Bucs Secondary Almost A Sure Thing To Improve
August 17th, 2022
Stability.
Joe noticed on social media yesterday someone bemoaned that with the loss of cornerback Ross Cockrell, the Bucs’ secondary depth just got that much poorer.
Joe understands the emotional connection to Cockrell, who was a reserve for the Bucs when they had their Super Bowl-winning season. However, Joe also is reminded veteran Logan Ryan was added and he’s had an outstanding camp and has Bucs coach Todd Bowles raving.
Even without the services of Cockrell, who was released yesterday, the Bucs will be better in the defensive backfield this fall, almost by osmosis. Why is that? Well, Joe will let Bryan Knowles, typing in Football Outsiders 2022 Almanac explain.
The Buccaneers used 14 different combinations of their five starting defensive backs last season, with 12 different players appearing in a game at one point or another. There’s next man up, and then there’s introduce yourself in the huddle.
Some 14 different combos is insane. How can you expect a secondary to get on the same page?
Maybe this is why Cooper Kupp got so GD open in the final minute of the Bucs’ loss to the Rams in the playoffs? (Though Kupp gets open against everybody.)
Provided the Bucs can stay healthy, a steadier lineup alone should lead to a major uptick in play for the secondary.
As for hand-wringing over Cockrell? Well, the Bucs released him this early because they clearly didn’t think he would make the final-53 cutdown, a favor so he could latch on to another team.
So yeah, Joe is comfortable suggesting Logan Ryan > Ross Cockrell.
August 17th, 2022 at 10:01 am
What they do is secondary to what the D-Line does.
See what I did there?
August 17th, 2022 at 10:05 am
Who they added >> who they lost. Therefore depth has and will be improved.
August 17th, 2022 at 10:12 am
Ryan is a huge upgrade!
August 17th, 2022 at 10:30 am
logan ryan might be the most exciting addition to this team
August 17th, 2022 at 10:38 am
On paper is an upgrade, ….but we should let time do the talking….same case with Mason vs Cappa..
August 17th, 2022 at 10:55 am
The Bucs have probably the best CB depth they’ve ever had since I’ve been a Bucs fan.
August 17th, 2022 at 11:27 am
Agreed that the secondary will be better, but has been already posted by CW, unless we have a strong pass rush it won’t matter much if the QB has time to check down. I’m concerned that our D-line is injury prone and JTS won’t get it done.
August 17th, 2022 at 12:07 pm
It’s hard to imagine that we were 13-4 last year with how “awful” our secondary was.
Availability and consistency will be an automatic upgrade though I do think the Ryan addition is an improvement as well.
August 17th, 2022 at 12:09 pm
Hicks-Vea-JTS-D White-Shaq should provide a fine pass rush.