“More Fit For The Guard”
March 23rd, 2018
Ali Marpet
Now make it three intelligent, film-junkie, ex-Buccaneers who see the return of Ali Marpet to guard as a significant upgrade all on its own.
Never mind the signing of free agent nasty-boy center Ryan Jensen last week. That’s a great thing. But relocating Marpet back where he belongs is a relief and just.
Former Bucs tight end Dave Moore, a veteran of 16 NFL seasons and currently the color analyst on Buccaneers radio broadcasts, was on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday saying Marpet is “more fit for the guard.” That echoes what ex-Bucs tight end Anthony Becht has said, and it matches the bellowing of straight-talking former Bucs right guard Ian Beckles (1990-1996).
The Bucs experimented with Marpet at center and it didn’t work, other than getting Marpet highly valuable experience.
Time to move on — and back to sanity. Marpet was an emerging stud right guard after the 2016 season. Now he can settle back in and focus on hitting that monster guard payday after this season, his contract year. Guards earn at least 20 percent more than their center counterparts.
Marpet also should be a huge upgrade on J.R. Sweezy (assuming the Bucs are wise and put Marpet back to right guard), and Jensen in that center leadership role should make everyone around him better.
Man, if the Bucs draft Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson, it’s going to feel a lot like 2008 around here, when youngsters Donald Penn, Arron Sears, Jeff Faine, Davin Joseph and Jeremy Trueblood, all under 30, went left-to-right on the offensive line.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:09 am
of course we all knew this. That o line was pretty damn decent. It’s Koetter horrible offensive play calling that gets JW in trouble.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:10 am
Spoke to an old-school Buc alum, All-Pro center back in the day, told me that when you move Marpet away from guard, you take away what he does best………..
SO GET THE KID BACK WHERE HE CAN THRIVE!
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:12 am
I say we draft Nelson to try and recreate the Cowboys 2016 dominant O-line. I like how Marpet at least got a full year of experience at center to add to his versatility. Regardless of who you want in the 1st round, were gonna have options at #7.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:12 am
He played left tackle in college, so even at LG, he would probably transition fine. The least of our problems is where they put Ali Marley on the offensive line. Just need another good guard, and I’d love that to be Caleb benenoch on the right side.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:12 am
He was a young stud at RG, makes the simplest sense to let him build there like THIS Bucs fan had been saying. It’s a good thing we have contracts coming off the books next year, cuz we will need to pay him in the $12-13 mill per range over 5-6 years…sheesh.
SA-QUON, SA-QUON! 34 days and counting……..
Go Bucs!
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:13 am
OLine is garbage holes at RT, LG and a mediocore LT whose best quality is durability not playmaking
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:16 am
And Yes Derrick Brooks. Koetters offensive playcalling was awful last year. Vanilla , conservative, predictable. These are NFL defenses, you have to be creative. Hope he calls more like Sean Payton. No excuses for Koetter not to step it up next year.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:21 am
Yeah, RT and LG are where we need to upgrade now, and probably sooner than later. The move back to RG was a no-brainer, IMO.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:22 am
TMax still praying for you. It’s sad that you have such hate in your little troll heart.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:35 am
Koetters Offensive Play-calling Woes
– Too many long developing 7 step drops
– Lack of in game adjustments and poor game plans. Offense looked the same week in week out. Ex. not adjusting to the lack of run game
– Way to much undercenter, not enough shotgun.
– Wasting 1st and 2d down with Doug Martin getting stuffed at the line. Forcing a predictable pass play on 3rd.
– Lack of creativity with Mike Evans. Have used him the same way for his whole career. His two main plays are that deep middle curl and the outside comeback. These plays work but he can expand his used.
– Forcing Desean Jackson deep way too much. Go for the easy completions. D-jacks is clearly not just a deep threat, he is a dominant short to intermediate threat. Especially in the short game. More slants with D-Jacks please!!! It worked so well last year, do not understand why we didn’t do this more.
– There is no Rhythmic short to intermediate passing game. Just an overall lack of rhythm to the offense. All great passing teams have a dominant short to intimidate passing game ex. New England Patriots, Bill Walsh’s 49ers, New Orleans Saints.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:36 am
Nelson would look good at LG, but might not be there.
