NFC Notes: Ejiro Evero, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Adam Thielen, Buccaneers, Panthers

Buccaneers

• Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles announced OLB Markees Watts is not ready to be activated off injured reserve. (Greg Auman)
• Bowles acknowledged the importance of every game going forward: “Every [game] is going to be important, every one of them is going to come down to the little things…We have to take care of us. We have to do the little things down the stretch.” (Buccaneers Communications)

Panthers

ESPN’s David Newton touched on the belief that Panthers DC Ejiro Evero could be getting momentum as a head coaching candidate thanks to an improving defense.

“Ejiro is one of the best coaches and people I’ve been around,” a league source familiar with Evero said, via Newton. “Consistent every day in his message, approach and delivery, regardless of circumstances.”

“People who know football and understand some of the situations he is facing will give him a much-deserved opportunity.”

Panthers

Panthers rookie TE Ja’Tavion Sanders said he was surprised when he realized that WR Adam Thielen was one of the league’s best trash talkers.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” Sanders said, via the team’s website. “Like no BS, there are some people on the field who go about their business, and you got the talkers, you know what I’m saying? He just don’t look like the type at all.”

Thielen adds energy to the team’s locker room and sets and example for the younger players.

“It brings the juice; it brings like the fierceness out of us,” Sanders said. “Just him being around so long and understanding the game and still seeing him have that fire inside him. Like that love of the game, it spreads throughout the team.”