Lay Off Derrick Ward
July 21st, 2014
Joe’s taken all kinds of feedback on The Countdown: Worst 20 Buccaneers Of The Past 10 Years. It sure has stirred the passions of Bucs fans. Joe’s inbox has been filled with outrage.
Most of it has been reasonable, except Joe doesn’t get the endless Derrick Ward hate.
“The Countdown” looked at a player’s production versus expectations, as well as off-field behavior.
Frankly, Ward was nowhere near the garbage many fans want to make him out to be during his Tampa Bay tenure.
His numbers weren’t overly disgusting, 114 carries for 409 yards, plus 20 catches for 150 yards in a No. 2 role to Cadillac Williams. Ward never fumbled during the regular season, and he looked strong at times in the 2010 preseason before the Bucs cut him. It was no shock Ward latched on with the Texans quickly and had a good 2010 season.
Sure, Ward was a free-agent letdown and he moped a little about his playing time on a dreadful ’09 team, but he absolutely was not a historic mess like others on “The Countdown.”
Perhaps it was because Ward was doing nasty things with Khloe Kardashian and hosting South Tampa pool parties? Sorry, but Joe can’t knock a guy for such activities.
(Catch up on The Countdown below: No. 4 will be revealed later today.)
No. 5 — Sabby Piscitelli No. 6 — Myron Lewis No. 7 — Byron Leftwich No. 8 — Edell Shepherd No. 9 — Jerramy Stevens No. 10 — Jim Bates No. 11 — Gaines Adams No. 12 — Keydrick Vincent No. 13 — Dre Moore No. 14 —Kevin Ogletree No. 15 – Sean Mahan No. 16 — Da’Quan Bowers No. 17 — Daniel Te’o-Nesheim No. 18 — Kyle Moore No. 19 – Jeremy Trueblood No. 20 – Michael ClaytonThe Countdown: Worst 20 Buccaneers Of The Past 10 Years will run once or twice daily until No. 1 is revealed on Thursday, July 24.
July 21st, 2014 at 10:07 am
Come on down Josh Freeman
July 21st, 2014 at 10:08 am
I could knock him for that. Khloe Kardashian is disgusting…
July 21st, 2014 at 10:26 am
Dominik signed Ward in an offseason with an underwhelming crop of free agent RBs. Ward was overpaid for his past performance, which is usually how free agency works. If anything, Dominik should be on the list.
July 21st, 2014 at 10:30 am
I actually agree with you Joe. I don’t really get all the Ward animosity. But I also remember not being overly excited by his addition to begin with
July 21st, 2014 at 10:36 am
joe, my thought is caddy was coming off of a total knee blow out and ward was expected to start and be a 1,000 yard back but he couldn’t beat out caddy. IMO he needs to be in the top 20.
July 21st, 2014 at 10:38 am
if james bates is on the list… don’t you have to put the guy who only had 5 plays in his playbook and didn’t make it out of preseason?>
July 21st, 2014 at 10:40 am
If it’s only one or two people making a comment that another doesn’t agree with, then there is no need to give it much attention. However, if your inbox has been “filled”, perhaps that means there is some legitimacy to it and others might actually have a clue about the topic as well.
July 21st, 2014 at 10:42 am
Man, I’d pay good money to read Joe’s inbox
July 21st, 2014 at 10:45 am
I think of Ward as the same type of situation as Bowers. For you to include Bowers…who is still playing (sort of) and use Ward’s time with the texans as reason why he shouldnt be on THIS list about the worst bucs of last 10 years…..doesnt ring true to me.
Te’o is the one I dont agree with.
July 21st, 2014 at 11:13 am
Raheem and Schiano have to be on this list
July 21st, 2014 at 11:20 am
“The Countdown” looked at a player’s production versus expectations, as well as off-field behavior”
You had high expectations for Byron Leftwich?
Feel free to read the Leftwich ranking for an explanation. –Joe
July 21st, 2014 at 11:21 am
Yeah, do coaches get to make the list? LOL
But some of the short comings are not their faults as player personnel and some woefully underqualified. LOL
July 21st, 2014 at 11:29 am
Joe, I usually agree with you, but not here. With another player someone defended them using the player’s production with another team after they left the Bucs – the opposite of what you do here in mentioning Ward’s production with the Texans. Also, you throw a player on this list due to ONE PLAY – granted, a big one – a dropped TD in a playoff game. Ward came with high expectation, right or wrong. His previous two seasons with NYG, as compared with his one crappy year with the Bucs:
’07 NYG Att-125, Yds- 602, Y/A-4.8
’08 NYG Att-182, Yds-1,025, Y/A-5.6
’09 TBB Att-114, Yds- 409, Y/A-3.6
By your own rules Joe, you say its all about “player’s production versus expectations”. I remember the expectations for Ward being very high- looking at his Y/A average with the NYG, most any Bucs fan would have high expectations. His production with the Bucs was like falling off a cliff. I also remember reading he came to camp very out of shape (and his numbers back that theory up). Its your list. Name who you like. But, IMO, you saying “Ward was nowhere near the garbage many fans want to make him out to be”, is unjustifiable. How much worse could he be? Did the Bucs cut him after only one year into his FA contract bc they knew he was Khloe material?
