Bucs Draft = Playoffs

May 2nd, 2017

Meaningful January games coming.

You read it here first, folks.

The selection of O.J. Howard means one thing, Bucs fans. It means playoffs.

That’s the word from no less an authority than popular sports television and radio personality Adam Schein. In his weekly NFL.com forum, Schein firmly says the addition of Howard seals an A-plus offseason for the Bucs and playoff games are around the corner.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a playoff move at No. 19, where GM Jason Licht pilfered O.J. Howard, a top-10 talent and do-it-all tight end with a winning pedigree. The Alabama product will make an instant impact in Tampa, combining with young stud receiver Mike Evans and field-stretching free-agent signee DeSean Jackson to give QB Jameis Winston a major boost in Year 3. Mark it down: The Bucs are going to the playoffs.

And this is the pressure on the braintrust at One Buc Palace. It has drafted very well in recent years. It has a good head coach, a winning head coach, an offensive head coach.

It has a franchise quarterback surrounded with riches few quarterbacks ever have.

The table is set. The only thing left is to devour the turkey and inhale the pumpkin pie.

60 Responses to “Bucs Draft = Playoffs”

  1. Oj "I Got The Juice" Howard Says:

    The bar has been set. No more excuses. No more scapegoats. No more BS. I don’t care how we get in, we just better get in. I would prefer to win the division but a wild card will do just fine.

  2. denjoe Says:

    Lord,please let this be the year!

  3. JabooBuc Says:

    Vegas has win total o/u at 7.5. Looks like they think our division has become much better.

  4. Vincente Says:

    It’s happening. This year it’s happening, first things first the BUCS must win the south! All of a sudden Tampa making the playoffs doesn’t sound like wishful thinking, what a time to be a fan of these Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

  5. orlbucfan Says:

    I’m glad I know zilch about college football and the players. I can watch and see who pans out and who doesn’t. Bucs did draft to their needs. @Lakeland Buc: thanks for your answer regarding fullbacks. Go Bucs!!

  6. Mort Says:

    Schein might need some sort of treatment, he is looking more orange than our president. Quite the feat.

  7. Rob Says:

    Jamis loves his tight ends. It really was a blessing to get OJ. This draft is what we needed. I’m happy with all the picks. Only thing I get a change is the number two picked I would have picked Walker did he got chosen right after we picked Evans. Godwin was a steal in Rd 3

  8. tdtb2015 Says:

    We have the Right- Owners, GM, Coaches, Franchise QB, Offense and Defense to win this year at what the Joe’s call Den of Depression. The only thing that does not make sense is the stadium name according to Bucs FANS. Nevertheless, playoffs are coming to Raymond James Stadium, Baby!!!

    Fire Them Cannons!!!

    Go Bucs!!!!

  9. Destinjohnny Says:

    Google justin Evans plays Alabama 2016.
    I was at the game.
    Surprised we didn’t trade up

  10. Gencoimports Says:

    Where is the damn Ira podcast? I’m tired of listening to Florio waiting for it! jk

  11. Kobe Faker Says:

    Its all about…do we now have enough talent on the field

    Offensively we are stacked but defensively we need 1 experienced cornerback and 1 defensive end for Mike Smith

    2017 our offense has to help our defense throughout the year…very similar what carolina did in 15 and atl did last year. We have to take leads and blowout teams. Our offense needs to dictate and dominate most of the games

    That means no predictable and conservative playcalling. Last 2 years we were 29th in YAC category. Our slot position had 3rd worst completion percentage. That means koetter didnt have the players or he doesnt know how to design/playcall recievers to catch short passes in open space to RAC. Koetter now has howard/godwin/sims to be put on 1 on 1 matchups in open space

    ***even the most accurate QBS like Brady and Rodgers would have over 15 ints with the lack of separation and tight windows of koetters deep vertical unimaginative pass patterns

    “We now have the personnel, use the no huddle”

    Kobe Faker

  12. tdtb2015 Says:

    Ira
    Ira
    Ira
    Ira
    lol

  13. DallasBuc Says:

    Destin- Justin Evans against Bama last year is a collection of low lights. He was constantly out of position, made bad reads, took bad angles, MISSED tackles “bigly”, blocked out of plays that he should have made way too easily and was chasing the whole game. Not sure what you were looking at. I guess the end of half int is the big stat line for you.

