QUESTION MARKS: Will Bryce Young ELEVATE the Carolina Panthers Offense in 2026 or Fall Short?

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. How confident am I in the Panthers all fin space on where each position group stands heading into week one. I'll tell you right here on Lockdown Panthers. You are Lockdown Panthers. For daily Carolina Panthers podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome into another edition of the Lockdown Panthers podcast. I'm your host as always, Julian Council in today's episode of Lockdown Panthers is brought to you by game time, download the game time app, create an account and use code Lockdown for $20 off your first purchase. As the Panthers have their 53 man roster set and also have signed 17 guys for their practice squad.

1:00I felt like now would be a good time going into Labor Day weekend and ahead of week one of the season to let you all know how I feel about each position group on the offense and on the defense. I'm going to do that over the next two days. No mailbag on Friday. We'll start the weekly Wednesday mailbag next Wednesday and that will continue every single Wednesday throughout the entirety of the Panthers regular season and of course, fingers crossed post season as well. So today let's focus on the offense looking at quarterback at running back wide receiver, Titan and on the offensive line splitting up the tackle position with the interior of the Panthers offensive line like I do with the preview series I do back in the summer. Let's take a look at each position group. I'm going to tell you where I stand as far as a confidence meter looking at the roster right now. I understand that eventually Iki Kwan is coming back and Taylor Motten is coming back and other players who are injured right now will be back but looking at it right now heading to Labor Day weekend heading in a week one.

2:00I'm going to tell you how confident on a scale to one to 10. I am in the Panthers offensive position rooms going into the seasons. Let's do that today on this episode of locked on Panthers and of course, we must start out with the quarterback position to be honest. And I'm always honest with y'all sometimes I guess to a fault. I have not been impressed by Kenny picket so far as the Panthers QB two and I'm sure someone saying finally finally you're seeing the light Julian. It's not really a light that needs to be seen. I've seen the contract. I've seen and look, Haynes King was injured throughout the entirety of the preseason. He played so well that Dan Morgan who told us on Tuesday they didn't want to potentially put him on waivers and then not get him back. So he's on the roster as third quarterback to develop and it's possible if Kenny does not look impressive in practice and Haynes does that the Panthers are the same thing that

3:03their division rivals down the table have done and they go with a former undratte free agent rookie quarterback as they have done with Candace's Jaylen Daniels and they have Haynes King be the backup. I don't think the plan ever was though even had Haynes played throughout the preseason for Haynes to be the second quarterback here in Carolina. It was always for Kenny, but it's a one year deal. So certainly they can move on from him after the season if they do not see it now, but I have not seen too much of this point in time that has me feeling very confident or confident at all at Kenny pick its ability to step in and to be the starting quarterback for Carolina if something were to happen to Bryce Chung. Now the only thing I can lean on is what I have seen from Kenny pick it actually starting in this league where he has one games with the Steelers which hell it's Mike Tom, but it's the Steelers of course he won games in that situation, but he also was able to win with the Raiders last year. So it's possible. He's not somebody you want for a long stretch of time and really no backup quarterback in this league is.

4:04So I'm not that confident in Kenny pick it, but we at least have seen him do it at this level. So that's something that can help you. I hope rest easy at night if something were to happen to Bryce Chung speaking of Bryce Chung. The confidence that I have in this quarterback room is going to be primarily based on him. I need to see more. We have seen Bryce Chung come out the gate and just be got awful and I have some numbers that'll go over next week when we do our keys to victory. We have the crossover Thursday episode of Warren Cox of Lockdown Bears. I'm going to hold this information about September Bryce until next weekend, but it's not great. He has not gotten off to a good start under Frank Reich or under Dave Cadalus in the first week, first two weeks, the first month of the season. And that has been an issue. We have not seen that week to week consistency that you would like to have seen at this point in time from a guy who has dropped number and overall and someone who they have now exercise bit their option to pay him $25 million next season.