July 21st, 2014 at 12:08 pm
On March 2, 2009 Mark Dominik signed (RB) Derrick Ward to a four-year contract worth $17 million.
• (2009) Ward rushed for 114 times for 409 yards and *1 touchdown.
When Ward showed up for training camp Raheem Morris questioned his dedication and expressed dissatisfaction with Ward’s conditioning. “When you get a bit older in this league, especially as a running back, you have to realize that you need to come into camp at a lighter weight, not heavier,” Morris said, in the third week of training camp. “I still have a lot of confidence in Derrick Ward that he’ll be ready and in shape to help us.”
• (August 31, 2010) Ward was cut
So that’s $4 million for 409 yards and *1 touchdown. Production vs. Value
Via this logic, then Dashon Goldson did far less for his eight million. Neither are deserving of the list. –Joe
July 21st, 2014 at 12:18 pm
During 2010 training camp, Ward slipped to third on the depth chart behind Cadillac Williams and undrafted rookie Kareem Huggins.
In the 1st preseason game against Miami, he led all Tampa Bay running backs in carries with 12, but finished last in yards with 20…smh
Against Kansas City wasn’t much better: five carries and 11 yards. Against the Jaguars he had 19 yards on four carries.
Preseason numbers behind mostly backup linemen are meaningless compared to the way a guy looks carrying the ball. Ward was sharp by the end of preseason, evidence of his effort, and he caught on quite successfully in Houston. –Joe
July 21st, 2014 at 12:24 pm
For one reason or another… players do have bad seasons.
Haven’t heard anyone question, Dashon Goldson’s determination/conditioning or veteran leadership. He will start at one of the safety spots if healthy ..right?
July 21st, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Dominick, Freeman, Raheem and Schiano, come on down on the countdown!
Reejus Benn, there should be a spot for you.
This list is a celebration of the moves made while Rock Star was calling the shots. Dominick himself proclaimed, “the deepest draft ever” that saw us get GMC only.
LOL Joe, please don’t absolve Dominick from this list. 🙂
July 21st, 2014 at 12:56 pm
(2010) DT Brian Price
(2009) Angelo Crowell
(2006) Alan Zemaitis
Honorable mention: (2010) Brent Bowden (P) Virginia Tech
July 21st, 2014 at 1:12 pm
If Dominik doesn’t make the list, it invalidates the whole thing.
July 21st, 2014 at 2:48 pm
Your right he did considerably better in Alex Gibbs zone blocking scheme. But who hasn’t?
July 21st, 2014 at 7:58 pm
“Feel free to read the Leftwich ranking for an explanation”
1st, I’m not reading that drivel, it’s pointless, had I realized that this post was about that ridiculous list I wouldn’t have clicked on it.
2nd, it doesn’t matter what your explanation is. You said you took into account the expectations for the player, half of the players on your list had no expectations to live up to.
Just because a washed up QB played here for half a season and wasn’t very good doesn’t make him one of the worst Bucs in the last 10years, it hardly even makes him a Buc to begin with.
I fully expect for your #1 to be some practice squad QB that played in one pre-season game.
July 22nd, 2014 at 4:40 am
how can you even compare ward to goldson? first few games goldson presence was known for sure he just because gun shy with the penalaties and fines and most of those were clean they just look bad full speed when you hit that hard.
July 22nd, 2014 at 6:52 am
LUVMYBUCS Says:
July 21st, 2014 at 12:56 pm
(2010) DT Brian Price
(2009) Angelo Crowell
(2006) Alan Zemaitis
Honorable mention: (2010) Brent Bowden (P) Virginia Tech
———————
Great list, minus Price. He played okay when his troublesome hamstring/hip wasn’t shutting him down. I thought he was by far our best DT that season…so that means there were at least 3 guys worse than him.
How about Gruden draftees, Lance Nimmo, Austin King, and Kevin Lockett? They were dreadful? Don’t think they played enough though. That’s why I’m looking more at WR Dexter Jackson,
July 23rd, 2014 at 12:42 am
Other than being one of our biggest wastes of money to date, no hate..