  14. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    Jaboo saw the 7.5 as well…looking at the schedule I had bucs 9-7 but things can happen but I think I am going with the over, the Jags I think were at 5.5 looked like a good bet

  15. Destinjohnny Says:

    Dallas buc fan it was awful. As his ever game he played.
    The joke was Jason is the trade up King.
    Justin would have been there in the 5th round.
    I can’t believe we drafted him with what was available.

  16. Erik w/ Clean Athletics 'The Kwon Alexander of Bucs fans' Says:

    Turkeys are getting devoured ALL SEASON LONG THRU THE SUPERBOWL.

    And yes, we will be inhaling Pumpkin pie (mary j) along the way…

    And enjoying every moment of this Dynasty we’re starting.

    Multiple SB championships are in our future…

    Who’s gonna be able to stop us???? Noone.

  17. DallasBuc Says:

    Destin- okay my bad. That makes way more sense and I completely agree with you. So many great players still on the board at that point at all positions of need and we reach 3-4 rounds for a major project instead of a day 1 starter. What a schizo draft that could have easily gone much better given the talent that slipped to us.

  18. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    Oh, I believe the Bucs will make the playoffs.

    I’m just not convinced we can WIN in the playoffs yet.

    You know how you do the opposite of BPA and convince people you actually went BPA? You claim ‘Best player available at a position of value’. The whole ‘position of value’ translates to ‘position of desire’. which is not always a position of need.

    That is exactly what Licht did in this draft, outside of Howard and Godwin.

    Let’s take an honest look at the picks, shall we? Without homerism mixed in?

    Round 1, Pick 19 (19) O.J. Howard TE

    This pick was not only a steal, it was gaining an elite player with Hall of Famer potential. THIS was certainly one of the Best Players Available. Cannot fault straying from the plan when a guy like this is available. I had him as one of my desired players on my wish list, and predicted him as a likely Bucs pick too. I got lucky in that prediction…and it really was pure luck, so I deserve no credit.
    A+ Grade.

    Round 2, Pick 18 (50) Justin Evans S

    I said before and during the first and second round…Safety needed to be the 2nd round pick. I got my wish, sort of. When I was thinking Safety, I actually wanted a good tackler…you know…like the one Jason Licht let get away. Did we get that? Nope. We got a guy that misses a lot of tackles because he wants to hit hard.

    So okay, we got spoiled by John Lynch years ago, and on the surface the thought of that style returning sounds awfully good, until you take an unbiased look at it. John Lynch was a hard hitter, no doubt…but he also knew how to tackle, how to wrap players up and bring them down.

    Add to that the current state of the league. In Lynch’s day, hard hitting was permitted. These days, the NFL is trying its best to get rid of it. Referees tend to call penalties on hard hits, even if by rule they were legal.

    And speaking of the refs…years ago the Bucs fired Dungy properly, but the media revealed it in a way that made the Bucs look bad…Dungy loading his stuff into his vehicle at night in the rain. Very dramatic, but it was misleading at the time. Yes he did it, but he chose the time to do it. He also made sure cameras were there. I loved Dungy, but even I can see it was calculated.

    From that point on, refs seemed to develop a bias against the Bucs (so did many members of the media). Flash forward to Jeremy Trueblood and Aqib Talib who liked to start fights. Then mix in another ‘hard hitting’ Safety named Dashon Goldson, who, just before coming to the Bucs, made a public statement of ‘I don’t care how many times the Refs call my name or how many penalties they want to put on me, I play the way I want to play.’

    Talk about putting a target on his (and eventually the Bucs) backs. Then you have the Schiano thing with jumping during the kneel to end a game. Many coaches, players, media and Refs hated that at the time, and the Refs held it against us during games.

    Why am I mentioning these things? Because the favor of the Refs is one of the things that will get us to the Super Bowl. That’s right, think about it. The Seahawks and 49ers, on the years they went, were obviously favored by the Refs. They committed massive penalties and rarely got called for them, while their opponents were called for them, real or imagined. There are more examples.

    The point is, the Bucs need favor with the Refs if they want to go all the way, and getting that favor means not ticking them off with a Safety whose only talent is to hit hard or miss tackles.

