No Conspiracy In Draft
May 5th, 2018
Did not Pearl Harbor chances with Bucs.
Joe has noticed this floating around social media. Joe also has on good authority this is nonsense.
It is fairly common knowledge that at his pro day in Tallahassee, Florida State safety did not work out for the Bucs. This has led some folks who desperately wanted the Bucs to draft James to concoct a conspiracy: the Bucs wouldn’t draft James as payback.
In chatting briefly recently with Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht, he mentioned to Joe this had absolutely nothing to do with the Bucs drafting Vita Vea because the Bucs coveted Vea more.
Licht spelled this out Thursday on NFL Network.
In fact, the Bucs hosted James at One Buc Palace two weeks later and if anything, James impressed the Bucs further that he was a stud prospect. The Bucs drafted Vea, passing on James who later was drafted by the Chargers at No. 17 overall.
So no, James not working out for the Bucs in Tallahassee did not seal his fate in Tampa Bay.
May 5th, 2018 at 8:28 am
Maybe it did, even if only 1%?
May 5th, 2018 at 8:34 am
Regardless of whether Derwin James worked out for Tampa Bay or not, picking Vita Vea was the Bucs’ best move given the “big three” were off the board at #7. You always hear your build a football team from front to back and you hear some version of that adage from Jason Licht and Dirk Koetter. It’s about time they put their money where their mouths are and started following the tried and true truism about football. Win the line of scrimmage and you’ll usually win the game. To win the LOS, you need big, talented guys up front. As Donovan Smith said, take the men up front out of the game and it’s nothing but seven-on-seven.
May 5th, 2018 at 8:42 am
I would have loved James. At the time I was disappointed. But the Vea pick has def grown on me. As a FSU fan, I really have no problem with them passing. The only hiccup is, I think James is going to be dominant in the NFL.
May 5th, 2018 at 8:48 am
Why do we care about this non-Buc player?? Oh thats right…we have a lot of FSU homers on here that JBF wants to tease.
Time to move on JBF! The draft is over. Let it goooooooooooo!
May 5th, 2018 at 9:07 am
Yeah man…move on JBF. It’s done. Getting old already.
May 5th, 2018 at 9:08 am
Didn’t understand all the James hype anyways. He was an average safety
May 5th, 2018 at 9:08 am
Donuts:
Everyone is talking about the Bucs passing on James–not just Nole/Bucs fans. Or did you miss in the article where it said Licht had to address it on the NFL Network? It has been brought up in most draft write-ups on most sites because it was interesting to see the Bucs pass on a player who could be extremely dominant at a glaring position of need to pick up a player at a position we spent the offseason shoring up.
Now, I have no issue with the Vea pick, but it does run the risk of coming back and biting the Bucs in the butt. James could be flat out dominant and quickly—or he could have injuries that plague him throughout his career. I have no problem prioritizing a player for the trenches ever, but let’s not pretend that it isn’t a risky choice or that it’s only noles fans questioning it.
May 5th, 2018 at 9:24 am
^
LOL FAKE NEWS
………….Just say “NO” to a Mark Barron more athletically gifted clone…..
Thank Goodness our GM is smarter than these Derwin James homers that visit this site spewing garbage outta their ignorant mouths (keyboard warriors)
May 5th, 2018 at 9:28 am
……..and everyone seems to have forgotten about the most hyped safety last year “Obi Melifonwu”…..
……and what did he do last year????????????
NOTHING………………………
May 5th, 2018 at 9:39 am
I forgot about that (Obi MSM hype) Anthem thanks for the reminder. I mean for some us, we can see right through the offseason nonsense going on around us. I guess that is what happens when you see it year after year.
Let me give it a try…..Damn we should have gotten James…now the Bucs will suck for 5 years because the safety position is key and way more important than the trenches (Vea). I mean that is what we have learned from watching the Bucs film the past 5 years, right? The safety position is what is keeping us from the Lombardi. Our OL/DL are great!
Is that better? lol
May 5th, 2018 at 9:40 am
^^^^
Good point. I forgot about that guy.
True big strong safety like James is key down in the box where he can be physical and hit guys. Coverage skills good too but I think bucs run more of a system where they have 2 free interchangeable safeties that can come up and tackle.
