NFC Notes: Derek Carr, Cody Mauch, Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints

Buccaneers

Following his rookie season, Buccaneers RG Cody Mauch put on 15 to 20 pounds to get stronger in the trenches. Mauch emphasized adding strength in his first full offseason and mentioned he feels more secure than last season.

“One of the biggest things for me this offseason was wanting to get a little bit more strength, put on a little bit more weight,” Mauch said, via Adam Silvon of the Pewter Report. “It’s been good so far. I’ve been doing a lot better in the weight room. I’ve put on, I don’t know, 12 to 15 pounds. [It] has been a pretty good offseason, and just seeing if we can get that to correlate on the field as well.”

“I thought every single game got a little bit better. A lot more confident in every game, especially towards the end of the season there, right when we all started clicking as an offense and as a team in general. Even now, just these OTAs, the offseason, I think you can notice that too, you feel a lot more comfortable, almost the game is slowing down a little bit I’d say. Still, a lot of work to be done.”

Panthers

Panthers HC Dave Canales praised rookie CB Chau Smith-Wade‘s work ethic and said that he has been locked and focused throughout OTA’s.

“He’s a worker,” Canales said, via Panthers Wire. “The guys that we drafted, these guys are hard workers and tough football players. And that’s what we tried to do—is profile those type of guys that fit what we’re doing. He fits right in with the group. He’s active, he’s always workin’ on stuff, JUGS after practice and I just love his focus. He’s got a great smile, but then you see, like, he’s just locked in. And he’s really interested in what’s happening everywhere.”

Saints

The NFLPA is likely to propose a change to how the offseason works, removing the organized team workouts and replacing them with other work that leads into training camp. Saints QB Derek Carr believes these April/May workouts are essential for quarterbacks to get their timing down and doesn’t want to extend an already long season. 

“I think the skill that it takes to play all of our positions would go down because you have less time on task,” Carr said, via the Green Light podcast. “As a quarterback, your timing, your rhythm, your accuracy — All of that in April isn’t at its best. You use these practices, these OTAs to get there.”

“The NFL season’s already long and you’re gonna start it a month earlier, to me that would be hard. There’s so much the young players have to learn where I think OTAs are beneficial.”