CHARLOTTE The advantage of having weekly blizzards is, all of your provides from final week’s blizzard are nonetheless good.
A very good snow day can be cool, primarily as a result of they’re nonetheless novel round right here. As a result of it covers up all of the imperfections, and makes the world look peaceable and quiet which, as you may need seen, it ain’t.
Nevertheless it additionally offers you an opportunity to catch your breath, and that is what this week has been about. The gradual second, between the tip of a Panthers season, and the ramp-up that begins with the Tremendous Bowl and Corridor of Fame announcement, and pours straight into the mix, free company, and the draft.
The content material crew is heading to San Francisco quickly (together with numerous present and former Panthers), the place we’ll carry you the newest on the Professional Bowl, Tetairoa McMillan’s potential honors, and Luke Kuechly’s Corridor of Fame candidacy. So there’s tons occurring, and I like to recommend protecting it locked on Panthers.com, the socials, and the YouTube channel for all the newest.
We’ll have it coated for you from each angle, whilst you wait, and surprise when all of the @#$&!#$%@#%$! snow goes to soften.
Till then, there was nonetheless loads of mail.
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Typing this one-handed at midnight whereas rocking my child boy again to sleep. Please excuse typos as a consequence of lack of dexterity or abundance of sleep deprivation!
I might be curious to get your ideas on the teaching carousel this 12 months within the NFL. It looks as if we have now had an unusually excessive variety of head teaching vacancies created by firing persistently profitable coaches (e.g., 18 years for John Harbaugh in Baltimore, 9 for McDermott in Buffalo). Seeing Tomlin “step down” (appeared like there was loads of fan stress there) after 19 years in Pittsburgh, I’m puzzled by the concept of being unhappy with a coach who has no dropping seasons on his resume. As a lifelong fan of our beloved Panthers franchise that has by no means had consecutive profitable seasons (please right me if I’m flawed), that appears a bit loopy to me. What a peculiar distinction that we’re so bullish (and rightfully so) on our head coach after an eight-win season (given our latest historical past) when the Payments’ possession was apparently finished with their coach, who had turned their crew right into a perennial playoff contender after dropping in time beyond regulation to the primary seed within the AFC within the divisional spherical. I suppose my query is about how “success” is outlined in such relative phrases within the NFL and the way that interprets into the shelf lifetime of head coaches.
OK, going to attempt to switch him again to the crib now. Want me luck!David, Midlothian, VA
Context is all the pieces. Dave Canales is a wild success after taking a crew from two wins to 5 to eight, and that is legitimate, as a result of stability is the state you need to attain within the NFL, and it is laborious to get there whenever you’re not there.
Staying there may be actually laborious, and that is why individuals who can pull it off are likely to have lengthy shelf lives. However you even have to recollect, there aren’t guidelines that apply to all 32 groups, as a result of every scenario is completely different primarily based on the proprietor, the fan base, and the collective expectations. So the truth that Canales led the crew to the primary dwelling playoff sport in 10 years issues right here.
I noticed a pundit final week criticize the Steelers for hiring Mike McCarthy as a result of “they’d an opportunity to go in a brand new, probably thrilling path.” To me, that is absurd, as a result of a crew that hasn’t had a dropping season in 20 years does not want a brand new path. It is already going the appropriate method. Additionally, I keep in mind when the Falcons went in a “new, probably thrilling path” again in 2007, and Bobby Petrino went 3-10 and give up earlier than the tip of the season. Driving your bike right into a tree is “a brand new, probably thrilling path” if the place you had been is the center of the highway.
There are different examples, some near dwelling, however you get the purpose.
Harbaugh, Tomlin, McCarthy, they’re all nice coaches, with Tremendous Bowls and sterling information. However when George Seifert got here right here in 1999, he talked about each coach having a time restrict, after which the message not resonated. This was after he went 98-30 (.766 profitable proportion, the best ever at that time) and gained two Tremendous Bowls with the 49ers.
Good luck with the child. Should you drop him whereas sending me Mailbag questions, neither one in all us will ever hear the tip of it.
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Hi there Darin, I have never missed a Mailbag all 12 months and revel in your ideas on the season and the questions you get requested. I have never missed a sport (even whereas deployed to Afghanistan). With that stated, do you suppose we must always draft a brand new LB core or attempt to get somebody from free company? I actually likeTrevin Wallace, however consider he is accident-prone and is not good at staying with the velocity of the sport. I would love to listen to your ideas, thanks.Thomas, Washington, DC
Thomas, I respect you. As to your query, the reply additionally might be “why not each?”
