WEBVTT - Draft Week is Upon Us: Adding Depth | Bucs Insider | Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.520 Welcome into Books Insider, presented by Verizon. Casey Phillips here 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:06.120 with senior writer and editor Scott Smith. 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:07.880 And it's here. It's finally here. 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:10.840 The Draft week is upon us. We've been talking about 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:12.880 it for months. You guys have done a bunch of 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:15.640 mock drafts. We have all these ideas. It's just going 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:17.360 to be such a fun week. We hope a lot 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.960 of people are coming out to the draft party out 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:20.960 here at Raymond James Stadium. 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:23.120 It's going to be a lot of fun. For now. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:24.840 We are going to talk a little bit of draft later, 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:26.479 but of course we have to start with the most 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.920 recent news of the Buccaneers and it's just some of 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.040 my favorite news in a while. And I feel like 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.120 we've got to do this a few times this offseason. 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.120 The annual tradition have resigning Will Goles. 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:37.840 That's true. 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.720 We need to make it a holiday. We re signed him, 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.000 one of the fan favorites, one of the team favorites. 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:45.720 Tell me what comes to mind for you about not 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:48.520 only this for him, the organization, but the defense as well. 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:49.200 Well. 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.920 You know this will be what his twelfth year. Very 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.040 few players make it to a dozen years for a 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.800 single team. And he You and I both know he's 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:01.600 been through different coaching staws, different defenses, and he's always 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.039 been willing to maybe change his frame a little bit, 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:07.199 he gets a different role, but he always just gets 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:09.480 the job done. He's been a great buccaneer for a 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.279 long time and now there's a good chance that he'll 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:15.280 be a buccaneer for life, hopefully. And as it's noted 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:19.640 here by somebody who covers the Buccaneers, he's now up 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:21.840 there at what is at sixth place all time and 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.680 games played and most bad defensive linemans, so most more 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.319 than Warren Sap or Eroy Salmon. You know, that's saying something. 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.400 If you can last that long, especially on one team, 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:33.040 you're obviously a good player. But one of the interesting 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.200 things about this is it it's showing how there's a 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.399 little provision in the most recent CBA how that's helping. 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.280 And it's called the four year qualifying offer. You have 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:44.520 to have been a player, has to have been with 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.760 the same team for four consecutive years without any break 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:49.800 in there at least, and obviously Will has been more 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.240 than that, and then they can you can sign them 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.840 and actually pay them one point twenty five million dollars 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.600 more than what it actually counts against the cap, and 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:01.120 the whole point of that when they put that in 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:02.760 I think they actually put it in the twenty eleven 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:04.440 CBA I said most recent but I think it was 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.480 that one. The whole point was to try to help 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:12.160 the veterans who weren't necessarily stars or even necessarily starters 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.120 at this point, helped them still have to spot and 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.639 the lee because otherwise teams would be more likely likely 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.560 to go, well, we could resign Will for three million, 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.560 or we could we could sign a young player at 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:27.920 the rookie minimum, and this allows you to sign that 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:29.480 guy and pay him but not have it hurt the 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:30.040 cap as much. 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:31.120 Yeah, which is great. 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:32.960 I mean, he's someone who just knows the organization so 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.280 much as a locker room favorite, a fan favorite, a 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.160 great guy does so much in the community just and 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.760 I feel like that's been so awesome to watch how 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:45.440 clearly the team has prioritized that this offseason of guys 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.040 that mean a lot to the city, to the organization 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:49.800 that do it right on and off the field. 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:51.720 Yeah. Yeah, Lante, you got Mike, you got Will. 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:55.040 Like it just feels like the trifecta of the long 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.160 tenured great guys on and off the field. So that's 0:02:58.200 --> 0:02:59.840 gonna be really wonderful to see. And I mean, he 0:02:59.919 --> 0:03:01.720 just you're right, he just gets it done that whatever 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.160 you need him to do. And heck, I remember him 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.800 getting that interception his last season. 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.280 Yeah, yeah, and his eleventh season in his first. 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:09.280 Career in he got one. 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.160 So I love this all right. And we have another 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.320 signing as well. This is an offensive lineman. And of course, 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.440 you know the Bucks played a game in Germany. Germany 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:19.200 is our market, so this is a really cool signing 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:21.560 as well. That for all of our German fans out there, 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.680 we've got one. Now we have a German player, Lorenz Metz, 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:27.640 so tell us about the signing. 