Barber: McDougald “Is The Future At Safety”
December 22nd, 2014
(Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
It’s always worth noting everything Ronde Barber says when he calls a Bucs game for FOX, like he did yesterday.
Aside from being close to some Buccaneers and knowing Lovie Smith’s scheme, Barber is part of private, FOX “production meetings” with Lovie, select players, as well as assistant coaches.
After witnessing yesterday’s debacle in person, Joe painfully watched the FOX broadcast on NFL Game Rewind, and Barber offered a couple of interesting nuggets. One came early in the first half, when he talked about how much the regime likes safety Bradley McDougald and how he “is the future at safety.”
Barber is a fan, and for the second consecutive week, McDougald led the Bucs in tackles.
Last year’s November waiver claim signing by former rockstar general manager Mark Dominik was a good one. Joe likes McDougald’s physical brand of play. He’ll hit and he comes hard, which Joe can’t say of all the Bucs defenders.
“In camp we saw that he had a skillset that we thought would be great for this system,” Jason Licht said on the Buccaneers Radio Network yesterday. “He’s big, and he can cover. He’s a great kid and he’s sharp. His future is very bright.”
Joe suspects the Bucs will bring back safeties Major Wright and Keith Tandy, who will enter the final year of his inexpensive rookie deal. Of course, high-paid Dashon “Hawk” Goldson has little chance to return, and Joe’s sure the regime will bring in another couple of young bodies to compete, perhaps even a mid-round pick.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:56 pm
Unlike our high priced FA’s, Lansanah, McDougal and J. Smith have all been bright spots.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:58 pm
I doubt it joe. Goldson stays. There isn’t an improvement to be had, and we owe him anyway. Same w Collins. Why cut him when he still counts against the cap? Might as well try him.
December 22nd, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Never should a safety lead team in tackles. But the pic sums it all up. I hope fletcher is gone as well. Another one of lovies hand picked coveted free agents.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Fletcher is a douche bag tooo. He shops in south Tampa and Is super cheap. Hope Hope I never see his stupid ass again
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:17 pm
@Kalind
Goldson being cut will save $5m against the cap. Only $3m of his $8m is dead money.
But really, the question to ask is, are the Bucs getting $8m worth of play from him? The answer is no. He shouldn’t even get half that at the level he is playing.
Collins will make $6m next year, and only $3m of that would be dead cap money if cut.
So just by cutting those two, $8m of cap room is opened up.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:27 pm
You don’t improve a team by cutting good players; even if they are overpaid.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Suggested Cuts & Potential Savings
(After removing the dead money)
(Center) Evan Dietrich-Smith – $3,750,000
(Safety) Dashon Goldson – $5,000,000
(Left Tackle) Anthony Collins – $3,000,000
(Punter) Michael Koenen – $3,250,000
(Guard) Logan Mankins – $7,000,000
(Quarterback) – $4,250,000
Total Potential Savings: $26,250,000
This isn’t counting the cap room we gain from UFAs in 2015…such as Bowers, Clayborn, Foster, etc.
I personally think Mankins is good enough, but he will be 33 next year. The odds of injury are much higher and his quality of play will be worse. Is he worth $7m? I don’t think so. But the problem is whether or not we can replace him this year with all the other things that need addressing.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:34 pm
JoshFreeman Says
You don’t improve a team by cutting good players; even if they are overpaid.
Name the good players you are talking about. Goldson is not one. He has nothing at all but cause problems with the refs in previous years, and he has been invisible this year. He has not played well since coming.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Let me clarify…I am not a fan of fire sales. I do not believe we should create holes when we need to fill holes. However, we need cap room in order to fill holes. We need to resign David to a bigger contract too (which will take half of that $26m).
