An “Aggressive” Defense
January 23rd, 2019
Questions linger.
Joe is trying to find any sort of glimpse as to what Bucco Bruce Arians will do with the Bucs and how that will play out in free agency and the draft.
It sure smells like the Bucs might be sifting through free agency to unearth a corner. Why is that?
Well, Greg Auman of The Athletic recently caught up with Cardinals stud cornerback Patrick Peterson who obviously played for Arians in Arizona. Peterson described how Arians likes his defense.
“Those guys are going to be aggressive,” Peterson said of the coaching staff. “I think Coach Bowles could work with anything, but as long as they have the guys outside who can hold up, his aggressive style, he loves to have two corners on the outside who can hold their own. He loves to play pressure and force the quarterback to get the ball out quick.”
Well, the Bucs already have a promising press corner in Carlton Davis. So the Bucs are fine there. The other corner spot, unless they want to bring back pay-me-to-defend-better-receivers Brent Grimes, the Bucs are going to need a new corner.
Yeah, Vernon Hargreaves is expected to be back but two questions with Hargreaves that are really unknown: Can he stay healthy — he has only played in eight games in the past two years — and can he play press corner?
Now Joe is of the mind the Bucs have spent enough draft capital on corners the past three years, a first-round pick and two second-round picks. To use the No. 5 overall pick on a corner is entering Matt Millen territory where the former Detroit general manager would draft a receiver in the first round every year and ignore bigger, more important holes.
Time for the Bucs to buy a corner if they need one. And yes, they need one. At best, you cannot bank on Hargreaves being healthy.
Joe can say one thing for the Bucs: they sure do have a knack for finding part-time/nickel corners with high draft picks.
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:10 am
vh3bust is short, slow and STUPID those can’t be fixed. wasting on time on a midget who can’t stay healthy is laughable. draft or go get an nfl corner and stop wasting time on local feel-good stories that NEVER work out.
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:12 am
VHG and others will finally be able to play in a defense that suites their strengths….they will not be hand cuffed by smitty and old man grimes to play a passive soft zone defense…..
not worried able the secondary…its the depth at DE/DT/LB that concerns me….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:13 am
VH3….has OTA’s and TC to prove he belongs…I know there is no hope in football but that seems all we have…sad….it would be a major step if the 2019 showed grit and unity with real leadership ….not appointed leadership…it seems JPP has grabbed the Whole team by the neck and anyone not buying in will be exposed….offense needs that personality by example not posturing
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:14 am
I will pay Joe a great deal of money if he stops using that pic of an angry young Whoopi Goldberg every time he writes a Hargreaves article.
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:16 am
There is some decent CB’s that would be ok. Nothing to get excited about. I would expect us to pick up some Jet defenders that are FA’s etc. Our biggest issue is we are up against the cap. Even with cutting, we will still be in the bottom half for cap space so I don’t expect earth-shattering moves.
Morris Claibore is a name to watch should he makes it to FA. Again not exactly earth shattering but he is serviceable.
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:16 am
Here is our cap situation:
McCoy $13
Djax $10
David $9750
Curry $8
Brate $7
Allen $5
Dotson $4850
Gholston $3750
Unrein $3750
E. Smith $2
Spence 1950
It’s about $66 million with player who….if cut….won’t count against the cap.
45 of the 66 is on the defensive side…..
We could cut them all but would have to have at least 3 draft picks starting.
IMO……LVD would hurt the most.
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:22 am
That’s the problem. He needs gametape.
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:26 am
In Todd Bowles I trust
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:36 am
VH3 has game tape from UF playing againts future elite WRs that routinely ran past him and made him look silly. This was such a wasted draft pick by licht. Eli apple even seems to be doing better than VH3 now. Peterson is a once every 10 years talent and maybe see if they will take vh3, GMC and djax and a #2 for peterson
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:45 am
Fortunately Hargreaves still has a year left on his rookie contract and a 5th year option to decide.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:03 am
thin free agent list, one of these maybe:
Jason McCourty (31) Rashaan Melvin (29) Steven Nelson (25) Kareem Jackson (31) Morris Claiborne (29)
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:08 am
Waterboy is correct. He is seriously injury prone, but if I remember, he looked a lot better playing in the slot in the first few games he played last year. Play M.J. Stewart in the box safety on running plays. Pick up Pat.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:18 am
Waterboy Says:
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:45 am
Fortunately Hargreaves still has a year left on his rookie contract and a 5th year option to decide.