If we cant get Nelson, we need to be confident Sweezy can switch to LG, and probably still need to draft an LG in the first 4 rounds.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:37 am
“playmaking” lol. You know a lot of playmaking LTs tmax? sometimes i think your comments are just forms with blank spaces, and you fill them in with buzzwords like Mad Libs.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:45 am
Marpet was pretty good at center. He had a bit of a rough start as he learned the position, but by the time he had about 10-12 games under his belt, he was looking pretty good. It looked to me that, given the opportunity, he could develop over the course of several seasons into the sort of player who often finds himself in Pro Bowl conversations.
The only negative about moving Marpet to center is that he’s so dominant as a guard, and moving him to center takes that strength away from the line. I think it’s important to note that the experiment of moving Marpet to center wasn’t a failure because we got a bad center. We ended up with a pretty good center. The experiment failed because we had to give up Marpet as a great guard to get Marpet as a pretty good center.
But, this is the kind of creative thinking good coaches do to get their best players onto the field. If anything, moving Marpet to center spoke volumes about the dearth of overall talent and skill the Bucs had on the line last year apart from D. Smith, Dotson, and Marpet. I think the Bucs have been disproportionately kind to Sweezy for reasons they’ve never so much as hinted at, but sure leaves me curious. But, surely they can’t be relying on him again this season, can they? Pamphile looked to be developing into a valuable backup before 2017. He has one underwhelming season and he’s allowed to walk, but Sweezy is still here? He’s hardly developed into the dominant player he was projected to become when we got him, so what’s going on? Did Doug Martin pass his Koetter/Licht blackmail photos on to Sweezy before he left town?
Enquiring minds want to know.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:47 am
@SC Bucs fan…
Like I said….save your prayers for someone who deserves them….not a mindless robot.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:49 am
Round 1. Saquon Barkley or Minkah Fitzpatrick
Round 2. Will Hernandez or another Round 2 worthy OG.
OG at #7 is just too high for me even though I would be jumping in cheer and spilling my beer (haha. that’s my new catch phrase) if we got Nelson. Barkley is a no brainer and Minkah is top ten and we now need to really start on our secondary. And I don’t want to hear how Alabama players don’t do well in the NFL, Minkah is a team leader and really feels like pro bowl material. Will Hernandez is a beast and is no doubt going in round 2.
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:51 am
JUST CAN’T HAVE SWEEZY STARTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:53 am
I don’t see stubborn Koetter putting Marpet as a guard
March 23rd, 2018 at 9:54 am
Picking up Nelson should give us a cog on the line that has a lot more durability than most RBs which means that we should be able to rely on our line as a strong suit for a lot of years, so long as we can keep the band together. With that, we should be able to pick up a back in the 2nd or 3rd round and won’t need to rely on superior skills to make up for subpar hole creation. Additionally, giving Jameis all day to throw might help him be able to settle down and not look like he’s always so frantic. I’m happy with whomever we end up in what has turned in to a very nice draft position, but my vote is for Nelson
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:05 am
What is with all the RT talk? We need to upgrade Demar Dotson? Give your heads a shake, definitely not a glaring hole.
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:10 am
Jolly, you may have missed the fact that the Bucs picked up a center in FA and are moving Marpet back to guard. If the Bucs draft Nelson, Sweezy will be the odd man out.
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:21 am
No surprise. Ali Marpet excelled as a pulling guard on run plays, and has shown that far more often than not he holds his own in pass pro against premiere DTs.
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:25 am
Nelson, Wynn, Hernandez…we need a young athletic G to solidify the interior. Maybe even Benenoch!! He has shown all type of potential
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:27 am
Sign one of the top Centers who can also play Guard in FA and people think the opposite?
Yes let’s hand out that kind of cash so we can have 2 players out of position.. SMH
Unless Jensen gets hurt.. The Marpet Center experiment is OVER. That also doesn’t mean he played poorly there it could just mean JL saw a good opportunity to improve the line and did so
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:29 am
SaskBucsFan
Dotson is complete and TOTAL garbage… part time back up at best… year before last he was by far the worst football player on the field each and every Sunday… his drive killing penalties cost more points than Winston’s interceptions. Dotson has never been anything but average on a good day and terrible more than not.. again low standard buc fan confuses name recognition and popularity with being a good football player…
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:30 am
Well at least they admitted the mistake and fixed it.
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:35 am
They say Nelson is comparable to a young Logan Mankins and would likely develop into the best guard int he NFL.
That would be a pretty good guard combo with Ali.
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:41 am
Dotson is popular?
The worst player on the field was easily the 2nd round kicker.. VH3 was also terrible.
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:48 am
Phillip Says:
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:41 am
Dotson is popular?
of course he is popular with low standard buc fan mostly the same losers who proclaim cancer93 is elite even though he has never had meaningful game win or had signature game..