Since changing into normal supervisor, Dan Morgan has addressed wants on the roster in a fairly direct method. It was the offensive line two years in the past, the defensive entrance seven final 12 months. He isn’t afraid to take huge swings.
And clearly, withChristian Rozebooma free agent, and Wallace coming off one other shoulder harm, which required surgical procedure, inside linebacker is a spot they will be trying. That might be a reliable free agent starter, in addition to a draft decide, after which carry them to camp together with Wallace and the ascendingBam Martin-Scottand others, and see what occurs. Morgan talks loads about “rising competitors in all places,” and I may positively see him throwing numbers at his outdated place.
Morgan has systematically made the roster extra gifted; the subsequent problem is making it deeper, as a result of, as you could have seen at that place this 12 months, generally guys get harm.
Additionally, anyone who’s studying the Mailbag in Afghanistan has an impressive probability of being this week’s Good friend Of The Mailbag. Salute.
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Evidently we dodged a bullet with the storm. I hope everyone seems to be protected and heat. After watching the Seahawks play the final couple of weeks, I’m questioning if ourJimmy Horn Jr.would possibly develop right into a Rashid Shaheed-type participant. Do you suppose coach Canales will give him some alternatives on kickoffs or punt returns like Steve Smith did in his early years? I stay up for your protecting us updated on what is occurring through the offseason.Roger, Matthews, NC
Cautious counting your chickens on the climate. As I typically say when getting surprising excellent news, “it is early but.”
Nevertheless it’s additionally early on Horn.
You are not going to place him on kick returns; he is too little. The brand new guidelines have turned that into what quantities to a run play, and that is a working again’s job. Take a look at the distinction in measurement betweenChuba Hubbard(6-1, 210) and Horn (5-8, 174), and it is clear.
Punts are an possibility, the place his “make one man miss” abilities may turn out to be useful. However you additionally need to catch a punt, and that is not a job that everybody can do naturally. It takes time and reps, like most issues in life, and he solely returned 14 punts in 4 faculty seasons.
However you noticed Horn do an increasing number of on offense because the season went on, and that ought to proceed. His velocity offers him probabilities so as to add components to the offense, as a runner and a receiver, and you might see Canales increase the playbook the extra snug he received with the rookie on the sector.
Trevor Etiennewas OK on returns this 12 months, and did sufficient to earn a vote of confidence after muffing the punt within the wild card sport, and so they need to construct on his potential too.
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That is the purpose of the offseason the place I really feel that there’s nothing to do past wait, so I would prefer to share a joke. My household and I (all Panthers followers, however I am probably the most devoted) had been enjoying a sport (the idea of it could take me too lengthy to clarify), and the next got here up:
“Makes selfmade bread”:
Possibility 1: The center faculty principal at my Ok-12 personal faculty
Possibility 2:Bryce Younger
Everybody voted for the principal besides my mother, and her logic was as follows (quote barely edited by me): “I do know for a incontrovertible fact that [the middle school principal] doesn’t make selfmade bread, and I like the thought that Bryce Younger secretly [gets the zen that makes him Ice Young] by [making homemade bread].” Anyhow, my query: What do you do throughout this time of 12 months, the place nearly the one Panthers information is mock drafts and rumors, that can assist you KEEP POUNDING!
PS: Are you able to ask Bryce if he truly DOES make selfmade bread?Micah, Gastonia, NC
I vow to commit a journalism and ask Bryce this, the subsequent time I see him. I do not know if he bakes within the offseason, however he does eat carbohydrates once in a while, so it isn’t like he is anti-bread or something. I’ve finished variations of this earlier than with gamers to see who has probably the most random ability. A shocking variety of them can juggle.
I need to increase this, winter storm fashion. Who chops their very own firewood? (I’ll completely decide a person by the dimensions of his woodpile.) Who makes the most effective pot of chili? Who’s weirdly aggressive at board video games or puzzles or playing cards, the stuff you do when the facility goes out?
As for what I do through the offseason? I’ve lately realized that I’ve a spouse at dwelling, who’s fairly cool to hang around with throughout a blizzard. Typically through the season, I overlook she’s there. There are additionally non-work tasks that do not at all times get sufficient of my time, which I attempt to meet up with. However the season by no means actually stops, so the idea of the offseason is difficult. That is why I like snowstorm once in a while, as a result of making your self decelerate is difficult.
