Cavalry On The Horizon?
April 30th, 2019
Available soon?
For the folks who wander their backyards aimlessly cursing at the moon, scaring neighborhood pets and residents alike because of their annual ritual of hollering about the Bucs’ offensive line, this post is for you.
A look into the future could bring new players. Maybe not for this season, but for 2020.
Bucs center Ryan Jensen did not have the greatest of seasons last year. He was the highest paid center in the NFL at $12 million. This season his salary drops to $10 million.
However, if Jensen again disappoints this season, the Bucs have an out in his contract where the Bucs could walk away from Jensen without any financial penalties, per Spotrac.com.
Then, there are situations brewing in Dallas that bear monitoring. Starting center Travis Frederick missed all of 2018 with an illness but he is scheduled to be full-go for their June mandatory minicamp. Like Jensen, the Cowboys have an out in Frederick’s contract after this season. Frederick’s replacement, Joe Looney, who started all 16 games last season, is a free agent after the 2019 campaign.
Additionally, the Cowboys seem to be preparing to move on from tackle La’el Collins. Dallas drafted guard/center Connor McGovern this past weekend and Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News believes that could signal the end of Collins.
I think there’s been a belief for a while that this is Collins’ last year because he’s a good player, but not great. He’s a better guard than tackle, but the Cowboys aren’t moving him back to guard. … If Collins leaves after this season, no one should be surprised.
So the Cowboys could be parting ways with two starters on their offensive line after this season. Who knows how long Demar Dotson has and Jensen is a wild card. So if the Bucs need reinforcements, perhaps both the Bucs and Bucs fans should keep tabs on developments in Dallas.
Might Jerry Jones put down his glass of Johnny Walker Blue long enough to trade an offensive lineman to the Bucs?
April 30th, 2019 at 9:07 am
Benenoch was successful at UCLA at right tackle.
Kappa may show up this year with better coaching.
Don’t underestimate how bad previous coaching staff was.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:10 am
You cant judge Benenoch after playing next to the worst rt the nfl has ever seen. Hell Benenoch might be all pro…. rt far bigger need than rg
April 30th, 2019 at 9:11 am
That is great news for next year. Now I have something to look forward to. I think they could have made a small effort in this area this year but that didn’t happen. I believe our defense will improve this year and that is not saying to much coming from the bottom and drafting mostly defense this year. If we cant open holes for a running back it does not mater who runs the ball. I hope that coaching can improve that but if they don’t JW3 is going to have a tough year. I am sorry but I do not want to keep tabs on Dallas this year to see if they get rid of a lineman. Keeping tabs on the Bucs is a full time job. Go Bucs.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:15 am
Yea these fans would be onboard with giving up the house for an average player but guess what the bucs have already showed they think they have “good” on this roster. Clear up some cap space and I could see a trade happening easily just like last year. Then again this fan base loves their late round picks to go get their whipping boys for the year so won’t want to part with picks lol. Licht sure drafted like a guy who expects to be here next year
April 30th, 2019 at 9:15 am
The Redskins were pulling guys off the street to play the Bucs, who out played Benenoch
April 30th, 2019 at 9:24 am
The hint was right tackle Sarasota!!!! He decent for us at right tackle as well and for some reason it didn’t dawn on that horrible coaching staff to play him there permanently, if they had they wouldn’t have been drafting tackles trying to put them at guard so much. It’s actually pretty stupid how Dirk decided to draft rookies and then at the highest level of competition make them play out of position
April 30th, 2019 at 9:25 am
THAT was damning!