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.280 So he played at the University of Cincinnati and had 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.639 a little brief period with the Chicago Bears last year 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:38.240 he didn't play. So he's from Germany around Bavaria. I 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:42.800 believe he didn't play a down of American football till 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:44.440 he was eighteen years old and a friend of his 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:48.040 brought him out to practice for a pro team playing 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.880 in Germany, and he was obviously good. He made the team. 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:51.680 He played for a while. 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:56.080 He got noticed by this organization that helps international prospects 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.760 find places in US colleges and that's how he came 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.480 over here. And so you know, that's a really late 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.240 introduction to football. But he played really, really well at Cincinnati, 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.839 and you know, it's interesting. He's a very big guy. 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:09.720 You know, we'll see see if he's got a shot. 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:12.240 I think he's what like six ' nine, Yes, he's. 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:13.400 Been six y or six nine, and he does not 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.680 because he was in the International Player Pathway program, he 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.200 does not count against the ninety man roster. So it's 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:20.640 just an extra spot and why not. 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:21.680 Yeah, that's great. 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.400 And speaking of signings, we still have a couple of 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:26.839 big name bucks that have yet to be signed to 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.119 long term deals that Antoin Winfield, Junior Tristan Wurfs. 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:31.240 Those are the next big things. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.400 As amazing as it has been to watch guys like 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.560 we talked about Mike and Lavonte and will get resigned, 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:37.800 those are kind of the I'm sure next things on 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.039 the to do list for Jason light And I know 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.040 we got to hear from him recently. So in general, 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.080 what do we feel like those deals are, Where do 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:46.240 they stand in terms of how soon they're going to get. 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.680 Done well because of the franchise tag with Antoine and 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.120 the fact that Tristan's going into his fifth year option year. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.440 Both of those guys are under contract for twenty twenty four, 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.120 and that's important, and that's why while we had the 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.520 rush of signings for Baker and Mike and Lante and 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:00.800 all that these can play out out over a little 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.040 bit of time. In fact, that's basically what the franchise 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:07.520 tag is for extending your exclusive no negotiation window, but 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.359 they still don't necessarily long term deals don't have to 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:13.960 get done, but you really don't want to go into 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.880 this year with both those guys playing on one year 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:19.719 left on their contracts. So will they get signed. That's 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.640 definitely the plan, and Jason light did say he feels 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.080 good about where they are with both of those processes ongoing, 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:29.400 and there were some reports that didn't come from the 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:31.560 Bucks before that that said the same thing. So it 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.880 seems like there's plenty of optimism that these guys will 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.680 get done, and you just don't want to let players 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.640 this talented and this young out of the building. And 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:42.440 if you look at this, Tristan was the first team 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.320 APL pro by his second season, which is as fast 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.200 as anybody. Michaelstane Levante did the same thing, and then 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.599 Antoine by his fourth season, and he'd already been to 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.160 a Pro Bowl before that. So these guys came into 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.480 the league, well you remember it was the Super Bowl year, 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:59.520 immediately started, immediately were impact players and had got just 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:01.760 gotten better and better. Interest In has moved to left tackle, 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.080 which is even more important. And again, these guys came 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.039 in the league, were immediately good, have been good every 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:10.680 year since. And you just want them to remain Buccaneers 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:11.240 for a long time. 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.200 Yes, absolutely, And you know, obviously Jason Lyn and his 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:17.640 team did an incredible job evaluating those guys, and I 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.560 mean they are incredible people again on and off the field, 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:23.320 stepped in and were ready to go right away. We've 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:25.240 gotten to hear from Jason Light recently because of leading 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.760 up to the draft. Used does his pre draft press conference, 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.680 talks about their evaluation, and he said this a few 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.720 different times, talking about there's you know, of course, all 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.080 the physical things you watch the combine, you see the forty, 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.800 you watch the tape, but there's all that other mental 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.200 stuff on and off the field, and then even in 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.599 a game that I've heard him say before, things about 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.680 how if they miss on someone a lot of times 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:46.359 it's more about from the neck up, is how he 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.560 describes it. But that he feels like they've really done 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:51.360 a good job at that. And I mean, I'm sure 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:52.760 we see it from a bunch of these guys, but 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:54.520 but he talked a little bit about that this last week. 