Did The Bucs Do Enough This Offseason?
April 11th, 2022
Bucs GM Jason Licht.
The offseason is not yet over. In past years, the Bucs have been able to pick up key free agents after the draft and even after training camp.
But an unnamed front office suit not with the Bucs makes a very interesting point. Did the Bucs do enough this offseason?
Mike Sando of The Athletic has really cool columns with feedback from unnamed coaches and suits in the NFL on teams and players. Recently, Sando surveyed NFL suits for thoughts on how each team did during the offseason.
This unnamed source wondered if the Bucs are trying to win with a stale roster?
“Tampa is basically running it back times two,” an exec said. “They didn’t do anything to add to their team. They basically kept it together, trading out Antonio Brown for Russell Gage.”
In other words, did the Bucs do enough? The team was handcuffed by a tight salary cap so there was only so much the Bucs could have done. But it is a fair question.
Standing put runs the risk of getting passed over. Yes, the Bucs added a few players, but other than Russell Gage these players are part-time guys. Logan Ryan and Keanu Neal may not start.
If the Bucs get lucky and, say, Jordan Davis slips to the Bucs, he may be replacing Ndamukong Suh.
Again, the Bucs have signed many impact starters after the draft (Suh) and even after training camp (Playoff Lenny). So this offseason isn’t over.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:07 am
I think the DBs are a stronger unit now with the two safeties they added, even though they lost Whitehead, and Delaney has a year under his belt and just being healthy.
O line depends on Stinnie on the left but RG is upgraded.
Brown was great when healthy and mentally stable but Gage is really good and they got younger because of it. Plus I love the idea of Cyril Grayson given more opportunity.
The big question is D line & TE
April 11th, 2022 at 9:11 am
Add Suh/Gronk and draft a WR in the first four rounds and I would give this off season a strong B grade.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:15 am
Tougher schedule this year as well. If the roster is not cutting the mustard, look for Don Brady to make a business decision and shut it down, so he can be fresh for Miami next year.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:21 am
We need to address our lack of a pass rush, so we don’t have to blitz all the time.
We have no choice to go all in this year because many feel this will be Brady’s last year, in Tampa.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:21 am
I’m really concerned about the DLine.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:22 am
I agree the Bucs need to do more. However, the Bucs were killed by injuries last year. So, if the draft is solid: DL, TE, CB,…we should be more than ok!
April 11th, 2022 at 9:25 am
I think if JPP were healthy and the AB situation didn’t blow up, we were headed to another SB. I dont view Suh as being all that critical unless Vea goes down but JPP was a game changer that opened up everything we do on defense and we’ve yet to address that position. Maybe Tryon steps in and shows the ability to be productive, he’s still nowhere near capable of what JPP brought to the table.
On offense we traded out AB for Gage…..seems like a good fit but we still need Gronk back along with some TE depth and another RB. When you add all that up, we’ve taken a step back.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:28 am
If the D can be equal to last year and the O improves we are in good shape.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:37 am
I wonder how many of these shady old vets have figured if they wait until after the OTA’s and just before training camp, they can save a ton of wear and tear on their bodies, and aggravation? Why not wait, as long as you have some numbers in principle in mind with Jason?
April 11th, 2022 at 9:41 am
Any objective analyst or fan would have to say that the Bucs have not gotten stronger than last year…..yet.
We need Gronk & Suh to brake even.
We lost Rojo…..(not replaced)……..Stinnie is likely not better or even as good as Marpet.
I think the Gage signing is a net positive.
I also think our secondary is a bit stronger with Ryan & Neal replacing Whitehead.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:44 am
Agree with David. Need to address DL and TE. We really need Gronk. Less so, Suh. We can get a good DT in round 1. And I suspect a TE in round 2. In both areas we are thin and a bit old. Top two priorities, imo.
April 11th, 2022 at 9:45 am
To me Bucs are playing with house money this season.. we were all bracing for Trask or possibly Gabbert leading us at QB, and so many of these signings would not have happened, and we would have most likely had more FA walk. Tom is back and let’s roll with house money! Super Bowl #3!!!!
April 11th, 2022 at 9:50 am
Dline and TE,
April 11th, 2022 at 10:04 am
Anyone who has doubts about going dline early just look at the depth chart… Confirms what j suspected. After vita, nacho, Gholston it’s a bunch of nobodies. Nacho is listed as vita backup (who isn’t an every down player already).. Gholston is on one side with no real backup.. opposite side is some nobody…
April 11th, 2022 at 10:06 am
Not to mention vita generally doesn’t make it through a whole season and in generally you need guys t rotate in and out
April 11th, 2022 at 10:19 am
Um, isn’t it a little odd to say that before we even have the draft?
April 11th, 2022 at 10:20 am
Entire article is not a projection, it is about the team as is the first week of April at the end of free agency.