5:06He's going to be their guy this season and next things would have to go catastrophically wrong for Bryce Chung to not be the starting quarterback again in 2027. And there's some of you, maybe many of you who think that's the best situation from Caroline moving forward. I do not want to go through another quarterback search quite honestly here in Caroline. I don't want to talk about it anytime soon. I want it to work out for Bryce. And I think every fan of the team truly wants that to be the case, but there are people who just strongly believe that's never going to be the case. And you look at the numbers. He's never been that impressive in any of the categories. He was 22nd in completion percentage last year, 27th in passing yards per game, 30th in yards per attempt. He tied 14th in passing touchdowns. That's not that exciting. He was 27th in pass or 18th in the paper drop back. He's 23rd in success rate, but here's the thing about Bryce. He's clutch. He's got that clutch gene, I guess. He was second in game winning drives last season behind Bonaix was seven.

6:07And he has the most 12 since he'd entered the league back in 2023 ahead of patch of homes in Josh Allen, two guys who look like they're on their way to having their own bust and can't certainly my homes has that locked up. And I'm guessing Allen will have one as well when it's all said and done. So your bottom of the league in all these basic passing categories, but when it comes to winning time, at least in the games, the Panthers win with the mess starting quarterback, he gets it done. So there's more context. The Panthers always being behind have to be in the situation in the first place to where if they're going to win, it's going to have to be on a game winning drive. The last second field goal, I understand all of that. So it's good that when you look back at 2020, all the opportunities that Teddy Bridgewater had to go out there and do the exact same thing to tire one in the game, he couldn't do it. He went over eight Bryce. He's done it 12 times, which is impressive. And he's been good down the stretch. You look at last year, weeks 13 to 18. He was in ninth highest grade quarterback, corded PFF. He was eighth in passing grade.

7:09He was tied ninth in big time throws with nine and only had two turnover worthy place. 10th best pass rating, 10th best EPA per drop back, back half of the season, Bryce Chung. Awesome. First quarter of the season, Bryce Chung, one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL, all three seasons that he's been a starter. You can't have that happen again coming up here in September when you have the Bears week one. When you go to Atlanta on the road, you go to yes, the Browns, but still an NFL team of a solid defense. And then you host the Troy in prime time on Sunday night football. I need to see more consistency from Bryce Chung from week one to week two to three, four, five, six, etc. All the way to week 18. It cannot just be high one week in the dumps one week and the next week, then back to high to mid. Can we please find some consistency there, Bryce, at the quarterback spot? So as far as confidence meter, when looking at the quarterback spot, going into the season, six out of 10. That's really how I feel about Bryce Chung. I feel better than like a negative, which would be like a four out of 10.

8:11And I'm not right there in the middle. I'm just slightly over the line. We're okay. Sure. I've seen a little bit. I've seen you step up back in 24. You were great. Not maybe not great, but you were certainly a big part of why they made the playoffs last season when you couldn't run the football defensively. They weren't even that good. And when you we looked about the Mike San to quarterback tears and what a tier three quarterback looks like. I mean, Bryce bucked that trend in a second half of last season. So I'm a six out of 10 looking at Bryce Chung right now. As far as my confidence in just him and the quarterback room as a whole heading into the season, what about wide receiver? I'll tell you where I stand at wide receiver here in just a moment on locked on panthers. There are more live events than ever we're seeing right now. Games, concerts, shows, festivals. The hard part usually isn't deciding what you want to attend. It's actually getting the tickets between long wait times, confusing checkout processes and surprise fees. Nine tickets can sometimes feel harder than it should.

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10:16to show up and perform each and every Sunday. The Tenerobic Melon and Jalen Coker. Now looking at team act, he's a stud. I have zero concerns about him going into the year, rather than the old trope of the soft more slump, which I think that only happens if the old line struggles mightily. If Bryce takes a step back and if he gets injured and certainly the offense of line situation considering where they're at, we'll talk about that momentarily. That could happen. Hope it doesn't happen, but it could because of the lack of depth there and the margin for error that's very thin at least in the first four weeks as they hope to get Brady Christians in back. And more importantly, it key to quantum and Taylor Moten back in week six when they had to build out you will see whether that happens or not and then looking at Bryce taking step back, it could. It's not other road possibilities. I am hoping it doesn't happen. I don't think it will happen, but it could. And of course, it is football. It's a very physical game. He could get knocked up, which banged up knocked up banged up.

