NFC Notes: Todd Bowles, Bryce Young, Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints

Buccaneers

• Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles believes CB Troy Hill needs more time to learn the scheme before being elevated. (Greg Auman)
• Bowles on the team taking games down to the wire and losing: “They’re all bad. Whether you lose by 40 or lose at the end in overtime, they’re all bad. You want to win ballgames in any way possible. It’s disheartening when we don’t execute the things we know we have to execute, to lose those ballgames instead of just trying to win it.” (Auman)
• Buccaneers LB Lavonte David on another walk-off loss: “It feels shitty. It’s always in our hands. As a defensive captain of this football team, I’m out there, I’m not doing enough. Everybody is not doing enough. So whatever it is, we have to dig deep and find it. Whatever it is, we have to fix it ASAP.” (Auman)

Panthers

The Panthers notably retained QB Bryce Young ahead of this year’s trade deadline despite taking calls from some teams. GM Dan Morgan opted to keep trade talks in-house when asked about their decision. 

“Teams call and they poke around and not just about any specific players, it’s just players on your roster and they’re real general conversations and I’ll kind of leave those conversations for another day,” Young said, via Kassidy Hill of the team’s site. 

As for whether Young is still the team’s quarterback of the future, Morgan responded they are always assessing him and have seen a lot of growth out of the quarterback. 

“Yeah, I think every week, you know, we’re assessing Bryce. We’re just seeing, taking it day by day, really just seeing him grow, seeing him develop, be under coach and work with him, learn under Andy. I think we do see him growing every day. We’re excited to work with him and keep working with him in the future. At the end of the day, we’ll have those conversations once the season ends and, we’ll see where we’re at.”

Morgan wants to see continuous improvement out of Young. 

“Yeah, just continually improve and it’s not just Bryce, it’s everybody on our roster. We’re evaluating everybody every single day, not just on game day. Not only how they carry themselves on the field, but off the field as well. So, it’s just one of those things where we’re evaluating everything and at the end of the day we’ll get together at the end of the season and we’ll see where we’re at.”

• Panthers S Demani Richardson and S Xavier Woods were both fined for unnecessary roughness, with Woods receiving $16,883 for hitting a defenseless player and Richardson receiving $4,463 for the same offense in Week 9.

Saints

• CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones says heading into the trade deadline, the Chiefs believed they were in a pole position to land CB Marshon Lattimore from the Saints.
• Per Jones, Kansas City had upped its offer from a 2026 third-rounder to its own 2025 third after learning of interest from the Ravens, but wasn’t willing to offer the Titans’ third-round selection in 2025 acquired by trading CB L’Jarius Sneed this offseason. 
• After doing extensive homework on Lattimore, Washington jumped into talks. While the Commanders also weren’t willing to offer the early third in 2025 they got from the Eagles for WR Jahan Dotson that belonged to Miami, they put their own third on the table plus a fourth and a swap of fifth and sixth-round picks. The Chiefs weren’t willing to match that and started looking for other cornerback options. 
• Saints RB Alvin Kamara credited former teammate RB Mark Ingram for setting the standard for him when he was younger: “That was my example. Thank God he was in my room. I had an example right there, right next to me to guide me and show me the way.” (Darrion Gray)
• Saints LB Demario Davis, OT Trevor Penning, and DE Payton Turner were fined for unnecessary roughness, with Davis and Penning each receiving $11,255 for facemasks and Turner fined $16,883 for hitting a defenseless player in Week 9.