“Very Solid, Consistent, Got Better”
April 4th, 2024
New Bucs cornerback Bryce Hall, formerly of the Jets, has the distinction of being one of the last men alive to cover Antonio Brown.
Joe has grown increasingly obsessed with Tampa Bay signing free agent cornerback Bryce Hall last month.
He legitimately seems like a potential steal.
For fans who want to look a little deeper, watch this film breakdown of Hall’s 2021 season as a Jets starter by straight-shooter analyst and former NFL offensive lineman Brian Baldinger.
Joe will add that eternally grumpy Jets fans were all-in for Hall after that season, as Joe has seen on various Jets blogs. The 2020 fifth-round pick won them over.
What worked against Hall was the Jets signed free agent D.J. Reed and drafted superstar Sauce Gardner the following offseason. He was a backup ever since and was solid when he did play.
It sure feels to Joe like Hall could be a starter in the NFL. Will he compete to start in Tampa? It’s unlikely but Joe can’t 100 percent rule it out.
Baldinger noted how Hall as a No. 1 corner was “very solid, consistent, got better.”
Bucs safety Jordan Whitehead, Hall’s Jets teammate for two years, was on SiriusXM NFL Radio this week talking about what a great teammate Hall is and how Whitehead talks to him daily.
Per Whitehead, Hall was “the preacher” on the Jets and a guy who actively worked to keep players connected to their faith regularly.
Joe has a good feeling about Hall and how he might further develop under Todd Bowles’ staff, which has done a heroic job getting the most out defensive backs.
April 4th, 2024 at 11:06 am
Bucs sign Randy Gregory to a one year deal!
April 4th, 2024 at 11:11 am
SB…thanks for yesterday’s news.
April 4th, 2024 at 11:12 am
We signed Gregory and his bong.
April 4th, 2024 at 11:22 am
Yea agreed. Hall feels like a steal. Quality CB’s don’t just fall from the sky. Well done JL!
April 4th, 2024 at 11:27 am
Dean will miss games – so yea – hopefully Bryce Hall is ready for prime time.
April 4th, 2024 at 11:32 am
RunNGun Says:
Randy Gregory contract details in…
2.49 mill fully guaranteed, plus $510k in per game active roster bonuses. Then an additional $2 mill for playing time and sacks.
—
for the price thats a decent signing.
April 4th, 2024 at 11:34 am
Reminds me of when we signed Alterraun Verner from the Titans except Verner actually played before he got here. Dude balled in Tennessee and was cheeks in Tampa. I expect absolutely nothing from Hall. Go Bucs!
April 4th, 2024 at 11:37 am
Hall will certainly play A LOT this season. Dean is soft. Dean will come out of six games and won’t be able to suit up in at least 3 more. Dean is soft.
April 4th, 2024 at 11:37 am
Love the Bryce Hall signing. He is a version of Jordan Whitehead himself when Whitehead was under the radar solidly contributing safety during the SB run on a team filled with big names on both offense and defense.
April 4th, 2024 at 11:44 am
Hall and Lavonte David can open a ministry together. They can work on getting Gregory to drop the pipe dream and embrace a higher power.
April 4th, 2024 at 12:02 pm
Great take on Hall. Hopefully he has a genius IQ to help everyone interpret what Todd calls for coverage.
April 4th, 2024 at 12:05 pm
yeah i don’t think we are as bad at corner and safety as people think…
i see no reason to be drafting a cb/s early on in the draft at all…
with more development from zyon and izien i think all is well…
hall is an insurance policy if zyon falters or there is an injury…
i’m still all for adding back dee delaney and we are good – unless they really believe hayes would fill that spot
April 4th, 2024 at 12:19 pm
Start Hall from game #1. Dean had his chance to prove he should be a starter last season, and failed.
Who cares if it’s said: “why are we paying Dean to sit-out, on the bench?” It’s about stoping the opposition from gaining first downs, and winning games, not who’s paid-more.
April 4th, 2024 at 12:32 pm
i was really excited when the Bucs signed Shaq Barrett because I knew he was buried behind named talent. I get that same feeling with Hall. this signing could be something that is huge and really works out for the Bucs.
