.

7:35 JJ and Luke podcast on panthers.com.

7:38 Welcome back in JJ and Luke here.

7:40 our first remote episode.

7:43 Uh we're we're we're professionals, right?

7:45 Do doing uh podcasts from our own offices.

7:48 So, that's pretty cool.

7:49 A little bit different for us.

7:50 I miss I miss not seeing you in our awesome studio, though.

7:54 I could just walk I'm I'm like a mile from your house.

7:56 I should have just walked over to your house.

7:58 We could have done it together.

7:59 One of these times we'll do it we'll do an episode and you'll

8:01 just kind of walk in the door and [laughter] there you are.

8:04 We'll just we'll just kind of lean in.

8:06 But, uh this is this is good.

8:08 We're we're expanding our horizons and um last

8:12 weekend the Panthers began to expand their horizons.

8:14 Uh NFL draft, you know, Luke, that it's my favorite time of the year.

8:18 It's I sit down and watch all three days and you know, it's interesting.

8:24 Day three is the one where you're really doing a lot of the roster building,

8:28 but day one and day two is where all the big names

8:31 show up and those are the top prospects and we understand that.

8:34 So, Panthers on Thursday night, you know, they're drafting at 19.

8:38 I think when we talked to Dan Morgan last week in studio on the podcast,

8:42 I think we both walked away saying, "Hey, look,

8:45 they'd love to trade down if their prospect's not

8:47 there." But you actually said to me, he's like,

8:49 you're like, "Man, it feels like he's going to go for a tackle." Like,

8:52 he didn't he didn't mention it.

8:54 I I always say Dan is a trutht teller and he will never lie,

8:57 but he'll let other people sort of carry

8:59 the water for things that he wants out there.

9:02 And I think he was more than happy to to allow, you know,

9:05 Kenyan Sadi from Oregon and uh Dylan Theamman,

9:08 who I know they liked from Oregon, the safety, to be out there.

9:11 But it you felt like it was uh tackle all the way.

9:14 And at 19, they draft Monroe Freeling out of Georgia.

9:18 Just your initial thoughts watching him not only as a a a player,

9:21 but also just the human being as everyone's kind of talked about who he is.

9:25 Uh young guy out of Georgia.

9:27 Yeah.

9:27 I And I think the one thing that's cool to see is when you

9:30 watch the draft on the bottom it has a ticker and it says the Carolina

9:34 Panthers are on the clock and they get eight minutes to make the pick

9:37 and some of these teams butt all the [clears throat] way up against and there's,

9:40 you know, a minute minute 30 left and then the pick comes in.

9:42 So some of them could be trying to figure out who they draft.

9:46 Maybe they're looking to trade up and down.

9:47 Are they fielding offers?

9:49 The one thing that I really like about what Dan and Brand

9:53 and and Coach Canales do is we're on the clock, the pick is in.

9:58 It's it's like they knew when the pick

10:01 before went in, they knew exactly where they're going.

10:03 And I just I think it just shows confidence in our evaluation,

10:08 confidence in our board, confidence with who we're picking.

10:10 And let's just be honest, this guy played Monro Feling played in the SEC.

10:14 He played tackle against some of the best football players in the nation.

10:18 But I think what we're seeing throughout this whole draft is we drafted size.

10:22 He's big.

10:23 He's 67.

10:24 He's 320.

10:25 He's got great length.

10:28 And you can't replicate size.

10:30 And I think he's a great player.

10:31 And I think the one thing that everyone's probably asking is,

10:34 "All right, we've got Taylor Motton's under contract for two more years.

10:38 Rasheed Walker just came in on a one-year deal.

10:40 And then obviously Icky's dealing with the injury.

10:42 He'll come back.

10:43 He looked really good when we were in.

10:44 I don't know if that was last week or two weeks ago.

10:46 JJ, last week.

10:48 You can't have too many big big offensive linemen.

10:50 You can't have too many big defensive linemen.

10:53 And it's really hard to find quality at that position later on in the draft.

10:58 So, when you're sitting there where we were in the middle of the middle late

11:01 part of the first round and that guy's staring at you at the in the face,

11:04 they talked about this whole off season of we're going to evaluate really

11:08 well and we're going to draft the best available player regardless of position.

11:12 And looking at our roster, we've got three tackles that look really good

11:16 on paper and then let's add a fourth

11:18 one because inevitably something's he's going to get

11:21 an opportunity to play at some point.

11:23 And I think I think it's a good move.

11:25 I think they showed tremendous confidence in it.

11:26 And I I I like I like where our team is right now.

11:30 You know, we are big and and uh Freeling 6'7.

11:35 That is off the charts height.

11:37 320 pounds, which is athletic.

11:40 It's not a It's not an oversized offensive lineman.

11:42 He's got tremendous arm length, which people talk We've talked arm length a lot.

11:46 It It matters, man.

11:48 Like, if you say, "I have short arms and I can't tell you how many times I wish

11:52 I had 34 inch arms so I could touch

11:54 people that were further away." He's a good dude.

11:57 Played real football for a real football coach in a pro style system.

12:01 That's going to translate really well and he's going to get coached up

12:04 and I think he's going to be a really good player for us.

12:06 Yeah.

12:06 So, he's this long athletic guy.

12:08 A lot's been made about his mom's the yoga

12:10 instructor and the triathlete and the whole thing.

12:13 But when I watched him on tape and you know,

12:15 you watch the highlight packages on Thursday,

12:18 you can just see the athleticism sort of oozing off the tape.