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Why will not you inform the general public and followers the way you voted for the Corridor of Fame? Your silence discredits you. Should you did not vote Belichick you haven’t any credibility. Should you did, then inform the general public like the opposite 21 sportswriter colleagues have rightly finished. That is egregious incompetent injustice, and stains the Corridor of Fame and sportswriters. Be part of your fellow colleagues by talking out and demand others be revealed because the idiots they’re. In any other case you might be only a SPINELESS coward together with your silence.Blair, Carson Metropolis, CA
Effectively, there are a number of causes I am not sharing my vote, however crucial one is, I care about guidelines. They’re necessary in a functioning society, a shared framework all of us need to dwell by. With out them, it is anarchy. And the Corridor has requested that we not reveal our votes, notably earlier than the category is even introduced. That is unfair to the individuals being voted on, who’ve already been subjected to a spectacle they didn’t join.
That is sufficient for me.
However Purpose No. 2 is I do not give a hoot in hell in regards to the approval of an nameless web crowd. Your outrage doesn’t entitle you to getting what you need. This comes as a shock to many spoiled youngsters and overly on-line adults. My ideas are extra necessary to me than your judgment. And by not saying who I voted for right now, you do not know, irrespective of what number of conclusions you bounce to. All you are doing by assuming my intent is begging to be flawed. And brother (or sister, I keep in mind Info of Life, are you able to inform I used to be born within the Seventies?), there’s numerous flawed on the market in these streets.
I’ve had revered reporters attain out to me, providing anonymity to inform them how I voted or what was stated within the assembly, and I advised them the identical factor. No thanks. This course of, flawed although it is likely to be at occasions, is simply too necessary to be left to a web based lynch mob, and I will not take part in it.
Purpose No. 3 is that this course of can be too necessary to be left to the passions of people that yell. The Corridor desires a sturdy debate, carried out by individuals who know the sport. The minute you make each vote recognized, that debate is mechanically chilled, as a result of there are individuals in that room who care much more about public approval than I do. In case you have not seen, the knowledge of the gang is not at all times smart, and generally what looks as if a good suggestion within the second has disastrous unintended penalties. In the event that they need to do it that method, that is high-quality, however you are turning a vigorous debate into a web based ballot and I do not suppose that serves the general public both.
Purpose No. 4 is that, as a lot as it’d disappoint individuals, that is seemingly extra of a boring course of story than a “sports activities writers hate Invoice as a result of he is imply to them” story. My buddy and fellow voterMike Sando has finished job of summarizing this. Mike is sensible and you must learn and hearken to him.
On the similar time, I additionally consider in transparency. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. When the suitable time comes, I am going to fortunately share my poll. At this time shouldn’t be the suitable time, irrespective of how a lot you stomp your ft and pout and name me names.
I voted the way in which I voted. I’ll sleep properly tonight, as a result of my coverage is to vote for probably the most deserving candidates on the poll in entrance of me. This would possibly not be the primary time or the final my poll shouldn’t be the identical because the introduced outcomes.
Briefly, who I voted for is none of what you are promoting, irrespective of how loudly you holler. Following the foundations and doing the appropriate issues the identical method on daily basis is how I’ve tried to dwell my life. Your outcomes might fluctuate.
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As loopy as this Invoice Belichick information is, are we in peril of Luke Kuechly being snubbed once more?Cliff, Cornelius, NC
Hope not. However tune in to NFL Honors subsequent Thursday night time and discover out with me.
This is what I am going to let you know about Luke. I assumed he was the most effective participant on the poll final 12 months in his first 12 months of eligibility, when he made it to the ultimate seven and wasn’t chosen.
The brand new guidelines put in place previous to the 2025 cycle have had the specified impact, if the will was for a smaller class. And if the Corridor desires to induct three fashionable candidates a 12 months, that is a call they will make, and I am going to work inside their framework.
As talked about above, my coverage has been to vote for the most effective gamers on the poll, no matter years spent as a finalist or another issue. The members of that committee spend a ridiculous period of time researching and learning to get it proper, and every of the 50 could make their very own choices. And respectful of the gamers inducted final 12 months (all worthy), none of them had Luke Kuechly’s resume.
Luke was the most effective linebacker within the sport, the whole time he was in a position to play it. He’d have seemingly gained multiple defensive participant of the 12 months awards if he weren’t enjoying concurrently defensive finish JJ Watt, as a result of defensive awards are likely to skew towards pass-rushers with huge sack totals.
However he was named to the All-Decade crew for the 2010s, and was an All-Professional choice in seven of the eight seasons he performed. The one gamers who had been named All-Professional the next proportion of their careers had been two guys named Barry Sanders and Jim Brown. The 2 guys Luke’s forward of on that listing are Reggie White and Anthony Munoz.
