NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Falcons, Saints

Buccaneers

  • According to NFL Media’s James Palmer, the training camp battle to watch for the Buccaneers is the battle between RBs Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones for the early-down role.
  • Palmer notes Jones appeared to have that job in hand during the regular season, but Fournette’s playoff run helped him back into the mix.
  • He adds new Buccaneers RB Giovani Bernard should have the passing down role locked up, it just remains to be seen how many touches that equates to.

Falcons

Falcons WR Russell Gage said the team still has strong wide receiver depth lead by Calvin Ridley despite losing Julio Jones.

“We have a lot of depth at the wide receiver position,” Gage said on GMFB, via NFL.com. “We’ve always had that. It isn’t just people like me or people like Calvin that you may know or already know about. We’ve got people like Olamide ZaccheausChristian Blake. We’ve got depth all around the board. That duo could come from any combination of receivers. That’s one of the reasons why you shouldn’t sleep on us.”

Gage added seeing Jones traded was disappointing.

“It was kind of sad,” Gage said. “I learned so much from him from when I first arrived in Atlanta. I think I’ve learned more from him than in a few years than I learned in my whole career. Julio is such a impacter, such a huge playmaker. He’s going to be a legend. Probably going to be a Hall of Famer. I couldn’t learn more from anybody. He’s a great person. I think he’s elevated everyone’s game, everyone around him, whether you’re offense or defense. You watch the separation, you watch the way he prepares for the game, just everything. I’m extremely grateful to have played alongside somebody like that. It’s something that’s going to always stick with me.”

Saints

The Saints lost secondary coach Aaron Glenn to the Lions as the rising coaching star left for a defensive coordinator job. But New Orleans is bullish on his replacement, former Seahawks defensive assistant Kris Richard

“I never grew up watching football, but hearing his background and being with the Legion of Boom and with Dallas, they had some good secondaries and I just hope, well I already know he’s going to bring that same intensity that he brought with them, he’s going to give us the little bits and tips that he had with them and what made them successful and bring it to us,” Saints S Marcus Williams said via the Athletic’s Katherine Terrell

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