Bucs Need To Address LT In 2021
November 8th, 2020
Donovan Smith’s late Halloween costume Sunday.
Look, Joe has defended starting left tackle Donovan Smith for years. Joe cannot any longer.
Sunday night Smith’s play was no less than atrocious. It was bad enough in the first few minutes of the game. It was inexcusable in the second half.
Donovan Smith should not be the Bucs’ left tackle next year unless he takes a massive salary cut.
Let Joe explain:
Smith was owned by the Saints pass rush last night. He was worked over pretty well in the season-opener too. The cherry on top was when Marcus Davenport bull-rushed Smith deep enough to tip a Tom Brady pass that was picked.
(That was until the special few moments from Smith when he gave up three straight sacks.)
That was enough for Joe.
Per Spotrac.com, Smith has the fourth-highest salary among left tackles. This is the final year of his guaranteed money. Next year, Smith is expected to have the ninth-highest salary, again, per Spotrac.com.
In 2021, the salary cap is expected to drop like a rock thanks to the significant losses the NFL has incurred because of The Sickness. Adam Schefter claims the salary cap, per his NFL sources, could drop by $30 million or more. That means the Bucs would have to shave a helluva lot of salaries.
If the cap drops as much as Schefter has been told, is Smith’s wildly inconsistent play and sometimes lackadaisical appearance on the field worth a top-10 salary? Hell, no!
Yes, Joe understands how Smith’s ironman ability to rarely miss a start is significant. That is, until you shat all over yourself like he did Sunday night.
That horrible game Smith had is hardly the first time he has turnstiled his way through a game.
Joe — and ticket-buying Bucs customers — might tolerate his sometimes indifferent-looking, lackadaisical-appearing effort once in a while. But not when the guy is blocking like a pair of swinging saloon doors like Sunday night.
With every team’s capologists expected to tighten salary belts this winter, Joe doesn’t know if there will be much of a market for Smith at his current salary (or any salary the way he played against the Saints twice this year).
Likewise, it will be a buyer’s market for players of all types this offseason. Just a hunch there will be quite a few available that have not given up three sacks on consecutive plays like Smith did Sunday night (among other gaffes too many to count).
Joe doesn’t think the Bucs will struggle to find a competent left tackle who won’t break the bank if Smith isn’t willing to play ball and take a massive pay cut after the season.
Then again, the way Smith played tonight, most coaches wouldn’t put up with that performance form a guy making league minimum.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:05 pm
My response to this post would surley get me banned for life from the site. So i will bite my tongue and simply state D.Smith sucks and I agree with the headline.
Also Cappa was exceptionally bad and Marpets presence was missed.
Wirfs I didnt notice quite as much but Brady was rdcieve pressure off his edge as well.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:10 pm
I have defended Smith in the past but that was completely inexcusable.
Honestly I knew Marpet was good I didn’t think we would be missing him that much. We were it’s like he was bailing Smith out.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:10 pm
No Marpet means no win
O line looked like crap tonight
Peace, out
November 8th, 2020 at 11:11 pm
Can’t win with him. It’s that simple.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:11 pm
Joe has finally seen the light!
About time.
Smith is soft and gets manhandled by nobodies.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:12 pm
4 carries tonight by RBs. Playcalling didnt help the pass pro tonight.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:13 pm
Yeah, F that guy. He sucks, he’s lazy, F him.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:13 pm
If he’s not going to play with heart he shouldn’t be on the field in any capacity. PERIOD.
The other thing is when BA was hired the expectation was that he would be calling the plays. Arians pulled a switch on the Glazers and hired Leftwich. So let’s take a look at the results of his coaching career. Josh Rosen, first round draft pick…. career ruined. Jameis Winston first round draft pick. Career over. Tom Brady …. does he look like the goat this week? Nope.
All of that is certainly not Leftwich’s fault. But he sure hasn’t done a damn thing to help himself or his team. BA needs to open up to that mistake and fix it before this season goes off the rails.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:15 pm
D.Smith considered sitting out the season due to COVID 19……..
I guess he did after all.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:19 pm
Cut him now. Need to make an example of him.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:20 pm
Move Wirfs to LT……Draft a RT…..save the $14.2 mil….
November 8th, 2020 at 11:21 pm
He needs to be cut.. in one series he basically almost gave up 3 sacks.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:21 pm
He looked no different than he did for the last five years. Geez.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:23 pm
20 miles out
WALK THE PLANK!
November 8th, 2020 at 11:28 pm
It’s a pattern. He gives bad effort at the worst time. No heart. No finish.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:30 pm
yes move wirfs to the left and draft a right tackle, maybe even a right guard
November 8th, 2020 at 11:34 pm
Accountability starts with the coach… We brought BA in to run a unique offense, not groom BL… Time to grab the reins, actually it is past that time… Don’t be another stubborn person, be flexible and realize this is it, now or never
November 8th, 2020 at 11:35 pm
Joe, not defending Smith, but no one deserved a pay check tonight.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:40 pm
And the offensive line??? Marpet not playing was huge…. Wirf is bad ass, center is not a problem… I just think, get LOGAN LEE MANKINS in here to get these guys running right as a unit! Please make this happen!
