Buccaneers
Things will look a lot different under center for the Buccaneers in 2023 with either Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask taking over for Tom Brady. It’s probably safe to say neither will be as good as the best quarterback of all time but Buccaneers OT Tristan Wirfs points out both players are a lot more mobile than the elderly Brady was.
“I think it’s going to open up a lot of options for us. Both those guys can run around with it a little bit,” Wirfs said via the team website. “As much as I love Tom, you guys know how I feel about Tom, but he can’t run. So, it will open up some new stuff for us and it’ll be really exciting.”
Falcons
Falcons QB Desmond Ridder said watching offseason chatter about how Atlanta should acquire a new quarterback, like Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, has put a chip on his shoulder this offseason.
“It puts a chip on my shoulder, but at the end of the day I can control what I can control,” Ridder said, via Josh Kendall of The Athletic. “I know at the end of the day I’m gonna go out here and work to be the best player I can be not only for myself but for my team as well.”
Ridder said HC Arthur Smith and GM Terry Fontenot reassured him that he’s the starter and they’re confident in his ability to become a leader.
“They told me that they trust me and that they see what I do out on the field, they see my leadership, and that that’s what they want,” Ridder said. “I’m just gonna keep continuing to be myself, be the leader I can be and go out there and just keep proving myself.”
Ridder said he’s not involved in roster decisions but was told he’s trusted by the coaches.
“Obviously, I’m not Tom Brady, not Aaron Rodgers, not up there sitting in those (personnel) meetings, but they tell you we might bring in a guy, they might not, but that they trusted me, that they saw what I could be,” Ridder said. “You know, that’s all I needed to hear.”
Panthers
Alabama QB Bryce Young, who is the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, said he would be ecstatic to have former Panthers QB Cam Newton as his primary backup.
“Honestly, it’s surreal to even hear a sentence like that,” Young said, via PanthersWire. “I grew up watching Cam and just to see the success that he had, how much he changed the game, changed the position, being an MVP, having so much success at the NFL level — that’s something that was always a dream.”
Young feels like he could learn a lot from Newton.
“And I have so much respect for him and look up to him. So, under any circumstance, whatever the scenario is — I feel like there’s so much that I can learn from him and I would love to learn from him. And again, from conversation to anything. I’ve learned a lot from him just from watching and just from being a fan as a player and as a person. In any capacity, being able to learn from him I feel like would be really great for me.”
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