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NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM 620, will host another live chat to take on everything you got when it comes to next week’s long-awaited draft.
The fun has kicked off now for subscribers to the JoeBucsFan.com draft coverage.
Then Joe will open it up to everyone about 8:30 p..m. YOU WILL HAVE TO REFRESH YOUR BROWSER. …See you then.
It’s pretty clear, though not yet etched in stone, that the Bucs will have a shot at defensive tackle Gerald McCoy Thursday night, and may have an outside chance to get manbeast defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.
McCoy appears to be the safe bet, but do the Bucs really want McCoy? For obvious reasons, general manager Mark Dominik is guarding this information as a state secret, as he shouldl. eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, posting on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed, believes if Dominik really wants Suh, Dominik will have to make a bold move.
If the Bucs really want Suh, they have to trade up with the Lions. If it cost me a third-rounder to move up, I’d have to consider it.
The trick here is, how much does Detroit want Suh, if at all? Perhaps they covet offensive tackle Russell Okung more than Suh? If that is the case, maybe the second overall pick can be had without too much bleeding.
If Dominik really wants Suh, he may have to make a deal with the Rams. Clearly Detroit isn’t going to trade for a quarterback nor will the Bucs. Sam Bradford will still be there at three.
How much that would cost the Bucs to trade with the Rams, who knows? And would Dominik be willing to pull the trigger on such a deal?
This is the week that may make or break Mark Dominik as an NFL general manager. The draft is just four days away. It’s what Dominik has been preparing for since he was named the Bucs general manager 15 months ago.
Veteran Tampa Bay area scribe Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times notes how Dominik’s career fork in the road is fast approaching.
This is the week Dominik defines the family name. He either makes it sound like royalty, like one of those names that rolls pleasantly off the tongue, or he changes the pronunciation of it into something that sounds like a curse word. This week, he fashions the family crest. This week, he writes his own Wikipedia page.
This week, Dominik either turns around a franchise or he might as well turn around and leave.
Oh, and Mark?
No pressure, dude.
In roughly four years, it will be fair to judge Dominik’s prowess this week selecting players. This week may make him either the next Ernie Accorsi or the next Vinny Cerrato. This week could either be Dominik’s Chester Nimitz’s Midway moment or it could be Dominik’s George McClellan’s Special Order 191 Antietam moment.
Joe has already written about how dangerous it is to put the proverbial all eggs in the basket, banking on one draft to turn a franchise around. Joe won’t even bring up not swapping a throwaway fifth round pick for Santonio Holmes who could do wonders for a positively woeful receiving corps.
Banking on this draft to ressurect the Bucs is the football equivilent of loading the bases for Albert Pujols with two outs.
Pujols could ground out. Just as easily, he could hit a grand slam.
That’s what Dominik has done. He’s walked the bases loaded.
Since horny sleazebag/alleged serial molester Ben Roethlisberger first got popped for being way too handsy with women, including walking around with his member hanging out, Joe has hoped/prayed the Steelers may want Bucs backup quarterback Byron Leftwich for wide receiver Limas Sweed.
Remember that Leftwich two years ago came off the Steelers’ bench and led the soon-to-be Super Bowl champions to a win over the Redskins at FedEx Field in Washington. It was a critical victory with while Roethlisberger was injured.
In light of his recent women problems, including borderline entrapment in bathrooms, horny molester Roethlisberger’s future is, at best, uncertain. Joe had hoped the Bucs would be able to land fleet-footed Sweed since he is in Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s doghouse, and the Bucs’ wide receiver corps is seemingly worse than Georgia Tech’s.
When the Bucs decided to pass on sending a measly fifth round pick to Pittsburgh for stud wide receiver Santonio Holmes, Joe figured the Bucs weren’t going to even attempt to upgrade the wide receiver position outside of the draft.
Vacation Man, of BSPN.com, believes the Bucs may still be able to swing a Leftwich-to-Pittsburgh deal.
Jacob (Michigan)
Any more word about a possible trading of Leftwich to the Steelers?Vacation Man
Haven’t heard anything lately, but I think you could see something right before, during or right after the draft.
Please, please, please let it be Sweed. Holmes would have been a much better deal but Sweed is better than nothing.
Will Bucs scouting director Dennis Hickey be able to redeem himself under Mark Dominik?
