Speaker 1: Welcome to Bucks Insider, presented by Verizon. Casey Phillips here
Speaker 1: with senior writer and editor Scott Smith. And we are
Speaker 1: just so grateful to Jason Klight, Mike Greenberg, Jackie Davidson
Speaker 1: for making our shows endlessly entertaining.
Speaker 2: What day is it this time of year? None of
Speaker 2: us know.
Speaker 1: I can't keep track, but you know what day it is.
Speaker 1: It's the we Bring Everybody Back Day. That's what I
Speaker 1: feel like we should have made. I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: March thirteenth is now officially run it Back Day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Happy new league gear man, new league gear free agency frenzy.
Speaker 1: This week, so much going on, and I just feel
Speaker 1: like the Bucks crushed it. Not like we're biased or anything,
Speaker 1: but even still, I feel like I saw tweets from
Speaker 1: people all over the league and everywhere talking about just
Speaker 1: how amazing it is what our front office has been
Speaker 1: able to achieve. And Jason Light himself had said, Hey,
Speaker 1: if we're able to bring a lot of these guys back,
Speaker 1: we deserve another boat parade, and I think he is
Speaker 1: just about there.
Speaker 3: And then yesterday he said look at the and it
Speaker 3: was his quote was taken a little bit out of
Speaker 3: context by some of the national media. He didn't say
Speaker 3: like the greatest free agency class of all time across
Speaker 3: the league. If you if you actually read his quote,
Speaker 3: he said it was a great class, one of the
Speaker 3: best for the Buccaneers ever, and it includes some Hall
Speaker 3: of famers, which is true. I mean, Mike Emans is
Speaker 3: a lock and maybe Levante David, you know, so you
Speaker 3: can understand his enthusiasm. We kind of figured this was
Speaker 3: the list a few weeks ago or right after the
Speaker 3: Super Bowl, when you looked at the list of free agents, like, Okay,
Speaker 3: we can see the obvious priorities there.
Speaker 2: But can the Bucks possibly keep them all? Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure how they did it, but they did it.
Speaker 1: It is funny. It feels so similar to what we
Speaker 1: said after those Super Bowl years of like when they
Speaker 1: were trying to bring everybody back and we were like,
Speaker 1: how can they There's no way.
Speaker 2: They did it.
Speaker 1: Okay, and they did it again, so a lot.
Speaker 3: But yeah, And to tie that all together the way
Speaker 3: they did that in the years after the Super Bowl
Speaker 3: was doing a lot of the contracts that they hadn't
Speaker 3: done before, which put a lot of stress.
Speaker 2: On the cap in future years.
Speaker 3: And that's what created this situation this year where there's
Speaker 3: not a lot in last year too, where there's not
Speaker 3: a lot of wiggle room, so it makes it really
Speaker 3: hard to now do it again.
Speaker 2: But they found a way, so it's really impressive.
Speaker 1: So of course the news that were basically especially yesterday
Speaker 1: because the press conference, Baker Mayfield officially officially back, which
Speaker 1: is so awesome, and I just love the attitude it
Speaker 1: is press conference, the reception from the team, all of
Speaker 1: it that you can just tell everybody with this organization
Speaker 1: is so excited he's back, and Baker is incredibly excited
Speaker 1: to be back, which is cool. He talked about this
Speaker 1: at his press conference of how much Tampa has become
Speaker 1: home to him.
Speaker 4: We call Tampa home now. It's a special place. Just
Speaker 4: seeing the passionate fans, the ones that talk about going
Speaker 4: to the old Sombrero, the ones that have been fans
Speaker 4: for a long time, that have stuck through the thick
Speaker 4: and thin. That's what makes it special. The people that
Speaker 4: are traditional fans. Obviously we always welcome new ones, but
Speaker 4: the ones that have been here for the long haul
Speaker 4: make it really special. And so for Emily and I
Speaker 4: we started our foundation last year and just being able to,
Speaker 4: like I said earlier, boots on the ground mentality and
Speaker 4: making a difference in the community. For us, this is
Speaker 4: a great opportunity to do that. And I knew nothing
Speaker 4: about it, but it's a laid back city, but people
Speaker 4: are really really passionate about their sports, and it gives
Speaker 4: us the opportunity to truly make a difference in the
Speaker 4: long run.
