NFC Notes: Brian Burns, Taysom Hill, Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints

“We had Tom,” Wirfs told the Vikes Verified podcast. “Tom is an incredible leader. He’s an incredible person. You could put him up there with the best leaders of all time. He was very vocal. He’d bring the whole team up and give a little speech after practice. He’d bring the whole offense up. Obviously, I’m not even close to that level to do that now, but I want to say a couple of things — how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking. Just how practice went — just little things. I’ve been trying to do that more. Trying to be somebody that the younger guys can kind of lean to or ask me questions about whatever. It is weird, I still feel young, but going into Year 4, I’ve been to the Super Bowl, been to the playoffs, been to the NFC Championship, I’ve done stuff.”

“I’ve really been doing my best this offseason throughout all these OTAs and throughout this minicamp just to be a little bit more vocal,” Wirfs added. “Because I feel like even through college, I’ve never been an extremely vocal leader. I’ve always been kind of a lead-by-example kind of guy – go almost under the radar. I feel like now it gets to a certain point where now I kinda got to take over.”

Panthers

Panthers OLB Brian Burns said he doesn’t have any preferences on when he’d like an extension to get done with Carolina. 

“I don’t have a preference,” Burns said, via David Newton of ESPN. “Really, I’m blessed to be in that [conversation] for an opportunity to have that [type of a deal]. Right now, I’m enjoying the process and enjoying everything that comes with it.”

Burns said he’s been studying film on edge rushers in a 3-4 system. 

“I have watched a lot of film on it,” Burns said. “The guys that have been in this position, yeah, they were dominant. They got after the quarterback.”

Panthers HC Frank Reich said Burns has been making “good progress” on his ankle injury. 

“Phenomenal leader,” Reich said. “He’s making good progress physically. We not only expect him to be a great player for us on the field but a great leader.”

Saints

Saints QB/TE Taysom Hill has spent time with both the quarterbacks group and tight ends room this offseason so far and is looking forward to getting more receptions this season, but ultimately says he will do whatever the team asks of him.

“The last few days, I spent more time with the QBs on some days and spent more time with some tight ends the other,” Hill said, via Katherine Terrell of ESPN. “I never felt like they were asking me to do too much. We have an open line of communication. As we look at the snap count, how many carries was I averaging a game? How many times was I throwing the ball? How many times was I lined up as a tight end? Maybe part of that is in the tight end room, part of that is in the QB room, and part that is working … with the running backs.”

“I think running routes and catching balls, that was a foreign thing for me,” Hill added. “I also think because of that, we haven’t done a ton of it. I think the nice thing is that I’m put in different situations. I can go at it and say, ‘If I was throwing the ball to me, I’m going to do whatever I want the receiver to do if I was throwing it to him.’ Having that perspective has helped me and maybe made that transition a little smoother.”