Itching For Uche?
May 18th, 2014
Joe’s not all hot in the pants at the prospect of Jamon Meredith or Oniel Cousins starting for the Bucs at right guard, though Joe won’t consider turning off the TV like one former Buccaneer.
The thought of a a fifth-round rookie option also is a buzz-kill about now, too, until one proves his worth.
Joe would love to see more competition in the mix.
There’s still time to grab a solid body, but sooner might be better. The Bucs get their “OTA” practices going again this week, leading up to their mandatory, mid-June minicamp, and then team breaks up and returns for the late-July/August ritual of training camp.
One guy who could be worth a workout is former Jaguars right guard Uche Nwaneri. He’s been named on the All-Unemployed team of ProFootballTalk.com. Nwaneri, who just turned 30, has only missed four starts in the past six seasons.
Offensive guard: Davin Joseph, Uche Nwaneri, Will Rackley.
There is a glut of experienced guards on the market. A former Pro Bowler, Joseph will now be two seasons removed from a broken kne cap. He has drawn a little interest in free agency. Nwaneri and Rackley were the Jaguars’ starting guards a season ago. The 30-year-old Nwaneri is the more accomplished player of the duo, while Rackley’s age (25 in October) is one of his key selling points.
Joe’s seen reports out of Jacksonville that Nwaneri’s play slipped last season. He was set to earn $3.7 million this year and got cut before free agency. Despite a couple of team visits, just like Davin Joseph, Nwaneri remains unemployed.
That doesn’t mean Nwaneri is garbage. Perhaps he’s looking for too much cash, holding out hope somebody desperate comes calling?
Frankly, Nwaneri intrigues Joe a bit because he’s been so durable. It’s free to look, and Joe sure would applaud the Bucs buying Nwaneri lunch after a rigorous workout on the fields of One Buc Palace.
Bucs defensive line coach Joe Cullen coached in Jacksonville for three seasons when Nwaneri was there. Perhaps there’s something he knows about Nwaneri that is keeping the Bucs from taking a closer look?
Joe can only speculate, of course. But Joe does know the Bucs have a pile of salary cap room and a thin offensive line. More live bodies should soon be on the way.
May 18th, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Joe- thanks for this tidbit..Sunday nite 6:00 it’s nice to know as much as us football nuts spin everywhere looking for any news that JBF is always there for us. Thanks again
May 18th, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Why did we release Daniel Te’o-Nesheim again? He played better than Clayborn and Bowers last year.
May 18th, 2014 at 6:47 pm
Joe, I realize that Davin had a tough year in2013 but he was coming off a tough knee injury. The Bucs made the decision to cut him, understandably due to his high salary, but by all accounts he was a good locker room guy. Is there any chance he would get another look at a lesser salary or is he holding out for more money? Thx!
May 18th, 2014 at 6:49 pm
Maybe Joseph will come back at cheaper price???
May 18th, 2014 at 6:49 pm
According to PFF he was one of the worst in the league in stats. While numbers don’t always tell the truth about a player in this case I think they were warranted. By the way, don’t think that either Bowers or Clayborn are an absolute lock to make the 53 man roster this year.
May 18th, 2014 at 7:04 pm
YUP…..Now that JF is in Cleveland I can truly enjoy your site again Joe. Thanks for the stream of tidbits
May 18th, 2014 at 7:05 pm
brandonbucsfan
Bowers is already putting his house up for sale.
May 18th, 2014 at 7:10 pm
Not denying Joseph had bad year, but he was coming off tough injury. The knee should be 100% by now though, so why not bring back at less money?
May 18th, 2014 at 7:13 pm
I want Joseph back. Hell bring them both in and let the two compete. I’m with Mike, Joseph was coming off of a major injury last season and would be a nice addition to the line we have now. Bring him BACK!!! Guarantee he is working his ass off to get back to it.
May 18th, 2014 at 7:27 pm
What is up with Wharton. He may be on the old side, but he was pretty solid last year.. He seems an obvious choice to me.
May 18th, 2014 at 7:27 pm
Joe:
No one the Bucs sign for line depth at this point is really going to make anyone less worried about our line depth. Period.
May 18th, 2014 at 8:08 pm
Max Says:
May 18th, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Why did we release Daniel Te’o-Nesheim again? He played better than Clayborn and Bowers last year
—————-
He wasn’t released, he’s a free agent and wasn’t re-signed. He hasn’t signed with anybody else, either. A good sign that his value isn’t very high in the league.
May 18th, 2014 at 8:12 pm
Linemen that have been sitting out there for a long time are rarely, if ever, the solution. They’re almost certainly worse than what we’ve got. It seems obvious the Bucs are waiting for further cuts, aka “second free agency”.
