Position Battles & Rookie Expectations | Bucs Insider

those comments underneath our live video there. So I know, as we give people a chance to start submitting some of those, I figured, you know, we are finally getting training camp feels kind of close, that there's some hope and possibility there that it's It was so sad to have to miss things like O T A S and Mini camp where we start to kind of get a feel for some of those position battles and maybe guys that could be buying for starting spots or buying for

roster spots. So I wanted to hear, once we get a chance to see these guys out on the field, what are the position battles that you're gonna be watching and really excited to see how they play out. Yeah, we really wish we could have seen all that we'd have a better feel for it now basically just looking on paper as we've been doing all offseason, but you know, we'll be off like that when football does come back. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so we'll just enjoy that.

We'll enjoy the position battles even more. And um, the answering the question, I think it's pretty obvious to me that the part of the position on the depth chart that has the most obvious and probably most intense competition is safety. And it's for a good reason because there's

a lot of potentially really good answers there. And and while you know, Todd Bowles will have some packages where he puts more than two safeties on the field, especially if somebody like Antoine Winfield proves to be capable of a really versatile role like a Tyranne Matthew. And you know, Jason like compared uh Antoine to that, but he wanted to make sure, you know, you can't take a guy that has played in the NFL you had and say

he's the same as a star. But he just meant that type of player they hope to could be that type of player. And so there could be some packages with extra safeties on the field. But still we're basically talking about two positions and there's five guys. I think that gitimally could considered starting options, and that's obviously Jordan Whitehead, who has had the most starts for safeties the last

two years. And then you drafted Mike Edwards in the third round last year, and you know, he maybe came along a little slowly last year, but you know he could make a big jump at his second level. And you just drafted Antoine from Winfield in the second round, and you prioritize that over a running back or receiver. Waited a little longer to draft to get those positions, positions because you the team really wanted Antoine Winfield and then uh, and then you've got Justin Evans, who hopefully

was going to come back. That's the guy that we really would know a lot more about if we had had offseason workouts. But before he got hurt in his rookie season, he looked like one of those playmaking safeties that's good against both the run. In the past of the Bucks have been trying to develop. And then even Dakota Dixon, who obviously hasn't played it down in the NFL yet, but the Bucks were really coaches are really high on him last year before he heard his shoulder

in training camp. In fact, he moved all the way up to second on the depth chart. So, uh, that's five guys that conceived will be be on the field a lot. It's gonna be tough to to sort through that, but obviously that's a good problem to have. There's some other positions. The best one that really jumps out to me. Okay, well, yeah, I know one that a lot of people have been

talking about is running back. So take us through some of the guys that we have in that room, and you mentioned the idea that they had passed on potentially taking and running back to get Antoine Winfield Jr. So does that to you say that they're really confident with who they already had in that room. Well, I think what it means is they had the running backs their ranking, and running backs doesn't necessarily reflect everything you saw in

the pre draft ranking. The fact, I think Bruce Arian said that after the draft when asked that very question, you know, because you passed on some guys in the second round that maybe we're bigger names, um that you could have taken and then took Keyshawn Vaughan in the third round because you wanted to get Antoine Winfield, and he said, well, you know, not every You know, our

rankings weren't necessarily the same as everybody else. So I think what it was was they felt confident they could get a player like Vaughan in the third round and they're happy it went that way. And I don't know if there's a whole lot of competition for roster spots, necessarily at running back. There there's not an overflowing amount of them. It's really a competition for how the roles

are going to be defined. You know, how much will keisha On Vaughn, as example, split carries with Ronald Jones? You know they Ronald Jones and Peyton Barber split the carries relatively evenly last year, especially in the first half of the season. Will it be the same thing, just like keisha On Vaughn and for Peyton Barber, Will Keshawn Von become your primary pass catching back? And if so, that could get him a bigger share of the snaps.

Where's Daria? Google Wally fixed it in because he was your third down back last year and obviously the team trust him. He was our most trusted past protector last year amongst the backs, which is why he was on the field so much on third downs, and then you got Raymond Clay at the end, and uh, you know, when you hear Bruceirians talk about how much he's looking forward to taking this sort of Swiss army knife guy and put him in a whole lot of roles, it's

kind of exciting to think what he could become. So it's really a matter of defining roles and that's not something that's necessarily gonna be totally settled, uh, by the end of training camp. I think that's something that sort of develops as the season goes along. Interesting. And how about wide receiver. I mean, of course we know Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Okay, put them over there. Great, we know

we know that there's our top two guys. I do feel like this year has a little bit more in terms of um up in the air about you know, who's gonna be what different slots of that. That wide receiver has been a really interesting position for several years, where it always just felt like there was this abundance of riches and trying to find ways to fit a lot of these guys in. But this year it feels sort of like a very clear split of those two, and then there there's a lot of guys fighting for

potential spots after that. Can you see my list from your camera? You told me we're gonna be talking about this and I wrote down a few positions, and you're just going right down. Really, Oh that's so funny. Well, that good signment. It shows that this is probably the consensus idea. Yeah, the wide receiver position really is um

top heavy because you're trying to replace Brashan Perryman. But if you remember last year, Rashon Perryman was your three the entire year, and uh, you know, in the early weeks, the first seven weeks of this season, the coaches had to keep telling questioning members of the media that Breshade was playing just fine. He was doing exactly what they

