“They’re In Denial, But That Doesn’t Mean Anything At This Point”
April 21st, 2020
An astute observer of the Buccaneers’ rushing attack is skeptical of an apparent decision by the powers at One Buc Palace.
In case you’ve been off the grid for the past 50 months, the Tampa Bay running game has been bad, sad and enough to make every fan mad. Those who have watched it can attest to the horror.
One man who would be an instant upgrade is Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette. The poor guy had terrible offensive line and quarterback play last season on a dysfunctional team, yet he still was a steady force. Among NFL running backs, Fournette had the seventh-most rushing attempts (265) and ranked sixth in rushing with 1,152 yards. He was a model of production adding 76 receptions.
At 25 years old, Fournette is a proven and better football player than anything the Bucs have had at the position since Lovie Smith was head coach.
However, an ESPN report came out this week claiming the Bucs aren’t interested in Fournette. Pat Kirwan, however, isn’t sure about that. The former Jets personnel chief and assistant linebackers coach talked about it on his popular Movin’ The Chains show yesterday on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
“They’re in denial but that doesn’t mean anything at this point,” Kirwan said of the Bucs’ interest in Fournette. Like all sane NFL fans, Kirwan sees a glaring need at running back for Tampa Bay.
Joe’s not saying to run out trade immediately for Fournette, but like Kirwan, Joe beleives there’s some denial in place at One Buc Palace when it comes to the running backs. Plus, Joe has zero faith in the Bucs’ ability to evaluate running backs. Jason Licht and Bucco Bruce Arians have proven to be inept in that area.
As for runnning backs, Kirwan let it slip that one of his big sleepers on Day 3 of the draft is a guy Joe wrote about yesterday, beastly running back A.J. Dillon out of Boston College.
April 21st, 2020 at 11:39 am
It’s more than just the running back roster!!!!!!! Go back to all the lies and BS that ole stale biscuit spouted out last year, and you would be hard press to find any truth in thise statements!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
when is this supposive “great” coaching going to show up?????????
When is the “win now” coach start to win?????????
The “real” fans have only seen player “replacement” and no “development”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 21st, 2020 at 11:42 am
Could they afford Fournette? And RoJo? Dillon looks good to me.
April 21st, 2020 at 11:45 am
realisto… realistically, the record improved last year… they had a stretch of 5 wins in 6 games as the defense started improving… All this with a QB who set an NFL record for pick 6’s… Realistically, this teams talent is up, the needle began to turn up yesterday… perhaps it helps to step away from the negativity to take a fair look at what happened last year. Enter Brady, and this team ought to have a winning record and be in the playoff hunt.
April 21st, 2020 at 11:47 am
My only real concern is that every year I read about a team signing a hotshot FA running back that blew up the NFL the previous year only to have the guy perform pisspoor with his new team. If the price is right – and those with more expertise than I watch the tape and judge the guy to still have it – the Bucs could absolutely make room for Fournette.
April 21st, 2020 at 11:50 am
upgrade? ..what a joke. His numbers were no better than Barbers.
April 21st, 2020 at 11:51 am
I still think that if we keep plugging in different RB’s and keep getting pretty much the same results then the issue may likely be more than the RB’s? In this case I’m thinking it’s O-line run blocking, coaching scheme/play calling, and then RB play in that order. Improve the first two and I think we’ll see our RB’s produce for the team.
April 21st, 2020 at 11:52 am
The way that jerk is talking to Jaguars owner is BS. We don’t need him.
April 21st, 2020 at 11:53 am
Only if the price is right.
April 21st, 2020 at 11:53 am
I believe Bucco Bruce and Jason put together one of the most productive seasons from a running back in the past decade (a guy named David Johnson, who was traded basically for another guy named Deandre “Nuk” Hopkins this past offseason). Idk if sayin they can’t evaluate RBs when they only had one draft together with the Bucs. Sounds like lazy writing, or inconsistent since you just bashed Fournette the other day Joe. Starting to remember why I stopped reading this crap the last couple years…
April 21st, 2020 at 11:56 am
So we should give up draft capital for the guy AND give him a new contract in a year or two?
Let’s just go ahead and trade for Jamal Adams too while we’re at it and give him a massive contract.
Then we can just give up on trying to sign Barrett and Godwin while we’re at it too because we can no longer afford that. Might as well trade Evans too.
Who else is out there that we can trade for and give a max contract to?
April 21st, 2020 at 11:57 am
@permanent_moderation_doghouse
Which of those 3 wins against backup qb’s did you find most impressive?????? Which game of those 3 backup Qb’s did the defense “turn the corner”???????? If not for those three backup qb’s the defense would have been over the 30 allowed pts avg, is that impressive too you???????
