“Underappreciated”
November 25th, 2016
The nation is beginning to hear (and see).
Joe has been on the Ali Marpet bandwagon since his rookie year training camp. There, on the first day of padded practices, Marpet held his own going against one of the better defensive tackles in the NFL, Gerald McCoy, it told Joe at the very worst, Marpet wasn’t about to back down from anyone.
Marpet has proven to be not just solid, but Joe believes Pro Bowl-worthy. It seems folks outside of Tampa Bay are catching on.
Good guy, sweater-wearing Peter Schrager of NFL Network jumped on the Marpet bandwagon this week and Schrager too threw out superlatives in describing Marpet.
“He’s having an All Pro-caliber season,” Schrager said. “He’s playing his head off.”
That is for sure. Anyone who watched the Bucs win over the Chiefs last week saw Marpet was just snowplowing defenders. It was fun to watch.
Joe recently spoke with Joey Johnston, formerly of the late-Tampa Tribune, who is sort of an unofficial Bucs historian. Joe asked when was the last time the Bucs drafted a guy in the second round who made the Pro Bowl. After some thought, Johnston stated Mike Alstott. Good one Joey.
(To be fair, folks forget the Bucs traded up into the second round to draft Lavonte David.)
So Joe decided to look up the second round picks of the Bucs from 1997 to 2014. It’s not pretty. Most never made a dent in the NFL. The names include Jerry Wunsch (good pick), Jacquez Green, Brian Kelly (good pick), Shaun King (had better numbers than Doug Williams), Cosey Coleman (an OK pick), Dwight Smith (serviceable but had a wonderful Super Bowl), Dewayne White, Barrett Ruud (has some good years), Jeremy Trueblood (had a couple of OK years), Arron Sears (what a sad story), Sabby the Goat, (the bad) Dexter Jackson, Brian Price (freak injury killed his career), Arrelious Benn (never recovered from knee injury), Da’Quan Bowers, Lavonte David (strong pick), Johnthan Banks (ruined by Lovie) and huge bowel movement Austin Seferian-Jenkins.
So Joe can understand how folks are geeked over Marpet, given the sorid history of second round picks over the better part of two Bucs decades.
November 25th, 2016 at 2:47 pm
I don’t think it has as much to do with Mango being a 2nd rounder as much as it does him being from a division 3 school.
November 25th, 2016 at 3:10 pm
This guy had stud written all over him, D3 or not. So glad Licht made the play to get him.
November 25th, 2016 at 3:18 pm
There is no doubt that Licht did some impressive homework in drafting this guy.
November 25th, 2016 at 3:22 pm
what about the 2nd round scrub from appalachian state that used to be tackled by defenders breath?
November 25th, 2016 at 3:22 pm
Bucs picked Brian Price and Arrellious Benn over Rob Gronkowsi.
That is all.
November 25th, 2016 at 3:31 pm
J 2.0,
First, many teams passed on Gronk, not just us.
Second, he had severe back issues coming out of college that rightly scared a lot of teams, talent notwithstanding. He missed several games, and with Belichick’s propensity to be a poor drafter of WRs, this easily could have blown up in his face too. He made a good gamble, and so did we with mongo.
November 25th, 2016 at 3:33 pm
Dude, that is some serious rear-view mirror grazing there. So Ted Thompson, Ozzie Newsome and Kevin Colbert, among others, are dumbasses for not drafting Gronkowski?
November 25th, 2016 at 3:44 pm
Best player on the oline, imo Pamphile is 2nd. Gaurd is our strongest position on the line, with tackle being the weakest especially the right side.
November 25th, 2016 at 4:39 pm
J 2.0 Says:
November 25th, 2016 at 3:22 pm
Bucs picked Brian Price and Arrellious Benn over Rob Gronkowsi.
That is all.
…………………..
How many teams left Russell Wilson on the board til the 3rd round? Yeah, I’m sure Cleveland and L.A. are not kicking themselves in the arse for that one huh? Hindsight is 20/15
November 25th, 2016 at 8:08 pm
Idk joe. I remember you dogging and doubting him long and hard all through training camp because of his small school background and constantly reminding us of him being the highest ever d3 player drafted. Clearly you’ve seen the licht and are a fan of his as any buc fan should be. But don’t claim to have always have been on the Marpet bandwagon.
November 25th, 2016 at 8:15 pm
In all fairness to Joe he has been on the ‘Marpet for Pro Bowl’ bandwagon since voting opened. Just because he was possibly cynical about drafting a D3 player in the second round is comparable to Aguyao’s hater’s doubts
November 25th, 2016 at 8:38 pm
It is great to see Ali Marpet getting noticed because he really is that good. I agree that he and Kevin Pamphile are playing the best football on the OL. Dotson and Smith also impressed in the last game while Joe Hawley was his normal smashmouth football self. Looking at all the blown second round picks over the years you can always go back and second guess bad draft picks and I agree the GM simply can not miss on those high picks year after year. Good news is that this years second round picks are looking golden. Noah Spence is a stud and is just going to get better and our kicker is making everything at the right time of the year.
November 25th, 2016 at 10:55 pm
From what I have watched of the o line which is probably less than 5 percent of the actual plays is Pamphile; dude has balled , not quite as bull dominate as Ali but quicker and better down field.
November 26th, 2016 at 8:43 am
@ TRUBUC
There were a lot of fans on this site that was questioning the marpet pick. I find it comical to read all of the armchair gm’s comments.
November 26th, 2016 at 11:32 am
Joe:
Could you comment on the other milk carton, Kareem Edwards? Last I saw he was on the Bills’ practice squad. What did LICHT see in him, and what went wrong?
We all know that 5th rounders are long-shots. But what gave Pamphile a leg up, and what did Edwards turn out to lack?
November 26th, 2016 at 2:06 pm
Good players continue to grow on you. Go Bucs!
November 26th, 2016 at 10:06 pm
does anyone realize how ridiculously underrated this team is everywhere..madden included…marpet is an 83 and evans an 87 lmfaooo if they were giants eagles cowboys seahawks playing the exact same theyd be mid 90’s
November 27th, 2016 at 11:03 am
I hate idiots who look back at drafts and say “they could have drafted…!”
No shiiite. Many many many picks by every team could have been better every year.
It’s a guessing game