Biggest Draft Needs, First Free Agent Signing & Changes in Carolina | Bucs Insider Live

and all the things that are changing going on. The draft is nine of it for sure, So as we get people chance to start submitting their questions in the comments section, I want to start with the All Rookie team that got announced. Got some Buccaneers in there, Yeah, two of them. In fact, it was our first two picks. So obviously the Buccaneers went into that draft last April with the intention of restocking the defense. Right, almost every pick was defense except for Matt Gay the kicker and

Scotty Miller the late receiver that they took. And the first two picks were Devin White and and Sean Murphy bunting and the fact that they both made the Al Rookie Team is definitely a good sign that these guys are going to be the cornerstones that you're hoping to get for a long time, and I honestly think Jamal Dean would have a really good shot at it too if he got to be in the line up a little bit sooner. I mean, his his run stretch run down the end was he was probably playing at least

as well as Sean was. It's just his body of work was a lot smaller. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great point. Um. And we also hadn't really talked about some of the news that could affect our division a lot. Is the Carolina Panthers now have several new changes season of change for them. Yes that I we we just didn't get to it last week about the new coaching higher but then of course now new news about Luke Keiklely retiring.

So overall just wanted to hear your thoughts about all the things that could look different with the Panthers and how that might affect the box. Well. I mean, obviously a new head coach is gonna put a whole new stamp on it. Uh Ron Rivera came in with the defensive background. He had a lot of success being a defensive coach before he got his head coaching gig and Carolina's defense has been pretty good for most of his

tenure there. I mean they were pretty you know, they went a little up and down and went several different directions on offense through the years, but the defense was always pretty good. But that was Ron Rivere there, and that was with Luke Keikley in the middle. Um, just one of the best players in the league since two thousand and twelve of and uh, yeah, that was kind of a surprise. I mean, you and I can't really

speculate as the reason why he didn't say so. If he chooses at some point to to be more specific, that's up to him. But obviously you have to look back in his injury is his history of concussions, and wonder if that had something to do And if so, that's a shame. Um. You know, we're not gonna sit here and be happy about a player having to retire, although I guess we can be happy that he made

the decision that he wants for himself. But yes, for the Buccaneers, that means a very different looking Panthers team I'm gonna face twice a year. All right. Well, I wanted to talk about the idea of now that we're at the end of the season, Um, how much progress essentially was made in some different areas. So for we kind of go through some of the different positions and see looking at from the beginning of the year to the end of the year where the you know, a

lot of progress had been made. And since we just talked about that all rookie team, I guess we can start, especially on the defensive side of things. So, um, how don't we start with either, you know, the how about the DBS, because we talked a little bit about Sean making that team and overall, how the DBS as a whole safety and core or seemed to progress over the course. That was the progression that was made. Because pretty if you look at it, the front seven was pretty much

good the entire season, particularly the defensive line. You know, you had the injury with Devin White early on that cost him about a month. Actually Kevin Miner did did a pretty good job of filling in, but still you wanted Devon in there. He's such a playmaker. But that front seven, the way they handled the run, the pressure on the quarterback was pretty good early on, and it was pretty good throughout the year. Forty seven sacks when it was all said and done, which is the second

most we've ever had. So that's a success. However, the secondary in the early going, you know, you looked at that and said, man, this feels just like the last couple of years, I just can't really stop anybody. And we've put all these resources draft resources, primarily into the cornerback and safety positions in the last few years and we're not getting the results. But and we've we've harked

back to this several times. The thing that Bruce Arian said probably about August twenty somewhere, kind of late August when he said it was about when camp was wrapping up when he said that he thought the secondary was fixed, and we came to understand that what he probably specifically meant was the talent issue was fixed there. He thought they had gotten that position to a level where they

had enough talent to be able to succeed. And so when you saw it actually start to come together, you're like, Okay, now I get it. I mean it wasn't. I think they thought it was gonna come together a little bit quicker with Todd Bowles running a new defense, and and that ended up being really really good as it turned out. Uh, but it didn't come together as quickly as you thought, but it did come together, and so by maybe week nine on, you saw a secondary that I was doing

things that we haven't seen here a lot. You know, there's been these years recently where it could be frustrating watching our secondary because it seemed like it was very passive, that guys really gave a lot of cushion. Would be third and seven and they're playing ten yards off and like this defense and or Todd Bowls is not at all passive. They do a lot of different things in

terms of blitzing. They do a lot more man coverage than we saw before, although not exclusively man coverage, and we just our guys just got their hands on the football a ton more than we've seen in a long time in the second half of the season. So it's probably not it's probably not right to say that it's completely over the hump. They still have some learning to do.