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.719 Well we've talked before about how they have a picture 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:58.480 that's a silhouette of a player and it happens to 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.200 be Levonte David in draft from that says, I am 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.400 that man, and they are trying to find people like him, 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.400 players and people like him, and he thinks, Jason thinks 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.360 he and his crew have gotten a lot have really 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:13.480 gotten good at evaluating the whole person of a prospect. 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:15.440 You can watch the forties and you can watch the film, 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:16.840 and you can see how fast they run, and those 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:19.600 things are obviously important, but it's not going to come 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.000 to anything if they're not the people that you want. 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:26.680 And he said, lots of times these days, if a 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.400 guy gets in trouble in the league, a player gets 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.000 in trouble, he'll go back and look at their evaluations, 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:32.640 and lots of times, really sure enough. That was a 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:34.600 guy we took off our board for character reasons. So 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.960 they feel like they've done a good job of homing 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.320 in on the players that really fit in terms of 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:42.240 the whole person. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:43.520 Yeah, that's very true. 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:44.760 And you know, we're gonna have a whole road to 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:46.480 the draft after this that we're going to be shooting 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:48.480 as well, So it'll be the final one. Stay tuned 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.320 for that, But for right now, just to talk about 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.640 one other position potentially as we talk about evaluating and 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:58.760 talent and what this team might need. In his press conference, 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:00.680 did he address some of the positions maybe of where 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:02.920 they might still be looking or you know, positions of 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.200 need versus kind of you already have somebody. 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:06.040 And something that might compliment that. 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:07.720 And I don't think we're going to talk about this 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:09.640 position on road to the draft because we're going to 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.720 talk about the first round and it's running back and 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.880 there are not a lot of evaluators out there who 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:16.400 think there's a running back who's going to go in 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.760 the first round. But Jason has said before that he 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.559 does feel like this draft has depth at the running 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.880 back position. Maybe not top heavy first rounders, but good depth. 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.000 So maybe the Bucks take one in the second third round, 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.320 and then you think, well, we ever shot White. I 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.840 mean he's only going into his third year. Yeah, he's 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:36.120 only going into his third year. He really emerged and 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.360 got better and better last year, great pass catcher, really 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.560 started to come on as a runner as things went along. 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:42.959 But then you look at look at all the snaps 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:44.719 this guy took because he was on the field. He's 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.199 a three down back. Obviously, I didn't know until I 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:49.280 looked this up that shot actually led all running backs 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:53.199 in the league in offensive snaps. Now, Christian McCaffrey might 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.160 have beaten him if he'd played the seventeenth game, which 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.760 he didn't, But still that's saying a lot. I mean, 0:08:57.800 --> 0:08:59.719 that's what they call a belle cow back right. And 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.560 it worked fine, and it could work again. But as 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:07.640 Jason put it as if he was saying this to 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.240 Rashad White, He's like, we love you. What if we 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.800 had two of you, you know, we could spell you get. 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:16.439 Some longevity you kind of you know, insulate against injury, 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:18.280 all those things that it's just a lot to ask 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.040 of one player to take that many snaps and to 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:23.319 be having to run and catch and block and all 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:25.959 the things that that's going to take a toll over the. 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:26.760 Course of the whole season. 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:28.360 So I'm sure, especially just for a little bit of 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.400 increased freshness, whether it's the fourth quarter or the last 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:32.760 quarter of the season, that might be handling. 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.360 Yeah, even in one game or the long view, So 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:37.320 it's not out of the question that the Buccaneers would 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:38.080 add to that position. 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:38.520 All right. 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.160 Well, again, like we said, we have another road to 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:41.720 the draft. We're going to be shooting, so if you 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.160 have more questions about that, this will be our final one. 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:45.839 And again we hope to see you at the draft 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:47.720 party or at least watching all of our draft coverage 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:49.280 this week on buccaneers dot com.