Bill Polian Rates New Bucs LB Bruce Carter
March 26th, 2015
Hall of Fame GM Bill Polian
Buzzing around the NFL Owners Meetings this week in Arizona, Joe looked to engage important football people in good football conversation.
Sometimes Joe’s recorder was on, sometimes not.
Once in a while, things got interesting. Joe relayed a story on Twitter about a chat he had with Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who invited Joe to join him for a walk back to his hotel room. Well, Reid doesn’t walk too fast, and he loves to talk Xs and Os, so before Joe knew it, Reid was a bit lost on the giant resort property. Of course, since Joe was staying at a cheaper hotel 15 miles away, Joe was thoroughly lost. But thankfully, some bikinis emerged from a nearby pool and offered directions.
Anyway, Joe also had a similar walk and talk (sans bikinis) with Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian, who knows plenty about the Tampa-2 defense from his days as the GM over Tony Dungy in Indianapolis.
Joe asked Polian about new Bucs linebacker Bruce Carter, just signed from Dallas in free agency, making the transition from outside linebacker to mike linebacker under Lovie Smith.
Polian says Bucs fans should be smiling.
“Good pickup,” Polian said of Carter. “That’s ok. That’ll work fine. The Mike in the Tampa-2 is not always squarely in the middle, and he’s really a run-and-hit guy. He doesn’t take people on the way fans think of a true Mike linebacker. He doesn’t have to be Dick Butkus; that’s not the style of play. So Carter will do fine. Skillwise, we thought a lot of him coming out of college, you know, in Indianapolis. He fits.”
Joe remains a little leery of Carter adjusting to the middle and the pressure that will be on him in coverage. However, he has the speed and experience, something Mason Foster did not.
And what’s the worst thing that could happen? He can always move to strongside linebacker, where he played in Dallas.
Joe will have more from Polian in the coming days.
March 26th, 2015 at 1:08 pm
What? No inane comments about which quarterback the Bucs are going to select?
March 26th, 2015 at 1:14 pm
as long as he can cover and doesn’t tackle like the goat sabby piscatelli I think he’ll be just fine
March 26th, 2015 at 1:16 pm
Foster looked lost and slow in every defense he played in.
Even at the end of his career, Barrett Rudd looked better than Foster did in any year he played.
Thanks Dummynick.
March 26th, 2015 at 1:24 pm
So he moves to strongside… and we still have no MLB. Sounds like a(nother) quality back up
March 26th, 2015 at 1:30 pm
He’ll have plenty of opportunity to run down Julio Jones when we play the Falcons twice a year.
I think he’ll be fine as the Mike.
March 26th, 2015 at 1:38 pm
It certainly is a projection to hope Carter will be a solid MLB in this defense as he has never done it before and there is no tape to watch of him playing MLB in a 4-3 defense.
Hope it works because otherwise we will have 3 good OLBers (including Lansanah) but no real MLB.
Polian is as or more qualified than anyone to say he thinks it will work out – so I hope he’s right.
Steve (I mean Joe) – you are doing a great job at the Owners meeting.
March 26th, 2015 at 1:47 pm
Would love to have B.Carter- E.Kendricks – L. David. The speed oh the speed. Too bad we OT and DE are bigger needs.
March 26th, 2015 at 1:50 pm
DUH! I said these same words on previous posts this is becoming ridiculous
March 26th, 2015 at 1:53 pm
Quarles moved from strong side to the middle. Carter has Quarles to talk to about the transition as well as the on field direction of Hardy Hardware. He will be fine. Or at least lets hope.
March 26th, 2015 at 3:20 pm
Why does everyone question if he can switch to MLB but nobody brings up the point that he hasn’t ever been the QB of the defense in Dallas. Will he be able to lead the defensive huddle and call the plays? Is he a good communicator. Or will we make Lavonte David handle that because he doesn’t come off the field. Still on most teams its common for the MLB to wear the green dot. Any comment Joe?
March 26th, 2015 at 7:31 pm
Could Lavonte play mike in Leslies defense? He has experience calling plays. He can run fast, cover, hit hard and blitz (although he may have trouble being picked up by guards and centers) but you could argue that mike is more vital than will in a defense that calls Tampa 2 alot.
March 26th, 2015 at 7:40 pm
Pickgrin Says:
March 26th, 2015 at 1:38 pm
It certainly is a projection to hope Carter will be a solid MLB in this defense as he has never done it before and there is no tape to watch of him playing MLB in a 4-3 defense.
Hope it works because otherwise we will have 3 good OLBers (including Lansanah) but no real MLB.
Polian is as or more qualified than anyone to say he thinks it will work out – so I hope he’s right.
Steve (I mean Joe) – you are doing a great job at the Owners meeting.
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He was a dynamo at ILB in the 3-4 but then fell off as a Will in this same version of the 4-3, then played better as a Sam. In this defense, the Will and Mike spots are very similar…but him not being very good at it has me a little worried.