Are Jeremy Trueblood’s Days Numbered?
November 25th, 2010
Joe thought it was interesting that the Bucs’ rushing attack began to pop when there were injuries to the Bucs offensive line, including right tackle Jeremy Trueblood.
Joe also found it more than a little strange when Cadillac Williams sung the praises of Trueblood’s backup James Lee on Sirius NFL Radio, as if Lee was the second coming of Dan Dierdorf.
Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune seems to be sensing the same thing. As we begin the homestretch of the 2010 season, Balog has a hunch these games will be Trueblood’s last weeks as a Bucs starter.
”Anything they say, you just have to take it with a grain of salt, good or bad,” Trueblood said Wednesday. “Just use it and understand where they’re coming from. They’re the coaches, I’m the player. I play when I’m told. I just have to be ready to play whenever they want me to.”
Lee is a low-budget young player earning a minimum salary who has shown over four starts that he can protect quarterback Josh Freeman and block for the run much more cheaply than Trueblood, who is making $1.759 million this season after signing an original draft position tender.
”Effort, consistency, the desire to improve,” said Buccaneers offensive line coach Pete Mangurian, assessing Lee’s play. “He had some penalty problems early. He fixed that. He looks at what he doesn’t do well and he tries to do it better the next week and that’s all you can ask.”
Joe strongly urges his readers to browse through Balog’s story in its entirety. All sorts of good nuggets in there.
If Trueblood left the Bucs, this wouldn’t shock Joe one bit. If Lee can get the job done just as well as Trueblood, for a fraction of the cost, it would be crazy for Team Glazer to cough up the extra dough to keep Trueblood when that same cash could be used to lure a free agent linebacker, for example.
November 25th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Joe, i appreciate you guys working on Thanksgiving. Hope everyone at JBF.COM and all its readers have a safe holiday.
Is Trueblood a FA at the end of this year? If so, how much is he due to make? Would we not keep him for depth?
November 25th, 2010 at 10:50 am
This is off topic, but has anyone seen the giant full page man crush peice on Sanchez over at NFL.com? It’s a collage of Snachez pics with the title “Mr. Clutch” What an effing joke. Made me want to vomit as soon as I saw it. The kids had like 2 4th quater comebacks compared to Freeman’s 800 and now he’s Mr. Clutch? GTFO.
November 25th, 2010 at 10:51 am
On Trueblood, it all depends on how much he thinks he is worth. If he’ll accept a back up role and a back contract, then I’d love to keep him as depth…just not as a starter.
November 25th, 2010 at 11:29 am
JDouble,
I know, right?? I love how the Bucs get bashed for their “easy schedule” (which one could argue doesn’t exist with the amount of parity in the league) but no one’s talking about who the Jets have comeback to beat: Detroit, Cleveland and Houston.
They’ve only beat 1 contender, NE, but that was the second week of the year and they’re divisional foes which any team should be competitive in because of familiarity. The Pats are much improved from the beginning of the season. I don’t see the Jets sweeping Tom Brady. The Jets were shut out by a decimated Green Bay team (that we all know Freeman came back on in his first pro start) and were beat by the Ravens.
Here’s the Jets schedule up to this week:
Baltimore Ravens Baltimore (0-0) L 9 – 10
New England Patriots New England (1-0) W 28 – 14
Miami Dolphins at Miami (2-0) W 31 – 23
Buffalo Bills at Buffalo (0-3) W 38 – 14
Minnesota Vikings Minnesota (1-2) W 29 – 20
Denver Broncos at Denver (2-3) W 24 – 20
Bye
Green Bay Packers Green Bay (4-3) L 0 – 9
Detroit Lions at Detroit (2-5) W 23 – 20
Cleveland Browns at Cleveland (3-5) W 26 – 20
Houston Texans Houston (4-5) W 30 – 27
But you won’t hear anyone ask, “Who have the Jets beat?”
November 25th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Off topic- But happy thanksgiving to all of you! It is an honor to talk about the Bucs with all of you. Much happiness to you all!
November 25th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Yeah if Detroit didn’t let Suh kick the extra point they would have beat the Jets and sanchezstienville, superwoman, hotdog in the huddle, pouting on the sidline university of spoiled children tyedye sissy
November 25th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I hope not…he has been playing on a bad Buc teams from day one….
November 25th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
wait, i thought Jeremy Trueblood played right tackle?
November 25th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Trueblood does play RT-Joe just had a dyslexic moment.
November 25th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
All you ever want- “may the best Man Win!”. I just want the best Right tackle starting. I’m sure that will happen
November 25th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Cut costs and spend in areas that are producing, plain and simple business strategy. Bye Trueblood.