Speaker 1: Welcome in to Buccaneers Insider Live, presented by Miller. Like
Speaker 1: Casey Phillips, here was senior writer and editor Scott Smith.
Speaker 1: We are back after a little break every time this year,
Speaker 1: at this time of year, the office is closed, there's
Speaker 1: not a lot going on, but now we are officially
Speaker 1: close enough to training camp that we feel like we
Speaker 1: have this to talk about During that week, were you
Speaker 1: trying not to think about the fact that when you
Speaker 1: got back, training camp will be right around the corner
Speaker 1: a little bit, it's always a little bit like already
Speaker 1: almost over. But then it's like, but it's exciting that
Speaker 1: the whole season is in front of you. And I
Speaker 1: think training camp is such a fun time, especially for
Speaker 1: our show, talking about all the different position battles and
Speaker 1: what the roster is gonna look like. It's it's a
Speaker 1: very fun time to sort of speculate about that and
Speaker 1: think about what we're excited to watch at training camp.
Speaker 1: And so I know that is the point of training
Speaker 1: camp in so many ways, is to figure out when
Speaker 1: you have ninety how you get down to fifty three
Speaker 1: and you get to watch these maybe some undrafted guys
Speaker 1: that could sneak in there or different draft picks and
Speaker 1: what it could look like. So for you, what are
Speaker 1: the biggest things that you feel like you're going to
Speaker 1: be watching as it goes from There was really two
Speaker 1: intertwined major goals of training camp, and you just named
Speaker 1: one of them. Take your ninety people that you take
Speaker 1: into on your roster into camp and fashion the best
Speaker 1: possible fifty three man regular season roster. And then at
Speaker 1: the same time, you're trying to get your playbooks installed
Speaker 1: so you're ready for the Dallas Cowboys and the teams
Speaker 1: that come after. But first things you have to do
Speaker 1: is you have to get from fifty three and um,
Speaker 1: here's an here's a possible way that that could be
Speaker 1: laid out, and it might not be exactly this. I
Speaker 1: do believe the Buccaneers go into camp with a goal
Speaker 1: of how many they want in each position, but sometimes
Speaker 1: you have to tweak it here and they're depending on
Speaker 1: what you have and what you need in players being injury.
Speaker 1: You might keep nine offensive linemen or ten defensive backs,
Speaker 1: or you may have to keep an extra receiver because
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin isn't quite ready to go, and so you
Speaker 1: might lose a running back tighten But this is a
Speaker 1: pretty typical um layout of of how you might get
Speaker 1: to fifty three by position um. And so you can
Speaker 1: see by looking at that where the Buccaneers have the
Speaker 1: least and the most trim. I mean, there's thirteen wide receivers.
Speaker 1: Now a lot of those guys are undrafted. You know,
Speaker 1: there's four or five undrafted free agents, and not to
Speaker 1: the mean those guys, those undrafted free agents make it
Speaker 1: almost every year, but not all of them. Right, So
Speaker 1: and then look at all You've got sixte dbs, you
Speaker 1: might keep nine, you might keep tents. So there's some
Speaker 1: things to figure out there. But then at a place
Speaker 1: like tight end, you've only got six at the moment,
Speaker 1: and you're probably keeping four, could be five, could be three.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, inside Liebracker exact, there's like no fat
Speaker 1: to trim off that spot, particularly because when you look
Speaker 1: at it, it's Devin White, Lavante, David, your obvious starters,
Speaker 1: and then your two draft picks from last year, kJ Britten,
Speaker 1: Grant Stewart, and then the only other two are a
Speaker 1: pair of undrafted free free agents. So you know that
Speaker 1: that's a spot where if you're in that group, you're
Speaker 1: feeling pretty good probably, so This just gives you an
Speaker 1: idea of where the competition is probably gonna be the
Speaker 1: most heated. Yeah, that's going to be interesting. And so
Speaker 1: now one of those spots you mentioned tight end, and
Speaker 1: we know that's been very talked about, of course because
Speaker 1: of Gronk and retirement and then people hoping he was
Speaker 1: just kidding and then him doing another interview that made
Speaker 1: it sound like he wasn't just kidding, and now you
Speaker 1: never know, we're just we're always gonna What was that
Speaker 1: they said about Brady, We're going to leave the light
Speaker 1: on for you, having I imagine that would be the
Speaker 1: case the door unlocked, leave the door unlocked for Gronk.
