NFC Notes: Liam Coen, Raheem Morris, Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers

Buccaneers

Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield is an impending free agent this offseason. New OC Liam Coen is hopeful to have Mayfield back in Tampa Bay. 

“I want him to be here,” Coen said, via ProFootballTalk. “It’s probably more ‘want’ than ‘know.’ He’s obviously a reason that I’m here. That’s real. But at the end of the day, this is going to be collaborative, hopefully. I think he wants to be here but we know it’s a long way to go. It’s a long way to go, and I want him to be here. I think he wants to be here, he wants to work with me and do this with Coach [Todd Bowles] and the organization. He has had nothing but great things to say about this place, so hopefully that can get done.”

Falcons

Falcons HC Raheem Morris is taking the head job with a team for the second time in his career after a stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when he was a lot younger. While Morris won 10 games in his second season, he was out after three. He says it was a valuable learning experience. 

“When you’re 32 years old, you got all the answers. Just ask me and I’ll tell you. Right?” Morris said, via the Athletic’s Josh Kendall. “And what you find out is it’s a learning process every single day. And you better be able to lean on people and talk to people and find out what is the best thing that is going to work, right? I told (Fontenot) in my interview process, I said, ‘Hey, I don’t need to be the smartest person in the building. I want to contribute, I want to collaborate with all the smart people that you’ve assembled.’”

Panthers

Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa was asked during the Pro Bowl about fellow Alabama Crimson Tide alum and Panthers QB Bryce Young.

“I think he’s done a tremendous job with his team,” Tagovailoa said, via Pro Football Network. “I think what people end up doing is they put too much on him, when it’s a team sport. It takes everyone. So Bryce can’t do it alone. And at a young age, I know he’s already realized that because he’s continuing to play his game regardless of what the score looks like and he’s been balling. So I just tell him to, you know, stay encouraged and keep the [faith]. He’s capable of doing any and everything that any quarterback in this league does. Throws with anticipation, throws with timing, has good footwork in the pocket. You know, just the only thing that you know, that he lacks — just like me — just the size, just to see over the defenders. But outside of that, he has all the intangibles.”

“I think as far as my college career, definitely was really big,” Young previously told PanthersWire.com. “It was a big reason why I went to Alabama. It was a big transition from when he was there—just, what the offense looked like and what they kinda moved to offensively. And it’s flourished since then. And I was a recruit when all that was happening. So, that was a really, really big reason for me being there.”