NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints

Buccaneers

• Buccaneers HC Bruce Arians said G Ali Marpet (abdominal) will be a game-time decision for Week 12 after being limited in practice this week. (Greg Auman)
• Adam Schefter reports that Buccaneers WR Antonio Brown was told following Week 6 that he was facing a six-week timetable of recovery. Schefter notes that Brown is now entering his sixth week of recovery and should be expected to return in Week 13. 
• Buccaneers’ DC Todd Bowles on trying to find more playing time for LB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka: “Depending on the game. We try to get him on the field as much as possible. But we’ve got a lot of good football players. We got to make sure while getting him on the field…as we work him in. He’s a tough player. He’s a bright guy. He can do a lot of things for us. So we’ve got to continue to work him in depending on what we can do with who we play against.’‘ (Rick Stroud)

Panthers

• According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, Panthers HC Matt Rhule and his coaching staff took a “strong liking” to Mac Jones at the Senior Bowl and they considered Jones and Justin Fields at No. 8 overall.
• However, their investment in Sam Darnold of second-, fourth- and sixth-round picks forced them to target a separate position.
• Dan Graziano writes that the Panthers could consider doing something similar to the Saints did with Taysom Hill regarding Sam Darnold, who is under contract for 2022 at a fully guaranteed $18.858 million.
• Graziano mentions that Carolina could convert $17.823 million of Darnold’s 2022 salary into a signing bonus and then add dummy years to his contract to spread the capt hit out over five years. This would drop Darnold’s cap hit in 2022 to about $4.6 million and create a dead-money charge of about $14.26 million for him on their 2023 cap.
• Panthers DC Phil Snow said CB Stephon Gilmore (quad) will participate more in Week 12 and will continue playing a larger role as he recovers. (Darin Gantt)
• Panthers OC Joe Brady wouldn’t rule out QB P.J. Walker from “getting in a few plays” in Sunday’s game: “However coach wants to roll with it, we’ll be ready.” (David Newton)

Saints

• Saints HC Sean Payton said they were aware that QB Taysom Hill (foot) would be unavailable for Week 12: “He was still going through the week. We knew he wasn’t going to be able to play quarterback this week, but he’s listed as full relative to being up. That was his foot.” (ProFootballTalk)
• Payton said Hill’s foot injury forced him to be the Saints’ emergency backup quarterback for the second consecutive week. (Mike Triplett)
• As for the Saints’ 31-6 loss to the Bills on Thursday, Payton said the one-sided defeat “weighs on you” and plans to examine what went wrong: “It just weighs on you period. It’s something that obviously we’ve got to look closely at everything we’re doing and who we’re doing it with. And it’s not like new players are going to come walking through the hallway. It’s got to be from within.” (Mark Maske)
• Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports that the Saints tried to trade ahead of the Patriots with the intention of selecting QB Mac Jones, but couldn’t find a team willing to trade back to No. 28 overall.