NFC Notes: Kyle Pitts, Brian Burns, Klint Kubiak, Falcons, Panthers, Saints

Falcons

New Falcons OC Zac Robinson plans on getting TE Kyle Pitts and RB Bijan Robinson incorporated into his offense and views both of them as versatile options. 

“Certainly, I think (of) Kyle as a tight end and Bijan as a (running) back,” Robinson said, via the team’s official site. “Those guys are going to get their touches how they get their touches. That’s part of the process we’re putting together right now. I view those guys as versatile. But those guys can play just tight end, those guys can play just (running) back.”

Falcons TE Kevin Koger thinks they can find creative ways to use Pitts in the passing game but also considers him a pivotal piece to their rushing attack. 

“We’re not oblivious to the fact of his skill sets, what he does bring to the team from a receiving standpoint, so there are a lot of things that you can do to be creative and use his skill set in the pass game,” Koger said. “But with him and the way we’re going to run the ball and the athleticism he does have, there are a lot of things he can do in the run game to help us out to win football games. You’ll see him all over the field, not just out wide but also in the box.”

Panthers

• Joseph Person of The Athletic thinks the Panthers seem to be trending toward using the franchise tag on impending free agent OLB Brian Burns.
• Person, citing a source with knowledge of Burns’ contract talks last offseason, reports the organization was willing to give him a five-year extension with a salary of $27 million per year. Other reports indicate Burns wanted close to $30 million a year. 
• Person points out the Rams’ previous trade offer of two future first-round picks and a 2023 second-round pick in exchange for Burns strengthened his leverage in negotiations because he knew Carolina turned down a big haul. 

Saints

Saints HC Dennis Allen said he’s known new OC Klint Kubiak and his family for “probably over 20, 30 years” after watching his father, former Texans HC Gary Kubiak. 

“I felt like Klint Kubiak was obviously the person of choice,” Allen said, via NFL.com. “I’ve known Klint for a long time. I feel like I’ve known the family for probably over 20, 30 years. I remember watching Klint’s dad, Gary, play quarterback back at Texas A&M growing up. I feel like I’ve known this family. I feel like I’ve known this scheme for a long time. And I feel like this is the best scheme that gives your players the best chance to have success that’s going in the National Football League right now.”

Allen believes they’ve put together a strong coaching staff with veteran minds and younger assistants as well. 

“I think Klint is highly intelligent. He’s (an) extremely hard worker,” Allen said. “I think we’ve put together an outstanding staff with a little bit of mixture of older veteran coaches that have been there done that, with some younger, progressive-mindset type of guys, and I think it’s gonna be a great mixture for our organization.”

Allen is confident QB Derek Carr will do well in Kubiak’s system and feels the quarterback started to improve when they were incorporating more play-action passes. 

“I think Derek is going to do exceptionally well,” Allen said. “I thought there was a point in time this past season where we started incorporating a little more of the play-action passing game, and I really felt like that’s where our offense started to take off. I thought that’s where Derek really kind of started to take off. I’ve had communication with Derek throughout this process and talked to him about some of the different candidates that we were bringing in.”

• Matt Zenitz reports the Saints are promoting Jordan Traylor to assistant QB coach. He’s spent the past several seasons as a low-level assistant, working on both offense and defense as well as in the scouting department. 
• The Saints added DeNarius McGhee as assistant WRs coach. He was formerly with the Texans as an offensive assistant. (Nick Underhill)