Reason being …they have two of the fastest undersized linebackers in lavonte and Kwon (beckwith) who can run and absolutely kill guys. They are your strong safeties in the box
May 5th, 2018 at 9:49 am
Another grassy knoll
May 5th, 2018 at 10:35 am
Lol crazies gonna crazy. I’m glad they sensibly valued the trench player slightly higher than the skill position. I liked James, but you build teams around your front lines.
May 5th, 2018 at 10:39 am
The Bucs passed on Dalvin Cook, Darby, James…any pattern here?
May 5th, 2018 at 10:51 am
I watched a couple of FSU games last year checking out James, he looked good but forget the oh oh oho chant from fans as it’s nauseating. Try woe woe woe-o, a better fit.
May 5th, 2018 at 10:51 am
@BucsAnthem, Licht was going to take either Vea or James, had Vea rated slightly higher. If Vea was gone, James would be a Buc. Does that make Licht an FSU homer?
May 5th, 2018 at 10:52 am
Has anyone forgot that Kenny Vaccaro is still available in FA?
May 5th, 2018 at 11:03 am
No it’s no coincidence if a guy is higher on your board. It’s only a conspiracy because a lot of media is pushing that narrative. Power rankings after the draft are saying the bucs are low because they chose Vea with James on the board… Their board which they think holds more weight than people who actually work in the NFL. It’s stupid arrogance thinking you’d ding a teams draft points for not doing what you think they should have, so much more reason to not take anything the media data seriously and read it for entertaining purposes only
May 5th, 2018 at 11:34 am
@Not there yet
I agree, we have to believe our talent scouts are way more experienced than all the background static.
May 5th, 2018 at 12:51 pm
A lot of people mocked him to us ar 7. Those that didn’t had him going 13-15. See any trend here. We passed at 7, then again at 12. He finally went 17th. See the trend. Nyadi not drafted until the 3rd round, Izzo the 7th, McFadden, Tate not drafted at all. See the trend…
May 5th, 2018 at 12:59 pm
goodness, Bucs anthem with his boring comparison of Mark Barron to James. These two players aren’t even remotely the same. My goodness you’re ignorant to players skill sets.
May 5th, 2018 at 1:00 pm
@gambelero what trend would that be? Noone said any of those guys were going higher than they did. Not one Nole fan was clamoring for any of them. So what exactly is your point?
May 5th, 2018 at 1:21 pm
@RickinFtMyers is 100% correct!!! Vea was the best pick!!! If we did not win a meaningless game at the end of last season we would have gotten Chubb, so dLine was the way we were going anyway!!!
May 5th, 2018 at 1:23 pm
Jordan Whitehead is more NFL ready!
He is a complete FS. He can come down and cover people man to man in the slot. He moves like a CB.
He has incredible ball skills. Think Honey Badger.
Jordan Whitehead might be my favorite pick.
MJ Stewart, starting “thick” nickel for years.
Carlton Davis, starting outside CB for years.
Jordan Whitehead, starting FS for years
Vernon Hargreaves- can he come back?
Ryan Smith- he got burned in the fire last year- will he evolve?
Javien Elliot- Still has potential. Ronde didn’t shine till year 3.
Thats a really decent core!
Remember Schiano’s CB’s??? OMG!
May 5th, 2018 at 1:37 pm
If it were up to FSU fans the whole Bucs roster would be players from FSU and when they sucked they would blame every single thing on the planet except the players.
May 5th, 2018 at 3:56 pm
Sure Joe , licht is gonna come out and say that why we didn’t draft them . . . Got a bridge to sell ya to.
May 5th, 2018 at 7:46 pm
Donuts and go bucs..
It’s time to stop using the “fsu Homer” lines. Only makes me suspect you’re a gator Homer. Are you going to call the people who wanted Vea Huskie homers? It’s a sign of ignorance on your part. People can like prospects because we had a need at saftey and he was the highest rated next to minkah so that’s about as simple as it gets. Oh and all the people who wanted Oliver instead of Stewart are Buffalo homers right??
May 6th, 2018 at 6:59 am
Licht kmows he messed up. No other reason to answer the question… case and point