Should you’re in a membership of 5 with Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, Reggie White, and Anthony Munoz, you might be, by definition, a Corridor of Famer.
However after the brand new voting guidelines created a three-man class final 12 months, it is cheap to count on that once more. And Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald entered the method this 12 months, thought-about by most to be sturdy first-year prospects. Brees is second within the issues we rely at his place behind Tom Brady. Fitzgerald is second within the issues behind Jerry Rice. That is a powerful argument.
So that would doubtlessly go away one spot for both Kuechly, kicker Adam Vinatieri, legendary proper sort out Willie Anderson, vast receiver Torry Holt, or the remainder of this 12 months’s finalists. (The opposite impact of the brand new guidelines is {that a} deserving Steve Smith fell out of the ultimate 15 this 12 months, when 5 first-year eligibles got here on, and solely three gamers left the pool with gold jackets on.)
There aren’t any certainties on this course of. Not anymore.
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Hey Darin, love your articles. I am going to get proper to the query. Three years in the past, Carolina made the draft commerce to get Bryce Younger. Sending a truckload of draft picks and our greatest WR DJ Moore to Chicago. Who gained out in the long term? I suppose they each gained since they’re each higher, however Chicago made it farther within the playoffs. In order that they received the higher finish of the deal.Paul, Corpus Christi, TX
I find it irresistible when individuals reply their very own questions. They go away glad, and my hourly price goes up.
You’ll be able to spend your life enjoying the what-if sport, and it makes for good dialog, I suppose. There’s an alternate universe through which Sam Darnold, Christian McCaffrey, DJ Moore,Derrick Brown, Jalen Carter, Brian Burns, Frankie Luvu, andJaycee Hornare enjoying for the Panthers within the Tremendous Bowl subsequent week, and a never-injured Luke Kuechly will get to retire as a champion the way in which Peyton Manning did.
However I am not Ricardo Montalban, and this is not Fantasy Island, although it could be enjoyable to have a brief sidekick in an identical swimsuit. I might be like Large Enos Burdette and get a person with a mustache and a Pontiac Firebird go get beer for me (Are you able to inform I used to be born within the Seventies?)
What’s finished is completed, and life strikes on.
The Bears have a quarterback they dig in Caleb Williams, who’s able to doing superb issues. The Panthers have Bryce Younger, who continues to enhance yearly, and he helped the Panthers do one thing they hadn’t finished in a decade. And we proceed.
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I say we have to get a primary spherical working again, Jeremiyah Love would solidify our offense for a very long time, and with a healthyJonathon Brooksbe the subsequent thunder and lightning like DeAngelo and Jonathan Stewart, or get CJ Allen, the linebacker from GeorgiaShane, Rockwell, NC
Dang, did we overlook aboutChuba Hubbardalready, the cat who ran for 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns a 12 months in the past?
Love is definitely a powerful participant, and because the Falcons have confirmed, you might be aggressive on this league with an elite again.
A linebacker from Georgia appears extra in step with wants, but when a top-10 again falls into their laps at 19, it is likely to be laborious to say no to that. At all times draft the most effective participant in your board; you will hardly ever be upset.
Darin, what an finish to the season, one thing not many seen coming. My query is, do you suppose that DC Ejiro Evero will likely be round subsequent season, as he’s being interviewed for a number of HC positions? Does he want to stay a Panther or take an HC place?
I’m trying ahead to the 2026 draft, and free company. Do you suppose that Dan and Dave are contemplating drafting a youthful QB to study below Bryce?Andy Daltonhas been a strong backup and mentor for Bryce; nonetheless, I consider that if Bryce will get injured, Andy wouldn’t be capable of lead us into the playoffs. I’m excited that Dan and Dave will proceed to herald the DAWGs to strengthen the O Line, D Line, and defensive secondary, the place we largely get burnt with passing on the worst doable occasions. And I’ll finish as my different outdated buddy, Forrest Gump, at all times says, That is all I’ll say about that, LOL. Cannot wait til the season begins once more. Get pleasure from your summer season, keep protected and properly. Go PanthersKenneth, Stuttgart, Germany
Everyone would quite be a head coach than a defensive coordinator. why? Head coaches earn more money.
If Evero does not get one of many remaining jobs, he’ll be again. However he interviewed twice with the Raiders and is reportedly nonetheless into account. I believe he’ll be head coach as a result of he is good, organized, constant, disciplined, is aware of learn how to speak to gamers and talk his message, and has a monitor document of outcomes. Because it pertains to Las Vegas, he additionally has expertise with a No. 1 general decide quarterback in a less-than-ideal scenario. He was right here in 2023.