This is still young guys. You know, when Carlton it almost feels like Carlton Davis is a veteran, but there's only a second year player last year, so there's there's still a lot of growing for those guys to do. But they do a period of jailed, and you know, they got a whole another off season. Now, I think they're gonna hit the ground running in two thousand and twenty. It's a great point. All right, we're gonna combine, We'll switch over the offensive side, and I want to hear

your thoughts on the offensive line as a whole. But here with we got this question here with from John who said, is there a left tackle in the first round that you think could be good enough to take at our spot in the draft, and do you think the Bucks would be willing to move Donovan Smith to right tackle. I'm not so sure about that. I think the more obvious approach would be to take a guy that you think is a plug and play guy are

right away at right tackle. And you know, DeMar Dotson has been a very good tackle for us for pretty much a decade whenever he's been healthy. But he is a free agent, and he is like the most senior guy on the team, So it's reasonable to expect you could possibly have a new starter there next year. Right. As much as we love Tomorrow, you know, Bruce called him a warrior. Bruce said lots of really nice things about him, but you have to face some facts. It's

possible you'll be getting new starter at right tackle. It seems to me to make more sense to get a guy that you think could potentially be a left tackle in the future, but definitely could start at right tackle right now, because you do have Donovan Smith under contract for this year and next year. I know the team, uh likes Donovan Smith. They've said that all along, so I think they feel pretty good about Donovan at left tackle.

But there's nothing wrong with bringing a guy that could be the future there, right so you you bring him in at right tackle, you know, maybe like a I was Tristan Wars or something like that. And I do think that this draft, with us picking fourteen and the depth of offensive tackle in this particular draft, that it really works out well that there's a good chance somebody like him will be available. And I think that's a

really good idea Austin had brought up. Carson Palmer was interviewed about, you know, his first year under Bruce arians and he talked about how it was tougher than most you know that the first year there, that he had a career high number of interceptions. So Austin said if Winston cuts down to fifteen to eighteen interceptions, do you agree that we could be attend to eleven win team

with playoffs? Absolutely for sure. I mean we're talking if it's fifteen, that's cutting him in half, and that's a huge game. Uh. Yes, I think I've said the same thing. If you take what he did and then cut the interceptions in a half, yeah, I think that's that's probably enough for a couple of wins right there. For sure. You know it's a big if. I do think I think people are right to listen to Carson Palmer and have some optimism about that because he has been in

the exact same situation. But we also have to remember that just because it happened at one time doesn't necessarily guarantee that's going to happen again. So it's it's encouraging, but it's just one definite predict Yeah. Right. Um, Mike had asked you for see any change in the coaching staff. Well, the only reason I would say it's possible is that what do we have, like thirty coaches something like just gigantic coaching staff, So you never know if somebody could

get another job somewhere. But I don't think that Bruce Arians went in the offseason intending to make changes on the coaching staff. Okay uh. Deantre asked what is our biggest need going into draft evaluations like position? Well, some of that's gonna depend on what happens in free agency, because again we have nineteen pending unrestricted free agents, and surely not all those guys are going to be back.

You know, Bruce Arians made it clear that it's his priority to get to keep that defensive front seven intact. And and that's also while not really discussing what are you gonna do at quarterback, right because that's probably the number one priority, call it one A and one B. So uh. Depending on what happens with all those free agents, you could see outside linebacker, interior defensive line becoming more important in the draft if you don't get as many

of them back as you want to. Otherwise I'll go back to what we're talking about before. I think offensive tackle. The Bucks haven't drafted an offensive tackle or an offensive lineman in the first round since two thousand six, and that was a guard um Davin Joseph, and they haven't drafted offensive tackled him for fiance in two thousand one. It feels it just kind of feels like it's time. Yeah,

