Bruce Arians, Coaches Pass On Senior Bowl
January 23rd, 2019
In the lab
Buccaneers head coaches have a lot of history at the Senior Bowl, the annual Alabama gathering of NFL movers and shakers before next month’s big show at the NFL Scouting Combine.
For example, it was at the Senior Bowl where Dirk Koetter realized in a hurry that he coveted O.J. Howard. It was also at the Senior Bowl where Raheem Morris fell hard for former Bucs linebacker Mason Foster.
But at this week’s Senior Bowl practices leading up to Saturday’s college all-star game, you won’t find head coach Bucco Bruce Arians. A couple of trusted sources have told Joe that Arians is (and will be) home in Tampa scrutinizing the Buccaneers’ roster with much of his staff. General manager Jason Licht and his team will hold down the work in Mobile. That’s some early trust right there from the head coach.
Man, Joe sure hopes Arians doesn’t have to take another physical after he watches last year’s defense.
Yes, there’s plenty of time for Arians and friends to catch up on the draft. Arians is known for how much he enjoys the Scouting Combine interview process, and he’ll certainly be out there.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:17 am
SMH.
This poor guy Arians…..oh well.
Get payeeeeeeeed while you can Bruce.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:17 am
RB Wes Hills out of Slippery Rock is a player to watch this weekend. His draft stock is rising and could be a sleeper 5th/6th round pick. Power runner that loves contact and doesn’t try to avoid getting hit like Ronald Jones.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:24 am
That’s…disappointing. He’s probably a better judge of talent than Licht.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:24 am
Critical crossroads type draft…a solid haul would be nice. Something tells me Arians may keep Licht Weight from “cutsie” picks i.e. trade-ups for hidden “gems” and other outright whiffs.
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:01 am
The draft is a crap shoot half of the 1st round picks will end up being busts. After the 1st round the bust rate is even higher than 50%. I’d rather have him focus on the current roster and available free agents that are already proven in the league.
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:06 am
I’m sure he will watch film on players hes interested in beside hes got his work cut out going through what he already has here n decide who to keep who to drop n who to trade for players they want
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:40 am
Before jumping into draft and all this college players , I agree with Bruce . Look at what good you have, what will you need to focus and areas to improve on the current team.
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:43 am
Where did this idea come from that Arians knows how to draft? Maybe he just knows how to coach the players he gets. If you think you have a win now roster then why would the entire coaching staff be at senior bowl?
This is not a big issue at all, all that effort previous coaches have put into east west shrine game and senior bowl, all those years we’ve still been losing. It has not made a difference for this team so I love it that he’s breaking a useless tradition.
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:47 am
free agency is coming up fast, as are some decisions on whether to keep\extend a bunch of fringe players and some key ones
January 23rd, 2019 at 4:05 am
Great to see that Coach Arians has his priorities straight right from the git-go. Job #1: scrutinize the current roster with your new staff so you can determine your starting point. I’m sure Coach is also using this as an opportunity to get his new staff all on the same page. Hard to tell what holes you’ve gotta fill until you know what you need and what you’ve already got. Liking Coach more & more.
January 23rd, 2019 at 4:42 am
These coaches need to quickly weed out whether our defense sucked because of personnel or because of coaching.
#7423 thinks because of coaching
Offense definitely sucked because of our sorry @ss quarterbacks (Yes I’m talking about Fitz and Jamies you Jamies lovers)
And run game sucked because our O line is weak and can’t run block, we definitely need to replace players on our O line
January 23rd, 2019 at 4:47 am
There is no question where the focus should be at this time……on FA……and in order to make FA decisions you have to evaluate your current roster……make the trades and cuts…..free up whatever cap space you can and then aggressively go after the players you want.
Most of Licht’s misses have been in FA…..
As far as the draft is concerned…..I certainly trust this group of coaches more that the past…..
I hope Jason has learned a few lessons by trying to get cute with some of his picks….go with consensus picks.
I’m hoping one or two trade down opportunities present themselves because we need to fill many holes….especially on the lines.
January 23rd, 2019 at 6:44 am
First Things First
January 23rd, 2019 at 7:03 am
BA,your blood pressure will rise when you see all our horrendous blunders.Have a beer or hot cup of tea with honey ready–you will need it after each film session.
January 23rd, 2019 at 7:15 am
Yeah because by attending, the dividends have been so spectacular. Sure sure. And then new training facility has really paid off. Sure sure
January 23rd, 2019 at 7:28 am
It’s more important to figure what you have on the roster before anything else
January 23rd, 2019 at 7:40 am
That is what scouts are for…a compilation of game tape showing how the player is actually performing within his team and unit in games is more telling….as opposed to players cobbled together with a week or two of practice…..of course bringing in a player the scouts graded high for a workout with BA is all he really needs
January 23rd, 2019 at 7:49 am
We are doomed. Jason Licht, John Spytek, and Mike Biehl are scouting. Aren’t these the guys that did the wonderful scouting job thus far?
Do we not have any fresh eyes from BA’s tree involved?
January 23rd, 2019 at 7:56 am
Bucs fan #7423 … So if I understand you right, our #31 (POINTS ALLOWED) defense sucks because of coaching but our #12 (POINTS SCORED) offense sucks because of talent. Hmmm, do you not see anything wrong with that assessment?
January 23rd, 2019 at 8:00 am
It’s probably more paramount that Bowles and his team would attend the Senior Bowl all week in my estimation, given the current state of the roster. However, remember folks that all coaching staff’s regularly receive a full video copy of the week’s proceedings in Mobile, even if not attending, so 6 of one half a dozen of another. Besides logically, before anyone would look at adding to any NFL roster, it makes 100% sense to know what you have first, before doing any cutting/adding gang.