April 30th, 2019 at 9:27 am
Or once Licht trades McCoy to the Browns he should use a bit of that cap space to lure the top Tackle in the US, Martez Ivey, when he went to the Gators, to sign as an undrafted Buc’s Free Agent. He started all four years for the Gators with half that time at Guard and the other half at OT. His best year was last year as a senior when he played exceptionally against Ga. and then Michigan in the Peach Bowl. Now I know Licht would rather find his linemen in small colleges rather then take a proven SEC Veteran Lineman who has blocked some of the top defensive linemen in the country. Also taking a Gator would help attract more die hard Gator Fans to buy tickets to watch the Bucs play. Atlanta regularly takes Gator players and gives them an edge over us.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:35 am
Does anyone think demar is a good tackle? Dude walks like lurch, no way he can move fast enough to help Benenoch. Right side is cold trash.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:54 am
collins is a RG….something we may need….
but im sure other teams will be licking their chops if they hit the FA market….
Go Bucs!!!!
April 30th, 2019 at 9:57 am
Picking over tires in the used tire rack outside the new tires store….
April 30th, 2019 at 10:02 am
Jensen didn’t have the greatest of seasons…that is true…but he also did not have a bad season.
For the most part, he was solid, outside of some tough guy penalties.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:04 am
The Bucs O-Line reminds me of a movie
The Bad New Bears!!
April 30th, 2019 at 10:05 am
Bad News Bears
April 30th, 2019 at 10:07 am
At best, Benenoch is bad depth. He won’t do well at Right Tackle either.
After Dotson retires, we’re looking at (presently)
RT Michael Liedtke
RG Alex Cappa
C Ryan Jensen
LG Ali Marpet
LT Donovan Smith
And I’m good with that…as everyone else will be by the end of this season. Barring getting a generational OL guy in the next draft.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:12 am
Stonedbuc Says
“Does anyone think demar is a good tackle?”
He’s been an excellent tackle for us…he’s just getting a bit old now. The problem is that Benenoch was so bad that Dotson was trying to compensate instead of focusing on his own position.
Benenoch will not be the starting guard this year. Coaches are focusing on prepping Cappa for the role.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:12 am
Benenoch was a waste as a RG. May have potential at RT, but we’ll know soon enough. He won’t be carried on this roster IMO unless he shows better than he did last year. Cappa is still a big puzzle to me. Good size but looks weak … he got rag-dolled too many times last year. Put some beef on him and who knows what we’ve got.
I’m still of the opinion that Bucs will pick up a RG and a RB before the season starts. LOTS of good veterans always seem to get released at the end of training camp.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:12 am
Joe, this if off topic, but have you heard anything on Jack Cichy?
April 30th, 2019 at 10:17 am
@Defense Rules
I think part of the reason Cappa looked that way last year was that he was acclimating, trying to focus on not making mistakes instead of taking the bull by the horns, so to speak.
We already know he has strength…he consistently put people on the ground while blocking in college. More muscle might help a bit too. NFL are a bit stronger.
I thing a lot of fans underestimate the impact of making it to the NFL for some of these guys. This is a goal they’ve worked hard to achieve…just getting there…and it can be a little overwhelming that first year.
Which is why they usually have better second years. Hopefully, Cappa will do well.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:18 am
Wow…my typos there were worse than TMax’s opinions.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:22 am
Bonzi
Calling dotson excellent lol you are beyond clueless…. his own mother woud call him average to below average…. just because he was the best turd in the bowl a couple of years still makes him a turd… dude seek help… no one ever has thought Dotson was excellent at anything except killing drives and penalties….
Between that useless lazy left tackle and dotson they have killed ten times the drives and scoring opportunities…. far more than jameis turnovers….
April 30th, 2019 at 10:24 am
Bonzi
My opinion are based on actual results pal not delusional assumptions made by a clueless fool like yourself…. the current basement title streak proves im always right
April 30th, 2019 at 10:26 am
LakeLand Says:
April 30th, 2019 at 10:05 am
Bad News Bears
Nice….. bad news bears were f##k ups with heart bucs are just f##k ups
April 30th, 2019 at 10:42 am
Next year? We needed O-line help 2 years ago.
Wasn’t Collins the guard that our Bucs (and the rest of the league) didn’t want to spend even a 6th round pick on b4 the Cowgirls took him in the 6th or 7th because of some “hassle”? What has changed? Licht is still stupid!
April 30th, 2019 at 10:54 am
Who’s our Right Guard?
