Lovie References “Six Corners I Like”
May 27th, 2014
Lovie Smith offered detail on his cornerbacks position today
Leonard Johnson might not sleep well tonight.
Lovie Smith, who doesn’t talk too much about players that impress him during “underwear football,” shed light on his cornerback thoughts today.
“There are six corners that I like on our football team right now,” Lovie said after practice. Then he went on to name Deveron Carr and Rashaan Melvin, both Greg Schiano-era holdovers, as cornerbacks who show him “daily improvement.”
Lovie also glowed about Johnathan Banks, calling him a “great fit” for our scheme and saying he did great things last season and called him “coachable” and “talented.” The head coach shared his belief that teams need a couple of 6-foot and taller corners these days Banks is 6-2 with very long arms.
Lovie also acknowledged that Mike Jenkins is “good competition” for Banks.
Now Joe can handle simple math, and if you add up Jenkins, Banks, Melvin and Carr. That makes four cornerbacks Lovie likes. Throw in Pro Bowl cornerback Alterraun Verner, and handpicked former Bears nickel back D.J. Moore, and that totals the six corners Lovie referenced. .
So where does that leave third-year man Leonard Johnson? Joe’s not sure, but it doesn’t sound promising. Keep in mind Lovie and Jason Licht moved quickly to re-sign Danny Gorrer before free agency began.
If nothing else, the Bucs have cornerback depth this season, something former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik never seemed to find.
May 27th, 2014 at 3:17 pm
At least there’s a little depth there…for now. I suspect Johnson and the like will be battling for roster spots.
May 27th, 2014 at 3:32 pm
If Johnson & Gorrer don’t make the team….then that says something about our depth….
May 27th, 2014 at 3:34 pm
Not really shocking Johnson and Bowers need huge camps. Nor will it shock if Claiborn is traded or inactive.
May 27th, 2014 at 3:59 pm
As of today, here are Buc cornerbacks:
21 Alterraun Verner
39 Marc Anthony
27 Johnthan Banks
33 Deveron Carr
36 Danny Gorrer
24 Mike Jenkins
29 Leonard Johnson
41 Keith Lewis
28 Rashaan Melvin
30 D.J. Moore
Last I read Marc Anthony was working at safety, Danny Gorrer can’t stay healthy, and Keith Lewis is a UDFA longshot but he has good length at 6-1, 190. May be PS candidate.
I think Johnson makes it as a nickel corner. Can’t hang with the outside people because of his speed, but he has production that won’t be easily overlooked. Then too, when Lovie spoke of cornerbacks that he likes, some believe that he was not talking about nickels corners.
Greg Auman @gregauman • 2h
.@seanlovegrove1 Moore and Leonard Johnson are nickels, which are counted separately from the corners …
May 27th, 2014 at 4:20 pm
I thought Leonard Johnson fit Lovie’s zone scheme. LJ is no way a man to man shutdown corner. He’s too slow. If/when he get cut, he should look to go to a team that run a lot of zone. Last season, Gorrer was one of top corners on the team during last season camp before he got hurt.
May 27th, 2014 at 4:24 pm
It seems like any players left over from the Morris/Dominick times is in dangers of being cut except for GMC.
I never liked Leonard Johnson myself. I saw things in him while on the field that were signs he quit on some plays. I hate seeing that.
May 27th, 2014 at 4:45 pm
Clayborn will be active. He’ll be rotating out behind Johnson at RDE is my guess.
Agree, LJ needs to have a monster camp.
May 27th, 2014 at 5:09 pm
Gorrer is a guy I would like to see make the team. I don’t see the need for Johnson anymore but we” see what Lovie thinks as time goes on
May 27th, 2014 at 5:14 pm
I personally think we are deep at the CB position .
Gorrer, Melvin, Carr are all players on the ups
May 27th, 2014 at 7:23 pm
Macabee Says:
and Keith Lewis is a UDFA longshot but he has good length at 6-1, 190. May be PS candidate.
—————
Actually, even more impressive from Lewis is that he ran something like a 4.21 at his pro day or at least some point in the past.
http://nfldraftdiamonds.com/draft-diamond-prospect-interview-vu-lynchburg-db-keith-lewis/
May 27th, 2014 at 7:27 pm
Leonard Johnson was the Daniel Te’o-Nesheim off defensive backs, no business starting…..if you need a key third down or big completion target his man, he didn’t lean enough from ronde to warrant starting another game for the bucs
May 27th, 2014 at 9:37 pm
Deep at corner? Were one injury away from being completely inept at corner. Verner goes down and Brees, Ryan, and Newton will be having record games.
May 27th, 2014 at 10:30 pm
Brandon,
I’m afraid I have to go back and amend Keith Lewis’ measurements. Seems like Keith is wearing elevated shoes these days. Buccaneer.com lists his height at 6-1, as does RotoWorld. However upon further review, Keith’s height that was officially taken at his pro day is 5-10 and 1/2. Kid is growing everyday! lol. Make no difference anyway, still a longshot.
May 28th, 2014 at 12:15 am
I don’t agree Mr.Walker.
You don’t need to have a recognizable name to be deep.
Verner, Banks, Jenkins, Moore are all capable especially in Lovie’s system.
Not to mention the others Gorrer, Carr, Melvin that pretty good depth. These guys are all guys whose names were spoken of often last year but injury got the best of em.
May 28th, 2014 at 12:17 am
The guy is sllooow, but has made a couple of picks and returned one or two. For a FA signing after being undrafted, thats pretty good. Just not good enough to start. Nickel is a starting position too in this D.
May 28th, 2014 at 12:17 am
Not to mention as much as he’s disliked he still young but has had some experience out there is LJ. Lovie may be able to get the most out of him.