Hunting The Honey Badger
February 11th, 2019
Free agent target?
Joe heard a funny thing while up in Atlanta during Super Bowl week.
Talking with a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter about the chances former Bucs great John Lynch would finally break the glass ceiling and get into Canton, the voter mentioned to Joe that the Bucs haven’t had a decent safety since Lynch left the Bucs.
The more Joe thought about it, that may be true.
Think about some of the safeties the Bucs tried to pass off as decent NFL starters, including Sabby the Goat, Sean Jones, Cody Grimm, Ahmad Black and Keith Tandy. Jermaine Phillips was OK for a couple of years with Chucky. Mark Barron was OK for a couple of years with former Bucs commander Greg Schiano.
So safety has been a huge hole for the Bucs and Jenna Laine of ESPN believes the Bucs should do their homework on former Bruce Arians safety and current free agent Tyrann Mathieu, better known as “Honey Badger.”
Some would say the Texans got Mathieu last year for a bargain at $7 million on a one-year deal. Tampa Bay’s Justin Evans should rebound after dealing with a foot injury most of last season that limited his ability to cover large portions of the field, Chris Conte is in the twilight of his career and Jordan Whitehead showed lots of potential as a run-stopper, but Mathieu is always around the ball and has a lot of versatility. Plus, Mathieu has played for coach Bruce Arians and coordinator Todd Bowles. He had eight pass breakups and two interceptions last season.
There are a couple of issues here. First is incumbent Chris Conte is an unrestricted free agent. Joe hasn’t been told anything about Conte but Joe just gets the sense the Bucs will move on.
But if the Bucs do go after Honey Badger, that tells Joe one of two things: The Bucs are not certain about Evans’ injury or are not certain about his play, or the Bucs don’t believe Whitehead is better than Conte just yet.
Of course, we are dealing with a new coach staff and they may not want anything to do with Conte, Evans or Whitehead, which would open the door to pursue Honey Badger.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:06 am
One name you forgot on the list. Tannard Jackson, outside of drug suspensions he was likely the best safety this team has had since Lynch
February 11th, 2019 at 9:07 am
Let’s go shopping with all this cap room we don’t have at positions that aren’t as important as others we HAVE to fill… like the right side of the O-line, and upgrade the D-line, and maybe find a second linebacker that isn’t injured.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:10 am
I would to have Honey Badger paired up with Evans, and Barr, Kwon, and David paired at Linebackers
February 11th, 2019 at 9:13 am
Tanard Jackson was a much better safety than lynch just couldn’t put down the bong…. outside of sapp none of those underachieving has beens deserve the hall of fame…. their 5 career playoff wins is laughable not legendary
February 11th, 2019 at 9:15 am
Agreed tanard Jackson would have had a great career if he didn’t go all josh Gordon on us
February 11th, 2019 at 9:15 am
At Safety…..Landon Collins. Start freeing cap space and handle it.
Done.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:15 am
Mort haha sounds about right.. I have been saying this since the season ended. We are in the back end of the league when it comes to cap and sure we can cut some folks to make some space but we will still be between 18-26 in cap space. (other teams can cut and get a cap raise as well, we aren’t the only ones.)
February 11th, 2019 at 9:16 am
conte
i agree….TJ was very good just couldnt stay off whatever he was on…..
i think if we signed tyrann it would be to let whitehead continue to develop and build depth not because whitehead or evans cant play….evans, tyrann as starters with adams and whitehead as backups is pretty decent depth and talent imo……
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 11th, 2019 at 9:22 am
Lol you forgot about “HAWK” Goldson! Lol
February 11th, 2019 at 9:26 am
Tanard was good for his short time, but better than Lynch? Such blasphemy deserves a JBF suspension.. LOL.
Also guys…. We have been starting Chris Conte for 4 seasons…. UGH!
February 11th, 2019 at 9:27 am
Three names to keep in mind as Bucs evaluate the Safety position:
*Landon Collins/Giants – Bucs tried to trade for Collins before the trade deadline last year. Don’t know if Arians would agree now. Spotrac projected avg. salary is 9.3mil.
*Tyrann Matthieu/Texans – played on 7mil contract last year but had injuries. A Bruce Arians favorite as he drafted him when everybody was staying away.
