Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. It's time for Buccaneers Insider Live, presented
Speaker 1: by Miller. Like Casey Phillips, here was senior writer and
Speaker 1: editor Scott Smith. And as always, this is where we
Speaker 1: take all of your questions, thoughts, comments, all that, And
Speaker 1: definitely I know this is the time of year we
Speaker 1: enter where we have a lot of those because we
Speaker 1: have everything with free agency and craft and resigning people
Speaker 1: new people and trades and all these things that this
Speaker 1: is when we get to be sort of analytical and
Speaker 1: hypothetical about everything. So there's a whole bunch of stuff
Speaker 1: you guys can ask us about. If you're not already
Speaker 1: watching on the Facebook page, head on over there and
Speaker 1: you can submit your questions for us there um be
Speaker 1: or we get to all of that. Of course, we
Speaker 1: have incredibly sad news that we need to address and
Speaker 1: just that I wanted us to be able to talk
Speaker 1: about a little bit with the news of the passing
Speaker 1: of Vincent Jackson, former Buccaneers wide receiver and Scott I
Speaker 1: dis forige. You can start with you giving some of
Speaker 1: your thoughts on on that news and what he meant
Speaker 1: to this franchise and city. Well, I think my initial
Speaker 1: thought is the same as everybody else. And that's my reaction,
Speaker 1: I guess you would say, and that's incredible shock. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, this franchise has been around for forty five
Speaker 1: years and so and and has had thousands of players
Speaker 1: and at some times you're gonna lose them. But you
Speaker 1: would not have guessed Vincent Jackson if you were told
Speaker 1: that somebody had passed away, a former player only thirty
Speaker 1: eight years old. Just incredibly highly respected inside the organization,
Speaker 1: outside the organization, throughout the community, for all the work
Speaker 1: that he's done, certainly among all the military families that
Speaker 1: he helped. Um. Just just shocking and obviously very very sad,
Speaker 1: sad for his family. UM. You know, there's not much
Speaker 1: more I could say. I know, the people that really
Speaker 1: really had a connection with him, UM said things on
Speaker 1: Twitter and elsewhere, like Mike Evans and Gerald McCoy and
Speaker 1: people like that, and uh, you know, I think their
Speaker 1: their words say a lot about how much he meant
Speaker 1: to so many people. Yeah, I completely agree, um, And
Speaker 1: I one of the things I love about my all
Speaker 1: with the organization is how much I tend to cover
Speaker 1: those community events, UM and do sort of the off
Speaker 1: field stories. And one of the very first stories I
Speaker 1: did when I started here was about Vincent opening his
Speaker 1: cast restaurant, him giving me a tour, and I just
Speaker 1: remember that story realizing he talked about how he had
Speaker 1: personally gone and selected some of the reclaim material that
Speaker 1: they were using in the ceiling of this restaurant. Just
Speaker 1: seeing all these little details that he focused on, and
Speaker 1: it showed why he was so good on the field,
Speaker 1: And then it carried over to off the field, where
Speaker 1: this wasn't something where he just kind of put his
Speaker 1: name on it. He cared about everything that he did.
Speaker 1: It was always something near and dear to his heart.
Speaker 1: And he was so welcoming to me. And I mean,
Speaker 1: he was such a vet by that point, a big
Speaker 1: name player, super successful. He didn't need to do videos,
Speaker 1: he didn't need to help us with some of that stuff,
Speaker 1: but he was always so willing um to do that
Speaker 1: and made it so fun. And um, I got to
Speaker 1: cover his military events he did and the baby shower
Speaker 1: he and his wife would throw for the military moms,
Speaker 1: and um, you could just tell that the genuineness behind
Speaker 1: it and how much he cared and how much he
Speaker 1: meant to a lot of those players and there's been
Speaker 1: so so much turnover in this organization that I think
Speaker 1: there's only something like eight players that were here when
Speaker 1: he was here. Um But he made a mark for
Speaker 1: a very long time on everybody that came into contact
Speaker 1: with him. So yes, we're praying for his family and
Speaker 1: everybody that was close to him, but we just wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure we started with a bit of a
Speaker 1: tribute to a guy who was a great football player
Speaker 1: and an even better guy off the field and impacted
Speaker 1: Tampa in huge ways. U. You were right to start
Speaker 1: with his community work and stuff he did off the field,
Speaker 1: but it's also worth noting what a great player he
Speaker 1: was and one of the best Breegent signings, the most
Speaker 1: successful freed and signings the Buccaneers have ever made. Um So,
Speaker 1: just a real pro on and off the field. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Um So, Now as we start moving to some of
Speaker 1: these questions I know everybody has Again, if you're just
Speaker 1: joining us, if you have questions for our show, you
Speaker 1: can go ahead and put them in the comment section
Speaker 1: underneath the Facebook Live video. Of course, I saw that
Speaker 1: I knew would be getting this one pretty quickly. J J. Watt.
