Stewart Didn’t Look Slow
May 14th, 2018
Bucs DB M.J. Stewart, the No. 53 overall pick in the draft, hauls in a pass in drills during rookie minicamp. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
When the Bucs selected rookie defensive back M.J. Stewart out of North Carolina, a knock on him was that he isn’t overly quick.
That didn’t appear the case on one play Joe witnessed during underwear football rookie minicamp over the weekend.
Fifth-round pick wide receiver Justin Watson was running a post pattern and Stewart was the defender. Watson tried to get past him but didn’t quite succeed by using his 4.4 speed.
Watson did beat Stewart, though, barely.
Watson smartly used his body to gain a half-step and position himself in front of Stewart to track the pass. Stewart tried to make up for it by being physical with Watson, and if this were a game or if the practice had referees, Stewart easily would have been flagged.
But seeing a 4.4 guy have to use his body and not his speed to gain an edge on Stewart sure looked to Joe like Stewart is quick enough to compete in the NFL.
May 14th, 2018 at 12:13 am
Another way to look at it , an Ivy League late round pick best the top 3rd round pick on a deep ball. Not impressed with Stewart.
May 14th, 2018 at 12:29 am
Brent Grimes and vh3 aren’t known for speed either but Grimes has still had a successful NFL career. Your guys are your guys and they’ll have every chance to be successful corners just like Ryan Smith did a guy who’s known for speed but not coverage skills
May 14th, 2018 at 12:32 am
Watson couldn’t get position or out accelerate Carlton Davis, though. I’m still baffled as to why we’d pick Stewart over Isaiah Oliver.
May 14th, 2018 at 12:38 am
They might consider making Stewart a safety, who knows?
May 14th, 2018 at 1:07 am
Badger,
The reason is attitude IO didn’t play with a chip.
May 14th, 2018 at 1:37 am
I’ll need more than one or two plays to be sold on either side of the argument. Will be happily awaiting more info once they’re proven products and have consistently shown me they’re beating or getting beat.
May 14th, 2018 at 2:20 am
Something about lipstick and pigs come to mind.
May 14th, 2018 at 5:37 am
@Bager
The Bucs obviously had higher grades on Stewart and Davis…Davis and Stewart both can cover and are much better tacklers than Oliver…
May 14th, 2018 at 5:57 am
The reporter describes one play, the way HE sees it, and you guys make assumptions based on it. Hysterical. Sit back, have another beer, or coffee, and let the pro’s figure it out. Both of these guys can play, and the professionals know it. Shhh. Stay in your lanes.
May 14th, 2018 at 6:26 am
I’ll reserve judgement on Stewarts’s NFL ready speed when I see him defend against Djax….
May 14th, 2018 at 6:30 am
All 3 CBs… that bucs picked in this year’s draft…are BETTER than Hargraves.
#28 is not good at all.
May 14th, 2018 at 6:35 am
It’s ok, he doesn’t need to.worry about anyone running past him. He will be at minimum ten yards back and will get picked apart with slant routes. Im.surprised Drew, Matt, and.Cam haven’t started prepparing goodie baskets for at the end of.every season for the entire Bucs defensive coaching staff saying “thanks for another great year!
May 14th, 2018 at 7:07 am
Guy klatt of ESPN called it.. He tends to be a flag magnet at times
May 14th, 2018 at 7:23 am
In the NFL speed is supplemented with anticipation and recognition!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 14th, 2018 at 8:01 am
Also impressed to see that Watson isn’t a one-trick pony. So he had a DB keeping up with him…he has the smarts to know how to determine another advantage and use it. Promising stuff for the Ides of May.
May 14th, 2018 at 8:40 am
watson just may be a jurevicius 2.0. i wanted oliver too but see why mj is attractive for a defense wanting to shore up the back end. its like taking charles tillman over a more man cover guy.
May 14th, 2018 at 8:52 am
@Horse Liver
It really doesn’t matter where the guy came from, or what round he was taken in.
Watson could very well be the steal of the draft.
I bet if Antoine Harris had picked off Tom Brady in Rookie Camp back in 2000, you would have said, Yeah he picked off a guy who was taken as the 199th pick overall, NOT IMPRESSED.
May 14th, 2018 at 9:01 am
LOL! He didn’t look slow? Look at the clip of Stewart getting burned by Chris Murray for a deep ball down field. He showed ZERO recovery speed. Against a try out player who didn’t even make the 90 man roster.
May 14th, 2018 at 9:19 am
Wen passed on some good guys to take him.
I just feel like this pick is a head scratcher on so many levels
May 14th, 2018 at 9:26 am
Destinjohny gets it. No possible way M.J. Stewart was bpa or the best DB available in the second round, 53 overall. Sorry, not buying it.
May 14th, 2018 at 9:31 am
@DB55
I actually agree with you 100 percent on this matter. I think Licht blew it by passing on Isiah Oliver and Donte Jackson to take Stewart. And I think he blew it even bigger by taking Jordan Whitehead over Shaquem Griffin.
