Which Defensive Player Could Take A Leap in 2021? | Bucs Insider

got minicamp happening here. Finally, the whole team, veterans, rookies, everyone out on the field together. So yesterday was the first day of that. Got to hear from Bruce, Chris Godwin, Alex Cappa, a few different people. Afterward, I wanted to hear just some of your initial takeaways from either watching practice or listening to everybody talk afterward. Well, the first good thing was that all eighty nine players were here

and most of them were in action. We have eighty nine right now because of the Cameron Kenley situation, we were at ninety UM, so all of them were here, all of them were out on the field. There were six guys that didn't practice. UM. John Franklin O, j Howard, Antonio Brown, Demican, Sue, Jordan Whitehead, and uh the rookie Jalen Darden, which was the one kind of surprise. He must had a very slight hamstring tweak from last week according to Bruce Arians, and it's so minor that Aaron

said he might actually practice on Thursday. And in fact, all of these guys seemed to be some variation of he's very close from Bruce arians estimation, and he said at the end of kind of running down all those different injury situations that all of them should be fine from the beginning of training camp. So I don't know, I don't remember a season where we've been kind of this assuming all those goal as well as we hope

we've been this healthy heading into a camp. And speaking of that guy who was out there who hadn't been recently, Joe try On, he had missed all of his rookie minicamp in times like that, a little bit of an injury, and Daniel had asked what you thought of him? I know that yesterday was a very small little glimpse into it, but either from coach talking about him or what you saw, what were the initial thoughts on Joe try On, Yeah, well he looked like he was running around very well.

Uh coach at all, We said that he thought he'd be back by the mini camps. He basically hit the target that was expected. Um, they took it carefully with him over the last few weeks. And uh, you know, at this point, in these type of practices without pads, without anybody wanting to get really close to a quarterback, especially Tom Brady, Um, you know, it's a little hard to tell how good a pass rusher is. But coach Arian said afterwards that he looks slippery in shorts, and

not every guy does. So I guess if you look good rushing the past her right now in shorts, that's a good sign, you know, for what he'll looked like when the pad's going. Yeah, that's a great And something else that has happened since our last show was Julio Jones getting traded. And so anytime a big name either comes to or leaves the division, we always want to talk about how that might affect the Buccaneers. So what

were your initial thoughts on that? And and hey, I guess the Buck still will get to see him technically this year just only in the preseason. Yeah, um, well, my thoughts are that went pretty well. You know, he got traded out of our division. This is a guy that was averaging fifty yards in one touchdown per game against the Buccaneers in his career. And uh, he not only got traded out of the division, but out of the conference entirely, and to a team we wouldn't play

in the regular season. Um. I don't think necessarily that our defensive backs would have the same feeling about it. I think they liked the challenge. You know, he was hurt for a number of games last year during the second half, and I'm pretty sure he didn't play in either of the two games against the Buccaneers. So that was the last chance for a while that some of our guys like Carlton Davis are going to get to see him. And I'm willing to bet they would appreciate

the challenge. But you know, as a fan who doesn't have to play out there and just wants to see the best possible situation from the Bucks, I like seeing Julio Jones out of the coup. Yes, I would agree with that. Um yeah, I'm sure. By the way, and who guess who does play the Titans this fall? Who the New Orleans Saints. Well, there you go. I love it. They just can't get away from him exactly, and they could be a prime competitor for the Buccaneers and for

the division tie also that worked out. Well, yeah, that's a good point. And we also had Kyle Trask officially signed yesterday. Um, I wanted to hear where where do we stand on you know, rookies being signed, And I know people tend to always ask about sort of the salary cap situation and how we determine that at this time of year compared to once you get down to

the final roster and all of that. Yeah, the two guys left to be signed our third round offensive Lemon Robert Hainzi, and the first round that we were talking about, Joe trying And it's a pretty common UM pattern to get your lower drafted guys signed first. So now we're down to the last couple and Joe Tryan will probably

be last. You know, I think most fans understand now that these contracts are pretty much slotted in under the current CB A depending important where you picked a guy, there's a certain amount that they're going to get there's a little leeway here and there, but it's got to be a four year deal. There's not a lot of gifts,

so a lot of it is just paperwork. I think now there's a little more give with what happens with a first rounder, but are talking about the last pick in the first round, so I don't think it'd be very hard to get it done. But it's not surprising that he's one of the last few left. And have we got any sense on what the team looks at the quarterback situation as of looking at who's getting reps with who and now that Kyle Trask is signed, when this is our first chance to see all four quarterbacks

out on the field together. One indication have we gotten They did the two fields thing that Bruce arians really likes to do to get more reps for more players with so many guys in the field. Um so in

the first mini camp practice yesterday. There's another one going on right now and I'm sure they'll do the same thing, but yesterday they split it up with basically the starters and the primary reserves on one field and the younger players and the guys a little farther down the deep chart on the other field, which allowed all those young players to get a lot more snaps and they would

normally get. And you had Tom Brady and Blaine Gabbett working with the starters and Kyle Trask and Ryan Griffin working with the with the younger guys, and I think that's what you would have expected. Ryan Griffin signed with the Bucaneers, resigned with the Buccaneers knowing they had told him they intended to resign Blaine Gabbert as well, and that they might look for a quarterback in the draft,

