Speaker 1: Hey, they're Bucks fans Welcome into Buccaneers Inside our Lives
Speaker 1: presented by Miller like Casey Phillips and Scott Smith here
Speaker 1: and as always, this is where we take your questions, thoughts, comments,
Speaker 1: everything on your Buccaneers and the way you can submit
Speaker 1: those to us is head over to Facebook and leave
Speaker 1: those comments underneath our live video there. So I know,
Speaker 1: as we give people a chance to start submitting some
Speaker 1: of those, I figured, you know, we are finally getting
Speaker 1: training camp feels kind of close, that there's some hope
Speaker 1: and possibility there that it's It was so sad to
Speaker 1: have to miss things like O T A S and
Speaker 1: Mini camp where we start to kind of get a
Speaker 1: feel for some of those position battles and maybe guys
Speaker 1: that could be buying for starting spots or buying for
Speaker 1: roster spots. So I wanted to hear, once we get
Speaker 1: a chance to see these guys out on the field,
Speaker 1: what are the position battles that you're gonna be watching
Speaker 1: and really excited to see how they play out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we really wish we could have seen all that we'd
Speaker 1: have a better feel for it now basically just looking
Speaker 1: on paper as we've been doing all offseason, but you know,
Speaker 1: we'll be off like that when football does come back.
Speaker 1: Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so we'll just enjoy that.
Speaker 1: We'll enjoy the position battles even more. And um, the
Speaker 1: answering the question, I think it's pretty obvious to me
Speaker 1: that the part of the position on the depth chart
Speaker 1: that has the most obvious and probably most intense competition
Speaker 1: is safety. And it's for a good reason because there's
Speaker 1: a lot of potentially really good answers there. And and
Speaker 1: while you know, Todd Bowles will have some packages where
Speaker 1: he puts more than two safeties on the field, especially
Speaker 1: if somebody like Antoine Winfield proves to be capable of
Speaker 1: a really versatile role like a Tyranne Matthew. And you know,
Speaker 1: Jason like compared uh Antoine to that, but he wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure, you know, you can't take a guy
Speaker 1: that has played in the NFL you had and say
Speaker 1: he's the same as a star. But he just meant
Speaker 1: that type of player they hope to could be that
Speaker 1: type of player. And so there could be some packages
Speaker 1: with extra safeties on the field. But still we're basically
Speaker 1: talking about two positions and there's five guys. I think
Speaker 1: that gitimally could considered starting options, and that's obviously Jordan Whitehead,
Speaker 1: who has had the most starts for safeties the last
Speaker 1: two years. And then you drafted Mike Edwards in the
Speaker 1: third round last year, and you know, he maybe came
Speaker 1: along a little slowly last year, but you know he
Speaker 1: could make a big jump at his second level. And
Speaker 1: you just drafted Antoine from Winfield in the second round,
Speaker 1: and you prioritize that over a running back or receiver.