    The second round pick had many potentially elite players available when the Bucs picked…and several were in true positions of need. A bunch were much better than Justin Evans. Yet…Jason Licht did not go BPA at a position of need. He went Best Position of need with a player he desired…which as we’ve all learned in the past, is a huge mistake. Budda was there! Or Tedric Thompson, who could tackle! Or Obi!
    D+ Grade

    Round 3, Pick 20 (84) Chris Godwin WR

    Godwin would be considered one of the best players available at the time he was picked, and even though I wanted a DE here, I understand the pick. We still got a potentially future elite player.
    A Grade

    Round 3, Pick 43 (107) Kendell Beckwith ILB

    Beckwith was a surprising pick. I thought, along with most people, that when the Bucs traded back up, they were going after Samaje Perine. They instead chose a guy that made people scramble to learn anything about. Why not Perine? Or OG/C Isaac Asiata?

    Here’s how I looked at this pick…I went into the draft thinking a little offense and a lot of defense would be best…but when Howard fell to us, that changed things. Then we got Godwin (who is currently a backup player, not a starter). So okay, why not get the running back to finish the weapons theme, or beef up the offensive line? But no. Jason Lich did not do that at all. The one bright spot about this pick is that its possible he might line up as a defensive end. Maybe. We missed out one getting another player in the 5th round for him, and there is a good chance this player would have been there when we picked because of his injury.
    C+ Grade

    Round 5, Pick 18 (162) Jeremy McNichols RB

    Not the hard hitting RB we needed. An average at best pass blocker. Not even a lead blocker. He is a clone of Chris Sims. A style of player that won’t work without one of two things…a solid lead blocker or a solid offensive line. We have neither. A real head scratcher when we could have gotten Samaje Perine in the bottom of round three. At this point, the only good fits for the Bucs were all taken at RB. We could have gone DE here, or CB.

    Round 7, Pick 5 (223) Stevie Tu’ikolovatu NT

    Now this one really bugs me. Okay, I get the whole depth thing. I really do. But freaking C Kyle Fuller was still available. Instant fix at Center. I don’t know why Licht thinks Sweezy at LG is so important. He has what? A year or two experience there and is still learning, not to mention he’s pretty much starting from scratch after so much time off due to injury? Seems to me the time is right to move him to Right Guard instead, and keep Marpet where he is.

    I’m not saying Marpet cannot do well at Center. The fact is, when I had him on my wish list it was to play center, which at the time NO ONE ELSE believed he could do or had experience at. But he excelled at Left Guard. Pro Bowl caliber. Why take the risk? You finally have the LG spot fixed, and then you potentially screw it up by moving your best offensive line player to a new position. It makes zero sense. And yes, it MIGHT work out…but MIGHT is a big word when compared to knowing keeping Marpet at LG DID work out.
    F Grade

  19. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    And yeah, I know RIGHT NOW, that everyone will insult me and say things to discount my words because I’m not towing the line. Same thing happened last year when I said some things that ENDED UP BEING TRUE.

  20. USFBUC Says:

    Playoffs are a real possibility, we just need our defense to do enough with the offense we should be putting out there every week. Next year though the defense needs to be built up.

  21. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    And btw, in regard to C Kyle Fuller in the 7th round…Let’s say Ali Marpet works out at Center. Fuller also played another position. Left Guard. So we would have had insurance for either position.

  22. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    All these weapons for Jameis, and Licht fails miserably at improving the offensive line so the weapons can be used.

  23. tnew Says:

    STOP… BONZAI. you are flat out wrong regarding McNichols and you discredited yourself by saying he was an “average at best pass blocker”

    He was FAR and AWAY the VERY best pass blocking back in the draft. He graded out to have 1 missed assignment in 292 drop back opportunities.. Yep less than .3% He has WAY better movement skills, hands and route running than Sims and with a torn labrum hit holes way harder than Sims ever did in any of his college tape. His production lapped Sims in College. WAY Wrong on that assessment.

    If you want to argue about Perrine vs Beckwith, ok I will listen but Beckwith looks to be an 8 year player for the Bucs at Sam if (which is a big if, his knee heals) Nice risk reward.