Joe reads this virtually every day and hears it a lot on local sports radio and it’s a fair question:
“Just how can things change if the same guys are in the Bucs front office who were responsible for the bad Dexter Jackson?”
It’s a fair question, but not quite accurate. Last month, Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune spoke at length about this during a segment of the JoeBucsFan.com Radio Network. Recently, he put fingers to the keyboard to type out what he told Joe.
While Bucs general manager Mark Dominik and scouting director are Bucs front office veterans, much has changed under them.
In fact, of the seven men who made up the Bucs’ college scouting staff in 2004, which was Allen’s first year as general manager, only three remain. That staff also is bigger now, having grown from seven members to 10.
And of the 10 college scouts who have spent the past year preparing reports for this year’s draft, three are just now finishing up their first year with the team.
The only members of the staff still around from the 2004 draft are regional scouts Frank Dorazio and Seth Turner and scouting director Dennis Hickey. But their approach to the job has been altered dramatically.
Dominik went on to explain to Cummings that much has changed in how information is gathered, studied and broken down.
In fact, one of Raheem the Dream’s first duties once the 2009 regular season was over was for to evaluate tape of potential Bucs draft choices with his staff. That was not done in previous years.
This only makes sense. The guys who will be coaching the players should have a say in the evaluation of the players. What was Chucky doing, ogling over tape of Brett Favre?
What's going to make Charlie Weis jump for joy, with or without a manzere?
Still plenty of time to soak up and savor the 50 or so subscription NFL Draft posts here on JoeBucsFan.com.
Today, it’s all things Chiefs in the daily countdown, a in-depth look at every NFL team and their likely draft strategies.
Expect NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowski to go long and deep into the Buccaneers on Tuesday. And Pawlowski’s safties and cornerbacks breakdowns will be here in a matter of hours, plus the final double mock draft is on the way. And more!
Oh, and don’t forget the live chat on Sunday night at 8 p.m.
For now, enjoy all things Chiefs. {+++}
[audio:chiefsdraft.mp3]
In a poll of most popular Tampa Bay area athletes, Ronde Barber was the highest rated Bucs player at No. 4.
There is no question the Tampa Bay region is a football area.
Those that loathe football but choose to live in the area endure a virtual prison sentence from July through January each year, which may explain why yentas tolerate Bay Sludge 9.
So it was somewhat shocking to Joe to read Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times (apparently taking a break from watching DVR’ed episodes of that weekly wretched BSPN Mike Lupica abortion of a show, a production that Jones clearly is addicted to since he regularly references it in his non-interactive blog postings) write about the most popular local athlete in the Tampa Bay area.
Seems the high priests of the Politburo of the Poynter Paper decided to run a poll of who the most popular Tampa Bay area athlete is.
It was not surprising to Joe that Dirtbag himself, Evan Longoria, is the most popular local athlete. Joe has heard from many first-hand accounts that the Rays all-star slugging third baseman is well-familiar with virtually every watering hole on north Fourth Street in St. Petersburg in addition to many trendy hotspots in Tampa where attractive, nubile young lasses tend to gather and cavort.
All the things Joe has heard about Dirtbag, none have been negative. The guy is enjoying the fruits that come with being a stud athlete for a winning team. Dirtbag’s always ready to flash a smile, offer a warm handshake and thank his fans for following the Rays.
And of course, the ladies love Dirtbag. Dude is living a charmed life and Dirtbag seems to appreciate that. Joe is jealous.
Back to the most popular local athletes. Of the list that Jones documents, only two in the top ten are Bucs players and Ronde Barber is the highest listed at No. 4.
4. Ronde Barber
124 votes, 11 percent
Of all the stars on the Bucs’ Super Bowl team (and the good teams leading up to the championship), Barber is the lone holdover. These days, as the Bucs try to rebuild, Barber remains the voice and face of the team, it’s most recognizable player. Perhaps if the Bucs were better, Barber would rate higher on the list. It shows just how well-liked Barber is to finish fourth despite being on a team that isn’t particularly well-liked at the moment.
Wow! Let’s think about this for a moment: This is a football mad area. Rays “fans” are more whiners than fans. “I can’t drive 20 minutes to a game. It’s too fahr!”
As the great Artie Lange would say, “WAH!”