Speaker 1: I love that, love how committed he and his wife
Speaker 1: have been. You know, they started their foundation and they've
Speaker 1: really given back a lot. I'm sure that's only going
Speaker 1: to happen even more now that they know that Tampa
Speaker 1: really is their their long term.
Speaker 3: They really embraced the community and done a lot of
Speaker 3: good things already. Like I said, I'm sure they do
Speaker 3: more in.
Speaker 2: Addition to that.
Speaker 3: On the flip side of it, is it cool that
Speaker 3: it's a compliment to be called ten and ten on
Speaker 3: the Prick scale?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I thought that was an interesting little addition there, And
Speaker 1: I loved how I saw Jason light be like should
Speaker 1: I Yeah, I'm gonna do it, and he apologized to
Speaker 1: our head of pr right after. That was very funny,
Speaker 1: but I thought that was a great way to describe
Speaker 1: It's true, he's got the moxie. That's all I would
Speaker 1: have maybe described boxy.
Speaker 2: They just put up.
Speaker 3: They just put up a tweet I sent out yesterday,
Speaker 3: and this is part of it. I mean, everybody loves Baker.
Speaker 3: They'd run through a brick wall for Baker. But that
Speaker 3: kind of ties it. I don't know if this is
Speaker 3: unusual or not. It just it just struck me late
Speaker 3: yesterday afternoon. I'm like, these guys that were resigning, not
Speaker 3: only are you know, the key to continuing to be
Speaker 3: successful in the football.
Speaker 2: Field, but everybody loves these guys. True think of this
Speaker 2: locker room.
Speaker 1: It's amazing personally, of course, like I care a lot
Speaker 1: about who the guys are in the locker room that
Speaker 1: my my job is to help fans know who they
Speaker 1: are and to showcase the off field personalities and all
Speaker 1: of that. And every single one of these signings made
Speaker 1: me personally really excited from just the who were around
Speaker 1: on a daily basis what it means for the interviews
Speaker 1: because they're all genuinely great, fun, awesome guys.
Speaker 3: I didn't even think I included on that tweet. Chase McLaughlin, Yeah,
Speaker 3: same wonderful guy as.
Speaker 1: Well, also includes that, So yeah, so we talked a
Speaker 1: little bit about Baker, and of course you saw in
Speaker 1: the tweet we kind of previewed all the people were
Speaker 1: talking about here that they've been able to do. Levante
Speaker 1: is also coming back. I feel like, between especially Mike
Speaker 1: and Lavante, of just the tenure here, what they've meant
Speaker 1: to the franchise and the city for what they've done,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine a better week than for Bucks fans
Speaker 1: knowing that you get both Mike and Levante back, and
Speaker 1: just for Levonte to have another year here is incredible.
Speaker 3: It's hard to think of a time in Bucks' history,
Speaker 3: which is almost fifty years worth, where they've had one
Speaker 3: guy on offense and one guy on defense that are
Speaker 3: like all timers in franchise history and just such beloved
Speaker 3: characters at the same maybe Derek Brooks and Mike Alstadt
Speaker 3: and Ronnie Bimber and Mike Aulstats something like Paul Gruber
Speaker 3: and I don't know, but just to have those two
Speaker 3: icons at the same time and you could have lost
Speaker 3: them and you got them both backed.
Speaker 1: And this is what Lante's fourth contract technically right, and
Speaker 1: Mike's third. That's a lot to be able to have
Speaker 1: that many deals on guys that you homegrown talent. It's
Speaker 1: a very cool.
Speaker 3: In reality, it's probably about Mike's fifteenth contract restructure structured.