Speaker 1: But though he could probably get in even if that's true,
Speaker 1: that's true, Gronk feels like he can show up no
Speaker 1: matter what. So now, looking at that, what do you
Speaker 1: think about the tight end position? If we just let's
Speaker 1: go with the fact that Gronk doesn't come back, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it looked like he wasn't having any fun
Speaker 1: at all. Why would he possibly stay retired? So looking
Speaker 1: at the fact that he's probably not coming back, now,
Speaker 1: what does that mean for this position? Who's on the roster?
Speaker 1: Do you think they add someone from outside of it.
Speaker 1: What do you think that position group is going to
Speaker 1: look like. Well, I've been calling it the ninety man
Speaker 1: roster because that's what you take to camp, but at
Speaker 1: the moment, that's only eighty nine after they are released
Speaker 1: some brandly opinion. So, um, there is a spot open,
Speaker 1: and you don't leave a spot open. They will sign somebody.
Speaker 1: It could be another arm draft of fra Age, you
Speaker 1: could be anybody, but they will sign somebody. They could
Speaker 1: use that spot to bring in another tight end. Last
Speaker 1: year we took seven tight ends in training camp. This
Speaker 1: year we only had four, I mean six. Um, so
Speaker 1: they could sign a veteran free agent because right now
Speaker 1: you have cam Brad, who's great, we love him, He's
Speaker 1: got like two and thirty five career catches, and then
Speaker 1: you've got five other guys who have combined for one
Speaker 1: career catch. So you may love Kadot and you may
Speaker 1: love co Keith. He may love these guys, but they're
Speaker 1: they're not proven. So the Bucks could go, let's get
Speaker 1: approven option in here and see how what works out best.
Speaker 1: And I was just looking at the available tight ends
Speaker 1: that are out there that names you would recognize and
Speaker 1: this is what he came up with is probably the
Speaker 1: five most recognizable names that remain unsigned. Um. What jumps
Speaker 1: out at me here is that most of these guys
Speaker 1: are pretty up there. You know, Jared Cook has had
Speaker 1: a brilli productive career and he even had four yards
Speaker 1: last year, so he's the most productive of the group
Speaker 1: from last year. But he's also thirty five and he's
Speaker 1: basically been mostly a pass catcher, not really much of
Speaker 1: a blocker. The youngest got on the list is Blake Jarwin.
Speaker 1: Didn't have a lot of production last year because the
Speaker 1: Cowboys kind of have focused on Dalton Schultz, but he
Speaker 1: did a few years ago have a couple productive years,
Speaker 1: so maybe that's an option. Eric Ibran and Kyle Rudolph
Speaker 1: probably better blockers then Jared Cook, So maybe you're looking
Speaker 1: more in that direction. And I don't know if the
Speaker 1: Bucks are looking at any of these guys, but these
Speaker 1: are the most prominent names out there, and they they
Speaker 1: all have something to offer, but they all have Well,
Speaker 1: maybe he's a little bit you know, he's a little
Speaker 1: bit up there, or maybe he's not a great blocker,
Speaker 1: or maybe he hasn't had unproduction lately. So um, you know,
Speaker 1: you just have to judge, is does this guy have
Speaker 1: something that he can offer the team? Is there more
Speaker 1: possibly on the bone there than what they showed last year?
Speaker 1: Do you see pass catching or blocking as being the priory?
