Speaker 1: Good morning everyone. How's everyone doing. It is time for
Speaker 1: Buccaneers Insider Live, presented by Miller like Casey Phillips here
Speaker 1: a senior writer and editor Scott Smith, And as always,
Speaker 1: this is where we take your questions. If you're not
Speaker 1: already watching on Facebook page, head on over there and
Speaker 1: you can leave your questions in the comments section of
Speaker 1: the live video. And of course, since we had our
Speaker 1: last one of these, we signed Ryan Griffin. So it
Speaker 1: was kind of funny that we had questions recently about
Speaker 1: the backup quarterback situation and your answer had been we
Speaker 1: don't have any because technically they hadn't been resigned it.
Speaker 1: So at least now we do know there is technically
Speaker 1: a backup quarterback on the rosters. So tell me about
Speaker 1: this resigning, what this could mean, and what we know
Speaker 1: about what this means overall quarterback draft, you know, roster,
Speaker 1: all of that stuff. Yeah, now we have two. We
Speaker 1: have Tom Brady and Ryan Griffin, and uh, I think
Speaker 1: you'll probably end up with four for the start training camp,
Speaker 1: and the way the patterns held for years now taking
Speaker 1: three into the regular season, so the buck are far
Speaker 1: from done there. They also still have blame Gabbert on
Speaker 1: their ever dwindling list of unrestricted free agents, which at
Speaker 1: the end of the Super Bowl was going to be
Speaker 1: twenty four players long, and now it is down to
Speaker 1: like six or seven, and only three or four of
Speaker 1: those have gone anywhere else. So it just continues an
Speaker 1: amazing ability to keep this team intact. And Ryan Griffin,
Speaker 1: you know, he's only thrown four passes in the regular season.
Speaker 1: That's part of the story. It's kind of amazing that
Speaker 1: it's worked out that way. It's not an indictment. It
Speaker 1: just means when he when he was the second guy,
Speaker 1: the first guy always stayed healthy. You know, two years
Speaker 1: ago in two thousand nineteen, Blame Gabbert her his shoulder
Speaker 1: in the preseason, ended up on injoy reserve, and Ryan
Speaker 1: Griffin was your number two, and you know, Jameis Winston
Speaker 1: just played every snap just about. And then last year
Speaker 1: Blaine Gabbert was healthy. So Ryan Griffin was the three.
Speaker 1: And when UH we were torching the Lions at halftime
Speaker 1: and they pulled Tom Brady, he was blamed. That got
Speaker 1: to play. So Ryan obviously knows the system very well.
Speaker 1: He's got two years now under his belt in UH
Speaker 1: in Bruce arians offense, and they always talk about how
Speaker 1: much they like what he does in the practice field,
Speaker 1: and I know we don't get to see most of that,
Speaker 1: but they say it all the time, so we have
Speaker 1: to assume, especially because they resigned him again. This is
Speaker 1: the third new contract he's gotten with the Buccaneers since
Speaker 1: arriving in two thousand fifteen. There's obviously value there. And
Speaker 1: of course, uh the questions that we've been at answering
Speaker 1: in the last however many weeks, is when you talk
Speaker 1: about how dwindling the list of free agents, is Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown still one of those names on that list? What
Speaker 1: are the chances that he gets resigned? What would it
Speaker 1: mean either way? And and maybe just overall, what the
Speaker 1: wide receiver room looks like with him and without him,
Speaker 1: and the order of who would be considered maybe that
Speaker 1: third fourth wide receiver on the team. Well, as as
Speaker 1: this goes on longer and longer, you start to get
Speaker 1: the feeling that maybe the you know, Antonio Brown won't
Speaker 1: be back, It certainly could still happen, and obviously there
Speaker 1: must be some disagreement on how much it would take
Speaker 1: for that to happen. And I guess one side or
Speaker 1: the other would have to change their mind on that.
