Foster Says He Saw Greatness Immediately
September 28th, 2011
At some point, BSPN surely will pay one of its statistical gremlins to quantify the effects of player-only lockout workouts on the 2011 standings. But Mason Foster won’t need that report to sell him on the value of those sessions.
Speaking Monday night on Total Access on WDAE-AM 620, Foster explained that his agent implored him not to attend the Bucs unofficial minicamp in Bradenton because he didn’t have a contract and could get hurt. But Barrett Ruud’s replacement showed up anyway for what was his first taste of the NFL.
“There was no way I was going to miss out on coming out and working with the team,” said Foster, who had flown in from Washington.
Foster said what struck him was the seriousness of Buccaneers in the Bradenton weight room and how players listened to Josh Freeman. He said those factors told him the team was a contender.
Foster went on to say that now he enjoys the leadership role of calling the Bucs defense with linebackers coach Joe Baker in his helmet via radio transmitter. Foster said he believes leadership automatically comes with the role of mike linebacker and he’s happy to take it on.
On the field, Ronde Barber “echoes” the defensive calls, Foster said. And Foster described a sort of hand-signal confirmation that he flashes to Baker, so Baker can be sure Foster’s got the correct signals. Foster described a very smooth transition with calling plays.
Numerous times and numerous ways during the interview, Foster talked about his love for “hitting people.” Joe suspects the anti-Ruud crowd hearing all that was in ecstasy.
September 28th, 2011 at 10:53 am
I was in favor of bringing Ruud back, but this kid is looking like he was a steal in the third round. He has been very impressive, and he’s only going to get better with more experience.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:00 am
After 3 games not only is he our best linebacker hes been arguably the best PLAYER on our defense.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:01 am
I didn’t know Foster could hover….. See pic.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:18 am
Must have drank a Red Bull.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:32 am
Foster isn’t scared of contact, ala Ruud. Now Titans fans have tha luxury of seeing what many Bucs fans like myself have been viewing 4 years.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:41 am
Im man enough to admit, I thought the Bucs were outta their minds letting Ruud go and turning things over to a Rook, but I’ve gotta say, this kid has impressed me so far.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:50 am
The play where Peterson ran face first into Mason during the Minn game sealed it for me, with a blocker and Peterson both hitting him, Foster barely moved off his spot, turned and chased down Peterson and got him within 4 yards of him bouncing off. Take that same play and replace Foster with Ruud and that turns into a 60 yarder by Peterson, leaving his cleat mark on Ruud’s chest-plate.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:55 am
Mauha Deeb – I lol’d
September 28th, 2011 at 11:56 am
I love this kid and Clayborne.
They are mean and nasty and seem to be getting better by the week.
September 28th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Three games is way too early to be drawing conclusions, but I’ll do it anyway.
Letting Ruud go: Good move. Put the onus on Foster and he’s stepped up and played well. Farther along than he would’ve been playing behind Ruud.
Letting Caddy go: Bad move. Still has some left in the tank, and is helping the Rams. I love E Graham but he’s not giving us what Caddy gave us last year.
General approach to free agency: Grow-your-own-guys-Bucs: 2-1. Free-agent-dream-team-Iggles: 1-2. Better to grow your own.
September 28th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Joke:
1.Graham has been average at best for the Rams, (not saying Graham has been anything other than average for us either)\
In fact according to PFF, Caddy has the lowest elusive rating in the league, meaning he only gets whats blocked for him and NOTHING more.
2. Bad conclusion on the Eagles. Why? both of their free agents signed on their d-line are having excellent years, Babin and Jenkins are in the top5 for sacks (both have 4) Nnamdi is struggling not playing his typical bump and run coverage for the Eagles, which is expected he as well will come along. The Eagles flaws are apparent attrocious LB’s and horrendous o-line play. Their difficiences have little to do with their FA spending.
September 28th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
^ Correction above CADDY has been average at best for the Rams
September 28th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Travis,
Like Morris says…stats are for losers. I don’t care what the “stats” show for the FA’s in Eagles organization…they are 1-2 and that is the only stat that matters. If they have atrocious LB’s and horrendous O-line play then apparently they spent their money foolishly on FA’s they didn’t need and should have instead beefed up the LB corp and the O-line.