Speaker 1: Because obviously, if somebody is still an unsigned free agent,
Speaker 1: the odds are they're not incredible at both or they
Speaker 1: wouldn't be unsigned. So what would you say if someone
Speaker 1: is better at one the other, which one do you
Speaker 1: think the Bucks need more of? Right? I think ideally
Speaker 1: the Bucks would like to find a tight in who
Speaker 1: they know can block well and then maybe add something
Speaker 1: in the passing game, because cam Braid is your number
Speaker 1: one tied in at the moment, and he's had a
Speaker 1: great career and he's a good blocker, but he's that's
Speaker 1: not been the main thing, right His main thing is
Speaker 1: as catching. He's especially good in the red zone. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, he's good at moving the chains, he's reliable,
Speaker 1: he's got great hands. Uh. You know, we love a
Speaker 1: lot about cam Bride, but he's had to learn how
Speaker 1: to block during his NFL career, right, he didn't come
Speaker 1: in as a blocking tight end. Uh so, um, I
Speaker 1: think you would want to pair him with a guy
Speaker 1: that was a good blocker, like if you're doing two
Speaker 1: tight insets, uh, and then and the guy that could
Speaker 1: they could give you blocking but also perhaps be a
Speaker 1: little bit of a threat in the past game. And
Speaker 1: that could be kay Doton. It could be and and
Speaker 1: that's why the Bucks drafted him in the fourth round
Speaker 1: and and probably felt like they got a little bit
Speaker 1: of a steel. I know some draft analysts have said
Speaker 1: that was a little bit of a steel because due
Speaker 1: a terrible quarterback play at Washington last year and his
Speaker 1: own injuries, his last year wasn't as productive as the
Speaker 1: year before when he probably would have gone a little
Speaker 1: higher in the draft. So maybe the Buck's got a
Speaker 1: steel and he's a potential two way tight end, but
Speaker 1: again it's not proven. Plus he hasn't practiced yet due
Speaker 1: to coming back from an injury, so it would maybe
Speaker 1: be nice to have a veteran option in that same
Speaker 1: mold and then just see which one works out best. Okay.
Speaker 1: And then as we talk about some of the different
Speaker 1: positions we mentioned tight end and some areas that you
Speaker 1: think guys can need to either step up or what
Speaker 1: it looks like now as you trim to your fifty
Speaker 1: three UM we know that JPP no longer part of
Speaker 1: the team, and so there are definitely some snaps up
Speaker 1: for grabs in that position room. So how do you
Speaker 1: see that group shaking out in terms of the number
Speaker 1: of people that make the roster, who's going to be
Speaker 1: stepping into the most production. Do you feel like there's
Speaker 1: anything that still needs to be added there? You know,
Speaker 1: last year we got a little bit of a break
Speaker 1: from this kind of conversation because the Bucks, famously after
Speaker 1: winning the Super Bowl, brought everybody really was not great
Speaker 1: for our show. In the off season, we were like, well,
Speaker 1: it's gonna look like it number last year team. That's
Speaker 1: what you got. So generally, camps at every team every
Speaker 1: year had some battles like at right guard for the
Speaker 1: Bucks this year, and I mean left guard, and some
Speaker 1: places where you're expecting a younger guy to step up
Speaker 1: for a departed veteran, And in this case, I think
Speaker 1: the most prominent of those is Joe try On Showinka,
Speaker 1: the first round pick from two thousand twenty one, who
Speaker 1: is probably going to step in as the other outside
Speaker 1: linebacker for Jason Pierre Paul opposite Shack Barrett. Now. Last year,
Speaker 1: as has been the story that has all the coaches
Speaker 1: have been telling about Joe from his last year is
Speaker 1: that they really asked him to play a lot of
Speaker 1: different positions. They actually play a lot of different roles,
