Why Brian Baldinger is bullish on the Panthers' young building blocks

[Sir Purr]

Baldinger: "He's starting to build an archive, a real Rolodex of moves. Most guys spin inside, and if the guard or center is sitting there waiting for them, they get their head knocked off. Not many guys can spin outside. It's just an awkward move. But he beat a good tackle, Eric Fisher, with an outside move the other day and put a hit on Patrick Mahomes. It was lightning-fast, he got the left elbow of Eric Fisher to pin him like you would in a basketball move, like LeBron James spinning down low. It just caught my eye cause he hadn't shown that much. A lot of guys are afraid to use a move in a game cause they don't know if it's going to work. But if it's been done in practice enough where they feel secure about it, then they'll use it. It was just the right move, and you go, 'OK, I've seen him stab, I've seen him dip-and-rip, I've seen him with an inside move, and now I've seen an outside move.' He's got three, four, five different ways he can beat you right now, and he's just getting better and better.


He's not putting up sack numbers that are going to lead the league right now, but sometimes they rush just three guys, and they're a zone team. So they just need a guy that can pressure, and when a quarterback wants to hold it — because that's what they're trying to get them to do — they need a guy that can still beat a double team and escape and make the quarterback move. It's an unselfish thing sometimes, the way that he plays, but he's coming. A lot of those guys up front are coming. Efe Obada is coming and Derrick Brown is coming and you can see it. You can see the development."


Many looked at Obada as almost like a novelty his first couple seasons. But you see something sustainable there?