Speaker 1: Welcome into Bucks Insider Casey Phillips here a senior writer
Speaker 1: and editor Scott Smith. We got guys playing in the
Speaker 1: building again. We know it's not full football and not
Speaker 1: full pads, but it's still been great to have these
Speaker 1: OTA's going on these last few weeks, getting a chance
Speaker 1: to see some of the new guys, and even a
Speaker 1: chance to see some of these new guys get signed.
Speaker 1: So we have another player officially signed under contract with
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers.
Speaker 2: Tell us who that is.
Speaker 3: Yesterday after practice, Jalen McMillan, the third round receiver out
Speaker 3: of Washington, went upstairs to the draft room that's where
Speaker 3: they always do this, and they take these pictures and
Speaker 3: signed his first contract. So it's a four year deal.
Speaker 3: Like every player drafted from the second through seventh rounds get.
Speaker 3: That leaves just two to sign our first two picks,
Speaker 3: Graham Barton and Chris braswell, and you can probably count
Speaker 3: of those getting done in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: It's not really all that difficult anymore.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm actually glad you brought up that it's
Speaker 1: in the draft room. I feel like we don't actually
Speaker 1: always talk about that. People just see the photos and
Speaker 1: I bet a lot of people don't know, and I
Speaker 1: feel like, especially for rookies like that, that's got to
Speaker 1: be a cool moment to know this is this is the.
Speaker 3: Room, where's where they got the call from?
Speaker 2: Yes, it's true, so I know.
Speaker 1: Also again because guys are out here at OTAs, we're
Speaker 1: going to hear from a few of them, which has
Speaker 1: been nice.
Speaker 2: And you know, we've talked about how this team there's.
Speaker 1: Not necessarily going to be a ton of shake up
Speaker 1: at starting roles from last year, which is great.
Speaker 2: It's good. Usually a good sham good exactly so.
Speaker 1: But one of the areas that there will be shaga
Speaker 1: because Devin White left is inside linebacker and I know
Speaker 1: we've got a chance to hear from kJ Britt recently,
Speaker 1: but tell us just your thoughts on that position, room
Speaker 1: and group and what you think that could look like
Speaker 1: with his departure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's gonna have changed there for the first
Speaker 3: time in a while. You know, Levonte David's been playing
Speaker 3: since twenty twelve and he's still going strong. And then
Speaker 3: Devin White's been his running mate since twenty nineteen and
Speaker 3: now he's with the Eagles left in free agency after
Speaker 3: five years and for those five years, the Bucks have
Speaker 3: been running the same system, so it's always required basically
Speaker 3: two off ball linebackers, and they've been if they're healthy,
Speaker 3: they're on the field those two guys. There's been no
Speaker 3: real opportunity for anybody else if you look at these opportunities.
Speaker 3: I mean, Devin missed a little time in twenty twenty
Speaker 3: due to COVID and Levante missed a few games in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one, which down his total percentage, but she
Speaker 3: could see for the most part, they're on the field
Speaker 3: for almost every snap until the second half of last
Speaker 3: year when Devin White ran into some injury issues, and
Speaker 3: then kJ Britt started to earn a bigger role, and
Speaker 3: you could see there's where the opportunity finally came, and
Speaker 3: most specifically for kJ last year, and he did well
Speaker 3: in that. I think he showed the coaches that he
Speaker 3: definitely has a future there. This is a fifth thrown
Speaker 3: draft pick in twenty twenty one who's finally getting a
Speaker 3: chance to play a little bit. And the question now
Speaker 3: is with Devin White gone and obviously needs somebody there.
Speaker 3: They'll have some packages that might only have one linebacker,
Speaker 3: but they'll probably have two linebackers on the field most
Speaker 3: of the time. kJ Britt seems like the first choice
Speaker 3: right because he's the one that they put in there
Speaker 3: last year when Devin was out and everybody knew he's
Speaker 3: a good downhill thumper. Can he know can he survive
Speaker 3: and play all three downs? Because he can play when
Speaker 3: it's an obvious passing situation.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: Coach A Bull said, it's not really that his coverage
Speaker 3: is lacking. It's just he needed to be more disciplined
Speaker 3: with his eyes. So he needs to see better and
Speaker 3: needs to diagnose essentially what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: And obviously this wasn't a position that they prioritized in
Speaker 1: the draft this year, which meant they felt good about him.
Speaker 1: And then also they had drafted Servassi Adnnis last year.
Speaker 1: Is he a guy that we think we could see
Speaker 1: on the field a.