maybe fortunate for him but it will cost the bucs dearly if that fool is on the roster. there is nothing to decide. he failed. is a bust whatever term you prefer. no one at one buc is considering that 5th year option for a short, slow and stupid cb that was way over drafted. even the crappy bucs would not consider that option. you can’t draft UDFA talent in the first round yet bucs do every year it seems.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:24 am
Bucs should of made a deal for Patrick Peterson before seasons end. If they don’t draft a corner, they will have to trade away a decent draft pick to acquire one.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:28 am
I think we could draft a rookie CB in later rounds that will be serviceable. One CB that has length, and speed and play man can probably be had in the 4th round and on would be someone like Joejuan Williams, Vanderbilt or Lonnie Johnson Jr., Kentucky. There are decent talent for defense in this draft.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:32 am
Trade for Peterson.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:34 am
Tmax
How tall are you? And i guarantee licht put zero stock into the fact he is a local. Zero.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:43 am
TBbucfan
LVD aint goin no where. He’s gonna lay the smack down on QBs if they run a 3-4 and he’s the second best player on the defense next to JPP. Slash GMC, DB!tch, Curry, Dotson and don’t resign Kwon. I would have no problem getting Devin White at #5 and letting Leidtke play LT. Find a way to get two second round picks and get Darrell Henderson (Memphis) and a RG. Pay a vet RT.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:46 am
unless they want to bring back pay-me-to-defend-better-receivers Brent Grimes, the Bucs are going to need a new corner.
Ok joe grimes had one good year in Tampa and has rarely covered the best receivers so it wasn’t new he wouldn’t do it last season. But now your trying to say if they need an aggressive press corner pay grimes who also plays 7-10 yards off the ball. You should edit that article so it doesn’t look so ridiculous
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:53 am
Keep in mind our cap figure doesn’t include D. Smith…..K. Alexander or a kicker.
So….the $16mil space is tighter than most think.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:57 am
BA is gonna have to go with a youth movement. That’s why he’s here. Supposedly he’s a guru who can motivate and get young players in the right positions to succeed. We can’t really afford to continually buy veteran FA talent. At some point we need to coach up our own crop of players. So let’s let BA be the judge of who he can get through to, or not.
You know the reason why we never get compensatory picks is because we try to buy our team from the FA pool.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:59 am
If we can pick up a legit CB in free agency I will feel really good about our backfield. Carlton Davis prooved he can hold down a sideline. With a FA(or Peterson) we will look strong on both sidelines.
Evans and Whitehead nice cielings.
You have to bring Adams back for depth. VH111 would be depth as well.
Ryan Smith made a jump last year and is expected to improve and solidify our depth.
Aside from signing a starter a lot of the answers are in house.
The most important piece of all is likely the player(s) they get as late round choices or UDFA. Or the low end FA that nobody talks about. If we continue to not develope young players the backfield immediately begins to erode.
Lack of developement is the reason why we are in need of a high priced FA.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:01 pm
VH3
Played primarily man at UF Bucs draft him and put him in zone under the worst defensive staff in the league
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:05 pm
Sign Kareem Jackson, keep Davis as the other corner. That gives you two decent nickel corners in Evans and Vh3.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:06 pm
I’m holding out hope for VHIII. Hopefully this isn’t another thing I’m wrong about lol.
I’ve seen Greedy Williams kind of all over the place in rankings. That doesn’t comfort me. When Jalen Ramsey / Marshon Lattimore / Denzel Ward came out they were the consensus #1 CBs early on and it stayed that way throughout the process. I’m not sold.
As for FA, the best projected available CB is Ronald Darby of all people lol.
After that we are likely looking at Jason McCourty/Kareem Jackson who are stop gap older guys. Or taking a chance on Pierre Desir if he were available.
We may have to settle on signing 1-2 proven CBs that are average vs a shut down guy being available in either FA or the draft. It is what it is. Otherwise we have to make some big trade.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:07 pm
I also think our secondary is somewhat underrated. Everybody looks at the horrible completion % we give up and all the passing yards and immediatly places all the blame on the DB.
The players that fans let off of the hook is the LBs. We absolutely have some of the worst LBs in the league when playing coverage……..And when you want an answer to a of the yards we gave up look no further then those 1st 4 hames(most yards given up all year)………Our LBs were used and abused and completely dominated in coverage. They were the biggest culprits for our pass defense. Everytime opposing QBs needed a key play they attacked us right over the middle and our LBs were incapable of stopping it.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:09 pm
Also – we had no name CBs balling out for us when we finally got a pass rush… Some guy named Adams or whatever?
Build a top 5 trench team and I can play nickle CB and we can survive lol
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:11 pm
Agree with Jimmyjack.
Our LBs are overrated as f*ck. Or they were put in horrific position consistently by our coordinators.
In general most the easy completions we give up seem to be on slants / short patterns where the LBs can’t cover well underneath or there was miscommunication on the zones between the LBs & CBs. We’ve never had a good answer for an athletic TE and get roasted by RBs on screens and wheel routes way too often.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:17 pm
And sorry to go post crazy but my god this draft looks insanely deep at DT & DE. There’s got to be 10-15 athletic pass rushing freak type DTs once you start looking at some of the small school guys too like the Western Illinois kid who is doing backflips at 300+ lbs.
At DE I’m finding new guys everyday that are prototypical 4-3 guys with great athlieticsm and length.
F*ck the secondary!! 3 of our picks have to go to DL in this class. 2 to OL. Spend at least one mid round pick on RB.
