The following item is excerpted from the latest edition of Albert Breer's exclusive Inside the NFL Notebook:
As Ron Rivera and I talked earlier this week about how the Panthers vetted Cam Newton, he went into how coaches try to conceal their intentions like assassins before the draft -- and he offered a pretty funny rundown on how he wound up gathering info on Luke Kuechly without giving away Carolina's affection for the Boston College star.
"We didn't go out to see Luke because we didn't want that on the radar," Rivera said. "He's one of those guys. I was fortunate, as far as Luke was concerned, one of my teammates that played on the '85 Bears, Jim Morrissey, was my travel roommate for nine seasons. His son was Luke's travel roommate. So we're getting ready for the draft and I get this call from Jim and he says, 'Hey Ron, you gotta check this guy out -- he's Michael's roommate.' I knew who he was. So I said, 'Tell me about him.' So he starts describing this guy, who he is. I ask, 'Can I talk to Michael?' He gives me his son's number; I call his son. Then I talk to Jim's wife, Amy, and they told me this story, when their daughter went to go visit their son, they said, 'Make sure you introduce her to Luke.' When I heard that, I was like, OK, this kid has gotta be a good kid."
So there's some free advice for all the prospective draftees in April: Coaches like guys who can be trusted to date their buddies' daughters.
Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer.
