Carolina Panthers 2026 Off-season Fan Mailbag: Brady Christensen, Life Lessons, Soccer, And More!

Hello CSR! Welcome to Brian Answers, part two of your weekly Panthers fan mailbag for everyone! We’ve been killing these off topic conversations during the slow build to the NFL regular season, and this one was no different. Let’s dive right in to all your questions!

Revshawn: How many days are left till the next time we see some Panthers action?

First Panthers preseason game is August 6th. So we are 26 days away as of this writing.

@WTMealey: What Panthers in their prime if they had pursued soccer would have made USMNT?

Follow up what NFL positions translate best to soccer? My intuition says WR and DB. Maybe TE and Edge at goalie?

Graham Gano, Jason Baker, and John Kasay probably would have made decent soccer players as kickers/punters. I’d probably give the edge to Baker since he demonstrated some good athleticism as a punter. For non-kick related players, I’d say Ted Ginn as a speedster, and Cam Newton as a competitor.

I’d probably agree that TE would make sense from a size standpoint. I’d probably go with cornerback as a final answer as a goalie because their whole career is based on stopping a ball from reaching its destination, with their hands. WR and DB in general would likely make great soccer players. And your overly athletic kicker like maybe Joey Slye.

sgtx: This season goes off the rails and the team only wins 3-4 games. Why might that happen?

Probably a bunch of injuries in the trenches, both on the offensive line and defensive line. You probably lose Jaelan Phillips and Devin Lloyd on defense, and probably have to start a 3rd stringer at one or both of the tackle positions. This team seems to have enough talent to get by a minor injury to Bryce Young as well, but in my mind the wheels have to fall off hard across the board for that kind of result.

e4*: Welcome back Brian, hope you (and the fam?) had a most pleasant vacation!

Went to see my parents in South Carolina, so that was great. Came back to some absurd storms in the PA area over July 4th weekend. I appreciate you!

GooseCreek: What football stadium do you have on your wish list to visit? Why?

The New Orleans Saints stadium. Only because I saw their fans messing around with traffic cones and talking crap to a relatively docile Titans fan base at a time where they weren’t good (my brother is a Titans fan). I’d like to return the favor for the unnecessary things I saw that day.

DeacCat: 1. With Dave Canales handing play calling duties off to Brad Idzak this offseason, what structural or philosophical changes do you expect to see? Do you think Idzak will lean heavier into unlocking more explosive plays or stay with the run heavy identity that Canales established?

1A. Rank in order: Eastern, Lexington, Western and SC (Carolina Gold mustard style) Barbecue.

I don’t expect to see a whole lot of difference, to be honest, ask me again after the preseason. But Brad Idzik has been linked to Dave Canales for a while now, I wouldn’t expect him to deviate too much from what Canales was trying to do. Maybe some more creative play calls here and there, but I’m not expecting any wholesale changes.

I do not have an answer as a PA resident who rarely gets good southern BBQ, but you all should absolutely continue that discussion in the comments!

Bull123: It’s still early, but do any starters even dress out for the HOF game?

I’d venture to say “probably”, because it makes sense to get some starter reps in when there’s basically a month before the first real game. But I would not be surprised if the Panthers punt on that idea based on the last two seasons of preseason evidence.

bolshy: We know you’re putting in the work. How long does it usually take to answer all these questions?

Usually about an hour, possibly two. The one benefit I have from the current format is I can monitor the questions throughout the week so I don’t have to come up with every answer all at once. Its a good system!

schrodingersblackcat: What are the odds we will bring Christensen back on a short term deal? Are you in favor of it?

What is the biggest life lesson you have learned in your life so far?

I’m fairly certain the Panthers will bring Brady Christensen back once they believe he can pass a physical. Supposedly they’ve been in contact with him all off-season, and I think he would have been signed by now if a team wanted him as a starter. Which sucks because I think he’s a starter caliber offensive lineman when healthy. But that injury certainly screwed him. But I expect him back if he can play.

I think the biggest one for me going from my 20s into my mid 30s is that holding onto anger over something that happened and you can’t control can be almost more detrimental to your mental state than the situation itself. Obviously, I am not going into specifics here, but there were times I very much dwelled on situations where I didn’t feel I was done right or got the short end of the stick, and I was angry about it for so long. In one situation, after months of being upset about it, I sat in my car, took a deep breath, and just decided I was tired of thinking about it. And suddenly, that weight on my shoulders just lifted. With a simple moment of focus, realizing how dumb it was to lament over something I could not change, and just letting my anger go, and it was all gone. I wasn’t even upset anymore, the burden was gone. So I’ve learned that sometimes, you just need to objectively evaluate a situation, and decide if it’s worth holding on to the negative emotions around it. Often times, its not.

I’ll give you a positive one as well. I’ve learned that simply being nice to people, especially in terrible situations where they might be the ones who are trying to figure out a solution for you, often gets you much further than you would have gotten if you complain about the situation or target them. Sometimes some empathy to say “hey, I know this happened and you’re the one who has to deal with it, but I really appreciate all you’re doing for me” is a great way to get said person on the same team as you. Who really wants to help someone who is constantly attacking you, if we put the shoe on the other foot?

HDub: What is your realistic expectations on Phillips this season if he is healthy all year?

I expect him to have a ton of pressures but not enough sack production to justify the pundits saying he was a good signing. Sacks are such an over emphasized stat, sure they create a negative play but pressures are also golden for a team coming off two seasons of not being able to rush the passer consistently AT ALL.

Mozzie11: Who should own the O & D schemes – the team, the HC or the Coordinator? In the case of EE getting a HC position or fired, should the team dictate what the D scheme looks like going forward or leave it to the new DC hire?

Its going to be different in every situation, so the answer is kind of complicated. I think in an ideal world, each coordinator has say over what their side of the ball looks like, with head coaching oversight to keep them in check. But that’s not how it works in the real world, and many times new coordinators come in with completely different schemes, and the problem with that lies in that they now need to match the existing personnel to the scheme, or turn things over and find new players. I think for Ejiro Evero’s case, Dave Canales would be wise to again bring in someone he can trust to handle that side of the ball entirely, and ideally someone who comes from the same coaching tree as Evero did. Which, Evero’s come from quite a nice group of preceding coaches above him.

JakeNCVA: Who do you think are the most athletic of athletes/sports and it can broken downt by position within a sport. I mean this mostly in the context of “ball sports”. So I don’t mean things like distance runners, or pure endurance “sports”. Obviously something like gymnastics requires a great amount of strength and body control, but I have that in a different category than ball sports.

I kind of want to lean NFL here, but man do the top athletes in basketball really shine. I think a prime, young Lebron James could have absolutely dominated at the NFL level and likely at several positions.

That’s all for this week, Panthers fans! Join us next week for another edition of the fan mailbag!