Speaker 1: and it was tough. It was tough for rookie. It's
Speaker 1: tough for Rickie to learn and adapt at one spot
Speaker 1: and to have to play inside and outside and drop
Speaker 1: off the ball sometimes. That was a lot on his
Speaker 1: plate and he produced pretty well, but maybe not as
Speaker 1: much as you're hoping for this year. Now, presumably he's
Speaker 1: going to get a shot to stick and to focus
Speaker 1: at one of the outside linebacker positions, being edge rusher,
Speaker 1: and the Buccaneers are hoping he'll blossom in that. And
Speaker 1: Shack Barrett during the off season during minicamp was glowing
Speaker 1: about Joe and saying he thinks he's capable of getting
Speaker 1: double dug sacks this season, which would be cool because
Speaker 1: we know Shaq Barrett is a very good shot at
Speaker 1: kidd right. He's done it. He's done it two out
Speaker 1: of the three years that he's been with the team
Speaker 1: and just missed it the other year, so you would
Speaker 1: not be surprised at all. Shack Barrett got inside right
Speaker 1: Joe also did that would be too multi multi. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the Bucks have only had that twice in their
Speaker 1: whole history, with Sap and Cheetyana too and two thousand
Speaker 1: with Sap and Marcus Jones. But it's really actually not
Speaker 1: all that uncommon. It's happened for at least two teams
Speaker 1: every year for the fast past nineteen years. I know,
Speaker 1: I was shocked when I looked at it. I started,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to this graphic first, and I'll get
Speaker 1: back to that. But this is a list of all
Speaker 1: the players in team history who have at least twenty sacks,
Speaker 1: because I didn't want to include maybe some guy who
Speaker 1: had one sack in one game or something. Uh. Shack
Speaker 1: has the highest rate of sacks per game at point
Speaker 1: eight to uh even a little bit more than Simeon Rice,
Speaker 1: who has the most decorated pass rusher, him and Lever
Speaker 1: semon A those decorated pass rushers in team history. And
Speaker 1: Shaquille Barrett has more sex per game than than all
Speaker 1: of them, And if you multiply that out for seventeen games,
Speaker 1: it's close to fourteen sacks. So he's obviously a very
Speaker 1: good bet to be good ten. Now getting back to
Speaker 1: what I was saying before, Um, yeah, two teams like
Speaker 1: last year, I think it was Pittsburgh in Arizona had
Speaker 1: at least two guys that had doubleged sex and at
Speaker 1: least two teams have had that for nineteen straight years.
Speaker 1: I started looking it up to see how common it was.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe. I had to keep going. It took
Speaker 1: me in like half an hour. It looked at this
Speaker 1: not so interesting. I would have not thought that. It
Speaker 1: also shows how important it is. Yeah, And I think
Speaker 1: what it really shows is that when you have two
Speaker 1: good or more than two good edge rushers, they really
Speaker 1: help each other. Yeah, because you can't just say we're
Speaker 1: gonna double team this guy, right, So somebody's always getting
Speaker 1: a better opportunity when you have a real threat on
Speaker 1: both sides. And now I think that especially how strongly
Speaker 1: the Bucks feel about their interior alignment, could also help
Speaker 1: with that. As you look at what they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to do about a team Hicks and Vita Via and
Speaker 1: then hopefully Logan Hall as well. But that's going to
Speaker 1: also help them. Again, you have two incredible ede dressers
Speaker 1: and guys like that in the middle. I would not
Speaker 1: want to be in an offensive. Yeah, and and then
Speaker 1: don't don't even sleep on Devin White, who's a great
Speaker 1: blitz Glenbecker who had nine sacks two seasons ago. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's going to be incredible. All right, Well, we're gonna
Speaker 1: look at us a few of the questions we have here.
