Rondé Barber Speaks On Bucs’ Retirements
February 28th, 2022
Reaction.
Joe is not a golf guy. At. All.
But there is a local professional golf tournament in Palm Harbor each year and Rondé Barber is out there and on the board for the event. Barber is a big-time golfer.
So today Barber was at the Pinellas County site and Kyle Burger of WFTS-TV Channel 28 cornered him to ask about the recent retirements of Tom Brady and Ali Marpet.
Barber said the Brady retirement was not a surprise, though Barber isn’t fully convinced Bardy is done playing football.
Barber admitted (like most Bucs fans) he was “shocked” when he learned Marpet, 28, retired.
“It’s going to be hard to replace a guy like that,” Barber said of Marpet. “You don’t get a guy like Tristan Wirfs every single year. Tristan comes in and he’s the best right tackle in football. Replacing Ali is going to be difficult.”
Now Joe doesn’t expect (but can always hope) Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht can somehow find a guy to groom quickly into a Pro Bowler like he did with Marpet (or Wirfs). Unlikely, yes, but one can always hope. Thing is, you don’t need a Pro Bowler. In 2020 when the Bucs won the Super Bowl, how many Pro Bowlers were on that offensive line?
To see and hear Barber’s full take, you can watch him in the WFTS-TV video below.
Bucs’ all-time great @RondeBarber gives his thoughts on the retirements of Tom Brady and Ali Marpet.
“You want to get all 22 guys back the year after you win, we did, but eventually that’s going to catch up with you.” #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/kqpepyTHzu
— Kyle Burger (@kyle_burger) February 28, 2022
February 28th, 2022 at 2:18 pm
I been sayin it
I been sayin it
TOTAL REBUILD!
February 28th, 2022 at 2:26 pm
Well you hate to lose a guy like Ali when he probably had many good seasons in front of him. But when to retire from a very violent sport is a personal decision and I totally respect it. Hope we can put together a great O line next season. We have drafted well there.
February 28th, 2022 at 2:31 pm
Good thing is Licht has got a good record on drafting line players, we’ll be all good there. If you can’t bring in a big name QB…. Use the year to get out of contracts and build the team for a big name QB the following year. They still have a lot of good talent.
February 28th, 2022 at 2:47 pm
Weren’t people to stop referencing the Pro Bowl like 10 years ago?
February 28th, 2022 at 2:50 pm
I’m wondering if Carl Nicks’ toe has healed…..
February 28th, 2022 at 2:53 pm
Cowherd today: Brady and Peyton retired intending to trade and sign with Dolphins in 2022, and get partial ownership. Brady wanted to play Bill for the next two years and keep him from playoffs.
Flores story prevented it from occurring.
February 28th, 2022 at 2:54 pm
He’s building 30m mansion next to billionaires row in Miami and Giselle could do the fashion stuff. Planned on trying again in 2023.
February 28th, 2022 at 3:02 pm
Marpet was a really good player, but I don’t think the drop off from Marpet to Stinnie is really all that far.
Just keep drafting offensive linemen. If Trevor Penning from Northern Iowa falls to 27, pick him and plug him in at left guard.
February 28th, 2022 at 3:22 pm
JBF … ‘Thing is, you don’t need a Pro Bowler. In 2020 when the Bucs won the Super Bowl, how many Pro Bowlers were on that offensive line?’
Excellent point, but it would be nice to replace each loss with at least comparable talent. And we’ve got extensive losses on BOTH sides of the ball right now. Finding ‘comparable talent’ that’s younger AND less expensive than what we previously paid is gonna be the real challenge for JL. If for no other reason than that EVERY TEAM is looking for exactly the same thing.
Periodically we hit on players selected in Rnds 4 & below (including those undrafted), but if you look at our team, most were selected in Rnds 1-3. Bucs have 3 of those picks this year & 3 more next year (at this point; we MAY pick up a comp pick or whatever in the future, but who knows). So at the very most we’ll probably get 6 starters/key rotational guys from our next 2 drafts … IF we’re really lucky.
Personally don’t see all that many currently signed players ‘in the cupboard’ who I’d expect to upgrade this year or next to starters. JTS SHOULD be one. Trask MAY be one. Edwards MIGHT be another. Hainsey also. One of our WRs MAY step up (Johnson or Grayson probably stand the best chances). Other than those however, we’ll have a lot of holes to deal with via free agency. And we’ll create even more IF we start releasing high-salary players to free up CAP space.
