Speaker 1: Good morning Bucks fans. Hope everyone is doing great on
Speaker 1: this Wednesday morning, Casey Phillips. Here was senior writer and
Speaker 1: editor Scott Smith, And this is where we take all
Speaker 1: of your questions. So if you're not already watching on Facebook,
Speaker 1: head on over there, leave us a comment in the
Speaker 1: comment section. That's where we can find all of your
Speaker 1: questions as we get people a chance to do that.
Speaker 1: We have not done one of these since last week,
Speaker 1: and it was sort of right in the middle of
Speaker 1: Mini camp where we had had a practice and then
Speaker 1: our show was actually in the middle of the second practice,
Speaker 1: and then we had one more after that. So we
Speaker 1: gave some of the initial mini camp thoughts last week,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to hear sort of now that it's
Speaker 1: wrapped up, you've heard a little bit more from the
Speaker 1: media's on another practice. What are your big picture kind
Speaker 1: of takeaways from the mini camp. Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: a good way to put it, because I think it's
Speaker 1: the big picture stuff that that you should take away
Speaker 1: from something like that three days of practice. You know,
Speaker 1: not hey, Chris Godwin made a nice catch on the
Speaker 1: sideline or something like that. I mean obviously that he's
Speaker 1: going to do that. But one of the big picture
Speaker 1: things is teams in pretty good health. I mean, there
Speaker 1: were six guys that weren't practicing when the camp for
Speaker 1: most of the camp, just six out of eighty nine,
Speaker 1: and um, Tom Brady was not one of those. He
Speaker 1: was going full speed. Uh. And then one other player,
Speaker 1: safety and Curtis Riley, got hurt during camp. But the
Speaker 1: Riley injury is a little unsure at this point. Last
Speaker 1: we heard he had an achilles thing. Coach Areas wasn't
Speaker 1: sure if he needed surgery or not. But everybody else, um,
Speaker 1: from Jordan Whitehead being a couple of weeks away to
Speaker 1: Jalen Darden being very close to returning, all the other
Speaker 1: six guys coach said would be no problem for training camp.
Speaker 1: So the Bucks should and in training camp in really
Speaker 1: good shape. And and you know, along those same lines,
Speaker 1: you know it's kind of a disjointed offseason, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: not a lot And you know the O t s
Speaker 1: were mostly just young guys. Veterans were working out with
Speaker 1: Tom Brady. Um, you know, we were finding out along
Speaker 1: the way what we're gonna be able to do. There
Speaker 1: was fewer O T A s than ever before, and
Speaker 1: so you could have expected, possibly when the team, the
Speaker 1: whole team for the first time since the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: gets back on the practice field of practice, that it
Speaker 1: would be a little ragged, right, But they look pretty good.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Bucks looked, according to Bruce Arians, like
Speaker 1: they're where they need to be heading into training camp.
Speaker 1: And you know, that probably says a lot about what
Speaker 1: teams need to do in the off season. UM. And
Speaker 1: I'm not sure coaches and players completely agree on the
Speaker 1: final answer there, but I think it's just my biggest
Speaker 1: takeaway is that the Bucks are in good health and
Speaker 1: ready to go for the start of training camp. And
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of times we're talking about
Speaker 1: position battles that are happening in mini camp and that
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to in training camp. Now when you
Speaker 1: return all twenty two starters, all three specialists, I don't
Speaker 1: know that that debate is quite as spicy as it
Speaker 1: has been in years past. Um, But what are some
Speaker 1: of the position battles that could still happen, Whether it
Speaker 1: is for a starting spot as slim as that might seem,
Speaker 1: or just those roster spots down there at the you know,
Speaker 1: fifty one two three area. It's definitely the ladder um
Speaker 1: and I think it was on the last day on Thursday,
Speaker 1: coach Arians after practice said something about some pretty good battles,
Speaker 1: and I think somebody in the crowd misunderstood a little
Speaker 1: bit and asked a follow up question, like, what what
Speaker 1: starting spots are you talking about being up for competition,
Speaker 1: And Bruce said, oh, no, no no, not not starting spots.