Speaker 1: But the longer goes on, you have to come front
Speaker 1: the reality that he might be the one guy that
Speaker 1: was kind of a significant contributor to the team last
Speaker 1: year that isn't back, and if you only lose one,
Speaker 1: you have to be pretty happy about that. UM. As
Speaker 1: for the receiving corps, obviously it starts off with one
Speaker 1: of the best players in the league and Mike Evans
Speaker 1: and Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown. When he was here, uh,
Speaker 1: he and healthy, he was basically the number three receiver
Speaker 1: most of the time. So that's what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: The guy that comes in Chris Godwin usually goes into
Speaker 1: the slot. This guy would play on the outside. UM.
Speaker 1: Scotty Miller and Tyler Johnson are the two obvious guys
Speaker 1: to pick up more playing time, and you know, there's
Speaker 1: a reason to be excited about that. We saw that
Speaker 1: Scotty Willer can make big plays at big moments too.
Speaker 1: And Tyler Johnson, you know, his catches were here and
Speaker 1: there because he just didn't get a ton of playing time,
Speaker 1: but he made some big plays and I'm sure the
Speaker 1: Bucks would like to see more out of both of
Speaker 1: those guys. So it's not like the cupboards bear there
Speaker 1: at all, but it also does open up the possibility.
Speaker 1: And when you talk about the draft of the Bucks
Speaker 1: being able to go in any decision in any direction
Speaker 1: they want, that receiver maybe becomes something you think about
Speaker 1: a little bit more. Yeah, and I know that sometimes
Speaker 1: some of the wide receiver group can be used in
Speaker 1: the return game. And we had a couple of people
Speaker 1: asking what our return situation could look like this year
Speaker 1: and if that would be something that the team would
Speaker 1: go after in the draft, that would that be a
Speaker 1: factor in you know, maybe not your first round pick,
Speaker 1: but one of your middle round picks of taking a
Speaker 1: guy that could serve in a return role as compared
Speaker 1: to a guy who couldn't. Well, I hope it would.
Speaker 1: I would like to see that happen. You know, you
Speaker 1: could take a receiver who you're not sure that he
Speaker 1: can contribute right away, uh as a receiver very much
Speaker 1: at least, but if he can start his career by
Speaker 1: being your main return man, then you definitely get value
Speaker 1: out of that pick. And um, you know, Bruce arians
Speaker 1: and and Jason might have talked about it. How you know,
Speaker 1: in addition to looking at players that they think will
Speaker 1: be good two years down the road. They're also going
Speaker 1: to be looking to see if these guys can contribute
Speaker 1: right away on special teams. And with some of those guys,
Speaker 1: like say a corner or something, they mean can they
Speaker 1: be good cover guys? But that could also mean can
Speaker 1: they help us a return man? And I would love
Speaker 1: to see that happen personally, and I'd even be happy
Speaker 1: to see it happened with a fairly high pick, like
Speaker 1: a first or second round pick. So um, but that's
Speaker 1: just me. I don't know for sure if Jason Lytton
Speaker 1: is crew and Bruce Arians are gonna be tarting that specifically,
Speaker 1: but I'm in favor of it. Yeah, I thought this
Speaker 1: is interesting. Richard asked, do you expect the Bucks to
Speaker 1: simply pick the best player available in each round, regardless
Speaker 1: of position? So I know we've talked about this a
Speaker 1: lot in terms of the thirty two pick and whether
Speaker 1: or not that's just a you know, best player available
Speaker 1: or a certain position. But is the answer to that
Speaker 1: different for different rounds in terms of positions of need
Speaker 1: versus just best player available. I think absolutely it's a
Speaker 1: different answer. Um, I do think the best player available
Speaker 1: strategy will be I don't ever think personally that it's
Speaker 1: best player no matter how stronger depth chart is. If
Speaker 1: you've got two guys and one is this isn't the scale.