Bolts fans are, well, sort of bandwagon. At least they don’t ever whine about driving to a game, Joe’s gotta tip his Caybrew-stained cap to them for that.
The fact we live in a football-crazed area and the Bucs only have two players crack the top ten in most popular athletes (Josh Freeman is No. 10) is yet another example of how far the Bucs have sunk in the eyes of the community.
Could it be that, when the Bucs kicked Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn (and perhaps, Chucky as well?) to the curb last year, that fans took those moves as a collective kick to the mouth and thus tuned the Bucs out?
Nebraska defensive tackle manbeast Ndamukong Suh, who many Bucs fans pray will be the newest Buccaneers defender, is finished visiting teams, coaches and front office executives and is now in New York in the days leading up to next week’s NFL draft.
Apparently, with a bear of an appetite to nurse, Suh dropped in on the famous Carnegie Deli to have a sandwich. A healthy sandwich. A club sandwich.
What he received moved him to describe the sandwich on his Twitter account and to have his picture taken.
Check out this club sandwich at i got in Carnegie deli in new york
Now that’s a freaking sandwich. Damned thing is almost as big as his head.
Joe always thought a club sandwich was supposed to be somewhat healthy. That thing looks like it has half a turkey on it.
Compared to how he devoured Texas offensive linemen as well as quarterback Colt McCoy last year in the Big XII championship game, Joe suspects this club sandwich pictured above is just an appetizer for Suh.
Joe watched this “sights and sounds” video of the Bucs recent offseason workouts several times to try and catch a glimpse of Arron Sears.
No luck.
A few freeze frames revealed an overweight-looking gentleman to be Dre Moore, not Sears. (Yes, Joe needs a woman to occupy his time).
But the blocking icon Michael Clayton sure seemed to have captured the eye of the Buccaneers.com videographer. Clayton is shown grimacing, grinding and getting after it in drills.
He’s impressing again in shorts and a t-shirt — not pads.
Go get’em, Mike.
Though Joe surely wouldn’t wager on it happening, Joe wouldn’t be completely stunned if the Bucs drafted super safety Eric Berry out of Tennessee with their No. 3 overall pick, or traded down to grab him and snatched another pick in the process.
Defensive backs guru Raheem The Dream probably soothes himself at night just by the thought of drafting Berry.
If Joe were betting, he’d cautiously lay a $20 bill on Berry being Raheem The Dream’s preferred pick, which is one reason Joe gives it a slim chance of happening.
Of course, the Bucs could use Berry (insert goat noise). And if they have him rated extraordinarily high, he’s probably as close to a can’t-miss pick as they could make.
Probably wearing knickers and a beret, and fresh off the Outback Pro-Am golf course in Lutz, Ronde Barber spoke with Joe Smith, of the St. Pete Times, about the draft on Friday. And Mr. Barber all but gave Mark Dominik the green light to draft Berry.
And while Barber didn’t reference Tennessee safety Eric Berry by name, he said teams shouldn’t rule out any specific position with their top picks. “Good players are good players,” Barber said. “If you find Ed Reed at No. 3, take him. Just because he’s a safety, doesn’t mean you wait until after the top-10 picks because it’s a safety.”
But Barber, a former third-round pick (in 1997) out of Virginia, said what also could make this draft for the Bucs is the middle-round guys.
“You have 11 picks, you build your team, like (GM) Mark (Dominik) says, from the bottom up,” Barber said. “Not always your first rounder, the guys that make up the bulk of the rosters are in rounds 3-4-5, maybe some of the free agents that nobody’s really paying attention to. With the number of picks we have, we need to find those guys this year and we need them to contribute.”
Joe wonders whether Barber has shared that same Ed Reed line with Raheem The Dream, or whether the head coach told it to him.
Justin Pawlowski is disgusted Mark Dominik didn't pick up Ted Ginn for a fifth round pick.
Earlier this week, Joe was incredulous that Bucs general manager Mark Domink wouldn’t ship a fifth round pick to the Steelers for wide receiver Santonio Holmes. Joe has wrestled with that (non) move each night since, as if he has a bout of a irritable bowel syndrome.
Joe has documented what a miserable history the Bucs have with fifth round picks and thought such a trade to be a no-brainer, even when factoring in Holmes’ offfield mishaps.
Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski — who you can enjoy later today on WDAE-AM 620 from 1-3 p.m. with another addition of his world reknown “The Blitz” — also was irritated by the Bucs not getting Holmes. But Pawlowski saved his disgust for last night on his blog when the Bucs didn’t want Miami wide receiver Ted Ginn for a fifth round pick.
Ginn was traded to the 49ers for a fifth round pick Friday.
First off, all I could do was shake my head when I heard this and wonder why, once again, the Bucs did not get a receiver. I, by no means, think that Ginn is anywhere close to being a great receiver, but what the hell? Honestly, I can’t wait to see the Bucs secret weapon of a 5th round draft pick. Good God! At least Ginn Jr. gives you speed on offense, which you don’t have. He’s also a threat as a punt and kick returner. I’m telling you, after passing on both Santonio Holmes and Ted Ginn Jr. (both had for 5th round picks) the most anticipated pick for the Bucs in this year’s draft will be their 5th round pick.
Joe isn’t enamoured with Ginn and there really is no need on the Bucs for a return man. A Dolfan friend of Joe’s once told Joe that Ginn was “the Michael Clayton of Miami.” But Joe sees where Justin is coming from and, in general, agrees.
This fifth round pick better be damned close to Superman. Joe won’t forget. This fall Joe will run a weekly comparison between this unknown stud of a fifth round pick for the Bucs, and Holmes… provided said fifth round pick even makes the Bucs roster.
If said stud does make the roster, Joe is willing to bet a six-pack of cold Caybrew that Holmes will have a much greater impact for the Jets in 12 games than said fifth round stud will have in 16 games.
Earlier this week Dominik noted how his job was on the line with this draft. Something tells Joe that, in essence, drafting Holmes with a fifth round pick would have gone a long way to keeping Dominik in his current position for years to come.
Chucky asks Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen why he threw an interception. Chucky didn’t like Clausen’s answer and chewed his rear end out.
Joe’s read all the various quotes and reports that came out of Mark Dominik talking to the MSM yesterday. And Joe heard Dominik on the air with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig.
There wasn’t much that moved Joe, outside of Dominik admitting his Bucs future is on the line with the upcoming draft. And, of course, Dominik didn’t reveal a whole hell of a lot.
But Joe was intrigued by a couple of things.
First, Dominik mentioned several times that he had 12 months to prepare for the draft. Joe can only imagine how much better prepared the Bucs are this season than last.
Aside from being thrown into the GM job in mid-January, back then Dominik was probably devoting far too much of his football brain and astute preparation skills into hiring Jeff Jagodzinski and Jim Bates.
Second, Dominik says he’s ready for the draft right now and has played out loads of possible scenarios. Joe feels a little uncomfortable by this kind of overconfidence.
Maybe it’s just a show for the media, but Joe would feel better if Dominik was talking about working 24/7 to leave no stone unturned before the draft, especially with the draft being a full week away.
Perhaps Joe’s just too hypersensitive because he’s riddled with angst about the Bucs’ receiving corps and their draft history to feel as good as Dominik.
"So who do you like for 2011, Jonny?"
Eric Berry?
Quarterback?
Defensive end?
The Browns are an interesting study in today’s daily draft countdown from NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM.
Still to come this week for subscribers to the JoeBucsFan.com draft coverage, Pawlowski rolls out position breakdowns of safties and cornerbacks, plus a Sunday live draft chat.
For now, it’s all things Browns.
Enjoy. {+++}
[audio:brownsdraft.mp3]
"I'm wondering, if my draft bombs next week, if Pawlowski would want to do a radio show with me?"
Joe has mentioned the following before, that the Bucs — specifically general manager Mark Dominik — have put so much emphasis in next week’s draft, that they have painted themselves into a corner.
If any of the first three picks next week turn out to be the bad Dexter Jackson-like flops, Dominik might want to start checking local high schools to see if there are any openings for an athletic director.
It appears even Dominik senses this. Speaking to Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune yesterday, Dominik spoke of how his job security may ride on what triggers he pulls next week.
Having staked the foreseeable future largely on how his team of talent evaluators performs, Dominik said he thinks he will face dire consequences should the Bucs fail to select successfully.
“If this draft class doesn’t succeed, I probably don’t either,” Dominik said Thursday.
