Speaker 1: Welcome to Bucks Insider Live, presented by Verizon Casey Phillips.
Speaker 1: Here was senior writer and editor Scott Smith. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's inns interesting this time of year in the off season.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we're like, man, we don't really have a whole
Speaker 1: lot to talk about, But after our last show, a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of things happened almost right after we went
Speaker 1: live on the diming was very interesting. So we actually
Speaker 1: do have a fair amount to talk about now in
Speaker 1: terms of since our last show. It isn't necessarily the
Speaker 1: newest of information at this point, but uh, the Bucks
Speaker 1: did still be acknowledged, Yes, still need to talk about
Speaker 1: it now. That the Bucks did end up having several
Speaker 1: co ching changes, we figured we'd go through that now
Speaker 1: and then what we know in terms of the attempts
Speaker 1: to replace some of those people that are going on now.
Speaker 1: So first of all, just take us kind of through
Speaker 1: the changes that were made. Yeah, and I think shameless
Speaker 1: plug here, Um, you're you and Brianna and Jeff and
Speaker 1: I combined our did a little mashup of our podcast,
Speaker 1: so check that out on Buccaneers. Yes, it was very fun,
Speaker 1: so Salty Dogs Tampa to mash up it was great
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast, um, and we talked about
Speaker 1: this a little bit. It's it's one of the hard parts,
Speaker 1: one of the unfortunate parts of the job, right and uh,
Speaker 1: you don't these are people you work with and you
Speaker 1: don't like to see the loser jobs. But it happened,
Speaker 1: so let's acknowledge that, right. And so the Buccaneers parted
Speaker 1: ways with six coaches, um, including offensive corner and Byron Leftwich.
Speaker 1: Also Chris Bonnal, Kevin Garver, Jeff Castle, Lorie Locust, and
Speaker 1: Tom McNair. And also three others decided to retire, and
Speaker 1: that was Clik Christensen, Rick Christophel and Bob Sanders. So
Speaker 1: almost exclusively on the offensive side. You had Lori Locust
Speaker 1: and Bob Sanders who are leaving on the defensive side,
Speaker 1: and then Chris Boniol the kicking specialist. So now, of
Speaker 1: course there's just so many interesting We talked about this
Speaker 1: on Salty Dogs the Dominoes. Now, of where you don't
Speaker 1: really know exactly We've got a lot of free agents.
Speaker 1: You don't really know exactly what this team is going
Speaker 1: to look like from that standpoint, salary cap and then
Speaker 1: it's do you hire people based on the players, do
Speaker 1: players come back based on who you hire, the order
Speaker 1: of all of that. So what do we know at
Speaker 1: this point about where the Bucks are in terms of
Speaker 1: some of that hiring and the way they're going about
Speaker 1: the Job number one is the offensive coordinator because like
Speaker 1: you said, most of these positions were offensive, and so
Speaker 1: you want to get the guy at the top in
Speaker 1: first or woman man or woman at the top in first,
Speaker 1: and then you know, fill those assistant positions after that.
Speaker 1: And they have started to line up some candidates, and
Speaker 1: like most teams, when they finished an interview in the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers announced that they've done so. So the one we
Speaker 1: know for sure is Clint Kubiak of the Denver Broncos,
Speaker 1: the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Denver
Speaker 1: Broncos and former offensive coordinator for the Vikings. He interviewed yesterday.
Speaker 1: So there'll probably be some more these are going to
Speaker 1: be coming out. We won't we won't really announce them
Speaker 1: until they're done. But I think that's the thing that
Speaker 1: that's job number one, right, which is going to be
Speaker 1: so interesting and so um looking at this, what do
Speaker 1: you feel like are the things that they're going to
Speaker 1: be the steps that we can be paying attention to
Speaker 1: now of how this offseason goes in terms of like
Speaker 1: we talked about the free agents, there's salary cap things,
Speaker 1: there's coaches to hire. How is this different maybe than
Speaker 1: We've had a lot of continuity these last few years,
Speaker 1: both in terms of coaching and players, so we have
Speaker 1: not had to walk through this in a little while.
Speaker 1: Remind everyone kind of the timeline of when these things
Speaker 1: might be happening, how it affects this offseason, and what
Speaker 1: we might be looking Well, I think the coaching hires
Speaker 1: will have been relatively quick quickly because they kind of
Speaker 1: have to write you really need to get your plans
Speaker 1: in place, and and also there are a lot of teams.