11:18I'm trying to find a right words guys. You know what I'm trying to say? He could pick up an injury pick up a knock as they say in soccer. And that would then lead to him not having the kind of season he had last year. But so far you want to take anything away from training camp, from joint practice, whenever Bryce and T Mac hooked up. That was a successful play for Carolina. And you'll hope to see a lot of that this upcoming season. Now, Chaleon Coker has to stay healthy. He missed three games as rookie season in 2024. Due to a quad injury, he missed six last year, the first six. Literally the morning after they traded. The way Adam's feeling right after we sat there in the bowels of Baker, America stadium and spoke to Panthers GM Dan Morgan later on that day, Joe and Coker went out there and injured his quad. And that's someone DM me being like, Hey, I heard Coker got hurt. Like, what? So that's a reliable DM. Thank you for that person sending that DM. But yeah, that was not great for him to be out that long. And it took until the first Rams game and then that Saints game for him to really get going.

12:21And then we saw what he did in that playoff game against the Rams back in January, nine catches, 124 yards and a touchdown. Overall, his first two years have been successful for an undrat the free agent who they cut after putting on the roster. They let them go to waivers. They did the math. They felt like they'd get them back. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they did considering that guy we're going to talk about here in a few moments, but 65 receptions, 872 yards, five touchdowns, 62% success rate receiving wise, 73% catch percentage. He has been awesome for Carolina. When he's been on the field, he just has to be on the field. And if he is, T Mac, Jalen Coker, you feel really good about that duo out. Why everybody else? It's kind of wait and see. And it's especially wait and see for Xavier Ligette, which again, thank God for Carolina. Looking at this 2024 draft class, where one of them just went out the window the other day. That's trevon wall. He's now a jet pray for him. Y'all because God, that sucks. But it's not been a great draft class so far. A lot needs to happen right this year for it to end up not being a complete and utter

13:27disaster when looking at who's still on the roster. And one of those guys is because every Ligette who said back in June, it's to her die. His words, not mine, not yours, his words. He understands what he needs to do going into the season and you'll look at it two years he's played, two years, Coker has played. Ligette has 12 fewer receiving yards through two seasons than Jalen Coker. Despite having played nine more games ran 252 more routes and received 59 more targets. That's ridiculous for you to be that available to run that many routes and to still not perform over performer outperform a guy who has been injured and was undrafted. You went in the first round. That's what we're talking about when looking at Excel. So maybe it finally clicks. It's unfortunate that he had a stinger, was courier off this some time. Maybe he had the ankle, the foot that got rolled up on and Jacksonville didn't play and that preseason game didn't appear last week at all. Now he's back out of practice.

14:28That's all well and good man. You got to say healthy. You got to be reliable and so far he has not. If he can take that next step, then I feel really good about this receiver removing forward. The rest of the group, Depping, Bryson, Tremaine, Jimmy Horn, Jr. John Batchey, they're here to play special teams and potentially be that backup option if Excel does not finally take that step forward. That's what John Batchey could potentially be here for. That's what Jimmy Horn Jr. potentially could be here for. That's what, hell, maybe even Bryson, Tremaine could even be here for for me right now, confidence meter, it's seven out of 10 mainly because McMillan's a stud and coakers are stud and if those guys are healthy, then the Y receiver room is going to run through them and who really gives a rip what Excel, what coaker, that coaker, sorry, what Excel, what horn, what matchy and what Tremaine do. If you're force feeding the ball to McMillan and coaker and they're making all these plays like everybody else, yeah, it's important, but really you're here to block and play special teams, not get the football and that's really the plan going into the year. So seven out of 10 right now as far as confidence meter and that could go higher if someone

15:29else emerges in that room looking at the offensive line. I talked about this yesterday. I do have my concerns when looking at this group, but let's break it up. Interior offensive line right now going into the season. You're healthy. But what? Damien Lewis, Luke Fortner, all three of those guys are healthy. That's great. They cannot miss a game because Brady Christiansons on IR and cannot come back until week six in Philadelphia. Cory Bullock, they just picked him up, Vio Wavres. That's all well and good. Some of they see who has guard and center flexibility. I don't know much about him, other than what we heard from Kevin Ostryker of locked on Ravens. I encourage you to go back and listen to that episode from two days ago as we broke down the waiver wire and talk about the Zavala no longer being here and talk about some of the other concerns I have on the roster, other things we talk about that day. But he'd talk about maybe core bullet could be a potential starting center down the road, maybe after the season. He's still only played 13 snaps offensively in the NFL 55 on special teams does not have