    I was butthurt regarding Evans because I really felt like that took Godwin off the board. Once we picked up Godwin, I tried to reassess my feelings for Evans.

    Looking hard to see it with him. VERY Hard. The only thing I can say is that he is a different guy than we’ve ever had. This isn’t the wrap up SS like we are used to in the Cover 2. This is the Cover 3 centerfielder whose job it will be to eliminate the middle hole in the defense and be able to cover sideline to sideline. Still having a hard time

  24. gilhealy Says:

    Bonzai, do you set the bar low as to not be dissapointed? For all the optimism you post, the negativity outweighs it substantially. Why on earth do you, and others, not have faith in the men that actually scout, invest time and money, and vett these players. They know the locker room, the team needs, who may be hurt, or is running out of gas. ONLY they know what the team needs. Do you work in the NFL in some capacity? It’s like an old folks home in here most days. Complain just for the sake of complaining. You know Evans about as well as me. And I don’t have a clue of the man’s makeup. But I bet Jason and Mike Smith do. And they like what they see. That’s good enough for me.

  25. tnew Says:

    I saw an article on McNichols stating he took it “very personal” regarding his responsibility to protect the QB and the Offensive Linemen in the Passing game.

  26. gilhealy Says:

    Joe, why don’t you get Brett Maxie on here to break down Evans for us. You know, someone who actually knows why we chose him. I bet a few on here would be enlightened.

  27. tnew Says:

    Gil.. I think the biggest deal for some of us, especially for me, is that the Bucs are transitioning their style of defense to a more flexible style. For that we need different types of players. Evans is more of the Seahawk, Falcons now type of free safety that we are looking to be moving towards. He’s a cover Safety not the come up to stop a run type of safety. Just not something we are used to and we won’t truly understand it until Mike Smith shows the league in the season.

  28. Stpetebucsfan Says:

    I’m feeling pretty good. Our division did not have great off seasons…especially the Saints who made some strange moves signing AP…they got a C for their draft on many of the draft scoreboards.

    Atlanta is simply going to be tough…very tough…I don’t think they got that much better though…let’s see if they have an SB letdown or critical injury.

    Carolina seemed to score big with McCaffery and Samuels…but now the Panthers have to see how the new guys figure into the offensive chemistry…instead of the two pounders they used to throw at teams now they;’re going to have a dancer. I don’t think Samuels has any trouble though he simply steps into Ted Ginn’s role.

    I think we’re there! Even lady luck seems to finally be smiling…#3 in the draft…Kwon in the 4th…OJ a top ten talent falling to 19…let’s pack the bags for Minneapolis!

  29. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    tnew, you live in a fantasy world. ‘best pass blocking back in the draft’???? You discredited yourself right there.

    Want to know how it should have went down?

    How I would have made out picks as GM:

    Round 1
    TE OJ Howard

    Round 2
    DE/OLB Jordan Willis
    (would have solved our DE needs)

    Round 3
    RB James Conner
    (One of two backs who is a better pass blocker than McNichols, a hard hitting, line pounding short yardage back…which is our need at RB (STILL))

    Round 4
    RT Julie’n Davenport
    (Would have fixed the true biggest weakness on the offensive line)

    Round 5
    S Xavier Woods
    (Would have replaced the good Safety that we lost. Great tackler)

    Round 6
    C Kyle Fuller
    (Able to play Guard and Center…the perfect backup plan in case Sweezy doesn’t work out)

    Round 7
    WR Travis Rudolph
    (Went undrafted but fir the Bucs needs at WR very well. Watch and see how his career goes)

    THAT’s how Licht should have done this draft. Each of those players were there for him when he picked. No need to trade up and lose a pick either. Each would have met a need and when this draft is judged in a couple years, each of them will have been excellent picks.

    This would have been a Super Bowl contending team, not a one-and-done playoff team.

  30. gilhealy Says:

    Maybe tnew, maybe. I’m sure the Bucs know. I agree with you on McNichols. That cat loves to block. And he knows how to score. The shoulder dropped him, but I think we had our eyes on him for a while, and we’re fortunate to grab him. I expect him to be impactful sooner than later. O line doesn’t worry me at all. The offense we’ll be running out every Sunday will dictate how the D plays against us. Eight man fronts will be a thing of the past. Hell, in some sets, the DE will be asked to cover Brate. We’re good. We’re real good. Running backs will get theirs. Every one will. As far as our D goes, take the stats from the last eight games and forward that to the start of this year. We’re gonna be a bad ass team fo sho!