So he knew the situation coming into it. And Bruce Arians wanted to make it clear the other day that he doesn't see Ryan Griffin as the odd man out. Um, it's a competition, you know. You can easily look at it and say Lane Gabbert is probably the leader to be the primary backup to Tom Brady, and you certainly wouldn't expect the Buccaneers to cut second Rod Picktile Trash,

so he probably end up being your third quarterback. And Ryan Griffin was asked if what if the situation was that they kept those three but with expanded practice squad, you could get spot on the practice squad and he's He basically said he was up for whatever would work. Okay, Mike asked, with it being a seventeen game schedule, do you see any players ever being a healthy scratch as a way to keep them fresh? You know, I hear that idea a lot, and I don't think so. I

don't think so. Um. You know, you look at player you look at coaches when they're down towards the end of the season and they got a nice lead in their division, and you know, with some exceptions, they tend to keep wanting to play those guys. You know, I think they I think you'd be more likely to see

more substitutions on a game by game basis. So maybe you, instead of mitigating the snaps by thinking you're not playing this game and there's eight snaps that we don't worry about, you know, figured out those eight snaps by taking them out of games along the way, Because do you want to be sitting in a game that ends up being

because every game is important, we know that, right. It's week thirteen and you decide to help the scratch Chris Godwin and then Mike Evans gets hurt and knock on wood and you need a receiver there and it's a close game, and you're like, well, Chris Godwin standing right there, but we made him actively. We can't use them. I don't think any coach wants to put himself in that position. Yeah.

I think that's a great point. Jermaine asked, will you guys be attending the ring ceremony and have you gotten a glimpse of the rings yet? Yes? And no, but I think the second one will be too. Yeah. Yes, at some point we're gonna have to write about it and so on. So right, Yeah, I I know a way that I could see them cock up, I've heard, but I've chosen not to because I want to wait

and actually see the real things. I won't have to write about it ahead of time, and so I am choosing to wait until I actually get to see my ring sitting there before I look at it. It It was very tempting. I felt like a kid at Christmas again. It's like you know where your Christmas presents are hidden, and you're deciding if you're gonna look or not. Um, did you? I never? I never looked for the presence. I didn't either. I didn't one. Yeah, I didn't either,

because I'm like then it's no fun. Then you then you already you already know and you take all that you want to open one or two on Christmas. Heave yes, I agree with that. Um. Sean Asia asked what are your expectations from Sean Murphy Bunting and Carlton Davis this year? Well, I mean, I think we keep talking about guys making a leap, are improving from one year to the next. I don't know if we have to keep talking about

Carlton Davis that way. I think he's already there. I think he's already one of the best cornerbacks in the league, one of the one of the few guys, one of the handful of guys that a team can take and put on a guy like Jolio, Joe Are, Michael Thomas and have a good feeling that they can shut them down. And there's not like guys that you can count on

doing that. And the fact that the Buccaneers have that confidence in him makes me think they think he's one of the best cornerbacks in the leg and I do too. Sean Murphy Bunting, in both of his first two years, has really finished strong. You know, there were some struggles that he acknowledged along the way last year, but coming down the stretch and then especially in the playoffs, Um,

he was a big time playmaker. And he is a guy that could take a step forward in terms of just being more consistent from a week to week basis. And he knows that the coaches know that, and and that's something we might see from him that could make this defensive better next year. This year, Yeah, you know, I'm saying people asking about the idea of complacency. Do you think the team is going to be as fiery

this year after already winning one? And you know, are do they seem as hungry as they were last year? And I know that was something that Bruce arians was asked about yesterday. So what was the indication that you got about where the team stands in terms of the fire to to go for two? Yeah, that doesn't seem to be a problem with these guys. Um, they seem very much out in I think part of that has to do with the commitment that the Buccaneers made to

keep that entire roster intact. I mean, if you're Lavonte David and Devin White and Rob Gronkowski and all those guys and you see the team really making an effort to make it as possible as possible for you to be in a good position two defend your title. UM. I think that's a motivating factor. And also just the fact that nobody's done it since Tom Brady's Patriots since two thousand three and o four. I mean, breaking through and winning the Super Bowl was amazing last year and

can never be taken away from these guys. But imagine, you know, their legacy, especially in Buccaneers history, if they can win two in a row, and you know, it doesn't happen a lot, especially anymore in the NFL. So I think that carrot is just as strong as it was last year. UM. And on the practice field on Tuesday, UH coach afterward, Coach Areans made a point of saying there was no complacency at all, and he's not really

worried about that happening. He said, if he doesn't way up to say anything, he said he had Nye out for it when practice started and he didn't see him. But but he said he doesn't have to say anything because if if it's somebody on offense and they're not playing, they're not their effort isn't up to par. They're gonna hear from Tom Brady, and if it happens on defense, they're gonna hear from Levante David. So I think it's very well self policed. That is true all And we'll

close with this. Rob asked, with all the returning starters, are there any rookies that could slide into a starting spot. It's not obvious, no, barring injury. We always have to

say barring injury, right, Um. I think the closest thing you could say to that is Joe try And wouldn'tsarily necessarily be starting a bunch of games, but he could be playing a very large role as part as maybe the third guy if he is ahead of Anthony Nelson in the rotation with JPP and Shack Barrett, and maybe the Buccaneers choose to give Shack and JPP you know, maybe I know the guys who want to come off the field, but maybe just a little bit less per game,

going back to that seventeen game season question, just to preserve them along the way. So he could end up with a role that's pretty big. But I don't see how he's a starter. And otherwise, Kyle Trask Robert Hainzi, Jalen Darden, the two linebacker as Brittain Stewart and Chris Wilcox. Those are all positions that are very well established a starters. So again, barring injury, UM I don't see it. Okay. All decision of Buccaneers and Sider Live presented by Miller Lte.

Thanks for joining us, thanks for those great questions, and we'll see you next week