Bucs Insider Live, July 17

over to the Facebook live page. And as people start sending some of those in, I know you've got a new piece up that you're working on today about the second year players of what they're going to need to do, the jumps that could happen. So I want to hear some of those things that you know, you don't have to give the whole article people to read it. So

we're a week away from the Rookies reporting. The Rookies report a couple of days before the veterans, and that got me thinking about last year's Rookies and it was a really good rookie class. I mean, the first four draftees all produced a lot. Three of the forward starters. And the one that wasn't really was Chris Godwin, who everybody thinks is going to be starting the long run,

he's just kind of a little bit blocked from playing time. Um, you know, there was there was only a six man class and Jeremy McNichols didn't make it and Stevie Twoe Colavado got hurt. So we're talking about those four guys, and you know, we're gonna be really focusing on our

new rookies here pretty soon. But I wanted to go back and look at those guys, including Stevie Twoe Colavato, and just set some reasonable goals for them in their second season because a lot of times people talk about players making the big leap in their second year because they've had a full offseason in the NFL. They've also had a season where they've kind of become acclimated and

got used to speed the game. And so a lot of guys are good players, uh that end up being good players make a big leap from year one year two. A good example for the Buccaneers was Lavonte David. We know how good he was right his very first year. He was very promising. He looked like he was gonna be really good player, Like maybe this was the second round steal. But you know, the numbers were kind of pedestrian. You know, maybe eight hund tackles but not a lot

of big plays. His second year was that you we had like five interceptions and seven sacks and made a first team All Pro. That's the year to leap. Now, we don't necessarily need any of our guys from last year to make as big of a jump as that to help the team a lot, but it would be good if all four of those guys took a step forward.

So so if let's if I said to you, O J. Howard, what would you guess is maybe what I might think is would be a good goal for him, a good goal for him something I would guess, something around the lines of maybe some of the red zone stuff, because that's I always I know that you always love talking about that with the offense, and that's something they're focusing on. But um, yeah, I mean, just maybe some more that would be a good one. But he did have six touchdowns, um,

although they were a lot of more. Yeah, what I talked about was his run blocking. Oh yeah, you know he came in with the reputation, and he did a good job at at Alabama run blocking, so sort of a fully formed, complete y type tight end. And I don't think anybody was completely satisfied with the run blocking from the Titans in general unless you're but they all every our coaches all believe he's very much capable of it.

So with an off season at work on that, if his run blocking is a lot better, that will mean a lot for our defense. Yeah, did you want to do another one? Where do you get questions coming? Yeah? So I think we're having a bit of an issue with our link on Facebook, uh not popping up live. So I'm giving i'm tough fans to go over there. We're we're unfortunately at the moment, I don't think live on face Book. So if you do have some questions,

maybe head over to Twitter. If there our way that we used to rock and roll on Twitter, if you want to use that hashtag bucks live on Twitter. I'll also search there and kind of bounce back and forth on Facebook see if we are able to get the live stream. So we're just doing this on the fly right now, professionals, I know, right, you never know live television.

This is what happened, so, um, yeah, you know, live things. Um, So I know I already know before we even got any of the questions today or anything, um, that we always get the stuff about two different things, the safety. So I'm just gonna go and ask the questions because I can tell that this is the stuff that people every time. And you know, it's not like everyone gets to tune in every week when we do this, So I already know every week we get the questions about

the safeties, who's gonna start a safety? And we get the questions about the wide receivers. And I think, to me, the wide receiver one in particular is going to be really interesting because it's less about starters and who's not starting and more about just all the different ways these guys could get used and the different weapons there. So I know you get tired of that one too, So

you talk about receivers. Okay. So there's a funny little thing that happens every year around this time of year, you know, in the off season and then especially when training camp starts, where every day in training camp there's another receiver, maybe a young guy who makes who makes a big impact, and everybody's talking about them and you get you get about a week into training camp and like, we've got eight or nine receivers. How are we going to possibly pair this down to five or six? That's

what we all think while we're watching it. I'm sure the coaches don't think that way, because they're breaking down every single play, not just the ones that flashed to you and I, but uh, and then by the end of training camp, by the end of the preseason, you know you you're struggling to keep five or six that you think make up your best core. I don't think that's what we're gonna have this year. Think we're gonna love.

I think it's gonna be legitimate. I think we're gonna be legitimately looking at least eight guys and thinking, man, I want to keep all of these guys. That's all right, because when you started right off the bat, can you imagine barring injury? And we should just say that for any questions, So let's just get that all the way, So forget the injury thing. Can you imagine not keeping

Mike Evans, DeShawn Jackson, Chris Godwin, and Adam Humphreys. That's like a baseline four, no doubt, right, right, Yeah, of course, and then you just spend a fifth round pick on a receiver that seems promising, big fast, Justin Watson out of pin Yeah, yeah, he seems like a really interesting and yeah, we we are at least live on Facebook now, so people can't go there now that they know if you don't have a Twitter or something. So that's five guys.

