“Just By Osmosis, Man”
April 30th, 2018
Ronde Barber talks Bucs draft and Brent Grimes. (Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
You could argue that Brent Grimes was the Buccaneers’ MVP in 2016.
And you could at least make a case he was last season.
Now he’ll be gunning for three in a row — in a different kind of way.
Grimes remains every bit as valuable on the field, but Bucs icon Ronde Barber was pointing on Friday night to how Grimes will be a critical component to the development of the Buccaneers’ pair of rookie cornerbacks just drafted in the second round: M.J. Stewart and Carlton Davis.
Barber opened up on The Johnny B Show on 102.5 FM The Bone.
Simply stated, Barber said Grimes’ presence, knowledge, expertise and work ethic is invaluable and the rookies should benefit “just by osmosis, man.”
Barber explained that underrated veteran cornerback Anthony Parker was his guy when Barber was drafted in 1997.
“I was in his hip pocket, man.” Barber said. “It helped me accelerate my progression. … I just followed him. I did everything he did. [I thought,] ‘If I could do what he did and maybe do it a little bit better. If I can just have that career, I can be a great football player.'”
Of course, Barber ended up snatching Parker’s starting job midway through the 1998 season and the rest is history. It was a fast learning curve for Barber but he said Friday to expect a typical talented cornerback to need 2 1/2 to 3 years to play his best ball.
Yes, it is especially critical for Grimes to stay healthy this season — for a multitude of reasons.
Without Grimes, who will these rookies learn from? Vernon Hargreaves, Ryan Smith, Josh Robinson?
April 30th, 2018 at 4:37 pm
“Without Grimes, who will these rookies learn from? Vernon Hargreaves, Ryan Smith, Josh Robinson?”
Thats the kinda sentence that’ll give someone nightmares
April 30th, 2018 at 4:40 pm
I guess this is the year Hargreaves turns the corner…Hopefully
April 30th, 2018 at 4:42 pm
It was a fast learning curve for Barber but he said Friday to expect a typical talented cornerback to need 2 1/2 to 3 years to play his best ball.
Let’s not write Hargraves off yet. He is young. My daughter just graduated from college this weekend so I was surrounded by people this young. It’s almost laughable what we expect a 20, 21, 22 year old to do!
April 30th, 2018 at 4:45 pm
Hopefully they can learn from Brian Anger since Joe would rather have drafted a bunch of punters….
April 30th, 2018 at 4:47 pm
The Bucs betting their season on a couple of rookie corners, it’s a big risk for Licht to put himself and Dirk into that situation. We shall see, but traditionally you don’t expect much from rookie corners, rookie safeties and in particular rookie defensive lineman. Evans, after a slow start, ended up having a nice rookie year, so for all the lack of worry about development of young guys, that’s one guy who is somewhat of a bright spot. As for VH3 he had a solid rookie year and looked fine in the preseason and opener but then went to Minnesota and looked terrible (not as bad as Ryan Smith, but then again there is literally no one worse than Ryan Smith so that isn’t saying much). Then from there VH3 went into a funk before getting injured. Hopefully it was just a scheme issue, why Mike Smith had his corners playing 10-15 yards off the line is insane, nearly as insane as the dopes who think VH3 decided to line-up like that on his own and didn’t think the coaches were the ones telling him to do that.
Anywho if Grimes continues to be healthy AND VH3 makes a comeback and continues on the track he was on prior to the Vikings game and can lock down the slot and one of these rookies can play outside and Tandy starts instead of Conte then- and you mix that with a d-line getting pressure, man, you could have a big turnaround on defense happen every quickly. It’s a lot of IF’s however.
April 30th, 2018 at 4:51 pm
Rick – I agree with you Rick, VH3 shouldn’t be written off quite yet, plus with his salary hit it’s not like he’s going anywhere, the Bucs would have to eat his full deal and give up on a #11 pick. That isn’t happening, not unless VH3 has some other issues we don’t know about. If he can man the slot, and Dirk was signing his praises bigly a couple of weeks ago, then that will be huge. VH3 should be given every change to bounce back and if he can get back to his pre-Vikings self he should be fine.