*Deone Bucannon/Cardinals – Tweener that played LB but is really a strong safety. Bucannon is a 1st round player that will be the least expensive to sign. Also drafted by Bruce Arians.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:27 am
TJ might have the rep as the big time toker, but have you ever seen a Dashon Goldson interview? Dude could barely ever keep his eyes open. LOL
February 11th, 2019 at 9:28 am
Forgot about Tanard.
The dude could have had all the weed he wanted after a long career and retirement by 33.
Dude got busted three times. I mean cmon. Weed is not that amazing. How many millions did he lose being suspended indefinitely.
Kid could play for smaller guy.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:28 am
The honey badger would be a great addition, he could play along side of Evans and move to nickle on passing downs, allowing Whitehead to get on the field too.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:31 am
Why do you need to get rid of 3 to get 1? Let Conte go and bring in Mathieu.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:36 am
if the underachieving has-beens were so great who is to blame for the PATHETIC 5 playoff games they won in their ENTIRE underachieving careers…
you people say it was not dungy’s fault he is a god… you people say it was not the players fault they are legends so whose fault was it… you can’t have it both ways… either the players let dungy the clown down or dungy the clown was an ignorant 1 dimensional failure… we ALL #2 is correct but I’ll enjoy the bs excuses to follow… reality truly sucks
February 11th, 2019 at 9:44 am
he’s versatile…just sign and use as a chess piece…safety depth is non existent anyway
February 11th, 2019 at 9:59 am
His memory is up in smoke.
February 11th, 2019 at 10:02 am
@tmax i used to think you were just dumb and didn’t know football. now i realize you are here to troll. Joe, why do you let fans of other teams come in here and pretend to be Bucs fans? I would love to have a comment section where we ban any Panthers/Falcons/ Saints fans that come try to derail things. It’s just getting old at this point. Sad really. I cringe every time i read his dumb “opinions”. What a sad life. Go get some, and try to have some fun with your life instead of paying so much attention to something you hate.
February 11th, 2019 at 10:10 am
jackson was a baller at safety, i forgot about him.. cant believe a dude would rather smoke weed than make 20 million
February 11th, 2019 at 10:11 am
Neal
how is pointing out the truth and asking a valid question trolling
hey, skippy reality sucks. deal with it. get out of your safe space…. you can’t rewrite history or ignore facts because you are so sensitive.
dungy is a clown and sapp carried those has-beens. the proof is in the results which can not be rewritten to make you feel better.
February 11th, 2019 at 10:16 am
No question tmax is a troll. Don’t even respond to him. He says the opposite just to start a fight.
I always thought he was a saints fan but that’s just my guess.
February 11th, 2019 at 10:54 am
While you’re at it go get Earl Thomas too.
February 11th, 2019 at 11:04 am
@Jean Lafitte … “Why do you need to get rid of 3 to get 1? Let Conte go and bring in Mathieu.” Let Conte go? Jean, he’s an Unrestricted Free Agent. We have no more claim to him than any other team.
It’s sad when folks claim that your best safety was one who couldn’t stay off the bong. Tanard was great only because he continually saw 21 WRs, TEs & RBs on the field. I’m sure Monte just told him to ‘Pick one and tackle him’.
Joe, you mentioned Evans & Whitehead as safeties, but there’s another guy on our roster … Andrew Adams … listed as a safety who really impressed me last year. Plus I wouldn’t be all that surprised to see MJ Stewart end up as a safety.
February 11th, 2019 at 11:19 am
DR
you know what I mean, the memory of Conte
February 11th, 2019 at 11:45 am
@Tmax. Truth would require facts. Please use facts to show that Tannard Jackson was a better safety than Lynch. I’ll wait… Facts don’t care about your feelings Timmy.
February 11th, 2019 at 11:55 am
No mo Conte!
February 11th, 2019 at 11:57 am
Whitehead is already better than Conte, doesn’t take a pro scout to figure that out.
February 11th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
The Honey badger is a straight up Playmaker. He’s always around the ball and makes at least 5 or 6 game impacting plays per game. The mans a..Baller.
Make it happen.
