Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule met with the media via Zoom for the first time since the NFL Combine.
Rhule touched on a multitude of topics including Cam Newton, the team's draft plans, defensive schemes, Eric Reid's release, Carolina's new players and where he believes the team's future currently sits.
Here are is a rundown of what Rhule talked about:
"That was obviously a very hard decision. For me, I never really had a chance to work with him or be with him. I think at the end of the day, I really enjoyed getting to know Cam. I just think that we felt, in the end, it was the best thing for our team to sort of move forward and I have no doubt that he'll play well. He's a great quarterback and we've seen the things that he's done."
"As we move forward we thought this was the right time for us and we saw the opportunity to get Teddy (Bridgewater) and we felt this was the best thing for us."
"I don't think its a comparison. Cam Newton is a great quarterback and can play any system but in a year like this when we're all in our homes, Teddy is a guy that's been in this offense and knows this offense and has great familiarity with Joe (Brady) and just makes sense for us."
"I think being in our houses there really isn't much more to do than to evaluate film. We're able to go back on prospects two years in some cases and maybe you wouldn't have time to do that. If anything we should be more prepared in terms of film and evaluations of the draft prospects."
"I think for us, we got a lot of guys in free agency on offense. That doesn't mean, in my mind at least, that we won't draft guys on offense."
"I think it's a deep draft defensively but it'll also shape up as one of the deep receivers draft as well. Unlike other years where you can have a rookie minicamp after the draft or Pro-Days, there is really not that opportunity."
"At the end of the day if a guy drops in our lap at any position that you believe can change your team, don't let need overtake what's the best thing longterm. You're not drafting for the next 12 months. You're drafting for the next 4-5 months and on."
"I think of my role as the coach to coach guys up until they're here or not here... I think Christian McCaffrey is the centerpiece of the whole team. He is one of those guys that can do anything. He builds the culture that you want to have in the building. We want to be a serious football place that's all about the game and I think that's what Christian is."
"Being a first-year head coach this is obviously not ideal, but I'm trying not to complain. I miss it, I would like to be around the guys but at the end of the day I want them to do what's right for not just them but for them and their families."
"As a coach in free agency, the hardest thing is you're predicting the future based on the past...In free agency you end up signing guys that you don't know. Any chance that you have a chance to sign that you do know...those things are important."
"We wouldn't have gotten a lot of those guys. They would have gone somewhere else if it wasn't for our staff. P.J. Walker had seven teams trying to sign him. At the time we had three quarterbacks on the roster but P.J. knows me and believes in me and our staff."
"Robby Anderson had a lot of places to go but he saw Joe Brady's offense as a chance for him to really break out."
"That communication can be done just as well over this technology. We have great people at Carolina...they've done an amazing job putting this technology together ahead of time. I think they'll have a great plan for draft night."
"I think the biggest key is Marty (Hurney) and I talk so much. Marty isn't much of a texter, he's more of a phone guy so we talk on the phone."
"Some depth on the defensive side of the ball. I was really happy to get Juston Burris in free agency. He's a guy who has been a nickel, a corner and a safety. The ability to re-sign Tre Boston, those were pivotal things for us with safety depth."
"I just think depth at the corner position, defensive line and at linebacker. Those will be our biggest challenges. Who are the young players that can come in on the secondary and defensive line and gives us quality snaps, especially in the second half of the year."
"It's certainly a challenge. Our staff is a unique mix. Our ability to talk about guys we've played against at the college level and to have a guy on every staff across the country that we can call to give us the real insight."
"I think our personnel has done a great job. They've been out in these colleges all year so it's a matter of us grinding through the data. The biggest issue is for the guys who didn't run at the combine or have a Pro Day, we don't have the data on those guys. We don't have them but neither does any other team."
"I try to think of everything as positionless football. Tahir is a guy we think can play mike even though he's played will most of his years in Oakland. Shaq Thompson is a guy that can play mike and Jermaine Carter is a guy that we're high on."
"I watched Hard Knocks last year and even on Hard Knocks, he's an elite worker...To me more than anything, he's going to bring a mindset."
"It would be really hard for me to evaluate the team without having even met them. I was really looking forward to the voluntary minicamp before the draft and we've lost that. There are a lot of positions we wanted to look at and see where they were at. It's kind of hard to ask the coach to go draft and not even know what the guys look like and how they fit into their systems, but that's where we are."
"My goal every year as a broad thing, we want to be a team that is in the hunt down the stretch. We want to go to the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. Are we there yet? I can't answer that. I need a little time to actually get around the guys but that's what we want to build towards."
"It's hard for me cause I haven't coached some of those guys. I think Eric is a really special guy and I enjoyed getting to know him but we felt overall it was the best thing to move forward."