Speaker 1: But if when you have grade at ninety eight, when
Speaker 1: you have graded at ninety seven and you could probably
Speaker 1: use that second position a little bit more, you go
Speaker 1: that way. But I think later in the draft, for sure,
Speaker 1: you're you're taking guys that maybe, um, you do feel
Speaker 1: like you could use a little bit more at this
Speaker 1: part of the depth chart or that part of the
Speaker 1: depth chart, or this guy could help us. We're looking
Speaker 1: at we've got two offensive tackles or something that their
Speaker 1: contracts are up in a year, and so we should
Speaker 1: probably start preparing for that a little bit. I definitely
Speaker 1: think me comes into it a little bit more as
Speaker 1: you go farther down the draft. And then also it's
Speaker 1: a little harder when you're talking about like fifth, six
Speaker 1: and seventh round picks to actually say with confidence who
Speaker 1: the best player available is because lots of times that
Speaker 1: that part of the draft you're looking at guys that
Speaker 1: have one or two specific traits if they were good
Speaker 1: at everything, that they're already proven it everything, they'd be
Speaker 1: a first or second round pick. But you know, like,
Speaker 1: let's take Scotty Miller, I mean, sixth round pick a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. And he was fast. I mean
Speaker 1: he was really really fast. He's not a big guy,
Speaker 1: so he's not going in the first round, and he
Speaker 1: was from a fairly small school and not really a
Speaker 1: well known prospect. But he was fast, and the Buccaneers
Speaker 1: thought and quick, you know, sharpon cuts and so on.
Speaker 1: Buckeers thought something could come with that, and it has.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what you're looking at a lot
Speaker 1: of times in later rounds. All right. Richard had asked,
Speaker 1: how would you feel if we keep trading back to
Speaker 1: accumulate draft picks since we have a lot of players
Speaker 1: on one year contracts, So we talked about trading back
Speaker 1: to accumulate more picks this year. Um, how likely would
Speaker 1: it be that they could trade back for picks for
Speaker 1: next year? Well, you might having a one on one
Speaker 1: conversation with Richard. What's funny is there's actually multiple Richard. Richard, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we both have good ideas. I like this one a
Speaker 1: lot personally, because, um, he's right. And in addition to
Speaker 1: the idea, about a lot of one year contracts, which
Speaker 1: has been the case for a couple of years now. Um.
Speaker 1: You also you wonder if the Buccaneers draft eight players,
Speaker 1: is the room for eight players even with the sixty
Speaker 1: practice squad. I guess with that there might be, but
Speaker 1: is there really room for eight guys to make this team?
Speaker 1: And so it makes a little bit of sense to
Speaker 1: acquire picks for a year or two years down the
Speaker 1: road when you might have more openings. And that's because,
Speaker 1: of course, as he said, a lot of one year contracts.
Speaker 1: So I think it makes a lot of sense. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I would love to see us trade down.
Speaker 1: You just have to find a team that wants to
Speaker 1: do with though. I mean, it's not just you snap
Speaker 1: your fingers and say, okay we're trading on to in spots.
