NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Falcons, Saints

Buccaneers

• James Palmer of NFL Network expects Buccaneers WR Antonio Brown (knee), TE Cameron Brate (back), and S Antoine Winfield (ankle) to play in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
• Palmer notes that Winfield had no injury designation as of Friday.
• As for Brate, Palmer names him as a possible player who could produce in Sunday’s game given HC Bruce Arians has experimented this postseason with how they’ve deployed tight end packages with Rob Gronkowski alongside him. 

Falcons

• Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Falcons laid off at least 12 employees on the “business side” of their operation. 
• An AMB Sports and Entertainment spokesperson provided a statement in response to the recent layoffs: “It is an annual practice to review all areas of operations due to the ever-changing business climate. AMB Sports and Entertainment leadership did a careful review of current operations across its businesses and made the difficult, but necessary, decision to restructure and streamline operations. This has resulted in the elimination of select positions as well as closing some previously open positions across the portfolio.”

Saints

• Nick Underhill notes that the restructuring of Saints’ QB Drew Brees‘ deal allows the team to create cap space until June 2nd when Brees can be added to the reserve/retired list. This allows them to split his prorated bonuses in 2021 and 2022, instead of paying a $22 million cap hit all at once in 2021.
• Tom Pelissero adds that while Brees is yet to confirm his retirement, New Orleans will have roughly a $12 million cap hit for Brees until June, instead of one worth over $36 million. Additionally, another $11.5 million would count against the Saints cap in 2022.