Speaker 1: That's very true. And so how about some of these
Speaker 1: other re signings. And of course we know that Mike,
Speaker 1: Baker and Lavonte got a lot of the attention, but
Speaker 1: there were other additions as well that were import well.
Speaker 3: Yea a couple of the guys last year. It was
Speaker 3: obviously a very limited run in free agency, but it
Speaker 3: worked out. It was only a few guys Baker Mayfield, obviously,
Speaker 3: Greg Gaines, Chase Edmonds, Chase McLaughlin. All those were guys
Speaker 3: that we signed last year that fit into some nice roles. Obviously,
Speaker 3: Chase McLachlin had an amazing season, but even Chase Edmonds
Speaker 3: and Greg Gaines, who were obviously preserves, filled a nice
Speaker 3: little role and the Bucks like what they did and
Speaker 3: then brought him back. So Greg Gaines played forty two
Speaker 3: snaps on defense in that rotation up front, probably helped
Speaker 3: quite a bit with the good run defense. Chase Edmunds,
Speaker 3: Nobody but Chase Edmonds took a snap as a running
Speaker 3: back other than Rashad White over the last ten games.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was the guy.
Speaker 3: To spell Rashad White Chase McLaughlin set records for Buccaneer Kickers.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was pretty amazing. Then of course we
Speaker 2: brought back a guy, which is so fun.
Speaker 1: So Jordan Whitehead is coming back, and I feel like
Speaker 1: there's been so few times in my career that you
Speaker 1: bring back someone that's left a team, and I can't
Speaker 1: think of very many people I would be more excited
Speaker 1: about coming back than Jordan Whitehead. A great guy, and man,
Speaker 1: I feel like what he can bring to this defense
Speaker 1: is so important.
Speaker 3: So I heard a story yesterday that I think it
Speaker 3: was John Spytech went to tell Nick Rappone, the safeties coach,
Speaker 3: that they had re signed Jordan Whitehead, and like almost
Speaker 3: brought him to tears.
Speaker 2: He was so happy, he was so happy. That's incredible.
Speaker 3: So if that tells anything Jordan's I know, we're probably
Speaker 3: going too hard on this vibes thing, and all these
Speaker 3: guys are wonderful, but they really are. And Jordan's such
Speaker 3: a I mean again is he never smiling.
Speaker 1: Always smiling, which I love because he just looks terrifying
Speaker 1: because he's so he's just chizzled. And yet he's just
Speaker 1: always like hi, guys, and I love the fact that
Speaker 1: he can absolutely destroy someone on the field and then
Speaker 1: walk off the field and just be the smiliest, happiest person.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's just the dream, right is the person
Speaker 1: that you love to be around off the field and
Speaker 1: then can murder the other team on the field.
Speaker 3: And who can forget his force fumble and Aaron Jones
Speaker 3: in the NFC Championship Game in twenty twenty is one
Speaker 3: of the biggest plays of the entire game. And I
Speaker 3: think he actually got hurt on the play, but that's
Speaker 3: he's selling.
Speaker 1: Out, selling out, selling out for it. Well, I know,
Speaker 1: as much as we've loved being able to talk about
Speaker 1: everyone that we have kept or brought back, we did
Speaker 1: lose one very key addition to this team, which I
Speaker 1: will also be very sad about as well. Carlton Davis
Speaker 1: has been traded, So tell us the details of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Carlton Davis traded to Detroit along with a sixth
Speaker 3: round pick this year which is number two one, and
Speaker 3: a sixth round pick next year, and in return, the
Speaker 3: Buccaneers get a third runner which is number ninety two.
Speaker 3: And Carlton Davis had a nice six years here, there's
Speaker 3: no doubt. So I think obviously the salary cap had
Speaker 3: something to do with this. You have to make some
Speaker 3: sacrifices somewhere if you're bringing all these guys back. And
Speaker 3: we obviously wish Carlton well unless he's playing against the
Speaker 3: Buccaneers that one game. You know, he had some really
Speaker 3: nice stretches sometimes when he was a lockdown guy on
Speaker 3: the other team's number one and I think from nineteen
Speaker 3: to twenty he had the most passes defense in the league.
