Not Much Depth
July 7th, 2023
Bucs can’t afford many injuries.
If the Bucs make a postseason run and perhaps win the division, it appears luck will need to be on their side.
And Joe isn’t referring to the bounce of the ball.
Each and every year, teams get banged up. Some worse than others. Normally, the teams that go far in the playoffs have mostly avoided the injury bug.
No matter what NFL strongman Roger Goodell and his gang of attorneys believe and want, football is a physical game. Injuries happen every week.
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com doesn’t like the Bucs’ depth. Too many injuries may implode the team, he believes.
The receiver situation is typical of this roster. There are still plenty of solid veteran starters with championship rings here, but the lack of quality draft picks over the last few years has depleted the depth throughout.
Joe will maintain the Bucs have depth on defense, but Rosenthal is correct in that the offense has virtually none outside of the offensive line.
Receivers? Unless Trey Palmer or one of the undrafted free agents steps up quickly, there is no depth given how often teams use three receivers. Russell Gage hasn’t proven he can stay healthy.
Running back? What depth? Quarterback? Nah-ah-ah.
So Joe thinks Rosenthal is on to something here, at least on offense. The Bucs, if they are serious about chasing a playoff spot, cannot afford many injuries that side of the ball.
July 7th, 2023 at 4:28 am
Depth on offense?!?
Our starters accross the board have huge questionmarks Joe! So the real question is how big is the gap between our starters and our back-ups.
O-line I think we are fine.
RB We don’t have a clue Due to inept Leftnut and No O-line last year. But Vaughn can play I think. behind Vaughn is a JAG and rookie who can’t practice.
Tight end If we can get Durham going we look ok.
WR Who is number 3 and 4? Gage? not counting on it. Palmer, Warner Gieger,Thompkins? Big trouble.
So WR looks to be the weak spot depth wise to me.
Go Bucs!
July 7th, 2023 at 5:53 am
I wish the WR was typical of this roster. I get the lack of known commodities after the starters but I wish the the all positions depth had the young talent that the WRs appear to have. It’s gonna be tough to cut loose some of these guys. Especially if the play as well when the pads go on.
Warner, Jarrett, Palmer, Geiger plus the 4 from last year (ME, CG, Gage and Thompkins) already gets you to 6 plus 2 practice squad players.
July 7th, 2023 at 6:15 am
I would of cut Gage a long time ago.
July 7th, 2023 at 6:45 am
I never saw a problem with Perriman, is he still out there?
July 7th, 2023 at 6:58 am
Kareem Hunt please.
July 7th, 2023 at 7:11 am
Bucs have the same depth problem as every other team in the league. Any team that loses a top player won’t get the same production from the backup. That’s why they’re backups, and not starters. If the Dolphins lose Hill, his backup isn’t coming in and playing like him. Any team that has to rely on backup players isn’t going anywhere, not just the Bucs.
July 7th, 2023 at 7:15 am
Perrinan signed with the Colts. He won’t be missed.
July 7th, 2023 at 7:39 am
We actually have a LOT of depth on the O line, probably 8 people there who could start
July 7th, 2023 at 7:43 am
Hodad, I disagree a few years ago we had Godwin Evans and Brown, plus Miller and if they went down we had Gronk to catch the ball also.
July 7th, 2023 at 8:03 am
‘Joe will maintain the Bucs have depth on defense, but Rosenthal is correct in that the offense has virtually none outside of the offensive line.’
Excellent article Joe, but I’m not convinced we’re any better off DEPTH-WISE on defense than we are on offense. Depth behind our presumed starters (Davis, Dean, Winfield, Neal) is iffy (Delaney, McCollum & a few others of minimal experience). Depth behind our starters at ILB (LVD, White) is also very inexperienced & weren’t exactly high draft picks. And our DLine depth (guys like Senat, O’Connor?) aren’t exactly household names. We’d better hope our starters stay healthy.