April 30th, 2018 at 4:54 pm
Rhonde Barber says, ” to expect a typical talented cornerback to need 2 1/2 to 3 years to play his best ball.”
WOW, that really blows away joe’s stupid light a candle cause no one can develop crack-pot theory!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 30th, 2018 at 4:58 pm
Man, check out the hops on that dude. When you can ball, you can ball.
April 30th, 2018 at 5:00 pm
MVP of a 38 ranked defense?! Don’t insult the guy man, don’t tag his name to that shiiiiiiiieeet show.
April 30th, 2018 at 5:04 pm
If I remember correctly, the fans and coaches had just about given up on Barber when the light went on. He was a 3rd rd pick and we kept hearing “too small and too slow”.
As a rookie, he only played in one game. 2nd year, he started 9 games. 3rd year he started 15 of 16 games
April 30th, 2018 at 5:22 pm
Rod Munch agree 100%, what kills me is Licht has drafted 3 Dlineman in 5 years, a 2nd round undersized DE, a 7th round NT, and Vea, we need more draft capital invested in developing young linemen, going the free agent route has been a nightmare so far, hopefully this year will be different but he signed a backup NT Allen, a 29 year old rotation DE Curry, trade for a former 29 yr stud that easily could be on the decline, he gets props for trying to upgrade the dline, but it’s his fault by not drafting more guys, even investing late round picks is better than nothing, did we really need 2 WR that didn’t make it out of training camp, 2 fullbacks same thing, a 5th rd RB can’t learn a playbook, that’s 5 guys we could’ve tried dlineman sure they could’ve failed to, but at least 1 you’d hope the staff could develop as depth
April 30th, 2018 at 5:22 pm
It takes time to develop someone! Look up the word development ! Y’all make me sick
April 30th, 2018 at 5:26 pm
The Buc coaches back then were not able to develop Myron Lewis either…..
Myron Lewis….another fantastic Mark Dominick pick….
Thought I’d ruin everyone’s afternoon by bringing him up.
April 30th, 2018 at 5:36 pm
Again you can’t judge in a Vacuum. How many teams have 5 starting caliber Corners. Players are backups for a reason. Quit being stupid..
April 30th, 2018 at 5:41 pm
@Guzzie
So true. D-Lineman, after QB’s, have the most value and are the most difficult to find.
1st and 2nd rounders next year should be for young DE’s. 2 of them!
April 30th, 2018 at 6:01 pm
Well what Happened to Vh3 idk if I want Grimes even near the new products…..
April 30th, 2018 at 6:07 pm
@ Rod, if what you say is true about MS telling VH3 to play off the line, then Mike Smith is a complete liar. He has repeatedly said that he gives them the freedom to play as closeto the line as they want to….
April 30th, 2018 at 6:13 pm
LOL…develop….this is the NFL not some remote county HS football team with 39 kids showing up ….coaches on both sides “explain” the scheme ,teach the scheme…practice the scheme…always looking for the next better player fitting in with their scheme…ain’t no developing in the NFL….Scot Brantley has a perfect coach MaCay story along those lines….something like…”I’m always looking for your replacement”…
April 30th, 2018 at 6:14 pm
Wonder if Grimes has any interest in coaching. Most NFL players simply have too much money…unless they really get the coaching bug.
Grimes is in the perfect position if he ever thought about coaching after his career.
April 30th, 2018 at 6:16 pm
McKay
April 30th, 2018 at 6:28 pm
Shut up is right. Smith was asked last year and he said it is up to the CB how far off the LOS they lineup.
April 30th, 2018 at 6:28 pm
TRUTH!!! YOU KNOW THEY SURE AS HELL AINT GONNNA LEARN FROM THE COACHES!!!
April 30th, 2018 at 6:32 pm
VH3 played his best in college playing press on the line. I really hope all this talk of them playing press this year is not just b.s. It’s the one thing I have been dreaming of seeing every season, and every year its the same crap. League wide joke with defensive coaching. I can see Buckner up in the booth throwing Mike Smith against the wall by week 3
April 30th, 2018 at 6:37 pm
Some players take longer to “get it” just like some posters in here. Let’s hope VH3 figures it out this year and takes that step.