Fifth round draft picks aren't a lock. You know. We actually had one that didn't make it last year and Jeraman McNichols, but they make it more often than not. So I'm going to say I think Justin Watson has a nine percent chance he's he's a fifth guy there, He's got five without a hardly even thinking about it. Yeah, but then everybody's been raving about Bobo Wilson. Coaches do

seem to really enjoy him. One of my favorite things is listening to the wide receiver coach Skylar yell Bobo's name all the time, like he I think he just genuinely loves yelling Bobo. And so I have no idea if this has anything to do with how he's doing as a player, but I know, yeah, I'm like, you can just tell that he's out there like that's right, Bobo, Like over and over. I feel like it's one of those games where we shouldtart counting how many times we

can to hear. But that's probably a good thing. That is probably they want to be you want to coach, You want your your name in your coach's mouth, right, and you weren't going to be talking about you. Uh, you know Freddie Martine. I liked what Freddie did last year. I thought he was a real asset to the team. And he's one of those guys that can play all the positions and that's a great thing to have as a backup. You know. He can play the slot, he

can play on the outside. Where is a guy like Bernard Ready, another guy we can talk about who might have a shot at winning the kick return job like he did last year. Uh, he's more of a slot guy period, you know, so he could he still could bring a lot of value. But then Freddie is a little bit more versaile. Plus Freddie Martino is a fantastic

special teams player. So there's now where when we got seven there and I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody, uh you know, so there's just oh, well, I eight if you can Bernard Reading. So I would not be shocked by any of those guys making a team, except for the fact

that you're not going to keep eight receivers. So if you if let's say Bobbo Wilson makes it again like he did eventually last year, who's that at the expensive and does does that depth there mean they're more he keeps six when five is probably the easiest number because it gives you another spot, maybe another tight end or another running back. But if you're forced to keep six, maybe because one of them is a great special teamer like Freddie or or a kick return or like Bernard Reading,

you're losing out on another spot. But if they're that good, you don't want to let him go. Yeah, that's a really great point. All right. Wait a question here from Philip who said, what is the most intriguing new rule in the league. That's a good question. Well, it has to be the helmet thing, right, because nobody knows what's going to come of it. I will say that maybe the maybe intriguing isn't the right word for that one, because it's just so much uncertainty, and I think a

lot of people are very worried about it. So if I can answer that question again, get the mulligan here. Um, the new kickoff stuff is going to be entertaining to me. And I actually interviewed our special team's coach, Nate cats Er, and you know that's obviously the number one authority in this building on right, Uh, and he obviously knows everything there is to know about that and what effect it could possibly be. And even he says, we don't really

know for sure yet. We might be five or six weeks in the season until we know which way this is going. Is this favoring the coverage teams and making returns less likely, or is this favoring the return teams and we're gonna have a you know a lot more big returns, more touchdowns. Uh, we don't know yet. So that's I guess that's why. Was the word intriguing, Yes, okay, I think that makes it intriguing, whereas the helmet thing is more like worrisome. Yeah, that's really sure what the

impact of that one is going to be. And we've seen how things like the catch rule that when there's a little bit of ambiguity, it can result in I mean, it will be interesting to see. Um, I think the catch rule would have a lot more impact on a game with the ambiguity because of how often catches are a thing. But now they cleared that up. But now clear that up, and so hopefully this can be one of those where they learned from that and it can be cleared up quickly and it doesn't end up causing

too much question. It doesn't end up costing anybody a game. It's not a big defining character. Thing I don't like about the new catch rule is that I have a friend who's a Dallas Cowboys fan, and we've always argued about the doz Brian playing Green Bay and always felt like crying Alice of death. I just I just like to torture him, and so I always took the side

of they got it right. But I could always fall back on well, I know it's it's maybe a silly rule and it looked like a catch but by the rules, which I can't do that anymore. So I'll just probably have to stop being friends with that guy. Yeah, I think that seems like the only answer. She's a Dallas Covers fan, so it'll be easy, so not that challenging. Yeah, Yeah,

those people from Dallas are the worst. Darien says, do you see us adding depth at running back in the future in is a D A R A and and it's not former Buccaneers running back Darian Barnes, because I'd be pretty cool that would be she was asking. That would be quite some insight there. So are we gonna add running back death? Yes, I don't see the need um, you know, because Ronald Jones and Peyton Barber seemed like

a lock as your primary ball carriers. We don't know yet how how they're going to share the carriers, but I would suspect between the two of them they get, you know, of the carries. Jack Was Rodgers is already there. The coaches love Jock Was Rodgers. Okay, they love him. They say he's so smart, he knows the game so well. He's like another coach on the field, and he can kind of fill in whatever role you need. He could be your third down back because he used to do

that in Atlanta for Dirk Cutter. He can be here every down and back. We saw he got a chance. He had a couple hundred yard games in a row. He's a really nice depth piece to have there. And then Charles Sims you know, there's still that possibility there of another two thousand fifteen type season out of Charles Simms, where he was the perfect compliment to Doug Martin. He caught a lot of passes. He's very good at that.

