Raw Room - Ep 190 - Wounded Warriors Breath (ft Devin Funchess)

[WhoKnows]

16 hours ago, CamTheMan said:

In fairness to him (kind of), he was at best a WR3 or WR4 serving as a WR1 and was injured. He definitely sucks but the fact the WR core consisted of Devin Funchess, Russell Shephard, Brenton Bersin, Kaelin Clay, and Damiere Byrd… IN A PLAYOFF GAME… shows how god damn awful Gettleman was (and how good cam was).

Don’t forget that Marty was the GM and traded away KB. I know, I know, but reducing the WR depth was a bad move and KB would have at least caught the Clay TD drop. Funchess was hurt but Marty should never have traded our top WR when we had no depth, especially when he picked Rashaun Golden with KB’s pick.

Don’t forget that DG also got CMC who had over 100 yards (as did Olsen). If we keep KB, we likely win that game just on the Clay end zone drop (followed by a short FG miss).

[electro's horse]

1 minute ago, WhoKnows said:

Don’t forget that Marty was the GM and traded away KB. I know, I know, but reducing the WR depth was a bad move and KB would have at least caught the Clay TD drop. Funchess was hurt but Marty should never have traded our top WR when we had no depth, especially when he picked Rashaun Golden with KB’s pick.

Don’t forget that DG also got CMC who had over 100 yards (as did Olsen). If we keep KB, we likely win that game just on the Clay end zone drop (followed by a short FG miss).

No idea why you think kelvin Benjamin of all people would make a clutch catch. Are you actually Dave gettleman posting?

and it’s pretty clear at this point cutting KB was about more than just football. Dude was a locker room and buffet bar cancer. 

[Toomers]

1 minute ago, electro's horse said:

No idea why you think kelvin Benjamin of all people would make a clutch catch. Are you actually Dave gettleman posting?

and it’s pretty clear at this point cutting KB was about more than just football. Dude was a locker room and buffet bar cancer. 

Maybe it was the 32 catches for 475 yards KB had in 8 games already that year. Easily best on the team. Leaving them comically short handed for the remaining schedule. Are you Marty Hurney posting? Trying to justify a complete mistake and put it on someone else.  What’s the teams record ever since Hurney/Ruhle/Fitterer started putting together teams? 

[WhoKnows]

1 hour ago, electro's horse said:

No idea why you think kelvin Benjamin of all people would make a clutch catch. Are you actually Dave gettleman posting?

and it’s pretty clear at this point cutting KB was about more than just football. Dude was a locker room and buffet bar cancer. 

C’mon, dude had 18TDs in 2.5 years with us even with the ACL tear and recovery issues. He makes that catch that Clay dropped.

I don’t care how much people despise him, he was our best WR between Smith leaving and DJ. A healthy KB from 2014-2017 would be the best WR on the current team.

I’m not saying his mental state couldn’t handle the ACL tear and his mom, but let’s not act like he was garbage when he was healthy. Bersin and Clay weren’t better. Doesn’t mean I want him back or that he was great, just that trading him at that point was a bad move. We got nothing for him and our WRs completely blew that game so trading KB in season was a mistake.

[WhoKnows]

1 hour ago, Toomers said:

Maybe it was the 32 catches for 475 yards KB had in 8 games already that year. Easily best on the team. Leaving them comically short handed for the remaining schedule. Are you Marty Hurney posting? Trying to justify a complete mistake and put it on someone else.  What’s the teams record ever since Hurney/Ruhle/Fitterer started putting together teams? 

It’s funny how jaded some people get about players that they can’t do a little deeper analysis. Gettleman, KB, Rhule and now Tepper are such triggers that if you say man, I wish KB was healthy in the SB or the NO playoff game people think you are choosing KB over Cam. I’m not saying I love Rhule or Hurney if I honestly say that I miss both of them over the crap fest that Fitterer and Reich gave us this year. I hated signing Teddy but at least we hung with two 1 seeds that year and heck we actually thought about playoffs in the first quarter of 2021.