And free agency comes down to money (aka, salary CAP space). And with relatively limited dollars, it becomes a matter of ‘what hole(s) do we tackle first’? Do we stop-gap it (by signing short-termers to help us stay competitive in 2022 & 2023), or do we look longer-term? As an example, there’s a lot to be said for filling 1 of our 3 DT holes by re-signing Will Gholston (experience), drafting 1 DT (to replace McClendon) and then signing a FA DT (to replace Suh). Lot to be said also for re-signing Suh (to say a 1-yr deal as a part-timer), signing Gholston (to say a 3-yr deal as a part-timer), AND drafting a DT beast in the top Rnds (to replace McClendon) who can learn from both Suh & Gholston this year.
Thing is, Bucs have decisions like that to make in EVERY position group. JL’s gonna earn his keep this year.
February 28th, 2022 at 3:38 pm
It is rebuild year. Face it.
February 28th, 2022 at 3:49 pm
We’ll see what happens in FA……then we’ll know what we need in the draft…
But, we do have many holes to fill on both sides of the ball…
QB, RB, WR, TE, Oline, DT, CB, S
By definition…..that’s a rebuild.
February 28th, 2022 at 3:55 pm
Unfortunately, the Bucs are in rebuild mode. It is hard going from the best to this so quickly. You need a top 10 QB to compete at a high level in the NFL and right now the Bucs have the 32nd best QB situation in the league.
February 28th, 2022 at 4:09 pm
Sad thing is there isn’t much OL talent in the draft beyond the first two rounds. (Not that I am an OL guru) but it seems as if DL is much more loaded this yr.
Let us all hope that Licht finds another gem.
February 28th, 2022 at 4:14 pm
Last year all 22 returned.
Anything less than that is “rebuild.”
February 28th, 2022 at 4:34 pm
This is a position where Licht should trade a late pick for an established guy and not depend on a rookie or a free agent who only cares about cashing in. It took cappa and Donovan smith time to be good so yea we hat are the chances a Tristan wirfs like player is drafted again
February 28th, 2022 at 4:40 pm
Rondé is so effing cool
February 28th, 2022 at 5:19 pm
LOL, Donovan became “good”, once Brady got here. Brady makes his reads so fast, and gets the ball out so fast, he makes a look better that it really is.
February 28th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
We need a qb, a tight end, mebbe edge rusher, depending on how JPP does with his rehab. Other than resigning people and inventive accounting, I don’t see that this is a “rebuild”
February 28th, 2022 at 8:21 pm
@TBBF Haha. The infamous Carl Nicks toe. LMAO. Well done sir. I hope a valuable lesson was learned. Never pick up a player that played for the Aints.
February 28th, 2022 at 8:22 pm
Ronde for defensive coordinator. Who’s with me?
February 28th, 2022 at 9:32 pm
Players just running out the door from bruce arrogance.
February 28th, 2022 at 10:41 pm
It is very fashionable to throw in the “rebuild.” Everything now is rebuild. Rebuild this. Rebuild that. Brady retired, it must be a rebuild. Marpet retired, total rebuild.
Was it called a “rebuild” when Dungy got fired and Gruden came in and overhauled the roster by 20%?
March 1st, 2022 at 1:34 am
Am I the only one, who is not overconcerned about OL?
Let’s break it down:
OT: We have Donovan Smith and Tristan Wirfs at tackle. That’ a lot more than most of the other 31 teams have.
IOL: We just lost Ali Marpet, one of the best guards in football and one of my all-time favorite Buc. Hard hit here, but he frees up the cash to resign whether Alex Cappa or Ryan Jensen AND Aaron Stinnie. And we have Robert Hainsey to step in for the one who leaves. Sounds at least OK – especially if you look at our OL-coaches who have a record of developing great O-liners.
This means we can draft for depth or – if the chips fall that way – take an offensive guard as BPA in a premium round.
I am really more concerned about or DL. But I leave that for DR and go with his statement.
March 1st, 2022 at 3:19 am
Marpet is a really good player and will be missed. I agree with Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa. Brady made the OL better and we just cant dismiss that so easy. Everyone says that arguably we have a top 3 OL the last 2 years but we had 4 of the 5 the year prior to Brady and you remeber what everyone said then, that Brady will be destroyed.
March 1st, 2022 at 8:01 am
What an amazing 2 years!!! Yes we need a rebuild, dosen’t every super bowl winning team except Brady’s Pat’s? I’ve been a fan since 1979 & we sucked for almost every year!!! I’m still drunk from the 2 year cool aid & will be fro a long time…
March 2nd, 2022 at 5:57 pm
Guard & centers might be the easiest positions to find in the draft. Later 3rd round & down there are quality 1s selected every yr. On top of that, Licht has seem to have an eye for o-line either in the draft, undrafted or free agency. Lastly, maybe the Norte Dame kid from last yr can try his hand @ guard, he did play basically every position in college & then resign Jensen. I wouldn’t mind that idea.