Would be a great year to have a couple other mid round picks.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:19 pm
LBs are very overrated…realistically the bucs can let probably 8 of the starters on the defense walk and then another 7-10 from the offensive contributors pack sand and let BA rebuild this dumpster fire that licht handed to him
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:20 pm
Lord Corn…….The way most offenses are run nowadays that is the worst area to have a weakness.
You can’t allow these teams to have all these short-to-intermediate passes open all game. These are the plays these teams are working on all the time and they are becoming deadly accurate.
The days of relying on arrent passes over the middle, tipped balls & missed catches is f**king over.
Enough with this Tampa 2 BS already!! This defense has been outdated for over a decade now. I’m so glad they hired Bowles who has no intentions of running that tired out scheme.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:22 pm
Disthy……BA would not be here if the roster were a dumpster fire. He too old for that nonsense…..Otherwise he’d go to NY.
He trying win a title and ride out into the sunset.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:29 pm
Its comical to see the sheep that just last offseason said the licht weight did his job and set the table and now have lists of needs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:37 pm
after b.a. watches film a lot of you people are going to be butt hurt that your favorite player SUCKS!!!! if all these players you guys moan and groan about being must keepers why have they been in the basement their entire careers.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Word is Arians just hired a strength and conditioning coach. interesting
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:56 pm
If Arians brings in Ronald Darby as CB I will absolutely freak out. lol
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:58 pm
Patrick Peterson FA
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:14 pm
Tampabayfan’
I appreciate your cap list–weshould cut them all except David. Get new players in draft-finally we have some coaches that do some magic.
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:41 pm
tmaxcon
ignorant comment. how the heck do you expect to dump the whole roster, start anew and expect to win games? At some point we have to realize that we must develop the talent we already have.
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:45 pm
Realist…..There is always a list of needs. No matter what.
What a dense comment.
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:50 pm
Jean Lafitte Says:
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:41 pm
tmaxcon
ignorant comment. how the heck do you expect to dump the whole roster, start anew and expect to win games? At some point we have to realize that we must develop the talent we already have.
developing turds will not make them edible sir…. this roster needs at least 60% overhaul.
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:51 pm
“said the licht weight did his job and set the table and now have lists of needs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
No idea who the f*ck you are talking about. Go look up my posts last offseason. I was calling for a continuous DL rebuild going into 2020 even.
Let’s put it really f*cking simple for you:
The defense under Smitty was bottom 1-3 in the NFL throughout his tenure in pretty much all key statistics.
This defense was not bottom 3 in talent. Multiple probowlers and high draft picks given to Smitty to work with. Not bottom 3 talent.
Not sure how the above sentiment = “Licht set the table for good der im a sheep!”
Carry on
January 23rd, 2019 at 2:51 pm
Eli apple even seems to be doing better than VH3 now.
i wonder why…..lol…has a lot to do with coaching and scheme…..
apple finally started to receive “good” coaching and his game took a step forward….the same will happen with VHG
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!
January 23rd, 2019 at 2:54 pm
LC
c’mon man!!!!!….lol….
dont argue with fools because people from a distance cant tell who is who….lol….
we know your 1 of the smarter posters on here….dont scoop down to @rhealist’s level….
remember this:
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!
January 23rd, 2019 at 3:20 pm
@813
I can’t help it sometimes lol. It just bothers me to see this guy sh1t talking the fan base without any basis for it. He’s literally inventing up groups of bucs fans in his head (l.e. whoever the f*ck the “sheep” are – that really do not exist) to try and make some sense of his reality.
January 23rd, 2019 at 3:35 pm
VHii sucks. Hes slow, short and cocky. Those don’t add up to a good corner. Terrible pick when it was made and a terrible pick now. Licht should have been gone long ago.
January 23rd, 2019 at 4:21 pm
“The best friend of the defense is….
explosive offense
saints
rams
chiefs
pats
make the defense 1 dimensional by putting points on the board and ahead by 2 scores
*The Salary cap limitation forces teams to have weaknesses in some areas and to never be able to build a great overall team
*All the Buc fans will be having brain freezes watching the first few games when BA attacks and scores touchdowns in the endzone when we cross the 50
For 4 years our eyes/minds have been brainwashed watching Klueless step off the pedal crossing the 50 yard line and setting up for the missed field goal”
Kobe Faker
January 23rd, 2019 at 4:41 pm
In a perfect world, VHIII grows 6 inches, learns how to cover WRs in any defensive front, and stops wagging his finger when QBs overthrow the guy he’s covering!
I know it’s a tad harsh, but what more needs to be seen here? We need football players, plain and simple.
Number 1 ability-AVAILABILITY. VHIII will be a liability in press man against the likes of Julio, Thomas, and others.
I hope I’m wrong, but they had better have a ‘Plan B’ just in case.
January 23rd, 2019 at 4:42 pm
Lord C- Realist, with every post continues to discredit himself. He drank waaaaaay too much Koetter-kool aid!
January 23rd, 2019 at 5:21 pm
We’re lucky to have Hargreaves coming back. Commenting on where he was drafted is completely unproductive. Hopefully he’s used the year off to get stronger and hungrier.