Speaker 1: There's about nine teams if you count the ones that
Speaker 1: fired their head coaches that are looking for a new
Speaker 1: offensive coordinators. So if you're if there's any person out
Speaker 1: there that you're really hot after, you may have competition
Speaker 1: for that person, and so you kind of have to
Speaker 1: move pretty quickly. Yeah, that's been so interesting to see
Speaker 1: because to your point, Yeah, it's like it might make
Speaker 1: it harder because there are so many teams you could
Speaker 1: be in competition with but it also shows how many
Speaker 1: teams parted ways with their offensive coordinators, which means maybe
Speaker 1: there's more available than in traditional years that have had
Speaker 1: experience in that area, is compared to someone who hasn't
Speaker 1: that's moving up into that role, which would be good
Speaker 1: news for people like Byron Levetwig And you know, as
Speaker 1: I meant to say when we were talking about that,
Speaker 1: UM coach Bowls decided that these moves needed to be
Speaker 1: made for the future, for the you know, for the
Speaker 1: betterment of the team going forward in three But let's
Speaker 1: not diminish the and he said so in his quote,
Speaker 1: the work and the effort and the successes they helped
Speaker 1: in the past four years. I mean, look at Byron
Speaker 1: left which is an example. You know, he was on
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl staff. He was a coordinator for an
Speaker 1: offense that did really well for several years. So good
Speaker 1: for them for that. But yes, in terms of a
Speaker 1: lot of candidates being out there, that's true. Uh, and
Speaker 1: so there could be some competition for him. So I
Speaker 1: think that's first, But I think probably the other big storyline,
Speaker 1: I mean, quarterback is obviously the big story, but the
Speaker 1: thing that underlies all of this is the buck salary
Speaker 1: cap situation, and that's something that actually is going to
Speaker 1: have to be attended to before free agency. So that's
Speaker 1: actually the next thing, because the Buccaneers as constituted now
Speaker 1: are about fifty million dollars over the cap with the
Speaker 1: contracts they have, for which you can't do I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't just go oil you. You have to solve it.
Speaker 1: So there will be, without a doubt, some roster room
Speaker 1: has made. Some players might even get released, that's possible,
Speaker 1: but there will be maybe contract extensions or contracts we reworked,
Speaker 1: and all that's going to happen in the next month
Speaker 1: and a half, yeah, which is going to be interesting.
Speaker 1: And so looking at to the free agent list, it
Speaker 1: is so long, and I don't know if that's a
Speaker 1: good thing or a bad thing in terms of the
Speaker 1: contract or the salary cap situation. That you have a
Speaker 1: lot of guys that you can figure out what to
Speaker 1: do with now is compared to already being locked in
Speaker 1: with them. But um, it is going to be quite
Speaker 1: a task for Jason Lte and his whole staff. What
Speaker 1: do you feel like are going to be some of
Speaker 1: the priorities and how do all these different again dominoes
Speaker 1: affect each other of looking at who all is a
Speaker 1: free agent on this team, Well, there's about there's about
Speaker 1: two dozen of them, which actually isn't really all that uncommon.
Speaker 1: The Bucks have been in that situation for about three
Speaker 1: or four years in a row now, and part of
Speaker 1: the reason for that is they have signed a lot
Speaker 1: of one year contracts and you know guys, a couple
Speaker 1: of guys like Leonard four, Nette Shack, Barrett, Chris Godwin.
Speaker 1: They got long term deals in the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: but before that we're one year to year. Tom Brady
Speaker 1: almost has gone year to year. The last one was
Speaker 1: two years. So um, there have been like you signed,
Speaker 1: got like a Chem Hicks. He was an important free
Speaker 1: agent edition for the Buccaneers. But they don't signed to
Speaker 1: a one year deal. So you get a lot of
Speaker 1: those deals from which means every year you have a
Speaker 1: couple dozen understrictive free agents to deal with and you
Speaker 1: don't bring them all back. But there are some names
Speaker 1: on there. Obviously we keep saying that Tom Brady is
Speaker 1: an unrestricted free agent, um, but there's others. Lavante David,
Speaker 1: you know who's been this team captain for nine straight years,
Speaker 1: and it really had a very nice season in the
Speaker 1: eleventh year. Um, and most of the secondary, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, Yeah, that's basically that is the way
Speaker 1: to look at it is almost the entire s Davis
Speaker 1: is under contract and Antrom Winfield's under contract, and that's
Speaker 1: about it. That's crazy. We talked about that on our
Speaker 1: Saltry Dogs podcast of where I had looked up what
Speaker 1: a huge percentage of the passes defense and interceptions. I
Speaker 1: think you said the eight of ten interceptions, and then
Speaker 1: I can't remember the exact number for the passes defensed.