There’s a lot of gray area and degrees of gray in this world. Some people only see black and white.

Edited January 18 by WhoKnows

[Icege]

Been hella busy so I didn't get to finish and write up a summary until today.

• Funchess and Jalen got to know each other when they were both in IND as new guys after being familiar with each other from their time in the NFC South against one another.

• Funchess was a 3-sport athlete in HS: football, basketball, and track. Started out as a tight end and a linebacker. When he went to Michigan, he was originally classified as an athlete and played all over the place. Sophomore year was when he started focusing in more on being a wide receiver.

• The first thing that Funchess says to Jalen every time they meet up is, "Hey... you know I got drafted ahead of you, right?" (Funchess went 41, Collins went 42) Has family outside of Durham in Mebane, NC so he knew about the Panthers, Cam, and KB (who he knew through Jameis Winston).

• Midway through the 2015 season they knew they had something special going. Lots of beloved names being dropped from that team. Everything lined up that season: practice performance, flights on time, etc.

• Big time family type of atmosphere that was due to Ron Rivera. 2k was the video game of choice for players that year.

• DB pointed out that all of their guests that have played in the Super Bowl have lost the Super Bowl, starting out with JC who had the worst loss of all.

• The week of the Super Bowl was very different from what players were used to in season. The schedule they've had all season gets changed up and if a player hasn't experienced it before it throws them off due to having all of the extra stuff. Media folks that they got parked in front of from around the world would try to get a rise out of them with their questions.

• Funchess claimed that he never had a welcome to the NFL moment, even against Luke, TD, and Shaq. Players looked out for each other in practice.

• DB brought up Rashaan Gaulden hitting KB during camp when it wasn't a live drill. Funchess seemed to not care for Gaulden, said he did it during spring too. They said Gaulden was one of those "can't get right" players. They all agreed that there's always one guy in camp like that, but that the coaches have to get them out of there otherwise they're going to just hurt teammates.

• Funchess went to IND because he wanted to play with Luck, but Luck only practiced 2 - 3 times before the eventual retirement. Had no idea that retirement was coming. (DB pointed out that Luck never lost to the Titans). Fans in the stands were asking players on the bench if Luck was going to retire when they were still in the 4th quarter, and that's how players found out what was about to happen.

• Showed a clip of Funchess catching a TD on Collins in training camp 1-on-1s and roasted the latter for it.

• Always knew he was going to play basketball after he retired from the NFL. Was playing with Michael Beasley. Got to play with a bunch of folks in the TBT tournament before going to the Philippines where he made his pro basketball debut. Had tried out with two teams over in Japan and was impressed with their love of the game. Basketball is crazy popular in the Philippines, so a lot of the players that were coming in from the outside were big guys like you'd expect them to be. Has some more try outs coming up and then in the summer has some 3-on-3s before going overseas to the Olympic trials. Also tried out for a few G League teams including the Clippers'.

• Funchess is an anime fan. All-time favourite is Naruto. Also watched Bleach, My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Demon Slayer, and just started One Piece (which is Jalen's #1). Him and Jalen are fans, DB and King are not.

• Talked about the Madden check (which rookies don't get) but still have to go to the PA meeting. Funchess spent his on his grandfather. Took him fishing and bought him some stuff. Was the first guest on the show that spent his Madden check responsibly.

• KJ Hamlin had Funchess come out to Denver to break a world record for catching a pass from a helicopter that Gronkowski had set the record for the year before (and he did it in slides, which according to Jalen he always wears).

• Was always a better basketball player than football player, so his family was surprised when he went football full time.

• Lou Young was the defensive back that gave him the most trouble. Lou's doing comedy now (he's been on Cam's show a time or two). Otherwise, feels that at 6'4" 235lbs with a 4.4 forty that he wasn't ever really pressed by an opponent.