Speaker 1: Waited a little longer to draft to get those positions,
Speaker 1: positions because you the team really wanted Antoine Winfield and
Speaker 1: then uh, and then you've got Justin Evans, who hopefully
Speaker 1: was going to come back. That's the guy that we
Speaker 1: really would know a lot more about if we had
Speaker 1: had offseason workouts. But before he got hurt in his
Speaker 1: rookie season, he looked like one of those playmaking safeties
Speaker 1: that's good against both the run. In the past of
Speaker 1: the Bucks have been trying to develop. And then even
Speaker 1: Dakota Dixon, who obviously hasn't played it down in the
Speaker 1: NFL yet, but the Bucks were really coaches are really
Speaker 1: high on him last year before he heard his shoulder
Speaker 1: in training camp. In fact, he moved all the way
Speaker 1: up to second on the depth chart. So, uh, that's
Speaker 1: five guys that conceived will be be on the field
Speaker 1: a lot. It's gonna be tough to to sort through that,
Speaker 1: but obviously that's a good problem to have. There's some
Speaker 1: other positions. The best one that really jumps out to me. Okay, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know one that a lot of people have been
Speaker 1: talking about is running back. So take us through some
Speaker 1: of the guys that we have in that room, and
Speaker 1: you mentioned the idea that they had passed on potentially
Speaker 1: taking and running back to get Antoine Winfield Jr. So
Speaker 1: does that to you say that they're really confident with
Speaker 1: who they already had in that room. Well, I think
Speaker 1: what it means is they had the running backs their ranking,
Speaker 1: and running backs doesn't necessarily reflect everything you saw in
Speaker 1: the pre draft ranking. The fact, I think Bruce Arian
Speaker 1: said that after the draft when asked that very question,
Speaker 1: you know, because you passed on some guys in the
Speaker 1: second round that maybe we're bigger names, um that you
Speaker 1: could have taken and then took Keyshawn Vaughan in the
Speaker 1: third round because you wanted to get Antoine Winfield, and
Speaker 1: he said, well, you know, not every You know, our
Speaker 1: rankings weren't necessarily the same as everybody else. So I
Speaker 1: think what it was was they felt confident they could
Speaker 1: get a player like Vaughan in the third round and
Speaker 1: they're happy it went that way. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if there's a whole lot of competition for roster spots,
Speaker 1: necessarily at running back. There there's not an overflowing amount
Speaker 1: of them. It's really a competition for how the roles
Speaker 1: are going to be defined. You know, how much will
Speaker 1: keisha On Vaughn, as example, split carries with Ronald Jones?
Speaker 1: You know they Ronald Jones and Peyton Barber split the
Speaker 1: carries relatively evenly last year, especially in the first half
Speaker 1: of the season. Will it be the same thing, just
Speaker 1: like keisha On Vaughn and for Peyton Barber, Will Keshawn
Speaker 1: Von become your primary pass catching back? And if so,
Speaker 1: that could get him a bigger share of the snaps.
Speaker 1: Where's Daria? Google Wally fixed it in because he was
Speaker 1: your third down back last year and obviously the team
Speaker 1: trust him. He was our most trusted past protector last
Speaker 1: year amongst the backs, which is why he was on
Speaker 1: the field so much on third downs, and then you
Speaker 1: got Raymond Clay at the end, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: when you hear Bruceirians talk about how much he's looking
Speaker 1: forward to taking this sort of Swiss army knife guy
Speaker 1: and put him in a whole lot of roles, it's
Speaker 1: kind of exciting to think what he could become. So
Speaker 1: it's really a matter of defining roles and that's not
Speaker 1: something that's necessarily gonna be totally settled, uh, by the
Speaker 1: end of training camp. I think that's something that sort
Speaker 1: of develops as the season goes along. Interesting. And how
Speaker 1: about wide receiver. I mean, of course we know Mike Evans,
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin, Okay, put them over there. Great, we know
Speaker 1: we know that there's our top two guys. I do
Speaker 1: feel like this year has a little bit more in
Speaker 1: terms of um up in the air about you know,
Speaker 1: who's gonna be what different slots of that. That wide
Speaker 1: receiver has been a really interesting position for several years,
Speaker 1: where it always just felt like there was this abundance
Speaker 1: of riches and trying to find ways to fit a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys in. But this year it feels
Speaker 1: sort of like a very clear split of those two,
Speaker 1: and then there there's a lot of guys fighting for
Speaker 1: potential spots after that. Can you see my list from
Speaker 1: your camera? You told me we're gonna be talking about
Speaker 1: this and I wrote down a few positions, and you're
Speaker 1: just going right down. Really, Oh that's so funny. Well,
Speaker 1: that good signment. It shows that this is probably the
Speaker 1: consensus idea. Yeah, the wide receiver position really is um
Speaker 1: top heavy because you're trying to replace Brashan Perryman. But
