Bucs Making Move At WR (Again)?
April 4th, 2014
Lavelle Hawkins a Bucs WR?
It seems Bucs general manager Jason Licht is not taking a lazy spring Friday afternoon lounging in his backyard with a cocktail, enjoying a warm and sunny day. The guy is busy.
First he traded starting wide receiver Mike Williams to frosty Buffalo. Now it seems he is ready to ink his replacement. And that would be a former member of the Titans. And, no, it’s not running back Chris Johnson.
Per NFL insider Adam Caplan, it appears to be Lavelle Hawkins.
@caplannfl: Buccaneers are expected to sign WR Lavelle Hawkins, source said.
Caplan usually has good sources and well-placed sources at that. It appears, just by looking at the stats, Hawkins is no Calvin Johnson. Hawkins, who last year played in four games for the Chargers but never touched the ball, had played five seasons previously with the Titans and has but one touchdown to his resume.
In 2011, Hawkins played in all 16 games and the only season in which he played in every game.
Joe’s going to guess the two words to describe Hawkins would be “camp meat.”
April 4th, 2014 at 3:37 pm
I’m sure this will make everyone forget Mike Williams…
April 4th, 2014 at 3:38 pm
Camp meat. That’s not very nice Joe.
April 4th, 2014 at 3:40 pm
That’s what they call fringe guys. Hawkins hasn’t touched a football in a game in over a year. What, should Joe refer to him as a Pro Bowler?
April 4th, 2014 at 3:42 pm
Also a Cal Bear. Another guy to, if nothing else, shows the others how his system works?
Lovie and Licht seem to know what they want, and they are not shy about doing it.
April 4th, 2014 at 3:42 pm
^ Future CFLer Lavell Hawkins?
April 4th, 2014 at 3:44 pm
At least he’s not from Rutgers…
April 4th, 2014 at 3:44 pm
That guy is not a replacement. He has scored 1 TD in 7 seasons.
April 4th, 2014 at 3:45 pm
If Lavelle Hawkins?!?!?!.. Heres to hoping they’re making room Sammy Watkins
April 4th, 2014 at 3:46 pm
If Lavelle Hawkins is the replacement?!?!?!.. Heres to hoping they’re making room Sammy Watkins
April 4th, 2014 at 3:47 pm
Should have went after Golden Tate
April 4th, 2014 at 3:50 pm
So the defense gets all the good vets and the offense gets these kinda guys…. Ugh.
April 4th, 2014 at 3:51 pm
He got speed jus relax folks at least gttn speed all schiano like was slow foot mfs
April 4th, 2014 at 3:52 pm
@Buc1987
Joe gets touchy after one of his “guys” gets traded or cut, See Freeman gets cut so he trashes Glennon every chance he gets.
April 4th, 2014 at 3:53 pm
@ODB – if the coaches can’t show the players what it’s supposed to look like then they shouldn’t be coaching at this level. I don’t think we need Hawkins to be a medium between the coaches and players. I just hope we get legit 2 and 3 receivers to go in front of him and Hawkins comes in to do his party when called upon.
April 4th, 2014 at 3:55 pm
@Realist
LMAO
April 4th, 2014 at 3:55 pm
🙂
April 4th, 2014 at 3:56 pm
Absofreakinglutely!
April 4th, 2014 at 4:00 pm
@coachfan maybe because they are trying to get younger through the draft
April 4th, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Who is this guy. Lol
April 4th, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Jeez. Looks like they’re just signing anybody with a football uniform. “Can you breathe?” “Yes coach.” “Great, sign here.”
April 4th, 2014 at 4:02 pm
He played for Tedford at Cal.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:02 pm
We just let another good football player go for nothing and did not upgrade the position. Nonsense
April 4th, 2014 at 4:05 pm
I am so hapoy we got rid of Mike Williams!
We saved so much cash!
Good riddance!
April 4th, 2014 at 4:05 pm
The_Buc_Realist Says :
@Buc1987
“Joe gets touchy after one of his “guys” gets traded or cut, See Freeman gets cut so he trashes Glennon every chance he gets.”
I know, I know what’s going on here. lol
April 4th, 2014 at 4:06 pm
One can make the argument he’s even a downgrade from Tiquan Underwood.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:07 pm
I could care less about Mike Williams… I am however concerns about our offensive fire power. You would have liked to have seen them sign some decent FAs at the O-skill positions. Looks like they are going for the WRs in the draft.
Sammy, Evans and/or trade down/up for Benjamin!
Go Bucs!
April 4th, 2014 at 4:07 pm
“Hawkins comes in to do his party when called upon.”
Party? Whoah, let’s leave MW out of this.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:10 pm
Shakes head…
So, their answer after trading Williams is to sign a guy who had no yards last year and only 62 yards the year before. Hoping camp meat will make fans feel better.