12:21 It's hard to find big guys.

12:23 The arm length matters.

12:25 And there also seems to be some adjustability, right?

12:27 Could he play right tackle?

12:28 Could he play left?

12:29 I think everyone's always looking for the left tackle of the future,

12:32 but that is a highly in- demand skill.

12:35 As much as playing quarterback is, that's unique.

12:37 So, you know, one of the things I learned from Greg Olsen, who, you know,

12:40 who learned it from Chris Olsen is being able to find a role for guys early

12:45 on a team where they can have some success and then grow from that role helps.

12:50 So when Freeling comes in, maybe maybe he's the left tackle,

12:53 maybe he's the backup, maybe he's learning in both positions,

12:56 but you begin to develop a role, however the coaches see fit,

13:01 but you're ultimately looking for a guy in the top 20

13:03 that's going to be on your team for 10 to 12 years,

13:06 play that position, and play it really well.

13:08 And I thought it was very interesting.

13:09 We're going to get into the Panthers sort of uh

13:13 presenting all the scouts to the to the media.

13:16 We're going to get into that in a little bit,

13:17 but I think what what I heard um I think Fuller had him as his scout.

13:23 I I can't remember.

13:24 I might be wrong on that, but the ability to meet the human

13:28 being and say that's the type of guy we want in Carolina,

13:32 just a great young man.

13:33 I think that for anyone that's ever seen the blind side,

13:36 right, you're looking for like that great young man.

13:38 You want that the guy that protects and cares deeply about that position.

13:42 That's really important.

13:43 So the player, but also the human being.

13:46 He's only 21 years old, doesn't even turn 22 until July.

13:51 That is, you know, so you're going to hear that word upside with him a lot.

13:55 You were a young player coming into the league.

13:57 What is the one challenge maybe of being young when you get drafted?

14:02 We we hear about young being good,

14:03 but but what are the challenges of being a young

14:05 guy and coming in as a first round draft pick?

14:08 Well, I think the biggest thing, especially at that position,

14:10 is just it takes you a second to grow into your body a little bit.

14:14 And some of these guys that are 21, 22 years old,

14:18 haven't fully grown into what they're going to be.

14:20 And you know, you look at a guy like Derek Brown,

14:23 like he's a he's a [clears throat] big grown man.

14:25 He's an adult.

14:26 He's maxed out.

14:27 He's full.

14:28 Monroe Freeling, all of these young guys.

14:30 The best thing about him is how good they are now, how athletic they are now,

14:34 how well they bend now, how well they can sit on a bull rush now.

14:38 And then think about in like two or three

14:40 years when he's had three full off seasons

14:43 of NFL football and the only thing that he

14:45 has to worry about is my body gaining strength,

14:48 getting more athletic, understanding more technique.

14:51 So when you start with the product that we have

14:54 right now and you add in great coaching, a great person,

14:57 a highly motivated guy, ultra athletic, he bends really well,

15:01 and then you can add just play

15:04 strength through a great offseason program and nutrition.

15:06 And then eventually they grow in to who they are as like a as a man.

15:11 And I just remember when I first got in the league,

15:14 I had to learn the physicality component of the league.

15:17 And it took me a while.

15:18 And you have to learn that side of the game.

15:21 I'm not saying that that he does,

15:23 but I remember my third and fourth year in the league.

15:26 I felt like that's when I was my biggest,

15:29 my strongest, and where I really started the peak.

15:31 And I think he could be a really good example of that.

15:34 I think the other guy that that I look at now that is one

15:38 of the best offseason training players that I've

15:41 ever been that takes care of the offseason,

15:43 Greg was really good at it, Christian McAffrey.

15:45 So when Christian came in 2017, he was

15:48 he was younger than I think when he got drafted.

15:50 I think he was 20 years old.

15:53 Yes.

15:53 And then you know you had just turned 21, right?

15:55 Like within the week or something.

15:56 Turning 20 in like June or July or something.

15:59 Um, and from where he started as a rookie

16:03 to where he is now as far as physically,

16:06 it's just it shows you what discipline in an offseason program

16:11 and committing your whole year to getting better at being football bigger,

16:15 faster, stronger, what it can do for you.

16:17 And I think Monroe Freeling is obviously a young guy.

16:20 There's a lot of young guys on our team in the draft, guys that we drafted.

16:24 If you can get the right qualities and the right work ethic now and commit

16:29 to doing things the right way as far

16:32 as technique and effort and playing the game,

16:34 all that strength and all that size and growing up

16:36 as a person is only going to make you a better player.

16:39 And just listening and reading about him and talking to people that know him,

16:43 he has the right makeup.

16:44 And hopefully, like you said,

16:45 he's a guy that you can slide in somewhere and forget him about

16:48 him for 12 years and every four years you give him a new contract.

16:52 We got we got Monroe done.

16:54 He's good to go.

16:55 That's what you're that's what you're hoping for when you draft a guy like that.

16:59 I was talking really briefly with Darren Gant.

17:01 You know, he cover he's covered you a lot here with the the Hall of Fame stuff,

17:04 so I know you've got a lot of time to spend with him.

17:06 He no one knows Panther history as well as as well as he does.

17:10 And he said, uh, I I need to call

17:12 Jordan Gross because he he reminds me of Jordan Gross.

17:14 And he he pulled out his, you know,

17:16 his reporter notepad and did the tail of the tape and he was like, "Well,

17:20 he's 2 in taller than Jordan and he's 20 lbs heavier and he runs faster."