Not to mention Joe shoves dotson’s BS down out throats more than any other player on roster. it’s almost like dotson will be writing for these pages soon.
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:51 am
get Nelson at 7 and pick up a discarded RT when cuts are made which will be an upgrade what currently is at RT. one teams trash is another teams treasure.
use the pick for caner93 on a DT and bam bucs have hope
March 23rd, 2018 at 10:54 am
tmaxcon
But in reality Dotson was graded out as having the 2nd best pass blocking efficiency for all tackles in 2017, per PFF, ahead of Lane Johnson and below David Bakhtiari. Even named their mid season first team all pro. He even had writers around the country talking about a pro bowl season last year before he went down with injury. Don’t be hating on our team unnecessarily. Yes he had 7 penalties last year, 3 on third down. That is not world ending.
March 23rd, 2018 at 11:02 am
Tbbucs,
If you are attempting to provide an informed opinion on the offense,
You have to include and weight the impact on all your points against the capabilities and execution of the QB. To not make mention of and obviously not offset the proportion of responsibility for the play of QB is a gross error.
Dirks passing game is extremely successful without the elements you state are required to be successful. Simply look around the league and it is clear that there is more than one scheme used by the team’s. If you are correct, then the evidence would be a single scheme league wide. It’s not, you’re incorrect. Good day
March 23rd, 2018 at 11:34 am
If Nelson falls to the Bucs and they then take a young DE with their pick in round 2 – this will be a dream offseason that accomplished the main goal the Bucs have smartly focused on:
FIX THE TRENCHES, FIX THE BUCS!!
March 23rd, 2018 at 11:38 am
The Aaron Sears thing was certainly a sad story. That dude had a lot of promise as an NFL guard.
March 23rd, 2018 at 11:55 am
Jason Licht will do his balls of steel waiting game in the draft. he will wait to see what is falling and i fully expect the Bucs to move back a little if the top 3 talent guys are gone. Chubb wont be there at 7. someone is taking that beast, and Licht is not moving up for a RB. Moving back but staying in the top 15 would be ideal, again, if one of the 3 are not there. We could still take a cb, safety, or RB. I just think that a pick this high needs to end up being a pro bowler to make the pick worth it.
March 23rd, 2018 at 12:08 pm
I feel great about moving Marpet back to guard but I think we should move him LG and D. Smith to RG now that would be strength up front and in the middle with Jensen in the middle at center. We should definitely either look to sign or draft a LT at some point in this draft. One that really protects the blind side on passing plays. I’m liking Brown from Oklahoma too if we trade down with the Bills in the first. It looks solid so far though I even think Beneoch may can step up and play LT.
March 23rd, 2018 at 12:12 pm
Duke
Please go back and reread my points. These points are 100% about the play calling and formations that I see the Bucs run. These are things that Jameis WInston has absoutley 0 control over ZERO. The execution of the quarterback is a totally different consersation, that is not what im talking about.
I unlike many on here, actaully go back and watch the all-22 film. I see the routes and pass concepts that Dirk Koetter ran last year and these points are simply my evaluation of those plays.
Is it Jameis’s fault that we dont run D-jacks on enough quick hitting slants and drags routes? Nope
Ive seen Jameis play at a high level and Ive seen Dirk coach at a high level. My points are a COACH evaluation based on the Bucs 2017 season nothing more nothing less. DIrk Koetter was simply a bad play caller in 2017. Dont even know how one can possibly argue against that if you watch Bucs games.
March 23rd, 2018 at 12:30 pm
In what equated to a lost season anyway, Marpet learning how to play Center was some insanely good experience for him. He will always now be able to slide over to Center and play well if there is an injury.
Has it actually been confirmed that he’s moving back to Guard?
March 23rd, 2018 at 12:57 pm
Sweezy is a bum that just takes money from teams like Sam bradford,get rid of the bum!
March 23rd, 2018 at 1:01 pm
Gotbbucs, yes I confirm to you marpet will move back to guard being we inked a center in free agency!again,I do confirm this!
March 23rd, 2018 at 1:03 pm
I’m in moderation again,thanks joe!I love it,makes me feel special!
March 23rd, 2018 at 3:51 pm
I’d love to see Nelson drafted, but if he’s taken, don’t be too surprised if Licht grabs Will Hernandez, another small school O-lineman. He’s probably the second best Guard in this draft, and would be a nice consolation prize.