Carolina Panthers roster cuts, NC State Football vs. Western Carolina preview

the drive with Tim Donnelly here on 999 the fan joining us in studio today Mike Glennon NC State Legend uh 10-year NFL veteran friend of the show you know him by now um Mike before we get into to state who's playing tomorrow against Western Carolina to open their season um we've been talking a lot and and today is a big day for for the Panthers with that first waiver claim we've been talking a lot about cutdown day in the NFL we've been talking a lot about guys that will or won't make the team will they get brought back on the practice squad will they get brought back after someone goes on IR um the other thing you talk about on on cutdown day is kind of the the emotions of it right seems like every time you get excited you're like oh gosh they kept this guy there's somebody on Twitter or somebody on TV going this day isn't fun for the players their dreams are being shattered um which is true I you know sometimes I don't a little buzz Kish but uh but can you take us through kind of cut down day from the players perspective having seen it from a bunch of different angles yeah it's every team tries to do it the best way they can and I feel like some have some teams I was part of did it better than the others um I don't think there's a good way to go about it because I mean it it it is a the toughest day in the NFL just because guys dreams are getting crushed and uh you put in all this work and it's tough it's definitely the most somber mood in the locker room because you literally see guys getting grabbed by the call it the Grim Reaper who's just taking him and and I saw bich calls him Billy bad news he said early in his career he had to be Billy bad news uh and then they end up with a trash bag and they're just cleaning out their locker I mean it's it's tough to see and I think the reality is a lot of the guys know they're on the bubble but they're still that hope that may be and then um there's also a little bit of optimism that it's like well they told me I'm going to be on practice squad if I clear waivers so you know some guys it's the end of the journey for them at that team other guys they may get signed back to the Press Squad and a lot of times they end up getting bumped out bumped up throughout the year but it's uh it is definitely a tough day luckily I was never part of or actually I was once with the Jaguars of the draft day cut or the U cut the cut down day and my agent kind of let me know the night before that it was coming um but it's it's not not fun um and it's just but it's part of the business I mean you get into it knowing you're at 90 and you're getting down to 53 I mean that's that's a lot guys that are that are going to be cut do you do you ever get numb to it because I mean as you mentioned 90 to 53 it's a lot of names and if you're seeing it every year and so often it's the big dramatic grab your trash bag leave and then you're back like two days later with the practice squad do you like are you calloused over or is every single cut down day that brutal as as some make it out to be I would say definitely the most shocking was the first your rookie year seeing it happen and numb wouldn't probably be the complete right term but you get more num over like a crab apple it's like uh you just start getting used to it and no one is coming and there's always kind of the the the couple guys like the true bubble guys are they going to keep him or what and typically as a quarterback you're talking about the receiver room you know that's you're you're typically keeping six maybe six guys and it's who are those five and six you know who's number five and six going to be because the top three or four are pretty set in stone and um you know you you hate it to see it when one of your guys that you're hoping make it uh get gets that call into the uh GM's office I've been tracking the Panthers roster pretty pretty closely and I do think like as a quarterback like looking at the Panthers they cut terce Marshall Jr second rounder but he's been playing the receiver part pretty well uh this Camp which different coaches maybe it fit better whatever um David Moore ends up making the team and it appears largely because like he's better on special teams terce Marshall Jr they didn't trust on a single special team I don't know if he you know never learned to tackle or whatever but what for whatever reason I have to imagine as a quarterback you're going like forget special teams keep the guys that make plays downfield will find someone to run down there on punt well you but that's all part of the the conversation like you know who do we think we're going to keep well it's like well Terence isn't on you know he's on the Special Teams and I see what's what's the guy's name that made it David Moore yep I see he's going with the one you know his name is listed with the ones onal special teams he's probably going to make it then and again that's why some people make a living out of being a special teams Ace I mean you look at uh Matthew Slater with the the Patriots I think he played 15 plus years yep being that that special teams guy and that's probably an extreme example but uh yeah as a quarterback you want the best receivers but you know that special teams matters and those special teams coaches are going to go to bat for for that player that's good on teams Mike Glendon joining us here in studio on the Drive uh one more before we get to to state opening against Western Carolina tomorrow um I'm fascinated by this I for for 10 years I've been firm if you draft a quarterback in the top three play him right and and uh if if your team isn't very good and he struggles if that like breaks him mentally then he was never going to make it in the NFL anyway because at a certain point every quarterback is going to be tested to the extremes mentally um after watching Bryce young last year and now seeing the Drake May debate I'd say I'm like 95% still where I was but I'm I'm wavering uh the