17:24 And it was check check Monroe Freeling was

17:27 better or bigger and than Jordan Gross and everything.

17:29 I said maybe I wouldn't call Jordan and lead with that.

17:32 Like Monroe Freeling if if there is

17:35 a prototype in Panther history, it's Jordan Gross.

17:37 So if we can get Jordan Gross out of Monroe Freeling,

17:40 I think it's a win for everybody.

17:42 you know, you know, Jordan is obviously uh on the building.

17:44 His name's up there forever, and rightfully so.

17:47 So, again, that would be if that's the comp, if that's the career comp,

17:51 uh it would been an unbelievable 19th pick in the draft for Dan Morgan,

17:54 Brent Tillis, and the the Panther staff.

17:56 And like you said, we got Rasheed Walker, Stone Foresight.

18:00 Icky will be coming back.

18:01 He's looked great so far.

18:03 It's a long recovery, but he'll be back.

18:06 Yeah.

18:05 And then all reliable Taylor Motton, he's still there.

18:08 That's what That's what we want.

18:09 We got a ton of time.

18:11 Those guys are good players and you know Motton didn't start his first year.

18:15 He had to kind of work into it.

18:16 He was the jumbo tight end.

18:18 He tells me all the time, you know,

18:19 having to catch a pass in practice or whatever.

18:21 So, there's time for development, but for all the guys,

18:25 all the fans, hey, let's get a let's get a weapon.

18:27 Like a left tackle or a right tackle of the future, that's a weapon.

18:31 That helps everybody.

18:32 So, that's a that's a good way to look at it as well.

18:36 Absolutely.

18:36 All right, switching gears a little bit.

18:38 So, Friday, I'm I like I told you, I'm watching I'm watching all three days.

18:41 So, Friday, we're supposed to pick at 51,

18:44 we trade up to 49, and we get Lee Hunter.

18:47 And that was not somebody in the Texas Tech

18:50 world that we necessarily talked a whole lot about, right?

18:53 We we talked about David Bailey.

18:55 We certainly talked about Jacob Rodriguez,

18:57 your your your favorite linebacker in the draft.

19:00 Um, we hadn't talked a whole lot about Lee Hunter.

19:03 And I I that kind of happens, right?

19:06 you're playing nose, you're playing three technique.

19:08 Those guys tend to not have the same

19:10 sizzle that maybe an edge rusher or, you know,

19:13 maybe a a ball hawking middle linebacker get,

19:15 but Lee Hunter is the draft pick at 49.

19:18 The Panthers trade up a couple spots.

19:19 They they do a a pick swap.

19:21 I believe it was with Minnesota.

19:23 And uh your initial thoughts on Lee Hunter and just that pick.

19:28 Uh and I'm going to I'm going to play an a actually let's do that first.

19:30 I'm going to play an audio from you.

19:32 This is actually from uh from one of our scouts, Kaden McLuhan,

19:36 who was the area scout for the Panthers in the South

19:41 West region and specifically had the state of Texas.

19:44 Take a listen.

19:45 Who were you the primary on of the six guys that have been selected so far?

19:49 Yeah, certainly.

19:49 So, I uh I had the chance to scout Lee Hunter this year,

19:53 Will Lee, and then Sam Heck.

19:56 Okay.

19:56 So, what is it about Lee that stood out

20:02 to you from the perspective of fitting the defensive preferences?

20:07 You know, EJ's very specific about size and stuff,

20:10 but like what about him stood out to you?

20:12 I tell you what, when you see Lee,

20:13 the first thing that stands out just how big he is.

20:15 I mean, he's a massive human being, you know, and uh yeah, I mean,

20:19 you get up on him and it's hard not to think about what

20:21 that would look like next to Derek Brown and Bobby Brown and um so,

20:25 you know, that's that's the first thing about him.

20:27 And then just, you know,

20:28 the more the more you get to watch him and then, you know, be around him,

20:31 talk to people in the school,

20:33 um just I had a lot of chances to interact with him and others that were,

20:36 you know, close to him and like just I remember being

20:38 excited after every one of those just how people talked about him,

20:42 how great of a a guy he is, how much energy he brings.

20:45 um just a guy that truly loves football.

20:46 So, it's just, you know, it's hard to find guys that look like that physically,

20:50 but then at the same time, you know,

20:51 have the makeup that he does, you know, just being great teammate,

20:55 showing up to work excited every day, you know, caring about others.

20:58 I mean, he he's a guy, too, like you watch him on tape,

21:00 he's just as excited when someone else is making a play.

21:02 So, I just think at the end of the day,

21:04 there's so many cool qualities that he's going

21:06 to bring to our team in our locker room.

21:09 So, that's MLON.

21:10 Luke, what did you think of the fit

21:12 for Lee Hunter specifically in the Evero defense?

21:16 Well,

21:16 I think you you looked at the amount of three down we play with the big guys.

21:20 I think it provides a ton of value.

21:23 He he nailed it.

21:24 He's gigantic when you watch him move at the combine.

21:27 You watch him walk around.

21:29 He's 6'3, 320.

21:30 Again, we're going to talk a lot about great length.

21:32 He's almost a 34 inch arm, which is huge.

21:35 And you kind of read all the the comps on him.

21:39 a run stuffer.

21:40 He's disruptive on the inside, can play two gaps.