Speaker 2: Little bit more?
Speaker 3: Savasse was drafted with the I mean at least is
Speaker 3: what they said after they drafted him, and they liked
Speaker 3: a couple of these things like his coverage abilities and
Speaker 3: his blitzing abilities. He was a really good blitzer at
Speaker 3: Pitt really had a number of sacks for an off
Speaker 3: ball linebacker, and there probably are going to be Todd
Speaker 3: bull sids. They gonna They're gonna have a lot of packages,
Speaker 3: a lot of personal packages. So while kJ Britt could
Speaker 3: be in his eyes, a three down player, there's gonna
Speaker 3: be some games in some situations where they want to
Speaker 3: put other packages on the field with either one, two,
Speaker 3: or even three off ball linebackers, and that was where
Speaker 3: Sarvasier could come into play.
Speaker 1: And then again we talked to about the fact that
Speaker 1: we heard from kJ Britt, but he talked about not
Speaker 1: just kind of the inside linebacker role, but another topic
Speaker 1: that's been interesting this offseason is the new kickoff rule
Speaker 1: and how much that's going to change things for everyone
Speaker 1: that's part of the special teams unit. So let's take
Speaker 1: a listen to what he had to say about that.
Speaker 4: It's been weird. It's not a lot of running, so
Speaker 4: you know, it's kind of more of a it's gonna
Speaker 4: have to be a little bit more physical at the
Speaker 4: point of the tech. It's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 4: windows because the field is so wide. You know, it
Speaker 4: is one ball, and he catches with speed, and you
Speaker 4: know it's kind of stale, mate, So it's gonna be weird.
Speaker 4: You know it's gonna be something to Uh, we're gonna
Speaker 4: have to really get used to.
Speaker 1: I just think this is gonna be fascinating to watch.
Speaker 1: I love when there ends up being a new wrinkle
Speaker 1: that just mixes everything up. And so tell me what
Speaker 1: you're gonna be watching, especially as mini camps about to happen,
Speaker 1: when training camp happens, to start getting an inkling for
Speaker 1: how this could impact a team, and as you build
Speaker 1: the roster.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean to call it a new wrinkle is
Speaker 3: kind of an understatement. I mean we talked about this before.
Speaker 3: Rule changes in the NFL are usually more like gradual,
Speaker 3: like the way the different types of tackles are being
Speaker 3: taken out of the game or things like that. This
Speaker 3: is completely reimagining a play that's been the same in
Speaker 3: football for a long long time, kickball.
Speaker 1: And that happens a lot every game. Yeah, this isn't
Speaker 1: something that might not happen in a game. It is
Speaker 1: inevitable multiple times every game.
Speaker 3: So we've heard when we found out about the rule,
Speaker 3: and then we talked to I know, we had Jeff
Speaker 3: and I had our new Thomas mcgahey T mac on
Speaker 3: our show, our New Special Teams Coortner to ask them,
Speaker 3: you know, what's this going to look like, what's going
Speaker 3: to happen? What kind of personnel do you need? And
Speaker 3: basically they had ideas but didn't know for sure, and
Speaker 3: we still don't know. But now we're starting to hear
Speaker 3: from the players and I've heard it not from naturally
Speaker 3: from kJ it was a good choice because he's a
Speaker 3: core special teamer the last few years, but from some
Speaker 3: other players around the league, and what is starting to
Speaker 3: look like to them. As you can hear from kJ there,
Speaker 3: it could change the type of personnelit you want on
Speaker 3: the field, and it could you know he's talking about.
Speaker 3: I thought the interesting thing about what he was saying,
Speaker 3: for the most part, was thinking about how wide the
Speaker 3: field is. A normal kickoff, you usually kick it to
Speaker 3: a certain spot. All you know, the blackers kind of
Speaker 3: condensed there, the coveragemen kind of condensed there. Now you're
Speaker 3: starting a play where you need to defend the entire
Speaker 3: width of the field and you can't start running until
Speaker 3: that guy catches the ball and he's got a running
Speaker 3: start before you do. And all he needs to do
Speaker 3: is find one gap that you didn't fill or you
Speaker 3: got blocked out of and he could be gone. So
Speaker 3: I think there's gonna be some big plays there and
Speaker 3: I think the players and I don't think he sounded
Speaker 3: like he was upset about it or frustrated. Was just learning,
Speaker 3: like what's this going to be?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it.
Speaker 3: Could It's a real mystery what's going to be, but
Speaker 3: it could be really important.
Speaker 2: I like that.