• Oklahoma Drill: Cam vs. Luke. Funchess said Luke at first thinking it was about an actual oklahoma drill, then when they clarified he picked Cam. Then they all started talking about how Luke was calling out the opponent's plays and how smart he is. Didn't have any crazy stories about Luke, called him a stand-up Captain America type of guy. Would call guards pulling.

• Watched a few clips and had a laugh at some of the stuff that was going on in them. Some basketball and a guy that got an LV face tattoo.

• Oklahoma Drill: Eminem vs. Big Sean. Picked neither, acknowledged Eminem's impact but said he runs with folks from both circles.

• Did the long jump and 200m in track

• Viewer mail segment. Talked about the recent hip drop tackle controversy. Everyone said it's just a tackle and that it's a part of football. Had never heard it referred to as a "hip drop" until recently.

• Update on the merch store

 

 

Edited January 18 by Icege

[WhoKnows]

20 hours ago, Icege said:

Been hella busy so I didn't get to finish and write up a summary until today.

• Funchess and Jalen got to know each other when they were both in IND as new guys after being familiar with each other from their time in the NFC South against one another.

• Funchess was a 3-sport athlete in HS: football, basketball, and track. Started out as a tight end and a linebacker. When he went to Michigan, he was originally classified as an athlete and played all over the place. Sophomore year was when he started focusing in more on being a wide receiver.

• The first thing that Funchess says to Jalen every time they meet up is, "Hey... you know I got drafted ahead of you, right?" (Funchess went 41, Collins went 42) Has family outside of Durham in Mebane, NC so he knew about the Panthers, Cam, and KB (who he knew through Jameis Winston).

• Midway through the 2015 season they knew they had something special going. Lots of beloved names being dropped from that team. Everything lined up that season: practice performance, flights on time, etc.

• Big time family type of atmosphere that was due to Ron Rivera. 2k was the video game of choice for players that year.

• DB pointed out that all of their guests that have played in the Super Bowl have lost the Super Bowl, starting out with JC who had the worst loss of all.

• The week of the Super Bowl was very different from what players were used to in season. The schedule they've had all season gets changed up and if a player hasn't experienced it before it throws them off due to having all of the extra stuff. Media folks that they got parked in front of from around the world would try to get a rise out of them with their questions.

• Funchess claimed that he never had a welcome to the NFL moment, even against Luke, TD, and Shaq. Players looked out for each other in practice.

• DB brought up Rashaan Gaulden hitting KB during camp when it wasn't a live drill. Funchess seemed to not care for Gaulden, said he did it during spring too. They said Gaulden was one of those "can't get right" players. They all agreed that there's always one guy in camp like that, but that the coaches have to get them out of there otherwise they're going to just hurt teammates.

• Funchess went to IND because he wanted to play with Luck, but Luck only practiced 2 - 3 times before the eventual retirement. Had no idea that retirement was coming. (DB pointed out that Luck never lost to the Titans). Fans in the stands were asking players on the bench if Luck was going to retire when they were still in the 4th quarter, and that's how players found out what was about to happen.

• Showed a clip of Funchess catching a TD on Collins in training camp 1-on-1s and roasted the latter for it.

• Always knew he was going to play basketball after he retired from the NFL. Was playing with Michael Beasley. Got to play with a bunch of folks in the TBT tournament before going to the Philippines where he made his pro basketball debut. Had tried out with two teams over in Japan and was impressed with their love of the game. Basketball is crazy popular in the Philippines, so a lot of the players that were coming in from the outside were big guys like you'd expect them to be. Has some more try outs coming up and then in the summer has some 3-on-3s before going overseas to the Olympic trials. Also tried out for a few G League teams including the Clippers'.

• Funchess is an anime fan. All-time favourite is Naruto. Also watched Bleach, My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Demon Slayer, and just started One Piece (which is Jalen's #1). Him and Jalen are fans, DB and King are not.

• Talked about the Madden check (which rookies don't get) but still have to go to the PA meeting. Funchess spent his on his grandfather. Took him fishing and bought him some stuff. Was the first guest on the show that spent his Madden check responsibly.