Speaker 1: We had a feeling that was going to be a start.
Speaker 1: Bryce started out asking, um, is J J. Watt of possibility?
Speaker 1: He brought out the idea of he thought of as
Speaker 1: will Shock. He added with will Shack be back? And
Speaker 1: then I just figured in general, that would be an
Speaker 1: interesting place to start of where you know, as people
Speaker 1: look at, is J. J. Watt a good fit here?
Speaker 1: How you see what position in this defense and that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. Well, just from a fit, I think J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt would be a great uh ed rusher, sort of
Speaker 1: inside outside guy in Todd Bull's defense. And a year
Speaker 1: ago I would have easily and quickly dismissed this. They're
Speaker 1: just saying it's very unlikely that the Buccaneers will go
Speaker 1: after J. J. Watt. But after what Jason Lett and
Speaker 1: Bruce Arians and their staffs did last year, every time
Speaker 1: the possibility of something came up, like Rob Gronkowski or
Speaker 1: Leonard Fournette or Antonio Brown, uh, it felt easy to
Speaker 1: dismiss it, and then it happened. So I think after
Speaker 1: last year, I'm gonna be a little less quick to
Speaker 1: dismiss concepts like this. I still think it's unlikely, so
Speaker 1: you know, take it with a grain of salt, but
Speaker 1: I think that the question of there had it, had
Speaker 1: it probably framed the right way. If for some reason
Speaker 1: Shaquille Barrett was not resigned, that would make it more likely.
Speaker 1: But I don't know if the timetable is going to
Speaker 1: work there because he's J. J. Watt is already actively
Speaker 1: searching for a new home, and you see plenty of
Speaker 1: reports with him being linked to various teams that are
Speaker 1: possible signings. So J. J. Watt might sign somewhere before
Speaker 1: we know what's gonna happen with Shaq Barrett. Yeah, I think.
Speaker 1: I think given the salary cap and the incredible number
Speaker 1: of free agents we have, including some very important ones,
Speaker 1: I think the majority of our work is gonna be
Speaker 1: done trying to keep what we have intact, and so
Speaker 1: it makes it seem less likely to have big signings
Speaker 1: like a J. J. Watt, which is perfect cause. Our
Speaker 1: next question was from Michael, who said, what is the
Speaker 1: realistic expectation of keeping the boys together now that we're
Speaker 1: a couple of days past celebrations and we start looking
Speaker 1: towards next season, so we're the likelihood and then what
Speaker 1: is the salary cap situation when it comes to all
Speaker 1: of that, Well, the salary cap situation isn't completely in
Speaker 1: stone yet. I know there's been a lot of reports
Speaker 1: that will be about a hundred eighty million. But then
Speaker 1: we also have the recent reports that the NFL and
Speaker 1: their broadcast part are getting close to new tenure deals
Speaker 1: which could include a whole new infusion of of you know,
Speaker 1: dollars that could be possibly spread around in different ways
Speaker 1: to sort of make up for the impact of the
Speaker 1: pandemic and maybe push that salary cap just up just
Speaker 1: a little bit, which would help the Buccaneers and a
Speaker 1: lot of teams. Of course, um, I think it's relatively
Speaker 1: realistic to expect to get most, probably not all, but
Speaker 1: most of the Buck's key free agents back, just because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of motivation on both sides. I mean,
Speaker 1: you heard it at the parade, You've you've heard players
Speaker 1: say it. I think now I've heard in Dominican Sue,
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin, Lavante, David Shack, Barrett. I'm pretty sure I've
Speaker 1: heard all of them say at some point in another
Speaker 1: that they do want to continue here with the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: Now that doesn't mean they're gonna give some great, big,
Speaker 1: huge hometown discount, but it could be more along the
Speaker 1: lines of how you structure your deals to make all
Speaker 1: of them fit together. So I think the fact that
Speaker 1: there's a lot of belief that this team could chase
Speaker 1: another championship next year and you know, for a few
Speaker 1: years possibly um is a good motivating factor in the
Speaker 1: right direction. Still, some of these guys are definitely gonna
Speaker 1: get paid, though. I mean, I have to also imagine
Speaker 1: that getting to have a boat garade in February doesn't hurt,
Speaker 1: you know, when you look at these different cities you're
Speaker 1: choosing from, I just feel like, you know, I feel like,
Speaker 1: how do you not want to live in Tampa as Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got relatives shoveling the driveways this week, so we've
Speaker 1: had our air conditioning on, so I think I'd prefer
Speaker 1: to be here. Yeah, I feel like this winter storm
Speaker 1: that has swept most of the country is probably helping
Speaker 1: our free agent con um. All right, So we had
Speaker 1: a question from Justin who said, do you see us
Speaker 1: drafting a running back in the first round? Um, if
Speaker 1: some of the guys or said let's see, or if
Speaker 1: he said E T. N from Clemson, if we're still
Speaker 1: on the board at that point, So it looks like
Speaker 1: maybe just some first round priorities he's wondering about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: e t n And and um Naja Harris of Alabama.