16:30a lot of experience while Brady Christianson does and has been a starter in this league at center at guard at tackle. Bullock hasn't done that. So he may end up being a really nice signing. How can I sit here and say have confidence in him when he's barely played and I've never watched him play Sam Hector, fifth rounder, rookie has him play to snap in a regular season game. So y'all confident, in public and in heck stepping up if something happens to Rob Hunt, Damien Lewis or Luke Fortner, I'm not you may be, but I'm certainly not. If anything, I would think a guy like Jake Huron would get an opportunity as he's on the practice squad or maybe hell, Chandler's the ball, who somehow I'm going to have to start calling him the survivor. I used to call Ian Thomas the survivor for sticking around here for as long as he did while doing absolutely nothing. Zavala isn't doing nothing. He's doing something that's negative to the team's performance and winning games. But yet he's on a practice squad, which is where he belongs. I suppose if he's going to be on the roster at all, I guess the devil, you know, is better than the W.

17:31Don't not trying to call you the devil, Chandler, just using that term because you know what he can do. You know what he can't do. You know him, at least you feel like he's a good guy in the meeting room on the field. Liability, but he's here. But again, are you confident, Jake Huron? Maybe because people were pretty big fans of him last season, even though he's a jag, just a guy, but that's fine. You can be a jag in the league and you can stick around and help out a team every once in a while. But you confident, Keron? What about Torres Sully Simpkins? Gamecock fans, you guys confident in him? Notorious. Great off into lines down there in Colombia. Just a shot at people who I'm friends with guys, so relax if you're a South Carolina fan. I say glass confident in him. So if they're healthy, confidence meter, add a 10 if hunt Lewis and Fortner are going to play the saw up the season first four games, you get back Christiansin, eight out of 10. And then when Brady's back, it's like, you know, seven, I 10 because you got to take a step back if Brady has come in there. But if any of these guys get hurt, if Rob Hunt goes down or Daniel Lewis goes down, Fortner

18:34goes down and you've got a call upon Cory Bullock or Sam Hector, Jake Keron, Torres Sully Simpkins, Isaiah Glass or Chandler Zavala, that drops down to a four and a 10. So yeah, right now I'm confident as long as they stay healthy offensive tackle. Same case as long as Rashid Walker and Monroe feeling around there on the field healthy, I feel fine. Now I have my questions about the right tackle who got eaten alive and Dan Morgan did remind everybody it's joint practice. It's just practice. The point of it is to get prepared for the season. So if Monroe feels it's going to get his ass whooped, let it be in practice against Neil Hunter. Don't let it be week one against Chicago or week two in Atlanta or any other weeks after that. It's going to happen. Welcome to the NFL. That's on his only moment he's going to have. And we saw Iki struggle to start off, but then it clicked and he was great for a long period of time and so giving up some sacs there and that critical game and if an ultimate week of the season on the road against a box where they lost that de facto NFC title

19:37game, which you have to wonder what could have been had they won and would Steve Brooks have still made it doesn't really matter. We're all in the future now. But yeah, Rashid Walker, Monroe feeling they got to stay healthy and if they do, my confidence is a six out of 10. I downgrade it because it's a guy and Walker who seems to be a better pass blocker, just PFF grade wise, but not as good as a run blocker. You only you're going to care so much about that, but I don't know if he's better than Iki. But I have to see my name Monroe's a rookie who has in play and only time I saw him against ones, rather than Buffalo, but against some real dudes, just complete hell cats come off the edge. He struggled and he's going to have his struggle. So six out of 10 as long as those guys stay healthy, if really gets hurt, then it's four out of 10 because then Walker still out there and now would expect that it'd be stone foresight. And if Walker gets hurt, it's three out of 10 because then it's freelling in stone foresight. They both get hurt at zero out of 10 because I have no faith in stone foresight and Albert