Speaker 1: Those are pretty much set and and coaches don't say
Speaker 1: that a lot. They like to say, hey, every spot's
Speaker 1: open for competition, but I mean we're being realistic here,
Speaker 1: so we're talking about, um, a little bit farther down
Speaker 1: the depth chart spots, but they're still important. Those are
Speaker 1: still important battles, and they're still gonna be thought pretty
Speaker 1: fiercely like um, well, for you know, for one, there's
Speaker 1: a pretty much what looks like a one on one
Speaker 1: battle for the punt return job between the veteran Jaden
Speaker 1: Mickens and the rookie Jalen Darden. But then there's also
Speaker 1: like the fifth cornerback or will there be six cornerbacks? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, the safety position, the depth there after, Andrew
Speaker 1: Adams was one of the few guys that left, like
Speaker 1: you know, at corner they liked Herb Miller a lot.
Speaker 1: They elevated him for the practice squad several times last year,
Speaker 1: and I think he'll be battling to maybe get an
Speaker 1: actual spot on the fifty three man roster this time.
Speaker 1: You know, you got the rookie Chris Wilcox, the six
Speaker 1: on draft pick, and then they added some veterans, including
Speaker 1: Antonio Hamilton who was on the Chiefs during the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and it's really played a lot of football and would
Speaker 1: help right away on special teams. So there's there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of competition there at safety. You got
Speaker 1: Raven Green from the Packers, who really did some pretty
Speaker 1: good work for Green Bay, just had a little trouble
Speaker 1: staying on the field, uh, you know, due to injuries,
Speaker 1: which is why they let him go or didn't sign
Speaker 1: him as a restricted free agent. And then, of course,
Speaker 1: as I said, uh, another one of those Curtis Riley,
Speaker 1: another one's safety has got hurt. So that kind of
Speaker 1: muddies the picture a little bit. And then coach said
Speaker 1: Javan Hagen, last year it was it was a guy
Speaker 1: who spent the entire season on the practice squad did
Speaker 1: get to play a little bit in the NFC Championship game. Um,
Speaker 1: he said he came in had lost some weight and
Speaker 1: was in really good shape. So and the secondary, I
Speaker 1: think there's gonna be a lot of good battles to
Speaker 1: sort of round out the back end of that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That always makes training camp fun to have some of
Speaker 1: those storylines to watch as guy's battle it out. Um. Okay,
Speaker 1: So Richard asked UM, who has a better chance for
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year, Shack Barrett or Devin White?
Speaker 1: And then I thought I'd expand it and just ask
Speaker 1: you of our whole defense, are those that two top
Speaker 1: candidates you would suggest? Or if you were to say
Speaker 1: that the person on our defense most likely to win
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year, who would it be. Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think he has done a very good job of
Speaker 1: nailing the top two candidates there, because Um, generally, most
Speaker 1: of the time, the defensive Player of the Year does
Speaker 1: go to a guy who gets a lot of sacks,
Speaker 1: and Shack Barrett is is the best bet for us
Speaker 1: to put up huge sack numbers. He also is very
Speaker 1: setting very very ambitious goals for this season. He even
Speaker 1: mentioned wanting to be Defensive Player of the Year, wanting
Speaker 1: to prove he's the best, one of the best edge
Speaker 1: rushers in the entire league. He's definitely motivated UM And
Speaker 1: But then Devin White probably on paper, would have the
Speaker 1: best shot because he's a guy that's really going to
Speaker 1: fill up the whole stat line. So like last year
Speaker 1: nine sacks, that's pretty remarkable for an off the ball linebacker,
Speaker 1: and they tended to come and bunches for him. So
Speaker 1: it's hard to say if he'll produce that again. But
Speaker 1: if Devin White HiT's double digit sacks somehow and has
Speaker 1: a hundred fifty tackles and maybe throws in a couple
Speaker 1: of um, a couple of turnovers, interceptions, a touchdown like
Speaker 1: when Derek Brooks wanted in two thousand and two he
Speaker 1: had five i think four in the regular season defensive touchdowns.
