Speaker 1: Welcome to Bucks Insider Live, presented by ticketmaster Casey Phillips
Speaker 1: here a senior writer and editor Scott Smith. We were
Speaker 1: going to come to you at a normal time and
Speaker 1: then the dang team had to supplant us with their
Speaker 1: press conference and practice early.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which I guess the players are.
Speaker 1: Probably they were probably okay with you. We were probably
Speaker 1: the only people upset.
Speaker 2: We're here now.
Speaker 1: We're here now and this is our first time doing
Speaker 1: back the normal type of show. We had been doing
Speaker 1: an all training camp. We even went up to New
Speaker 1: Jersey for joint practices. Now we are back in sort
Speaker 1: of the regular season for air conditioning. Big fans of that.
Speaker 1: So now we have some pretty big news to talk
Speaker 1: about since our last show. Very handy for them to
Speaker 1: make this announcement.
Speaker 2: Just for us. I'm sure it was Tuesday morning. Yep.
Speaker 1: So we now know QB one Baker Mayfield. If you
Speaker 1: hadn't heard, I imagine everyone's heard. Tell me the thoughts
Speaker 1: on announcement.
Speaker 3: The funny thing about it was, how often in a
Speaker 3: coach's career does he have the opportunity to name a
Speaker 3: starting quarterback from a QB competition. Doesn't happen that often
Speaker 3: and you would have thought maybe there'd be a little
Speaker 3: more great to it. And I was just like Baker's
Speaker 3: the one, kyle'son two.
Speaker 2: It was about ten words, period.
Speaker 1: But I mean it was even kind of like a
Speaker 1: not a direct question even about that.
Speaker 2: It was like the question.
Speaker 3: Actually with stage is I know you're not close to
Speaker 3: naming a starting quarterback, but what he's like, Baker's the one.
Speaker 2: So that did a good job.
Speaker 1: I'd probably enjoyed getting to do it that way. I
Speaker 1: think that's very much his personality arrive.
Speaker 3: And I know, and i've I've saw before her, beforehand
Speaker 3: and after the announcement that there are plenty of people
Speaker 3: out there that thought this was a foregone conclusion when
Speaker 3: we signed Baker Mayfield, that this competition wasn't a real competition.
Speaker 3: And I got to tell you that is not the case.
Speaker 3: This was a real competition. Kyle Trask did very well.
Speaker 3: Coach says he is improved by leaps and bounds, which
Speaker 3: makes you feel good about your depth because you want
Speaker 3: that whole room to be strong. But he said Baker
Speaker 3: Mayfield really just had a little bit better grasp on
Speaker 3: the offense, and he also has done well so Baker
Speaker 3: earned it. He said what you would think he would
Speaker 3: say in his press conference. He's like, you know, I'm
Speaker 3: not I expected to start, which is what you want, right,
Speaker 3: So he also understands that these opportunities mean a lot.
Speaker 3: And today when we weren't allowed to do our show
Speaker 3: in time because the coaches and players were being so rude,
Speaker 3: Dave Kannalis said that that Baker he can tell, he
Speaker 3: can feel, or I think he said he can sense
Speaker 3: how seriously Baker is taking this opportunity and how Baker
Speaker 3: understands the weight of this situation. And so this is
Speaker 3: a big deal for him, obviously, to get his career
Speaker 3: back on track. Former first overall pick a great year
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty, led the Browns to the playoffs, and
Speaker 3: he obviously had some injuries after that.
Speaker 2: Obviously wants to get back to that form.
Speaker 3: And you know this, this is actually the second time
Speaker 3: in a row that the Buccaneers have solved their quarterback
Speaker 3: situation by signing a veteran free agent.
Speaker 2: You know, Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: I was just saying, I think we've heard it the
Speaker 1: other one.
Speaker 3: Hopefully this one goes as well as that one. That
Speaker 3: would be pretty amazing if it did, but that's really
Speaker 3: not all that common actually.
Speaker 2: In Bucks history.
Speaker 3: This is just the sixth time in the entire Bucks
Speaker 3: history that the Bucks have signed a veteran starting a
Speaker 3: veteran quarterback and named him the Week one and started.
Speaker 2: That same year.
Speaker 3: That's incredible happening that off And the first one was
Speaker 3: actually Brad Johnson and O one and that year went well,
Speaker 3: and then they won the Super Bowl next year, and
Speaker 3: then Jeff Garcia and seven that year also went well,
Speaker 3: and then the others were Byron left which and Josh
Speaker 3: McCown and those weren't particularly good seasons, and then Tom Brady.
Speaker 2: Wow, and that's.