April 4th, 2024 at 12:33 pm
Dean, Zyon, Hall, Izien … that won’t scare a lot of teams. Need a pass rush.
April 4th, 2024 at 12:54 pm
Sorry Ed but that’s a terrible opinion.
Dean is at worst, the 2nd best CB on this team right now. That means he’s a starter, as he has been for the past 2 years.
April 4th, 2024 at 1:49 pm
I’m with you on Hall Joe. He’s a steal. And contrary to what several have pontificated, he’ll almost surely see a lot of snaps in our Bucs’ secondary this season, providing that he stays healthy of course.
Todd Bowles had to keep pulling rabbits out of hats last year to keep the Bucs’ CB positions manned. Opponents ran 1,081 offensive plays, plus another 45 that defenders played but didn’t count for various reasons, bringing the total to 1,126. Look at the availability of our CBs last year:
o Davis (12 games): 715 def snaps (63.5% availability)
o Dean (13 games): 712 def snaps (63.2% availability)
o McCollum (17 games): 785 def snaps (69.7% availability)
o Hayes (15 games): 29 def snaps (2.6% availability)
o Pitts (4 games): 18 def snaps (1.6% availability)
The following 2 players got time at both CB & Safety:
o Delaney (17 games): 449 def snaps (39.9% availability)
o Izien (17 games): 719 def snaps (63.9% availability)
None of our CBs even hit 70% availability in 2023. And can only imagine how much playing musical CBs affects communication back there. We traded Davis (715 def snaps) of course, and haven’t re-signed Delaney (449 def snaps). Thankfully we added both Bryce Hall & Tavierre Thomas who together logged about 500 def snaps last year. Since we lost over twice that many snaps, gut feel is that they’ll both see plenty of field time this year.
April 4th, 2024 at 1:49 pm
I’ll be honest I thought Neal was a steal last year at the saftey position and thought the same exact thing JOE you just said about hall how he should develop nicely under bowels cause Bowles/staff has done a nice job of developing the DBs since they got here. Way way way better than the mike smith and lovie days when we couldn’t develop talent for nothing
April 4th, 2024 at 1:54 pm
BTW, many folks seem to assume that McCollum is an automatic starter now that Davis is gone. Not so fast; he made some very nice plays last season (opponents only completed 59.8& passes against him), but he also got burned quite a bit (gave up 3 TDs & gave up 624 yards). I expect that he’ll improve a bunch this year, but there are no guarantees in Todd Bowles defense when it comes to starting. Ask Devin White.
April 4th, 2024 at 1:57 pm
Corners benefit from a Good Pass Rush. 2023 had the Jet’s Pass Rush Group raked @ 5th Best. Bucs on the other hand were down around 20th.
If Bucs don’t move up the list the DB’s will continue to get exposed.
Use Vea in the rotation with the Edge Rushers and get a Young Bull to Crush the Middle. It would go a long way to reducing wear and tear and extending his career too.
April 4th, 2024 at 2:48 pm
Defense Rules Says:
“None of our CBs even hit 70% availability in 2023”
—————————————————————
Starters Davis and Dean were the only Buccaneers CBs with “availability” issues in 2023.
“Back-up” McCollum was filling in for 1 or the other so often last year that he wound up with more snaps than either starter….
McCollum was certainly “available” for 100% of the snaps though – and would have had them all if he’d been a starter.
Starting Nickle Izien played 64% of the defensive snaps last year – which is almost exactly how often Bowles deployed a Nickle Defense. But Christian Izien was certainly “available” for up to 100% of snaps if coaches had wanted to put him on the field that many times….
Thomas and Izien are likely to be in a dog fight all Camp and preseason for that starting Nickle spot. Which is a good problem to have. Thomas has also played outside some.
Davis and Dean are the only Bucs CBs who couldn’t stay healthy. Davis is gone and Dean will be gone too after this year unless he starts (and stays in!) at least 15 games and balls out in 2024…..
Hopefully Bryce Hall picks up Todd’s defense quickly because we will need him when (not if) Dean can’t be on the field for whatever reason.
