NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers

Buccaneers

• New Buccaneers DT Akiem Hicks‘ one-year deal is worth $6.5 million as a base value, plus $1.5 million in per-game roster bonuses. (Auman)
• Hicks can earn an additional $2 million in incentives, including $500,000 for making the Pro Bowl, $500,000 for being named an All-Pro and $250,000 per playoff win.
• Tampa Bay added four void years to Hicks’ deal to spread out the cap hit, meaning he will count just $2.39 million on their books for 2022. (Auman)

Falcons

Falcons DL Grady Jarrett appeared on Good Morning Football to talk about his new contract and his outlook for the team going forward.

“But to get the extension this time, especially with the new regime, having a new coach and a new GM, basically telling me they believe in me means the world,” Jarrett said. “I’m from the Atlanta area, and to continue to live out my dream and play in my hometown means the world to me.” 

Jarrett also spoke about the quarterback situation, as the team will have someone else other than QB Matt Ryan under center in 2022.

“Yeah, so it’s definitely different not having Matt. That’s the only quarterback I had,” Jarrett added. “He’s been a great friend, great teammate, but he’s on to other things. The love we have for Matt is everlasting, but having new quarterbacks in Marcus and Desmond is exciting to me. I feel like these are two guys who really are hungry to prove themselves and I’ve seen it, I’ve watched a little bit of them. Just how his career has been going, I feel like it’s the perfect spot for [Mariota]. Perfect landing, perfect timing and I just think he’s hungry and also has the [Ridder] to push him, but it’s a healthy competition. I think that’s the thing about being in Atlanta right now, at every level, there’s some competition, and everybody’s hungry. At the same time, people count us out, so I think it’s going to pull the best out of everybody.”

Panthers

Panthers HC Matt Rhule said that he didn’t want to bring in assistant coaches that were just going to go with what he said, he wanted to bring in guys with varying ideas so that they could make the best decisions possible for the team. That led to experience being a high priority for Rhule’s hires this offseason. New OC Ben McAdoo, secondary coach Steve Wilks and DL coach Paul Pasqualoni have previous head coahcing experience, while OL coach James Campen and ST coordinator Chris Tabor are longtime NFL assistants.  

“You never wanna be around people that are just yes men,” Rhule said, via Panthers Wire. “You wanna be around alphas, leaders, people with great ideas. At the same time, we’re gonna debate, we’re gonna argue, we’re gonna do all those things. But when we decide something, we’re gonna carry it on out.”

Rhule added that so far all of the coaching staff additions have been great and they’ve been on the same page.

“But I think the personalities are all coming together in a really nice way,” he said. “I really like the staff. They’re enjoyable to be around. I think the guys who have been here have done a lot of legwork to get us to this point, where we are right now. The new coaches have been nothing but great.”