Buccaneers
Buccaneers LB Devin White has backtracked from his trade request earlier this offseason after a private meeting with HC Todd Bowles and GM Jason Licht earlier this offseason. White was upset the team didn’t plan to extend him as he entered the final year of his contract on the fifth-year option but the meeting got him back on board.
“Just tell him the truth,” Bowles said via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “There’s a lot of guys that play under the fifth-year option. We just had to get rid of $60 million. How can we go back and disperse what we had to get rid of to get under the cap? A lot of people play under the fifth-year option. It’s not a slap in the face. When you get drafted in the first round? You get a fifth-year option. If you get drafted in the second round, you get four years.
“And the market changes all the time. I understand his point. He wasn’t disrespectful or anything like that. Devin is a real bright guy. He’s one of the best leaders we have on the team, and he works hard every day. It’s like he couldn’t understand it at the time. It’s like you’ve just got to play your way through it and go from there. Somebody is going to pay you. If you do your job, it takes care of itself.”
- Bowles announced UDFA DB Christian Izien will be the team’s starting slot corner to begin the season. (Stroud)
- He added there are a number of undrafted rookies slated to make the team, probably the most in his coaching career “by far.” Other strong candidates include RB Sean Tucker, WR Rakim Jarrett and S Kaevon Merriweather. (Greg Auman)
- Bowles mentioned Buccaneers S Antoine Winfield Jr., first-round DT Calijah Kancey and fifth-round LB SirVocea Dennis are all banged up and they’ll know more about their Week 1 availability later this week: “We’re hopeful they can be ready.”(Auman)
Falcons
Atlanta is going forward with the duo of Troy Andersen and Kaden Elliss at inside linebacker this season with the hope they can grow into a fearsome group. Andersen is in his second year as a second-round pick while Elliss was signed in free agency from the Saints this offseason. The two have been spending plenty of time together to prepare for the upcoming season.
“You watch film together and study your playbook and build a rapport,” Andersen said via Scott Bair of the team website. “That’s what we do all day. We go out here and practice and then go back inside and break it all down, learn from it and try to improve on it.”
“But those reps where maybe we got one right, then you know that’s how it’s going to play out. We have that logged,” Elliss added later on. “We know that’s how it’s going to be. Cool. And then you get one where maybe you messed up. Alright then, why this didn’t work? Then you adjust and work until the next one’s clean. And, now that the days have gone on, we’re starting to see the fruits of our labor.
“We’re able to trust each other. We have our rules. We have our formulas down. We know how the other guy is going to play. Now let’s go play fast together.”
- Falcons HC Arthur Smith said he’s “still optimistic” about CB Jeff Okudah returning early in the season from his ankle injury but did not put a definitive timeline on it. (Michael Rothstein)
- Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson is “making good progress as well” in his recovery from a soft tissue injury, per Smith.
Panthers
Panthers HC Frank Reich praised OC Thomas Brown and said that the team will continue to work collaboratively when calling plays.
“He’s doin’ great,” Reich said, via Panthers Wire. “I made no bones about it since I’ve been here — I eventually wanna make that transition. I think I’ve said this before, but…first of all, whether I’m callin’ it or he’s callin’, it’s very collaborative. When he’s callin’ it, he’s talkin’ to us. When I’m callin’ it, I’m saying, ‘Thomas, what do you think about this?’ Or Parks [Frazier]. That’s just the way we approach it. And you don’t ask those questions on every play, but multiple times during the game.”
Reich added the long-term goal is for Brown to eventually take over play-calling duties.
“The long-term goal and vision is for me to transfer those duties to him,” he added. “And I will say this — he’s way ahead…not in the production that we’ve had, because it’s been good and he’s done a good job in, I think, sequencing plays. But for me, in assessing him, it’s not about how many yards did we gain or how many points did we score when he was callin’ it. It’s more — how does he sound on the phone? How is the conversation with the quarterbacks? How is the conversation with the staff? He feels like a seasoned playcaller to me. He feels like a seasoned playcaller. But I also know it’s a long process getting developed in that way.”
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