I like Dean – don’t get me wrong – he’s a good CB when healthy. Hell of a late 3rd rd pick! But the reason he WAS “available” LOL late in the 3rd rd was because of his extensive injury history going back to high school.
Dean’s lack of ‘availability’ has definitely been a problem in the pros – as has his lack of Ints – especially last year when he had 0 Ints and only 4 passes defensed.
Speaking of Clemson CBs… I’d be pretty happy with Wiggins as a nice ‘consolation prize’ at #26 this year if Turner, Verse, Latu, JPJ and Barton are all off the board when the Buccaneers are on the clock…. NO to Kool-Aid!
Otherwise – I’m pretty sure the Bucs will use 1 of the 4 picks in rds 2>4 on a CB this year.
April 4th, 2024 at 3:07 pm
Hall is why I am comfortable with not drafting a CB. He is good on the outside in multi WR sets. I think he helps offset the loss of Dean and rolling w Zyon
April 4th, 2024 at 3:10 pm
I mean the loss of Davis. Dean should have a strong year he knows he needs to. And Izien and Thomas are there at Nicole. Just seems drafting a CB this year is an overload bcuz they’d have to develop atleast some and outplay Zyon and Hall out of the gate
April 4th, 2024 at 3:22 pm
Simeon4HOF Says:
“Just seems drafting a CB this year is an overload bcuz they’d have to develop at least some…”
Which is exactly why we likely WILL draft a CB with a decent pick this year. The draftee will need at least a year to develop .
Hall and Thomas have 1 year contracts. Dean is as good as gone after this season – unless he stays on the field and has his best year in 2024…
CBs DO take more time than most positions to “develop” – and teams need at least 3 ‘good’ outside CBs to be competitive in this league. So you have to be constantly looking a year or 2 down the road for that very important position.
April 4th, 2024 at 3:30 pm
@Pickgrin I agree about drafting them frequently, but not high this year. Zyon and Hall can handle the half season Davis typically plays. The Bucs need to finish their Oline and draft an Edge before anymore future Defense pieces
April 4th, 2024 at 4:45 pm
Pickgrin … Yup, the word ‘availability’ was a bad choice. Almost all of our CBs were available for all 17 games, but weren’t utilized 100% in all games. Other than Dean & Davis, our corners are a fairly healthy lot.
I too like Jamel, and I’d love to see him stay healthy for the whole season. Also hoping that Hall & Thomas pick up Bowles’ defense quickly and push for field time. Can never have enough good corners.
Still wondering why we didn’t re-sign Delaney BTW. I thought he was improving year-by-year.
April 4th, 2024 at 4:48 pm
In 2021 Hall had almost 80 tackles and 16 PDs.
Those are good enough numbers for a starting CB.
Im sure there will be some battles, but if he stays healthy he will absolutely help this team this season.
Pretty sure Bowles knows the main issue is the pass rush.
We will probably draft 2 of them, one high and one in the middle rounds and let them compete in Training Camp. Keep the best 5.
Maybe 6.
We will still get close to 50 sacks like we do every year since Bowles was here.
April 4th, 2024 at 5:22 pm
DR – If we draft another CB – then Delaney probably isn’t coming back.
If we don’t draft a CB – they may bring him back for insurance purposes. The fact that Dee can play some Safety helps his cause to try and stay in the league somewhere….
April 4th, 2024 at 7:12 pm
This is a quest for a 9-8 record.
April 4th, 2024 at 7:51 pm
He definitely seemed overlooked after free agency. He seems like a talented corner that might fit better in Bowles scheme. He’s been a starter and done pretty well at it. PFF has him graded out as a slightly above average corner. If Boweles can bring his game even a little bit he’ll be the steal of the off season. With the talent on hand I don’t really feel that we need to focus the first round of the draft on corner. I think we can grab a corner later in the draft… Maybe third round with the Davis pick. This draft has quality corners pretty deep.
April 4th, 2024 at 8:52 pm
Solid depth is a great thing. If Whitehead likes him I like him.
April 5th, 2024 at 6:10 pm
Plus, he’s a UVa CB. We’ve had a good one from there once.