April 30th, 2018 at 6:40 pm
LVD was the MVP last year. At least on defense. 101 combined tkl, 76 solo. Those aren’t outstanding numbers but it was the worst D in the league. What makes him MVP is the 5 FF.
April 30th, 2018 at 6:45 pm
Buc fans better pray VH3 gets it rather than claiming he was a bust…and bragging you knew it all along
April 30th, 2018 at 9:06 pm
Couldn’t the Bucs still shore up the secondary in free agency? Still a lot of talent out there unsigned.
April 30th, 2018 at 9:12 pm
Maybe the coaches can help a bit? 😉
April 30th, 2018 at 9:49 pm
The talent upgrade on both sides of the ball has been great !…and the process is not finished….veterans will be cut soon and later before September…IMO we need another veteran QB soon….that and a lockeroom
April 30th, 2018 at 9:59 pm
Rod Munch
So thats how the games look, When you head is up yer a**.
Interesting perspective!
Heres the truth
Hagreaves was bad his rookie year. No big deal, all rookies suck.
Last year, he was getting beat deep. The more he got beat deep, the futher he backed up. Coach Smith wanted him closer. He was giving up 6 yard completions every play.
Hargreaves got so bad- they benched him, and gave his job to Ryan Smith.
Who was a rookie.
For a team to bench a high first round pick- is an embarrassment to both Licht and Koetter.
They tried to save face, by putting Hargreaves at the slot- even though it was obvious that Robert McClain was much better.
Now, sounds like they drafted Stewart to be our slot corner.
Hargreaves is going to have a hard time making it out of traing camp
And why?
Because hes too slow, too short, and not the sharpest tool in the shed
And thems de facts.
April 30th, 2018 at 11:17 pm
“expect a typical talented cornerback to need 2 1/2 to 3 years to play his best ball”
Sooooo – that means Hargreaves will be “balling” by game 8???
May 1st, 2018 at 9:20 am
“It was a fast learning curve for Barber but he said Friday to expect a typical talented cornerback to need 2 1/2 to 3 years to play his best ball…”
Um. So…two years is not enough?
He is pretty much saying people have given up on VHIII too soon then. He himself has done that.
My hope is that Vernon takes his experience from last year and improves this off season like Mike Evans did when he had a ‘bad year’. I would love for him to crams the words of naysayers down their throats.
May 1st, 2018 at 9:20 am
Pickgrin, stop stealing my thunder, lol.
May 1st, 2018 at 9:29 am
It seems too me what nobody is talking about is the 2 new corners are supposed to excel at press coverage. I expect to see a lot of rotation in the secondary this coming season. Depending on down and distance and opponents! GO TAMPA!
May 1st, 2018 at 12:41 pm
The Buc Realist Says:
April 30th, 2018 at 4:54 pm
Rhonde Barber says, ” to expect a typical talented cornerback to need 2 1/2 to 3 years to play his best ball.”
WOW, that really blows away joe’s stupid light a candle cause no one can develop crack-pot theory!!!!!!!!
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Please don’t call anybody or anything “stupid” and misspell an easy-to-spell Buccaneer legend’s name in the same post.
May 2nd, 2018 at 10:44 pm
The best teaching moment from the VHIII mess is the Bucs need to stop trying to teach players to play to things other than their strengths. VHIII was decent in the slot last year; that is his natural position. So what that he was not drafted to play the slot? If he becomes a Pro Bowl slot corner, the Bucs should be happy.
Play to a player’s strengths. No matter which way you turn a screwdriver to look at it, it will never be a wrench. Teach VHIII to be the best slot CB he can be. That would be one less weakness on the roster.
Or they can keep trying to make him fit in at outside corner and have 2 weaker positions. Seems obvious, but maybe not.
Besides, if VHIII is great in the slot, but was drafted to play outside where he is terrible, who’s the blame, Hargraves or the skills evaluators?