Speaker 1: Interesting, and so what do you think is going to
Speaker 1: be some of the things that that Baker will bring
Speaker 1: to this offense are the ways they want to use
Speaker 1: him specifically yea.
Speaker 3: And they talked a lot during this competition about how
Speaker 3: Baker and Kyle were bolting well, but they were not
Speaker 3: the exact same sort of quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: And while Kyle actually moved around pretty well.
Speaker 3: That's one of the real strong tools in Baker Mayfield's
Speaker 3: toolbox that he can make throws on the run, he
Speaker 3: can make throws off platform, and one thing that he
Speaker 3: did really, really well in the twenty twenty season that
Speaker 3: we talked about, And if you want more details on this,
Speaker 3: there's a really good story on buccaneers dot Com from
Speaker 3: Brianna Dix.
Speaker 1: Was really hoping you were going to be like Prima
Speaker 1: Scott's maan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, from really brilliant No, my colleague Brianna, who did
Speaker 3: all the research and even talked to Thad Lewis, the
Speaker 3: quarterbacks coach, and got these stats from SIS And this
Speaker 3: was in twenty twenty. He was the only quarterback in
Speaker 3: the entire league who threw on bootleg plays. Threw eleven
Speaker 3: or more passes that went twenty yards in the air downfield.
Speaker 3: So this isn't just a fake a handoff, bootleg this
Speaker 3: way and throw a little check down to the tight end.
Speaker 3: This is getting the ball downfield on boot legs, which
Speaker 3: is I mean, he had the best numbers in the
Speaker 3: league on that play. And what's surprising about it is
Speaker 3: most coaches don't take right handed quarterbacks and bootleg them
Speaker 3: out to the left. They'll they'll have him fake the
Speaker 3: run to the left on the zone, get all the
Speaker 3: defense moving in that direction, and then spin back around to.
Speaker 2: The right side.
Speaker 3: But actually Baker was really really good. He did six times,
Speaker 3: was five of six for just really good stats on
Speaker 3: bootlegs to the left.
Speaker 2: So this is the kind of thing.
Speaker 3: We haven't seen this obviously in the preseason because they
Speaker 3: don't want to show anything yet. But I think that's
Speaker 3: an aspect of the offense that obviously Tom Brady was
Speaker 3: the goat, but they weren't running boot.
Speaker 1: Legs right, so it was not bootleg Brady.
Speaker 2: No, So there's gonna be it's gonna be interesting, I think.
Speaker 1: Okay, and then one of his top targets, I think
Speaker 1: that it is going to be interesting to watch Trey Palmer.
Speaker 1: This guy just we keep having to talk about him.
Speaker 1: Draft pick but not a super high draft pick.
Speaker 2: But he is playing like one.
Speaker 1: He is playing like a guy that is going to
Speaker 1: make a case to be on the field a lot
Speaker 1: in preseason too. It seems like he'd be a great
Speaker 1: compliment to guys like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're right. He was a six round draft
Speaker 3: pick and the Bucks were surprised he was still on
Speaker 3: the board because he's really really fast, and he's got
Speaker 3: good size and he had great production last year and
Speaker 3: usually those three things together will get you drafted a
Speaker 3: little higher that bucks like, he's still on the board.
Speaker 3: So they already had two six round picks they wanted
Speaker 3: to use for something else, so they traded a fifth
Speaker 3: round pick next year just to get the pick in
Speaker 3: order to be able to take Trey Palmer. And he
Speaker 3: obviously has done great two really nice I mean acrobatic
Speaker 3: touchdown catches, and Yeah, the thing about it is there's
Speaker 3: an opportunity for him there because Russell Gage unfortunately is
Speaker 3: out for the season, and I don't know how that's
Speaker 3: all going to work because I don't know if he's
Speaker 3: a slot guy or not.
Speaker 2: And I think they wanted to run necessarily a one
Speaker 2: for one swap.
Speaker 3: Yeah he's really yeah, exactly, But I still think he's
Speaker 3: done enough to warrant a prominent role. When you talk
Speaker 3: about the fact that you have Mike Evans and Chris
Speaker 3: Godwin and then behind that you don't really have a
Speaker 3: lot of experienced guys and there's some really talented guys there,
Speaker 3: but you don't know yet. So I think there's a
Speaker 3: really good opportunity for Trey to have, you know, a
Speaker 3: prominent role of some kind. It's hard to say what
Speaker 3: at this point, maybe Chris Cottin goes in the slot
Speaker 3: and he plays outside in trips. But yeah, as you
Speaker 3: see here, he's one of only four players that have
Speaker 3: two touchdown passes. And I think I messed up this
Speaker 3: graphic because that last player there should be for the Browns,
Speaker 3: but it still But the other two are Ravens and
Speaker 3: the very young players, and that means three of the
Speaker 3: four players that have two touchdown catches this preseason will
Speaker 3: be on the field here Saturday night.
