Will Entertainment Matter?
April 17th, 2023
“I like juice, too, Mr. Glazer.”
Our beloved Buccaneers are one of the most boring NFL teams.
Joe hates typing that reality.
Of course, Joe doesn’t obsess any less about the Bucs or feel less excited about the team, but perhaps it matters to team officials how many other fans think.
Todd Bowles? Nice guy, kind guy, smart dude, but he is parked in the boring tier when it comes to NFL head coaches.
Team Glazer? Their disdain for the spotlight rivals Joe’s interest in going vegan or giving up Big Storm Beer and Hooters wings.
General manager Jason Licht? His public persona is not Mr. Charisma like some GMs’. No knock on Licht. He wasn’t hired for that role.
At quarterback, the Bucs have little sizzle at the quarterback position; Baker Mayfield isn’t well-liked but isn’t good enough to be universally hated. And Kyle Trask is a quiet no-name.
Tampa Bay’s big-name receivers also are quiet guys. Mike Evans used to do cool interviews with Michael Rapoport and Rich Eisen, but those disappeared years ago. Evans has been somewhat anti-media since 2019. Chris Godwin? Great player with a subdued personality.
Running back Rachaad White, a guy who seems to welcome every possible interview opportunity, is no Playoff Lenny in the captivation department and has done little to wow on the field.
Ironically, iconic Bucs linebacker Lavonte David, the guy who literally hid from the Hard Knocks cameras in 2017, has sort of become the public face of the Bucs. David is more interesting behind a microphone than he used to be, but he’s a flat personality when it comes to entertaining and captivating fans.
Devin White? He wants to leave town.
Joe is not here to run down the roster and throw shade. But Joe is wondering whether Team Glazer, in conjunction with Licht, will be very interested in super-stud University of Texas running back prospect Bijan Robinson and the excitement he could bring to the Bucs organization.
Of course, good teams don’t draft players to sell tickets and get exposure, but do they consider it if a front office likes the more exciting college player as much as it does a quiet guy at a low-profile position.
If next week the Bucs were to draft Robinson in Round 1, a guy who will be a fantasy football draft favorite nationwide, how fired up would that get Tampa Bay fans? Would NFL schedule makers (working with the TV networks) give the Bucs get an extra prime time game as a result? Maybe two?
“We’re entertainers. We’re in the entertainment business,” former Bucs head coach Raheem Morris said in 2010.
If any of the Bucs’ current power brokers believe in that statement, then Joe thinks more than a few voices at One Buc Palace will be eager to tip a scale for Robinson on draft night — if the opportunity arises.
Come hang with great Bucs fans and Ira Kaufman at our JoeBucsFan NFL Draft party, Thursday, April 27, at Big Storm Brewery — Ybor City.
The fun starts at 7 p.m. The draft starts at 8 p.m. The menu is excellent and the beer is Florida’s very best craft beer. The new taproom (upstairs in Centro Ybor) is huge and modern with excellent Wi-Fi and even a little outdoor seating overlooking 7th Ave.
And we’ll be giving away TWO $500 gift cards from Florida’s Elite Restoration in our Pick The Pick contests!!
April 17th, 2023 at 12:31 pm
Bijan Robinson……yes please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 17th, 2023 at 12:40 pm
LOL…yes Bowles is a Sideline Stiff.
April 17th, 2023 at 12:41 pm
Teams with good Oline and Dline play are exciting , because they WIN!!!
April 17th, 2023 at 12:43 pm
I’d be fine with that but get me pass rush in round 2 and OL and so on after that.
April 17th, 2023 at 12:45 pm
Typical Raheehaw, declaring he’s in the entertainment business and then losing is team so badly some college teams would have been more competitive than the Bucs were in 2011. Maybe if he realized in the “winning football games” business instead, he’d have a head coaching job. What a maroon.
And the Toadster? He is parked in the losing tier when it comes to head coaches, while at the same time being boring and bringing an endotherm to every team he head coiches.
April 17th, 2023 at 12:48 pm
If Wirfs is moving to LT, then Bijan Robinson makes sense. You can get a quality RT in the 2nd round. Or Geodeke at RT and draft a Guard in the 2nd.
April 17th, 2023 at 12:49 pm
Winning Super Bowls is entertaining…
If you build it – they will come.
