The Bucs Did Get Better
April 2nd, 2024
Improved.
In the past couple of weeks, Joe has been trying to wrap his head around why so many NFL analysts believe the Bucs are just some run-of-the-mill, ham-and-egg team. Nothing terrible, nothing special, just blah.
This, despite the Bucs winning three straight division titles and fighting toe-to-toe with the Lions on the road in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Every other team that advanced to the divisional round seems projected to be good if not another playoff team this fall — except the Bucs.
Some analysts and columnists asked, where did the Bucs improve? Joe thought that was a fair question. The Bucs did a helluva job keeping their core.
But yeah, where did the Bucs improve?
Joe has downplayed bringing back safety Jordan Whitehead. Oh, the Bucs have the best safety in the game, All-Pro Antoine Winfield. But beside him was a terrible hole, maybe the worst on the roster.
That hole is gone now with Whitehead back.
Whitehead is coming off a career year with the Jets. He had his best NFL season in terms of total tackles, solo tackles as well as passes defended.
(Whitehead is also durable. He’s missed five starts in the past five seasons dating back to his second season in the NFL, 2019 with the Bucs.)
So yeah, the Bucs did improve defensively. They filled a big hole with a quality player who already knows how to play for Todd Bowles.
You want to know how much the return of Whitehead means to the defense? In the Buccaneers.com video below, watch the reaction of veteran Bucs safeties coach Nick Rapone when Bucs assistant general manager John Spytek and Bowles broke the news to Rapone that the team signed Whitehead.
Rapone’s reaction is all you need to know what the Bucs think of his return.
.@jwhite_333 watches safeties coach Nick Rapone react to signing…
His response is everything 🥹 pic.twitter.com/odCCtjvKGM
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) March 14, 2024
April 2nd, 2024 at 7:04 am
Sure, it is a business but that is just a wonderful nugget.
Relationships are so important.
April 2nd, 2024 at 7:06 am
great video …. you can see the brotherhood and chemistry in the room
April 2nd, 2024 at 7:07 am
Easily – my favorite signing by the Bucs in years.
April 2nd, 2024 at 7:16 am
Looking at this objectively, we have essentially stayed the same……Whitehead for Davis…….White gone…..minor changes in Olinemen.
The unknown is in the development of all the younger players……every team has that….but we had more younger players.
Our draft success will make the difference.
April 2nd, 2024 at 7:19 am
.Whitehead is an improvement but no pass rush ÷ BLAHHH
April 2nd, 2024 at 7:43 am
I was really hoping months ago that the Bucs would/could get Whitehead back.
Glad everyone involved feels so good about the ‘reunion’.
Ryan Neal was terrible. His lack of coverage ability had a very negative effect on our entire defense.
Taking Neal (and Diva White) off the field improved our defense quite a bit towards the end of last season.
April 2nd, 2024 at 7:48 am
Jason builds through the draft and supplements through FA which is the correct formula for sustained success
We resigned every key player, let the dead weight move on, brought in replacements for Feiler and Stinnie and major upgrade with Whitehead over Neal
We got a tad better in FA, we will add 4 impact players in this draft and we will have some previously drafted players step up into starting roles. Let’s not forget this staff has been amazing at uncovering UDFA talent as well…
The future is bright with Jason running the show
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:00 am
OL and edge…the 2 biggest and deepest holes.
Did we get better?
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:07 am
I love Rapone. He’s a true dude.
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:16 am
Honestly, we have a lot of needs that I don’t think can be addressed in one season so I think Jason has done a great job. It’s not possible to get a CB, DE, LB, G, C, WR and yes, another backup QB all in one draft.
We are going to have some serious weak spots.
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:42 am
Tampabaybucfan Says:
Looking at this objectively, we have essentially stayed the same……Whitehead for Davis…….White gone…..minor changes in Olinemen.
The unknown is in the development of all the younger players……every team has that….but we had more younger players.
Our draft success will make the difference.
————————————————————————-
Switching out Whitehead for Ryan Neal was a HUGE upgrade on our defense.
IF Zyon McCollum is the one that replaces Davis he made a huge jump from year 1 to year 2 and it’s a safe bet IMO that he’ll take another step forward this coming season. He’s a great athlete and smart enough to be able to play multiple positions on Bowles defense. While Davis was very good in man coverage he couldn’t play zone to save his life and that hurt the Bucs last season.
