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Mac & Bone Show - Joe Person Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Carolina Panthers because yesterday, and we
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: had to wait for it a little while. I know
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Joe was probably waiting to write a story, but eventually
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: we got the initial. 53-man roster, because you know there
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: will be a change or two. They also, Bone, look
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: like they're about to add officially Bobby Okereke, linebacker from
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the Giants on a one-year deal. They made the trade
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: for Tara Edwards at D-Tackle. So there's a lot to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: talk about right now with Joe Person, TheAthletic.com, one of
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the best in the business when it comes to covering
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: And he joins us here post-cuts. Joe, what's going on, man?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: How you doing?
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Good morning, gentlemen. How y'all doing?
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: What's up, man? What's up? What did you think?
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: Glad we made the roster yesterday, you know? We made the.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Yo, we all woke up this morning still employed. This
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: is a good thing.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: We survived cut-down day somehow, someway.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: What did you think was the biggest surprise or biggest
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: couple surprises? How surprised were you by Trevin Wallace? Was
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: that the top one?
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Because I... Obviously, I didn't think
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: he was going to be starting with Okereke on his
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: way in, but I thought there was still a use
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: for Trevin Wallace as a backup and a special teams player.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: But Claude and Chairless is the better special teams player.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: And I think in these last couple of roster spots
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: at certain positions, it comes down to special teams. And
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: we saw that with Chairless. So, yeah, I was surprised
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: that they moved on from Trevin Wallace, that draft class
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: from 2024, Dan Morgan's first one. It's not looking great.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: You've got Xavier Leggett with a big question mark. Maybe
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Jonathan Brooks kind of salvages it by being the back
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: that they thought they were drafting in the second round
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: a couple years ago out of Texas. And now, obviously,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Wallace is gone. And then the other surprise, I was
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: kind of a little surprised that Chandler Zavala is still
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: around and that they kept five tight ends. I mean,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: that's too many, in my opinion. And certainly that could change.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, that could change today at 2 o'clock when
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the claims are announced and Okereke, I'm assuming, will be today.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: So they've got some more cuts to make. And right
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: now they have 27 on offense, spots taken, and 23
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: on defense. So that feels like if you're trimming the fat,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: to me it feels like it's going to be on
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: the offensive side.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they have 15 spots combined right now with tight
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: ends and offensive linemen. That's crazy.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: You feel like that's an area where a couple guys
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: might go. Busy day, Joe, as you know, yesterday. Not
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: just the cutdowns, but T-Raw Edwards comes in from the Chargers.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: What do you think of that trade? And from what
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: you know, what we're getting here with this young man?
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it seems like he's a pretty decent penetrator and
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: runs stuff. I don't know that he's a guy that's
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: going to create a lot of pressure on the passer,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: but they just needed a kind of a, another, you know,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: prospect in there because they're, they're, they're pretty thin with,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: you know, obviously they, they let a John Robinson walk
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: and free agency. Then Turk Wharton has the next surgery.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: And then let's not forget, I think the little, the
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: love Brian Ray retirement really kind of caught these guys
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: by surprise. And so, You know, all of a sudden,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: they're having to throw Cam Jackson and Lee Hunter right
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: in there. And I know Cam's been around for now
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: two years, and Lee Hunter was a high draft pick. So,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, you should be relying on guys like that.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: But I just felt– I think they felt that beyond
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: those guys, it was just a little lean. And so–
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: They did keep Aaron Hall, and I think he did
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: have a good camp after signing as undrafted free agent
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: out of Duke. But I don't know that they felt
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: like he was necessarily ready to kind of plug and play.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: You guys know, especially early in the season, but really
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: all season, those interior D linemen, that is a very
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: rotational group. They're running guys in and out of there.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: on those hot, you know, September Sundays. But, but as
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: I said, even all along, but I think, I think
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: Edwards buys them some time, you know, while they still
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: wait for, for Wharton to get back. So I think
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: it's fine. I mean, you know, his college numbers were
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: okay at Illinois, but, but, Clearly, Dan Morgan and his
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: scouts saw something in him.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he definitely seems to have a heck of a preseason.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: We'll see if that translates. We're talking to Joe Person, TheAthletic.com.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: If you want great Panthers coverage, you know Joe is
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: going to give it to you.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: So, Joe, let's talk about the wide receivers.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Just seem read a horn makes it just seem read
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: ends up getting waved. I would think they want to
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: bring them back on practice squad. I was surprised though.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I would have thought read over Metchie. I kind of
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: slept on Metchie. What'd you think about what they did
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: there at the receivers?
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, here, here's what I think. I, I'm like you, I,
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: I kind of went back and forth. I had read
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: as my last receiver on my projection and, And I
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: literally like cut Mechie, you know, cut and pasted him
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: or cut and deleted him out of his– I initially
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: had him is what I'm trying to say. Back on
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: the special teams, Jag, though, you know, we learned yesterday
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: that that ankle for HN is a little worse than
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: we thought. I mean, bad enough that he's going on
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: IR with designation to return. Yes. So, I mean, not
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: season ending, but all of a sudden you need a
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: kick and punt returner for the first four games. And
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: I think Jim Horn's going to be that guy, but
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: John Meche probably is going to be the backup. And
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: so I wonder if that, we didn't, we didn't get
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: to talk, talk to Canales or Morgan yesterday. We're going
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: to get Morgan tomorrow, I believe. So I wasn't able
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: to ask that question, but that's, That certainly to me
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: is logical. And by the way, I mean, it's not
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: like John Metchie had a bad camp. I mean, he
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: was their leading receiver in preseason games. He's got some
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: yards after catch ability, maybe more so than Reed. I mean,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: Reed's kind of that classic long receiver who go up
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: and high point it. You know, he, he had, he
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: did kind of have some, some, unfortunately for him, some
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: kind of sloppy routes that were, you know, he was
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: having trouble, uh, with his footing on that wet turf
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: the other night. I'm not saying that's a reason he
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: got cut, but I think the return thing with Mechie
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: probably swayed it in his favor.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Very good point.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: Joe, the new Saturday before all this, Bobby Okereke signed
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: to play linebacker. How big of a deal is that,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: both in terms of the player that they're getting and
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: also the need that this team has for a guy
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: like him?
