Falcons
Falcons recently-signed WR Penny Hart said he was eager to sign with his home state’s team and feels the organization showed they valued him as a free agent.
“This organization showed me how much they appreciated my game from over the years and watching me. Seeing how hard everybody works here, that’s my identity and that’s what I do,” Hart said, via Tori McElheney of the team’s official site. “So, just knowing that I’d have the opportunity to be a part of this culture, it meant everything to me. I couldn’t resist that.”
Falcons HC Arthur Smith thinks Hart is proving to be a hard worker.
“I knew that he was a blue collar kinda guy, to where he likes to work,” Hart said. “He likes the attitude of going out and making something of yourself and having to earn the respect of everybody around you. I really respected that in him when I first got here and when I was talking to him.”
Hart said Atlanta has an “extremely versatile offense” that will require him to learn multiple roles.
“I like that it’s really fast paced. It’s about getting it in and grinding,” Hart said. “I think that it’s an extremely versatile offense as well, and you can be in at any position at any given time and I think we do a really good job of doing that. It’s exciting because that’s what I love best. I say all the time that I am most comfortable when I am uncomfortable. I work in the uncomfort of being in different positions, having to know a lot of different things, having to know what the quarterback might know, just to be able to help my team with whatever they may need from me. If that is the case, to just be anywhere and everywhere. So, I appreciate that a lot about this offense.”
Panthers
Panthers LB Shaq Thompson says that a reunion with Carolina made sense as his prospects were not good on the open market. He will now be back playing with teammates he considers brothers in 2023.
“Just look at the linebacker market; nobody was getting paid,” Thompson said, via Augusta Stone of Panthers.com. “So it was just weighing out, ‘Do I want to be here, or do I want to go somewhere else? Do I want to be with my brothers, who I went to war with, or do I want to go to a different team and meet new people?’ And shoot, I’m a big loyal guy. So I stayed with my brothers. I was like, ‘Man, I’d rather win with you guys. Or if I lose, I’d rather lose with y’all. I definitely want to win a Super Bowl, but I want to win one with them. I don’t want to win one with nobody else.”
Saints
Saints do-it-all weapon Taysom Hill remains on the roster heading into the 2023 season and it looks like his role is still going to be a jack-of-all-trades utility player for New Orleans’ offense. Hill was responsible for 11 total touchdowns in 2022, including seven rushing, two receiving and two passing.
Hill didn’t start any games at quarterback in 2022 and with the addition of veteran QB Derek Carr, the Saints probably hope Hill doesn’t have to. With fewer snaps coming from the center, Hill is hoping to flesh out his game more at tight end and perhaps be a bigger weapon in the passing game.
“I think maybe doing more as, like, a receiver,” Hill said via NFL Media’s Brenna White. “I think that’s kind of stuff that hasn’t been explored a ton with me here. The throwing stuff as a quarterback or running, you know, that’s stuff we’ve been doing that for a long time, and that’s come really natural for me. I think running routes and catching balls and stuff that was a foreign thing for me, and I also think because of that we haven’t done a ton of it, and I think there’s some opportunities there that we just haven’t explored yet.
“So as I look at next season, I think the hope and the expectation is that that expands a little bit. You know, I think the nice thing is I’m put in different situations. I can go at it and say, ‘Hey, if I was throwing the ball to me,’ like, I’m just going to do whatever I want the receiver to do if I was throwing it to him. So, having that perspective, I think, has also helped me and maybe made that transition a little smoother.”
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