May 14th, 2018 at 9:38 am
Stewart really elevated his draft status with his Senior Bowl practice sessions. I think I read somewhere that he was the highest rated nickel corner in the draft, and he has great versatility in that he can play inside, outside or even at Safety. I see him competing for starting nickel this season, with Davis playing outside.
May 14th, 2018 at 10:07 am
Watson ran 4.42 at his Pro Day, hand-timed. If he were timed electronically, the margin for error is far less and times tend to be .05 to .1 slower…. his real 40 time is likely 4.47-4.52…. not a burner but still not bad for a 6’2 215 lb WR.
May 14th, 2018 at 10:07 am
In the modern NFL, you need to hit homeruns in the first 2/3 picks of the draft
plug and play starters for at least 5 years…Teams need to take advantage of the rookie salaries
Kobe believes we got a bunch of 2nd tier backups that definitely wouldnt be starting in any other teams
You need playmakers in every positon to be the elite teams of the NFL
2018 draft will be known for bypassing the future All pro Derwin James (2x)
May 14th, 2018 at 10:09 am
I have a very good feeling that there are going to be a lot of arguments about who is the “real” steal of this Bucs draft. There will be several to choose from.
I hope, I hope, I hope.
_______________
Go Bucs!!!!!
May 14th, 2018 at 10:24 am
Blake, where is that tape of MJ getting burned? I thought I’d seen all the mini camp tapes but I guess I haven’t because I’ve not found that yet.
May 14th, 2018 at 10:51 am
You guys are hillarious. Well to all you so called arm chair gms that feel the bucs “reached” for a pick, why dont you do your uneducated @$$es a favor and google the official NFL draft breakdown of MJ stewart. Google…..”2018 NFL draft profile. Breaking down MJ stewart’s college highlights. At the conclusion of the video, the narrator clearly states that this man will be a 2nd round draft pick. You can watch a video for carlton davis, vea, whitehead. All those players were picked in the round the NFL projectected them. Could they bust? Sure but so can oliver and who ever else you whiny babies are crying for. The bucs did not reach. They got proper value period on a player or players they like over oliver. Stop with all this crying. You know nothing as it relates to evaluating talent so let it play out first shall we?
May 14th, 2018 at 12:24 pm
Wow. That’s all I’m gonna say Joe. Just wow. You’ve reached a new level a ridiculous with that kind of censorship. I thought you were supposed to be a free speech absolutist?
I’m really disappointed in you right now.
May 14th, 2018 at 12:26 pm
Blake:
There is no such thing as censorship here. This site is a business. Good luck going into a Verizon store and telling folks to go shop at Sprint instead.
May 14th, 2018 at 1:31 pm
One way to look at it is if bucs drafted Davis then Stewart there would’ve been less head scratching but with the same result. I see we drafted stewart possibly cause he plays with attitude does anyone know if vea plays that way?from his interviews he doesn’t strike me as someone with a mean streak hopefully being around Buckner and cappa rubs off on vea
May 14th, 2018 at 2:18 pm
Considering the focus of the Bucs’ draft it’s obvious why Licht took Stewart over Isaiah Oliver. Stewart is know for his physical play and toughness, Oliver is know to be soft and for overprotecting his body against injury during contact. Not the type of CB the Bucs were looking for. There’s a good chance the Patriots would have taken Stewart if we had waited so it looks to me that Licht played this scenario perfectly, getting 2 quality young CB’s in the round where he knew CB’s would fly off the board. I agree with Oxy, not many would have had a problem if the Bucs had taken Davis first and then Stewart. But we know now that Davis would still be there at 63 but Stewart may not have been.
May 14th, 2018 at 4:15 pm
“But we know now that Davis would still be there at 63 but Stewart may not have been.”
Seems to me that Licht had targeted both Stewart and Davis coming into day 2. He somehow knew that Davis would be available later in the 2nd – to the point that he was willing to trade back from 56 to 63 – (which netted us S- Whitehead for free btw). I can only assume also that Jason either had intel or a gut feeling that Stewart would be off the board sooner than later while sitting at 53 and turned in the card for 1 of the 2 CBs he intended to draft – believing the 2nd would still be there – not only 3 but obviously 10 spots later.
May 14th, 2018 at 6:54 pm
@Pickgrin
Exactly. A Beautiful Mind.
May 14th, 2018 at 10:51 pm
The more I study these guys we got and more on the guys u guys wanted (Oliver) I gotta say both Stewart and Carlton are Superior to Oliver.
May 14th, 2018 at 11:20 pm
Slow the f#ck up Stewart haters. Guy was All-ACC and that ain’t a conference that is easy to defend the pass so stop trying to compare him to Ryan Smith. And Stewart is a hard hitter that takes good angles. He could very well be a good safety at some point in his career, but we’ll see what happens.
May 15th, 2018 at 7:32 am
Ryan Smith was a project …I like his speed…the BUCS pushed him to Safety his rooki season…all these guys are projects and it’s time for for the Coaching Staff to get off there ass and develop these guys …there needs to be some heavy turn-over in that secondary this season !!