Key players and members of the Panthers coaching staff spoke after the first da
The Carolina Panthers started their Organized Team Activities on Thursday. With that, top members of the coaching staff and a couple players spoke with the media, as you might expect, everyone is very excited.
Xavier Legette and Bryce Young both got in front of the press to talk about going into their second and third year’s respectively. Legette talked about meeting with wide receivers coach Rob Moore and offensive coordinator Brad Idzik right after the season to review his rookie year and talk about what went right and wrong. He clearly was beating himself up about some big drops he had in the later parts of the season and has spent a lot of time this offseason working on catching the ball with his hands. He was asked about the selection of Tetairoa McMillan and had nothing but glowing things to say.
Young sounds more and more like a leader when he gets in front of the media. He talked about the excitement surrounding the team with them having a second consecutive offseason with the same system. He talked about the growth of Legette and why he thought so highly of McMillan leading up to the draft.
The coaches didn’t give a whole lot of juicy nuggets, but you can tell they’re jazzed up for the growth of the team. Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero spoke highly of the new additions to the front lines. He heaped praise on outside linebackers coach AC Carter and how he’s developing the rookie pass rushers, both with his own coaching and how he set them up in the locker room. Nic Scourton is sitting next to DJ Wonnum and Princely Umanmielen is set up next to Patrick Jones II.
Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik got one of several attempts at gotcha questions, particularly surrounding the drafting of McMillan with Legette on the roster as if there can’t be multiple good receivers. He was also asked (by the same reporter) about his confidence in Bryce Young, and he had nothing but good things to say about all of them. He talked about studying other games and maybe borrowing a few things he sees while watching.
Dave Canales talked about how freeing it is to be able to focus on simply getting better instead of ironing out logistical things with how practice works. Jalen Coker and Derrick Brown are working off to the side right now as they work on some injuries. DJ Wonnum had a back flare up so he’s taking it easy. The Panthers will be be holding a joint practice with the Texans before the second week of the preseason. Most of the rest of his time in front of the media was spent talking about his excitement over the continuity of the group and the system.
Xavier Legette was the central focus of a lot of the questions for everyone except Evero, which I thought was a little surprising. He’s kind of emerged as a Panthers main character. There were also a lot of questions regarding Legette and McMillan as if there would be some sort of controversy there, but those were swiftly dismissed by all who were asked.
The Panthers haven’t had an offseason with an incumbent coaching staff since 2022. Everyone is excited about their team during the offseason, but the Panthers have genuine cause for that excitement, and it’s fun to hear them talk about it.