NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers, Saints

Buccaneers

• Buccaneers’ DL William Gholston has high praise for DC Todd Bowles: “He’s the type of defensive coordinator I would run through a brick wall for. If he said, ‘Hey, if you hit it at this angle, it’s going to fall down,’ I wouldn’t second-guess it. He’s always right.” (Jenna Laine)

Falcons

• Per the Athletic’s Tori McElhaney, Falcons LB Deion Jones has added about five pounds coming into 2021. 
• Falcons P Sterling Hofrichter reverted to injured reserve.

Panthers

• Joseph Person of The Athletic mentions that Panthers’ HC Matt Rhule cut undrafted rookie S J.T. Ibe about 90 minutes after he illegally hit WR Keith Kirkwood, which sent the wideout to the hospital for evaluation.
• Person later reported that Kirkwood had left the hospital and was doing well, with movement in his legs and experiencing no neck pain.
• Ibe said he was aiming for the ball and didn’t believe he launched into Kirkwood: “Just glad Keith is going to be okay. Practice is a different tempo where you always go for the ball and not the man.”
• Rhule later told reporters that he felt the hit by Ibe was unacceptable: “It’s completely unacceptable, something like that. There’s things, bang-bang plays that happen, and guys will hit the ground. But you can’t tee off on somebody. So that’s not what we’ll do. It’s undisciplined by us, so it can’t happen.”

Saints

• Saints’ CB Keith Washington is expected to be out for a while after sustaining an arm injury. (Katherine Terrell)
• Saints signed CB Adonis Alexander. (NFLTR)
• Saints signed LB Kwon Alexander. (NFLTR)
• Saints placed CB Keith Washington on injured reserve. (NFLTR)
• Saints activated K Will Lutz from the non-football injury list.