Interesting statement from Dominik. More intriguing is that this is not the first time he’s talked about his job security.
Last fall, while appearing on “Movin’ the Chains” on Sirius NFL Radio with co-hosts Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan, Dominik admitted he thought he was out of a job when Bruce Almighty fell on his sword last year, refusing to follow Team Glazers’ orders to fire Chucky. Dominik noted how Bruce Almighty had trained him to be his right hand man.
During the same appearance, Dominik also confessed he was taking a huge “gamble” on re-signing blocking icon Micheal Clayton.
Could it be that Dominik’s decisions in the past year, many being costly swings and misses, have already resulted in a Come-to-Moses meeting with Team Glazer?
Even if Joel Glazer’s recent vote of confidence of Dominik was sincere, as many have pointed out, putting all your eggs in one basket (draft) is dangerous.
That’s why Joe still tosses and turns at night in disbelief Dominik wouldn’t send a fifth round pick for Santonio Holmes.
Here’s to hoping that Dominik putting all his chips into this draft is a far more successful gamble than the wager he placed on blocking icon Clayton.
"Pour the last beer at 8:39 p.m. and get these people outta here."
Joe was very surprised to learn that the Buccaneers official draft party on Thursday at Raymond James Stadium ends at 9 p.m.
Huh?
Did somebody (Mark Dominik) tell somebody (Team Glazer) who told the event staff that the Bucs weren’t trading down, or trading up to grab an additional first round pick, so they could save on payroll stop the party at 9?
By 9 p.m., only the first nine or 10 picks of the first round will have been made.
How does an experienced organization like the Bucs close the doors on a draft party just nine picks into the first round?
First of all, that’s completely uncool for those who like to enjoy the draft with a few cold beers. And surely, the Bucs might just trade down out of the No. 3 overall pick and still be on the clock long after 9 p.m.
Somebody must know something.
The buzz of the day around the NFL is that sleazebag Ben Roethlisberger might be traded before the draft. And Joe is too curious what Bucs fans might think of Tampa Bay trading Josh Freeman to the Steelers for the 28-year-old, two-time Super Bowl winner.
Mike Florio, creator, curator and overall guru at ProFootballTalk.com, reports the Steelers might trade Bathroom Ben for as little as a first-round pick. Of course, the Steelers would then need a quarterback.
So Joe can’t help but wonder whether Mark Dominik would entertain offering Freeman straight up for Roethlisberger. Surely, it would represent an upgrade at the position for the Bucs. And considering Roethlisberger has six years left on his contract, Team Glazer couldn’t say Dominik was only thinking short term.
Joe would have to think the Steelers would give the offer serious consideration, as Freeman is first-round caliber, works hard and seems to prefer traditional encounters with women. Plus, they’d get him out of their conference to a team with low-grade receivers.
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy enters Chucky’s bunker and gets an earful from the former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach.
It appears Chucky doesn’t like Texans.
Who else would one expect Bucs general manager Mark Dominik to speak to live than the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620?
Dominik is scheduled to talk to “The Big Dog” at 5:30 p.m. today to discuss the upcoming Bucs’ draft next week in addition to other general Bucs news.
Savvy sports radio fans can tune in to “The Big Dog” weekdays from 3-7 p.m. A live feed of the audio stream can be found on the WDAE Web site here.
"If I can give Holmgren enough inside information, he'll hire me next year so I won't have to smell Jaws' bad breath any longer."
Joe has discussed before the too-cozy relationships between BSPN talking heads and fellow or potential clients — Trent Dilfer specifically. To suggest these relationships don’t taint the BSPN taking heads’ opinions is naive.
The lines aren’t just blurred, they are obliterated.
As Joe had a hunch, as did others, it seems that Chucky — yet another BSPN talking head — is working undercover for his former boss and current head honcho of the Cleveland Browns, Mike Holmgren.
BSPN is running a really cool series in which Chucky spends a day with many of the top quarterbacks in the draft. Chucky works them out, has them break down plays, etc. It’s good fodder for BSPN.
It also could be a major conflict of interest.
Speaking today on “The Blitz” heard exclusively on Sirius NFL Radio, Rich Gannon, co-hosting with Ross Tucker, explained that Chucky and Holmgren talk “all the time” and referenced how Chucky is getting some really good insight into each of the top quarterbacks in the draft from the sessions BSPN is taping.
