Falcons

Falcons owner Arthur Blank said the reason to not pursue QB Lamar Jackson this offseason had a lot to do with their confidence in QB Desmond Ridder and their ability to build a team around a quarterback on a rookie contract.

“Was it a mistake to not pursue?” Blank said, via PFT. “You’re asking me that? . . . I don’t think so. I’m mean, it’s easy to say ‘yes’ given his year, and he’s obviously an incredible player. You know, we did not have the cap space. I think the coaching staff felt — coach and personnel, all of us felt collectively, with certainly coach and Terry that we felt we had an answer in [Desmond[ Ridder, a younger player without that kind of contract that would’ve kept us from actually building the team we wanted to build.”

• Regarding the Falcons’ decision to not pursue Deshaun Watson ahead of the 2022 season, owner Arthur Blank said it was a “collaborative” choice and ultimately chose against Watson: “It was not a long discussion we had about Deshaun. We decided for a lot of reasons we didn’t want to continue to pursue that,” per Josh Kendall. 
• Blank didn’t think it was a mistake not to pursue Jackson in free agency and said they want to stay the course: “I don’t think so…It’s not a criticism of Lamar.” (Michael Rothstein)
• Blank said there “wasn’t any discussion of any quarterback path” other than the one that GM Terry Fontenot and former HC Arthur Smith had. Blank added that the team was clearly deficient at quarterback last year. (Rothstein)
• Blank added that a lot of factors went in to firing Smith but Atlanta’s record against below-average teams stood out: “Our record against losing teams this year was abysmal quite honestly. We lost a lot of games we probably shouldn’t have lost.” (Josh Kendall)

• An NFL executive predicted to the Athletic’s Mike Sando that the Falcons would land Patriots HC Bill Belichick: “Belichick to Dallas is my sleeper, but I’d make Atlanta the odds-on favorite for Bill, and the Chargers the odds-on favorite for Harbaugh.”
• Sando noted Belichick could go after Broncos QB Russell Wilson to stabilize Atlanta’s quarterback situation and bring in former Raiders HC Josh McDaniels as his offensive coordinator.

Panthers

• The Athletic’s Joe Person points out the Panthers interviewed Chiefs VP of Football Operations Brandt Tilis the last time they had a GM opening and could be interested in speaking with him again. 
• Lions OC Ben Johnson is believed to be the top coaching candidate for the Panthers again and Person notes Johnson shares an agent with Panthers DC Ejiro Evero.
• Person mentions Cowboys DC Dan Quinn and Buccaneers OC Dave Canales have worked with Panthers assistant GM Dan Morgan, who will help while the team hires a new GM and is a candidate to replace former GM Scott Fitterer.
• Person adds Patriots HC Bill Belichick has asked around about what it’s like to work for Panthers owner Dave Tepper.

Saints

• Saints HC Dennis Allen said he expects to continue as New Orleans’ head coach in 2024, via Katherine Terrell. 
• Saints’ veteran DE Cameron Jordan said he is not interested in retiring and his ankle injury proved to be an issue all season: “I love the Saints too much to retire,” per Nick Underhill.