Speaker 1: if you remember last year, Rashon Perryman was your three
Speaker 1: the entire year, and uh, you know, in the early weeks,
Speaker 1: the first seven weeks of this season, the coaches had
Speaker 1: to keep telling questioning members of the media that Breshade
Speaker 1: was playing just fine. He was doing exactly what they
Speaker 1: wanted to. There were just no numbers there. If you recall,
Speaker 1: there was a there was a group of people that
Speaker 1: thought it was urgent that the Buccaneers cut Breshade Perryman
Speaker 1: before the deadline last year in order to help with
Speaker 1: their fit story pick formula and Bucks didn't want to
Speaker 1: do that, and as it turned out, that was a
Speaker 1: good thing because he was very much needed at the
Speaker 1: end of the year. But um, you know, your third
Speaker 1: receiver last year was a guy playing really well, and
Speaker 1: he still wasn't getting hardly any stats, which is just
Speaker 1: because you've got Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and then
Speaker 1: you had and even more so now you have all
Speaker 1: these tight ends. They can catch pass this so there's
Speaker 1: only so many footballs to go around, and the third
Speaker 1: receiver wasn't getting a lot of targets. So it is
Speaker 1: a big battle there. But I don't think it's a
Speaker 1: huge problem that uh, that there's not really necessarily an
Speaker 1: established number three. Yet there are some good options. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Tyler Johnson was drafted in the fifth round and he's
Speaker 1: a guy that just has a knack for getting open.
Speaker 1: He might be considered the favorite, but you also have
Speaker 1: Scottie Miller and Justin Watson and a number of other
Speaker 1: young players. And I don't want to forget about Scotty
Speaker 1: Miller because I do believe he's got a real chance
Speaker 1: to play a lot next year. Just that speed really
Speaker 1: really does change things. And while he played on the
Speaker 1: majority of his snaps on the outside last year, I
Speaker 1: can still see him having a role in the slot
Speaker 1: because I remember during the draft process after he picked
Speaker 1: him watching his highlight films from Howling Green and uh,
Speaker 1: he did a lot of great things out of slot
Speaker 1: with the ball in his hands, So um, Scotty Millers
Speaker 1: really wanted to watch. But yeah, that's a very good
Speaker 1: competition right there. And then you brought up you know
Speaker 1: just how many balls there are to go around and
Speaker 1: the tight end position, and um, I know that's one
Speaker 1: that's obviously got a lot of attention this offseason for
Speaker 1: good reason. So you know, looking at you have of
Speaker 1: course Gronk and Cam and o J. And then you
Speaker 1: also have guys like Tanner Hudson and ANTONYA Claire. How
Speaker 1: do you think that room shakes out? And what are
Speaker 1: the different roles that the different guys could take? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the question is how many are we going to try
Speaker 1: to find him for on the roster because you just
Speaker 1: mentioned I think I don't know if you said them all,
Speaker 1: but there's there's five guys easily that you can keep.
Speaker 1: You get Gronk obviously, and you know what Cam can do.
Speaker 1: O J Howard. Uh. They love Anthony el Claire as
Speaker 1: a blocker and he gets in a lot of too too. Uh.
Speaker 1: Kindeen sets for that reason, although I don't know how
Speaker 1: much that role shrinks with Rob Gronkowski around because he's
Speaker 1: such a great blocker. And yeah, Tanner Hudson is a
Speaker 1: very intriguing guy that you know they kept on the
Speaker 1: roster all last year. In the preseason he showed he
Speaker 1: has really really good hands, is very good pass catcher,
Speaker 1: and probably have to follow a career arc a little
Speaker 1: bit like cam Brad himself did, where he you could
Speaker 1: see right away he had potential as a pass catcher
Speaker 1: and you just had to work on his blocking as
Speaker 1: as time when seasons went on. So uh, it's hard
Speaker 1: to keep five tight ends though that's a lot of
Speaker 1: tight ends you're gonna be losing in some other positions
Speaker 1: you might want to keep a six receiver instead or
Speaker 1: a fifth or fourth running back. So um, that's a
Speaker 1: pretty good battle. That being said, your top three are
Speaker 1: kind of obvious there with with Groundkowski and Brydon Howard,
Speaker 1: so that that's a really I don't know if there's
Speaker 1: a lot of teams that can match that talented the
Speaker 1: tight end position. So however it shakes out, it's going
Speaker 1: to be a really good group. Yeah, of course, a
Speaker 1: lot of times we forget how much special teams can
Speaker 1: play a part in some of those roster decisions. That
Speaker 1: it's not just saying, oh, we want X number of
Speaker 1: tight ends on the roster that yeah, if you keep
Speaker 1: another tight end and maybe those guys aren't as much
Speaker 1: of your special teamers as a linebacker, someone else might
Speaker 1: be that that that could end up being a factor
Speaker 1: less about their tight end play and more about who
Speaker 1: you need on the special teams front. Um, we'll close
Speaker 1: with this last position group. I wanted your outside linebacker.