20:38Reese, the fourth to step in there and to hold it down a tackle for Carolina for one week, two weeks, any weeks, any amount of time, they're apt if they lose, freelling in Walker early on this season before the potential of getting back Iki in team up. That's just how I feel. As long as they're healthy, six out of 10, any sort of injury, it goes down to me not having much confidence or any confidence at all in the offensive tackle room. But right now, O line says healthy, I feel good about it. Feel fine. What's not saying that so good, but I feel fine because overall as a group, let's just say seven out of 10 because you got Rob, you got D. Lou, you know what you're having them. Four airs fine, freelling question mark there, Walker less so, but still kind of question marks there. I feel like you can win with this offense line group, but any sort of injuries and it gets dicey running back. How I feel about that because going into the off season wasn't feeling great about it. They're looking at how things played out.

21:39I have questions. So what's about that here in just a moment on a locked on panthers college football fans. It's time to put your knowledge to the test with college football pick them from Fandall each week. You can make 10 free against the spread picks, finished with one of the week's top pick totals and you can win a share of $500,000 in bonus bets. There's no entry fee and no wage or required. Just make your picks based on your college football knowledge and see how you stack up and the competition doesn't stop there. Make your picks before kick off, follow the live leader board throughout Saturday and see if you can outpick names like Will Compton, Taylor LaWan or Josh Pate beat any of them and you'll unlock a profit boost to use on Fandall. I love anything that lets me put my football knowledge to the test. And the fact that there's no entry fee makes this an easy one to jump into. 10 free picks every week gives me a reason to see how I stack up. Download a Fandall app and play college football pick them for free only on Fandall visit Fandall.com to get started. Two more position groups to look at heading into week one here in Carolina giving you my

22:44confidence meter. One out of 10. The running back room. This is a group where I feel like I need to see it for us before fully believing. Look at last year. Rico Dattle saved the season. I know I've said it a hundred times what he saved the season. He's no longer here and I think that was the right decision. Now he didn't get paid a ton to go to Pittsburgh and maybe Carolina will rule the day that they did not resign. Rico Dattle. I didn't really feel like he was coming back from conversation that we had with him to even hit him. Dan said, oh we're good. Is that true Dan? Is that true? I'm not trying to say he's lying but you know, they could be good. But are you good good or you just good? And I guess I shouldn't say good good because that's that good Lord that situation. If you know you know, but the running back room aside from Rico wasn't great last year. We didn't really see Trevor H in. He's on IR right now. Chuba Hubbard had his worst season of his career. You look at last season had 511 yards rushing. That was 42nd among all running backs.

23:44You look at just running backs who had 125 total carries last season or more. He had 3.8 yards per carry. That was 34th out of those 42 running backs. His explosive rushing percentage was dead last out of all of those running backs who had at least 125 plus carries. And then you look at EPA per rush. That was a negative 0.12. That was 34th out of those running backs. His success rate though was 14th out of 42. So that was the one area where he was kind of close to what he had been before. The year prior when he had a career year when he got paid in a middle of the season. They flew to Germany. Then he had a career day against giants. He was 8th in the league in rushing with just under 1200 yards. He had 4.8 yards per carry. Those 8th in the league, exposing rushing percentage among running backs 200 plus carries. That was 5th as far as EPA per rush 6th. Rush in success rate was 4th. Chuba was like a top 10 back in 2024. And can he get back to that? Like that's the question, but he's already dealing with hamstring. And he's back out there. Dave's confident. Who'd be good to go week one, but I'm concerned based off of there's a lot of mileage.

24:48Man, they ran him in the ground, Gundy down in still water ran that man into the ground. And one of those years he was injured and he came back to next year was back to being Chuba Hubbard and Julie rule. She saw it's like, Hey, Matt, we got to get this guy and help Julie. You probably made the best draft pick. Well, not the best because there's other guys, but you may want the best draft fix to the Matt rule era. Not those scapiter in there as well, but damn Julie, good job, girl. Um, but yeah, look, Chuba's a solid leader in this locker room. Been a good player for Carolina. I'm skeptical that he's going to get back to what he was in 2024 because of the amount of carries that in college. Medicalities had now and we know of running backs. They fall off the cliff when it's over. It's over. And that's why I say use them abuse them and then lose them. I think he's great for what they have been trying to accomplish locker room wise as far as the culture and he's been able to do that. He's been solid that first year. Last year didn't really work out and it would be the top back in the end of the year.