May 18th, 2014 at 8:40 pm
Who is the starting RG? Who is the backup RG? ….Bueller….
May 18th, 2014 at 8:54 pm
Exactly Joe!
May 18th, 2014 at 9:14 pm
QB for the future needs to have some safety so he even has a future. But since Lovie Smith seems so capable of building this team so far, Im sure we will get some decent players in FA, but come time of next draft, maybe we can draft a defensive starter and some Oline men. If we do ad well defensively in the draft ad we did offensively, we will be tremendous in a few years time.
May 18th, 2014 at 9:28 pm
I think everyone, including myself, is in panic mode over the offensive line.
But the thing to remember is that of all the positions to find success in later rounds, OL does it the most.
May 18th, 2014 at 10:32 pm
No reason to be in panic mode at all. The bucs will find someone capable of playing guard before the season starts. The way they are treating the guard position though, to me it says they are confident that Nicks will play this season. Thats a really good sign.
May 18th, 2014 at 10:36 pm
Joseph even before injury was one of the worst players in the NFL (since 09). Not just as a guard, but one of the worst as a player on active rosters. His ridiculously high salary is what made the situation even more sadder.
The futility and ineptitude of Raheem and Schiano era Buccaneers is symbolized by the kind of money a player of Davin Joseph’s caliber made. Huge LOL@every comic that wants Joseph back at what ever salary. We are better off getting similar play from a young player off the practice squad, at least he can improve on failures instead of getting injured and get worse.
May 18th, 2014 at 10:45 pm
Te’o-Neshiem – is an Energy guy. But word is- he’s got no ceiling. He’s as good as he will ever be. While that is Ok, not many guys crying for “ok” DEs.
A few injuries league wide, and “ok will become an asset again.
Joseph was always a lil overrated. He’s done now. Empty Tank.
God bless him, but he’s killed us last few years. Good Luck sir. You will always be a Buccaneer!
Guards are the easiest players to find. We’ll find 3 or so.
Incognito! Tough, talented, and cheap
May 18th, 2014 at 10:49 pm
I also want to applaud our new brain trust for not panicking and picking any guard available with our 3rd round pick. I mean lets be honest, everyone and their brother thought we were going to draft a guard in the 3rd round, but instead the bucs stayed true to their board and took the best available player. So the point here is, if the bucs aren’t panicking then neither should we.
May 18th, 2014 at 11:30 pm
I dont think the Bucs do anything at Guard until Carl Nicks’ status is confirmed for training camp, either way he goes.
If Nicks can play they run with who they got; if he can’t 1 of these 3 guards out there will still probably be available, and the Bucs have the salary cap $ to sign them.
May 19th, 2014 at 1:04 am
Meredith has really been putting on muscle in his upper body to make the most of being a starting Guard. I believe he will do great and has played a lot of Guard for us and is an athleic pass blocker for his size. Even if Nix cannot come back, despite he should in my opinion, we have Daniels from our Practice Squad who is flexible enough to play center or guard. We also have two developmental OL we got the third day of the draft, so I am not worrying about our OL.
May 19th, 2014 at 1:32 am
Bring them both in. Why continue to act like the guard position is so unimportant? Nothing gets done between the tackles on the ground or through the air with the nonsense we have passing for NFL guard under the new authority.
The ass kissing for the GM/HC and febreezy piles of poop we have for interior OLinemem raises big question marks. Will see
May 19th, 2014 at 1:45 am
No one is acting like guard is unimportant. The bucs obviously know they need a solution to at least the RG position, I mean its not like they are oblivious to it. If us fans can point that out, then you can bet ANY head coach and GM would be able to recognize that. So the fact that they haven’t brought in any more guards either means they are waiting for one to be released, or they feel like they already have a capable one on the roster. Bucs fans need to be patient until we see the end result, unless of course you think you are more qualified then our HC/GM.
May 19th, 2014 at 7:41 am
sign Incognito
May 19th, 2014 at 7:50 am
Hey Andrew…the parade of coaches and GM over the last 7 years coupled with the results shows me that just because you got the job doesn’t mean you are any good at it. Seems to me that depth at the guard position has not improved and actually gotten worse. The season has not started yet and maybe this this gets addressed but the longer we wait for quality guards to step in the worse the situation becomes.
May 19th, 2014 at 12:53 pm
@DallasBuc
Well the last few head coaches we had didn’t have any NFL experience. Plus the guards in the free agent market hasn’t change since the the first few weeks of free agency. I really don’t see the a need to rush and pick up a guard now without seeing what we have on the roster. I’m pretty sure those same guys will still be there a few weeks from now, unless teams start getting injuries.