  31. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    And Bryan Cox could have (should have) been brought in as an Undrafted Free Agent for depth at DE.

  32. Destinjohnny Says:

    Bonzi your draft is spot on!

  33. Buc1987 Says:

    Mort…don’tcha know that orange(Trump) is the new black (Obama)?

  34. tnew Says:

    Bonzai.. How can you rate a RB with one missed blocking assignment of 292 as average? I can pull up all of the draftniks comments regarding how he was the best in pass pro in the draft if I wanted but the quantifiable fact that he was 99.7% on his pass blocking assignments should be enough for anyone. How does citing a metric, directly applicable to the discussion at hand, which gives credence to the point that I am making, discredit my point of view?

    Unless, your big comeback is, because I said it is so, it has to be true.

  35. Rod Munch Says:

    People need to chill in OJ. While I fully expect him to be a big time player, rookie TE’s almost never are big time contributers in their rookie season, in particular early on. TE is the hardest position to transition to in the NFL – so get your expectations in line. Hey if he comes in dat one and starts and is awesome, that’s a huge plus, but you can’t count on it – and if the kids isn’t a day one starter that doesn’t mean he’s a bust. Even if he’s not starting early I think he’ll make plays, but again history tells us not to expect much in year one. But…. with ESPN suddenly calling Brate an h-back – something I’ve never seen prior to the draft – it does look like the team is planning on OJ being a day one starter and keeping Brate in the starting line-up as well.

    The homerun pick to me was Goodwin in the 3rd round – now the team isn’t just one pulled Jackson hammy from being in worst shape than we were last year when Shepard was the 2nd best WR on the team – and now he’s in Carolina. Goodwin is better than that (I’d hope) and Howard could, if need be, split out and play more WR which is much easier than TE since you lose the blocking assignments.

    Overall a very good offseason as I don’t personally think RB is a need so long as Martin isn’t pill popping.

  36. tnew Says:

    Easy to draft when you know exactly who is going to be available after every pick as well guys. No way to know when you draft in the second who is going to be on the board in the 3rd, much less 6th. It alters the decisions.

  37. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    I will say this though…the rest of the off season has been pretty darn good.

  38. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    tnew Says
    “Easy to draft when you know exactly who is going to be available after every pick as well guys.”

    Guess what? When the time came to pick, Jason Licht would have known those players were available too.

    And if you are going by media draft experts, you’ll be wrong every time. Just look how badly they screwed up this draft.

  39. Buc1987 Says:

    Rod Munch Says:

    “rookie TE’s almost never are big time contributers in their rookie season”

    Rod… do they step onto to teams with this many weapons?

    At this point all I need OJ to do is block. lol

  40. Buc1987 Says:

    BTW…Brate was undrafted and shined.

  41. Buc1987 Says:

    Not shined in 2015 as much as 2016 his 2nd year, but he made his presence known is my point. Plus Jameis loves his TE’s. OJ will have a good season.

  42. Rob Says:

    It was ridiculous luck to get O.J. at 19. Reminded me a little of when Sapp fell to us for different reasons and he became the steal of that draft. Koetter gets me so fired up with his bluntness, honest assessments (good and bad), and his offensive mindset which has seemed to get the most of whatever talent he has had to deal with. Keeping Mike Smith as defensive coordinator was also epic for our Bucs as we will see improvement there as well. Would love to see another pick up free agent Defensive end who could help pressure the qb but we all know they are very hard to find. I’m expecting playoffs….if the injury bug doesn’t rear it’s ugly head and Jameis progresses and cuts down on the interceptions and fumbles as I expect he will. Go Bucs!

  43. tnew Says:

    Bonzai..

    When Licht picked the safety in the 2nd there the only thing he knew was that Xavier Woods would be available in the 2nd. There is no way to know that he was available in the 5th. There is no way you knew it either or you would be on staff with some NFL franchise. It is much, much easier to draft in this manner.

