Buccaneers

The Buccaneers haven’t hit on many of their edge rushers in recent years, with OLB YaYa Diaby leading the team in sacks with seven last year. Although GM Jason Licht thinks Diaby and Anthony Nelson are still ascending players, he admits that they need to “focus on” bringing in pass rushers through free agency or the 2026 NFL Draft. 

“You know, that’s just an area we own. It hasn’t been great,” Licht said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “I think Yaya is still a very young, ascending player, and Anthony Nelson still makes clutch plays when his number is called. But that’s one of the areas we need to focus on, whether it’s free agency, the draft or what have you. It’s obvious the NFL is a pressure game. and you need to get pressure on the quarterback. We were in a lot of close, tight games. But in order to take the next step from where we were previous to 2025, I think we need to get more pressure on the quarterback.”

Licht points out that losing OLB David Walker’s entire rookie season due to a torn ACL “put a wrench” in their defensive plans last year. 

“That put a wrench in some things for us last year,” Licht said. ”It’s just one thing we continue to study. Continue to look at not just our team, but other teams, how they develop there. We continually try to figure out what the secret sauce is.”

Tampa Bay took two offensive players in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft with WR Emeka Egbuka and C Graham Barton, and there are some questions about whether they will pass on taking a defensive player at the top of this year’s draft, once again. Licht mentioned that there have been years they didn’t have an opportunity to take players they wanted, and they must improve on identifying traits that work for them. 

“We try to take a look and see where we can do better,” Licht said. “The process can change a little bit. There’s also been years where you value someone that you don’t have an opportunity to get. I don’t want to say it’s about taking chances and rolling the dice. You try to be as scientific as possible. Not all of them work out, and I’m not naming anybody in particular. But yes, we have taken a look at that, and we need to get better. We always need to get better. I need to do better job of identifying the traits of players that have worked out versus the traits that haven’t.”

Panthers

Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan made a big impact as a rookie with 70 receptions for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. Carolina vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis spoke about the pre-draft process with McMillan, saying GM Dan Morgan was “very convincted” in their choice to take him. 

“We watched his film several times. It was all very good. But Dan was very convicted, like way early, like late September. For me, I’ll watch these guys and I’ll give my opinion based on what I know and what I don’t know. And usually what happens is you’re convicted about a guy in September and then your conviction becomes a lot less in November and then you kind of settle in wherever he ends up (on the draft board) in the spring. And T-Mac didn’t go that way. When that happens, it’s usually a good thing. From my vantage point, I’m afraid of late risers. That was not T-Mac,” Tillis said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic. 

Morgan confirmed he was quickly sold on McMillan and wasn’t going to “overthink” taking him. 

“You watch the tape and you get super excited about some guys, and other guys you maybe don’t love. But I would say he’s one of the guys you just turn the tape on and you’re like, I’m not gonna overthink this.”

Panthers HC Dave Canales said he was impressed by McMillan’s technicality. 

“The best ones have early feet. Their feet are positioning what to do after they catch it based on where the defender’s approaching. They’re kind of getting their lower half in position so when they catch it, there’s immediacy to their transition. … That uncanny ability to manipulate his body before he’s even caught the ball allows for extra yards, more first downs — friendly football for us.”

Saints

• Mike Sando of The Athletic notes the Saints’ approach to cap management and roster moves: “The Saints’ build is impressive, I’ll give them that. (Travis) Etienne is a fast guy that has juice on that turf. Losing Demario Davis and his leadership is tough. We liked Alontae Taylor as well. Those defensive losses are huge, but they make sense. They are not trying to build around 30-year-olds.”
• Executives highlighted the impact of the offense additions on second-year QB Tyler Shough: “They are limited because of the cap, and so you can’t go wrong investing in O-line. They got younger at running back. Outside of (Chris) Olave, they did not have much speed. Adding Fant and Etienne, they definitely got a lot faster. Kaden Elliss is solid.”
• Observations on draft strategy and flexibility: “They are slowly and steadily getting out of cap hell, and making moves that don’t hamper flexibility is smart.”