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Mac & Bone Show - Cameron Wolfe Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Our next guest was there covering it for NFL Network,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and we we love this man. This is this might
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: be our favorite national media guy right now.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Bone he's in Charlotte more than we are. I do
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: want to know, is he bought a home here? He
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: covers the Panthers.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: A lot for NFL Network and he's very positive about
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the way the Panthers are building now that might be
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: tested by the NIXT Court in injury. But we can't
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: wait to talk to him. He's camera and Wolf of
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: NFL Network. It took in yesterday's practice here in Carolina.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Camera. What's going on?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Man?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: How you doing?
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: What's good?
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Fellas?
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: I'm doing all right?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: What's happening? Man? Thanks for doing this?
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: Man?
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Have you bought a home here yet? Man? They send
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: you to Charlotte a lot? Have you bought something yet?
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Not yet? But I may need to start looking, you know.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: You know, I think that the Panthers got to win
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: a few more games for me, But if they do,
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: maybe I'll need to find it a little a little
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: short term rental spot.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: We had the unfortunate news yesterday that I know you
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: saw and reported on about the Knicks scored injury. Your
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: reaction first of all to the loss of scoring and
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: how can they try to make this work without him
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: here with based off the expectations that he had that
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: were so high entering the season.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a brutal blow. There's not really a way
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: to sugarcoat it. I think Nick Gordon was gonna be
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: one of the breakout candidates in my mind across the league.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: You're you're coming into year two after a strong year one,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: you know, talking to Dan Morgan, talking to some of
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: the coaches on the coaching staff, they had hopes of
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: him you really taking that next jump to being an
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: eight to ten SAC guy, a guy who could really
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: be a duo with Jalen Phillips. So it really is
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: a bummer. You know. I was there at practice and
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: watched it. He took an awkward step sort of non
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: contact deal and you could see immediately from the teammates
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: reactions from his reaction that was bad. And then we
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: got the news later that afternoon there was was able
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: to share that he had the torn acl So it's
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: a bummer. And to be honest, man, you know, there's
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: there's bodies on the on the team, you know, I
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: think Pat Jones will be the first one up. You
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: have Prince Lee the drafted a year ago. But my
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: initial thought and my initial field is they'll have to
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: start looking, They'll have to start looking for another option
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: there because those guys are guys, but you just don't
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: have that consistent, reliable motor, the work ethic, the production
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: that you had with Nick Gordon, and we all know
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: the Panthers pass rush was their biggest issue. So i'd
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: imagine we see them over the next few weeks looking
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: among the free agent, the waiver wire, the trade markets
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: to try to find another player to come in on edge.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, everything you said there about Scrdon, we're with you
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: on We've been so excited to see him and thought
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: a jump was coming, had a real good rookie year,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: but thought a jump was coming.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: How does do you still how do you feel about
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: this defense?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Because I still feel like with additions like Phillips and Lloyd,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: this defense is improved. It just stinks because Gordon was
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: going to be a part of this improved defense. Can
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: this still be a pretty good defense? What do you
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: think about it as a whole?
