Buccaneers

Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving plans to have an even better sophomore season and won’t rest on his laurels after a strong performance in his rookie campaign.

“I feel like once you always start something new, it’s going to have to slow down for you a little bit,” Irving said, via NFL.com. “When I first got thrown in, the game was moving pretty fast for me, but yeah, as I just settled down and let the game — and just think about it like, ‘it’s just football.’ And not think about too many other things that are going on out there. But yeah, just always going back and looking at the film and looking at things that you can get better at and improve in, and also not getting satisfied and stuck in last year, because it’s a new year. Nobody cares about what you did last year. It’s, ‘What can you do for me now?’ But I’ve always been that guy that pretty much never gets stuck in the past and always [am] where my feet are] and work hard every day.”

“We have all those guys returning, but just being able to have trust in those guys,” Irving added on the team’s offensive line. “Like you always say, when I come up here, I don’t talk about myself. I talk about the O-line because, without those guys, none of these things are possible, so just being able to give credit to those guys every chance that I get, I’m going to do that.”

Panthers

Carolina WR Adam Thielen returned for his age-34 season after playing a career-low 10 games in 2024. Thielen cited the young talent and energy as a huge reason why he wanted to come back for another season. 

“A lot of great personalities, a lot of great teammates,” Thielen said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s website. “The guys that we brought in, the guys that are kind of coming on their own now in Year 2, just a lot of great personalities, great people, and at the end of the day, guys that want to be great and are doing the little things. Everybody wants it and is putting the work in to get there.

“So I’m having a blast; it’s keeping me young and a big reason why I’m back.”

Panthers QB Bryce Young talked about how much easier Thielen makes his life and praised his ability to win on choice routes and find the soft spots in defenses. 

“He’s really helped me because he does a lot of things really well in the slot and maybe things that weren’t really necessarily in my skill set, so a great complement to this offense and a great person to have in the wide receiver room,” Young said.

“He runs great choice routes. He finds space really well, great body control, things that aren’t like my strongest suit. I’ve made them work over the years, but those, he’s really good at them. So it’s been fun to kind of see him in person, obviously seeing him on tape and things like that, but you kind of see it firsthand, you kind of try to pick some.”

Saints

Saints TE Foster Moreau hasn’t participated in New Orleans’ offseason program as he recovers from a knee injury. Kellen Moore said Moreau has been a “great example” in meetings and supporting teammates in practice. 

“Foster is one of the all-time best,” Moore said, via Josh Deshazier of the team’s site. “I have loved every interaction with Foster since I got here, he is everything we want in our program. I think he’s a great example; he can’t do much of anything from a physical standpoint, (but) he’s out there every day. He’s in every meeting, he’s leading the group. He’s got a voice and you hear it in seven-on-seven periods, he’s chewing and yelling at people left and right. It’s special.”

Moore reiterated Moreau is “everything we want” in a player. 

“I think he’s everything we want. I just think Foster is everything we want in Saints football. He’s an excellent leader, an excellent example in the community, he works his tail off. Everything he has done in this offseason has helped our football team and when his opportunity presents itself, you have 100 percent confidence that he’s going to be ready to rock and roll and go out there and compete for us again.”