Joe knows that not only is Gannon, who played for Chucky in Oakland, a Chucky confidant who comes to Tampa often to brainstorm with Chucky in his bunker at the Ice Palace, but Gannon is also a Chucky acolyte. The fact Gannon mentioned this on national radio means to Joe it’s not empty talk.
Joe is not privy to how often or how much NFL executives are allowed to work out individual players, though Joe does know there is some form of time constraint. What Joe would like to know is if Holmgren is gaining an unfair advantage by tapping into Chucky’s insight — all while working on BSPN’S dime — with these quarterbacks that other NFL teams may not have?
Oh, and don’t forget that Chucky’s contract with BSPN runs out after the 2010 season. Might he also be angling to get a gig with Holmgren?
This is just another example that when listening to a BSPN analyst, i.e. a former player or coach, it’s best to keep in mind who he knows and his circle of both friends and business associates and process that information accordingly.
Oh, and here’s an interesting tidbit: Cleveland general manager Tom Heckert has admitted talking to the Rams about obtaining the No. 1 overall pick in order to draft Sam Bradford.
By STEVE WHITEBelow is White’s weekly Bull Rush column that breaks down all things defense with a focus on the defensive line. It’s simply a can’t-miss read for the hardcore Bucs fan.
With the 2009 season over, White has broken down every Bucs defensive lineman and is now sharing various takes on offseason preparation.
Today, White goes deep into a newer trend in the NFL of flip-flopping defensive ends to either side of the line, and how that trend has impacted the Bucs.
When you remember Reggie White, Bruce Smith, Chris Doleman or Michael Strahan sacking the quarterback, which side of the line do you imagine them coming from?
I ask because those guys are the top four defensive ends on the all time sacks list. I also ask because all four guys played the overwhelming majority of their careers on one side.
White and Strahan are always remembered as dominant left ends while Smith and Doleman are always remembered as dominant right ends. From almost time immemorial, the greatest defensive ends in the game picked one side and stuck to it for most of their career. But in recent years that trend has started to change.
One of the most significant moves from one side to the other was, of course, when the Carolina Panthers moved their standout defensive end Julius Peppers from left end to right end when their starter at right end, Mike Rucker, retired in 2008.
Peppers who had just 2.5 sacks in the preceding season ended up with 25 sacks over the course of the next two seasons playing primarily from the right end.
However, for all of Peppers’ production, there was still a stigma attached to him that his play was inconsistent. Several sports pundits and even a teammate of his questioned his commitment to the game even though in eight seasons he averaged just a bit over 10 sacks a season. As a matter of fact, a curious thing happened this past season just after his teammate, Jon Beason, called him out for not being as “intense” as he would like, which not many people in the sports media picked up on.
Peppers started lining up at left end a lot more. Peppers only had one sack at the time that Beason called him out so to speak, yet after spending more time rushing from the left side the rest of the year he ended up yet again posting double digit sacks with 10.5. That leads me to the question. …
Is it better to move defensive ends around nowadays as many teams are doing, or should they stick to what has always worked and keep them on the side they are most comfortable on?
Obviously, my own experience colors this conversation. In college I only played left end very briefly early in my career. After I started playing right end, I found my comfort zone.
For most of my NFL career I was a right end, but as a backup I had to be able to play both. And I can tell you that it’s not an easy matter. Not only do you have to be able to mimic your movements in reverse, you also have different challenges depending upon what side you line up on.
Switching Likely Hurt Gaines Adams
As a right end, you have a lot more freedom to make pass rush moves without as much regard for keeping containment. As a left end facing predominantly right handed quarterbacks, if you lose containment on the rush you could end up costing the whole defense and, thus the team, dearly.
My one year playing with the Jets our defense called for the ends to line up according to formation from play to play. So one down you might be on the left side and the next you might be on the right side. I have to say that at times it was the most frustrating season of my career because I never felt like I could get into a groove rushing either tackle.
This question has come up for me for two reasons. The first one being that the Bucs were toying with the idea of signing Alex Brown who has played right end all of his career, ostensibly to play left end for us. Brown ended up signing with the Saints also to play left end, so the question still remains.