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it can be. I'm high on it.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Jero their defensive coordinator for sure. I think that you
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: look at how he's performed with maybe a limited talent,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: I'm excited to see what he does with talent in
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: this game. You know, the defense has often sort of
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: played a little bit more of a zone scheme, a
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: little bit more conservative. I think you're gonna see some
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: aggression from the pressure schemes a little bit more this season.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I think that Jalen Phillips is, if healthy, one of
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: the best free agents signed this past offseason. And I
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: got a chance to talk to him yesterday and he's
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: talking about how he wants to turn his pressure numbers
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: to stack numbers, and he's already been talking with Derek
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Brown about the games they can play. And I would
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: say one of the most impressive players on the field
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: and practice yesterday to me was Devin Lloyd. You could
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: hear them, you can feel them. And I talked to
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: a Giro after practice for a little bit and he
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: mentioned that, you know, he hadn't really seen a linebacker
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: who could you know, have the instincts the playmaking since
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: like Patrick Willison bar a bowman that he's been able
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: to be around. So I think I think there's just
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: kind of uh you know Lofty comps when you start
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: to think about his early impact and look, we got
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: to get the pads. But I think those two guys
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: are going to help a lot. But it's a little
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: two plus two plus two minus one because I thought
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Nick Gordon was going to help a lot. So I
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: do still think they're going to get better, but I
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: can't sugarcoat how big this injury is and so better, yes,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: but maybe it got limited a bit by that injury,
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: and how much better they can be.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: Cameron, in your busy week of Panther news and notes
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: and reporting, you also had the tidbit about the Panthers
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: and t Mac and the slot more this year. What
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: do you think of that thought and how does that
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: open up the offense if t mac is playing more
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: in that role than he did a year ago.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's something I've heard for for a bit now,
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  Speaker 3: and just talking to some of the coaches on the scheme,
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: on the on the team, just kind of an idea
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: of what they want to do scheme Lie. I think
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: they realized that Tedro can be not only a thousand
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: yard receiver but even better, and sometimes receivers can get
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: lost in games just playing X and if you look
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: at the numbers, I think Tedro had about eighty five
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: percent of the snaps at x in about fifteen percent
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: of his snaps in the slot roughly, So I would
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: imagine your slot numbers going to double at least. I
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: think that's the way they envision playing him. I think
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: they think that they can spread things out at times
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: a little bit more, which helps because that's what Bryce
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: loves to do. And you have the other receivers who
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: are a little bit more versatile this year, more comfortable
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: in the scheme. You can play Jalen Kocher outside at times.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: You can play Chris Brazo if he gets up to
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: speed and he had a really nice leaping grab that
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: was just out of bounds yesterday. He can play X
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, you can have xaberl to get
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: play some Z which can allow you to have t
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: MAC in the slot. So I think that you know,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: it won't eliminate his ex usage. He'll still be outside,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: i'd imagine most of his naps, But can you get
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: a third of your snaps in the slot to be
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: able to give a different look, to be able to
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: attack a weaker corner and really just let t mac
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: eat in a different way. I think that's you're gonna
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: see a little bit more creativity and personnel groupings in
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: the scheme and the play calling this year.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: We're talking to cameraon Wolf.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: He was in Charlotte for NFL Network covering the first
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: practice yesterday. We've talked about the unfortunate score and injury,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: talking about the rest of this Panther team. Day two
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: of practice coming up here, you know, in less than
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: an hour, Cameron, and let's talk about Bryce. Obviously a
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: huge year for him. The team seems like I don't
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: think there's gonna be an extension. Maybe you got news
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: you can tell me, but like it feels like they're
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: kind of taking the wait and see approach. Give us,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: let's see what you can do one more year. Do
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: you take another step? What what do you kind of
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: what would you like to see from Bryce? Like if
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: if it was your money and you're writing the checks,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Cameron to Bryce, what would you need to see this
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: upcoming season?
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah? I got to see leave no doubt. You know,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: it is a proven year, and you know, just talking
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: to people there, I think they've had those conversations with
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Bryce that he knows just the importance of the year,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: and I don't think the pressure will bother him. We
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: all know how good he is laden games, so I
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: don't think the pressure bothers him. But you just need
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: to see more consistency. I need to see that the
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: first through third quarter Brice can be the same that
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: we see in the fourth quarter sometimes. And one thing
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: I thought was interesting just being at practice yesterday, just
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: talking to some of the coaches there, they have a
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: real goal for him to become a high sixty low
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: seventy percent passer completion rate. They think that's in his bag.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: They think that he can use his skill set and
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: really maximize that. And a lot of that just comes
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: through taking easier throws, taking some checkdowns, not always looking
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: for the big play. And so I keep an eye
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: on that in camp and how much more efficient he
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: can be. I think you'll see him run more tempo.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: I think you'll see a version of him that's a