• KJ Hamlin had Funchess come out to Denver to break a world record for catching a pass from a helicopter that Gronkowski had set the record for the year before (and he did it in slides, which according to Jalen he always wears).

• Was always a better basketball player than football player, so his family was surprised when he went football full time.

• Lou Young was the defensive back that gave him the most trouble. Lou's doing comedy now (he's been on Cam's show a time or two). Otherwise, feels that at 6'4" 235lbs with a 4.4 forty that he wasn't ever really pressed by an opponent.

• Oklahoma Drill: Cam vs. Luke. Funchess said Luke at first thinking it was about an actual oklahoma drill, then when they clarified he picked Cam. Then they all started talking about how Luke was calling out the opponent's plays and how smart he is. Didn't have any crazy stories about Luke, called him a stand-up Captain America type of guy. Would call guards pulling.

• Watched a few clips and had a laugh at some of the stuff that was going on in them. Some basketball and a guy that got an LV face tattoo.

• Oklahoma Drill: Eminem vs. Big Sean. Picked neither, acknowledged Eminem's impact but said he runs with folks from both circles.

• Did the long jump and 200m in track

• Viewer mail segment. Talked about the recent hip drop tackle controversy. Everyone said it's just a tackle and that it's a part of football. Had never heard it referred to as a "hip drop" until recently.

• Update on the merch store

 

 

Too bad he never made the jump past his first couple years, but he was really cool when he met my youngest at a charity event. Pretty sure he was the only signature my middle son got at fan fest, both years ago.

Funny story about Gaulden since he was taken with the pick we got for KB. Either Funchess misremembered or they had a joint practice with Buffalo. Gaulden and KB were never on the same Panther team. Horrible pick. I remember the anger in here when we picked Donte one pick after Jessie Bates (and before Justin Reid, Fred Warner and others). We needed a safety and of course taking Gaulden one pick before Mark Andrews when Olsen had just missed most of 2017 with his foot injury so TE was a big need as well. We all hated that pick as Gaulden was literally the least athletic DB at the combine and he lasted under 2 years with us.

Damn, Marty really was bad after the first round.

[electro's horse]

On 1/18/2024 at 9:21 AM, Toomers said:

Maybe it was the 32 catches for 475 yards KB had in 8 games already that year. Easily best on the team. Leaving them comically short handed for the remaining schedule. Are you Marty Hurney posting? Trying to justify a complete mistake and put it on someone else.  What’s the teams record ever since Hurney/Ruhle/Fitterer started putting together teams? 

wow on pace for 64 catches and less than 1000 yards. what a hoss. and four whole touchdowns! 

his stat lines from that half season are terrible. he had two good games that pumped his stats up. The rest was mid as hell. In all of that he had only 2 touchdowns, which again goes back to my original point of why anyone would expect him of all people to make that catch. Even when he was a 1000 yard receiver his rookie year, he had horrible efficiency and led the league in drops. He's a case study for why topline stats don't mean much. like look at this it is terrible

And it's not like he did anything in buffalo either, that year or afterwards. If your only argument in his favor is that there was no one better on the roster, okay sure, but there was clearly something more going on with him that led to him being cut, and he was obviously not good enough to make dealing with him worth it. 

I have no idea what you're talking about with hurney/rhule/fitterer. Obviously hurney and fitterer never worked together. I'm guessing you also don't mean the early 2000s teams that went to the super bowl and NFC championship game. Or the hurney built teams that won the nfc south three straight years. And hurney didn't draft Benjamin or Funchess.

Should also point out that when Hurney was with Rhule, he drafted an all pro caliber DT, another guy that finished 2nd in defensive roty voting, and a good rotational defensive lineman. It was the panthers last good draft. 