Licht sucks.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:11 pm
If this is Licht’s only WR pickup to replace Williams I am very disappointed. They have freed up 1.8 million dollars, they could have signed Sydney Rice instead who could have been a starter for the Bucs for years to come. We would have been better off keeping our Rutgers receiver with the big hairdo! He had a lot more than one touchdown last year and had deep speed. (Though if anyone was near him he was chicken to catch the ball, because he was scared witless to take a hit)
April 4th, 2014 at 4:12 pm
During draft:
Bucs trade a 5th, 6th and seventh to acquire a 4th rounder. Licht-style.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:12 pm
Have we made one move on offense besides replacing Orlovsky with McCown, that has objectively improved the offense? Kinda scary.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:12 pm
Crap! Just Crap. Would like to know a little bit about the offense we are going to run. Especially with the only decent WR being VJ. Isn’t that the problem? We had no WR’s that were considered a credible 2nd to VJ? Thus the continued double team and limited end state production from VJ.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:16 pm
Dominik won the offseason Super Bowl often. I’m going to grade my GM on the regular season.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:19 pm
Living in Indy and reading all of the bucs fans react on this site is so funny! This guy is OBVIOUSLY not replacing williams. He’s just a camp body who could possible notch a starting roll if he gets better. After all the moves they have made you guys have to be brain dead to think L&L would make this guy our #2. Everybody relax we’re building what is called depth-it’s what the good teams do and this guy is probably on par with underwood. It’ll be nice having guys like this for camp bodies instead of relying on them. Probably won’t even make it to week 1
April 4th, 2014 at 4:24 pm
STOP THE PANIC!!!!
There is time.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:27 pm
Oil Derrick Brooks Says:
April 4th, 2014 at 4:16 pm
Dominik won the offseason Super Bowl often. I’m going to grade my GM on the regular season.
_________________________________________________________
Funny cause pretty much every analyst has said the Bucs won this offseason Super Bowl too…
April 4th, 2014 at 4:28 pm
SSG MIKE Says
“Crap! Just Crap. Would like to know a little bit about the offense we are going to run.”
That’s easy. Tedford is forming the No Talent Offense
April 4th, 2014 at 4:29 pm
The irony is a lot of Tampa fans still want to trade or cut Vincent Jackson.
Jason Licht could probably land a 6th & 7th 2015 pick for him though.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:30 pm
Was just telling a bud that these guys are making moves that don’t make sense and way to fast. I’m worried we gonna suck yet again! Whole draft is looking like WR and OL. This sucks! A 6th round? REALLY?
April 4th, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Sydney Rice is not the answer. Johnny first round WR Oden Becham 2nd round, David Yankey Guard 3rd
April 4th, 2014 at 4:34 pm
The Bucs took some pretty big steps to improve the defense and get some depth there, and to start rebuilding the offensive line. Given the financial situation, they couldn’t address everything else in free agency.
I suspect the draft will heavily favor the offense this time around, with a wide receiver in 1 or 2 (and maybe later), at least one guard in later rounds, and probably a QB in there somewhere. We can pick up more free agents down the road, too, when cuts start happening.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:37 pm
“Funny cause pretty much every analyst has said the Bucs won this offseason Super Bowl too…”
Yeah, but no games have been played yet. That’s when I’ll start judging how well a job someone has done. It’s April.
I’m 101% on board with this new staff. After 5 years of Dominik (and all his glad handing around here), I think I’ll wait till midseason of the first year at least.
Freeman and Dominik mostly blew for 5 years and got pass after pass.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Hope we trade down and pick up Cooks…
April 4th, 2014 at 4:44 pm
Great article about Mike Evans on rival site. IMO, (after reading the article) he actually seems like a better prospect than Sammy Watkins. He’s 30lbs heavier than Watkins and 4 inches taller, but he had a faster 20-yard shuttle time and barely a second slower 40 time; plus the best hands since Calvin Johnson. I’m all for Mike Evans now instead of Sammy, even if (miraculously) Sammy’s available at #7.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:46 pm
“Up Tempo”
It better be. Poor Vincent is going to have the whole defense on his heels.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:48 pm
Jackson could literally have the whole defense and our other receivers would drop every pass.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:48 pm
It seems Lovie and Licht are creating more holes than they’re filling on offense. Proven talent is being replaced by players with question marks. They might’ve added a draft pick with the Williams trade but it might not be enough. It also seems like they’re telegraphing their draft intentions with some of these moves.
April 4th, 2014 at 4:54 pm
Guy has 1 career touchdown in 6 seaons in the NFL?!?! Get out of here with this scrub…Bucs just took a big step back after coming so far in free agency
April 4th, 2014 at 4:55 pm
Is there any veterans that could be brought in with low risk high reward like Holmes?
April 4th, 2014 at 5:04 pm
Nobody said this is MW replacement. Camp body.
April 4th, 2014 at 5:06 pm
Major Wright just signed one year deal….
April 4th, 2014 at 5:09 pm
No johnny football!! We just got rid of a diva in Revis.It will be Josh freeman all over again.or Ryan leaf.Or constant hold outs,No to Johnny showboat.