Speaker 1: Well, another player we got a chance to hear from
Speaker 1: was Jammel Dean and hadn't really gotten to talk to
Speaker 1: him a whole lot since, you know, Carlton Davis left
Speaker 1: and now knowing that he's going to be expected to
Speaker 1: maybe step up even more alongside guys like Zion McCollum.
Speaker 1: What were the things you feel like you heard from
Speaker 1: Jammel and just in general are kind of expecting from
Speaker 1: him and looking forward.
Speaker 2: To this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he thinks that they have the opportunity to be
Speaker 3: a really good secondary. I mean, you think you got
Speaker 3: Antoine Winfield obviously maybe the best safety in the game,
Speaker 3: and now I got everybody so excited ut Jordan whitehead back.
Speaker 3: Everybody really is confident in Zion McCollum. And then you know,
Speaker 3: we know what Jamel can do when he's healthy and
Speaker 3: That's what coach was talking about, that he needs to
Speaker 3: figure out how to stay healthy for most of the season.
Speaker 3: But what Jameel was saying he needs to do is
Speaker 3: he needs to catch the football. I don't know if
Speaker 3: this is just an estimate, but he said he thinks
Speaker 3: he dropped five interceptions last year, so you know, he's
Speaker 3: got to catch the ball when he has the opportunity.
Speaker 3: He knows that he wants to do the jugs gun,
Speaker 3: but he also wants to catch. It was funny because
Speaker 3: he was actually kind of sneaky funny and he.
Speaker 2: Was very funny. Yeah, and I think sneaky funny is
Speaker 2: a good way.
Speaker 3: To put it, like Todd Bowles in a way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is why they're a little best right. You
Speaker 2: know they're talking each other. They got that sneaky funny Yep.
Speaker 3: So Jamel he wants to do that, but he's like,
Speaker 3: I really want to catch passes from the quarterbacks. But
Speaker 3: he's like when he when he comes over to where
Speaker 3: the quarterbacks are throwing, and it's like he said something like,
Speaker 3: I'm the guy that shows up to the party and
Speaker 3: then everybody else leaves.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure mentally they don't love the idea of
Speaker 1: throwing like, let's.
Speaker 2: Not let them practice that.
Speaker 3: But in any case, there's definitely room for for the
Speaker 3: whole entire secondary and if to make more plays on
Speaker 3: the ball. And if you think about it, the Bookers
Speaker 3: had a I think a plus eight interception or turn
Speaker 3: of a ratio last year, which was good. It was
Speaker 3: top ten.
Speaker 2: That's good.
Speaker 3: It could have been so much better if they just
Speaker 3: caught the ball because if you look at this, I
Speaker 3: mean the bucks that you have there the giveaways both
Speaker 3: fumbles and interceptions, and the takeaways both fumbles and interceptions.
Speaker 3: As you could see, the Bucks ring sixth and interceptions
Speaker 3: least fewest interceptions, second in fumbel recoveries, top half in
Speaker 3: number of fumbles lost. But it's the interceptions where they
Speaker 3: were down in the bottom half of the league. And
Speaker 3: if you just change that one number you could really
Speaker 3: make a big difference.
Speaker 2: That's interesting, all right.
Speaker 1: And then also, I know offensive line is going to
Speaker 1: be an interesting one to look through this whole off
Speaker 1: season of as you look at OTA's mini camp into
Speaker 1: training camp, you got some new faces and you're going
Speaker 1: to inevitably have a new starter at least one position.
Speaker 1: And then Cody malc We always talk about the fact
Speaker 1: that year one to year two for any player tends
Speaker 1: to be a pretty big deal in terms of the
Speaker 1: progression you can make, particularly when you have a small
Speaker 1: school guy making that big NFL adjustment. So what is
Speaker 1: it that we feel like we're going to be looking
Speaker 1: at with Cody Mauk and the indications where what this
Speaker 1: year could look like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean think about it. He came from North
Speaker 3: Dakota State and not only had to go jump from
Speaker 3: there to the NFL, but I had to change positions
Speaker 3: because he was playing left tackle and they put him
Speaker 3: at right guard and he played every single snap, So
Speaker 3: he obviously was doing well enough that they didn't want
Speaker 3: to replace him. He said his head was swimming when
Speaker 3: the season started, but he feels like he progressed every
Speaker 3: game and got better and better, and he says he
Speaker 3: started to click. It started click for him about the
Speaker 3: same time in the second half when the whole team
Speaker 3: started to click. So now you have him his big
Speaker 3: goal and both coach said this and then he said it.