You're defneding a player as necessary that the Panthers went to the super bowl without. And you're getting upset because I said a player who managed to score 2 touchdowns in 8 games, was fat and out of shape, was basically run out of the league, is going to do something he didn't do his entire career as a pro and make a clutch catch. Are you high? Do you even know what you're arguing about or did you just get offended for some reason and decide to start pressing letters on your porn box? 

fug off

Edited January 19 by electro's horse

[electro's horse]

On 1/18/2024 at 10:22 AM, WhoKnows said:

C’mon, dude had 18TDs in 2.5 years with us even with the ACL tear and recovery issues. He makes that catch that Clay dropped

He had 2 TDs in 2017 for hte Panthers, which is the year we're talking about. He ended the season with four. 

KBJ had a catch percentage of 50 and 53% in 2014 and 2016, respectively. In 2017 he was all the way up to 61%. That includes games where he had rates of 20, 42, and 50%. 

Again, 2 touchdowns in 2017 with the Panthers. 

This isn't me being a hater or mean or whatever you people think, it's just having watched all the games and looking at the stats and realizing he was garbage. 

And this is just about the one catch that funchess didn't make. Even if you thnk Benjamin pulls that down for a TD, something he did all of twice in that season for the Panthers, am I supposed to believe he's even in position? he was so fat he could barely move. No way in hell he was going to run that route and be in position. 

[WhoKnows]

3 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

He had 2 TDs in 2017 for hte Panthers, which is the year we're talking about. He ended the season with four. 

KBJ had a catch percentage of 50 and 53% in 2014 and 2016, respectively. In 2017 he was all the way up to 61%. That includes games where he had rates of 20, 42, and 50%. 

Again, 2 touchdowns in 2017 with the Panthers. 

This isn't me being a hater or mean or whatever you people think, it's just having watched all the games and looking at the stats and realizing he was garbage. 

And this is just about the one catch that funchess didn't make. Even if you thnk Benjamin pulls that down for a TD, something he did all of twice in that season for the Panthers, am I supposed to believe he's even in position? he was so fat he could barely move. No way in hell he was going to run that route and be in position. 

SMH. Clay and Bersin have 1 receiving TD combined in their careers so yeah, I trust that KB would have caught that simple end zone route that he had done many times for us.

Funchess led the team in receiving TDs in 2017. KB was tied with Byrd for 3rd with 2 TDs. CMC was 2nd. Byrd was on IR for the playoff game and also missed 7 games, and KB was traded in the middle of those 7 games.

Even though KB was traded half way and also in the dog house, he still was 2nd among WRs/TEs with those measly 2 TDs. You can try all you want, but KB was a better red zone TD threat than every WR we had except Funchess, who was clearly hurt.

Sorry Marty, you made a mistake when you traded KB in the middle of the season when the only serviceable WR we had healthy was Funchess. It showed in the playoff game when we depended on a WR with no career TDs and lost the game because of his dropped easy TD.

Just to be clear, I’m not and never was talking about Funchess’ drop. I’m talking about Clay’s drop earlier where we got 0 points due to missing the short FG after the easy TD drop. KB wasn’t replacing Funchess, he would have been the other starter over Clay, Bersin and whatever other trash we had.

 

[WhoKnows]

46 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

wow on pace for 64 catches and less than 1000 yards. what a hoss. and four whole touchdowns! 

his stat lines from that half season are terrible. he had two good games that pumped his stats up. The rest was mid as hell. In all of that he had only 2 touchdowns, which again goes back to my original point of why anyone would expect him of all people to make that catch. Even when he was a 1000 yard receiver his rookie year, he had horrible efficiency and led the league in drops. He's a case study for why topline stats don't mean much. like look at this it is terrible

And it's not like he did anything in buffalo either, that year or afterwards. If your only argument in his favor is that there was no one better on the roster, okay sure, but there was clearly something more going on with him that led to him being cut, and he was obviously not good enough to make dealing with him worth it. 