April 30th, 2019 at 10:57 am
So..what exactly was the point made here in the summation?? That the Bucs would trade for a RG that has $8.5 million remaining on his 2019 salary alone AFTER the trade (per OTC) while the Bucs are still in salary cap hell??! A big fat, nope. We aint doing that.
Plus, although Jensen (whom you’ve referenced in like 17 prior articles as having allegedly played so poorly) hasn’t played “so poorly”. Just not up to his prior $12 now $10 million salary. He’ll likely clean up the obvious roughness penalties after the play is over. PLUS, Collins can not play Center. Looney isn’t leaving Dallas, way too affordable.
Perhaps…a much better thesis on filling the RG spot, would either be a player-for-player GMC trade for RG, or more likely, the veteran cuts coming soon from all teams post-draft, finding a 2 year stop-gap at RG for say $5 million combined over 2 years. Look for that.
April 30th, 2019 at 11:04 am
We are hinging a lot of damn hope on this Alex Cappa guy. We need to be flexible to trade or do something for RG if that doesn’t work out.
Not as worried about RT between Dotson/Liedke/Benecoch. None of those looked like the sieves at RT that Benecoch looked like at RG.
It’s just annoying to know how a slight upgrade to OL could pay huge dividends for run game / scoring offense /e tc and take us from a top 12 scoring team to top 5 but whatever I guess. I really hope Eglton Jenkins/Eric McCoy are not great players in the NFl at this point lol
April 30th, 2019 at 11:38 am
I’d take Collins to pencil in at guard hell yeah
April 30th, 2019 at 11:49 am
tmax- I’m calling B.S.! Benenoch did just fine being horrific all on his own. Having Dotson next to him should have made him stand out….and it did, AS A TURNSTILE!
No player on that offensive line played worse than Benenoch! The Bucs would’ve been better off putting Will Gholston there. He sure as heck can’t play defensive end, why not try guard?!
April 30th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Bucsfanman
Dotson has been nothing but a popular feel good story… at best he’s average at worst he is a walking drive killing penalty machine
April 30th, 2019 at 12:01 pm
You people do realize there is a still another 4 months before the season starts? There is still a lot of roster turnover to occur before we play a game. I am quite sure there will be additions to the OL before the games start.
April 30th, 2019 at 12:06 pm
Bucsfanman
All these anti jameis fools nonstop crying about turn overs makes me laugh. As one of the smartest people here would you help me understand this one simple question what is the difference in a drive stalling or a scoring opportunity lost between an interception/fumble versus a penalty, field goal pushed back or score called back when our two dancing clowns at rt and lt are alternating penalties and whiffs on blocks…. both end the same way with ball to opponents
April 30th, 2019 at 12:06 pm
Could’ve had Collins in 2015 for a fifth round pick…. Yes I begged for it at the time.. But Kenny Bell did look good in underwear.
April 30th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
JabooBuc
So during that 4 months your banking on this minor league roster being upgraded by other teams garbage, udfa and cap casualties that aren’t worth a crap…. that’s the exact formula that has made the bucs proud owners of the worst winning percentage in NFL history and the proud owners of an unprecedented basement title streak
I’ll admit most of the other teams garbage is better than our roster but it still won’t make bucs competitive
April 30th, 2019 at 12:32 pm
Hey Tmaxcon, Is RT Dotson now your new player your going to whip up your feelings over? How about you head out of Tampa on 4 hit 95 north and go home root for the Jags. I know I am not the only one here who is tired of your BS. Get over yourself and your player evaluations , because if you were half as good as you think you are, you would have NFL teams beating down your trailer door to get you to run their personal department. I wouldn’t hold your breath on that, but on a positive note we all hope you might. Maybe GMC can give you CPR if you do.
Go Bucs!