BTW…today..as of yesterday, the great Evan Silva at Rotoworld (one of the founding members of PFT with Florio) began his 2019 Free Agency Tracker! Of course it can’t account for all the franchise tags that likely will be applied to most of the top tier talent, but good to strategize and theorize.
This site…needs to get a 2019 Free Agency Tracker going, now. If nothing else, but for conversation.
January 23rd, 2019 at 8:02 am
OK…he I go…if possible
trade back low teens and pick up a 2
pick either Cody Ford or Jawaan Taylor whoever seems to be the most highly ranked….then trade our 2 second round picks to move back into the 1st and pick up whomever is remaining Cody Ford or Jawaan Taylor….RT and LT taken care of …yeah I know we need DL maybe even more…but we need to knock the doubt out to responsibly evaluate #3 for the long term …or some variation( a DL) of this strategy if Donovan Smith is resigned
January 23rd, 2019 at 8:18 am
Like Light and his Director of Player Personnel and Director of Scouting have done such a great Job. LOL.
January 23rd, 2019 at 8:20 am
This upcoming season will be a disaster!!!!!!!!
The 2019 season will reveal answers for the sheep that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 23rd, 2019 at 8:35 am
Arians isn’t calling plays or scouting draft picks….
Why was he hired?
January 23rd, 2019 at 8:46 am
Licht and his team? You mean a keg of Pabst Blue Ribbon, AC/DC cassettes, word-whiskers, unsubstantiated optimism and a dartboard? That team? No, no concerns.
What has BA been doing the last couple of weeks? Preliminary film-watching with his staff should have been completed a week ago.
How is BA supposed to over-ride Licht in the draft room if Licht & his “team” are emphatic about a player(s) that BA & staff question? Lambchop said it, new eyes are needed.
Please keep Jason out of the draft room until the 5th round!
January 23rd, 2019 at 8:49 am
To be a Head Coach. That was Keotters problem..Couldn’t manage his coaches or control his players
January 23rd, 2019 at 8:52 am
Does a CEO lead the Sales team meeting or marketing meetings. No he holds the managers of each responsible…. Keotter didnt hold his managers accountable.
January 23rd, 2019 at 9:29 am
Defense, your take on our offense ranking/points scored, may need a 2nd look. How many points did Fitz average? High enough to skew that stat, but he’s not the QB any longer.
January 23rd, 2019 at 9:30 am
Arians has a rep as a QB whisperer who helped Manning Rapistberger Luck and Palmer reach their potential. How did he do that? By calling plays not delegating to an unproven coordinator
Koetter was hands off with the defense
Arians has given Bowles full authority over the d and he is hands off
Koetter was too loyal to Mike Smith
Arians is hiring people he’s had connections with not hiring the best coaches available
Can’t be excited by this hire until I see some results
January 23rd, 2019 at 9:53 am
B.A. is probably going to file a #MeToo claim on Cancer93’s behalf after watching him get assaulted against the run for the better part of 10 years.
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:16 am
During his last two seasons in Arizona, Arians focused on not working all that hard, which led to his ‘retirement’. Looks like not much has changed.
January 23rd, 2019 at 10:25 am
Very glad he’s focused on what the Bucs have first.
We did not have the best coaches, teachers, and minds on the defensive coaching staff last year. I think everyone would/should unanimously agree that the Bucs have vastly improved on the defensive coaching side of things this offseason.
The hope is that the Bucs already have some really talented guys on the roster that a new and good coach can tap into. Guys like Hargreaves, Spence, Vea, J. Evans, whitehead, Stewart and Carlton. Job #1 is for the coaching staff to really assess what they have there and what they can do with it. Can you imagine how much the Bucs D would improve if just two of those guys leveled up in play?
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:10 pm
Does this mean Licht will have final say on draft day? OMG, tell me it ain’t so.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:18 pm
Hope BA survives the play by play evaluation of Donovan Smith.
January 23rd, 2019 at 12:30 pm
Don’t worry i will be seeing Licht and BA at Joe Maddons Gaspy party on Saturday i’m sure hammered as always. So don’t act like Licht is there working hard. His drafts really havn’t been that great or hasn’t found that many great players at the Senior Bowl. By the way Bucs coaches from KLUELESSKOETTER are steaming mad, because a firing team is supposed to pick up the tab for outgoing coaches when they are under contract at the Senior Bowl which most are from Koetters staff. And as usual TEAM GLAZER has stiffed Koetters guys by making pay their own way. WORST ORG in Sports as usual
January 23rd, 2019 at 1:43 pm
ive always felt that some of these bowls are a bit overrated. my issue is that while you may find a diamond in the rough the players have played a season and how they play for a week or a game isnt a big body of work. kind of a fools gold kind of thing. you show up play above what they normally see and we get excited at potential…make no mistake this team needs to pick studs not projects. thats the crap thats gotten us in trouble over the last 7 years
January 23rd, 2019 at 4:26 pm
Buddy
The post on coaches not being paid from Koetter regime makes no sense. Why would an org be required to pay the way for coaches on a different team or no team at all? I doubt any contract language stipulates for things after the season…as these contracts are all 1 year in NFL with guaranteed money on some of them.
I think the only way you get invited to that party is if your serving drinks. SMH
January 23rd, 2019 at 6:38 pm
Anonymous, I’ve never heard of that either.
January 24th, 2019 at 12:50 pm
Probably wants his coaches to finish moving to Tampa and get acclimated in their new town and houses.