    I’m not going to trade Godwin for Rudolph as our WR for this year e.g..

    And just because you say James Conner is better at pass pro doesn’t mean that he is. Lets just look at PFF. They rated him as their number 1 back as a rusher in 2014. Nice. I’m not gonna argue with you there but his pass pro was cited as “barely adequate”. A quick review of draftniks showed that his most glowing review called him “capable, but should be better in pass protection”

    I liked Conner as a back, honestly liked Perrine more for that type, but when you watch Conner’s tape, he came off of the field often on passing downs. Wonder why?

  44. 813bucboi Says:

    @oj…I agree…no more excuses….we have everything in place to make the playoffs…i’ll take it a step further and say we have everything that we need to win the division….

    some fans are hilarious….1 minute people say “IN LICHT WE TRUST” and the next they question his actions…..I loved the draft….I wish we would’ve grabbed d.walker but it isn’t like licht drafted a kicker….

    IN LICHT WE TRUST……REMEMBER!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!

  45. Tnew Says:

    813. totally correct. Plus all of these guys are now Bucs. I would rather look at these guys with optimism thru Licht’s eyes rather than picking them apart without them even putting on the pewter.

  46. NFLNut Says:

    Our schedule is tough, the NFC South is the best QB division in the entire NFL and all 4 teams have a shot at the playoffs … but … it’s 10-6 or better or the year will be a failure imho.

  47. SOEbuc Says:

    At the beginning of the year last year, all the analysts were picking the Bucs as the make the playoffs team that hadn’t the year before, and we lost em by one win. Mike Smith came to us last year and told everyone his defense would take about 7 weeks for everyone to grasp. What happened 7 weeks in? Our D exploded to help a five game win streak. Dirk Koetter has a year under his belt now and I don’t feel Jameis is going to plummet to the bottom of the universe. All these weapons added now and apparently most the D understanding Smitty, I think they might be able to go anywhere from 11-5 to 14-2. If they do blow it I think it could anywhere from7-9 to 8-8. They are gonna put up some serious numbers this year. Jameis was throwing 4,000 yards in his first two years with just ME13 and Brate. Scares me to think of what he we’ll be able to do now. Unless Jameis gets injured (god forbid) we are gonna be putting up some super serious numbers. Last thing, can we quit with all the Justin Evans hate, at least for right now. He’s a Buc now and was rated a top-10 safety by most. Everyone, with good reason, has been s-ing Smitty’s D (that’s not defense) for a while now so let him work his magic on the kid. If he is a bust, you can all get together and have a party about how you called it.

  48. TouchDownTampaBay Says:

    So funny to have posters like Dallas and his buddy there saying the J Evans pick was awful because they saw him play one game against AL. Do you think Licht and all these scouts that do this for a living may have watched all of his film and have a sh1t ton more knowledge about the game may be just a bit more informed then you two??? SMH!

  49. LakeLandBuc Says:

    The NFL draft is like Christmas..every kid don’t get the toys that he want. They may be upset for a minute..but guess what..they will soon realize that they have to live with it.

  50. big serious Says:

    when will we know the jersey numbers for these players

  51. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    tnew, Woods went in the 6th. He had a draft grade of 5.2…right where 6th rounds were supposed to go.

    Predicted Draft Grade by Round made BEFORE the draft started:

    1st Round: 5.9 – 6.8 (plus the one 7.6)
    2nd Round: 5.7 – 5.9
    3rd Round: 5.5 – 5.7
    4th Round: 5.4 – 5.7
    5th Round: 5.3 – 5.4
    6th Round: 5.2 – 5.3
    7th Round: 5.1 – 5.2
    UDFAs: 4.8 – 5.2

    (with few exceptions)

  52. RustyRhinos Says:

    Bonzai we go back a long way here on JBF,
    “This would have been a Super Bowl contending team, not a one-and-done playoff team”
    I applaud your resolve and promotion of our team. But If you know already before OTA’s, minicamp, training camp, Preseason and the upcoming 2017 season we will be a “one-and-done playoff team”. And with your draft choices we would be “a Super Bowl contending team”.
    Can you please give me the next nine months of “winning” lottery numbers, powerball, megamillions, whichever. I again am excited about your draft choices and some of them where some of my own choices. But the NFL draft is like the lottery every year teams place their bets on players who they hope will be winners. Yet every team does not get a Super Bowl trophy, that only goes to the winner. It stinks but that is how it goes just ask the panthers and falcons, you have to win.

