Rashad Greene In September?
June 28th, 2017
Lurking
Saying the Buccaneers’ No. 5 wide receiver job is wide open would be a supreme understatement.
So who is it going to be?
Russell Shepard is busy dazzling his new teammates in Charlotte, so it won’t be him. And there was no underwear (spring) football superstar among the battling group that includes undrafted rookie Bobo Wilson, Donteea Dye, Bernard Reedy, CFL star Derel Walker, Josh Huff and Freddie Martino, formerly of the velvet-lined lounge at the Vero Beach Ramada Inn.
(Yeah, well, Dye actually looked strong this spring, but Joe saw enough of Dye in 2015 to last a lifetime.)
The Bucs passed on Riley Cooper and it appears they have no use for inviting Anquan Boldin to compete. Boldin wants to play in Florida and caught 67 balls and eight touchdowns last season while earning less than $3 million.
One could say the No. 5 receiver is insignificant — but then one could be a Bucs fan during the past two seasons and know better.
Joe’s been sniffing the NFL for receivers the Bucs might look at if they were cut after training camp. (See Cecil Shorts, 2016.)
And that brings Joe to Rashad Greene of the Jaguars. Green was a fifth-round pick in 2015. He delivered many smiles that season as a punt returner, including a touchdown, and he caught 19 balls on a loaded receiving corps.
Last season? Greene was brutal. And all reports out of Jacksonville (yeah, Joe’s a closet Jags enthusiast) say he’s definitely on the Jaguars’ bubble if not just outside it. A new regime certainly won’t help him.
Greene starred at Florida State University with America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, hauling in 99 balls and seven touchdowns in 2014. This past weekend, Greene joined Jameis for a middle school football camp in Tallahassee and shared plenty love for his ex-teammate.
“The reason we came back — the reason I asked my teammates to come back — was because we care about this city of Tallahassee and we care about improving our youth,” Winston told the campers at the end of the session, per Warchant.com.
“That’s Jameis,” former FSU and current Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Rashad Greene said. “The same person I met in college is the same person now as a professional. He’s just blessing everyone with his appearance and his attitude about life — not just about the game of football, just his spirit. When you get a guy like that, on a platform that he’s on, it’s gonna do great things for a lot of kids, a lot of people and a lot of communities.”
So what about Greene? Well, suppose he has a significant bounce-back training camp and preseason as a receiver and return. And the Bucs like what they see during two joint practices in Jacksonville?
Just a name to keep an August eye on while Wilson, Dye, Reedy, Walker, Huff and Martino slug it out.
June 28th, 2017 at 1:26 pm
Surprised he’s not doing better. He was rock solid at FSU. Doesn’t have the speed or measurables, but, when you needed someone to be at the first down line and make a catch, he was your guy.
June 28th, 2017 at 1:32 pm
Lack of speed has caught up to him….
June 28th, 2017 at 2:15 pm
Def Greene over Boldin
June 28th, 2017 at 2:41 pm
never thought i’ll say this but damn I miss cecil shorts….he started to turn things around and began gaining the trust of jameis until that brutal blow to the knee….
as far as greene goes, if he becomes available kick the tires on him….GO BUCS!!!
June 28th, 2017 at 2:47 pm
What about that Thomas Sperback dude? Lot of ppl were high on him I thought
June 28th, 2017 at 3:06 pm
I would be surprised if Rashad does not make the Jaguars roster. He has had to deal with a number of injuries during his time as a professional though.
June 28th, 2017 at 3:13 pm
@LC- Don’t forget Derel Walker.
June 28th, 2017 at 3:17 pm
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see more Seminoles from the 2013-’14 era gravitate their way towards the Buccaneers over the next few years as they become available via cuts or free agency. Skill positions in particular. Guys like Greene, Oleary, Benjamin, Cook etc.
Although I saw where Kelvin Benjamin showed up to OTA camp weighing like 280 so his dedication to being great and maximizing his god given attributes may well be in question at this point.