Speaker 1: You have to find a partner. Um. But I think
Speaker 1: it would be a great move. And in terms of
Speaker 1: Geo getting signed, you know Giovanni Bernard, we haven't really
Speaker 1: got to talk a lot about him, Um since our
Speaker 1: recent shows. What does that mean for not only the
Speaker 1: draft and some of those you know needs versus best
Speaker 1: player available? And then what do you think it means
Speaker 1: for that running back room and in terms of who
Speaker 1: gets what reps and what kind of role he could play. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you know, we carried four um during the season and
Speaker 1: three of them are back and the one that isn't
Speaker 1: back as a Lashawn McCoy. So it's pretty obvious that
Speaker 1: Giovanni Bernard pretty much takes Sean McCoy's spot. And if
Speaker 1: you look back at it, you know, we didn't we
Speaker 1: had a little bit of trouble, I don't know if
Speaker 1: trouble's the right word, but didn't really find a ton
Speaker 1: of opportunities for Keyshawn Vaughan, who was a promising third
Speaker 1: round pick, and then Lachan McCoy after the first month
Speaker 1: barely played at all. So, um, it's not as if
Speaker 1: there's a ton of opportunities available if you just go
Speaker 1: one to one, but it's never gonna from one. Of course,
Speaker 1: it's never gonna play out exactly the same, right And
Speaker 1: if Geoe Vernion Bernard perusing training camp or early in
Speaker 1: the season that he's you know, maybe our most dynamic
Speaker 1: pass catching back, then I think he forces them to
Speaker 1: give him a little more playing time. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: so maybe who who loses snaps, I don't know or
Speaker 1: maybe the Buccaneers have a little bit more balanced to
Speaker 1: their offense. They were about twenty nine or thirtieth last
Speaker 1: year in terms of run play percentage, and I think
Speaker 1: Bruce arians would like to see that go up. But
Speaker 1: then you think about the draft and if the best
Speaker 1: player available and it's it's glaringly there and it's great
Speaker 1: running back, you still take him. But I don't think
Speaker 1: you'd go into this draft really prioritizing getting another back
Speaker 1: because he pretty much I don't know what you would
Speaker 1: do with him with all these other guys that you have, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: So Matthew asked, what is one position where the depth
Speaker 1: is sin So we're just somehow we got all these
Speaker 1: all these running backs so on. On the other side
Speaker 1: of things, is there a position that you if you
Speaker 1: had to pick one, because we obviously know at this
Speaker 1: point when you want a Super Bowl, theoretically you got
Speaker 1: a pretty good roster there, especially when you brought this
Speaker 1: many guys back, but it caned to pick one that
Speaker 1: the depth was a little bit less. What would you say, Yeah,
Speaker 1: your second part of that was true, because you can
Speaker 1: win a Super Bowl but lose three or four guys
Speaker 1: to free agency. That usually happens. So the two of
Speaker 1: those together mean the depth chart is really solid, and
Speaker 1: I'm going through them in my head. Well, I will say,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a spot where a guy could
Speaker 1: play right away. But the Bucks inside linebackers inside linebacker
Speaker 1: position is pretty thin, and it was really all during
Speaker 1: the last season. Fortunately the depth didn't become needed. But
Speaker 1: you have that amazing duo of Lavonte David and Devin White,
Speaker 1: and then all you have otherwise right now is Kevin Minter.
Speaker 1: So you know they could bring back Jack said to
Speaker 1: your Dawn Buchanan. But even then, I'm not sure you
Speaker 1: think you've got a guy for the long term. So, uh,
Speaker 1: the depth there isn't rate. But I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's a first round pick because I don't think that
Speaker 1: guy would get on the field for a few years
Speaker 1: if you're only playing two of them. Um, I guess
Speaker 1: interior offensive line maybe a little bit. You know, you've
Speaker 1: got Aaron Stinny now who has proven um proven a
Speaker 1: little bit after his nice running the playoffs, But you
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of depth there behind the starters.
Speaker 1: And you do have a few guys like Ryan Jensen
Speaker 1: whose contracts are up pretty soon, so I would I
Speaker 1: probably pick those two spots, but they're definitely not glaring
Speaker 1: needs by any by any case. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for us. On this edition of
Speaker 1: Buccaneers Inside our Live, presented by Miller Lytton. As always,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be shooting a road to the Draft after
Speaker 1: this is. Stay tuned to that on Buccaneers dot com
Speaker 1: if you have more thoughts on the draft and what
Speaker 1: you want to hear in terms of meat or what
Speaker 1: the Bucks might do. And we are so close, We've
Speaker 1: only got one more of these shows before the draft.
Speaker 1: We're almost here and we'll have some answers for all
Speaker 1: of those questions. So we'll see you guys next week.
Speaker 1: M