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:46 am
The Bucs didn’t advance because of the Lions superior offense and defensive lines !
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:53 am
@VOT, I agree with what you wrote 100!
When you have as many needs as the Bucs have you can’t use free agency to fix everything when you’re still trying to dig yourself out of salary cap hell after the last Super Bowl.
If Licht keeps nailing the drafts for 2024 and 2025 he’s going to build another team that can compete with anyone and make Brady and Gronk want to come back out of retirement. 😉
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:53 am
VOT is spot on. However, that’s not something the media can write about, so it’s easier to be negative.
BucVoyager, it’s possible to get most everything you list — except the backup QB we don’t need. I can easily see an Edge and C in rounds 1 and 2 followed by a G and LB in rd 3. All of those should be available with very good players. The Bucs then have to choose the order they want ti draft a power RB, a #3 WR or a #4 CB in rds 4, 6 and 7. If the Bucs trade back from the first, they could get an extra pick to get one of these even earlier.
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:54 am
^^^^^It supposed to read 100%
April 2nd, 2024 at 9:03 am
Love the resigning and I LOVE that video!
Behind the scenes Todd. No game face just joy and laughter like the rest of the guys. The Bucs could help Todd’s image by showing more of his humanity like this.
I get his “gameface” and respect it. He is intensely focused! It was great to see him “unfocused” and simply celebrating with the guys.
April 2nd, 2024 at 9:09 am
TBBF … ‘Looking at this objectively, we have essentially stayed the same. The unknown is in the development of all the younger players. Our draft success will make the difference.’
Nailed it TBBF. You don’t win anything in Mar & Apr. HOPEFULLY you don’t create any new holes and you fill some that existed from the previous season … by the time that Game 1 rolls around.
Todd Bowles’ staff has proven adept at DEVELOPING PLAYERS. Much of that is done before Game 1, but a lot of it is done during the season (baptism by fire?). Christian Izien is a good example. Not even drafted, yet he played almost 2/3rds of the def snaps in all 17 games and had some nice production (including 2 INTs, 2 QB hits & 3 TFLs). Not too shabby for an undrafted rookie.
Took YaYa a little while to get on the field regularly, but once he did he showed some good stuff. Kancey was kinda the same. So were most of the other rookies (13 all together on last year’s roster). That experience SHOULD play off this year, but it’s impossible to quantify at this point.
Like you said TBBF … ‘The draft will make the difference’. Hard to have lofty expectations when we pick near the bottom, but even that says a LOT about how far we’ve come … We’re picking NEAR THE BOTTOM.
April 2nd, 2024 at 9:22 am
Reading up on Bryce Hall I would say the Bucs found a CB who better fits with the zone heavy scheme we have been running.
Jordan Whitehead is clearly an upgrade.
Losing White towards the end of last season wasn’t a loss at all. From my point of view things actually improved with White off the field.
April 2nd, 2024 at 9:24 am
We also improved the O line and the DB room. Now we can have a competition for LG and Center as well as that nickel DB and someone to also challenge McCollum or Dean.
I think we definitely improved.
April 2nd, 2024 at 9:31 am
The overall lack of excitement nationally is no surprise. The way it has always been. Add to that the fact we are .500 over the last 2 regular seasons.
April 2nd, 2024 at 9:38 am
BucVoyager Says:
“We are going to have some serious weak spots.”
Every team has weak spots. The salary cap guarantees that no team can afford to pay for good to great starters at every position. Nor have solid to good back-ups at every position.
As of right now, the 2024 Bucs have 3 major needs for upgraded starters.
1 Edge to start opposite YaYa and replace JTS
1 Center to replace Hainsey
1 LG – no current starter
If Licht can manage to acquire average or better starters at those 3 spots – then the team will be pretty well set with what we can afford to field this year.
I’m confident that 2 of those 3 needs can be found in the 1st two rounds of the upcoming draft – and fully expect our GM to draft a starting level Edge rusher and a starting level Guard or Center with those first 2 picks.
Barton in the 1st and Kneeland in the 2nd for instance would fill 2 of those holes with authority.