Evans reminds me of 2 recievers,both drafted by detriot.No,Not megatron.Roy williams or mike williams.both highly touted out of college(even though mike williams had to sit out a year for ncaa violation)both big for nothing.If the bucs are smart,they will go Matthews first round.
April 4th, 2014 at 5:13 pm
Maybe Major Wright can catch passes.Geez…
April 4th, 2014 at 5:22 pm
I sure hope he can! Cause our O sucks as of now!
April 4th, 2014 at 5:24 pm
Christ, I don’t think I saw a press release saying this guy is our WR2. The negativity of this fan base is irritating as hell. There are a couple guys out there in FA still and probably a couple more post-draft. Sure it’s a bigger need now but this Licht sucks BS is coming way too soon. Look at the roster in May and then freak out if you don’t like it.
April 4th, 2014 at 5:35 pm
I wouldn’t have a problem with it if Licht had gotten a 4th rounder for Williams. Dominick would have. At least.
April 4th, 2014 at 6:31 pm
Its freaking April!! April!! Next game is in August. I could sell a lot of swamp land to people wondering why #19 was traded!! Lou Murphy is a vet, T Wright balled out last year. Relax its April!!
April 4th, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Completely agree with Mike Evans. The guy sure was a complement to Mancrush. And the Bucs may be able trade down a couple slots and still get him, rather than having to trade UP for Sammy. It’d be like having two Vincent Jacksons on the field at once.
April 4th, 2014 at 6:41 pm
How do you know that Bonzai? I’m sure Licht opened his negotiations saying “Alright, everybody Williams for a 6th first come first serve”. Who would give up a 4th in a deep draft for a decent receiver with maturity and injury issues? Dominic wouldn’t have traded him, he would have just blown our cap space on 2 players and hoped for the best.
April 4th, 2014 at 7:23 pm
Maybe his offense is running 1 receiver sets consisting only of VJ…
April 4th, 2014 at 7:25 pm
Amazing. The b1tching and moaning continues. Signing Hawkins would be for just another camp body. I doubt L&L are thinking of this move as anything other than competition at the bottom of the WR depth chart. There’s no reason to complain, or ask if this is their plan to replace Williams (it’s not)… Settle down. Do a bong hit.
April 4th, 2014 at 7:42 pm
this is crazy. “Speed in space”???? What speed, what talent, what the hell? Since there is little left in FA, is most of our talent on offense going to come from brand new rookies who don’t have a clue? Are we expecting most of our TDs to come from the D secondary?
Here you go all you ppl who were so excited to get rid of MW.
Orca, I think you have had enough bong hits…
April 4th, 2014 at 8:28 pm
Harry Says:
April 4th, 2014 at 7:42 pm
Come down from the ledge. Check the date. How long until training camp? Is it really worth getting worked up over? Perspective, please.
Only 1 so far. It’s a lot more fun than b1tching and whining about things that you have no control over. There’s a lot of time to get the WR position straightened out. They’ll be OK.
See the problem is that everyone wants the answers NOW. You guys have no patience that there is a plan and that there are months to work on carrying it out.
Now sit back in the couch and fire up that bowl…
April 4th, 2014 at 8:32 pm
If they don not trade down hoping they take evans. That would give us two BIG outside threats…JUST like McCown had in Chicago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A young bud and a vet. Nice running game and two good pass catching TE’s…sounds good to me!!!
April 4th, 2014 at 10:28 pm
@Orca says:
“…See the problem is that everyone wants the answers NOW. You guys have no patience that there is a plan…”
I trust Lovie, I’ll say that first. However, why I wrote what I did is that there are no longer great FA offensive players available (not that we even attempted to sign any). So, that means we will most likely be getting our “speed in space” thru the draft. A WR usually takes a year or three to develop (sure, maybe we will get lucky, don’t we always *sarcasm*). Mike Williams was worth more than a 6th rd pick – TO US. Because of his contract, I understand BUF not giving us more than they did. But when MW is on the field he is at least a good 2nd rd talent. So, no, I don’t like the move – it does’t make sense to me.
Pass the bong please, I need a big hit.
April 5th, 2014 at 10:08 am
I think it’s obvious we are targeting Evans or Benjamin (early 2nd). Look at Chicagos offense. They have 2 big physical receivers. Evans is an immediate upgrade over MW but Benjamin provides an even higher upside. We could trade back and hope Evans is there and grab Benjamin if he’s not.
April 5th, 2014 at 11:53 am
I’d rather take the proven guy…I see Evans as the guy we need. Watkins preferably but no way he will be there and it would be STUPID to trade up in this draft. Evans will be there at seven and would be a nice no.7 grab. Big fast and reliable. Good work ethic and a fierce competitor. He’s worth the investment and is a huge upgrade over Mike Williams.
April 5th, 2014 at 5:11 pm
Hawkins knows Tedfords playbook!! We have 4.3 speed in Demps and Murphy. We have a young Sproles in Rainey. Four set is VJax, T Wright, Murph and Hawkins. Experience, speed. The cupboard is not bare folks!! If we add Evans offense is deadly!!