CHARLOTTE — There are some guys that live for the spectacle known as production day, when NFL content teams across the league gather pictures and videos to use for the rest of the year. They ice out their jerseys with sparkling jewelry and grills, hamming it up for the cameras and taking advantage of their moment to shine.
Then there are those like linebacker Josey Jewell, who flew through the sets at a record pace, acting with true linebacker instinct, stepping into each play, knowing his assignment, seeing his lane, and laying down the hammer —"Four pictures, five at most," he said. Of course, that inevitably always became 20 to 30, but still, no one finished faster. It was impressive.
When he did get held up in line at what's known as the "gladiator set," the look on his face said it all.
"Josey, you look like a man at the DMV."
"I feel like a man at the DMV."
Of course, the reason the line got long at times is there were six sets for 91 players plus a handful of coaches and staff to go through, and photographers captured 47,500 images over the course of the day.
There were a lot of little moments to note, from the ridiculous to the fun, and everything in between. Here are a few of our favorite behind the scenes moments at the Panthers production day.
The long and short of the rookie class
While rookie defensive tackle Cam Jackson was waiting his turn on the gladiator set, he had a great idea.
His buddy Jimmy Horn Jr. was getting photographed on an adjacent photo set, so Jackson had a great idea: he'd go pose with his classmate.
"This will be great," Jackson said. "This will go viral."
Of course, the poses are hilarious because to look at the two of them, you might never imagine they have the same profession. The 6-foot-6, 328-pound Jackson is nearly two of Horn (5-8, 174), so there's a visual incongruity about the shot.
"That's all he wants to do," Horn said with a laugh. "Just because you're tall, you want to stand next to me and make me look like I'm small. The man's 6-foot-10 or 7 feet tall; of course, I'm going to look small next to him. That's something he always wants to do.
"I don't mind doing it with him, though. That's a good little memory. I mean, we're rookies, and we're enjoying every moment out here. It's a blessing to be here."
Asked if Jackson was the largest person he had ever been photographed with, Horn said there were some offensive and defensive linemen about Jackson's size during his South Florida and Colorado days, though he tried to stay on the perimeter of the field so as not to encounter them.
"I ain't surprised that they're that big," he said. "I just ain't letting them get ahold of me."
The two quarterbacks
Taylor Moton settled in to a chair to wait his turn on one of the creative sets, watching Bryce Young walk through his quarterback stances for the camera. This was Moton's ninth production day. He could do it in his sleep at this point, and has his poses down to a science. But there's one he'd never gotten to do before, and maybe, as one of the older veterans on the team, he'd finally earned his right to ask for it.
"I want to do some quarterback poses," Moton whispered, like it was a secret. By the time it was his turn, Moton got his wish, turning in his first media day quarterback pictures in his NFL career. While waiting though, the offensive lineman decided becoming a receiver was a fun second option, and as Young began to throw for more realistic looking photos, Moton popped up quickly.
"Right here Bryce," he called out over and over, nabbing the ball with soft hands and an enthusiasm that couldn't keep the grin off of Young's face.
Lights, Camera, Magic
When players walked into one room, a surprise was waiting behind the wall; a sleight-of-hand magician. Some guys, of course, spent their time in the room trying to figure out exactly how he was making these tricks come alive.
As rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald and JJ Jansen walked out of the room early in the day, the former told the latter, "I'm sure you'll have that rubber band trick figured out by the end of the day," as the veteran long snapper admitted it was going to be on his mind until he could break it down.
The typically reserved Princely Umanmielen let out a shout and had to walk away after the first trick hit, blown away by a card trick that he couldn't help but give props to. And by the time Tetairoa McMillan's turn in the room was done, he had to walk back and give the resident magician a handshake and a nod with a sincere, "that was fire."
Stay tuned to Panthers social channels for more from the "magical" production day set.
Derrick Brown among the early birds
For many players, it can be a quick day, a few quick photos and they're out.
But the bigger stars on the team have more responsibilities, and it takes a little longer.
That's why defensive tackle Derrick was one of the first players on the set, arriving for a scheduled 7 a.m. start.
"Got a lot to do today," he said as he was wrapping up.
Early mornings are nothing new for Brown, who's here every day getting his rehab and recovery done.
A once in a lifetime experience
When you're a kid, few things seem as cool as being up close and personal with a NFL football player. One group of students got the chance on Monday though, when a their sponsor arranged for a family of foster kids to come through for a tour of production day. They got to hop on set and take some pictures, then sit down for a front-row view as McMillan worked through his turn on set, making leaping catches and drawing ooh's and ahh's from the assembled group of around seven kids.
After that, they worked their way to the big "gladiator" set and got to watch on the monitor as Ja'Tavion Sanders flexed for the camera, exclamation's of "this is the coolest thing ever," echoing throughout the set.
Trevor Etienne just seeing if they're paying attention
Among the stops for players during production day is a stop with the community relations department, which asks guys about everything from off-field interests to charitable endeavors they might be involved in.
One of the standard questions is, 'Do you have family members who played in the NFL or other sports, college or pro?"
When they got to rookie running back Trevor Etienne, he just shook his quickly and said, "Nope."
Of course, he's the younger brother of former Jacksonville first-rounder Travis Etienne, so he couldn't keep a straight face for long.
"Nah, my brother plays for the Jaguars, he said with a laugh, fessing up.
