{"id":272154,"date":"2025-08-08T17:16:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T17:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/272154\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T17:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T17:16:13","slug":"bridgewater-bucs-pitts-falcons-panthers-c-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/272154\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridgewater, Bucs, Pitts, Falcons, Panthers, C, Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2020 free agent class featured a few viable starting quarterbacks, helping the Buccaneers transition from the erratic Jameis Winston<\/a>. Tampa Bay was closely connected to two of the available options \u2014 Tom Brady<\/a> and Teddy Bridgewater<\/a>. Reporting at the time made it<\/a> fairly clear Bridgewater \u2014 who had spent the previous two seasons as Drew Brees<\/a>\u2018 Saints backup \u2014 was the Bucs\u2019 second choice behind Brady<\/a>. Upon circling back to the veteran QB this week, Jason Licht confirmed (via ESPN.com\u2019s Jenna Laine<\/a>) that was the case.<\/p>\n

Licht said he mentioned this to Bridgewater upon the unretired passer joining to the Bucs<\/a> \u2014 his eighth NFL team \u2014 this week. The Bucs landed Brady, beating out the Chargers, who were losing Philip Rivers<\/a> to the Colts. Bridgewater ended up doing nearly as well as Brady on the contract front, scoring a three-year, $63MM Panthers deal. Though, as Carolina cycled through passers during the Matt Rhule years, Bridgewater wound up in Denver \u2014 on a sizable pay cut \u2014 in 2021 via trade. He joins Kyle Trask<\/a> as a Baker Mayfield<\/a> backup option.<\/p>\n

Here is the latest from the NFC South:<\/p>\n

Although the Falcons completed a notable extension this week \u2014 with right tackle<\/a> Kaleb McGary<\/a>, a recent report indicated they did not have anything brewing with<\/a> Kyle Pitts<\/a>. When asked about the possibility of an extension, GM Terry Fontenot (via The Athletic\u2019s Josh Kendall<\/a>) did not discuss the matter. While Fontenot said the Falcons \u201clove\u201d where Pitts is ahead of his fifth season, they might need to see more from a player who has underwhelmed from the No. 4 overall draft slot. It would stand to reason Fontenot would be interested in a Pitts payday, seeing as he made the tight end his first draft pick as GM, but the inconsistent pass catcher has battled injuries \u2014 including an offseason foot issue<\/a> he looks to have recovered from \u2014 and has not come close to matching his 1,000-yard rookie season. That said, Pitts (25) could position himself as a top-tier 2026 free agent with a solid contract year.
\nStaying with the Falcons, they are pitting Jordan Fuller<\/a> against third-round rookie Xavier Watts<\/a> in a competition to replace Justin Simmons<\/a>. Fuller and Watts have alternated with Atlanta\u2019s starters, per ESPN.com\u2019s Marc Raimondi<\/a>, alongside Jessie Bates<\/a> at safety. Even if Watts cannot beat out Fuller \u2014 a former Raheem Morris Rams charge \u2014 for the job, the Falcons are expecting him to log extensive rookie-year playing time. The team traded up five spots for Watts<\/a>, a two-time All-American at Notre Dame.
\nJamal Agnew<\/a> did not see any game action last season, having spent 2024 recovering from a broken leg sustained in Week 17 of the 2023 season. Agnew wound up on the Steelers\u2019 practice squad but did not suit up with the team. The Falcons signed him to a one-year, $2.5MM deal in March<\/a>, only guaranteeing $400K. Still, the veteran receiver\/return man is expected to make the Falcons\u2019 53-man roster, Kendall notes<\/a>. While Drake London<\/a>, Darnell Mooney<\/a>, Ray-Ray McCloud<\/a> and KhaDarel Hodge<\/a> are locks, Kendall pegs Agnew as a \u201cstrong bet\u201d for the fifth spot. Adept at both kick and punt returns, Agnew \u2014 a 2022 Pro Bowler in Jacksonville \u2014 figures to be used in this capacity.
\nThe Panthers re-signed Austin Corbett<\/a> in March<\/a> but also retained Cade Mays<\/a> via RFA tender. At $3.26MM<\/a>, the original-round tender brought tougher decisions this year; months later, Mays is in a competition with Corbett to start at center, ESPN.com\u2019s David Newton notes<\/a>. Corbett and Mays have alternated days with the Panthers\u2019 first team. With Corbett missing 25 games between the 2023 and \u201924 seasons, he is having to fend off Mays for the job. The Panthers slid Corbett from guard to center in 2024, having signed Robert Hunt<\/a> and Damien Lewis<\/a>, and used him as a starter in each game he played. But the ex-Rams Super Bowl starter suffered a biceps tear in October, shutting him down. Mays has made 13 starts since 2023, logging all 495 of his 2024 snaps at center.
\nJulian Blackmon<\/a>\u2018s one-year Saints contract<\/a> is worth slightly less than initially reported. Rather than a $4MM deal, ESPN.com\u2019s Katherine Terrell notes<\/a> the veteran safety signed for $3.17MM. That amount is fully guaranteed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2020 free agent class featured a few viable starting quarterbacks, helping the Buccaneers transition from the erratic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[254,22657,10418,260,7,11421,2665,6990,6153,896,55,2572,2571,6,397,250,300,7448,1416],"class_list":{"0":"post-272154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-atlanta-falcons","9":"tag-austin-corbett","10":"tag-cade-mays","11":"tag-carolina-panthers","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jamal-agnew","14":"tag-jordan-fuller","15":"tag-julian-blackmon","16":"tag-kyle-pitts","17":"tag-new-orleans","18":"tag-new-orleans-saints","19":"tag-neworleans","20":"tag-neworleanssaints","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-saints","23":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","24":"tag-teddy-bridgewater","25":"tag-uncategorized","26":"tag-xavier-watts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114994281612179701","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}