Guarded Optimism?
July 26th, 2014
Kadeem Edwards
Now that Carl Nicks is officially a trivia question, what exactly are the Bucs going to do at their guard positions?
This is as great a mystery as the Jeff Tedford offense. Joe’s got the latest to help you keep score at home.
Of course, the Buccaneers’ starting guards might not even be on the roster. Every year serviceable guards get cut from other teams in August. But that’s some serious dice to roll.
Here’s a peek at the current guards on the roster, and a potential guard.
Oneil Cousins — Journeyman picked up this offseason. Nine starts in six NFL seasons. One former Buccaneer is horrified by his game film. Cousins is the starting right guard — for now — on Lovie Smith’s depth chart.
Jamon Meredith — Schiano holdover was pretty solid all through 2012 at right guard filling in for Davin Joseph. Last year, not so good. Joe will deliver takes from Meredith himself later this morning.
Kadeem Edwards — Bucs’ fifth-round rookie got a lot of first team snaps at left guard during spring practices. He was a four-year starter at Tennessee State.
Patrick Omameh — Second-year man out of Michigan was signed off the 49ers’ practice squad last October. He, too, got time with first team in spring practice.
Andrew Miller — Undrafted rookie out of Virginia Tech.
Jason Foster — 25-year-old has bounced around NFL camps since coming out of Rhode Island last year.
Kevin Pamphile — The Bucs’ other fifth-round pick played tackle in college.
Joe’s hopeful, but Joe also is stocking up on Tums.
July 26th, 2014 at 7:09 am
Meredith has been capable with prior starting experience and Omameh has the Michigan Big 10 pedigree.
Edwards is very raw and Cousins was the horror of Bungles fans.
July 26th, 2014 at 7:41 am
Considering how much Cutler got sacked when Lovie was with the Bears it is worrisome.
July 26th, 2014 at 8:47 am
Would love to see us sign Eric Winston if he’s willing to make the move from tackle to guard. He may for a starting spot.
July 26th, 2014 at 8:49 am
This is the breakdown by Overthecap.com on what the Nicks’ situation means financially to the Bucs. “Nicks was set to count for $9.357 million against the 2014 salary cap. His cap charge will now reduce to $2.367 million, an immediate $7 million in salary cap savings. The reason the dead money is so low in 2014 is because the release will occur after June 1 which splits cap charges over two seasons. Nicks’ 2015 salary cap charge will now be $4.714 million. Had they never reworkd his deal the dead money would be zero.
The release was not official as of Friday so it remains to be seen if more money was involved with his retirement. Nicks did have $6 million of his salary guaranteed for injury and could have filed a grievance to keep that money had he been released. It was a tricky situation because in the eyes of the Buccaneers his injuries may not have been football related. It is possible that the team could have offered an injury settlement or another concession to cover the injury”.
July 26th, 2014 at 8:56 am
That list is shameful. Not another team in the whole league that would willingly start one of these scrubs opening day. Behold your new rockstar rookie GM at work!
July 26th, 2014 at 9:37 am
The guard situation is what is keeping me from getting too fired up yet for this year. Without a good oline, no other postion on the offense can be effective. If we had an established offensive coordinator, that would be one thing, but with an NFL rookie coach running the offense, this is a bit troublesome. We may be really praying for exceptional defense!
July 26th, 2014 at 10:05 am
Dean, thanks for the writeup on the contract situation.
Tricky situation? I agree. Glad the Bucs settled this out of the press.
July 26th, 2014 at 10:12 am
Dean….you are my ambassador of Kwan man!
July 26th, 2014 at 10:22 am
Oooh my, this season at the very least will be fun to watch compared to the last ones – i am sure of that just like i am sure most of you would kiss beyonce on her, guess that ____
But it shows the first “fails” of the new regime: they said they are gonna draft for value? What has more value in todays NFL: an very good o-line (helping QB and RB and therefore making playcalling easier, buy coordinator being able to disguise pass/run)
or: getting an RB who is able to catch.. guess its easy isn´t it?
Its just too frustrating to be a fan sometimes, things are so obvious at times and still the big paycheck football operating guys make soooo dumb things… there were some good o-liner left in the 3rd.. why?????
and why seem some teams to realy “know” what they are doing and then “suddenly” they forget about it…
Why cant i be an NFL coach instead of an Sheridan? 😉 or evaluate talent instead of an Dominik? (clayton extension????? there are sooo many dumb dumb fups ucks)
July 26th, 2014 at 11:07 am
With no guards McCown could lead us to a last place offense.
July 26th, 2014 at 12:22 pm
If Cousins is starting anywhere on the line we are in trouble if you don’t believe me go look at the TOP 100 on NFL Network find Gino Atkins video clip and look at the other guy just abusing Cousins not Gino but whoever the other starting tackle for the Bengals was last season.
July 26th, 2014 at 12:36 pm
I don’t get what all the fuss is about. It isn’t like we had any good guard play to speak of really last year anyway. We knew Nicks playing was 50/50. We drafted two guys in the 5th, and signed a couple other guys to see what shakes out. It’s day one of practice, don’t act like just because these guys aren’t household names they don’t have a chance to be at least serviceable at the position. All this doom and gloom over the 2 least important pieces of the o-line is too much.
Way I see it, we upgraded at LT and C, we never had Nicks at LG last year so no real difference there and Joseph was awful so if any one of these guys pans out as average we’ll be better off than last season. Hold the pessimism until at least after week 3 of pre-season please.
July 26th, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Dan Says:
July 26th, 2014 at 8:47 am
Why? No upside. I’d much rather see them develop Omameh and Edwards by getting them on the field. Gotta suffer some growing pains but I prefer to play guys who are trending upward rather than guys who are on the down side of their career.
July 26th, 2014 at 1:04 pm
I feel a lot better about the guys they have right now than I did about last year’s line, for sure… I mean, outside of Cousins who I have grave doubts about.
July 26th, 2014 at 2:22 pm
we didn’t have to let donald penn go. after this settlement the bucs coud’ve held onto 2 donald penns and still been under the cap. collins would have been a viable option at guard if penn were still here to man LT for another year
July 26th, 2014 at 3:38 pm
Joe,
Any rumors of maybe the Bucs making a play for Alex Boone who is holding out with the 49ers?
No rumors. –Joe
July 26th, 2014 at 8:30 pm
@bucfaninMO. Yes you just created it.