Speaker 1: It was something like seventy or something. Yeah, something some
Speaker 1: crazy amount. So, um, yeah, I think that it's been
Speaker 1: We've taken for granted the fact that we had such
Speaker 1: a young core back there for so long, which meant
Speaker 1: they were young, they were inexpensive, and they had only
Speaker 1: played under this system. There was just a lot to
Speaker 1: that that was very impressive. It was the function of
Speaker 1: a couple of good drafts in a rown, a lot
Speaker 1: of second and third draft picks and fourth even if
Speaker 1: you countro On Whitehead and left last year. They just
Speaker 1: drafted a lot of defensive backs in the second through
Speaker 1: fourth round range, and most of them worked out and
Speaker 1: that just became your not given for four years, but
Speaker 1: those years are up now, yes, Which does that tell
Speaker 1: something about where this team feels like they can get,
Speaker 1: you know, because we know the Bucks are not going
Speaker 1: to be picking super high in any round. Um, does
Speaker 1: it change what they feel like they can get or
Speaker 1: maybe the positions they feel like they can do a
Speaker 1: good job of in those mid rounds based on the
Speaker 1: history of what this team has done. That's a good point.
Speaker 1: That's a good point that maybe they're not as worried
Speaker 1: about it because they've seen, Hey, we've gotten offensive linemen
Speaker 1: that weren't first round picks. That and Alm Petting all
Speaker 1: those people. You've gotten all these dvs in later rounds.
Speaker 1: So maybe that tells them that it's okay that as
Speaker 1: much as we all love for a higher draft pick
Speaker 1: early on, that that's the downside of making the playoffs,
Speaker 1: is that it's less about your record more about the
Speaker 1: fact that you made the playoffs. But maybe they feel
Speaker 1: like those mid round picks can be UM a good one.
Speaker 1: And then we also had some news about Chris Godwin,
Speaker 1: which I thought was very exciting. So you want to
Speaker 1: tell everybody about the award he has been voted to.
Speaker 1: He was the Buck's choice for the ed Block Courage
Speaker 1: Award for this year. They do that. Each team does
Speaker 1: that every year, and then they have I think it's
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, they have a ceremony, and um, there's one
Speaker 1: chosen overall. Um, it's it's generally for players who have
Speaker 1: overcome something, and obviously Chris Goddwen did an amazing job
Speaker 1: of overcoming is a very significant knee injury from last December,
Speaker 1: to the point that I think Coach Bowles might have
Speaker 1: said this on your show. Um, surprisingly he's not a
Speaker 1: at least a finalist for comeback players. That's what I
Speaker 1: was gonna say. I love that he got the ed
Speaker 1: Block Courage Award, but I really feel like he deserved
Speaker 1: at least a shot, and I almost feel like, this
Speaker 1: is my opinion on this, I almost feel like he
Speaker 1: did too good a job of overcoming it, where people,
Speaker 1: for whatever they forgot because it happened so late last
Speaker 1: season that it almost felt like it was after the season,
Speaker 1: like his whole comeback journey, because he was back Week one.
Speaker 1: It's like it almost didn't happen in people's minds because
Speaker 1: it all happened in that off season period when maybe
Speaker 1: you're not paying as much attention, and you saw Chris
Speaker 1: Godwin for most of last year and then he came
Speaker 1: out and was playing really well. He missed a little
Speaker 1: bit early in the year, but almost it's like he
Speaker 1: did so well at it that people were like, we
Speaker 1: come back from from what Yeah, yeah, good to start
Speaker 1: last year, is good to start this year. I mean,
Speaker 1: but sae Kwon Berkley, if Sakewon Barkley is a candidate,
Speaker 1: Chris's injury was more significant than his and the season
Speaker 1: was just as good. That was very frustrating to me,
Speaker 1: But yeah, at least if he's not going to get
Speaker 1: the Comeback Player, I was happy that he got the
Speaker 1: Courage Award, And yeah, I think the awards are maybe
Speaker 1: April first and second to announce all of those in Baltimore,
Speaker 1: So yeah, I was. I was very happy for him. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I just thought that was so interesting that
Speaker 1: I did feel like almost it's like he did too well.
Speaker 1: He finished third in the league and catches per game,
Speaker 1: which is crazy. He missed two games in half of
Speaker 1: another and still got over a hundred catches. It's incredible.
Speaker 1: What you gotta do, ye and it's finely this does
Speaker 1: it really matter? Yeah, I'm sure to Chris and of
Speaker 1: all people who is not awards seeking, it's that guy
Speaker 1: that you know all of our dang humbles. It's more
Speaker 1: weird than than upsetting. It's like, why would you know
Speaker 1: Smith came back from what not starting? Hey, that's rough.
Speaker 1: He had a great year. He debly win the award.
Speaker 1: He did have a great year. And I saw that
Speaker 1: Jineau was talking about how he was upset that Carroll
Speaker 1: was not one of the Coach Coach of the Year
Speaker 1: ones and that he was like, wait a minute, candidates,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of good candidates, which is going
Speaker 1: to be interesting. All right, Well that is going to
Speaker 1: do it for us on this edition of Bucks and
Speaker 1: Senter Live presented by Verizon. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining us. We'll be coming back to you periodically throughout
Speaker 1: the off season to make sure you have those questions
Speaker 1: ready for us. Put them underneath our live video on
Speaker 1: the Facebook page. Whenever you watch our show, We'll see
Speaker 1: you next time.