{"id":923294,"date":"2026-06-19T18:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/923294\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T18:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:00:16","slug":"nfc-notes-kenneth-gainwell-jaelan-phillips-buccaneers-panthers-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/923294\/","title":{"rendered":"NFC Notes: Kenneth Gainwell, Jaelan Phillips, Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

After losing WR Mike Evans<\/a>, the Buccaneers added veteran RB Kenneth Gainwell<\/a> and third-round WR Ted Hurst<\/a> to help bolster their offensive weapons. Tampa Bay QB Baker Mayfield<\/a> expressed his immense respect for Gainwell and praised Hurst\u2019s game because of his size and strong hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen has been doing great,\u201d Mayfield said, via the team\u2019s website<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s somebody that I\u2019ve respected from afar when he was Philly and the Steelers. You can tell he\u2019s a sharp kid who\u2019s always been able to do pass protection stuff. He was doing that in Philly from a very early on in his career point, and then in Pittsburgh he actually balled out. Now to have him here, we\u2019re lucky because he\u2019s extremely sharp, a great leader, can do everything you ask for. Obviously with Bucky coming back slowly it\u2019s good to have those guys, and obviously the running back room still having Tuck in there as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like Ted\u2019s game. He\u2019s a bigger-bodied receiver. Exceptional hands. I think his body control, he can really cover a lot of ground. For a big guy, he can cover a lot of ground. He should be a weapon for us, he should be able to help us out. For him, it\u2019s the normal rookie stuff, learning the offense, formations, to where it\u2019s not having to think the whole time. It\u2019s more second nature. That goes with it the whole time. He\u2019ll get better each day and continue to grasp it and help us out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carolina signed OLB Jaelan Phillips<\/a> to a four-year, $120 million deal in free agency to bolster their pass rush. Following his first mandatory minicamp practices, Phillips has been quick with the trash talk with QB Bryce Young<\/a>, and feels that kind of banter can help them get fired up to get the most out of practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came over there chirping because \u2014 I don\u2019t even know why. It was like a quick little out route. And he\u2019s, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s a first down.\u2019 We were like, \u2018We don\u2019t care. It\u2019s practice. You turned (up), yelling,\u2019\u201d Phillips said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cIt was like a calm chirping. You know him, he\u2019s a chill dude. But he was talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. It\u2019s infectious. When there\u2019s a lull in energy, if somebody\u2019s yelling \u2014 whether that\u2019s real juice, fake juice, it doesn\u2019t matter \u2014 it\u2019s all the same thing. So what can start as a joke, everybody will actually be fired up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panthers DC Ejiro Evero couldn\u2019t say enough about Phillips\u2019 work ethic on and off the field, citing his attention to the fundamentals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way he is in the classroom. He\u2019s a great teammate. He\u2019s great to hang out with it,\u201d Evero said. \u201cWhen it\u2019s time to do the work and be about the business, he\u2019s certainly the best at that. When we talk about getting on the grass and \u2026 doing all the work that it takes to refine your techniques and fundamentals, he\u2019s A-plus in that aspect as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saints HC Kellen Moore<\/a> said WR Devaughn Vele<\/a> will have a more defined role in the offense in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was something we had to navigate as the season went on \u2014 him getting into the fold \u2014 and probably something that I took reflection on, trying to get him in that situation sooner last year,\u201d Moore said, via Saints Wire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?<\/p>\n

Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors<\/a> on X.com<\/a>\u00a0and FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After losing WR Mike Evans, the Buccaneers added veteran RB Kenneth Gainwell and third-round WR Ted Hurst to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[1842,1476,235,260,2567,1271,19957,7,16251,7166,14451,700,6,236,103331],"class_list":["post-923294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-carolina-panthers","tag-baker-mayfield","tag-bryce-young","tag-carolina","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-carolinapanthers","tag-devaughn-vele","tag-ejiro-evero","tag-football","tag-jaelan-phillips","tag-kellen-moore","tag-kenneth-gainwell","tag-mike-evans","tag-nfl","tag-panthers","tag-ted-hurst"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116778082250097616","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923294","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=923294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}