Buccaneers

Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield gave details on why QB Jalon Daniels was named the backup as an undrafted free agent this season.

“I think for an undrafted free agent quarterback, you don’t get a lot of reps, and I think the most important thing for him, I think each rep he took, he took advantage of it,” Mayfield told BucsWire.com. “It wasn’t all pretty, don’t get me wrong, but if there was a mistake in there, he corrected it to where the next time he got a rep, it was never the same mistake. I think that’s the biggest difference that you can tell. He’s played a lot of football that he takes advantage of those reps, learns really quickly. Doesn’t have to necessarily do the rep to learn from it. “

“He can watch and do certain things, and physically really talented, athletic,” said Mayfield of Daniels. “Ball zips out of his hand, and he’s consistently got a smile on his face. It’s just somebody that you really — I don’t think you could have a bad time around. He just brings energy and juice every day, so it’s fun to have him there. And for me, just trying to spread the knowledge and help him grow as quickly as possible.”

Panthers

The Panthers kept five tight ends on their active roster, including Tommy Tremble, Mitchell Evans, Darren Waller, Feleipe Franks, and Ja’Tavion Sanders. Tremble said he wasn’t surprised to see Carolina keep all five, mentioning each brings different aspects to their offense. 

“Everyone has a different aspect to their game, so it wasn’t very surprising to us. If anything, it shows what they think about us,” Tremble said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic. “So after that deadline hit, to see them keep five of us, it was kind of reassuring for us.”

Panthers GM Dan Morgan said HC Dave Canales has a plan for each of their tight ends. 

“Right now we’re committed. Not to say that something couldn’t change. I don’t know what the future holds,” Morgan said. “But I know coach Canales has a plan for each and every one of those guys. What he does with them on game day is yet to be seen. But right now we feel good about it.”

Waller has battled injuries throughout his career. Canales mentioned that his injury history was a factor in their decision. 

“Definitely a part of it. Guys that we trust being here. But then also we’ve gotta see how Darren handles a full volume of a week,” Canales said. “How does he come out and respond off of a game week? We need to gather that information as we go.”

Saints

Veteran K Daniel Carlson signed on with the Saints following his eight years with the Raiders. Regarding why he didn’t sign with a new team until August 24, Carlson said he was hoping to land somewhere near his home in Alabama. 

“Obviously, it took a while for it all to play out,” Carlson said, via John DeShazier of the team’s site. “There was just a lot of thought about where we were going to end up. We’ve got young kids (three, with one on the way) and my wife and I — we live in Auburn, Ala. — and we were really hoping for something local. And this is as local as you can get to Alabama. The Saints were always one of those teams. There were some discussions throughout the free agency process. It ended up just being an opportunity and the timing of it worked better. At this point it was like, let’s just go compete and see what happens.”

Saints ST coordinator Phil Galiano said Carlson brings valuable experience to their kicking spot. 

“I think you just look at his career production that he’s had,” Galiano said. “For his career, he’s 87 percent and I think inside the 50 he’s like 90 percent for his career. So it just gives you another option at this point to be able to bring in and evaluate.”

Before final roster cuts, Galiano said they were still evaluating Charlie Smyth and Tanner Brown.

“I think when you want to make anything happen, you can find a way to make it happen,” Galiano said. “So, all three are going to kick (Wednesday), we get to go to Tulane and we’ll have some fans there, we’ll create a pretty good atmosphere. We’ll just add a couple of field goal periods to it and get those guys the opportunity to perform there.”