The Donovan Smith Narrative
May 4th, 2015
Browsing the Interwebs you will find all sorts of things, both good and bad, about new Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith out of Penn State.
The second round pick seems to generate a wide range of reviews. One label Smith has been stuck with is “lazy” — but both NFL Network’s Mike Mayock and Charles Davis are not in this group.
During Smith’s conference call for the local Tampa Bay pen and mic club Friday night, Joe was there when Smith was asked about his alleged lack of love for football, and he scoffed, saying no one puts in the amount of work needed for a top draft pick if they don’t have a passion for football. It seemed like a fair answer.
Here is the thing: The sophists who break down TV tape on prospects and try to pass themselves off as Junior Belicheats have never been in the locker room with Smith, or in a closed practice with him.
Bill O’Brien was. You see, the current Houston Texans head coach also led Penn State and coached Smith for his freshman and sophomore seasons. BOB is a close personal friend of Bucs general manager Jason Licht. The two are tight.
Licht admitted he spoke with folks on the Texans’ staff for intel. And who would know Smith better than BOB? Joe has a difficult time believing BOB would sell out Licht with bogus information.
Joe is confident Smith will be a good pick up. Now whether he can master left tackle duties or eventually will be moved to right tackle, only time will tell.
May 4th, 2015 at 6:04 am
For the first time in years…love what bucs did in draft….skeptical about Winston but all in with our guy now…smith and marpet are great picks…watched senior bowl again, they Killed it….wr depth was a must do
May 4th, 2015 at 6:17 am
His answer of no one puts in the work isn’t a fair answer. The drafts are loaded with busted picks by guys that don’t love the work or the game enough. To me, offensive line shows that as qk as any positions. Just ask jason smith of Baylor or that Canadian lumberjack the Eagles drafted in round one. So….talking to BOB and getting info is the way to go? Maybe BOB wanted him to get drafted to have better players for Houston to draft
May 4th, 2015 at 6:58 am
This was a bad pick at the top of the 2nd round to get a guy projected in the 3rd or 4th. Better go get La’el if he clears.
May 4th, 2015 at 7:17 am
BFFL why is he a bad pick? Because talking heads projected him as a 3rd-4th rounder? What if he is a 10 year starter in the league? Does that still make him a bad pick?
How about a guy like Tre Jackson that was projected to be 2nd – 3rd round, he is going to be a bad player because he fell? The Bucs had a need and liked what how their board fell to them so they decided to take Smith where they did. Love that they actually addressed their needs and now it is up to coaching to make these guys players in the league.
May 4th, 2015 at 7:22 am
The first time I saw this guy, I immediately thought of Droopy Dog. He might be lazy, he might not, but his face is lazy. lol
May 4th, 2015 at 7:56 am
I’d call that a pretty reasonable assumption. While the Bucs did do a considerable amount of research on Winston, there’s nothing saying that all of that research started in the past couple months. I’m pretty sure that once it was apparent that we were headed toward that #1 pick, Licht starting our robust research into him way back then. That left a lot of time in the more recent months, since they knew who they wanted some time ago, to dive deeply in to some of our later picks. I would assume that if Licht had any connections to any of the players available that he would call them up and get an assessment. If O’Brien worked with this guy directly every day, he would know better than most. It’s not like the Texans are a division rival or anything.
Besides, I don’t think that Winston, with his exuberant personality and his competitiveness, will let one of his top linemen be lazy. Nor will Koetter. You don’t get the level of play out of scrap heap players that he did with the Falcons by letting the players dictate their own tempo.
May 4th, 2015 at 8:50 am
If Obrien liked him so much why didnt he trade up to get him, licht may have been bamboozled like sonny gray jr was doing chumps on draft day
May 4th, 2015 at 9:05 am
I am wondering if Smith has had a fitness issue in the past or has been gassed in a game, there by appearing to take plays off leading to the lazy label. I dont know one way or the other. Just seems like a possible scenario.
May 4th, 2015 at 9:29 am
enh. despite that logic, top tier draft prospects with great physical skills & upside routinely wash out of the NFL due to their lack of love for & commitment to the sport – mike clayton quickly comes to mind. i’ve got my fingers crossed, but let’s not all act surprised if there turns out to be a fire where that smoke was coming from.
May 4th, 2015 at 10:25 am
Get to the real story… who is the woman?
May 4th, 2015 at 11:26 am
It’s so funny reading the armchair comments by somebody that has read one scouting report on a player, never watched a minute of tape on the player, and didn’t know that most players have vastly different takes on them. The consensus for Smith is that he was a 2nd round value. I saw him go as high as the mid 20’s in the 1st round and as low as the Bucs pick in round 3. Nobody has the same intel on a player, and nobody has the same take.
As for people claiming to have seen Smith “take plays off”… now you’re just making stuff up. Offensive linemen don’t “take plays off” no matter how lazy they are…that’s absurd. What they do is they start to lean, don’t fire out of their stance, and don’t finish on plays when given the opportunity. There is no such thing as an offensive lineman taking plays off and still keeping his job.
May 4th, 2015 at 2:13 pm
2 concerns:
1. Naming him the starting LT before he steps on the field, seems irresponsible
2. If even one person questions something like ‘work ethic’ or ‘laziness’, that’s concerning.
May 4th, 2015 at 3:30 pm
The Elephant in the room. Why are you not pushing for La’el Collins?
Go get La’el Collins too.
You don’t get many chances like this to get 1st round talent for nothing.
Sign him today. Give him his due process. In the meantime you have his rights for next to nothing.
It is well worth the risk. Joe you must have an opinion on this .
May 4th, 2015 at 4:38 pm
Marques, agreed. Good news/bad news though, he can pick the team he signs with. What makes u think he want to play for the Bucs?
May 4th, 2015 at 6:48 pm
Need some players to do some recruiting on La’ell Collins. Maybe even Booger and MC can make push. If that guy is innocent its a shame what happened to him. Getting Colin’s would set this team up to have a good OL for a long time.
May 4th, 2015 at 6:49 pm
Everyone wants to play with Jameis!