Bucs Offensive Coordinator Search, Top Free Agents | Bucs Insider

been no official word yet from the team on everything. So, um, just some thoughts so far on the offensive coordinator search of of to this point, what we've um seen in terms of all the different candidates and some of that news, and just your thoughts on what this could mean moving forward and what some of these reports are that are out there. Well, it's been an extensive search, yes, say that the Buccaneers have interviewed ken candidates and whether or not,

you know, we have an announcement coming soon. Uh, you know, they've done They've done their due diligence and looked, uh you know, searched all around the league and interviewed a lot of up and coming bright young coaches. Um. But you see that actually around the league, like the when the Ravens hired Todd Munkin, which is also another one of the people that the Buccaneers interviewed. They made a

point of saying, we interviewed fifteen people. We looked all around, So I mean, it just makes sense to interview a lot of people to you know, pick some brains to get an idea of you know, you know what some of these young offensive minds are thinking, and and just you know, get cast a wide net and and listen to ideas and see who you really like and who you think is going to be the one who you know, you you think could really fashion a new a new

offense for you. Because the thing about that most of these candidates have something really good on the resume. They just helped some quarterback do something great, or they did this or that, but none of them are play callers. So you're basing your decision on you know how you when you met with them, you felt about them, what you think they could do, But when it comes down to it, you still don't know what how they're going

to be as play collars. And that's the big deal about becoming the offensive coordinator for a team that doesn't have an offensive minded coach, so they're definitely gonna be called place. So it's a very interesting topic, but it's not officially decided yet, no official word from the Buccaneers, so make sure you stay tuned to all of our coverage here on Buccaneers dot Com is always for any updates and news moving forward on that and everything else,

and so exciting for us. We have not had a show since a certain Hall of Fame decision was made. And uh, you know, I know that I'll probably be mentioned in bucks Feet when I shoot that later on, and part of what I was going to say, and that is just the idea that I'm sure Buck says. We've probably heard about this by now, but I don't think any of them are going to be tired of

talking about it, at least I know we are not. Yeah, I know you've already gotten to write about it, but I knew on this show we wanted to get a chance to talk about it. And just your initial thoughts on him finally making it in and what you think was different about this year, and just what this means to to him in the organization relief relief. You know,

with John Lynch, it took like seven years. I was concerned that was going to be that sort of process, but really, when it came down to his third years of finalists, which isn't that bad dog years. Yeah, it just came down to the fact that when they kept making him a finalist, and then when you looked at the resume, there were no holes in that resume. That's

a Hall of Fame resume. It has it all. And I've said it many times, so I probably don't need to lay out the whole argument again since he did it, since it since he's in. But it was gratifying to see the voters, you know, look at that resume, go, yeah, that's a Hall of Famer. There's no question he has everything. He has the stats, he has a longevity, he has the signature plays, he has the things that nobody else

has done. Um. It's which I loved because I do feel like it's always interesting to see sometimes what the Hall of Fame voters value, and sometimes it feels like it's some just name recognition, like the hype that's around it, and sometimes it is purely stats, and there can be some intangibles that don't always seem to get valued as much. And the fact that he really did just completely create

almost a new position. I was worried that there were things that Ronde did that weren't traditional by the book ways of getting into the Hall of Fame, but he did still have all those stats. He did have a lot of those things. Um, and you know, we talked about you know, we came on Salty Dogs with you guys, and we were worried that it was almost like he was getting penalized by having so much other talent around him of how many of these guys can you put

in the Hall of Fame? And that was a problem. Yeah, and it's but it's like, man, I'm so glad that that didn't have that effect because he should just get judged on what he did and regardless of who else was out there with him, he did incredible things. That was that was a big hurdle with the voters from what I understand though, being four players off one defense, and honestly, it's the first time that's happened since the

Steelers in the nineteen seventies, so it is unusual. But then you're penalizing a guy for like the order that they retired, right, and if Rerande was before John Lynch, would John Lynch be here? And well, we can't put four guys in the right it's not really fair day and I think you're penalizing them for having you know, good scouting and GM where everything. But really that's that defense was legendarily good from about the end of ninety

six through about two thousand and five, solid decade. During that decade, they were clearly the best defensive link and they were good every single year. And when they peaked in two thousand two and then Super Bowl year, they really peaked. Allowed twelve point three points per game that year. Uh. And and that is that has Monti Kiffin was a great defensive coordinator. Um. They all played well together. But now you look back and go, well, yeah, they had

