Our own Crissy Froyd over at LSU Wire reported last week that the Carolina Panthers were hosting former New Orleans Saints draft pick Tommy Stevens on a free agent visit, and the NFL’s daily transactions wire on Monday followed up by confirming the expectation: Stevens is now a Panther.
The college quarterback for Penn State and Mississippi State converted to tight end after being selected by the Saints, and he spent the first half of his rookie season working on his blocking and receiving abilities on the practice squad. But the Saints recently waived him, so he’s joined their cross-division rival and gone back to his old position under center.
It’s a logical move for him. Stevens knows first-year Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady well, having been coached by him years ago when Brady was an assistant at Penn State. Brady workshopped a role-diverse playbook with Stevens at the time which he later developed for Taysom Hill as a Saints assistant; a year calling plays for the LSU Tigers catapulted him to this gig with the Panthers, where Stevens is hoping to hit his stride after flaming out in New Orleans.
We’ll see how it works out for him. Carolina quarterback Teddy Bridgewater suffered an MCL sprain in his right knee in Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, leaving just two backups on the active roster: XFL star P.J. Walker and second-year pro Will Grier.