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. I mean, we saw Sharilis and Wallace,
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: just neither of them separated this summer. I mean, they
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: had every opportunity. And, you know, you kind of went
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: in with the idea thinking Wallace would end up winning
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: that competition.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: And the longer it.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Sort of became an either-or, you're like... Clearly he and
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: I'll take this back, honestly, to his first two seasons.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, nothing against Trevin Wallace, the person, but on
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: the field, I just I struggle to remember any super
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: impact plays that he made out there. I'm sure there
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: are a couple I'm forgetting, but they were few and
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: far between in my mind. And he did have a
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: sack the other night against the Texans, but, you know,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: he's in there against the Houston second-team offense. But, yeah,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: and this is kind of when these are a little
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: tougher decisions, I think, for front offices when you have
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: to start cutting, like, day-two picks that you made in
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: the case of Dan Morgan. These are no longer Scott
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: Fitterer's guys that you're cutting. but Dan Morgan clearly thought
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: they needed an upgrade there, and Okereke provides it. I mean,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: did talk to some folks around the Giants who thought
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: that his play last year slipped, that they thought he
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: looked like a step slow. Maybe he was playing through
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: an injury. I don't know. I mean, still... 30, which,
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: you know, not super old. It's kind of right kind
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: of where it does start to sometimes for some guys,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: you start to slip a bit. But hopefully and you
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: look at his stat sheet and he still made a
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: bunch of tackles. But what I was told is kind
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: of like I just said about Wallace. There weren't as
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: many impact and kind of momentum-type changing plays that they
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: had seen, especially his first year after leaving the Colts
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: and going to the Giants.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Career high with 21 missed tackles, too. He still made
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: a ton of tackles, but he missed more than ever.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: But I also say this to Joe, like, you know, this,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have to be Ray Lewis. Like, are you
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: better than Cheryl?
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Like, and I still think
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: he will be.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Now, we cannot complete this interview, Joe, about talking about
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: fan favorite Haynes King. He could have livened up some
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: of these preseason games. but unfortunately, he only played in
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame game and had this injury. He
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: might be in the Hall of Fame soon. Panther fans
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: putting him in there. I know, Joe, he told you
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: after the game, I probably was healthy enough to play,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: but they wanted to sit me out, make sure that
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: hamstring doesn't flare back up. Where do you think he's at?
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: What is the team thinking on him? Is it as
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: simple as developmental quarterback? We really like you, but we
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: want to make sure that you don't get snatched away.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Is he any threat at any point this season to
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: push Kenny Pickett, or is this kind of like developmental
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: guy and maybe next year he could be the backup?
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: What do you think?
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's mostly developmental, but don't mistake it.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: They really like him. They like his makeup. Uh, they, I,
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: I remember two days after the season and after that
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Rams playoff loss, Dan Morgan told us like, could you
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: go get a, he was asked, could you go get
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: a developmental quarterback? And he said, yeah. And if I do,
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: I'm looking for one who can make plays with his
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: arm and his feet. And I mean, That is Haynes King,
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: anyone who's watched Georgia Tech the last couple years. And then,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: like I said, I mean, that was kind of a
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: magical moment in Canton until it wasn't when he either
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: got hurt on the dive into the end zone or
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: maybe during the celebration that followed, if you go back
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: and look at that video. But nevertheless, and I don't
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: even think that was a terrible thing because it– well, yeah,
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: it was because– You didn't get to see him, but
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: the rest of the league didn't get to watch him also.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: I don't know if they're going to be able to
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: sneak him onto the practice squad at any point this year.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: I think he'll stick. And then Kenny Pickett signed for
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: one year. And I think there's a pretty clear path
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: to Haynes King being the QB2 in 2027.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Dexter asks, Jack, will Haynes, the guy's name is Jack,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: will Haynes King be a captain this year, Joe?
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Panther fans love them saying. Love them some Haynes King.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: That would be funny if he was a captain and J.J.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Wasn't, though. I will say that. Oh, how dare you.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: J.J., not only the long snapper, but also the fourth
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: quarter entertainment on the TV broadcast.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: What can that man not do? He could probably write articles, too, Joe.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: He probably could.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: I came home from the stadium late Friday night, and
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: my wife's talking about how great J.J. Jansen looked and
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: his presence. And I was like, holy cow, I better
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: fix my hair the way J.J. Jansen fixed his hair.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: It's unbelievable.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: We bring him on the air to chop it up
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: with us, and our bosses rave about him. Man, that
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Jansen's unbelievable on the air.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: It's crazy. I'm telling you, he's taking over the world, Joe.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Trying not to put him on as much anymore. Wives, bosses,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: everybody's impressed by J.J., All right, brother. We're impressed by you, Joe.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I want you to know that. Keep up the good work. Theathletic.com,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: at Joseph Person on Twitter.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you, brother. Appreciate you, man.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, let's all check in with each other tomorrow just
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: in case any of these waiver claims don't get us
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: bumped off the air.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: I'm always one day away.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: That's true.