Depth Might Be Tested
July 21st, 2020
Scary thought.
Joe is of the mind that outside of tight end, and maybe wide receiver, this Bucs team has little if any proven depth.
Yeah, Joe guesses in a perverse way the Bucs have depth at running back, but Joe is trying to avoid going off on a tangent on this otherwise fine Tuesday summer morning.
And of all the years where a lack of depth might trip up the Bucs from ending their disgustingly long playoff drought, it could be this pandemic-torn year. Who knows who will catch “The Sickness” or when?
Upon reading an excerpt in a Bucs preview by jet-flyin’, kiss–stealin‘, data-analyzin’, Bucs-film-studyin’, limousine-ridin’ Thomas Bassinger of the Tampa Bay Times, typing for Football Outsiders 2020 Almanac, Bassinger makes a helluva point.
Key players could get hit by the virus and be lost for weeks. Maybe for the season.
Though Tampa Bay has the frontline talent to compete, the lack of depth could be its undoing. That’s especially true in this season when otherwise healthy players may randomly disappear for weeks at a time because of positive COVID-19 tests.
The frightening thought that park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-avoiding Bucs quarterback Tom Brady could catch this illness and get lost for a month with the Bucs riding the back of Blaine Gabbert is, well, unsettling.
And Joe gets the shivers thinking of either NFL sack king Shaq Barrett or Jason Pierre-Paul getting sick. We saw how teams shut down Shaq in consecutive games and the slump ended when JPP came back. Teams couldn’t double- and triple-team Shaq any longer.
Already we are unsure if left tackle Donovan Smith will opt out for the season. That’s scary enough.
July 21st, 2020 at 6:11 am
It will be a wash…if they play, players will get the COVID. Period.
I recall hearing/reading somewhere they will test early game day and day after, so it can be limited. But players themselves and their families should excercise self-discipline and limit their exposure to ANYONE for the full season. Were this the military, it would easy: Order it. “You will remain confined to your quarters (or base, or compound, etc).”
With the CBA and the players, they will want to mingle with their friends. While that is natural, doing so is stupid and it will be they themselves to undo their own season by lack of self-discipline…won’t be going out and butting heads on the field that is the cause.
Ah, but the evil owners and commish will get blamed by the media for giving in to the money…and the fans…who need the season for therapy…a diversion, a sense of normalcy for a short time if nothing else…will be screwed.
And WHEN a player or two gets seriously iill or worse, the NFLPA will put the blame on the owners. Bank it.
July 21st, 2020 at 7:14 am
It seems to me almost all teams will have depth issues somewhere, especially with the lack of quality o-linemen out there.
July 21st, 2020 at 7:22 am
Depth will definitely be the biggest obstacle.
July 21st, 2020 at 7:40 am
Lost for the season!? I seriously doubt that these young athletes, many in there 20’s still and in the best shape of their lives will be lost for the season. If I were them, I would prefer to catch it now and be done with it. Just like when you were a kid and your mom got wind that the neighbors had chicken pox, so she marched you right on over to their house to catch it.
July 21st, 2020 at 7:47 am
sounds like preparing the masses for another disappointing season…
July 21st, 2020 at 7:47 am
Too bad our GM doesn’t draft better. Voila!!!! More depth!
July 21st, 2020 at 9:10 am
I have big concerns about depth. with limited practice and workouts it’s hard to assume each team in the beginning of the year look like mash units.
July 21st, 2020 at 9:40 am
The situation on most if not all NFL teams is they have little to no depth.
July 21st, 2020 at 10:08 am
Shane…more like Russian Roulette with one in the chamber for one spin.
Yes…they are healthy now. But if they are one of the unlucky ones that is more susceptible to this virus, or they have long term effects, it is over for their careers…and possibly their lives.
July 21st, 2020 at 10:19 am
No team has depth at every position. I know this is just a buc problem good old Bucs can’t do nothing right.
July 21st, 2020 at 12:47 pm
Gabbert? Ugh.
July 21st, 2020 at 1:11 pm
Shane247
Good post!
Mom knows best(at least she used to)
It would be prudent, however, to have a complete medical check up first to make sure there are no ‘under the radar’ medical issues first
At their age and level of physical conditioning, the odds are definitely in their favor
July 21st, 2020 at 2:47 pm
It would be best to also have everyone on the team supplementing with magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc. If your body is equipped to fight it, the rest of the conversation rarely matters. Makes you wonder why the medical/education community aren’t teaching this.
July 21st, 2020 at 2:49 pm
gp Says:
“Shane247
Good post!
Mom knows best(at least she used to)”
.
.
And this.
July 21st, 2020 at 2:59 pm
Everyone should get it in the next 2 years, most wont even know it. They wont be lost for 4 weeks Joe. Most wont even know they have it until told so after a test. They’ll be chomping at it to get back. So they’ll have to be out 2 weeks. Get it and move on.
July 21st, 2020 at 3:29 pm
what teams have depth? not many