“I Can Play In The Slot Now”
June 12th, 2013
Experience makes a hard-working player more versatile.
And for Mike Williams, that means he might be seen working the middle of the field a bit more this season.
“I can play in the slot now,” Williams told Joe and other reporters after practice today at One Buc Palace.
Williams went on to talk about how much better the returning receivers are in Year 2 of Mike Sullivan’s offense. “We know the offense. We go in there knowing where we break off, knowing what defender we got to, knowing what zone to read. It’s just basically a knowing now, instead of just going out there and reacting to things,” Williams said.
Joe loves hearing all confidence across the New Schiano Order, especially on offense. No excuses/learning curves in 2013.
As for Williams in the slot, Joe’s glad to hear he’s broadened his knowledge. That might cost the Bucs more when Williams’ contract is up after this season. Whether Williams gets much slot work remains to be seen, but Joe would like to see more slant passes thrown his way.
June 12th, 2013 at 1:33 pm
I totally agree on the slant passes. If there is one throw that Josh excels at, besides the fly pattern or bomb, is the slant.
June 12th, 2013 at 1:49 pm
I like it – especially if Underwood wins the #3 WR spot. When they go 3-wide they can just have Mike slide inside and let Underwood stay outside where he can avoid traffic and use his speed to his advantage. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Mike in the slot quite a bit this year.
June 12th, 2013 at 1:53 pm
Mike can be a monster in the slot, even more to be excited about jaja
Woot woot!
June 12th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
I can actually see it too. He’s more quick than fast, and works well in short spaces. Underwood for example is only an outside guy to me. Not that this should be MW’s perm position or anything because that’d be crazy talk, but I think it’d be good to see him in the slot in certain packages and situations..
June 12th, 2013 at 3:45 pm
Slot for MW hopefully is limited, his jumping ability and sideline footwork is suited for outside, he can use positioning but I would hate to see him overly exposed.
June 12th, 2013 at 3:46 pm
I mean his body (head and ribs), trying to catch a JF high pass
June 12th, 2013 at 4:27 pm
Yeah….I can Buy Mike as a slot guy. Not quite Anquan Boldin strength wise but mike is a contorsionist. Freeman’s prognosis has just got an uptick
June 12th, 2013 at 4:34 pm
Williams’ talent would be wasted in the slot! Line him up there now and then to keep the defense guessing, but that’s about it.
Freeman excels at throwing the slant? It’s rare to see him hit anyone in stride.
June 13th, 2013 at 2:03 am
Williams is yet another real quality productive players. A real credit to our team. Just hope that Dominik isn’t trying to low ball him with this new contract.
June 13th, 2013 at 6:31 am
What it means is that he can line up in multiple positions. I’m not a fan of Underwood in the slot. Too skinny. Need a little stocky waterbug in there.