Speaker 1: They both are guys are projected to possibly be around
Speaker 1: in the second half of the draft. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: running back in the first round sometimes feels like a
Speaker 1: bit of a luxury pick. But the Bucks are in
Speaker 1: a position to make a luxury pick now. Again though
Speaker 1: it's it's I think we're gonna be saying this to
Speaker 1: just about all these personnel questions for the next couple
Speaker 1: of months. It largely depends on what happens. Does Leonard
Speaker 1: Fournette come back, because if you have Leonard Fournette back
Speaker 1: and Ronald Jones and Keyshawn Vaughan, I think you probably
Speaker 1: could use your first round pick on something else. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about every year how much a
Speaker 1: lot of the front office people wish you could switch
Speaker 1: the draft in free agency order. And I feel like
Speaker 1: this is the first year that's actually kind of nice
Speaker 1: for us to have free agency first, that we do
Speaker 1: have so many guys that we like and want to
Speaker 1: bring back that this is the first time it feels
Speaker 1: more like this is good that we're going to know
Speaker 1: the free agency situation before the draft. Yeah, because I
Speaker 1: think you'd rather have Chris Godwin than any receiver you
Speaker 1: could take at thirty two. Um. But you know if
Speaker 1: you sort for some reason lose Chris god when that
Speaker 1: does put that on the table, right. Yeah. Samuel asked
Speaker 1: do you think Bucks will do a lot of short
Speaker 1: term deals and wait until next year when the cap
Speaker 1: is more to sign longer deals. That makes some sense,
Speaker 1: and I think that could work with some guys. I mean,
Speaker 1: I believe in domin Con Sue, for instance, has signed
Speaker 1: three straight one year deals counting the RAMS. But there's
Speaker 1: some guys that aren't gonna want one year deals. I
Speaker 1: think Shack Burry is an example, really wants to get
Speaker 1: a long term deal done at this point. I would
Speaker 1: think Chris Godwin, who who has so far only played
Speaker 1: on his UM rookie contract, would want a long term deal.
Speaker 1: Of course, there's the option using the franchise tag on
Speaker 1: one of those guys, which could end up being a
Speaker 1: one year deal. Um. I think the questioner makes a
Speaker 1: good point. It makes a lot of sense. You just
Speaker 1: have to have motivation on both sides. Um. Christopher had asked,
Speaker 1: do you see us trading down or up or staying
Speaker 1: at thirty two. Yeah, I could see us trading down.
Speaker 1: It makes a lot of sense. I mean, you're already
Speaker 1: at thirty two is practically the second round. If you could, like,
Speaker 1: let's see, you could trade down five or tin picks
Speaker 1: and reclaim the fourth rounder that you gave up to
Speaker 1: get Rob Gronkowski. Um, that's probably a good move, particularly
Speaker 1: because it's you know, the Buccaneers aren't going into this
Speaker 1: draft with a giant glaring need. I think they clearly
Speaker 1: needed to get a tackle last year. Um. And and
Speaker 1: everybody kind of knew that. Um, I don't see that here,
Speaker 1: So you would think that there are a bunch of
Speaker 1: positions on the board and when that With that being
Speaker 1: the case, it probably doesn't hurt you at all to
Speaker 1: move down five or tin pick. So somebody's really motivated
Speaker 1: to move up and give you a third or fourth
Speaker 1: round pick. I think it makes a lot of sense. Okay,
Speaker 1: And Richard asked, are there any assistant coaches going to
Speaker 1: other teams for promotions? Yeah? I think I think the
Speaker 1: Lions made it official maybe today or yesterday, that Antoine
Speaker 1: Randall els our new wide receivers coach. So good for him.