And if he's if he's allowed to focus on that specifically as his role and he gets some playing time, I mean, he's still a useful player there. And then I've said before on these that I kind of am intrigued by the undrafted rookie Shawn Wilson, how a duke. So I'm not exactly sure what more depth at running back would do for you, because you're talking you're not gonna find a guy right now that you're gonna bring in and decide he's Here's he's your main guy over

Peyton and Ronald Jones. Right, So you're talking about a depth guy who's going to see limited snaps and we've already got that Jack's ri I don't really think it's necessary. That's a great point. West wants to know who's the favorite at right guard. I think I've asked to answered this before and I'll have to stick with the same answer. So it does, and I'm waffling Caleb Benenock, Jared's before we had to say if Jared Sweeze comes back then you know from his health issue, then he'd be in

the mix. But he's been released since, so that's not a part of the picture anymore. And to me, the leader is Caleb ben Enock because the other options would be Um the rookie, Alex Kappa and Caleb's had a couple of years now and they kind of like the way he finished last season, and then probably Evan Smith. But he's a nice guy to have as a guy you can fill in every spot. He's kind of like the perfect you know in interior reserve that you keep active on game day. And maybe he'll he'll do more.

He started plenty of games in the NFL, so maybe he'll prove to be the best option when it's all said done. But I'm gonna go with Caleb right now. Yeah, I think he's a player on the rise. Yeah, I think that's a that's a good point. Colin said, what's the story on Jordan Whitehead? Is he going to be able to compete for a starting spot? Yeah? I think he will compete for it. I think it'd be early to call him a favorite just because you are returning

your two incumbents from last year. I'd be surprised if Justin Evans is pushed off one of the starting spots, and then the other one was Chris Konto and and that's another player that the coaches like quite a bit, Chris Conti and uh So, I think he would have to have a pretty impressive preseason slash training camp to unseat one of those guys. But I do fully believe

he'll get the opportunity to compete for a strange job. Okay, and I think you'll see him on the field a decent amount over the course of the season in one way or another. Um, this is something named Stephen King, which I'm sure he's heard a million jokes about that. I'm like, I'm really hoping it's as a guy named Scott Smith. I know you know that there's a lot of people Stephen Kings, and that's true. Um, he wants to know how the playing time could be split up

in the preseason with Winston, Fitzpatrick and Griffin. Knowing that this is that that to me is one of the most intriguing things of how do you get everyone who needs to be prepared, prepared. Now. Yeah, I imagine that's going to be the number one question that coach Cutters asked when the when the games start to arrive, And uh,

you know, we don't know that yet. We can make some educated guesses, I would think, you know, part of the part of the issues here is Jamis is allowed to be here and play in the preseason game and go through training camp, but he won't be around during the three game suspension. So if you are trying to get him ready to play, you kind of have to

do it before the suspension, right. You can't just give Ryan's Fitzpatrick or whoever ends up being the starter all of it because you're preparing for those first three games. So it's going to be a bouncing act. I think a little bit. It'll probably be a bit more of a split than you're used to. And that third game, when your starter plays the farthest end of the game, probably Ryan Fitzpatrick, if he's the frontrunner, still gets that role, but maybe maybe Jami's gets a little bit more than

the second guyme would normally get. I mean, it's it's tough because you basically have to get two guys ready to go. Yeah, it's gonna be really interesting, be a juggling act. We'll see what happens. Collins said, what's going on with m J. Stewart? Is he working at outside corner or the slot? Well, the problem was MJ was a little banged up during the last part of the off season there, so we didn't see as much them on the field as we would like to to be

able to answer that question. I know that they thought his best chance to make an impact early would be in the slot, So I would go with that. Not really a whole lot to back it up, right, Yeah, um, And we'll close with this. When we had a couple of questions back to back about the defensive personnel now

that we have so many new guys. If you think that we had darre and ask if there might be more aggressive defensive schemes, And then we had someone asking about if we might do more man defense compared to some mail, so that we just had a few questions about if you think that we just got more personnel to fit the scheme we already have, or now with the new personnel, might we change the scheme. Yeah, that's a topic we tend to come up with every week too.

Just like the safety's thing. And uh, you know, the coaches, as you would expect, have they been asked questions like that and haven't really been too specific with their answers. They've been a little bit vague. And of course, I mean, why are you going to give away your strategy? I would say the answer whether it was getting players to fit or vice versa, I kind of go down the middle here and say, I think they just got more

versatile players in general. They got a lot of different types of players that will allow us to do a more versatile approach on off. On defense, you got a you got a Carlton Davis type who you can press more with, is a big guy against receiver against big receivers, and you've got m J. Stewart who could be good

in the slot. And now you've got a lot of different types of defensive lineman because of the reconstruction on that right, So I think that you will have the option of being more aggressive and seeing and more versatile and more multiple, a word that coaches use a lot, And if I are betting man, I would say they will take advantage of that, and yes, you'll see a more aggressive and a more multiple defense this year. Okay, well it's gonna do it for us on Buccaneers and

Sideur Live presented by Miller Lighte. Make sure you come back next week with those questions because then we're basically getting into training camp that we are finally at the end of the off season time where it's all about you know, predicting things and I wonder if and we'll actually have some real training camp practices to talk about. So come back here next week with all of your questions ready to go, and we'll see you then.