Buccaneers

Bucs RB Kenneth Gainwell said that he believes the team’s offense is a perfect fit for him as a smaller, shifty back that can exploit mismatches on the perimeter.

“That style of offense is built for guys that can get to the perimeter, fast guys and I think me and Bucky and Sean [Tucker] have that ability to get around the edges and see those cutback lanes and make it happen,” Gainwell said, via the team’s website.

Panthers

Panthers WR Jalen Coker was rewarded with a new three-year extension two years after being an undrafted free agent out of Holy Cross. Coker has done plenty of the little things right to earn a new deal, such as changing his diet and following recovery plans better to try to prevent soft-tissue injuries.

“Not fun, but it has to happen,” Coker said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic. “But that’s the easy part. If you have the ability to go play and doing that little stuff can get you to where you need to go, it’s an easy commitment to make.”

Despite the massive success of going from undrafted free agent to $34 miillion deal, Coker doesn’t want this to be the end of his story. He wants to remain in Carolina for the long haul and continue proving his worth in this league.

“This wasn’t the end of my story. This isn’t where I want to be finished at. I just want to continue to build, continue to do good things for this organization. Down the line, hopefully I can stay for eight more years. I didn’t want this to be like, I finally made it. I can relax, I can take the foot off the gas a little bit. No, this is now I’ve gotta prove it even more.”

Saints

Saints DE Chase Young finished with a career high of 10 sacks last season despite missing the first five games of the year. New Orleans HC Kellen Moore praised Young’s development in their system and the work ethic he’s shown in their time together. 

“I feel like he’s gotten better from my exposure being with him for the last year-and-a-half now, just the growth and the preparation — the work ethic that he has shown through the offseason is really impressive,” Moore said, via John DeShazier of the team’s site. “This guy loves to work, he loves to work really hard. I think he has gotten better; you could see as the season went on he just kept getting better and I think this offseason has been a good indication of where he’s going. The leadership that he has provided, the energy he provides. He’s looking like he’s getting better each and every day.”

Moore thinks DC Brandon Staley‘s system is a big part of what enabled Young to have such a productive season. 

“Brandon’s experience, and you look at his track record with the edge rushers at all the different spots that they’ve been — Chicago, Denver, L.A. (Rams), L.A. (Chargers), now here — I think him and (edges coach) Jay (Rodger) do an excellent job of teaming up coaching these edges and providing them with a bunch of tools, but also enough flexibility to (allow players) to let it go, let it loose and be able to attack off the edge,” Moore said.

Staley has been impressed by Young’s improvement over the years and by the perseverance he has shown after dealing with injuries throughout his career. 

“I was able to see him as a very young player and then when I got to the Niners (in ’24 as assistant head coach/defense), he had just been with them in the Super Bowl,” Staley said. “So, I got to see that jump as a player and then when I got here, one more year. I feel like I’ve been able to follow his career pretty closely. He’s one of these guys who has just improved a lot later than what people maybe expected or whatever with him being the second overall pick and Defensive Rookie of the Year. He faced a lot of tough things that all pro players go through, and he was able to overcome them and still put himself in a position to be an impactful player. And I think what he did last year was take a much bigger step toward being a feature, premium player in this league. That’s what he expects from himself, that’s what we know he is and who he can be, and he gets to build on a really special season. We’re excited about his progress, he just needs to stay the course.”