The other reason is because I truly believe that the Buccaneers likely hindered Gaines Adams’ development by flipping him to left end in definite passing situations. I realize that he played left end in college but once they made him a right end with the Bucs, in my opinion, that’s what he should have played. It’s hard to go against an offensive tackle for two downs and set him up for a move only to end up rushing from the other tackle on third down who up until that point you haven’t seen before.
And it doesn’t really get any better because you only get to see one tackle occasionally, while you play the other guy down after down wearing him down only to have the opportunity to burn him taken away.
From Waltz To Salsa
You see, pass rushing is like this complicated dance where you work move after move in hopes of getting to the quarterback. You work one move and based on the outcome you decide whether to work the same move or a different move the next time. You try to keep the Offensive lineman guessing. So when the game is on the line and you have to come home, he has no clue what you are about to do. Switching sides on every third down is like changing dance partners from a waltz to a salsa and you end up having to make it up almost as you go along.
The Bucs and Saints are obviously not the only teams who believe that shifting their ends around is not a big deal.
This offseason the Jacksonville Jaguars signed an injured Aaron Kampman who had been a left end for most of his career with the Green Bay Packers, to a big contract to play right end for them. At the time of the signing I expressed my skepticism about the move, and I still am not sure it will work out well for them. Kampman was a very effective rusher from the left side but while his power moves were money against right tackles, when dealing with left tackles you are generally going to have to be able to use more finesse. I am definitely not saying that Kampman can’t do it, I’m just pointing out that finesse moves haven’t been a big part of his game so far.
In a bit of irony Kampman himself tried to justify the move by comparing himself to Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowl right end Jared Allen:
A left end at Green Bay, Kampman sees his situation as being similar to that of Jared Allen, who played left end at Kansas City before switching to the right side in Minnesota, where he racked up 14.5 sacks last season.
There was just one problem with that comparison, Jared Allen never played left end.
One thing to consider, as always, is money. Many teams also believe that your big money defensive end has to play on the right side. Obviously, White and Strahan as well as other left ends make that sentiment bogus. Yet still the sentiment persists.
And in all reality, I think the size of Kampman’s contract more than anything else is behind the Jaguars’ decision to move Kampman to the right side.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with that and there are some guys I can point to who flip from one side to the next from play to play and are still productive. John Abraham for the Falcons has done it through out his career and been good at it. Hell, for a while Simeon Rice did it here in Tampa on occasion. But those guys tend to be the exception rather than the rule.
Bucs Were Flip-Floppers In ’09
The conventional wisdom is that the Bucs will select a defensive end in the top four rounds of this draft. With last year’s starter at left end, Jimmy Wilkerson, being injured and also being courted by other teams there is no guarantee that he will be coming back.
For that reason many (not me) believe defensive end is a position of need for the Bucs. But the question I have is will they try to draft a left end who is used to playing the position in college to come in and try to fill that starting role here, or will they go with a guy who played right end in college and try to move him to left end in the pros. I am obviously in the traditionalist camp that believes you draft a left end to play left end, but I’m not sure the Buccaneers feel the same way.
One hint is in the fact that when their right defensive end, Greg (Stylez) White, was injured for a game last year and didn’t start, the Bucs moved Wilkerson over to start in his place and had Tim Crowder start at left end.
It made absolutely no sense to me to move Wilkerson, who was having a pretty productive year at left end, over to the right side when Crowder had been backing up both side since signing with the team. For that matter, Crowder also looked better in my opinion rushing from the right side than from the left side for most of the year. For me, that was proof that whomever made the decision to flip flop Adams on third downs was probably still involved with making defensive line decisions.
It’s impossible to say whether keeping Wilkerson at left end and having Crowder at right end for that game would have changed anything, but I have a strong suspicion that they both would have been more productive.
What I do know for sure is that for the Bucs’defense to play better this year, we are going to have to have a better, more consistent pass rush from our defensive line, especially our defensive ends.
My personal belief is that we can help ourselves with that, if we put guys in the best position for them to be productive, and that means leaving them on one side and letting them do their thing.
Again, this is just one man’s opinion, but I think it has some merit. I keep going back to that list of the all time leaders in sacks and trying to find one true defensive end who put their hand on the ground every play that flipped sides and I just don’t see one. But still, I could be wrong and just slow to catch on to the new trend.
What say you?