21:42 And that lends itself really well

21:44 to this this Everrow defense where he's gonna stay

21:47 head up on a center and then he's going to play both sides of it.

21:50 That way he controls that center.

21:51 There's an A gap on either side of that center and then

21:54 Devin Lloyd and these other linebackers are going to fit off of him.

21:57 So, he's a big physical presence inside.

22:00 And, you know, with Aan Lee and bringing a new

22:02 young guy in like that's going to be super helpful.

22:04 But I think the biggest thing that we've talked

22:06 about with these first two picks are the people.

22:10 And I don't think we can understate that enough.

22:12 The conscious decision from this team, this front office to draft, number one,

22:16 really good football players, but number two,

22:18 [clears throat] great people, I think, is huge.

22:21 And then you kind of nailed it.

22:23 The guys on Texas Tech that Bailey,

22:25 the edge rusher, and then obviously Jacob Rodriguez,

22:28 those guys would not have the success that they

22:30 did without having a really good inside guy.

22:33 my second year in Carolina,

22:35 we drafted Starlo Tulle in the first round and Kwan Short in the second round.

22:40 And Thomas and I remember Al Hulcom, our linebacker coach, said, "Hey,

22:44 you two better walk into Dave Gelman in the GM's office and say,

22:48 "Thank you." Because these two guys are monsters.

22:51 And I think the one thing that we've done a really good job on the defensive

22:55 line so far is we've built these inside

22:58 three guys and they're all a little bit different.

23:00 And I think that's so important.

23:02 If you have guys that are all the same, they can only play in one spot.

23:05 These offensive linemen get used to blocking

23:07 the same body type, the same skill set,

23:10 the same moves, but when you look at this defensive line,

23:13 it's it's Terson Wharton,

23:15 it's Derek Brown, you add in Lee Hunter, you add in add in Bobby Brown,

23:19 all sizes, all you got Cam Jackson, our fifth round pick from last year.

23:24 They're all different.

23:25 They're all different sizes.

23:27 They all have different attributes that allow them to be successful.

23:30 And it causes stress for offensive linemen.

23:33 I always talk about running backs.

23:34 When there's a running back in the game that plays the whole game,

23:37 I only have to get used to one guy.

23:39 But when you look at the Carolina Panthers,

23:40 we go Trouba Hubard, then hopefully we go Jonathan Brooks,

23:42 then we go AJ Dylan, then ETN on third down out of the back field.

23:46 That adds mental stress to a second level

23:48 defender as a linebacker or as a safety.

23:51 And you better believe that different body types, different skill sets,

23:54 different lengths, different strategies,

23:57 all give offensive linemen stress as well.

23:59 So, I think we've done a really good job of filling the hole that Aan left,

24:03 who was a really good player for us

24:06 and different skill sets that allowed this defense,

24:08 I think, to have a ton of success.

24:10 I think it's interesting that you brought up Aan.

24:12 Clearly a Asan replacement.

24:14 Dam Morgan talked about how hard that cut

24:16 was just because of how productive Aan was.

24:20 Uh, and a and a great leader.

24:21 That was not one of the easy cuts.

24:23 In the last 15 years, they they plotted, you know how I love data and analytics,

24:27 they plotted all the top prospects in the last 15 years.

24:31 The one that Lee Hunter matches the most as a prospect, Aan Robinson.

24:36 High production.

24:37 High production.

24:39 A little bit less on the athletic scores, but just a super high production.

24:42 He's amongst the highest production amongst college

24:45 football players this year at that position.

24:47 Just add a couple of stats that I think are interesting.

24:49 third in all amongst all prospects in defensive run stuff.

24:53 So to your point, um he's he's stopping the run.

24:57 He's probably going to draw a lot more double teams.

24:59 We talk about Derek Brown being doubled a lot.

25:02 All of a sudden, there's another guy inside getting doubled.

25:04 That frees up Derek.

25:05 That's that frees up the pass rushers.

25:07 Also, I I I kind of heard listening to some of the prognostications.

25:13 Lee Hunter not that great of a pass rusher.

25:16 sixth amongst all prospects on inside pass rush win rate.

25:20 So the guy the guy has some pass rush ability, right?

25:24 That that's that's something that that will probably develop over time.

25:28 But in this Evero defense, right,

25:30 those guys if they can control the run with just

25:32 with with just the front four or five with those three guys down,

25:36 that's really what Ever wants to do is be able to limit

25:38 the run and then be able to play a lot of coverage behind it.

25:41 Makes it much harder on the quarterback.

25:43 So, I think that was a really good pick and and certainly

25:46 Dan Morgan addressing the offensive and defensive lines in the first two rounds.

25:51 Uh, again, not the sizzle picks that edge rushers or quarterbacks would get,

25:55 but everyone around them I'm so glad you

25:58 brought up what what Al Hulcom told you guys

26:01 cuz everyone around the big guys get better

26:04 just when you can be excellent in the trenches.

26:06 Well, they're not sizzly on the outside,

26:09 but you better believe that Bryce and these backers

26:11 and Derek Brown and these edge rushers love

26:15 a big physical presence on the inside that we

26:17 talk about pocket push a lot in the NFL.

26:20 And the pocket push guys aren't sack guys.

26:23 They're usually getting double teamed.

26:24 They're usually the guy that's matched up, head up on the center,

26:27 and their job is to push the pocket vertically

26:31 and pinch and just in that pocket to go like this.

26:34 Their job is not to look pretty on the inside

26:36 and make guys miss and olay guys and look like Aaron Donald.