Speaker 1: I mean that kind of big play. Probably because of
Speaker 1: the position he plays, Devin White has the best chance
Speaker 1: to be the buck to rack up rack up those
Speaker 1: type of place. Yeah, I'd put him at the top
Speaker 1: of the list. Yeah, that makes sense. Daniel said, who
Speaker 1: are our dark horse picks for the biggest surprise to
Speaker 1: turn heads this year? Bucks always seem to find that
Speaker 1: gym in the rough. Uh, gym in the rough, Like,
Speaker 1: are we talking about like a Adam Humphreys kind of
Speaker 1: thing or oh yeah, I think that might be who
Speaker 1: he's referencing in terms of our ability to find some
Speaker 1: guys like a Cambrater and Adam Humphreys. But it may
Speaker 1: not need to be that level, especially because, like we said,
Speaker 1: are starting spots are are pretty locked up. Or you
Speaker 1: may not have a guy go from diamond in the
Speaker 1: rough to you know, super productive starter, but just maybe
Speaker 1: somebody that could turn heads that people have not expected
Speaker 1: to do so quite yet. Um well, it's it's just
Speaker 1: tough because it's hard to see where guys are going
Speaker 1: to break through, like a guy I'd like to see
Speaker 1: a little bit more of his cam Gil, But the
Speaker 1: Buckner's did just draft another player at his position, uh
Speaker 1: in Joe try And who's probably gonna get first crack
Speaker 1: at at you know, breaking that rotation. But I can
Speaker 1: still see Gil making the team. Larry Foote it says
Speaker 1: he's already lobbying to keep five outside Lineburgers when he
Speaker 1: was kept to four for most of last season, So um,
Speaker 1: Gil would probably be battling Quentin Bell for the fifth
Speaker 1: one there. Uh well, that's that's a tough question. Otherwise, UM, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was thinking maybe a Grant Steward because of the
Speaker 1: Special Teams contributions, that he's this kind of known for
Speaker 1: being a big hitter guy. That because we lost Ryan
Speaker 1: Smith's and you know, he was kind of our Special
Speaker 1: Teams darling, that that maybe that that is one of
Speaker 1: the few spots that someone could make some big splash
Speaker 1: plays that people hadn't really heard of. I mean, when
Speaker 1: you're when your title is Mr. Irrelevant, any any big
Speaker 1: splash plays you end up making seems like you could
Speaker 1: qualify for that Diamond in the rough cat. I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking along lines of Special Teams. That does
Speaker 1: make some stance, since you know, it's it's not often
Speaker 1: that a Special Teams player becomes, you know, one of
Speaker 1: your team's most recognizable guys. But it happens like Matthew
Speaker 1: Slater in New England. I can remember the good old
Speaker 1: days of Kenny Kenny the Shark gant here in Tampa
Speaker 1: and he used to make a lot of plays with
Speaker 1: Special Teams and the crowd really loved him. So I
Speaker 1: could see a guy maybe, you know, breaking through in
Speaker 1: that way. Yeah, I just remember Ryan Smith getting turned
Speaker 1: into a meme after that, leaning players in the ball
Speaker 1: from the end zone and yeah, so so a few
Speaker 1: of those plays like that, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: you become more of a name for your special teams contribution. Um.
