Buccaneers

Buccaneers owner Joel Glazer stands behind HC Todd Bowles after the 8-9 finish to last season, in which Tampa Bay failed to win the NFC South for the first time since he took over as head coach.

“I think we had some significant challenges we had to deal with last year,” Glazer said, via Matt Matera of the Pewter Report. “It was unfortunate down the stretch — frustrating down the stretch — but you see week in and week out, this team plays hard for Todd. Nobody lays down. You have the odd game where things don’t quite go your way, but every game until the final whistle, these players are fighting, fighting, fighting.”

“I’d say as a franchise, everybody’s goal is to win the Super Bowl every year,” Glazer added. “That’s your hope, but only one team does win the Super Bowl every year. In any given season you’ve got to look at the season, look at how things went, look at where the franchise is at, look at the totality of the situation as year in and year out. That’s how you evaluate things. Last season started out great – didn’t end so well. Obviously, we were disappointed. Obviously, our fans were disappointed, but there’s a little more to it. Every team has injuries, but there were significant injuries last year at significant positions. There were a lot of close games down the stretch that didn’t go our way. But we’re trying to build a championship team. You can try and throw a dart every year — or you can try and build a Super Bowl winning team. We feel like we had a great team and we’re constantly building, building, building — adding to the foundations that we have.”

Panthers

Carolina signed OLB Jaelan Phillips to a four-year, $120 million contract in free agency to bolster their pass rush. Panthers HC Dave Canales described Phillips’ profile, citing his size, versatility and hard-working effort as his favorite traits. 

“He’s so big. He’s big enough to play the run at the point of attack. He’s crazy on the back side of stuff, chases it down. And then just the versatility to rush, to drop, to do different things with that size profile,” Canales said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic.

“And then of course you pair that all up with this human and the things we heard about him from a character standpoint. How hard he practices, how hard he plays, that type of strain. Those are the players that we want to bring in.”

Panthers GM Dan Morgan echoed Canales’ praise of Phillips’ high motor. 

“Every play he’s balls to the wall. He’s running to the football. He’s chasing down from the backside. He’s not giving up on his rushes,” Morgan said. “He’s constantly trying to make plays and trying to affect the quarterback or affect the run game.”

Saints

Saints RB Travis Etienne said that he will help take pressure off of RB Alvin Kamara in the backfield, and both of them will benefit.

“It just makes it better for both of us,” Etienne said, via PFT. “Every time we’re out there, we want to feel fresh. It keeps the defense on their toes. They’ve gotta worry about two guys instead of one. I feel like it’s only gonna make the team better.”

• Former second overall QB Zach Wilson signed a one-year, $1.4 million contract with the New Orleans Saints, including $599,000 guaranteed with a $187,500 signing bonus. (OTC)