Speaker 3: So Carlton did a lot of really nice things for
Speaker 3: the Buccaneers. We wish him well. He's going to a
Speaker 3: really good team. That said, a third round draft pick
Speaker 3: is a really good asset. It's a really good asset.
Speaker 3: And I can prove that by putting up the list
Speaker 3: of the Buccaneers since twenty seventeen. So that's what the
Speaker 3: last seven years. Look at this list that the Buccaners
Speaker 3: are taken in the third round. I mean, other than
Speaker 3: Keishan Vaughn, which obviously didn't work out out, every other
Speaker 3: guy on that list became a starter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Kendle Beck with he just got injured.
Speaker 2: He got hurt in a car act.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was playing great.
Speaker 3: Chris Godwin awesome. Kindle beckw With was a starter until
Speaker 3: he had got in a car accident. Alex Kapp a starter,
Speaker 3: got a big deal with Bengals. Jamel Dean still here, starter,
Speaker 3: Mike Edwards just won another Super Bowl ring for Kansas City.
Speaker 3: He was a starter. Robert Haines's the starter. Rashad White's starter. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 3: Dabbie only needed half a season to become a starter.
Speaker 3: That's an incredible list that a third round draft pick
Speaker 3: is a really nice asset, and given that Carlton is
Speaker 3: going into the last year of his deal, it's a
Speaker 3: pretty big cap hit. It's just to me, I think
Speaker 3: that if the hard decision was made that Carlton need
Speaker 3: to be traded. I think Jason Light did a phenomenal
Speaker 3: job to get a third round pick in this in
Speaker 3: this deal yep.
Speaker 1: And another person that the team loss that we will
Speaker 1: all be very sad to see go is Shaq Barrett.
Speaker 1: I know that this news sort of has been out
Speaker 1: there for a while, but in terms of just the
Speaker 1: officialness of how it works, when they needed to release him,
Speaker 1: all of that that it finally became official yesterday, I believe,
Speaker 1: and we'd already heard the news, of course that he's
Speaker 1: signed with Miami, and so we're very happy for him
Speaker 1: that he found a new home and Miami has gotten
Speaker 1: a great one. And just he and his family such
Speaker 1: wonderful people, and we will very much miss him, and
Speaker 1: of course just would I don't know that we won
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl without him. So yeah, thanks to Shack
Speaker 1: for everything he did here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was amazing in the NFC Championship Game and
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl. Four sacks and eight quarterback hits over
Speaker 3: those two games, which is amazing. So he obviously could
Speaker 3: turn it on when it mattered the most. And I
Speaker 3: think when you look at what he did forty five sacks,
Speaker 3: he's fifth in team history, broke the team sack record
Speaker 3: in his first year here, really took the advantage of
Speaker 3: a chance to be a starter and ran with it.
Speaker 3: If you look at all the free agent signings the
Speaker 3: Bucks have made in their history, he's right up there,
Speaker 3: like probably top five.
Speaker 1: So now we've talked about a lot of the guys
Speaker 1: that they have brought back, a couple of guys they've lost.
Speaker 1: Where do we stand on guys that it's still sort
Speaker 1: of pending as you might call it.
Speaker 2: With free agents.
Speaker 3: Well, we can put up the list of the guys
Speaker 3: that became free agents yesterday at four o'clock.
Speaker 2: There it is.
Speaker 3: It's about what fourteen guys. There's some there's some good
Speaker 3: players there. There's some guys that did good things for
Speaker 3: us last year. But I think if you look at
Speaker 3: that list, you can tell that the Buccaneers already hit
Speaker 3: their major priorities. Still you could see some action here.
Speaker 3: I mean, and by the way, should point out Ussell
Speaker 3: Gages on that list because the Buccaneers did not pick
Speaker 3: up his option year for this year, so he spent
Speaker 3: last year and I are obviously wish him well. But
Speaker 3: there's you know, John Wolford knows the system. He could
Speaker 3: be a candidate to come back as a third quarterback.