Speaker 1: I thought this was an interesting question. Mike asked, who
Speaker 1: is our next rising star on the coaching staff outside
Speaker 1: of left witch and bowls? M Hm, you you took
Speaker 1: the two obvious answers, right right, yeah, work in the list. Well,
Speaker 1: I think my answer might be Kevin Garver. Okay, that
Speaker 1: he's a guy that's still you know, young, and I
Speaker 1: think the Athletic maybe named him to their list of
Speaker 1: the like forty under forty kind of like influencing the
Speaker 1: direction of the league and all that. And I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, he already did work with Larry Fitzgerald in
Speaker 1: Arizona that seemed to go pretty well. Although maybe Larry
Speaker 1: Fitzgerald was just already made, you know, like already prepared
Speaker 1: to be an amazing player. But and then of course
Speaker 1: he's he's done some amazing things here with a very
Speaker 1: loaded wide receiver room. I feel like he's a guy
Speaker 1: that now has worked with so much talent that he
Speaker 1: that that could give you some some kudos around the
Speaker 1: league and maybe be a bit of a rising star.
Speaker 1: What about a guy like Casey Rodgers, the defensive line coach,
Speaker 1: who instead of thinking this is like who's the next
Speaker 1: possible UM head coach? On this rest you go through
Speaker 1: the progression like, if Todd Bowles gets a head coaching job,
Speaker 1: could Casey Rogers be in line to potentially be the
Speaker 1: next defensive coordinator? Yeah? I think didn't. I think Casey
Speaker 1: just one UM line coach of the year, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he won some award for his coaching, so I think
Speaker 1: he's probably really good. Answer to that, Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: great point. Okay. Our next one was for Mitch, and
Speaker 1: he asked, um, wait, now I've read the wrong one. Michael.
Speaker 1: Michael asked, does Kyle Trask look capable of being a
Speaker 1: starter after Brady leaves? Well? We no, no, not yet.
Speaker 1: I mean we definitely haven't seen enough of him to
Speaker 1: know that yet. That's obviously what the team is hoping happens.
Speaker 1: And he's done some impressive things and he's looked like
Speaker 1: a rookie at times, but it's such a small sample
Speaker 1: size that, um, yeah, I don't think we can declare that.
Speaker 1: Yet you can say though, that he fits the mold
Speaker 1: of what the Buccaneers were looking for that for in
Speaker 1: the developmental quarterback. I think they like his arm and
Speaker 1: his his style of play and his brains and and
Speaker 1: I just think he's a guy. As coach Christensen said,
Speaker 1: they're going to be bringing him along very deliberately and slowly,
Speaker 1: and that's the way he's choosing to learn right now.
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be a while. TI we can make
Speaker 1: proclamations like that, but I do think that is sort
Speaker 1: of a tentative plan for the succession and we'll see
Speaker 1: if it works out. Okay, and we'll close up this one.
Speaker 1: Brandon asked, who is your who do you think will
Speaker 1: be the m v P of the Bucks this next year?
Speaker 1: And I'm going to add a caveat that. You can't
Speaker 1: answer Tom Brady just I would have said Tom Brady, right.
Speaker 1: So outside of that, who's here probably? I mean, I'll
Speaker 1: just circle back to what we were talking about before,
Speaker 1: Devin White. I mean, if he takes another step forward
Speaker 1: as a as a impact defender, he's going to be
Speaker 1: one of the most impactful defenders in the NFL. And
Speaker 1: if the Buccaneers defense plays like it did in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, especially uh and really becomes less of a
Speaker 1: b side to this whole Tom Brady story and more
Speaker 1: of like, hey, the defense here is as responsible for
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers being Super Bowl contenders again as Tom Brady
Speaker 1: in the offense. Then there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: eyes in that defense. There's gonna be people looking for, Okay,
Speaker 1: who's the lynchpin here? And and Devin White just seems
Speaker 1: like a guy who could take it to another level
Speaker 1: throwing a lot more splash plays and at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, you're going, well, we can't pick Tom Brady, Okay,
Speaker 1: then I think it's probably deaf one. I like that. Well,
Speaker 1: that's going to do it for us. On this edition
Speaker 1: of Buccaneers Inside Our Live presented by Miller Lte, Thanks
Speaker 1: is always for being with us and for those great questions,
Speaker 1: and we'll see you next week.