April 30th, 2019 at 12:37 pm
Bring back bucs. Yeah dumb Jason Licht. Know what your talking about first. No team drafted him. He went undrafted. Then the cowboys added him as a undrafted free agent. I’m sure Licht tried to sign him as did every other team in the league. Because after the draft is when they were made aware he had nothing to do with his ex girlfriends murder. You cant draft a guy that the police said he was wanted for questioning in the murder of someone.
April 30th, 2019 at 12:56 pm
Our gm things we are loaded on the o -line
Wow
Good thing our left tackle and center are underpaid…..
April 30th, 2019 at 1:00 pm
Tnew
So you’re the dipsh!t who’s been pining for Collins the last few years.
You do remember he said he would only sign with Dallas right?
He ain’t all that man……. let it go!
April 30th, 2019 at 1:09 pm
@tmaxcon … “Dotson has been nothing but a popular feel good story… at best he’s average at worst he is a walking drive killing penalty machine”. Hmmm, pretty strong indictment tmax. It’s also WRONG.
There’s a very good website at http://www.nflpenalties.com/team/tampa-bay-buccaneers?year=2018&view=players that does a great job of breaking down penalties by team & by player. In 2018 Dotson was flagged for 10 penalties total in 15 games, of which 7 penalties were accepted (3 declined). Jensen had 11 (all accepted), Donovan had 6 (5 accepted), Benenoch had 6 (5 accepted), Marpet had 2 (both accepted), and Evan Smith had 2 (both accepted).
So that means that Dots had 7 accepted penalties in 15 games, less than .5 penalties per game average (the penalties that weren’t accepted apparently didn’t impact anything). On the OLine Jensen had more penalties (11) and their impact was quite a bit more pronounced (all 11 were accepted). BTW, someone else on the team had more penalties than Dotson. That’d be Auclair (he had 8 penalties, all were accepted). Auclair had 338 snaps on offense … Dots had 1004. With 3 times as many snaps, Dotson’s 7 penalties don’t look that bad to me.
@tmaxcon … “My opinion are based on actual results pal not delusional assumptions.” Really?
April 30th, 2019 at 1:20 pm
RustyRhinos
Nothing new pal… been pointing out that Dotson is far more popular than good for years…. cancer93, lvd and Dotson are board members of the losing culture… all 3 recieve free pass after free pass for leading bucs current basement title streak…. when in reality cancer93 and Dotson are average at best and lvd has only had one good season 2013….
There is nothing to get over. I have accepted being perfect years ago…. being always right is burden i have to live with im a victim too
April 30th, 2019 at 1:24 pm
Dr
SCOREBOARD
Your research which i appreciate leaves out key factors TIMING of penalties and field position….
Math can’t always be used to justify failure sir…. see tickdr wonderful math work ups on glennon lol
April 30th, 2019 at 1:33 pm
D R
At the end of the day the SCOREBOARD has never been wrong unlike meaningless rankings, meaningless pro bowls selections, stats and other irrelevant BS to justify the ineptness of this organization.
Bucs had a top defensive unit for 5 years under dungy the clown yet were a horrible team that were always pretenders
never contenders…..
SCOREBOARD never lies and it has no feelings to cloud reality
April 30th, 2019 at 4:34 pm
For all those that a blaming former OL coach George Warhop you might want to think again. If this guy was so bad as a coach then why has he had a professional football coaching career as a OL coach for 30+ years.
The Talent along the OL just isn’t there. For everyone that has blamed Winston’s turnovers on the OL and lack of running game. Where are the improvements in those 2 areas?
I said the exact same thing last year when everyone was touting Jensen as the savior of the OL.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:15 pm
Douche, yeh, sounds like you are the kind of dumb4ss that thinks its a bad idea to draft first round talent in round 5. Thats called value. Just to let you know how NFL draft rules work. The players don’t get to dictate who they get drafted on or where… I know shocking right. He never said he would only play for the Cowboys either. His agent said he wouldn’t sign if he was drafted outside of round 2. Another news flash here… Agents sometimes exaggerate to manipulate their situation. A bunch of big words… let me help. People lie. Douche.
Congratulations, first time I’ve ever gotten personal on JBF.