Speaker 3: Does Zach Trinner come back? You have another guy that
Speaker 3: they signed after the season, Nick Leverett. I think actually
Speaker 3: he might have signed.
Speaker 1: Somewhere Aaron and most last year Di Delaney was a
Speaker 1: massive part of that defense at different times being asked
Speaker 1: to do every daying thing.
Speaker 2: Very good point that secondary Will Golston. We love him.
Speaker 3: He's started more, He's played more games than any other
Speaker 3: defensive lineman team history. He's just been steady throughout his career.
Speaker 1: So that's the word everyone uses about him, including coach
Speaker 1: Bowls that ask him about him. That's what he always says.
Speaker 1: He's just steady, Eddie, is what he always says. And
Speaker 1: he knows exactly what he's supposed.
Speaker 3: To do when he doesn't even if Will doesn't come
Speaker 3: back this year. He played eleven seasons and he was
Speaker 3: a fourth throned draft pick and played the most games
Speaker 3: by defensive lineman.
Speaker 2: That that was a hit of a heck of a.
Speaker 1: Draft pick for sure. All Right, So let's get into
Speaker 1: a little bit of the NFC South this week of
Speaker 1: what are some of the key moves and trades and
Speaker 1: signings that will affect the Buccaneers defense.
Speaker 3: A lot of stuff happened all across the league so fast.
Speaker 3: I mean, that legal tampering period began at noon on
Speaker 3: Monday and we were getting reports by like twelve to fifteen.
Speaker 2: So amazing how that happened.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, in any case, however it goes down.
Speaker 3: I think the biggest moves obviously, Kirk Cousins joins the
Speaker 3: Falcons on a giant contract, got paid again. Another one
Speaker 3: hundred million dollars guaranteed. I mean, that guy what a
Speaker 3: career in any case, he's he was really good last
Speaker 3: year before he tore his achilles. He's thirty six. The
Speaker 3: torn achilles does put a little bit of a question
Speaker 3: mark on it, but obviously the Falcons aren't particularly concerned
Speaker 3: about that because they made a huge commitment. When you
Speaker 3: look at the offensive weapons that the Falcons have that
Speaker 3: they've added in the last three or four years, and
Speaker 3: you think about a guy who really should be able
Speaker 3: to come in and distribute the ball to them on time,
Speaker 3: that's a big deal.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: And you go to the Carolina Panthers, they actually lost
Speaker 3: I mean voluntarily, but they lost a big guy. When
Speaker 3: they they had they had put the franchise tag on
Speaker 3: Brian Burns, who's their best pass rusher, and but apparently
Speaker 3: they were motivated, probably for cap reasons, to trade them
Speaker 3: away and they give him to the Giants for second
Speaker 3: and fifth round picks, which I mean.
Speaker 2: For the Buccaneers it's good news.
Speaker 3: It is to have him out of the division, So
Speaker 3: that that was probably the biggest thing that they did.
Speaker 3: I can't, off the top of my head think of
Speaker 3: a lot of moves that the Saints did. They again,
Speaker 3: like they do every year, after worry.
Speaker 1: About the Cats signed Tyrone Matthew.
Speaker 3: James Winston left left, so yeah, there's some big moves
Speaker 3: and some more sure to come. The Panthers also gave
Speaker 3: a hundred million dollars to guard Robert Hunt from the Dolphins,
Speaker 3: so they're they're making some moves to show up their
Speaker 3: offensive line and you know the Dave Canalis over there
Speaker 3: trying to make that offense work. So I think they
Speaker 3: also traded for Deontae Johnson, the receiver from the Steelers.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of moving parts for the Buccaneers
Speaker 3: that's mostly been keeping their own guys, but there's still
Speaker 3: a long way to go in free agency.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, that's going to do it for us
Speaker 1: on this free agency edition of Bucks Insider. We'll see
Speaker 1: you next time.
Speaker 4: M