I know, Yeah, that's a great point. Um. We I had Johnny asked something about the idea of the multiple tight ends and if they're still the guys that fit this system and just overall what we think the tight ends could be moving forward. You do wonder you really do now? On one hand, O J. Howard played his highest percentage of offensive snaps in his career, So it wasn't that Bruce arians didn't want him on the field,

and we used plenty of two tight and stuff. You saw Cam get a good cam break, get a good amount of action, and before he got hurt, Antonio Claire was playing a pretty good amount because they really think, just like the previous administration, they really think he's a very good blocker. You know, hasn't proven to be much of a threat in the passing game as if yet. Um, But the numbers just really weren't there, and the offense put up gigantic numbers. And you know I've said this before,

the whole rising tide lifts all boats. You think, yeah, we're getting off so much out of receivers, but the offense is so prolific that there this should create more opportunities for the tight ends, and it just it really just kind of didn't happen, right. And then looking back at Bruce arians Is team's numbers during his time as the Cardinals head coach, there really isn't a lot jumping

off the page from the tight ends. And as he came here, the the line of thinking was, well, he never really had a pair of tight ends like O. J. Harden Cambray, And I think that's true. But now after a season you have to look and go maybe some of it it does have to do with scheme. Yeah, yeah, that's an interesting point. Um. We had Travis asked, who do you think our first free agent signing will be? Well,

if I have to pick, I'd guess Shack Barrett. Um. It does feel like the Jamis Winston thing is so complicated that I feel like that one's going to take some time, and it could even take a tag, you know, which can draw things out. Even if you're trying to sign a guy to a to a longer term contracts. Sometimes you use the tag just to give you more time and you know, keep your leverage or keep your

exclusive negotiating rights. Shack It just I go back to how many times over the last month either he or Bruce arians was asked about shack Bar and every time both those guys made it very clear they absolutely wanted him to still be here beyond and and Shaq doesn't want to move. He wants to be here. He shouldn't And I'm sure he does want to get paid and we'll get paid. But I think that's the one that it just felt like more, more progress is being made,

So that would be my guess. Rob said, if one of the top quarterbacks are left when our draft pick comes up, will we take them? Well again and asked me again after by find out what we did with Jamis. No, if we franchised or signed Jamis, then no, I don't think so. Um, but if not, then possibly. Yeah. We talked a little bit about the Titans. David had asked, do you see o J or Cam being traded? Which

one is basically more likely to be traded. I doubt that cam Brad would be traded just because he does have a fairly sizeable contract and so that makes it harder for him to be traded. Um, oh j, Yeah, it's possible. That those rumors have been around for so long that sometimes you think where there's smoke, maybe there's a little fire. Uh. If I'm a betting man, though, I would guess no on both of them. And just

for one thing, trades are not all that common. And I say this all the time, So if you're gonna if you're gonna bet, you're usually safer to bet on. No, no, no trade happening. We had back to back questions about Scotty Miller. Mike asked, with the expected progression of Scotty Miller, is Pairman expendable? And and then Scotty not Scotty Miller. Scotty is a different Scotty asked, do you think that

Pairman will be signed to a big deal? So we had sort of the Scotty Miller bshot Pairman who's yeah, I'll start with the second one. That's gonna be tough. It really is, because Okay, you do have somewhere in the dollar cap space available as you start, as you head into the offseason now, but then you have to sign potentially Jamis Shack and Dominan, Sue Jpp. You got you also want to get Chris Godwin to an extension. This is when we can start working on an extension

for Chris Godwin. Uh And and it has been Bruce has said that, yes, that is a priority. So you already have a big contract on Mike Evans, You're probably gonna have a big contract on Chris Godwin, who by some measures was the best receiver in football this year. And so to say you're gonna do in a third big contract on a receiver, he deserves it. He and

I'd love to have him back. But it would surprise me if Brishod Perryman got a huge contract here, um, just because that'd be three receivers that and Scotty Miller was coming along quite nicely. I don't know if they're the exact type of player though, you know what I'm saying, Like when jamis I'm sorry when Mike Evans and Chris Godwin both got hurt. Brashad Perryman, nobody knew if he could flourish as a number one receiver, but now we

do know. And he's a big guy like Mike. He's he can make all those contested catches on the sidelines and stuff like that. And I don't think Scotty Miller is that same type of as here. Yeah, so I don't think they're apple. I think they're apples and oranges. Okay, we'll close with this one. John asked, who do you think could be a cap casualty. I don't really like this question, you know. Um I threw out a name earlier, Cam Braid, because he does have a high contract number. Um,

but we love cam Brad. I don't want to see any of our guys we cap casualties. I don't think there's a lot of that right now. I don't think we're in a position where we're gonna have to do a lot of that. Okay, al right, well that's gonna do it for us on this edition of Buccaneers Inside Our Live presented by Miller Lyte. Thanks as always for watching and for contributing your questions. And next week we'll be doing the show out at the Pro Bowl, so make sure you tune in then