NFC Notes: Mike Evans, Taylor Heinicke, Bryce Young, Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers

Buccaneers

• Rick Stroud reports that the Jets inquired about trading for Buccaneers WR Mike Evans in August but there has been no contact since then.

Falcons

• Jeff Schultz of The Athletic believes that Falcons QB Taylor Heinicke gives the team a better chance to win than QB Desmond Ridder and has been asking HC Arthur Smith about a potential change.
• On Wednesday during a press conference, the Falcons announced that Heinicke would be the starter over Ridder. Smith would later go on to say during the press conference that Heinicke was the team’s best quarterback.

Panthers

It took eight weeks and seven games but the Panthers finally got their first win of the season and the first win of first-round QB Bryce Young‘s career. Young also pocketed the first game-winning drive of his career, making multiple key plays on the drive that ended in a walkoff field goal like adjusting to a screen to beat the blitz and fitting in a tight throw for a fourth-down conversion. He looked like the star at Alabama Carolina thought it was getting with the No. 1 pick. 

“He has all the talent and all the ability. He just continues to get better, embracing the whole position of franchise quarterback and what that means,” Panthers HC Frank Reich said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “That is not just about being the quarterback on the team. It’s about being the franchise quarterback. There’s a difference. When you’re the franchise quarterback, you gotta embrace that.”

While it matters more for the talking heads and narrative writers, there’s just a little bit of vindication for the Panthers in Young’s first win coming against Texans QB C.J. Stroud, the No. 2 pick after Young who had a much hotter start to his career. And it gave Reich the chance to reiterate — despite speculation other forces in the building were at play — that Young was always his guy. 

“I liked them all,” Reich said, “but I always liked Bryce the best.”