26:40 Their job is to push that pocket.

26:42 So these edge rushers, Jaylen Phillips, Nick Scorton,

26:46 all these guys, Patrick Jones, can do this.

26:49 And I think the other thing it does is it allows us

26:52 the freedom to move Derek around on the on the defensive line.

26:56 So you lose Aan, your best your best player on the defensive line,

27:00 Derrick Brown, hands down.

27:01 You don't want to get caught in a position where you have to play him

27:04 out of his his best position to fill

27:07 a need just because he's that football player.

27:09 So now you've got Bobby Brown and now you've got Lee

27:13 Hunter that can play that true nose spot and then Tershan Wharton,

27:16 that great athlete, that plug, that physical player.

27:19 We all know how big and stout he is.

27:21 He can play one side, Derek can play his side and it just it meshes.

27:26 And then you have Jaylen Phillips and Nick Gordon as your five bigs.

27:30 like I think it's pretty good and they

27:32 did a really good job of saying Aan's gone.

27:35 We want to make sure that Derrick stays at his spot.

27:37 We don't have to move him out of necessity.

27:40 So, let's go get a big guy that can

27:41 play that Aan Robinson spot with Bobby Brown.

27:43 And then we have Derrick and Terson.

27:45 And I don't know, man.

27:46 I think when we walk out there that first day

27:48 of training camp and those guys are fully patted up,

27:51 they're going to look gigantic.

27:53 Huge.

27:53 How real fast, how important is it for the coaching continuity?

27:59 Right, this is Evero's what?

28:01 Fourth year now.

28:02 So, the idea that we've been drafting for this scheme

28:06 and this style of defense now four consecutive years.

28:10 Just talk to us real briefly because I know you went through

28:12 a little bit of scheme change at the end of your career.

28:14 Just talk about the difference

28:17 in the ability to acquire players.

28:19 Not the playing is one thing,

28:21 but like the the acquiring of players through the draft when

28:25 the scheme gets to be basically the same year in and year out.

28:29 It starts up front with our big guys.

28:31 We know exactly how many big guys are going

28:33 to play in a traditional on a traditional snap,

28:36 which if we need five big guys on traditional snaps,

28:39 we better make sure that we have five guys we feel really good about.

28:41 The problem is when you go from four down traditionally to a five down,

28:46 you're missing a spot.

28:47 that fifth guy, [clears throat] you got to manufacture it somewhere.

28:49 And it gets hard until you're a couple

28:51 years into a system and have all those guys.

28:53 But now going into year what, four, four with with Evero, he knows what he wants

28:59 on the front and all those guys have similar traits.

29:02 Like I know said they're all a little bit different,

29:04 but they all have similar traits.

29:06 And then I think the one thing you saw this year

29:09 with the draft is what we did at DB, Will Lee.

29:11 He's an outside corner and he's big and he's long

29:15 and he's 61 and he's got almost 33 inch arms.

29:17 And you look at the other two guys, JC's a monster.

29:20 He's big and long and can run.

29:22 And then Mike Jackson, he's one of my favorite players on the whole team.

29:24 I love him.

29:26 Um, he's good.

29:27 A Caleb Evans is big.

29:28 Cory Thornton's a big long corner.

29:31 So, we have these buckets of what guys are supposed

29:34 to look like and that's who we go and draft.

29:36 Then you look at Zaki Wheatley,

29:37 the guy we drafted in the fifth round, big 63 physical.

29:42 He can play down in the box around a line of scrimmage.

29:45 He's not afraid of it.

29:46 And he kind of looks like Trayvon Merik.

29:48 So last year, what would happen is Trayvon would come down,

29:51 we'd play like nickel with Merik being the nickel, but he's a big nickel.

29:55 So, say it was like 12 personnel and all the 12 that we saw last year,

30:00 two tight ends on the field with, you know,

30:02 the Rams and Seattle and they want to line up and have matchup problems,

30:06 but when you can put a big guy down there like Merrick,

30:09 you negate all that and quite honestly give us an advantage.

30:13 So, now it's Lean Ransom and then now you

30:16 can play Zaki Wheatley back there, another big body.

30:19 So there's there's a type of dude we look at and we

30:24 find guys that fit that mold and we go draft those guys.

30:27 We don't draft 58 corners and say we need you to go

30:31 play like JC Horn and you're 5 in shorter than them.

30:35 That's not doing that player any justice and it's

30:38 not helping us on the defensive side of the ball.

30:39 And I think it just shows in my mind

30:42 the continuity and striving for the same direction and the same

30:48 purpose from our coaches to the from DC to head

30:51 coach to Dan Morgan to Brent Tillis to David Ter.

30:56 Everybody's on the same page for this is

30:59 what we need for our team to have success.

31:00 we're going to evaluate these guys and just it just

31:05 shows you they have a a vision and a goal

31:08 and a belief of this what's this is what's going

31:10 to work and let's go out and find those guys.

31:11 I don't I I like it.

31:13 It makes me super happy.

31:14 And you can we can do the same thing on the offensive

31:17 side of the ball with the dudes that we've drafted this year.

31:20 We can get into that a little bit, but I just

31:22 Who did Who did you Who did you like rounds three through seven?

31:26 You hit on a few of them.

31:27 You hit on Wheatley.

31:28 Would you like

31:30 I think Brazil is going to be he's big, he's long, he can he can fly.

31:34 He was 437.

31:35 He's 6'4.