April 11th, 2022 at 10:24 am
Yes, we did enough for the offense. I guess we are assuming everyone is coming back on the Defense. But that is the issue. Maybe Licht is going to go all out on Defense in the draft. In any case, If its not addressed, Brady is gonna have to outscore all of his opponents and thats not happening in this league. Our Defense was average at best last year. Might get even worse if Licht does not pull off a few spin moves.
April 11th, 2022 at 10:42 am
The Bucs were one defensive series from going to the NFC Championship last year, and I have no doubt they could’ve beaten the 49ers to advance to the SB. So standing pat is not a negative move. In fact, in light of the tight salary CAP, standing pat is quite an accomplishment. Thank you TB12!
April 11th, 2022 at 11:12 am
The unnamed source is spewing conjecture because whoever it is can’t hang with the Jason Lichts of the world. So he babbles for a living. So he calls the roster stale. A less injured Bucs team likely plays the Bengals in the SB. They Won 13+1 games.
Another pencil neck maroon.
April 11th, 2022 at 11:16 am
Way premature to even speculate you don’t know what else you need to after the draft because as you stated signing do happen after the draft so until that happens it’s meanless to speculate now. Running out of material to write and talk about it seems this season needs to hurry up and start. Go bucs
April 11th, 2022 at 11:22 am
Rather have Travis Jones or Devonte Wyatt than Jordan Davis. Davis is great but a part time player.
April 11th, 2022 at 11:31 am
Its a winning off season even if they don’t resign Suh or Gronk. But my inner feeling says they do. That would be the icing on the cake.
April 11th, 2022 at 11:35 am
This is hogwash… There was way less change last year and everyone called Licht a magician for bringing back all 22+1. This year he’s done a remarkable job replacing some lost talent with fresh new talent. The trade with NE and the signing of Gage are big time moves for now AND the future. Vets added at safety and the re-signing of Godwin and Lenny rounds out another fabulous off-season by Licht. Stale roster?! I think not.
April 11th, 2022 at 12:30 pm
Proud – your Don Brady take is awful and boring. Find another take or haul a$$ Pats fan.
April 11th, 2022 at 1:02 pm
No… they haven’t done enough – but the off season is quite over yet.
We still have some Draft selections to make. Here’s to hoping they fill a DT, CB and OG position with something more than just depth. We need some starters.
April 11th, 2022 at 1:46 pm
I’D COUNTER “STALE” WITH …
Proven experience.
This team has had a lot of success. Familiarity with your teammates, scheme, habits, etc can be a major advantage against freshly assembled teams.
April 11th, 2022 at 3:32 pm
Let’s see what a healthy Gio can bring, another year of experience for “sneak”, lockerroom leadership from Gage, Logan, a healthy Neal (in Bowles defense) and Mason is likely nota step back and neither is Stinnie from Cappa. SMB/Dean/Edwards playing in contract years – how would you call it stale when you have had a taste of freshness.
April 11th, 2022 at 4:35 pm
If it was known before Brady’s return announcement and the start of free agency that the Bucs would be signing Jensen, Godwin, Davis and Fournette – all to long term, fair-market deals. That alone would have seemed virtually “impossible”.
The talk prior to the start of free agency was that MAYBE we could keep 2 of 3 among Jensen, Godwin and Davis – and that playoff Lenny was as good as gone.
But the Buccaneers instead wound up guaranteeing $108 MILLION to those 4 very good players and control their right for 3 more years….
They also paid $10M per year for 3 years to acquire a high quality 3rd receiver. Thats over $46M per year for #s 1,2 and 3 receivers….
Then they let Cappa chase the $ in free agency and actually upgraded his RG spot for less money than Cappa received – by snagging Shaq Mason from the Pats for a near-worthless 5th rd pick…..
AND they let Whitehead go to the Jets (sorry Jordan) who paid him $7.5M – and the Bucs then brought in TWO pretty good and experienced safeties for less than 1/3 combined of what gang green paid Whitehead.
Also shored up some depth on the OLine by signing the Bengals Tackle to an inexpensive deal. Along with re-signing Stinnie and Wells.
Additional quality depth re-signings for DL (Gholston), WR (Perriman) and RB (Gio Bernard).
Getting Gronk and Suh back into the fold for 1 more year at about $10M each seems likely if not inevitable.
Bucs are pushing many TENS of MILLIONS down the road and have made a # of seemingly good decisions in order to have the most competitive team possible in 2022.
But apparently the Bucs haven’t done enough…. All they’ve done is sign a 3rd WR according to this clown masquerading as an “unknown source”…. LOL
April 11th, 2022 at 10:27 pm
Making excuses for losing is lame, so this is just in response to whatever exec Sando got his quote from. What’s the hell is wrong with running it back times two? The first time ended with us kicking kc’s butt in the superbowl and the second time was a last second loss to a good Rams team while missing some damn good players from our team due to injury or sheer stupidity. I don’t see what the issue is and I hope that we play this exec’s team this year. 😉
April 12th, 2022 at 2:55 am
The Bucs will be in better shape without their bad luck regarding injuries during the season. Or is anyone here who thinks we would have lost to the Rams with Tristan and Chris??