Drake May vers jacobe brassette again try to exclude UNC vers NC State in in in this conversation the Pat's offensive line Looks rough their wide receivers dare I say last year's Panther likee uh is there am I wrong for just saying you play Drake Drake he's playing well he looked better in the preseason even if it feels a bit like you're sacrificing him to the defensive line Gods who are going to be uh you know making that offensive line look look pretty bad yeah I'm I'm torn too I'm with you I'm adamant on if you draft a guy that High play him because he needs the Reps and if he's that good then he's gonna find his way out of of a bad situation and people always love bringing up Patrick Mahomes and how he waited and Aaron Rogers how he waited I am very confident that if they started day one they would have been just as good as they as they became it is interesting watching this Patriots offense I believe I heard J Mayo say the other day our starting left tackle and guard may not be on our roster right now because they have the third waiver priority so and that's concerning I mean if you don't even think that your your current starting tackle and guard are good enough that a guy that you is cut by another team may become your starter and there's two uh offensive line needy teams ahead of you on waiver priority in the Panthers in Washington so you're saying your starters might be cut by another team passed up by two offensive line needy teams and then fall to you and you're like sweet put them in the lineup right so and it feels like they kind of had this whole plan all along was to bring jacobe in in free agency they hadn't drafted Drake yet but they probably had a pretty good idea we're going to take a quarterback I feel like it's a little different than the Panthers last year Panthers traded up and they weren't the bottom of the barrel team in the league where they probably thought they had a decent chance to compete obviously wasn't the case where I feel like New England's going into this year knowing we're not going to be very good so let's take our time and I'm you know as as what I just said that I don't typically like it I actually think I kind of like letting jacobe play and to start out their season it is not an easy start they play bangal good defense Seahawks uh Jets great defense 49ers great defense and then go down to the Dolphins and then I think there's a buy shortly uh after that so then it's like maybe that's the point where let Drake see it from the sidelines for a little bit and then pass over him the Reigns that's exactly where I am where it's like Play Drake and then you're like but this is the if I had any belief that maybe you should sit a a top pick the needle is threaded kind of perfectly in all situations for this to be the the one and I think you saw on hardock where Nick Sabin was talking with ebra fuss about kale Williams and how the number one thing that kills his expectations and this is seeing the schedule seeing the kind of surrounding cast that could be a rpe for a guy to um is self-doubt to start creeping in if it doesn't go well we have just a couple more minutes here to talk uh State Carolina Thursday night by the way pack therapy podcast myself Mike we host it uh if you want way more in-depth coverage of of the the Western Carolina opener for state check that out it'll be available everywhere podcasts can be found YouTube all of the the the places um what what do we talking here 30p Point win 40 Point win uh right give us the the game one expectations yeah I think this it should be that um I know the line set around in the in the 30s there um but I I think this offense is going to come out and honestly I I don't expect there to be a bunch of bumps in the road I think it's going to be a smooth transition from moving from you know the quarterbacks last year to Grayson McCall and and these new kind of Playmakers from the transfer portal stepping right in so I think the offense is going to going to look really good my question is what's how's the defense going to look and how are they going to look without Payton Wilson I Still expect the scheme to be the same but it's kind of how does it look without that guy that that number 11 ferocious running around the field um do they have guys that can fill the void more as a collective unit than one particular player I don't want to make this segment where you stop by kind of once a week and we talk about uh radios and and helmets um because we talked last week about Dave Canales and Bryce young having to get that relationship play calling relationship down uh college now has radios and helmets is Grayson McCall going to be hearing voices that is one thing I'm looking to see is in the college game they rely so much on the signals and it's more the receivers where it takes time for for the coach to call in the quarterback and then the quarterback to signal I kind of expect and I'm curious to see are the receivers going to continue getting the signals from the sidelines and just let the quarterback communicate to the offensive line and the running back or may or maybe everyone looks over besides the quarterback and just he he doesn't have to to waste his time so I am curious to see are we still going to see those goofy uh poster boards hanging up and all the the guys the coaches wearing all the different colors signaling in if you have a freshman quarterback I think it's going to become 30 seconds of like coaching in his ears while everyone else gets to play from the sideline the way they always have because you know offensive coordinators love to be in the the ear of those young guys obviously Grayson McCall's older than Bryce young so uh he's he's probably not going to get the young guy treatment uh Mike we appreciate you as always uh check out the pack therapy podcast everywhere podcast can be found and uh and we'll be paying attention tomorrow when uh when State takes on Western Carolina to open their season uh back 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