The only real way to get yourself out of salary cap hell that so many NFL teams find themselves in these days – is to DRAFT your way out of it – and make good decisions when it comes to keeping and paying the 6 or 7 high end/highly paid vets who typically constitute the core of your team.
We are fortunate to have such a stable organization at the top right now. Jason Licht and his team are easily top 5 in the league when it comes to finding and acquiring affordable talent from all available avenues – including free agency, trades, later round draft picks and UDFAs.
Last year was a great example. 4 rookie starters (including UDFA Izien) were drafted + 6th rd pick Palmer got a bunch of snaps as WR3. That also includes finding a good Edge player in rd 3 which is usually very hard to do…
Navigating from “ALL IN” financially during the Brady years – to no GOAT and a mountain of unpaid bills while trying to remain ‘competitive’ was never going to be easy. But Licht and Co. are doing a bang up job with that very difficult transition IMO….
April 2nd, 2024 at 9:47 am
The DB’s are missing one guy on the top end but overall the unit is better. The OL probably got slightly better.
They still have a little work to do but I also think they get better because I believe they have a better OC.
April 2nd, 2024 at 10:02 am
Things would’ve been much different last year with Whitehead still on the team. Great job admitting a mistake and bringing him back!! I’d venture to say we would’ve won at least 2 more games.. minimum.
April 2nd, 2024 at 10:47 am
Anonymous Says:
Things would’ve been much different last year with Whitehead still on the team. I’d venture to say we would’ve won at least 2 more games.. minimum.
^^^^^^
You’re right. Neal was that bad. His blown coverages lost us 3-4 games.
April 2nd, 2024 at 11:21 am
Whitehead is a great addition and will be a starter. I’m not enthusiastic about our other FA’s.
The OL guys we got don’t excite me and we will see how good Carrberry and Coen will be with talent evaluation. I’m not convinced they are big upgrades or even starters, fingers crossed. The same with the DB’s, they will provide experience, but how many snaps will they get? We’ll see.
I like the job Licht is doing, but I think he should be a little more aggressive picking up a player or two with the final cuts going into the season.
April 2nd, 2024 at 12:24 pm
We definitely got better, and Whitehead and Hall are a big part of why.
With Whitehead, we can now play man/press, which Dean, Izien, and McCollum excel at. And Hall and Thomas also, for that matter. We just changed the entire way we can play defense, and lessened the need for a killer Edge (not that we don’t want one, but we don’t need one as bad).
Now, fix the 2-3 holes on offense (LG, C, and maybe RB) and we’re in pretty good shape. Add depth the rest of the way.
April 2nd, 2024 at 12:29 pm
It is because that is EXACTLY, ‘what’ (or ‘who’) they are. Not Terrible. Nothing Special. And, 💯 Just BLAH. So, I’m assuming that all of ‘those people’ WATCHED them last season, too. But, the Bucs immediately IMPROVED from last season though. JUST with the subtraction of Ryan Neal, ALONE. I noticed the other day, that every single ‘highlight’ that I’ve seen lately, of other players and teams, when ESPN is discussing them… That EVERY time the Bucs are shown on Defense, Ryan Neal is ALWAYS there missing a play, looking HORRIBLE and like he’s stuck in concrete. EVERY ONE OF THEM. That was what he did… He created ‘highlight’ videos for all of the OTHER team’s players!!!!
April 2nd, 2024 at 1:21 pm
Excellent video, made my day. Everyone can feel the love between all of them. Happy to have Whitehead back.
April 2nd, 2024 at 2:10 pm
So Whitehead had a good year, will he show us more this year?? And yes since the Bucs became the Bucs they were hardly ever seen on ESPN, and it’s still the same crap from those jerks. We know where the Bucs have been and who they are today. F all those people and let’s do what we do. It does suck but oh well, we’ve learned how to tune them out so, Let’s Go Bucs!!!!
April 2nd, 2024 at 8:16 pm
Its pretty easy why the national media doesn’t take the bucs seriously. How many teams did the bucs beat who had a winning record last year? 2 or 3. And one of those teams Philly I believe was a mess having lost several in a row. Other than whitehead what have they really done to improve. All this rah rah about the bucs this offseason is just a smoke screen. This team needs one he’ll of a good draft to be excited about this team.