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: little bit more comfortable and confident. But if he's going
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: to be a quarterback who is superpower is going to
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: be his accuracy, his feel, he's got to be close
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: to the seventy percent completion rate. I don't know if
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: he'll ever lead the league in passing, that's not his game.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: But you can lead the league in completion percentage, that
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: is his game. And so I would love to see
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: him just continue to maximize his superpower for me to
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: feel comfortable giving him fifty plus million dollars whatever ends
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: up being the extension number. And to answer your first question, No,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: I don't think there's any movement on an extension at
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: this point. I think that that will be a next
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: offseason conversation.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Cameron, how did Jonathan Brooks look yesterday? And what's
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: your overall expectation for what we may see out of
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: him and really his first full year.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm extremely high on Jonathan Brooks, and I'm almost
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: trying to like tamper my expectations because the injuries are
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: such an unknown and you've got to be realistic of
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: a guy who has not played much at all to
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: all of a sudden expect him to rescue the team.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: It's probably a lot. But I'll tell you what, man,
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: watching him cut, watching him move is just different. It's
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: different than any back they have on that roster, and
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: just talking to some of the coaches they're playing for
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: him is if he gets healthy he's immediately gonna be
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: the one two punts with Tuba, and they're certainly belief
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: that he can be the feature back to lead back
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: before the end of the season. That's just what they
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: believe in his talent. He just has a little extra juice.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: He just has a little extra shake and bake. It's
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: just different level. Now he's got to put it together.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: He's got to feel the pop up pads. We're not
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: in pads yet. He's got to go through preseason games.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Can he get the wear and tear of doing it
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: two or three practices in a row. I do know
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: they're going to give him a few more rest days
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: than normal this offseason or this can't, just to make
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: sure where he's not doing too much. But he had
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: no limitations, no break on and he was running, you know,
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: splitting reps from the first team with Cuba and Trevor.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: And So I really like Jonathan Brooks and I'm a
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: big fantasy football fan. I'm trying to get as many
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Jonathan Brooks on my team as possible. That's what I think.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Is awesome, nice, awesome.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: All right, So before we let you go, let's let's
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: finish this conversation with your thoughts on the NFC South,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: how do you how do you where do you feel
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: can the Panthers defend the Belts? Who should we worry
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: about the most? How do you see the South playing out?
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting. The team that's really caught my eye
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: a lot this offseason has been the New Orleans Saints
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: because they finished so strong and Tyler shuck Is is
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: a little bit of an unknown. He only has what
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: eight nine starts, and they've won some games against teams
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: laden division. You know, they got Travis Han from Jacksonville.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: They have some different pieces. You know, they added Jordan
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Tyson in the draft. So I'm curious to see just
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: how much of a step they can make if it
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: really is a wide open division. But yeah, the Panthers,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: I would say, increase their talent. They're the division champs.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: I think the defense it went from league worse to
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: maybe slightly below average last year. Can they make that
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: next jump from slightly below average to maybe average or
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: even slightly above average. I think that would help them
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: be the favorites. I think the Bucks are in such
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: a fork in the road because I could see them
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: taking the division back, and I could also see this
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: being the beginning of the end with an older roster,
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: with quarterback contract questions, with head coach questions, So they're
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: the complete wild card. And I think it's hard for
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: me to trust Atlanta, and so I know what their
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: quarterback situation is, so they would be four for me.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: So I think it's a three and at the top
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: and Atlanta's probably although they have a lot of talent
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: the quarterback, I think it may hold them back this year.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Nice, there you go. You put it in the basement. Man,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: knew I liked you. Camera, I knew I liked you.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: All right, man, So.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: What's your deal? Are you?
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Are you still in Charlotte for today or have you left?
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: What's your what's your what's your schedule? They got you
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: bouncing around to different camps?
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, bouncing around. I left late last night, so just
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: did did the day of practice, We did Good Morning Football,
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: and did some NFL Live and Insiders, and did an
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: interview with Jaalen Phillips. But then now I'm out, So
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: I'll head out and I'll have the weekend with the fam,
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: and then we'll start back in camps next week. And
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: I've got eight stops in eleven dates. So I'll be
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: bouncing around a lot. Yeah, it's this. It's gonna be
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: a fun ride. So hopefully in a couple of weeks
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: I can circle back to Carolina. But you know, right now,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: I'll just be shuffling around the country from Miami to Cleveland,
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: to Denver to New Orleans, New York, Cincinnati, uh, New England,
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: a lot of places. So I'm just bouncing around seeing uh,
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: seeing where there where they're playing ball, and giving some reports.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: All right, man, get some vet days in there too,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: that's important. Right. He had that entire apparently, not giving
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: you many bed days.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: All right, brother, we'll have fun and we'll be watching
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: NFL Network. Look forward to coming back here and covering
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: the Panthers again. Thanks Camera. We appreciate you.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Appreciate you, fellas.