NFC Notes: Bryce Young, Panthers, Saints

Bryce Young

Panthers G Brady Christensen thinks their offensive line can help first-round QB Bryce Young get acclimated to the NFL. 

“I think it’s a great plan,” Christensen said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic. “As a rookie quarterback, it’s a tough gig. If we can just give him time so he can do his thing, it’s gonna be incredible. … I feel like some of those rookie quarterbacks, they’re not in the perfect situation. But I feel like (Young) is coming in and really (has) a lot of talent around him to help him out, so he’s not trying to do it all himself.”

Panthers G Austin Corbett is hopeful they can continue building off of last year’s momentum. 

“It’s a lot different of a first pick than most,” Corbett said. “So to build off the momentum from last year, to get him in here and all the offseason additions— to be able to surround Bryce with unbelievable amounts of experience, it’s exciting.”

Corbett said he’s still recovering from ankle surgery and is remaining patient until he’s cleared. 

“It’s just such a long process. Everything as football players (and) as competitors, you’re conditioned like, ‘Hey, work harder and you’ll be better,’” Corbett said. “I’m not allowed to work harder in certain areas, because it’s just a waiting game on the calendar. I’ve gotta hit four months, five months, six months before I’m allowed to do certain things. So that’s really the brunt of it — the waiting and learning to be patient.”

Panthers

The Panthers used a second-round pick on WR Jonathan Mingo this year, which they hope will help to offset the loss of D.J. Moore. 

Mingo mentioned that he’s hoping to take some pressure off No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young and make things easy for him. 

“I can turn a little 5-yard hitch into an 80-yard touchdown,” Mingo said, via Mike Kaye of the Charlotte Observer. “I can just make things easy on the quarterback. You’ve got to make the quarterback look good. Just trying to help him out and turn a simple catch into a touchdown to make things easier for him and make the game come faster for him.”

• According to Jeremy Fowler, the Panthers never received an “aggressive offer” from another team for the No. 1 pick after they traded up with the Texans.
• While the Panthers were set on taking Bryce Young with the top pick, Fowler mentions that Anthony Richardson performed well in interviews and Carolina was intrigued by him.
• Fowler tosses out fourth-round OL Chandler Zavala as a player to keep an eye on for the Panthers in terms of upside.

Saints

Saints assistant GM Jeff Ireland said fourth-round QB Jake Haener plays taller than his six-foot height and added that he has a lot of comparable aspects to former Saints QB Drew Brees.

“You wouldn’t think he was 6-foot tall when you watch him,” Ireland said, via PFT. “He’s got great processing ability. He’s got great vision. He’s got a quick stroke. He’s extremely smart. He’s a sixth-year senior, so he’s really mature for being a college senior. He’s competed in two different programs, he’s competed at Washington, competed at Fresno State. And I was just really impressed with the person, how he plays. He’s had several fourth-quarter comebacks. He does kind of remind you or there’s some similarities to No. 9.”

While Ireland was quick to point out that Haener won’t be Brees, he added that his playstyle is similar to Brees’ and he could operate similarly to their former quarterback and develop within their system.

“You can’t really compare him, and I’m always careful to use the comparison because he doesn’t compare to Drew, he’s the only one,” Ireland said. “But there are some similarities that make you feel like, OK, maybe he can play similarly to that person. And you thought, OK, well you got another short quarterback in the league, you got Bryce Young. He just got picked first in the draft. What if Jake’s in that offense [at Alabama]? I just think, hypothetically, Jake would have success if he’s at Alabama. So we tossed a lot of these things around, like the idea of having a young developmental quarterback learn a new system with Derek [Carr] and Jameis [Winston]. So that’s just a smart business move, in our opinion. We felt like that was a smart move to get a young player in there to develop. We just want to see him develop in a system where we feel like it’s going to be successful, learn from two guys that have been doing this and battled as starters in this league. We feel like that’s smart business.”