Here is a tip, don’t let lord of corn do your taxes!!!!!!! You will get 2 million back in a refund, but will be convicted of tax fraud later!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 21st, 2020 at 12:19 pm
Tench its not him talking like crap its the DE
I do not put much into the BS that josina anderson spews on the espn nfl shows; she has been caught giving really poor info multiple times. Fournette would be perfect here
April 21st, 2020 at 12:19 pm
“player “replacement” and no “development”!!!!!!”
I mean I like to keep it real but you can’t deny a lot of players improved under new coaching…. Probably the most we have seen that in any recent year actually (?) lol.
Alex Cappa RG – went from nobody to a solid starter at RG
Ryan Jensen C – went from a bad season to one of the better C seasons last year
Carlton Davis CB- went from a liability to one of the top cover corners over the 2nd half of the season
Ronald Jones RB – went from looking like a guy that may be cut to averaging 4.2 YPC and contributing in the passing game and being better than any other RB on the roster
Vita Vea DT – best year as a pro
In terms of draft picks we saw Devin White, Jamel Dean AND Sean Murphy Bunting both improve dramatically from week 1 to week 16.
Breshaud Perriman had the best year of his career
SHaquil Berret had the best year of his career
That’s almost half our starters and just off the top of my head. Not sure there’s a better recent year of growth?
April 21st, 2020 at 12:25 pm
I THINK THEY NEED TO BE HIT WITH ANOTHER EL BUCO REALISTO NARCISSISTIC REPOST!!!!
April 21st, 2020 at 12:27 pm
Projecting Rojo’s 4.2 YPC to just 15 carries per game would be 1008 yards…..he simply didn’t receive enough carries……
We do need a RB….but we don’t need to pay or give up a pick for Fournette…
Use the pick you would have traded to draft one……..2nd round…..3rd round or one of the 4th rounders…..
April 21st, 2020 at 12:29 pm
Joe
You think Dillon makes it to day 3?
That could be a stretch
April 21st, 2020 at 1:06 pm
Our bad running game last year did not bother me. We already had a poor running game. You know what else we had? The worst defense in the league. If the Bucs had spent free agent dollars or d aft pucks on the running game the we have less to fix the defense last year.
Maybe then we don’t have Suh. Or Dean? Who knows?
The Bucs had to make a decision and they went heavy to rebuild the defense in one year. I like the decision and it worked out.
Now we can focus on the Running game. And I’m certain that’s the plan. I’m not regretting last year and regretting what we did on defense. Now freaking be smart Bucs…..Fix the Run Game but don’t ignore the defense and take all offense with your top choices. Give Bowles one new piece please. Makes me sick some of these mocks going OL, RB, WR, QB, OL…….What the frick!!!
April 21st, 2020 at 1:07 pm
Itz fine trade for one of the best RB’s in the league. If a 4th Rd pick can secure him for a year why not. The Bucs can’t afford him after that but a 4th RD pick for a one year rental wouldn’t hurt anyone. Or perhaps the bucs GM could negotiate with the Jags to take on some are part of his 2020 salary. The bucs could kick the tires on him for pretty cheap price for a year and decide if they want to pay him or let him walk. They should do it you win with talent and that guy can pound the rock
April 21st, 2020 at 1:15 pm
Arians has been a Buc for one season. He got a big improvement out of Ronald Jones. In Arizona he had David Johnson when Johnson was studding out, so it is inaccurate to throw Arians under that bus. Licht deserves the bus but not Arians in this case.
April 21st, 2020 at 1:51 pm
Great QB play will make an avg o-line and RB unit look better. I think we need to fill one spot on the line but RB isn’t a must with Brady. He’s had significant success with lesser backs and you can only have so many weapons.
That being said, if we are looking a the Wisconsin RB at 14, I think he’s a dynamic game changing back that you get at a significant discount, particularly to a player like Fournette.
My gut tells me there’s going to be a desire by other teams to trade up, particularly at QB or a few of these defensive players and that could give us an opportunity to trade back, snag more picks and fill a lot of holes with cheap rookie deals. If we can check some of those boxes early in the draft, it wont shock me to see us throw a late pick for Adams.
April 21st, 2020 at 3:57 pm
OJ for Fornette? Hows that sound to everyone? Gronk?
April 21st, 2020 at 4:02 pm
@ LordCornelius
Have to agree with you, it takes time to see the benefits (or the consequences) when new coaches, new playbooks, new training programs, new teammates and new league rules are added as they were last year. It’s not a whole lot different than planting seeds in my backyard, I don’t expect to get up the next morning to see the fruits of the planting.
With that said, the coaches, the playbook, the training programs and though changes in the roster occur every year, most starting roles are the same as last year. The GOAT is the GOAT, he will be ready and it’s up to his new teammates to be ready too. The only unknown is what rule changes will occur before the season starts.
The Bucs’ culture improved quite a bit in the second half of last season as the seeds started to blossom and now that the seeds have taken root, the timing is perfect to bring in the GOAT and let him graze!
Let’s go Bucs!
April 21st, 2020 at 6:25 pm
Gibson from Memphis is what we need. Hands power and speed