As for youthful quarterbacks, Morgan talked about it as a chance, and it is at all times good to maintain one thing within the pipeline. Andy is a beneficial a part of the construction round Bryce, and cracking his thumb early within the Buffalo sport final 12 months may not have been the truest indication of his continued potential to play soccer.
Plus, Andy has entered the outdated man energy part of his life. And outdated dudes are sometimes able to nice surprises. By no means low cost an outdated dude.
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And on that be aware, let’s go lightning spherical, dropped at you by the patron saint of the lightning spherical Jeff from Fuquay-Varina, to shut it out this week.
Hey Darin, do you thinkIkem Ekwonudeserves a second contract regardless of his harm from the playoffs?Brandon, Detroit, MI
The timing for Ekwonu was definitely unlucky. Too quickly to say, actually. Many issues rely upon his restoration, from his perspective and the crew’s. However earlier than the harm, he was an ascending participant and an necessary a part of what they’re doing right here.
Panthers fan because the 90s. Who’re three or 4 gamers you suppose will likely be requested to restructure their contracts earlier than free company? Thanks!Brad, Bartlett, IL
Keep out of this man’s pocket, Brad. There are numerous alternative ways to restructure. Some are pay cuts, and a few are advance funds, which clear cap room with out altering the money outlay. There are a variety of prospects for each on the roster now. However they’ve additionally been deliberate through which ones they do, as Brandt Tilis tries to maintain a watch towards the long run, and offers they will must do down the highway.
Why do not the Panthers protection play ‘MAN’? Or Canales play Man or DC (in case we free the man already there and since I do not know learn how to spell his final title) Play Man? Or Dan Morgan play Man? I added Dan so he would not really feel ignored.William, Statesville, NC
Who’s the person who would threat his neck for his brother man? John Shaft. (Are you able to inform I used to be born within the Seventies?)
In the case of basketball, I am with Bomani Jones zone is for cowards. However that is a unique sport.
That is my first time and sending you a message, so this is a little bit historical past, and also you most likely keep in mind this. Have you ever heard of Kevin Greene and John Kasay? These two are my favourite gamers within the Panthers historical past. And Hold Pounding.Shawn, Aiken, SC
An outdated buddy as soon as advised me that two nice responses to any alternate might be “I am conscious” and “nice to listen to.” So sure, I am conscious of each, since I introduced Kevin in Corridor of Fame discussions, and Kasay began calling me “Scoop” sooner or later once I took off working to ask Dameyune Craig a query.
Please inform me that Bryce shouldn’t be leaving. And coach is staying!Vicki, Heath Springs, SC
Bonus Kasay story. One time, a well-meaning reporter requested John an almost-question throughout a tough patch for the crew: “John, the followers simply want to listen to that all the pieces’s all proper, and also you guys are going to be OK.”
John paused, nodded, and replied flatly: “All the pieces’s all proper. We will be OK.”
Bryce shouldn’t be leaving. Coach is staying.
Hello Darin, because the panthers are a sponsor of NC Excessive College Athletics Affiliation,does the panthers group help their educational normal to take part in sports activities being 3 D’s and a F?Ed, Kannapolis, NC
Ed, I am a Corridor of Fame voter, spreading my GPA round this week is like salt in a wound. Additionally, we have got some severe punctuation, capitalization, and grammar points right here. You positive you need to throw rocks from that tumbler home?
Why would you employ a two-dollar phrase when a 10-cent euphemism would do? Pedantic certainly!Westray, Kershaw, SC
To confuse Ed.
I did my first mock draft this 12 months. I needed to know what you considered it. I drafted Caleb OT, Deontae LB, Omar WR, Jake C, Zxavian DT, Diego QB, Dallen TE?Chris, Inman, SC
Do these guys have final names, or is that this like a Hornets legend Grasp P scenario?
Mr Darin, how do you are feeling in regards to the Panthers schedule subsequent season, and what are your document predictions?Matthew, Rochester, NY
I broke down the parable of the first-place schedule in final week’s ‘Bag. It isn’t the drawback individuals suppose it’s. However selecting information is a idiot’s errand anyway, particularly earlier than free company or the draft, particularly drafts of gamers with out final names.
Inform me extra (?)Bryan, West Palm Seashore, FL
Bryan right here was studying final week, when Zach requested my favourite query. Have not heard from Zach this week; he have to be out saving the world or one thing.
However I’ll let you know extra. We’ve got some cool stuff coming this offseason, belief me.
Ask the Previous Man Submissions