September 28th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
@Travis, I agree with your points about the Eagles, but I think the biggest reason they are having issues is Vick. Who in the hell didn’t see his regression in the last 6 games of last season, and this season isn’t any better. He’s holding the ball way to long and getting hammered almost every play, and yes you can blame his O-line, but he has to get rid of the rock.
September 28th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Yes, Foster CAN hover and used to work for Orbitz.com delivering rebate checks to cover his college tuition.
September 28th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
I agree with Travis about Caddy. Buc fans see Graham not doing much and scream “we should have kept Caddy!”. The reality is Graham is cheaper and Caddy has done nothing.
What they should have done is got a speed threat to counter Blount with. Next year hopefully.
September 28th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
@Travis –
I’d take “average at best” right now.
Caddy’s averaged 4 yards per rush on 50 rushes and 6.3 yards per catch on 9 receptions.
Graham’s averaged 2.7 yards per rush on 11 rushes and 5.8 yards per catch on 30 receptions.
I don’t know about the “elusive rating” (can’t find anything more recent than week 2, or anything that includes Graham), but Graham has been a liability in the rush game. There’s no reason for opponents to respect the run when he’s back there. I’d rather have Caddy.
As for the Eagles, I’m talking about overall approach to building your team.
There are a lot of things that you’ll never get to see but are important in building a team — e.g. the leadership and locker room fit of the guys you add vs. the guys you get rid of, the “buy-in” from guys raised in the system, jealousy issues when a new guy comes in with a big contract, etc.
You seem to forget that they added Rodgers-Cromartie —
The Eagles were the better team last year but have the worse record this year, against similar competition. So far, chalk one up for the Bucs’ approach.
Now if you want to look at numbers, let’s look at numbers. The Eagles added Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie (Kolb trade) to their secondary. QB passer rating-against has gone from 80.8 in 2010 to 104.7 in 2011.
They added Babin and Jenkins to their D-line. Sacks have gone up like you pointed out– 2.4/game 2010 vs. 3/game in 2011. But yards per carry-against has gone up too — 4.2 in 2010 to 4.9 in 2011.
They added VY as their backup QB, but it’s unclear whether he or Mike Kafka will be starting in place of Vick. And they picked up Ronnie Brown but haven’t used him much.
So that’s four thirty-year-olds, plus Vince Young and Rodgers-Cromartie, that they’ve added to their team — and if anything they look worse than last year. I’ll take the Bucs’ youth movement and upside any day of the week.
September 28th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
whoops, meant to delete that “You seem to forget that they added Rodgers-Cromartie — ” line — I was the one who forgot they added him via trade.
September 28th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Great points JOE. Agree totally on the Eagles and Bucs approach. Agrre more on Caddy. I was all for keeping him, but more for getting a young speed replacement… unfortunately they did neither.
I am sick of hearing about “big backs.” At some point I hope they realize before the next draft that they NEED a speed option to compliment Blount.
I mean can you imagine both in the game at the same time and the D-Line and LBs having to freeze because a fake inside to Blount then a sweep outside or vice-versa?
I can picture it already.
September 28th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
Foster is already better than Princess Ruud …
September 28th, 2011 at 9:34 pm
Caddy is dead last in elusive rating of backs with at least 34 rushes. Blount is number #5 of 28. PFF updates their signature stats weekly but you have to be a premium subscriber to access them.
September 29th, 2011 at 1:00 am
Sadly, I think Graham would be behind Caddy if they were to rate him.
September 29th, 2011 at 4:31 am
@Joke Graham is 11.7 in the ratings. He only has 11 carries so he wasn’t a part of my earlier post. Caddy has a 3.9. Kregg Lumpkin is a 0.0 but that is off of only 2 receptions.
Fred Jackson is in the lead with an unheard of 119.5, but we’ll see how long that lasts. Blount led the league last year with a season rating of 89.2.
Blount(#5 in the league: 57.3 rating) is practically tied but sandwiched between Ray Rice(57.5) and Michael Turner(56.7). Very good company.