Buccaneers
Bucs GM Jason Licht said he’s happy with the team’s offensive line room but won’t hesitate to draft one early if the right prospect is available.
“Good, very good,” Licht said, via the team’s website. “I love O-linemen, though. If there’s one there…we’ve got our eye on a few. That doesn’t take away from what I feel about the guys that we currently have, but I feel very good about our offensive line right now.”
Licht acknowledged the team will be looking hard at giving its defense a boost with its first-round pick but maintained they have to be flexible to what the board is giving them.
“Yeah, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way,” he said. “Yes, suffice to say that, but the draft falls and there’s going to be a lot of curveballs that happen.”
Panthers
Panthers HC Dave Canales said the team is still relying on OT Taylor Moton, even after he has suffered repetitive knee injuries.
“T-Mo’s been steady Eddie here for a long time, so we’re counting on him doing that again,” Canales said, via NY Times. “He still plays really good football. He’s an excellent pass protector. He’s great on the front side of those runs, he moves people. So until those things are not apparent, we love having him.”
Panthers
The Panthers played their most inspired football of the last few years in the back half of the 2024 season behind career-best football from QB Bryce Young. Carolina HC Dave Canales spoke on the importance of the run game to set up everything else for the offense by keeping them in good situations.
“It’s identity, it’s play style,” Canales said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s website. “So we talked about getting the run game going. We did that, you know, and Chuba and the offensive line are playing so well together. The tight ends bought in, the wide receivers, and the whole group.
“And it was like, look, if we’re going to be a tough football team, it all starts with the run game. And to be able to get over 1,000 yards and to establish that kind of mentality, I think, really allows us to stay on schedule and play the type of football we wanted to. So schematically, that was important.”
After being benched in the early part of the season, Canales was impressed with how Young maintained his leadership abilities even when he wasn’t the starting quarterback.
“Watching him just work and continue to lead through that whole process was really impressive to me. And so I learned a lot about him just in terms of his consistency of who he was going to be. He never stopped leading throughout that whole time, and I was so impressed by that. And then when he came back in, you just kind of had a look to him. He was like, right, this is my team. I’m going to show you. And so I was like, yes it is, back up here we go. So it was exciting.”
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