    Glad the draft is over! We can once again go forward together as Buccaneer fans united under our Buccaneer flag.
    Go Bucs!

  53. JameisDungy Says:

    We’ll find out if Koetter is one of those guys that can call plays while being the HC. No excuses.

    If we’re still running into a wall on 1st down and throwing a bunch of screen to Hump then its on Koetter.

  54. carrythatmofostick Says:

    how bout we quit bitching and whining about the picks the bucs did not take that were available, and get behind the players they chose, and root for these young men. i am so sick of this BS, and frankly, after five seasons of doug martins injuries lackluster play and whatnot, i really do not give a damn if he stays or goes, but as a lifelong fan of this club, i will support what the GM and HC, who in my opinion are the best we have had, and i’ve been following tampa since 76, do in the draft, and the cuts they make going forward. go bucs

  55. tnew Says:

    I understand how the player rating system works but teams draft boards do not align with the boards and it is … I’m done. At any case Justin Evans grade was a 5.82 so he was perfectly drafted.

  56. @SarasotaJay Says:

    @Bonzai, FYI Buddha Baker had already been selected by AZ

  57. Broy34 Says:

    Dallas you are losing all credibility. It’s 10 on the east coast im sitting next to my wife looking at apartments and still take the time to point out your idiocy. Wouldve been there in the 5th round !?!? Lmfao A. You don’t know $hit about what to look for in a safety. Preeetty sure Mike Smith does tho. B. Nfl.com as well as every other site projects round 2-3. You’re beginning to be a ridiculous repeitive moron. EVERY SINGLE ANALYST loves our draft. Cowherd today said I’ve watched their too 4 picks play they’re all good picks. He even said our 7th is going to play in the NFL. Just stop. You clearly wanted someone more so are blinded. Newsflash WE DONT NEED A TOP PICK D END RIGHT NOW. CANT GET TO QB IF SAFETIES ARE OUT OF POSITION. BACKEND WAS BAD FIRST HALF. SECOND HALF HMMM SACK AFTER SACk. I am officially boycotting comment sections because positive articles are full of negative Nancy whiners who wilk be calling into commish going nuts after a four game win streak. Demarcus Walker wouldve been fine yes then you would be whining about conte and how we didn’t go safety. And Walker can walk into the backfield with the pass rush already established in Denver. Reason a 1-2 in Walker went late sexond moron

  58. Broy34 Says:

    And Bonzai- you need a life dude. You type articles longer than the articles themselves. Hate the get a life saying but good lord. You’re just ridiculous. Not tocmention Budda Baker was one of the first people off the board day 2 so he was absolutely not there. Alot of people are down on Obi and if you don’t think a hard hitter can be taught to wrap up omfg I don’t know where to begin. And McNichols is easily the best pass blocking running back and 5th round back is flawless. Thank GOD you are not our gm because our grade would be like a B and people would say “atleast they got howard ” dallas and Bonzai need to lay off the site. Pickgrin and st Pete R the better posters and pickgrin is flat out fantastic. The others that R on here 24-7 are so blinded as arm chair gm’s they just need to live a little. Get off the computer my lord

  59. Duke Says:

    @Rod Munch,

    T.E. is the hardest position to transition into.

    That’s news! Prey tell where in the world did you come up with that. To state that it’s harder for T.E.s than Q.B.s or CB’ s is so out there that I’m really interested how in the blue hell would you believe that for a second. I assume you read it and then repeated it. T.E. hardest position……..baaaaahaaaaa!

  60. Eric Says:

    I just find it hilarious how people on JBF think they know more about the players and team needs than our front office. I mean they have way more info than we have and inside connections. It’s not just performance but character, intelligence, motivation, etc. There’s a fine line between making it in the nfl and not and all intangibles need to be considered.

    That is why I spend my time arguing for what our professionals choose instead of debating how it was a bad move.

    THIS DRAFT WAS A GREAT ONE. PERIOD. The additions will not make us one and done, they will contribute for years to come now matter what wannabe GMs say in here.