Speaker 1: Welcome to Buccaneers and Sideur Live presented by Miller like
Speaker 1: case of Phillips and Scott Smith here. And we had
Speaker 1: a week off last week, but we are back now
Speaker 1: to talk all things Buccaneers, and we just you know,
Speaker 1: this is normally the time of year where there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of going on anyways, whether they're there's COVID
Speaker 1: or not. This is kind of the lull before the
Speaker 1: storm normally anyway. So that's what I'm trying to tell
Speaker 1: myself to just make it feel more normal and reasonable.
Speaker 1: But it still feels like hopefully there is actually going
Speaker 1: to be football coming soon. And I know that you
Speaker 1: guys have probably tons of questions, So if you have
Speaker 1: questions for us, go ahead and send them on the
Speaker 1: Facebook page. If you're not already watching this live on Facebook,
Speaker 1: head on over there and you can leave a comment
Speaker 1: underneath the live video and we'll get a chance to
Speaker 1: go to as many of those questions as we can
Speaker 1: as we get people a chance to start asking those. Um,
Speaker 1: we know that the franchise tag is coming up. That's
Speaker 1: one of the few sort of newsworthy things that does
Speaker 1: happen this time of year, and and the deadline to
Speaker 1: have that signed is coming up, so it's gotta want
Speaker 1: to hear your thoughts on just overall how that might
Speaker 1: affect the Buccaneers. What can we be expecting to see
Speaker 1: in this next couple of weeks. Yeah, the deadline is, uh,
Speaker 1: I guess a week from today, and that's the deadline
Speaker 1: for which you can actually sign a guy on the
Speaker 1: franchise tag to a long term deal. So once that passes,
Speaker 1: that really only two options are designed or two not
Speaker 1: you know, to hold out. And I think Shack Barrett
Speaker 1: has made it clear that he intends to play this season. Obviously,
Speaker 1: his goal and probably the team's goal, would be to
Speaker 1: have a longer term deal worked out. Um but at
Speaker 1: the very least he should be playing on the franchise
Speaker 1: tag and we'll know that within a week. And and
Speaker 1: you know, maybe the uncertainty of the landscape of not
Speaker 1: just the NFL, but the entire world during all this
Speaker 1: COVID stuff is contributing to him and a few other
Speaker 1: guys not getting deals done that might have gotten done
Speaker 1: in a more normal year. Um. But I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's good news or bad news. It's
Speaker 1: just a deadline. It's it's something that we're gonna know
Speaker 1: one way or another, which under type of contract check
Speaker 1: Bear is playing for the Buccaneers is coming here. Unfortunately
Speaker 1: he's also he's already made it clear that he intends
Speaker 1: to play, so it's not really something that's you know,
Speaker 1: making us. We're not nervous about it. I guess I
Speaker 1: would say, okay, And I love this question already. This
Speaker 1: is great. I think it's from one of our fans,
Speaker 1: eleven year old daughters. Uh, she wanted to know who's
Speaker 1: going to be the Diamond and the Reugh this year.
Speaker 1: That she mentioned Shack last year and Adam Humphries the
Speaker 1: year before that, so there's always someone. And apparently she
Speaker 1: is quite good at baking and is offered, if you
Speaker 1: get it right, if it is accurate, to have some
Speaker 1: cookies made for you that include things like homemade rainbow cookies.
Speaker 1: There's a lot writing on this. Well. First of all,
Speaker 1: it's a very sophisticated question for an eleven year old,
Speaker 1: And what I want to know is just getting it right.
Speaker 1: I mean, I get what she thinks the answer is,
Speaker 1: or or I predict now and then that that player
Speaker 1: have always both and it doubles your chances of getting cookies. Wow, well,
Speaker 1: I'm really nervous. Point can't I can't afford to get
Speaker 1: this one wrong. Um uh boy. The problem for this
Speaker 1: particular question this year is that the depth chart is
Speaker 1: so set with with most of the guys you already know. Um,
Speaker 1: maybe Antoine Winfield. Is that fair? I mean he's a rookie. Um,
Speaker 1: it's not exactly the same situation. I don't know if
Speaker 1: am I supposed to be picking somebody off of the
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent list. I mean, Shaq wasn't an undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent, So it sounds like it's just somebody that
Speaker 1: ends up having an amazing year that nobody really knew
Speaker 1: would be that. All right, how about I'll go with
Speaker 1: Keyshawn varn then, because you know, the funny thing about
Speaker 1: that pick is the a lot of the reaction to
Speaker 1: that pick was when the Bucks didn't take a running
Speaker 1: back in the second round, which many people expected. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna lie, I kind of thought we might do
Speaker 1: that as well. And the way the running backs worked
Speaker 1: out this year, it wasn't really top heavy, but there
Speaker 1: were a lot of players that that um people expected
Speaker 1: going late first mid the second round, and that that
Speaker 1: did happen, and there were some guys that were bigger
Speaker 1: names than Keisha and Vaughan that came off the board
Speaker 1: around when the books picked, but they passed and went
Speaker 1: with the safety who they clearly didn't want to pass
Speaker 1: up on, and and they obviously did that believing they
Speaker 1: could get the player they wanted in the third round.
