Dangerous Wilcox Just Getting Started
August 5th, 2017
J.J. Wilcox
What’s been very clear through eight days of Buccaneers training camp is that newcomer free agent safety J.J. Wilcox is finding the ball regularly and is seemingly always in good position.
But that’s a bit of a surprise.
Why? Because Wilcox came from years with the Cowboys, where he was playing Rod Marinelli’s defense, aka Lovie Smith’s defense.
Last year, Bucs safeties needed serious time to adjust to Mike Smith’s brand of defense.
Wilcox, however, is playing well already, despite still learning. Joe asked Wilcox if he’s feeling comfortable yet.
“I’m trying to adjust. Like I’ve said, I’ve got a long way to go. I’m still trying to build and get consistent and keep working my way up,” Wilcox told Joe today. “The game is about the ball and getting the ball. I’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to be around it and get my share.
Wilcox said he’s not 100 percent proficient with the Bucs defense yet and isn’t yet able to play full tilt consistently, but it’s coming.
That could be awfully exciting for Bucs fans, who were aching for quality safety play after last season.
Joe asked Dirk Koetter today about Wilcox continuing to find the football and make plays. Joe wanted to know what Koetter is seeing as the playcaller on the other side.
“Well he’s definitely an aggressive player. Very aggressive – he wants to get in the mix, he wants to get involved. That’s what we thought when we brought him in,” Koetter said.
Joe will take you back here to when Wilcox explained that he wanted to play for Mike Smith, in part, because smith is known for making average players great. Perhaps, just perhaps, that’s what’s in the process of happening now.
August 5th, 2017 at 8:54 pm
Is it possible that he was just a square peg in a round hole in the cover 2 system.
August 5th, 2017 at 9:17 pm
I think Tandy and conte still get the starting nods, but this dude will still see the field a lot!
August 5th, 2017 at 9:53 pm
Don’t know if this is the right place to put this but… at practice today (on top of all the passion and awesomeness) I tried to pay extra attention the draft picks and free agents. Howard and Godwin stuck out for obvious reasons and I did catch Beckwith playing a bit, as well as McNichols with the running backs group. But I didn’t really notice Justin Evans much at all, I saw when he was out there but didn’t seem like he was really getting into things. I was having a lot of fun cheering with the Stick Carriers so it’s definitely possible that I missed some things. And they did have the defense on the secomd field for a while. But he was noticeably absent in my opinion compared to some of the other new additions.
August 6th, 2017 at 2:59 am
Thanks Pete!
Training camp takes are the best.
August 6th, 2017 at 8:57 am
I recall many pooh-poohing the Wilcox signing.
In Licht I trust…
August 6th, 2017 at 11:44 am
Cobra you know Buc fans, highly critical up until they see the individual make a few plays. People here talked down about him because he was placed on the shelf for Byron Jones but I attempted to make the point that jones was high draft pick that the cboys ultimately wanted on the football field. Watch this man’s tape he was brought here to be our version of Cam Chancellor. He hits h3lla hard but at the same time cleanly. Ian Becht did a film study on this on. When watching his YouTube video he is always around the football, some guys play Safety and have a knack for loose balls he is one of them. Very excited about hearing he is making noise in camp. Seems like every year people cry about a specific unit on this football team. The year season that unit becomes one the best on said football team.
August 6th, 2017 at 12:50 pm
i don’t know much about the guy but this very well could be a case of him getting out of a defensive system that wasn’t best suited to show off his skills and coming into a new system that is perfect for him to be able to fly around to the football. he’s obviously more of a in the box physical safety than the deep single high safety witch is fine because i believe tandy can play that role well a long with justin evans in the future. but i like the versatility this guy brings being able to put him in the nickel spot and i wouldn’t be surprised to see him coming in hot for a lot of blitz this upcoming season. it’s very earlier but the early returns suggest this may be the best offseason of jason lichts tenure and that’s saying a lot.