November 8th, 2020 at 11:45 pm
Its Light Bulbs fault for drafting him in the first place. Smith was a known commodity. If it looks like a dog, and sounds like a dog, it’s probably a dog.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:46 pm
I was actually starting to give DS76 a break after he showed actual effort for a couple of weeks.
No more. There is nothing more lazy than pulling the race card, and I am back to what I thought of him after his Sheppard’s embarrassment. Lazy. Very lazy. Quitter. It will be a good day when he is gone.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:55 pm
Remember when Cam Jordan was absolutely giddy when 76 extended his contract…they feasted on him, yet again, tonight.
November 8th, 2020 at 11:57 pm
I’m proud of you Joe. It took way too long in my opinion but I’m glad you finally saw what fans have seen for a while now.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:11 am
I will pay Donovan’s salary next year. Which is $15 per game to hand out sweat towels to the real players. Before the season started, he publicly stated that he was concerned about bringing Covid-19 to his newborn child. I understood his thought process at the time. As it turns out he is not bringing home “the sickness” to his kid, however he IS putting on full display for his child what it looks when a man has no heart and does not care about doing his job well.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:18 am
Joe do you remember you and I throughly disagreed on Twitter about Donovan Smith last year and you said he wasn’t part of the problem???
November 9th, 2020 at 12:24 am
thanks to DS76 the offense was off all night Brady took multiple sacks, that may of been ok for Jameis but not Brady–get rid of this fat out of shape useless overpaid lazy man
November 9th, 2020 at 12:42 am
@Rick
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Are you on GLP? I’ve seen that avatar before…
November 9th, 2020 at 1:00 am
It’s stupid to see Smith doing the same mistakes over and over. He has the same criticism across the league. “ lazy, poor technique, can be a beast at times, but goes back to forgetting basic fundamentals “. He’s 6 years into his career and he has not improved like marpet has not like anyone else. Licht will hold on to him this year and I hope he doesn’t think of moving wirf to LT.
November 9th, 2020 at 2:13 am
Wirfs is playing too well to even think of moving. No need to screw up the kid’s head.
November 9th, 2020 at 6:06 am
Another second round bust by Jason Licht. I’m done defending Smith as well. No more.
November 9th, 2020 at 6:45 am
What about Josh Wells? Could he be worse?
November 9th, 2020 at 6:46 am
D. Smith is embarrassing, dude straight up gets his lunch money taken and he gives up.
Our play calling is embarrassing, 5 run plays the whole game. That means panic mode. AAAAnd we are a power running team, why not use the run to set up the pass?
Defense got taken out to the woodshed PERIOD!!!!!
November 9th, 2020 at 6:49 am
Reality is Wirf’s will play at a minimum as good as Smith at LT……for $10+ million less per year. Smith is done and i think he knows it. He’s rode the “upside” delusion for as long as one could, enjoying the luxury of being a high pick installed as a starter with no competition to ever push him. This is what you get in that model…..over paid mediocre, that’s the classic Licht flaw.
November 9th, 2020 at 6:59 am
@Bush, forgive my lack of knowledge, I don’t even know what site GLP is? 🙄
November 9th, 2020 at 7:52 am
So everybody on D. Smith for that game and he has a lot to answer for. But, we ran the ball 4 times, 4 times the whole game. Imagine having to pass block the whole game for an immobile QB who at times, when he had a little time couldn’t find an open receiver. Like this week and last, coverage sacks, receivers either can’t get open or TB looking to force the ball to certain receivers, all Tyler Johnson does is catchy the ball. We can’t scheme our receivers open. One thing for sure, JW threw picks, but his mobility also led to bigger plays – nobody is worried about TB running/moving
November 9th, 2020 at 7:56 am
We won a championship with Roman Oben and Kenyatta Walker – you don’t let your weak links get exposed when you are loaded on the offensive side.
November 9th, 2020 at 8:34 am
I nailed it
November 9th, 2020 at 9:13 am
How could Licht f#ck up so bad resigning him for that money. Guys been a joke like that for a while.
November 9th, 2020 at 11:46 am
I’ve been saying for a long time how bad Smith was. Even before loser Licht handed him all that money. He was a lazy ass in college & it carried over to the pros. I don’t want him, I don’t care how much of a pay cut he’s willing to take. As they say he is what he is. If Arians had the balls he bench him or cut his ass, but the way Arians talked in the pass along with Licht he’s an All Pro. Do the right thing and get rid of him. Let his lazy ass be some other teams problem.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:24 pm
Rick Says:
“@Bush, forgive my lack of knowledge, I don’t even know what site GLP is?”
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GodlikeProductions dot com
It’s a forum-style news aggregation site. Lots of “conspiracy” stuff. Fun site. Someone on there has that avatar. This is the only time I’ve ever seen that particular cat outside GLP.