Speaker 3: I guess they discussed it with him and he has
Speaker 3: agreed and has acted on it is to get bigger
Speaker 3: and stronger. So he says he's doing a lot better
Speaker 3: job in the weight room and has added twelve to
Speaker 3: fifteen pounds I'd be twelve to fifteen pounds of muscle. Wow,
Speaker 3: So he thinks, and the coach thinks, Coach Bulls thinks
Speaker 3: that he can make a big leap in his game.
Speaker 3: You know, we talk about that second year leap like
Speaker 3: he just did. But sometimes a lot of it's theoretical,
Speaker 3: and in a case like this, there's a specific thing
Speaker 3: that he's done to make him a better and more
Speaker 3: effective player, and he's already accomplished getting bigger and stronger,
Speaker 3: so let's see how that affects this game.
Speaker 1: Interesting And then finally, I know we talked about you know,
Speaker 1: new kickoff rule, but there's also some other proposed changes
Speaker 1: coming down the pike. And it's always interesting talking to
Speaker 1: everybody about the off season program. It's changed so much,
Speaker 1: going back to where you know, you'll hear guys have
Speaker 1: a wall when I play.
Speaker 2: There were three a days in training camp. Yeah, there
Speaker 2: really were.
Speaker 1: Yes, there's already been a lot of changes, but there's
Speaker 1: discussion of even more changes potentially. So what are those
Speaker 1: discussions and what do the reaction seem to be so
Speaker 1: far to the.
Speaker 3: Idea, right, So right now today the Bucks are going
Speaker 3: to hold the last OTA of this week. Then there'll
Speaker 3: be one more week of OTAs and then a mini
Speaker 3: campus mandatory. Then after that, as has men in the tradition,
Speaker 3: they have that one last lengthy break like six or
Speaker 3: seven weeks, where coaches and players can get away from
Speaker 3: the game a little bit for that period of time
Speaker 3: before diving back in for training camp. What the NFLPA
Speaker 3: is apparently working on as a proposal, and I don't
Speaker 3: know what steps it would take to go from a
Speaker 3: proposal to actually happening. Usually when you have a change
Speaker 3: of something like this, it's part of a negotiation and
Speaker 3: it's like, Okay, we'll give you this, but you have
Speaker 3: to give us this. So I don't know how this
Speaker 3: is going to work or how soon it could work,
Speaker 3: but apparently they're interested and possibly it being as soon
Speaker 3: as next year. It would do away with OTAs. So
Speaker 3: basically you're putting that break a little earlier and then
Speaker 3: you have a longer ramp up period before training camp.
Speaker 3: So basically be like taking whatever practice work you're allowed
Speaker 3: to do and putting it right before camp, which could
Speaker 3: mean uninterrupted activity from as far as maybe mid June
Speaker 3: or early July. Then you're done. You're in enturing camp
Speaker 3: in the season. So I don't know. My first reaction
Speaker 3: to it isn't particularly positive. You know, I don't love
Speaker 3: the idea of NonStop from mid June even longer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like that's where players are going to
Speaker 1: start saying, Okay, then we need a second by week
Speaker 1: thrown in somewhere, especially if.
Speaker 2: Again they're still I already feel that way.
Speaker 1: And yeah, they already feel that way. So then you
Speaker 1: add that they're going to be like, man, you've got
Speaker 1: to give us something. And again, especially if there's talks
Speaker 1: of ever adding another game someday, like it just starts
Speaker 1: getting to be with.
Speaker 3: It all feels like negotiation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I think that'll be interesting. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think in some ways it makes sense of ramping up
Speaker 1: right there. I get that, but disagree, Yeah, I think,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't think I prefer it.
Speaker 1: I think I agree that it would make the season
Speaker 1: feel that much longer.
Speaker 3: I mean, you and I are joking a little bit,
Speaker 3: because what matters is how are vacation the players and coaches.
Speaker 3: But I kind of feel like the coaches wouldn't want
Speaker 3: to change the way it is now. I think they
Speaker 3: value that time right before, you know, that month or
Speaker 3: so before camp where they can get out and unplug.
Speaker 1: For a one, Right, that'll be interesting to see. All right,
Speaker 1: Well that's going to do it for us on this
Speaker 1: edition of Bucks Insider. And again you heard that there's
Speaker 1: a little bit more OTAs left and then the mandatory
Speaker 1: mini camps is. Stay tuned for all that coverage right
Speaker 1: here on buccaneers dot com.