Speaker 1: I wanted to hear for you. Of course we know
Speaker 1: about you know JPP, and we know about Shack, but
Speaker 1: what that rotation could look like. You don't have Karl
Speaker 1: Nassid this year, you know, are you are you hoping
Speaker 1: that Anthony Nelson could play a bigger role? What does
Speaker 1: that position look like to you? Yeah, it's it's pretty
Speaker 1: much exactly like the receiver position, which you have two
Speaker 1: starters that you're absolutely thrilled with. You have the NFL
Speaker 1: Sack King and reigning King and Shack bear It and
Speaker 1: you have Jason Pierre Paul who both either resigned or
Speaker 1: received the franchise tag back in March. And that was
Speaker 1: a priority for the Buccaneers to keep that front intact
Speaker 1: and that men keeping those two and the Don Consue
Speaker 1: in the middle, and I mean, it's hard to ask
Speaker 1: for much more. There wasn't any other duo in the
Speaker 1: NFL of outside linebackers or edge rushers that produced twenty
Speaker 1: sacks between them. And you saw how JPP finished the
Speaker 1: season on a rush. Probably he was still that rounding
Speaker 1: into his top form at that point after missing most
Speaker 1: of the first half of the season. Um, you can't
Speaker 1: ask for a much better starting starting point than those two.
Speaker 1: But there's virtually nothing behind those two that's proven. And
Speaker 1: Anthony Nelson would have been the first one. I would
Speaker 1: have said, you already brought that up, and they remember
Speaker 1: how happy they were to get him in the fourth
Speaker 1: round in two thousand nineteen. They thought it was a steel.
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that Anthony Nelson could basically round into
Speaker 1: a the Carl Nassa roll and take that number of
Speaker 1: snaps because you absolutely have to have at least three
Speaker 1: guys rotating in and out. I know Ason Pierre Paul
Speaker 1: never really likes to come up the field, but he
Speaker 1: has to get some rest sometime, especially if it's a
Speaker 1: long drive, so Anthony Nelson is probably the first guy there.
Speaker 1: Also realize that there are three or four spots left
Speaker 1: on the roster right now. Usually run out of full
Speaker 1: ninety all throughout the offseason because of practices, that was
Speaker 1: really necessary this year, so Jason Light and Bruce Arians
Speaker 1: purposely left a few spots open, and they said if
Speaker 1: they bring anybody in there, it would probably be veterans
Speaker 1: who know what they're doing and can mix in quickly.
Speaker 1: And Bruce Arians specifically said the positions of inside linebacker
Speaker 1: and outside linebacker as spots that that could be added
Speaker 1: to and theyll probably need to be someone who could
Speaker 1: contribute on special teams, but you could have somebody uh
Speaker 1: come in and fit in the mix there and maybe
Speaker 1: make that picture look a little bit. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: great point, man. So many different position battles to watch.
Speaker 1: Can't wait to actually see the guys back on the
Speaker 1: field again. Thanks to all of you for joining us
Speaker 1: on this edition of Buccaneers Inside or Live presented by
Speaker 1: Miller Lte And we'll see you next week. Puffy if
Speaker 1: fo happy more before