Speaker 1: And after that pick, when that sort of concept was
Speaker 1: thrown at UM Jason light, his answer was, you know,
Speaker 1: our board wasn't necessarily the same as everybody's. You know,
Speaker 1: every the perception out there, whatever had been created by
Speaker 1: UM analysts and so on over the course of the
Speaker 1: lead up to the draft, was that there were certain
Speaker 1: tears and that this guy was the best running back
Speaker 1: and he was second, he was third, and so on.
Speaker 1: And he said, you know, and it's true, because that's
Speaker 1: not really the way it works out. I mean, Chris
Speaker 1: Godwin was like the thirteenth receiver selected that year, and
Speaker 1: obviously he's been probably the best receiver out of that class. See,
Speaker 1: you can't necessarily just just because the Buccaneers passed on
Speaker 1: I don't know, the l s U running back instead
Speaker 1: and went with Keisha von that doesn't mean they got
Speaker 1: their second or third. I see what I'm saying, So
Speaker 1: I think they they are a lot higher on Vaughan
Speaker 1: than maybe the the pre draft rankings were. This is
Speaker 1: my point. So, um, would it be would he fit
Speaker 1: the the answer to this question if he ends up
Speaker 1: getting the same or more yards and scrimmage than Ronald Jones?
Speaker 1: I think it's possible. And I really want those cookies,
Speaker 1: so I thop that's the case, um, And I think
Speaker 1: that the path to that is him becoming the third
Speaker 1: down back and catching a lot of passes. So maybe
Speaker 1: getting five dred receiving yards and five D rushing yards
Speaker 1: could put them there. Okay, I like that answer. I
Speaker 1: like that answer. All right. Daniel said, is the team
Speaker 1: looking for another edge rusher? And if so, maybe who
Speaker 1: could be a possibility? You know, I've said that along
Speaker 1: or at least last couple of months, and normally this
Speaker 1: is the time of year where you'd have a couple
Speaker 1: of little roster additions. You're sort of turning over the
Speaker 1: eight six to nineties spots. Um, And as we've mentioned, Um,
Speaker 1: Bruce arians made it clear that he and Jason Light
Speaker 1: have made a point of not taking the roster all
Speaker 1: way up to ninety three or four spots that are available.
Speaker 1: Usually you would fill all of them because you have
Speaker 1: teams on the field practicing and you want as many
Speaker 1: players as you can get. But that's not really that
Speaker 1: big of an issue this year, so they said they
Speaker 1: were keeping those spots open for the possibility of signing
Speaker 1: a veteran here there that could step right in for
Speaker 1: one thing, and be able to play special teams. But
Speaker 1: also that's something that could get into the mixed quickly
Speaker 1: and learn the system quickly. And that's why they're talking
Speaker 1: about a veteran. And he mentioned inside linebacker, outside linebacker,
Speaker 1: in defensive line as three positions where you might do that.
Speaker 1: And and it seems to me that veteran edge Russia
Speaker 1: would make a lot of sense because after JPP and Shack,
Speaker 1: you really don't have anybody at all that has much experience.