Speaker 1: We loved having him. It's too bad that he's gone,
Speaker 1: but that's great for him. I have not heard of
Speaker 1: any others. And how much is that going to impact
Speaker 1: this team's ability to have success again next? I think
Speaker 1: we talk a lot about resigning players. UM in your mind,
Speaker 1: how big of a factor is bringing back coaches? You
Speaker 1: always hear every single time how much a team values
Speaker 1: continuity when it's going into a training camp and it
Speaker 1: has the same coordinators in particular UM running the same systems.
Speaker 1: So I think it's a it's a huge benefit to
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers. We I think we saw a little bit
Speaker 1: of that last year. You know, it was a little
Speaker 1: there was the big transition with Tom Brady, your quarterback, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, fitting into the system. But otherwise the defense
Speaker 1: under Todd Bowles. You know, they had most of the
Speaker 1: crew back and the same schemes, and I think you
Speaker 1: saw how that paid off. So it's definitely a plus
Speaker 1: for the Bucks. Don't don't get used to it, though,
Speaker 1: because I'm not sure that's gonna last that long. Uh.
Speaker 1: We're also asked, who do you think is the successor
Speaker 1: after Brady. I don't think we can answer that question yet, because,
Speaker 1: first of all, how many years are we talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, he seems to be motivated to play beyond
Speaker 1: two years. That would require another contract for that to
Speaker 1: happen in Tampa, UM, but a lot can happen between
Speaker 1: them and now the Bucks could use a draft pick
Speaker 1: on a quarterback certainly. UM coach Arians did talk about
Speaker 1: Blaine Gabbert the other day though, how much he thinks,
Speaker 1: you know, he could, how highly he thinks of him,
Speaker 1: and that's a possibility. I mean, we are talking about
Speaker 1: a former very high first round pick. So we've all
Speaker 1: seen his arm, talent on the field. He played well
Speaker 1: in that stint that he had in Detroit. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's a big enough sample to really you know,
Speaker 1: know what you got, but I think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of confidence in him. And Jared asked, do you see
Speaker 1: the Rams as being the biggest challenger in the NFC
Speaker 1: next season? I think that would. I think I'd have
Speaker 1: to go with Green Bay to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: I mean, what they were the team standing there at
Speaker 1: the end with the Buccaneers. They had the first they
Speaker 1: had the home field advantage in the first round. By
Speaker 1: I know, the Rams have an excellent defense and now
Speaker 1: they have Matt Stafford. Um that you know, they're definitely
Speaker 1: gonna be a top continder. I would think, um, but
Speaker 1: I think I would go with Green Bay first. Um,
Speaker 1: and then we'll close with this one. Richard asked, if
Speaker 1: we do get a chance to resign most of our guys,
Speaker 1: what would you say is the biggest need on the team.
Speaker 1: I think probably not just next year, but moving forward,
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers could use some help on the edges on defense.
Speaker 1: You know, some edge rushers or a you know, one
Speaker 1: guy that you could develop into a special player. Uh.
Speaker 1: That's not easy to get when you're picking as low
Speaker 1: as thirty two though, so UM. Otherwise, I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's they're just not glaring needs, right I mean the
Speaker 1: offensive Yeah, the offensive line is in great shape. Maybe
Speaker 1: you want another, uh inside linebacker to start preparing for
Speaker 1: the hopefully not too soon days when you don't have
Speaker 1: Lavante David, But I don't know he should be around
Speaker 1: for a while. It's a pretty solid roster up and down,
Speaker 1: so you know, a dynamic kick returner would be nice,
Speaker 1: but that's not something you're gonna go after in the
Speaker 1: first round. I don't think so. I think this feels
Speaker 1: like the same question is what should the Bucks go
Speaker 1: after in the first round? And to me, the probably
Speaker 1: the best way to go is is outside linebacker edge rusher. Right,
Speaker 1: all right, well that's gonna do it it for us. On
Speaker 1: this edition of Buccaneers Inside Er Live presented by Miller Light,
Speaker 1: we are here with you every week all offseason taking
Speaker 1: all these amazing questions. Thanks for being with us. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next time. STO.