April 17th, 2023 at 12:49 pm
Hicks is no Mr. personality either lol or Vea
Wow, now that you got me thinking about it, what is up with this team of mute personalities?
April 17th, 2023 at 12:56 pm
Fix the line and the running game will come along. Go look at the history of teams that spent high draft capital on running backs. Everyone thinks emmitt Smith was an all time great. Look at who was blocking for him. Jerry Jones could’ve run through those holes. 1976 is right. If you control the line of scrimmage, you win. As far as the personality of the team, thats Lichts problem. If you want a bunch of talkers, go get them. Unless you can back it up, it doesn’t matter
April 17th, 2023 at 12:57 pm
Your right Joe this team and organization definitely could use a jolt of lightning and Robinson could certainly do that. Now that we picked that extra guard/tackle, offensive tackle is not a huge need.
April 17th, 2023 at 1:01 pm
Redeemer with another one out of the park. Spot on, brother. It’s been said that the Bucs OL in 2022 run blocked as if they were pass blocking. Maybe Mr. Leftwurst decided “they do what they do” and simplified the blocking schemes to only pass blocking. Which they were lousy at anyway.
April 17th, 2023 at 1:09 pm
It is difficult to see how any #19 pick in the draft is going to make anyone but a Bucs fan excited or delirious, or cause schedulers to add prime time flex slots to the Bucs schedule.
The Bucs are always going to seem boring except when they add the GOAT to the roster – a once in a lifetime act – or lose a psychotic player from the roster when he strips off his jersey and pads and tosses it to the stands.
April 17th, 2023 at 1:14 pm
Just win. That’s all the entertainment I need. Big plays are excitement, so let’s hope the Canales offense can generate more explosives in the run game and downfield throws to Evans and Godwin. If healthy, Gage can give you some explosives as well.
On defense, it’s about sacks and picks.
You don’t need personalties, you just need big plays.
April 17th, 2023 at 1:16 pm
@ Redeemer
I agree.
The Chiefs just won a Super Bowl – the starting RB was an undersized 7th round pick…
April 17th, 2023 at 1:18 pm
@ Redeemer
If the Bucs pick a RB it should be in rounds 5-7…
April 17th, 2023 at 1:19 pm
“Baker Mayfield isn’t well-liked”
Is there a player with more commercials than Baker? He has a billion Nissan and Progressive commercials. Someone likes him.
April 17th, 2023 at 1:36 pm
Yup just win not interested in personalities just execution and winning all teams seem more interesting when they are winning.
April 17th, 2023 at 3:46 pm
You seriously need to go Vegan
April 17th, 2023 at 3:47 pm
Maybe boring is what we need. 2022 debacle can be blamed on a number of issues. But IMHO aside from o line injuries too much personal baggage was the theme for Bucs last year
April 17th, 2023 at 5:28 pm
Sly, he has progressive commercials because he can run his mouth, and was a number one pick. Unless he performs, that’ll only last so long.
April 17th, 2023 at 5:45 pm
Please God in heaven let them be smart enough to draft pass rush. Please!
April 17th, 2023 at 9:57 pm
I have been on this train for months and been posting such. This guy is a game changer and a player the bucs desperately need if indeed they are intent on pounding the rock!!! To me it’s a no Brainerd. Licht will find lineman in the later rounds like he has been known to do. We don’t have much success drafting d lineman in the first round. Get your rb and start to build that team for your qb you will need to draft next year hopefully with our new head coach!
April 17th, 2023 at 9:58 pm
Also look at it this way. Don’t you want to add pieces that excite our eventual new head coach to come aboard the ship. Got to think future!!!
April 17th, 2023 at 10:53 pm
Yeah how did drafting Johnny Football work out for Cleveland?
The beautiful part about sports like pro football is you don’t need to impress people to get votes, you just have to win, period.
The moment you start drafting or signing players for pizzazz, you chart a course to failure.
April 17th, 2023 at 11:19 pm
I think I’m going to change my screen name to “Just Leave Norm Snead in his Wheelchair”
April 18th, 2023 at 11:03 am
Works for me! I still maintain that there was one area where Brady hurt the Bucs and that was that the Bucs had so many late games – especially in Tampa.
Our biggest home field advantage is the Florida heat, so less national exposure means more games at 1:00 in the pounding heat of the day.
April 18th, 2023 at 2:36 pm
Our offense needs an identity and our defense needs to ball starting with pass rush. Entertainment will naturally flow.