Speaker 1: Um we have let's see, Gerald wanted to know which
Speaker 1: receivers do you see us keeping? Okay, yeah, you know what,
Speaker 1: this is actually the probably the most discussed topic at
Speaker 1: every single training camp because, like we showed before, there's
Speaker 1: always a ton of them because there's just they just
Speaker 1: have so many reps and they're running hard on every place,
Speaker 1: so you need you need a ton of receivers. So
Speaker 1: I think we saw we had thirteen. A common total
Speaker 1: is six. Um, so you know every year and then
Speaker 1: during camp, one guy will look great for a week
Speaker 1: and one guy. It's hard to sustain though, So sometimes
Speaker 1: you're really excited about something rookie and then by the
Speaker 1: end of virus you're like, well, yeah, I would say, obviously,
Speaker 1: I would think there's a decent chance to keep my captains, right,
Speaker 1: that feels I mean, I know you're going out on
Speaker 1: a limb here, but yeah, that feels like a good idea.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play the odds on Chris Godwin and say
Speaker 1: he's not ready for the start of the season. Quite ready,
Speaker 1: but he's not so far away that they want to
Speaker 1: put him on PUP. And I thought you were about
Speaker 1: to say that he wasn't going to be on the team,
Speaker 1: and I was like no, I was like, I think
Speaker 1: the big contract we gave them press your opinion on
Speaker 1: these things. But I was going to say something yes,
Speaker 1: so um, I would guess that he's not gonna they
Speaker 1: don't think he's gonna miss the first six games. I
Speaker 1: hope that's the case, so he won't be on PUP.
Speaker 1: So I'm playing the eyes in the middle there, which
Speaker 1: means he has a roster spot. And then I think
Speaker 1: the bugge is probably and I'm keeping seven because he's
Speaker 1: not ready to play. Russell Gage. I think it's pretty
Speaker 1: much a lock. So then then let's have just lay
Speaker 1: out what we're talking about here. We're talking about Scotty Miller,
Speaker 1: We're talking from Jalen Darden, We're talking Brashad Perryman, Tyler Johnson,
Speaker 1: UH rookie Devin Tompkins had a nice camp. I'm almost
Speaker 1: certain I'm forgetting somebody right now. Maybe not. Um, So
Speaker 1: we got the three I already said, and then all
Speaker 1: those guys, I guess keep four more Tyler Scottie. I
Speaker 1: think Jalen probably ends up winning the kick return job again,
Speaker 1: so he's there for that reason. So that's six. And
Speaker 1: then one other from among Brashad Perryman, Devin Tompkins. I
Speaker 1: just feel like I'm forgetting somebody right now, but I
Speaker 1: hope not. I think, Yeah, that seems like a reasonable group. Okay,
Speaker 1: are this is sort of related? Um for some reason.
Speaker 1: I don't think the name is popping up, but it
Speaker 1: says from the undrafted Ricky Wide receivers and dbs, who
Speaker 1: do you think has the best chance of making the roster? Yeah? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean the best evidence that we have on the
Speaker 1: receivers is that Coach Bowls when asked about, you know,
Speaker 1: some young guys that had stood out, and generally with
Speaker 1: questions like that, he answers more broadly, like a lot
Speaker 1: of guys did well, right, because if you point out
Speaker 1: one guy, then you're not pointing out of the guys.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you don't even want people to know someone's
Speaker 1: doing really well. You want to stash him on your
Speaker 1: practice squad, or you're wanting to the guys the guys
Speaker 1: that you don't want people talking about, aren't the guys
Speaker 1: you know we're going to make the team, or the
Speaker 1: guys that you're pretty sure aren't gonna make the teams,
Speaker 1: the guys in the bubble you don't want people finding
Speaker 1: out about them. But coach specifically brought up the young
Speaker 1: undrafted rickie out of Utah or Utah State Devin Tompkins,
Speaker 1: who had just enormous numbers last year, as did a
Speaker 1: bunch of our undrafted free agent right receivers, and he
Speaker 1: apparently really impressed during O t s and minicamp, and
Speaker 1: coach says he was very excited to see what he
Speaker 1: does in training camp when the pad's gone. So on
Speaker 1: the other side, I think you'd have to go with
Speaker 1: the North Carolina cornerback Tyler Mingmichael because of all the
Speaker 1: undrafted free agents at the buck and your signed and
Speaker 1: we don't really get into numbers of salaries very much.