Speaker 1: You know, Anthony Nelson is probably the most experienced guy,
Speaker 1: and he played about half a season as a rookie
Speaker 1: did to injuries, So it would make a lot of
Speaker 1: sense to me. You know, the big name that's still
Speaker 1: out there is Clay Matthews. Um, I guess he could
Speaker 1: make some sense, But there's also and I'm blanking on
Speaker 1: his name the Giant, the player for the Giants who
Speaker 1: used to be with Arizona and played for Bruce Arians. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's bothered me. They can't think of his name right now,
Speaker 1: but he played for um Bruce Arians. The problem is
Speaker 1: he might be demanding a little bit more of a
Speaker 1: contract than the Buccaneers are looking at. You know, if
Speaker 1: they're going to bring in a guy now with the
Speaker 1: cap situation as it is, it's probably a mid tier
Speaker 1: kind of guy. So I'm not it's exactly sure. Who
Speaker 1: would be to me that would be the most obvious
Speaker 1: position to make an addition for two? Okay, Um, and
Speaker 1: you know, we we were talking about the idea of
Speaker 1: this off season overall and how weird it is in
Speaker 1: terms of trying to add new people not knowing what
Speaker 1: all is going to happen, and um, it made me
Speaker 1: want to hear for you, who are the people that
Speaker 1: you think this is hardest for the way this off
Speaker 1: season is going. You know the fact that we've missed
Speaker 1: so many reps and guys are having to figure out
Speaker 1: how to work out you know, in different places and
Speaker 1: at home. Um, who are the either individual players or
Speaker 1: maybe even are there certain position groups. It's harder on
Speaker 1: just overall. Who does this affect more than others? Well,
Speaker 1: it's harder on the undrafted free agents. And it's really
Speaker 1: a shame for those guys. And and and we've talked
Speaker 1: about it before. Even beyond that, if you remember how
Speaker 1: an off season usually goes, You sign your undrafted free agents,
Speaker 1: and you have your draft class, and then you have
Speaker 1: a rookie mini camp about a week later, and you
Speaker 1: fill out the roster for that camp with a bunch
Speaker 1: of players on trial contracts, And every single year, three
Speaker 1: or four of those guys get signed, like Adam Humphreys,
Speaker 1: who that a love year old fan brought up. Uh,
Speaker 1: every year you signed a couple of those guys and
Speaker 1: you sort of turn over the bottom of the roster. Well,
Speaker 1: how are those guys getting an opportunity at this point?
Speaker 1: They may it Maybe that next year there's a double
Speaker 1: load of guys like that, because if you're safe, you're
Speaker 1: Adam Humphreys coming out of Clemson and you don't get
Speaker 1: a shot this year, you still maybe probably bide your
Speaker 1: time and try again next year, and then really a
Speaker 1: whole another class, So there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: guys buy in for roster spots next year. But when
Speaker 1: you get to even the guys that we did sign,
Speaker 1: like a Michael Dvinity or Zach Shackelford or you know,
Speaker 1: all those receivers from small schools or the quarterback where
Speaker 1: you'd send it, they would have had some time now
Speaker 1: already to sort of learn the system. And that's what
Speaker 1: the off season is so good for for the rookies
Speaker 1: is they don't know the system when they arrive here
Speaker 1: like the returning players do, so to be able to
Speaker 1: do well in training camp to already have that base
Speaker 1: from the off season is very helpful for them. And
Speaker 1: they don't have that. And I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: very difficult for undrafted free agents to make teams this year,
Speaker 1: and that's a shame. But I hope that it's just
Speaker 1: a dream deferred that they, you know, get their chance
Speaker 1: in years to come. Yeah, that's a good point. Um. Well,
Speaker 1: we had Richard say that it's his birthday and he
Speaker 1: wanted to shout out, so there's a birthday shout out, um,
Speaker 1: And we all said, Joseph, Rap, do you think the
Speaker 1: old line will be better than last year? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: think so. Um, you know, I don't wanna. I don't
Speaker 1: want to disparage DeMar Dotson by saying that, because he's
Speaker 1: been a great Buccaneer for the last decade and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he goes down as one of the Buck greats.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, DeMar Dotson was the elder statesman
Speaker 1: on that team, and now you replace him with a
Speaker 1: all or twenty two whatever. Tristan Worst is rookie, um
Speaker 1: who's impressively athletic, and uh, you know, a first round
Speaker 1: draft pick, a highly coveted guy. I think you have
Speaker 1: a chance to have a real impact player there a
Speaker 1: right tackle. Uh. And then Alex Kappa. The coaches were
Speaker 1: very pleased with what he did last year, but it
Speaker 1: was his first year as a starter, and I expect
Speaker 1: him to be even better. So that's good obviously. And
Speaker 1: and you also have I think the depth is pretty good,
Speaker 1: at least at the tackle. Maybe maybe they need a
Speaker 1: little more depth of you know, in the interior lines.
Speaker 1: Maybe somebody like the rookie I just mentioned mentioned Zach Shackleford,
Speaker 1: steps up. But the tackle depth is nice because presuming
Speaker 1: Tristan Worse wins that starting job, you signed Joe hag
Speaker 1: in the off season, and that's a you know, at
Speaker 1: the very least, he's a very nice swing tackle guy
Speaker 1: with starting experience. So, UM, I think it will be
Speaker 1: better incrementally. Um, you know, maybe not a huge step forward,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think it'll be better. Ryan asked, you
Speaker 1: think they're going after a veteran running back, not not
Speaker 1: a not a big name guy. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: You know, people want to us, want to connect us
Speaker 1: with Davante Freeman. There was all those rumors. It wasn't
Speaker 1: even rumors, it was just you know, Bruce arians answered
Speaker 1: a question with Davante's name in it, and that became
Speaker 1: a couple of stories of back and forth. But I
Speaker 1: don't think if you signed a guy like Davante Freeman,
Speaker 1: I would assume he comes in as your number one guy.
