Panthers

Panthers RB Jonathon Brooks is expected to recover from a second torn ACL in time for OTAs in April. Carolina HC Dave Canales is hopeful to get Brooks back to the quality he saw before his injury.

“I’m open to whatever he wants to bring and I know what he looked like prior to the injury. I know what that player looks like, so I have that in the back of my mind. And that’s a vision that I hope he has too, so that we can go and attack that,” Canales said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic. “How do we get to a point where you can play your best, where you can be ready? And that’ll be our goal.”

Canales can see Brooks’ enthusiasm around the team facility and his excitement about getting back on the field. 

“But I see the excitement,” Canales said. “He’s been in the building. He’s been working out. He’s been training with our guys. And I know that he’s excited about this opportunity to compete.”

As for the Panthers signing OTs Rasheed Walker and Stone Forsythe, Canales said Walker is a strong fit for his system, and Forsythe gives them some security while Ikem Ekwonu recovers from patellar tendon surgery.

“We were fortunate to get Rasheed. The guy’s got a bunch of experience and has played a lot of games. I feel great about that. Scheme-wise, he can do whatever we ask of him. So we feel good about the athlete, the guy, just talking to him,” Canales said. “He gives us flexibility along with Stone Forsythe so that whatever Ickey’s timeline looks like, we have guys that have played significant snaps.”

Saints

While other options are available, such as journeyman Jadeveon Clowney and former Bills DE A.J. Epenesa, who was set to sign with the Browns before concerns over his physical prevented him from doing so, Saints HC Kellen Moore was asked about the potential re-signing of career Saints DE Cameron Jordan.

“We love Cam. Obviously, we think the world of Cam and so, again, it’s an offseason process, it’s a free agency process that every team and player get to have and so, you know, we obviously will let that process take its course. Obviously we love Cam and so, we’ll see where it takes us, you know, for him as his situation goes through,” Moore said, via SaintsWire.com. “A free agent’s responsibility is to put yourself in the best position to be successful. And so Cam gets to do that. That’s a credit to him and his journey and the performance that he had last year, here. I thought he did a really good job for us and so, you know, we’ll continue to have those conversations.”

Saints 

The Saints signed RB Travis Etienne as a free agent, leaving some doubt about Alvin Kamara‘s future with the team. New Orleans HC Kellen Moore expects that they will be able to create roles for both players. 

“Really excited about signing Travis. Obviously Alvin, we love Alvin. He means the world to all of us,” Moore said, via Katherine Terrell of ESPN. “Again, this is a full offseason process. Certainly we feel like, ‘Hey, he’s in that room.’ You can find roles for all those different guys. We’ll go through the whole offseason process and continue to grow and develop this team.”

When asked whether they are proceeding as if Kamara will be on their roster next season, Moore said he is “certainly” a member of the group and noted that teams typically require several running backs to be successful. 

“Well yeah, he’s certainly on the roster and part of that running back room,” Moore said. “We feel like there’s ways you can manipulate all those guys and put them in plenty of situations, again, look at our season last year, look at probably just about every NFL season. Plenty of running backs play. Obviously we feel fortunate that we were able to acquire Travis in free agency, but there’s still a lot of work to be had out there.”

In addition to Etienne and Kamara, the Saints also have running backs like Devin Neal, Audric Estime, Kendre Miller, and Ty Chandler. Moore thinks their depth at the position will be a strength of the team. 

“There’s a lot of different ways we can do this,” Moore said. “Our running back room, with the way last season went, a lot of those guys got experience, a lot of those guys played football. And so it’s going to be a benefit for us that we’ve got a few guys, three or four guys that played meaningful snaps last year that are all coming back. And then you throw Travis into the mix and it’s a great situation for us.”