25:52Running game was not great. Off the line injury certainly played a role in that I would think. Um, but I got to see it. I got to see it the buy back in and I agree with them when he said Chuba has proven he could be a top back in his league. He has proven that he can be, but is he still a top back? I don't know. Now Jonathan Brooks has played in three games, 23 total steps. Right now he hasn't practiced the last two days on Tuesday and on Wednesday. Dave said on Wednesday afternoon, he's confident. He'll be good to go week one. This is probably it's soreness. That's what he's dealing with. It's probably the fact that he had to take on a larger role. The last month with Chuba being out with the hamstring. So yeah, okay. I can understand why you be sore probably nothing to be that concerned about. But you do have two backs right now who are banged up and who have had injuries that have held them back over the last season. And we are the back who you drafted kind of feels like he's in a role, even if he's healthy where he's the fourth guy because AJ Dylan helped perform Charlie H and his preseason and

26:55during training camp and H hands on I are. So who knows what his role is when he comes back. I'm not buying the AJ Dylan hype at all. Again, when it's over for running back, it's over. He's got a little bit of juice. Come on. It's not like this guy is going to come in and be a starter. And if he is, I'll put my hand up and say I'm wrong. I've done it plenty of times. I will do it moving forward. I can admit it. But if you're coming down to relying on AJ Dylan at this stage of his career, that is a bad situation for the panthers running back room. That's how I feel about it. Okay. So I just need to see it with this group right now. It's five out of 10 as far as confidence meter. Just need to see them stay healthy. Need to see them make plays. Need to see the panthers actually be able to run the ball to have any confidence in this room more than just kind of being like, all right, middle, weight and sea mode. That's where I'm at right now. Tide in room. The panthers have five tightens on the roster because each of those guys have a specific skill set that they liked. All right. Oh my God. What? Why? You heard me say it. This is the lowest producing tight in room in the NFL since 2020.

28:03And I don't really think that they've done that much to address it. They're running back the same group guys. Tommy Trimble still here. Mitchell Evans is still here. And I'm not saying that Mitchell Evans shouldn't be here. It's only a second year, but he's still here. JT Sanders. I should start calling him to survivor. He's also still here for now. Felipe Franks. Welcome back. He's here. And Darren Waller's here as well. I can see a world where Tommy Trimble ends up being a big piece of the passing game. Just based off what I've seen so far in the limited sample size, he got a whole lot of targets in those games. He gets Buffalo and against Jacksonville. They could use Tommy as that safety valve and you want to have a tight end who can be that. And Bryce has worked with him for the last three years. So there is a trust there. There is a connectivity. Okay. I could see that. Tommy being tied in one. Is he going to be a high producing tight end one? I don't think so. But maybe he finally turns it on.

29:04That would be great. But okay. Mitchell Evans. Jerry's still out. Let the wait and see. JT Sanders. Lord knows what they're trying to do with him at this point time. They even want to keep him on the roster. They said, a plan for everybody. What's his plan to trade on? And Felipe Franks. Sossing good stuff. Offensively from him. But he's here to play special teams. And then with Darren Waller. I don't know. He turns 34 next Sunday that also is weak one against the bear. So everybody. Tweet at him. DM him. What do you have to do? Say Darren Waller. How about you wish for your birthday a winning against the bears? Now, don't tell anybody. Otherwise, your wish won't come true. But still, tell everybody or tell him what you wish for that. Go tell him that. Okay. I'm sure he's going to wish for that. Anyways. I'm looking at Darren Waller. Because this is really, I guess, the axe factor in this room. I think really the fact is I look at where they can produce at a higher level is if Tommy Trimble like just has a career here. That thing just turned on. I'm not talking about he has like 50 more yards like the career he's been having the last two years.

