The Donovan Smith Drama
March 5th, 2019
Hours away from being rich.
First, the good news. Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith, a rock of stability, will still be blocking the blind side of America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston.
The not-so-good news? The Bucs may have to franchise him.
Per the desk of NFL insider Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht is feverishly trying to hammer out a long-term deal with Smith so he doesn’t have to pull the franchise tag card on Smith.
In his four seasons in the NFL, Smith has never missed a start. Players, coaches and suits absolutely love that an NFL left tackle answers the bell week in and week out. That’s a big plus in keeping Smith, who was set to be a free agent.
In the video below, Rapoport gives fans an update on the progress being made between Licht and Smith’s team. Yesterday there was a report Smith had already been tagged but the way Smith reacted on social media, it seems that report, at best, was premature.
The #Bucs are working on a long-term deal with sturdy LT Donovan Smith, but will franchise tag him if they can’t get it done in time. Either way, he’ll be with Tampa for the long haul. pic.twitter.com/uKFeYFyWj9
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 5, 2019
March 5th, 2019 at 10:26 am
Franchising him is not bad news when you consider the alternative is signing to a long term contract and you find out his inconsistency is more than him not playing to the whistle and he starts giving Anthony Collins type effort. And if he’s all that he can be signed at any point this season including after training camp when he’s worked with the coaches.
March 5th, 2019 at 10:27 am
As a purely business decision, I guess I’m OK with it. It would be extremely difficult to replace 3/5 of the line. We have to replace Dotson and I’ve got a door-stop that we could use to replace Benenoch with!
March 5th, 2019 at 10:29 am
as long as he’s a buc in 2019 and beyond im cool…..
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
March 5th, 2019 at 10:30 am
No one is talking about Trent Brown as an option, or at least what he’ll end up signing for.
March 5th, 2019 at 10:45 am
Smith should hire Benenoch’s agent….somehow Benenoch has a contract paying him $2million this year to be a door greeter for Winston World #EnjoyYourStay #ComeAgain
March 5th, 2019 at 11:01 am
Why is it “Drama”? Nothing has occurred that wasn’t expected.
March 5th, 2019 at 11:07 am
While he doesn’t take games off, he sure takes plays off.
I’m glad he’s coming back (for at least a year). If BA helps this man with his accountability, we could have a blooming player in our ranks, who signed for below market.
March 5th, 2019 at 12:08 pm
Trent Brown played in an offense where they threw the ball in like 1-2 seconds from the snap on average. Not sure how his run blocking was but Donavon Smith likely had to block about double the amount of time on an average pass pay; and Smith is pretty solid in pass pro – i’d say average at worst.
March 5th, 2019 at 12:21 pm
So between LT LG and C they will have over 34 million invested but can’t get any running lanes opened on that side?
Pathetic
March 5th, 2019 at 12:27 pm
I can’t stand the thought of having that lazy ass at LT. Well it will be good for laughs. It seems licht hired the right HC to go along with his nonsense. Hey Licht since you saved a whopping 2mil by releasing Adams why not release Minter & save another whopping mil or two.
March 5th, 2019 at 12:33 pm
Regardless of whether we re-sign Donovan or franchise him, it’ll cost us in the neighborhood of $15 mil in 2019. Personally I’d rather see us franchise him so that BA & company can evaluate him in this offense, but the most important thing is that we’ll have one less hole to fill in any event. Hope our other ‘holes’ aren’t that expensive though because we’ve got several more expensive mouths to feed in 2020.
March 5th, 2019 at 12:42 pm
Tom … Why the Bucs haven’t re-signed Andrew Adams is far beyond me. No DB even came close to his productivity … 4 INTs & 9 Passes Defensed in only 4 games started. Pro Football Rumors says that “Ultimately, the team decided that the $2.05MM tender value was too much”. But they also said that “the organization could look to bring Adams back at a lesser value.” I’m still hopeful that the Bucs will re-sign him.
Hoping that they re-sign Kevin Minter also. He did reasonably well for BA & the Cards back in 2015 & 2016. It’ll be interesting to see if they at least bring him back for depth.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:09 pm
He just signed a 3 year $27M fully guaranteed at signing. $41.25M total.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:34 pm
He plays soft and avoids major contact, self-preservation. That’s why he’s never missed a start. In fact the biggest reason we are signing him is because of his perceived iron man persona rather than his phenomenal play. Smith played this out perfectly. Now that he’s a wealthy man will he play harder or will he play cautious and in self preservation mode. I hope he plays balls to the wall and has the drive to dominate but I’m not holding my breath.
March 5th, 2019 at 9:46 pm
Now we need to clear can space …