Donovan Smith “Excellent” In Saving Tom Brady’s Backside
July 12th, 2022
Left tackle Donovan Smith.
It reads like Tom Brady has reliable muscle watching his back.
No, Brady doesn’t need a mob capo walking behind him to keep him upright. Brady doesn’t need muscle. Why, he has left tackle Donovan Smith looking out for him, says WalterFootball.com.
In what is sure to rile the devout haters of Smith, any NFL breakdown using the word “excellent” in describing him is sort of unique.
The Buccaneers lost both guards, Ali Marpet and Alex Cappa, to retirement and free agency, respectively. Tampa Bay acquired Shaq Mason from the Patriots in response to these losses. Mason is one of the top guards in the NFL, so he’ll be an upgrade over either former Buccaneer. The other guard position wasn’t resolved until the 2022 NFL Draft, which is when the Buccaneers spent a second-round choice on Luke Goedeke, who will compete with Aaron Stinnie for one of the guard gigs.
The rest of Tampa’s offensive line is intact. The best of the group is Tristan Wirfs, who could make a claim as being the best right tackle in the NFL despite his young age (23). Donovan Smith has developed into an excellent blind-side protector. Ryan Jensen does a great job at center as well.
Joe give Smith a lot of credit. He was a reliable left tackle but under the guidance of offensive line coaches Harold Goodwin and Joe Gilbert, he’s become pretty damn good, despite what the PFF tribe may say. Even former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians was saying last year Smith should have been in the Pro Bowl.
Yeah, Smith had a rough day in the playoffs against Von Miller. If that gets a left tackle run, damn near every NFL team will be looking for a left tackle. That’s why Miller is going to the Hall of Fame.
July 12th, 2022 at 12:26 am
Is it Sept. yet?
July 12th, 2022 at 1:55 am
Donnie has definitely improved with coaching, but the effort level is also more consistent.
Not sure I agree with with Senor Sharp here though;
It seems even Ali Marpet can suffer the same treatment as Mike Evans.
July 12th, 2022 at 8:25 am
Smith is probably the most underrated tackle in the NFL, who quietly does a pretty darn good job of protecting Brady.
LOL, every Tackle in the NFL struggles against Von Miller
July 12th, 2022 at 10:02 am
Von Miller was on fire in that game and Wirfs was out. Wells needed more hep than Donovan so Donnie had to go one on one with Von. You are going to lose a few of those.
Ironic that every time we play the Rams in the playoffs we do it after losing our best O-lineman.
1979 — Charlie Hannah
1999 — Paul Gruber
2021 — Tristan Wirfs
I submit that had any of them been healthy for those games, they would have tipped the scales in favor of the Bucs.
July 12th, 2022 at 1:40 pm
It’s amazing when you have competent coaches working with these guys on their game how much they can get out of them. Of course you have to have players with talent to start with but there are a lot of talented guys who just appear average until the right coach comes along and seems to get more out of them.