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:44 pm
the hardest part of this draft\FA process to stomach will be the endless idiotic comparisons to successful players associated with the dungy coaching tree. every safety will be the next lynch, our next hyped DE will inevitably be tabbed either a “simeon rice style player” or a “dwight freeney type of DE”, next MLB inevitably given expectations to be the next uhrlacher, etc….i understand giving lovie at least one more year, i will renew my 4 club seats once more, but i have no appetite or intention of buying into a single ounce of hype coming out of one buc place from mariotta\winston on down. i will always be a bucs fan, but the next time i will be genuinely excited to be a bucs fans is around thanksgiving day in the next season where we are clearly in contention.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:45 pm
Hmm still waiting on that “announcement” from Joe fresh at 5 AM he says.. 1245 EST and no “Announcement” as one of the readers from the very beginning tactics like this to get more views/clicks/w.e the case may be isn’t cool.. don’t pull a Lovie on us Joe and sell us BS
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:46 pm
I’m good with any picks the Bucs make as long as they stop reading the players press clippings and stat sheets and start truely evaluating the player. It seems like some of the players we picked up in FA were press clipping reads. It looks like there will be some very interesting OC available via fired HC’s at the end of the season. I think Trestman would be a good choice, with of course a decent QB.
December 22nd, 2014 at 1:47 pm
@Bonzai
Cleaning house is fine, as long as they bring in decent replacements. The 2013 OL was not good. But we blew out four guys and got worse — and none of the replacements were young guys to be groomed.
The price of poor drafting is overpaying for FAs. The Bucs are going to have to keep some guys like VJax and others from your list. They’ll have to overpay until they can find more McDougalds out there.
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:08 pm
Mcdougle tries to be physical but ends up on his rear end in most cases. Better off playing Tandy. Tandy covers well and does good on run support too. I saw Mark barron get toasted by ODB yesterday, doesn’t bode well for my argument.
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:11 pm
I know money plays into decisions on players so much now, but any player cuts this off season that would make the team depth weaker is a stupid decision for this team right now. Need all hands on deck and add the draft picks….
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:44 pm
Instead of dumping high paid poor players, they could look at restructuring their deals. Pay out their guaranteed money over another 2 years right? Of course with favorable options to the team. Goldson will probably be back if he’s willing to restructure his deal. Collins…inactive and healthy? He’s probably gone. EDS might restructure as well as Mankins (maybe not). After next season, if Johnson is no good he needs to be cut. If he wasn’t guaranteed all that money next year I’m sure they’d release him now. This guy was supposed to be the best free agent DE last year?? Oops.
December 22nd, 2014 at 2:58 pm
The old adage “I will tolerate you until I can replace you” is applicable here. Enough with the revolving door of high priced FA. That is not what successful teams do. Look at most of the playoff teams this year and they built thru the draft. Look at the rouge outfits like the Bucs and the Raiders and you see the opposite. Simple as that.
December 22nd, 2014 at 5:03 pm
@Teflon DON: As a longtime reader of JBF, you should (and will soon) be embarrassed by your apparent lack of understanding of how Joe rolls.
–Where’s the teflon, surrounding your brain? smh
December 22nd, 2014 at 5:25 pm
EDS looks like he has a mental bug. He needs a shrink to help him find out why he zones out sometimes. Seriously, a center that can’t snap the ball? Reminds me of Chuck Knoblauch.
Mankins, that is too much money for a guy who hasn’t been very good. I thought Booker D was overrated, but Mankins has all the penalties to go along with all the whiffs.
Collins is terrible, but I think Cousins has earned a return. He is able to provide depth at several positions.
I think Bowers will be back, as a full time backup to McCoy. He has steadily gotten better at the position, and has enough burst in his knee to play on the inside.
Goldson, I wouldn’t mind seeing him, especially if they can get him to take a bit of a pay cut. The secondary has been playing well, though they need to finish more plays (ints). Even Leonard Johnson is playing well, which is nice, since he played well as a rookie before taking a step back.
December 22nd, 2014 at 6:34 pm
YEA BUT RONDE BARBER ALSO ENDORSED LEONARD JOHNSON AS THE FUTURE AT THE NICKLE CORNER, HE STILL HAS TO EARN CREDIBILITY IN THE BROADCAST BOOTH