NFC Rumors: Buccaneers, Panthers, Steve Wilks, Saints

Buccaneers

• Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times mentions that if the Buccaneers move on from OC Byron Leftwich, one name to watch out for as his replacement is Alabama OC Bill O’Brien.
• Stroud adds that O’Brien has prior experience working with QB Tom Brady and is also very close friends with GM Jason Licht.
• The team contacted O’Brien last year when it seemed that Leftwich would be hired as the head coach of the Jaguars, yet Jacksonville opted to hire former Eagles HC Doug Pederson instead.

• Albert Breer could see potentially significant changes coming to the Buccaneers’ offensive coaching staff this offseason.
• However, Breer expects the Buccaneers to stand pat at head coach.

Panthers

• According to Albert Breer of SI, Panthers owner David Tepper is “conscious of the climate in his building” regarding the locker room support for interim HC Steve Wilks.
• Breer mentions that if Wilks is to get the full-time job, he’ll need to have a “detailed plan for the offense.”
• Breer reports that Carolina spent a good amount of time researching young offensive coaches after firing HC Matt Rhule during the season, which could be an indication of what direction Tepper is leaning in regard to this head coach search.
• One name to keep an eye on for the Panthers’ offensive coordinator job under Wilks, per Breer, is Philadelphia QBs coach Brian Johnson.
• As for Panthers GM Scott Fitterer, Breer has heard that he’s been involved in laying the groundwork for finding the next coach, which is a decent indication that he will be retained.
• Should Carolina decide to part ways with Fitterer, Breer believes it will be because Tepper gets smitten with a coach like he did with Rhule back in 2020.

Saints

• Albert Breer could see potentially significant changes coming to the Saints’ offensive coaching staff this offseason.
• However, Breer expects the Saints to stand pat at head coach.
• Breer could see Payton looking to hire Saints assistant GM Jeff Ireland or ex-Bears GM Ryan Pace as GM should he accept a job.