Ron Rivera spoke for almost 25 minutes at the Combine today, answering questions on a multitude of topics, shedding some light (in only the way that a head coach in the NFL can) on everything from Andrew Norwell to Cam Newton to Julius Peppers. Check out some of his responses below:

On Julius Peppers: “Julius had the surgery and is rehabbing. I know that Marty is going to reach out and have the conversation with Julius eventually, and that’s going to be sooner rather than later.”

On Jonathan Stewart and how to replace him: “Jonathan’s meant an awful lot to this team; he’s been the physical presence on the offensive side that sets the tone and tempo of who we can be as a physical football team. You’ve got to find a guy that has similar characteristics, hopefully, and a guy that’s willing to do that for you.”

On Andrew Norwell: “It’s going to be tough. Again, that’s something that Marty’s got to work through and look at the cap and really make his decision based off of that. We’ve talked about what Andrew means to us, what he can mean to us and what happens if we can keep him or what happens if we can’t keep him, so time will tell. I know that Marty is scheduled to meet with Drew this week.”

On whether Turner’s deal impacted a future deal with Norwell: “I think that does impact it, obviously, because Trai has been such a solid player for so many years. He’s been a focal player. Andrew being an All-Pro this year, that’s certainly raised the bar and deservedly so. Andrew had a terrific year and he’s been nothing but a solid player for us every season.”

On Taylor Moton and whether he fits best as a tackle or guard:“I’d like to have Taylor where he fits us best. Seriously. It could be either spot. He’s going to have an opportunity to see what he can do for us as we go through OTAs and minicamp and training camp this year. I think Taylor had a really good year for us in some of the spot play that he was given opportunities for. And again, one of the things that we always talked about was position flexibility, being able to play guard or tackle, being able to play right or left side, that’s going to be really important as we see how he’s going to develop.”

On Wide Receivers: “I think the biggest thing is we look at who we have, first of all, and try to slot where they are going to fit for us. Looking at Devin, we say ‘OK, Funchess is either the No. 1 or the No. 2.” Looking at what we have with Damiere, what we have with Kaelin, what we have with Shep and on down the line with our other guys and seeing where they’re going to fit. Now, those other pieces that come in as you get them, where do they fit? Do you find a No. 1 in free agency? Or a No. 2 in free agency making Devin the No. 1? During the draft, the same process will go into play. Sitting down and talking to Marty, it is a big piece for us in this offseason as far as free agency and the draft is concerned. So we have a lot of things we have to look at and discuss. We’ve sat down and we’ve talked a lot about [Funchess]. A lot of this will depend on who’s available once free agency opens up and who’s available in the draft to us.”

On Luke Kuechly’s recovery from surgery:“He’s been rehabbing. I see him in the training room everyday that I’ve been around. He’s doing a great job at it. As far as the timeline, I couldn’t predict. The good thing about that, if he’s going to miss any time at practice, it’ll give guys like David Mayo and Jared Norris an opportunity to show us what else they can do. I think that’s important because these young guys are going to have to show.”

On whether guys drafted this year can make immediate impact for the Panthers:“You’re trying to find guys you think are going to be able to step right up and contribute right away. I think that’s very important because when you’re drafting guys to replace players, they’ve got to be able to step in. You go back and look at some of the things we’ve done in Carolina, you notice my first five years we had a rookie start every year. We did that (in 2016) as well when we started rookies at corner. We’re gonna do that because it’s part of the game. And the sooner you can get those guys on the field, the sooner they can become educated and assimilate themselves to what you’re trying to do.”

On how Norv Turner’s scheme might be different from Mike Shula’s:”I don’t know as much as the difference there will be in the scheme because a lot of this stuff started with Norv. When I brought Rob Chudzinski in, Chud had worked for Norv on a couple of occasions. So a lot of the things that we do, we did when I was with Norv in San Diego. I think there are some things in terms of the way we’re gonna run the ball, the way he wants to attack that. Some of the throws we’ll make, some of the different types of routes we’ll run. But it’s not going to be that much different in terms of overall scheme. It will have Norv’s flair to it. A lot of it will be based on the personnel we have and the way Norv sees it. I do know Norv’s been looking at a lot of the tape we had the last couple of years. He’ll probably pull from those things that we did really well. Look at some of things we did in the past, and look at some of the things (Turner) did when he was in Minnesota and San Diego. It’s going to be interesting to see exactly what our characteristics will be on the offensive side.”

On backup quarterback:“First and foremost, we’ve got to find out where D.A. (Derek Anderson) is. Derek’s been a big part of what we’ve done. He’s really been kind of like having a coach in the meeting room and on the sideline. Hopefully, we’ll see how things work out. But there is an emphasis on that. It also may be time that we’ve got to start looking for that next guy, too. Bring D.A back, draft a young guy or sign a young guy and develop him, as well. We’ve got to start looking in that direction. But again, first and foremost we’ve got to see where D.A. is.”

On Cam’s knee injury and whether it required surgery: “No. Didn’t require anything. He’s doing real well.”

On getting Corn Elder and Cole Luke back in the defensive secondary: “Very much so. I’m excited to have those guys back on the field for us. Demetrious Cox, another young guy at safety is another guy that will be coming off of injured reserve, so we’ve got a lot of young corners and safeties that we’ve got to see if they can step up to the challenge.”

Graham Gano

On Graham Gano: “He’s high up on the priority list. The tag and all that good stuff, that’s something that Marty’s going to have to deal with and take care of.”

On the sale of the team: “I know this much, in having seen Mr. Richardson last week, he’s focused on the sale of the team; he’s been great, we’ve had a couple of conversations about some things as far as the football team’s concerned.”

On Hurney 2.0: “He’s a kindler, gentler Marty. He’s done a nice job, he really has, and it’s been exciting, really. We sit down and talk about the direction we want to head with players and from both free agency and the draft; it’s been really cool, it really has.”

Cam’s biggest focus heading into the season: “The biggest thing that Cam has to understand going into this is that Norv’s not here to change him. What Norv’s here to do is to help him. That’s probably one of the best things that Cam got from that meeting with [Turner] is that he’s there to help. I think it’s really just about improving himself, working on his game, working on how he’s going to approach his game. It’s going to be different because Norv does things differently. It’ll be a challenge for him, but I know it’s one that he wants.”

On playing in the NFC South and how that effects personnel decisions: “Mike Ditka used to say, you want to win the division, you’ve got to control the division, and that’s the truth of the matter, so everything that we do will be to match up with the teams in the division and that’s a big focus in terms of why you want big corners because each team has a big receiver. You’ve got to be able to match up there.”

star lotulelei

Is he optimistic the team will be able to retain Star Lotuelelei? “I mean, we’ll see. It’s going to be real interesting to see how things unfold; you never know what the other teams are thinking or what the player’s thinking or what the agent is thinking, so it’ll be an opportunity when Marty and Rob sit down with Star’s people and we’ll see where we are.”

If Star leaves, could Vernon Butler take his place? “I think Vernon did a nice job, especially down the stretch the way he started to grow and show very well for us, but again, you’d love to be able to keep the pieces in place as far as the d-line’s concerned, because if you lose a guy, you’ve got to replace him. It’s hard to find the right kind of fit, and we know that Star does fit us.”

On finding a veteran wide receiver: “It would be kind of cool to be able to find a  guy with kind of the background that Jericho Cotchery had for us in 2015, a guy that had been there and had that kind of success because again, I think that helps the young guys. It is a pretty young room, so it would be nice to have a guy that’s got that kind of experience.”

Josh Klein on Twitter
Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.