31:36 He had 1,000 yards at Tennessee.

31:38 And you look at let's just talk about our top four guys, right?

31:44 Yeah.

31:43 T-Max 6'4 and a half, 6'5, Coker's 63, Legett's 6'3,

31:47 and you put this guy in there at 6'4.

31:49 And the one thing that we would always talk about last year was, man,

31:52 if we could just get some vertical stretch on this defense,

31:56 like, we need some vertical stretch.

31:58 We need to create some layers.

32:00 They went and got it and he's big and he's physical

32:02 and he's got a proven track record in the SEC of having success.

32:06 Like I said, he was over 1,000 yards.

32:08 I think he was like 16 yards a catch.

32:10 And then the one guy that I really like is is Sam Heck.

32:14 And I think that again, we're going to talk about arm length.

32:18 I think it's really good by our guys

32:21 of understanding this guy's a really good football player.

32:24 He's 6'4.

32:24 He's 308.

32:26 He's got great technique.

32:27 He's got a ton of feel.

32:28 He's played a ton of football.

32:30 He's really good out in space on pool schemes and getting outside.

32:34 He's got great athletic ability.

32:36 The reason I think that he fell down

32:38 to the fifth round is for like we talked about,

32:40 people get scared of offensive linemen that have quote short arms.

32:45 But in my in my opinion, he's been he's had this arm length his whole career.

32:50 He's had a ton of success.

32:51 He's good at what he does.

32:52 His technique is phenomenal.

32:54 And guys that in my opinion that are great

32:57 athletes that are physical and smart and have great technique,

33:01 everything else is easy for him.

33:02 He'll figure it out.

33:03 He knows how to block a shade to his right just based on footwork,

33:08 where he needs to get to, aiming points,

33:10 where he puts his hand, how he gets his head across.

33:13 Like, I don't know.

33:14 I I think that we did a really good good job in this draft

33:17 of drafting guys that we believed were

33:19 good football players regardless of what everybody said.

33:22 And I think I think Sam Heck and Luke Forner are going to have a great battle.

33:26 And I talked to you about this, JJ.

33:27 I think over the last really since since 2024 when

33:32 we draft when not when we drafted but when we brought

33:34 in um Robert Hunt and Damen Lewis and then last year

33:38 you know you bring in [clears throat] Bobby Brown, Tershan Wharton,

33:40 Patrick Jones and then this off seasonason you bring

33:42 in you know Jaylen Phillips and Devin Lloyd among other guys

33:47 there's competition real competition everywhere you look at everyone wanted

33:52 to say hey are we going to draft a linebacker

33:54 at any point this year you know we bring

33:56 in Devin Lloyd what are we going to do Will

33:58 Trevvin Wallace is a really good football player and then

34:01 the one guy that I really like is Claudin Cherless.

34:04 He played really well last year on limited reps.

34:08 He would just come into the game and play really well

34:10 and then he played the next week and play really well.

34:12 That will linebacker position battle in my mind

34:14 and is going to be really really good.

34:17 Um you look at the tackle spots there's

34:20 we have four really good tackles on our roster.

34:22 Obviously Icky's a little bit banged up.

34:24 you look at the wide receiver room,

34:26 there's there's two first round picks and then and then and then Brazle

34:31 that a lot of people had a second round grade on and then

34:35 and then Jaylen Coker who was coming off a phenomenal season last

34:38 year in the running back rooms the same way Chuba, Jonathan Brooks,

34:43 um AJ Dylan and then ETN I and I can

34:46 the list goes on and on of real competition at real positions

34:51 and the one thing that I think we'll see a lot

34:54 of is at the end of at the end of training camp,

34:57 you can tell how good the roster is on your football

35:00 team based on how many guys on your team get claimed.

35:03 So, we have there's 90 guys on a roster and we'll cut whatever 37 of them, JJ.

35:10 Yeah.

35:10 And there's going to be a lot of cuts.

35:11 We're like, damn, that guy's a really good football player

35:13 and we're going to be mad when somebody else picks him up.

35:17 Yeah.

35:17 I mean, there's there's been a lot

35:18 of years around here where we're making five, six,

35:21 seven waiver claims and nobody on our roster

35:24 is getting picked up and you look over

35:26 there and Kansas City's getting three waiver claims

35:28 and Baltimore's getting two waiver claims and you know,

35:32 Philadelphia's got four, right?

35:33 And some of that is what have you done in the league?

35:35 And yeah, and the league's trying to to grab anyone

35:38 they can from teams that have had winning traditions,

35:40 but it's it's usually just the strength of the roster.

35:43 And there's going to be really good football

35:45 players that aren't going to make the 53.

35:47 That being said, you hope you can keep them

35:48 around because every year you're going to play probably 70

35:52 to 75 guys over the course of the season

35:54 with the way that the rules are set up, [clears throat]

35:57 not only with the injuries and and everything that comes with it.

36:00 I mean, there's pro probably I don't have the exact numbers in front of me.

36:02 I bet you 70 guys played for the Panthers last year.

36:05 So that's your 53 plus, you know,

36:08 probably your entire practice squad at some point ends up on on game day,

36:12 at least on average.

36:13 And so you want to acquire as many good players and the draft is is really good.

36:17 You know, pardon me, is a really good way to to acquire those players.

36:21 You know, I I I read a quote from Howie Roseman,

36:23 who I think is a fantastic general manager,

36:25 general manager for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he made a comment.