February 11th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
There are only a few positions that we could not upgrade if there was no cap. But priorities are priorities and we don’t have a glaring need at safety.
If the DL finally does it’s job I think Evans and Whitehead will be more than adequate. Not even sure that both of them will not develop into mini stars.
So this draft is loaded with great DL’s. Pick up two of them for sure. Add an OL as well. All of that in the early rounds and then hope Licht can find some gems in the 4th and 5th rounds.
Anything after that is just gravy but when you consider both Hump and Brate were UDFA’s who knows what we might accomplishment.
February 11th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Tmax is a joke, probably some 600lb dude who cant get out of the house so he trolls all day, what a loser.
February 11th, 2019 at 12:41 pm
How about Earl Thomas? Well worth the money.
February 11th, 2019 at 2:27 pm
Tyrann Mathieu also had 3 sacks last year.
I would take him. He;s only 26, and has stayed healthy the last two years.
I would take him in a heartbeat.
February 11th, 2019 at 2:31 pm
Jerry Jones Says
“Whitehead is already better than Conte, doesn’t take a pro scout to figure that out.”
The only reason they re-signed Conte last year was because they needed a bridge player while Whitehead developed. Conte’s injury put Whitehead in a little early than expected, but he performed well.
Conte was not supposed to be on the 2019 roster.
We’re set at safety to be honest, but I would certainly take an upgrade if the opportunity presented itself.
February 11th, 2019 at 2:53 pm
Better sign the Tandyman again. Remember what he did in 2016 before the Dumbasses of Koetter and Smith tryed to start TJ Ward, jusin Edwards, Chris Conte and Whitehead all layed an Egg.
February 11th, 2019 at 2:58 pm
Ya think just maybe there was a reason Licht was bringing in all of those safeties with Tandy already on the roster? 🤔
February 11th, 2019 at 6:28 pm
neal
2 playoff wins under dungy the clown in 6 years is all the factual data you need. dungy the clown and mckay never once fielded a NFL offense nor did they ever contended they were pretenders with no chance with those offenses again the scoreboard backs that up. it was a bad team with a great defense and the on-field results back that up 100%. thankfully Gruden cleaned up dungy’s mess and was able to get 1 super bowl. you do realize Dungy failed regardless of your man crush. you people are hurting so bad you non stop try and convince yourselves mediocrity was greatness.
February 11th, 2019 at 9:51 pm
Joe…. I just know none of those mentioned Safety’s did what Keith did in 2016!! Never could figure out why he was benched after he did what he did in 2016. And as far as Licht hunting for that All Pro Safety it never panned out… They still went 5 & 11 the next 2 years and took an act of congress to get Smith out of Dodge. Something else I coulx never figure out. Guess it really doesn’t matter anymore !!! Arians has a large job on his hands to fix the mess Koettef left behind !!! Don’t think it can be done in just one year. Maybe another GM is your answer!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 12:40 am
I hope he isn’t hanging out with Manti Teo. Wazzup with that fancy hair?
???
February 12th, 2019 at 12:01 pm
Tmax, So 2 payoff wins has what to do with Tannard Jackson and J Lynch? How many playoff games did we win with T. Jackson at Safety? Dude you are talking in circles. Stop crying about the past already. Sounds like you got one too many trophies as a kid just for showing up. Sorry bud, that’s not going to work this time. You’re actually going to have to make a rational argument for once…
February 12th, 2019 at 12:37 pm
Joe. tmaxipad should be banned for life from this site how can anyone think in their right mind that t-Jackson was better than John Lynch not only did the guy put up stats but he struck the fear god into anyone coming across the middle. More ppl dropped passes because they thought 47 was near them to bad safeties can’t play that way anymore in this flag football league setting
February 12th, 2019 at 12:45 pm
Tmax. What are you talking about bro? What does Tannard Jackson have to do with how many playoff with the Bucs had under Dungy? How many PO wins did the bucs have with T Jackson at safety? You are just talking nonsense now. It’s really sad.
February 15th, 2019 at 4:56 pm
I love how Tmax runs away every time he gets called out for spouting BS yet he has the ball to call GMC soft. I bet he a whole lot more quiet in person .lol.