Buccaneers 

Buccaneers DT Vita Vea led their defense in snaps last season with a total of 763. Tampa Bay DL coach Marcus West said they want to find ways to prevent him from getting double-teamed in 2026, and they need more production from the players around him. 

“The dude is one of the best in the league,” West said, via Brianna Dix of the team’s site. “It is real. George Edwards said it – he is a generational player so the ways that we can help him is to be able to single up some blocks. What has to happen is somebody else has to make some other plays to win…You talked about depth, we are capable of winning other places and that just makes it better for Vita Vea.”

Buccaneers S coach Tim Atkins’ goal for their entire defense is to improve their tackling and swarming to the football. 

“The next thing we have talked about is needing to do a better job at tackling and making sure that not only are we prepping and getting our practice tackling in but that all other 10 players are swarming to the football as well,” Atkins said. “That way, if worst case scenario happens and the first tackle is missed, then we have other guys swarming to the football.”

Falcons

Falcons RB Bijan Robinson couldn’t hold back his excitement for the new run schemes with OL coach Bill Callahan. 

“Obviously, (Callahan) has had these legendary run schemes, and it’s pretty cool talking to him and seeing how it’s all going to develop,” Robinson said, via Josh Kendall of The Athletic. “I love the plan that he has.”

Panthers

The Panthers hired Carl “Tater” Smith as a senior assistant and advisor on HC Dave Canales‘ staff, replacing veteran coach Jim Caldwell. Canales said he was able to lean on Caldwell for advice in his first couple of years as head coach. 

“First of all, it just gives me an opportunity to talk about what an amazing support Jim was for those first two years,” Canales said, via the team’s site. “Having been a head coach, having been around coaches whom I really respect, and just remembering all the little things, building a training camp and the ebb and flow of the practices, duration, and how to challenge guys mid-season in different spots. With just all the things that as a first-time head coach while I had been with Pete for 14 years, it was just so good to be able to have somebody that I could call at any point who was fully invested in what we were doing, to help me address the team, add things to our practices that might help different things that we needed improvement on, just really practical wisdom, different ways, and someone who just I really grew to trust.”

As for Smith, Canales called him “one of my primary football mentors.”