Biggest takeaways from offseason workouts

The Carolina Panthers had themselves a relatively relaxed installment of mandatory minicamp this year. That, however, doesn’t mean we didn’t learn anything from the three-day string of early practices.

Here are the biggest takeaways from this week.

Players are buying into the greater good

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Linebacker and team leader Shaq Thompson said the biggest change from last year is the heightened level of commitment from the players:

“A lot of guys bought in. Everybody’s out here playing for each other—as a team, as a unit. Everybody’s doing their job, holding everybody accountable. And making sure we help out the rookies get equipped and gettin’ everything to be successful in this league and just bringing them up to be with us because you never know what happens in this league. As long as they’re prepared, we’ll be all good.”

Robbie Anderson is here, isn’t he?

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The 29-year-old wideout was asked about his cryptic retirement tweet from last Saturday:

“I was just, ya know, thinkin’ out loud,” he said. “Just thinkin’ out loud. But I wasn’t, like, really that serious, for real.”

And if he wants to play with the Panthers in 2022:

“I’m here, ain’t I?” he said. “So that’s a tell-tale.”

And what he meant with his negative Instagram replies regarding the possibility of the Panthers acquiring Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield:

“Just tryna to be a good teammate to my quarterback. That’s it. Just tryna defend the guy who is my quarterback, in that sense.”

Sam Darnold is focused on Sam Darnold

AP Photo/Nell Redmond

With the continuous buzz surrounding Carolina’s reported interest in Mayfield, or perhaps another veteran, Darnold can only control the controllable—and that’s himself:

“I think, for me personally, I’m just gonna continue to focus on what I…