I have no idea what you're talking about with hurney/rhule/fitterer. Obviously hurney and fitterer never worked together. I'm guessing you also don't mean the early 2000s teams that went to the super bowl and NFC championship game. Or the hurney built teams that won the nfc south three straight years. And hurney didn't draft Benjamin or Funchess.

Should also point out that when Hurney was with Rhule, he drafted an all pro caliber DT, another guy that finished 2nd in defensive roty voting, and a good rotational defensive lineman. It was the panthers last good draft. 

You're defneding a player as necessary that the Panthers went to the super bowl without. And you're getting upset because I said a player who managed to score 2 touchdowns in 8 games, was fat and out of shape, was basically run out of the league, is going to do something he didn't do his entire career as a pro and make a clutch catch. Are you high? Do you even know what you're arguing about or did you just get offended for some reason and decide to start pressing letters on your porn box? 

fug off

You really don’t get that we aren’t defending KB overall. You brought up the 2017 playoff game. A one shoulder Funchess was by far the best WR we had after KB was traded. KB wasn’t a super star but he makes the catch that Clay dropped. Clay still hasn’t caught a single TD in the NFL but that’s who Cam had to use and we lost the playoff game because of it. Simple as that.

It is funny that you say he was on pace for 64 catches and not quite 1000 yards. Do you realize that would have been 2nd on the team in receptions behind CMC and 1st on the team in receiving yards?

[Toomers]

1 hour ago, electro's horse said:

wow on pace for 64 catches and less than 1000 yards. what a hoss. and four whole touchdowns! 

his stat lines from that half season are terrible. he had two good games that pumped his stats up. The rest was mid as hell. In all of that he had only 2 touchdowns, which again goes back to my original point of why anyone would expect him of all people to make that catch. Even when he was a 1000 yard receiver his rookie year, he had horrible efficiency and led the league in drops. He's a case study for why topline stats don't mean much. like look at this it is terrible

And it's not like he did anything in buffalo either, that year or afterwards. If your only argument in his favor is that there was no one better on the roster, okay sure, but there was clearly something more going on with him that led to him being cut, and he was obviously not good enough to make dealing with him worth it. 

I have no idea what you're talking about with hurney/rhule/fitterer. Obviously hurney and fitterer never worked together. I'm guessing you also don't mean the early 2000s teams that went to the super bowl and NFC championship game. Or the hurney built teams that won the nfc south three straight years. And hurney didn't draft Benjamin or Funchess.

Should also point out that when Hurney was with Rhule, he drafted an all pro caliber DT, another guy that finished 2nd in defensive roty voting, and a good rotational defensive lineman. It was the panthers last good draft. 

You're defneding a player as necessary that the Panthers went to the super bowl without. And you're getting upset because I said a player who managed to score 2 touchdowns in 8 games, was fat and out of shape, was basically run out of the league, is going to do something he didn't do his entire career as a pro and make a clutch catch. Are you high? Do you even know what you're arguing about or did you just get offended for some reason and decide to start pressing letters on your porn box? 

fug off

Well, since you have already been owned in most things you just threw at the wall, I’ll ask when Hurney built teams won the NFC South 3 years in a row? 
 

What’s Carolina all-time record with Gettleman. What is it without? How about we compare those numbers. It’s not nearly as important as hitting one pick a year, Ws-Ls are sort of the whole point…..right? 

[Davidson Deac II]

7 minutes ago, Toomers said:

Well, since you have already been owned in most things you just threw at the wall, I’ll ask when Hurney built teams won the NFC South 3 years in a row? 
 

What’s Carolina all-time record with Gettleman. What is it without? How about we compare those numbers. It’s not nearly as important as hitting one pick a year, Ws-Ls are sort of the whole point…..right? 

In fairness, a lot of the key players on those three in a row were picked by Hurney.  

[Toomers]

5 hours ago, Davidson Deac II said:

In fairness, a lot of the key players on those three in a row were picked by Hurney.  

what was Hurney record with all those players? And how much cap hell did those same teams have to overcome to have success that was easily the best run in team history.