June 28th, 2017 at 3:29 pm
@Pick
Kelvin had the same exact issues early on at FSU. If he gets a big $ extension, watch out. I would put lots of weight limit language in his contract.
June 28th, 2017 at 3:51 pm
All jokes aside but based on last years performance Martino has to be in the lead for the #5 spot. And idk about you but politics aside hump isn’t or shouldn’t be garunteed the 3rd or 4th spot either. Bobo Wilson and spurbeck look like bigger play makers to me but again wtf do I know?!
June 28th, 2017 at 3:58 pm
I would welcome him. I wanted us to draft him when we got Winston. Winston doesn’t need a superstar talent but someone he can trust ( IE Brate and Humphries) Winston has the ability to make the receiver look better. And he is really comfortable with Greene. I could see that being a nice match up. especially after Desean leaves. Godwin and Greene can take over #2 and #3 on the WR depth chart
June 28th, 2017 at 5:27 pm
Yeah Joe your sleeping on Sperbeck the dude is a Jordy Nelson clone and can flat out ball. To me its coming down to Sperbeck or Huff. Both have great speed and talent but Huff has already proven it on the NFL level if he can keep his act together off the field. When the Eagles cut Huff alot of fans went ballistic and the guy has return skills as well. I cant wait to see Sperbeck. Jameis had high praise for the guy. I think with the talent we have now we can go looking elsewhere and I would have loved to have Boldin but do have enough right now to be competitve.
June 28th, 2017 at 5:53 pm
it sounds like we have more to look forward to from some of the kids in the rookie and tryout camps (particularly sperbeck) and some of the guys who have been on the fringes for a couple years now (the guys Joe listed) than from a guy who is trying to crack the roster of a team that has won 3 or 4 games during his playing career
June 28th, 2017 at 5:58 pm
Huff was\is toxic. Bad decisions off the field got him booted from philly, bad decisions on the field should’ve gotten him booted from the bucs. good teams don’t put up with the epic lapses in judgement he showed in the return game, and it doesn’t give me confidence in his ability to get on the same page with a QB in the passing game
June 28th, 2017 at 7:03 pm
Why not try grooming our own guys!
June 28th, 2017 at 8:02 pm
^^^^^For once in my life, what he said^^^^^^
June 28th, 2017 at 8:11 pm
This post may offend some Nole fans but I don’t think a player is automatically an upgrade over other players just because he played at FSU. Winston is charismatic and makes friends easily. If a player has some talent Winston will make him better, whether he has a past with him or not. The depth of talent in this years draft suggests that some of the guys let go in the big cut coming up will be pretty good players. Maybe the Buc’s scouts will think Greene is the best WR out there when the time comes, but don’t groan and moan if they don’t. For them it is their livelihood on the line, not school spirit. I’m not saying that FSU isn’t a great program, just that it’s not the only one.
June 28th, 2017 at 8:28 pm
I don’t think we have any receiver positions available after the 5th and 6th spots shake out. We should be pretty strong there. We can’t waste a spot on gameday for a guy who only returns, so we’ll keep the receivers who have the most upside as receivers.
June 28th, 2017 at 10:54 pm
@Swaggy64, to your point – rashad greene was in the rear view mirror as soon as Winston started working with Adam Humphries. The notion that Winston needs college pals (o’leary, greene, d. cook) as security blankets when he’s now played more games with evans, humphries, and brate than any FSU teammate is a little bit of a weird idea, and i think it’s mostly nole fans wet dreaming
June 29th, 2017 at 2:12 am
As a Nole fan, this is getting ridiculous. Nothing against Greene, but this is not college obviously. Greene doesn’t have the necessary quickness or size/strength/physicality to separate and dominant NFL DBs. In college, especially against lesser opponents, he did. He had above avg straight-line speed in college, but that is only average or below by NFL standards. He has great hands & great feel for running routes & making plays, but without the measurables, he’s never going to do much in the NFL.
June 30th, 2017 at 10:52 am
Worrying about who our #5 is is a refreshing problem to have for a change!