four Hall of Famers on the defensive. Of course they were really good, unbelievable. All right, Well, now let's turn to this season a little bit more that this is the time of year where we always kind of like to look at the schedule, what's ahead, what's coming up? Um, And then of course free agency big part of that. So what are some of the things to be keeping our eye on now moving forward? This has become sort

of an annual thing the last few years. But the Buccaneers, and that's partially because they've signed a lot of one year contracts in recent years. But the Buccaneers have twenty three players from their two thousand and twenty two roster, and here they are, who are going, who are pending unrestricted free agents? You see there's one restricted free agent and two exclusive rights one those are kind of different

categories that are easier to retain. But the first twenty three guys there on the top all are free to go. And unless the Buccaneers use a franchise tag, kind of doubt maybe Jamal Dean, but I kind of doubt it. There's such a lot. That's a long list. Now, there's a lot of guys on there that you know, I mean, our backups are role players and you can get him back or not. But there's some big names on there. I wanted to point out. And there's this picture right

there is Lavante. David Lavante's signed and finished three contracts with the Buccaneers already, and that's unusual in and of itself. If he were to return next year for a twelve season, he would become just the fourth player including Ryanny Barber. We were just talking about Derrick Brooks and Paul Gruber who have played a dozen or more years for the Buccaneers. And not played for anybody else. So you're talking about one of the core guys in franchise history right there.

So does Lavante david At I think he'd be going into his age thirty four season next year. But he just came off a really nice season, uh in age thirty three, just really played very well, So there's no reason to worry that he's not the same player. But how long does Rande does Levon they want to play? Is he does he value staying with the same team

the whole time? Does he get some offers elsewhere? And then there's just a bunch of other names on there, you know on the defense, Yeah, there's a lot of defensive players up there. Carl Nassib, you know, did a nice job. Anthony Nelson just finished his rookie contract. Does he get a bigger deal somewhere else? There's a lot to work with, And as you mentioned earlier, the cap situation isn't great, so I think maybe we were talking about that off air, but um, the cap situation is

difficult to deal with. So you throw that in the mix. You think, how are the buck is going to get a lot of these guys there? And maybe a lot of them won't be back. But you know that happens in the NFL. You have a lot of turn over, isn't it like an average of something like turn over every year? Which is crazy. And again, when the Box have signed back to so many people last couple of years, it's easy to forget that. I can't go on forever. Yeah, you can't do that for forever, which is going to

be interesting. And so what are some of the big dates moving forward that the Bucks can keep an eye on and fans should should pay Yeah, well, with the new season. The new league year starts on March fifteenth, as you see there. Um, that's really the biggest date on there. That's when free agency begins. That's when you have to be under the salary cap. I. But there's

a few other things before then. Uh, starting on February twenty one and going through a little bit about a week before the new league year, you can use franchise tags some players. Um do you have the NFL scouting combine coming up at the very end of the very end of this month. Um, you have that period when you can start bringing in the thirty draft eligible guy. You get thirty visits from guys that you can that you might be interested in drafting, and then, um, the

free agency begins. As I mentioned, and right before free agency, there's about a not quite three day period, about fifty two hours when you're like, they call it legal tampering is the way they refer to it is when it's always such a funny term to me in general, Well, the league doesn't use that. Um, they call it the negotiation period. So that's the amount of time when you can start talking to the agents, not the players themselves, but the agents of potential free agents on other teams,

and you can even start negotiating contracts. And that's why, as everybody knows, on the March fifteenth, when free agency begins, all of sudden you have just a landslide of deals. You're like, how'd they get that done in thirty minutes? You know, they had the frameworking place. So that's that's coming up pretty soon, and we're gonna be turning on page pretty much. The Super bowls over. What do you think about the Super Bowl? But so fun? I mean, what fun. I'm always a big fan of the offense

in general. I'm not someone that wants the like six to three, Like, yeah, I'm not only not that person. Yeah, I'm not that person. So I loved it. I thought it was great. Quarterbacks were incredible, they really were. That was just it was a fun game to watch, you know, when to not really have any um, you know, dog in the fight. As they say, It was just the

perfect kind of game. I felt like to just sit back and enjoy, you know, some some really beautiful football and plays that make you say, oh my gosh, that's that's what you want in that game. And of course Hurt was amazing. Is either af phily want he would have been the nv P for sure. Absolutely, I did have a dog in the fight. I have Kansas City Chiefs roots. So that's true. You were happy about that whole thing, all right. Well that is going to do it for us on this edition of Bucks Insider Live.

Thank you so much for being with us, and we'll see you next time for four