wanted to. There were just no numbers there. If you recall, there was a there was a group of people that thought it was urgent that the Buccaneers cut Breshade Perryman before the deadline last year in order to help with their fit story pick formula and Bucks didn't want to do that, and as it turned out, that was a good thing because he was very much needed at the

end of the year. But um, you know, your third receiver last year was a guy playing really well, and he still wasn't getting hardly any stats, which is just because you've got Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and then you had and even more so now you have all these tight ends. They can catch pass this so there's only so many footballs to go around, and the third receiver wasn't getting a lot of targets. So it is

a big battle there. But I don't think it's a huge problem that uh, that there's not really necessarily an established number three. Yet there are some good options. Obviously, Tyler Johnson was drafted in the fifth round and he's a guy that just has a knack for getting open. He might be considered the favorite, but you also have Scottie Miller and Justin Watson and a number of other young players. And I don't want to forget about Scotty Miller because I do believe he's got a real chance

to play a lot next year. Just that speed really really does change things. And while he played on the majority of his snaps on the outside last year, I can still see him having a role in the slot because I remember during the draft process after he picked him watching his highlight films from Howling Green and uh, he did a lot of great things out of slot with the ball in his hands, So um, Scotty Millers really wanted to watch. But yeah, that's a very good

competition right there. And then you brought up you know just how many balls there are to go around and the tight end position, and um, I know that's one that's obviously got a lot of attention this offseason for good reason. So you know, looking at you have of course Gronk and Cam and o J. And then you also have guys like Tanner Hudson and ANTONYA Claire. How do you think that room shakes out? And what are

the different roles that the different guys could take? Yeah, the question is how many are we going to try to find him for on the roster because you just mentioned I think I don't know if you said them all, but there's there's five guys easily that you can keep. You get Gronk obviously, and you know what Cam can do. O J Howard. Uh. They love Anthony el Claire as

a blocker and he gets in a lot of too too. Uh. Kindeen sets for that reason, although I don't know how much that role shrinks with Rob Gronkowski around because he's such a great blocker. And yeah, Tanner Hudson is a very intriguing guy that you know they kept on the

roster all last year. In the preseason he showed he has really really good hands, is very good pass catcher, and probably have to follow a career arc a little bit like cam Brad himself did, where he you could see right away he had potential as a pass catcher and you just had to work on his blocking as

as time when seasons went on. So uh, it's hard to keep five tight ends though that's a lot of tight ends you're gonna be losing in some other positions you might want to keep a six receiver instead or a fifth or fourth running back. So um, that's a pretty good battle. That being said, your top three are kind of obvious there with with Groundkowski and Brydon Howard, so that that's a really I don't know if there's a lot of teams that can match that talented the

tight end position. So however it shakes out, it's going to be a really good group. Yeah, of course, a lot of times we forget how much special teams can

play a part in some of those roster decisions. That it's not just saying, oh, we want X number of tight ends on the roster that yeah, if you keep another tight end and maybe those guys aren't as much of your special teamers as a linebacker, someone else might be that that that could end up being a factor less about their tight end play and more about who you need on the special teams front. Um, we'll close with this last position group. I wanted your outside linebacker.

I wanted to hear for you. Of course we know about you know JPP, and we know about Shack, but what that rotation could look like. You don't have Karl Nassid this year, you know, are you are you hoping that Anthony Nelson could play a bigger role? What does that position look like to you? Yeah, it's it's pretty much exactly like the receiver position, which you have two

starters that you're absolutely thrilled with. You have the NFL Sack King and reigning King and Shack bear It and you have Jason Pierre Paul who both either resigned or received the franchise tag back in March. And that was a priority for the Buccaneers to keep that front intact and that men keeping those two and the Don Consue in the middle, and I mean, it's hard to ask for much more. There wasn't any other duo in the NFL of outside linebackers or edge rushers that produced twenty

sacks between them. And you saw how JPP finished the season on a rush. Probably he was still that rounding into his top form at that point after missing most of the first half of the season. Um, you can't ask for a much better starting starting point than those two. But there's virtually nothing behind those two that's proven. And Anthony Nelson would have been the first one. I would have said, you already brought that up, and they remember how happy they were to get him in the fourth

round in two thousand nineteen. They thought it was a steel. So I'm hoping that Anthony Nelson could basically round into a the Carl Nassa roll and take that number of snaps because you absolutely have to have at least three guys rotating in and out. I know Ason Pierre Paul never really likes to come up the field, but he has to get some rest sometime, especially if it's a long drive, so Anthony Nelson is probably the first guy there. Also realize that there are three or four spots left

on the roster right now. Usually run out of full ninety all throughout the offseason because of practices, that was really necessary this year, so Jason Light and Bruce Arians purposely left a few spots open, and they said if they bring anybody in there, it would probably be veterans who know what they're doing and can mix in quickly.

And Bruce Arians specifically said the positions of inside linebacker and outside linebacker as spots that that could be added to and theyll probably need to be someone who could contribute on special teams, but you could have somebody uh come in and fit in the mix there and maybe make that picture look a little bit. Yeah, that's a great point, man. So many different position battles to watch. Can't wait to actually see the guys back on the

field again. Thanks to all of you for joining us on this edition of Buccaneers Inside or Live presented by Miller Lte And we'll see you next week. Puffy if fo happy more before