Buccaneers
The Buccaneers elected to keep veteran QB Teddy Bridgewater on their active roster instead of former second-round QB Kyle Trask. Tampa Bay HC Todd Bowles explained that they felt Bridgewater commands their offense at a higher level than Trask and the veteran gives them a “better chance” to win.
“Well, obviously [Bridgewater] brings experience, but he brings a wealth of knowledge,” Bowles said, via ProFootballTalk. “He can command the offense right now. Him being older has a lot to do with it, but him being accurate and understanding what we’re trying to do has a lot to do with it as well. We had Kyle for four years and it was a good four-year run. We just feel like we’ve got a better chance with Teddy.”
Falcons
The Falcons held a 6-3 record past the midway point of last season, but only won two of the remaining eight games to close with an 8-9 record. Bijan Robinson said they learned not to look too far ahead after stressing to win the AFC South in previous years.
“For us, we’re not a team that looks ahead anymore,” Robinson said, via Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports. “I think the past couple years, since I’ve been here, we’ve always been … ‘We have to win the South. We have to win in the playoffs.’ And I think, for us, that wasn’t a good thing, because we would lose focus on who’s in front of us that week. So, I think it’s really important for us to just go one week at a time, focus on the team, who we have at hand, what we have at stake, and I think everything else will take care of itself.”
Panthers
The Panthers signed QB Hendon Hooker to their practice squad following his two years with the Lions. Hooker said he wanted to sign somewhere he was wanted, and HC Dave Canales offered him a chance to learn.
“I just wanted to go somewhere I was wanted,” Hooker said, via Kassidy Hill of the team’s site. “And wanted to develop and learn, and Coach told me that he would like me to come learn under him, and we have a great bond from the draft process, just reminiscing on those talks that we had then, I’m eager to learn from him.”
Hooker said he’s had a long friendship with Bryce Young going back to attending the Manning Passing Academy in 2022.
“Me and Bryce have been cool, before the draft process, going back to like the Manning Camp,” Hooker said. “We would have long conversations about play calls, about changing protections, about what we’re seeing, ID the defense, and really just playing at a high level.”
Hooker recalled hanging out with Young at the airport when traveling to the NFL Combine ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft.
“I remember traveling to the combine, me and Bryce, I think we might have talked for maybe two hours on just pass protection in the airport,” Hooker said. “But we’ve had a pretty good bond for a pretty long time.”
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