30:04I'm talking about he really like explodes and becomes a guy who's right around 500 yards receiving this season. Like that would be sick. And like Tommy's such a great dude. Well, I would love to see it. And I'm sure you would love to see it. That, that could be where they take a step or Mitchell Evans emerges. JT San is feels like that. That's over with. Felipe Frank's I don't think you're going to put him in that role. The other scenario is Darren Waller stays healthy. Any balls. You look at last year, he only played in weeks 4 through 7 and 13 through 17. So nine weeks last season, he played. I went on true media, which we have of the stat site that we use here in lockdown. And I went there and I just toggle to only have him in those weeks and to look at the stats from all the Titans in the NFL through those weeks. So weeks 4 through 7 and 13 through 17 really cherry picking here. But the games that he played in looking at him compared to the other Titans in the league that year, he was tied 22nd in receptions, 14th in receiving yards, 14 touchdowns and had the number one EPA perturget among tight ends during the weeks that he actually played

31:07last season. Pretty impressive, right? Especially tight, especially touchdowns and EPA perturget receiving yardage total receptions. Like for a full season, you look at all their other Titans in Carolina. None of them were in the top 25. Well, the top five of any of those categories, but at least when Walder played last season, he was in the top five, top 15, top 25 of three important respective categories there when looking at Titans as receivers. So that's encouraging. But can he stay healthy? He said it his own words that yeah, there are health concerns, durability concerns right fully. So the last time he played a full season was back in 2020 back when there was only 16 games in regular season. But he did give the Giants 12 games back in 2023 before retiring and not playing in 2024 then coming back last year and playing nine games with the dolphins. So it is possible considering that he's been all this off season and he got hurt last year, but he didn't spend the entire day off season ramping up. He spent this entire off season ramping up the stay in shape and has been out here getting

32:10back into shape was more active for the first time really on Wednesday at practice. Like that's all progressing towards him to be able to be a factor in his offense. If he can actually be healthy and play more than half the games like play 12 13 14 games like you take that and that could be the X factor for Carolina in the Titan room aside for Mitch 11's having a click for him or Tommy Trimble just having an awesome career year. But for me, it's five out of 10. I got to see it first like with running back got to see it and hell with Titan. Yes, there is a has been and Darren Waller and there's has been in July. He's a Hubbard, but a lot of guys who have never have never has Tommy Trimble been a top past kitchen Titan. Never has Mitch 11's or JT Sanders, a fleet bay Frank's like there's a lot of just they've never done it. So why should I believe they're going to do it until I see it. So five out of 10 as far as it goes there overall the offense. If I had to give a number 6.5.

33:15I think there's still enough questions as far as Titan room any playmaker there running back room whether you're going to get the consistent run game and the health that you need. All offensive line just a thin margin that they have and in looking at price and you're looking also at the wide receivers like there are some positives but they're also are concerned. So I would say probably like six 6.5 out of 10 as far as confidence meter with the offense heading into week one. And we'll see how they play heading into this first quarter of the season before I'll be able to get potentially some reinforcements after the by week there in week six before heading up to Philadelphia. That's going to wrap up this edition of the Lockdown Panthers podcast part of Lockdown podcast network. This is by yours Julie. Julie and council again. You'll subscribe or follow show for free over on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast and be sure to follow me. Julie and council were on Twitter and Blue Sky at Julian Council where on Wednesday next week the weekly Wednesday mail back is back every single week throughout the regular season and yes. The playoffs as well as the Panthers make it to the postseason for a second straight season.

34:17So at me DM me over on Twitter and Blue Sky at Julian Council to get those questions into me right now. The meantime be safe. Be happy. Be whole as always keep pounding and I'll talk to y'all on Friday. We're all giving my position and group confidence meter for the Panthers defense here on Lockdown Panthers. Hey NFL fans, I'm Brian Peacock and that is Matt Williamson hosts of the NFL six pack part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day NFL six pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis and breaks down all of the weekly action. A six pack of takes daily on the playoffs pushed in the 2025 season or if your team's in draft mode, yeah, we'll hit that too. All right here every day on the Lockdown podcast network. The NFL six pack subscribe on YouTube or everywhere you get your podcasts.