Speaker 1: And so I think they like Ronald Jones and Keyshawn Vaughan,
Speaker 1: so you wouldn't bring in a guy that's going to
Speaker 1: take away their snaps. I wouldn't think. So if there
Speaker 1: is a running back that signed, I would think it'd
Speaker 1: be more of a depth side. Okay. Um, and I
Speaker 1: also we had a question about wide receivers specifically, um
Speaker 1: that that they're a group that I think we've typically
Speaker 1: in recent years have been really struggling to kind of
Speaker 1: figure out where the cutoff would be on who's making
Speaker 1: the team and not there'd be a lot of guys
Speaker 1: kind of all vying for some of those same spots.
Speaker 1: This year it feels more like you haven't. You have
Speaker 1: Mike and Chris, you know, that's an area all on
Speaker 1: their own. And then after that there's a lot up
Speaker 1: in the air and a lot of interesting potential editions
Speaker 1: through the draft or undrafted guys, and then people like
Speaker 1: Justin Watson and Scotty Miller who are coming back. So
Speaker 1: where would you say that group is gonna fall? You mean,
Speaker 1: how many were gonna keep or yeah? And who could
Speaker 1: potentially have the chance to to lock up some of
Speaker 1: those spots. And is that an area where you mentioned
Speaker 1: how hard it might be for some of these rookies
Speaker 1: to prove themselves. Is that an area a spot for them? Yeah.
Speaker 1: The good thing about receiver, though, is even if you
Speaker 1: don't really know the system all that well, like I
Speaker 1: was just talking about, you can come in and one
Speaker 1: on ones and sort of impress with your ability to
Speaker 1: run routes and create separation and and you can show
Speaker 1: a lot of the things that receiver needs to do
Speaker 1: in order to make the roster, maybe not enough to
Speaker 1: carve out any kind of significant role, but enough to
Speaker 1: make the roster or get a practice squad spot. Um.
Speaker 1: I gout that I think is worth thinking about this
Speaker 1: year is Scotty Miller. Um. You know, he got a
Speaker 1: chance to play a little bit, played a little bit
Speaker 1: more in the second half before he got that final
Speaker 1: hamstring injury, showed some big ability. And you know, we
Speaker 1: saw last year that even when Brushope Perriman was playing
Speaker 1: well in the first half of the season, coaches said
Speaker 1: that every single week because they were being asked about
Speaker 1: him and his lack of catches and targets, and they said,
Speaker 1: he's doing everything we wanted to do. It's just that
Speaker 1: there's only so many balls to go around. When you
Speaker 1: have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, you know who's gonna
Speaker 1: They're gonna get the majority of the targets. I think
Speaker 1: that's still gonna be the case this year. And then
Speaker 1: you also have the fact that the tight end position
Speaker 1: is loaded and with Tom Brady, you kind of expect
Speaker 1: him to make big use out of a running back.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's Keyshawn Vaughn. So again, there's only so many
Speaker 1: targets to go around, and I think you could have
Speaker 1: a third receiver who's playing very well but not necessarily
Speaker 1: having a huge number of targets. But if you could
Speaker 1: have that guy being a speedy guy who maybe when
Speaker 1: Chris Gobbin goes into the slot, can take the top
Speaker 1: off the defense and make the occasional big play, that's
Speaker 1: a very useful thing, you know. You know, we talked
Speaker 1: about Brushode Perriman not having a lot of stats in
Speaker 1: the first half or even a little more than half
Speaker 1: of last season, but the Buccaneers were still playing eleven
Speaker 1: personnel with three receivers on the field about fifty eight
Speaker 1: percent of the time. So that third receiver, even if
Speaker 1: he's not getting a lot of stats, is on the
Speaker 1: field all the time. So you want that player to
Speaker 1: be an effective guy who runs routes well and actually
Speaker 1: scares the opposing defense enough that they don't, you know,
Speaker 1: that they have to cover him and create more more
Speaker 1: space for Chris Evans, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. So, um,
Speaker 1: that guy could be Scottie Miller. I think we're all
Speaker 1: excited about Tyler Johnson what he could do, but I
Speaker 1: don't want to forget about Scotty. Yeah, that's a great point. Okay,
Speaker 1: Well that's gonna do it for us on this edition
Speaker 1: of Buccaneers Insider Live presented by Miller Lte. Thanks to
Speaker 1: all of you guys for the questions and for joining in,
Speaker 1: and we will see you next week.