Falcons
Atlanta used a future first-round pick to move back into the first round and grab DE James Pearce Jr. Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich outlined Pearce’s profile and highlighted his wide assortment of pass rush moves and elite combination of size and athleticism.
“His demonstrated win-rate, his demonstrated bag of moves whether its beating you with his 4.4 speed of the edge or his ability to counter, that, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for the amount of power that he has in his body as well,” Ulbrich said, via Tori McElhaney of the team’s website. “He’s got the full arsenal. Can we improve it? There’s no doubt. But the starting point is so much better than most.”
“Evaluating him, you see the speed, you see the explosion, the ability to bend and turn the corner tight — all the things great rushers have — but the movement is so exceptional at times, that speed, that you think he is 6-foot-1, or 6-foot-2. You think he is a smaller man because the movement is fantastic.”
Atlanta OLB coach Jacquies Smith reflected on Pearce’s combine performance, where he had zero doubts his tremendous testing would translate to the field based on his tape.
“With James it was evident at the combine,” Smith said. “I am sure he wowed a lot of people with what he ran, but you always like to see guys like James who do run fast at the combine, does it translate on tape? Do you see that type of speed on tape? With him, you see that juice is real. You see it all the time. So, it isn’t just something where a guy is out there running fast at the combine and then doesn’t show it on tape. He shows it on tape. It’s all over the tape, honestly.”
Panthers
Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard has been with the team long enough to know that he and his teammates are sick of losing and are ready to turn things around.
“Guys that have been here throughout the years, through the ups and downs, they’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re sick and tired of it,’” Hubbard told Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer. “The new people that we brought in from winning cultures, they’re like, ‘We’re ready. We’re ready to win here.’ So we’re all kind of coming together. Building a good chemistry. The right culture. And it’s all centered around winning.”
“If the goal isn’t to make the playoffs and win a Super Bowl, you’re selling yourself short,” Hubbard added “So that’s always been the goal. That’s the goal this year. And I think we’re the closest we’ve ever been.”
Veteran WR Adam Thielen is also hoping to help turn things around despite not knowing how much more he has left in the tank.
“I think guys are finally sick of being the same ol’, same ol’ Carolina Panthers,” Thielen noted. “I think we want to get back to what they did here in the past, in 2015 (when Carolina made the Super Bowl) and some of those other years when they had deep playoff runs and had the crowd involved and the city hyped up. We haven’t had that.”
Saints
Saints TE Foster Moreau said during a recent radio appearance that he has seen quarterback competitions before during his time in college and believes that it is currently a 33 percent chance for each Tyler Shough, Jake Haener, and Spencer Rattler to win the starting job.
“I have been a part of quarterback competitions before during college,” Moreau told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “Most of the time, you feel like guys have an edge on each other, or different stuff like that in terms of familiarity with the player. Genuinely, we really do have a full-blown 33, 33, 33 percent quarterback competition between those three guys. We also have a guy named Hunter Dekkers, who is a lefty and can really spin it, too, to be honest with you. It’s anyone’s job for the taking, and I’m excited to see how it goes. Again, some guys have looked good on some days, and it depends on who can string together the most successful practices. During the preseason game, who is gonna be able to spin it when the bullets are flying?”
“I’ve talked to him a few times,” Moreau said about Shough. “We’ve hung out a couple of times. He’s a great guy, a hard-working dude, which you love to see from a young cat at a premier position. He has a great personality, a great sense of humor, and he’s his own worst critic. I don’t know what else I could expect from a young, albeit 26-year-old, rookie quarterback.
Moreau was asked if the organization wants to see Shough win the job and if the rookie has entered the building with confidence ahead of the competition.
“He’s got a little bit of lean to his walk, a little bit of swagger. I don’t think he’s letting that hamper him in any way,” Moreau concluded. “I think he views Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler as teammates and confidants, but also as adversaries in a really fiery competition. I don’t think this front office will just hand over the keys, I think he’s really going to have to prove it.”
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