July 7th, 2023 at 8:09 am
We have a 7 new faces and 2 carry overs from last season in Thompkins & Geiger. David Moore will probably make some noise in camp and folks will be woken to his presence on the roster, dude can ball. Rakim Jarrett sounds to have been consistent from rookie camp to mini-camp. Trey Palmer I like, but I’m more interested in this kid Ryan Miller out of Furman as I think Palmer makes the team. Taye Barber is also somehwere in the mix
Fact is, all our guys not named Russell, Chris, or Mike are all vying for 4th & 5th WR spots and maybe some time splitting reps with Gage making WR3 a revolving door depending on the personnel package. Luckily for us, we won’t have to worry about signing past-prime vets like Julio Jones or waste a roster spot on oft-injured players like Perriman.
Not to mention, we’ve got a ton of youth in the TE room and even there UDFA Tanner Tuala has been making some noise pushing for a spot. Some of the names mentioned might be destined for the practice squad and you never know when we’ll have to tap into their talents if some don’t make the final 53.
July 7th, 2023 at 8:44 am
George R, when we lost AB to mental problems, we lost any chance of getting to the superbowl. He was a HOF talent that couldn’t be replaced. Yeah we had other good players, but we lost his production, and in turn made it more difficult on our other guys. Gronk, Evans Godwin are easier to defend without having to worry about AB. Firmly believe we get two rings if AB stayed with us, and focused. You just can’t replace talent like that.
July 7th, 2023 at 9:01 am
Our depth is with our dead cap…….along with Devin White’s new contract, top tier QB…..among other things.
July 7th, 2023 at 12:35 pm
Luck is always required for a serious SB run, no matter the team.
ALWAYS.
July 7th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
I agree with Hodad: Brown’s mental illness cost the Bucs a back-to-back SB in 2021/2022. His mental normality in 2020/2021 got the Bucs a SB.
I do not think the Bucs win a SB in 2021 without Brown.
July 7th, 2023 at 12:41 pm
Unfortunate but true.
The Bucs roster is thin this year. Fingers crossed Baker-Trask can emerge so we can start building depth next year.
July 7th, 2023 at 1:16 pm
Honestly I think DT is our biggest strength. Vea gains kancey and hall. Questions marks with hall and kancey too lot of hype for kancey and I hope people are right that he’s the next A.D99 but hope in football is bad. I also hope lol hall has a better year than his rookie. If he does JTS and kancey and gains is the real deal our dline will be wrecking havoc but there’s a lot of IFs and HOPES in there
July 7th, 2023 at 2:28 pm
Runningback depth is nonsense. You can get a RB off the waiver wire and have them star in the SB. People worried about the RB position … it’s not 1982 anymore, you can find them anywhere.
WR, however, that’s a different story and with the Bucs history of injuries at WR, that could be a huge stumbling block. Hopefully Gage is healthy – his injury history before he came here is solid and there’s no reason to think he’ll continue to be injury plagued when that has never been an issue previously.
Offensive line depth I think is fine, as some of the young guys now have experience and I think they’re going to be OK – not great, but I think they can be slightly above average.
TE I think is fine, nothing special, but I don’t think it will hurt the team.
Quarterback, as always, is the issue. You have a terrible starter and a backup with no experience who hasn’t done anything with limited snaps.
On defensive, they’re solid on the d-line, but they have zero depth at ILB, also the corner depth is bad, and safety depth is bad.
So yeah, the Bucs will need most everyone to stay healthy, but much more importantly, they’ll need good QB play, and I think it’s more likely all the starters stay healthy for all 17-games than you get good QB play.
July 7th, 2023 at 2:52 pm
Think about Vea and Gaines missing the same game, heaven forbid multiple games….
We are paper thin all over the roster except interior OLine
Look at the depth chart at Safety as an example…one play from street FA or undrafted rookie starting at both spots
We better start fast as once the hurt of the season sets in we will likely go on a 5-7 game losing streak….
July 8th, 2023 at 8:21 am
Depth has to be the thing that keeps GMs up at night. Its all about how you draft. Depth is lower draft picks being solid players before their rookie contracts are done. Then its “Are they depth or a starter?” Because players who were solid during their rookie contracts will want more money, so the CAP dictates who you can keep. Who do you keep and who do you let go and fill with another draft pick?