Speaker 1: And speaking of Saturday night, first of all, I love
Speaker 1: that they have now gone to just the one cutdown,
Speaker 1: so all your preseason games you have the chance to
Speaker 1: watch anyone and everyone on the team, and I think
Speaker 1: it elevates the stakes for all of it, knowing that
Speaker 1: you still have all the different roster positions you know,
Speaker 1: potentially up for grabs, not only starting roles, backup roles,
Speaker 1: all of that. And one that we've talked a lot
Speaker 1: about this off season and preseason is the idea of
Speaker 1: the slot corner position. What that's going to look like
Speaker 1: in Nickel and a guy d Delaney that has been
Speaker 1: with the team for a while hasn't actually been one
Speaker 1: of the more household names, but has really kind of
Speaker 1: made a name for himself his preseason as a guy
Speaker 1: trying to make a case for that spot or the
Speaker 1: roster in general, and different corner areas well.
Speaker 3: Not only has d Delaney sort of made a name
Speaker 3: for himself here, but I think I made up a
Speaker 3: nickname for him. Oh boy, yeah, Because what is really
Speaker 3: what the coaches always talked about him, was really stood
Speaker 3: out about him and why he's found a home here
Speaker 3: the last two years after bouncing around.
Speaker 2: A little bit, is they love his versatility.
Speaker 3: And he has actually played in the regular season at
Speaker 3: three different spots slot corner, outside corner, and safety, and
Speaker 3: he's played a significant number of six Look at this,
Speaker 3: I mean in one year, you played one hundred nine steps,
Speaker 3: one hundred ninety steps at outside corner and a little
Speaker 3: bit in the slot. He played a lot in the
Speaker 3: slot and a decent amount at safety, and so that's
Speaker 3: three different positions.
Speaker 2: So I called him three D. I like that. That's
Speaker 2: pretty good.
Speaker 3: We actually had him on our Salty Ducks podcast yesterday
Speaker 3: and I threw out that nickname, asked him if he
Speaker 3: liked it, and he played along. He probably doesn't care,
Speaker 3: but he played a lot, so I'm going to try
Speaker 3: to make a stick. But yeah, Dee Delaney really has
Speaker 3: to me. There's nobody nobody's other than the starters. Nobody's
Speaker 3: really a lock. But I would have a hard time
Speaker 3: seeing him not make this roster just because of how
Speaker 3: much he brings.
Speaker 2: And he's also really really.
Speaker 3: Good on special teams and he's been playing a lot
Speaker 3: of gunner and so that's a very important position. So
Speaker 3: he just brings so much to the team. And you're right,
Speaker 3: he's not a household name and we don't talk about
Speaker 3: him a lot. That's kind of why I wanted to
Speaker 3: bring him up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to be interesting, all right. Thecals of
Speaker 1: this just top things you're kind of excited to watch
Speaker 1: in the preseason game on Saturday.
Speaker 3: So earlier today, Cam Gill was talking at the podium
Speaker 3: and he pointed out that all of the outside linebackers
Speaker 3: are going to play, Like Shack and Joe are going
Speaker 3: to start.
Speaker 2: They're all going to play.
Speaker 3: And we have heard from Coach Bulls on numerous occasions
Speaker 3: during trading camp in the preseason that this is going
Speaker 3: to be the hardest position for them to cut down
Speaker 3: just because there's so much talent there from top to bottom,
Speaker 3: including young guys, two draft picks in Josierramiers and Yayad Yabi,
Speaker 3: and also an undrafted rookie that they're liking a lot
Speaker 3: in Marquise Watts. So there's, like I said, talent from
Speaker 3: top to bottom. I think there's maybe nine of them,
Speaker 3: and they probably would keep five.
Speaker 2: I would think it the most.
Speaker 3: And so Kim himself was saying cam Gill, who had
Speaker 3: one point five sacks in the first game, he was
Speaker 3: saying he's really looking forward to seeing all of those
Speaker 3: guys playing Solemy.
Speaker 2: I want to see who really stands out from that group.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, that's going to do it for us
Speaker 1: on bucks Insadur Live. Thanks as always for joining us.
Speaker 1: Enjoy that final preseason game, and we'll be back here
Speaker 1: next week to talk about roster cutdowns. We're gonna know
Speaker 1: who's on the team by the next time we do
Speaker 1: the show, so we'll see then