36:28 and he said, "If I come out

36:30 of the draft having addressed every position of need,

36:33 I probably haven't done a great job in the draft because

36:36 I've drafted for need and not just get the best football players."

36:39 And I think that's something our organization has done really well here

36:42 the last three years or so is just drafting good football players.

36:46 It's the best way to onboard players onto your roster.

36:50 the position matters because if you got a starting quarterback like Bryce Young,

36:54 you're not drafting a quarterback in the first round.

36:56 But you got to keep adding quarterbacks and you got you got tackles,

36:59 but you you're going to need more tackles

37:01 and you're going to need more pass rushers.

37:03 And so I think that's been an area that the Carolina's

37:07 done really really well and they did address a lot of needs,

37:10 but also got really good football players uh in the process.

37:14 And so I I think it was a really good weekend for Dan Morgan,

37:17 Brandt Tillis, and the whole staff.

37:19 coach Coach Canales.

37:20 So, seven picks for the Carolina.

37:22 Um, seven picks.

37:24 We went in, we went into the draft with seven.

37:25 We ended up drafting seven players.

37:27 Although, for parts of Saturday, my mom texted me and said,

37:31 "When are we drafting again?" Every pick's been traded twice.

37:34 And, uh, you know, I think it just shows there's a comfort level uh

37:39 in the in the front office of wheeling

37:41 and dealing and getting to the right spots.

37:44 Uh Dan Morgan talked about it on our podcast last week about all the mock

37:47 drafts and having a plan and it

37:49 just felt like they executed really systematically

37:52 and so I thought again thought it was a really good weekend for the Panthers

37:54 and and a good weekend for uh Panther fans uh all around the Carolinas.

38:01 Absolutely.

38:01 All right, let's take a break.

38:02 When we come back we're going to get you caught up

38:03 with all the wheelings and dealings around the rest of the league.

38:06 This is the JJ and Luke podcast on Panthers.com.

38:09 Welcome back in JJ and Luke Podcast episode 6 I think.

38:13 uh our first virtual one, Luke,

38:15 and uh we've had a great conversation today about the draft

38:20 and and really kind of buzz through all of the Panthers draft.

38:23 One thing I I mentioned on social media, Luke,

38:25 over the weekend was just how good

38:27 the draft was in terms of process from Carolina.

38:30 Brandt Tillis, Eric Eager,

38:32 very much on the analytic side of those conversations.

38:35 Panthers had the number one uh steel overreach in the entire draft.

38:41 What that means is really simply, you know,

38:43 there are consensus big boards and if you look on social media right now,

38:47 uh there's argument over what is a consensus big board.

38:50 You've been in those draft rooms, you've been in scouting,

38:53 every team is still evaluating all the players

38:55 and ranking them according to their to their specifications.

39:01 That being said, there's lots of really smart pundits.

39:03 You know, you know a number of them.

39:05 You've got a ton of respect for Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah

39:08 and guys around the league who all do this on their own

39:11 level and these consensus big boards kind of compile all of that sort

39:15 of the knowledge of the masses and kind of rank them.

39:18 And so where Carolina really excelled is drafting guys higher, I'm sorry,

39:23 drafting guys lower than where everyone thought that they were going to go.

39:26 So kind of manipulating the draft to get high quality players maybe

39:30 a little bit later in the draft than maybe the masses saw.

39:33 I think it's a good way.

39:34 Historically, you're going to acquire more

39:36 talent by drafting highly rated consensus players.

39:40 So, that was a really nice job by Carolina.

39:42 We've talked about it earlier.

39:44 Just the process was good.

39:45 It was clean.

39:46 And it's not the end all beall.

39:47 Everyone's still, you know, you know,

39:49 Monroe Freeling still got to block a pass rusher, right?

39:52 He's going to have some good he's going to have some good competition versus,

39:55 you know, Ruben Bane in Tampa Bay over the next, you know, 10 years.

39:58 And yet, you know, you're you're probably acquiring good players.

40:02 That being said, Luke, um,

40:04 what other teams around the league did you like their draft or you thought,

40:07 hey, they got some good prospects this year and that'll help set them up?

40:10 Yeah, I'm a little jealous.

40:11 So, the guys down in Miami, um, Jeff Hafley, I know him well.

40:16 He's a be he was the co head coach at Boston College after I was there.

40:19 And then his defensive coordinator's name is Shawn Dugen.

40:23 Shawn Dugen, I went to uh,

40:25 played high or grade school football with him, high school football.

40:28 He went to Boston College and now he's the defensive coordinator

40:32 for Halfle Down in Miami and they drafted my guy Jacob Rodriguez.

40:37 So they they drafted him.

40:38 I texted Sean said, "You took my guy." And then he's like,

40:42 "Hey, when are you going to come down?" And said, "I'm not.

40:43 I'm mad at you guys." [laughter] So I'm a little bit I'm excited for him.

40:48 I think Sean's Sean's a great young coach.

40:51 He was in Green Bay last year with Hathley

40:53 as the linebacker's coach and did a phenomenal job

40:56 with Edund Cooper and that crew and um

40:59 and then they drafted Kaden Proctor in the first round,

41:01 the big tackle out of Alabama.

41:03 Big physical mean.

41:05 But JJ, we saw Matt actually told us, yeah, he's going to play guard.

41:09 I mean, you look at it and it makes

41:11 a lot of sense because they have at left guard,

41:13 they have Patrick Paul who was their second round pick in 2024

41:16 and then Austin Jackson was the first round pick in 2020.