Speaker 1: That's kind of almost like a team policy, like we
Speaker 1: don't talk about guys salaries. Let's say they got a
Speaker 1: big contract, like Chris Godwin or something like that. But
Speaker 1: we do know that of all the undrafted Brookies whom
Speaker 1: you can give any amount of signing bonus that you
Speaker 1: want to, essentially that he got by far the highest
Speaker 1: signing bonus, which is guaranteed money, because you've already given
Speaker 1: it to him, right, So he got by far the
Speaker 1: most guaranteed money of any of the guys at the
Speaker 1: Buck in your sign which means he was a very
Speaker 1: coveted guy, and among not just Bucks but other teams.
Speaker 1: So this is a guy that obviously comes in with,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of expectations, not necessarily to make
Speaker 1: the team, but he would probably have the best chance,
Speaker 1: I would think contract stuff. James had asked how much
Speaker 1: cap space is the team sitting on the last time
Speaker 1: I looked at was about eleven or twelve million. It
Speaker 1: will probably cost you know, a couple to get our
Speaker 1: last two uh drafting guys under contract. But it's somewhere
Speaker 1: around that eleven or twelve million, which is not a
Speaker 1: terrible number. I think I remember seeing it was right
Speaker 1: about the middle of the pack like in the league
Speaker 1: in terms of cap space. And you think about that,
Speaker 1: you go, okay, well, what are we going to spend
Speaker 1: that on? Before the season starts and maybe that happen.
Speaker 1: We talked about maybe signing it tied end. But also
Speaker 1: it's not the end of the world to go into
Speaker 1: the season with a little cap space left over. A
Speaker 1: because if you're in the thick of it and you
Speaker 1: need to make a trade, you have some cap space
Speaker 1: to work with. And b if you if you don't
Speaker 1: spend the cap space, you can roll it over to
Speaker 1: the next year, so you don't have to rush out
Speaker 1: and make sure that you use every penny of your
Speaker 1: cap space. All Right, we'll close with this. Re Que said,
Speaker 1: who is projected to start opposite Winfield Jr. That's a
Speaker 1: very good question, and I think the answer isn't going
Speaker 1: to be just one name. Um, you could make it
Speaker 1: simple and say Antoine Winfield is probably the starting free
Speaker 1: safety either a little bit interchangeable in this defense and
Speaker 1: in most defenses nowadays. But I think when Winfield would
Speaker 1: be a great strong safety, but his his awareness and
Speaker 1: the way he cleans up plays as a free safety
Speaker 1: are just too important to move him. So Jordan Whitehead
Speaker 1: was basically more of the same strong safety has departed,
Speaker 1: so you look at who's more of a Jordan white
Speaker 1: antipe player. It's definitely so it could be Kean O'Neil, right,
Speaker 1: because he's more as a linebacker at the point that
Speaker 1: he's a hitter and he's good in the box. But
Speaker 1: Mike Edwards is obviously such a good ball hawk, and
Speaker 1: coaches have said this offseason that they became more um,
Speaker 1: what's the word I'm looking for, the more confident in
Speaker 1: his open field tackling, which may have been a bit
Speaker 1: of an issue for him earlier in his career, but
Speaker 1: as he gets better at that, then you check it
Speaker 1: off and you're like, you don't worry about him putting.
Speaker 1: As you've seen he's he often switched with Jordan Whitehead
Speaker 1: and came in in more obvious passing time. Can you
Speaker 1: leave him in for every down even expected running downs?
Speaker 1: So if you just want to make it a one
Speaker 1: to one competition, it would probably be Kean O'Neil and
Speaker 1: Mike Edward. But what I think will probably more likely
Speaker 1: happen is that the Buccaneers will have a variety of
Speaker 1: packages using the versatility of guys like Mike Edwards and
Speaker 1: Logan Ryan, and you have Cannon Neil and I think
Speaker 1: you're just going to see different sub packages interesting, so
Speaker 1: it's not maybe just one answer to this question. Okay,
Speaker 1: well that's gonna do it for us with Buccaneers inside
Speaker 1: our Live presented by Miller Lte. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: the awesome questions and for being with us, and we'll
Speaker 1: see you next week.