41:20 So, they've got really really high-end draft picks on both sides

41:23 and then you plug this big monster in to play guard.

41:27 It's going to be it's going to be a good setup for him.

41:29 They had a ton of draft picks.

41:30 I thought they did a really good job.

41:31 But Aiden Proctor to play guard, I think is a smart move.

41:35 And then I love, like you said, I love Jacob Rodriguez.

41:38 At least he's not in the NFC.

41:40 He's in the AFC.

41:41 We don't have to deal with him a lot.

41:42 Yeah, he's in a he's on a Florida team in the AFC.

41:45 Not you not in Tampa or We just had a good guy in Tampa leave, Lamonte Dave.

41:49 We don't need to have another one go.

41:51 [laughter] That's right.

41:52 We want those guys go someplace else.

41:54 I wonder you think that they were watching

41:56 in Miami the JJ Luke podcast and and said, "My god, if if Keeley likes him,

42:01 we should probably draft him ahead of Carolina." Well, I'm a little

42:04 I think it's a possibility.

42:05 I'm a little miffed that they drafted.

42:07 Whether or not we would have drafted him

42:08 there in the second round, I don't know.

42:10 I think Lee Hunter's a stud, so we're going to go with that.

42:16 [laughter] I something tells me when Luke Keequley talks linebackers,

42:19 the entire league at least, uh, opens one ear.

42:22 So, um, so you thought Miami had a good

42:24 draft and obviously some BC connections down there for you.

42:27 They got they got good players.

42:28 Like you said, they had 11 picks in the draft.

42:29 They drafted a ton of players.

42:30 They're in a rebuild.

42:32 We've talked about this in the past, Luke.

42:33 Like different teams are using the draft differently.

42:37 Um, and so I thought it was a good good weekend for the Panthers.

42:41 You liked what the Dolphins did.

42:42 You know, I I do think one of the interesting things,

42:45 and this is the last thing we're going to talk about real briefly,

42:47 is just there was a lot of pivot this year

42:51 in the types of tight ends that were drafted.

42:55 Forever it's been passcatching.

42:57 You know, if you're thinking Panthers, you're thinking Greg Olsen,

43:00 Wesley Walls, passcatching tight ends running down the middle of the field.

43:04 We saw it happen in Jacksonville and a few other places.

43:07 The league is getting bigger at tight end.

43:10 the league is pivoting towards this 12 and 13 personnel.

43:13 We talked about it a lot coming out of LA.

43:16 Do you think that this will be a continued thing around

43:19 the league or is this kind of a one or twoyear uh pivot,

43:23 let's say, and uh the league will sort of resettle here in a couple of years?

43:27 Well, I think I think offenses

43:29 generally generally follow what defenses are doing.

43:33 So if they line up in 12 and they're

43:35 matching a defenses are matching 12 personnel with nickel.

43:38 So you know four down guys and two linebackers and then

43:42 the third guy in the box is a little guy and nickel.

43:45 They're going to line up and run the ball

43:47 and get matchups on that smaller player in the box.

43:50 So everybody's seeing that.

43:51 So now it's like all right well since they're

43:53 getting smaller now can we get bigger at at 12

43:56 and see if we can push guys around and play more physical.

43:59 So that h that'll happen.

44:01 And when I first got in the league, it was 21 personnel, run the ball at people,

44:06 be physical, and then as defenses got bigger,

44:09 offenses went smaller and spread it out.

44:11 And as offenses went smaller and spread it out,

44:14 defenses get smaller on the second level.

44:16 And as they get smaller on the second level,

44:18 you start to see more 12 and 13 to get bigger bodies

44:21 on the field to block and play

44:23 physical and play bigger than those little bodies.

44:25 And then they're having success.

44:27 And now you're going to start seeing the addition of Trayvon Merig,

44:31 uh, Uman Warry, the dude out of Seattle.

44:34 They're going to get bigger at that third linebacker spot,

44:37 nickel, that big nickel spot.

44:38 So, the the evolution of offenses in the NFL is always doing this.

44:43 And teams are looking for the advantages and they're going

44:46 to draft where they assume they're going to have the advantage.

44:49 The league, it was the highest run rate in I

44:50 think like the last 11 years in the NFL, like close to 52% run rate.

44:55 So, uh, we have the league is pivoting.

44:58 I I know Olsen documented it all year on his Fox broadcast.

45:02 A lot's been made of it.

45:03 Just thought that was interesting.

45:04 The big blocking tight ends kind of came uh they came up a little little faster,

45:09 a little quicker in this year's NFL draft.

45:11 Well, it's been another episode of the JJ and Luke podcast.

45:14 Luke, I think the Panthers did great.

45:17 It was a It was a great year uh or a great draft,

45:20 and I think you documented it really well.

45:22 I mean, you're clearly excited.

45:24 It'll be good.

45:24 But I think you should be too.

45:25 JJ will get first eyeballs in all these guys

45:27 in a couple weeks when they get in the facility.

45:29 Well, look, for for my uh for my money,

45:32 I want to see what everyone looks like on field goal, field goal block.

45:34 We got some big dudes on both sides of the ball,

45:36 so I feel I feel a little bit more protected.

45:39 So, uh thanks everyone for joining us.

45:41 Uh been another great episode.

45:43 Look forward to talking to you guys real soon.

45:45 JJ and Luke Podcast on Panthers.com.

45:48 [music] [music] [music] Hey,