Spirit Brewing On The O-Line
July 17th, 2015
Logan Mankins and Kevin Pamphile were attached at the hip through many spring practices
Right now, Kevin Pamphile is your starting Buccaneers left tackle. That’s the way the depth chart rolled though spring practices.
Lovie Smith and Dirk Koetter let the No. 34 overall pick in this year’s draft, left tackle Donovan Smith, deal with second-team reps and hunger for better.
But Pamphile, a rather invisible fifth-round pick last year, doesn’t sound like a guy in the driver’s seat for a premier gig.
On Wednesday, Pamphile joined Jenna Laine of WHBO-AM 1040 for a chat about Bucs football and his charity school-supplies drive for poor children of Haiti.
Pamphile said he’s dialed in to helping the rookie Smith, and guard Ali Marpet, who was snagged in the second round.
“It feels amazing to, you know, be support for the younger guys,” Pamphile said. “Because I was in the same situation they were last year, just nervous and wide-eyed. ‘Oh, I’m in the NFL.’ The speed, it’s different. The play is different. It’s amazing. But I’m more confident now, and I’m giving my confidence to the younger guys.”
What a great attitude!
NFL coaches and personnel guys say players usually make huge strides from Year 1 to Year 2 of their careers. Hey, maybe Pamphile is that guy at left tackle? It’s not like he had much guidance from Anthony Collins last year, and Logan Mankins appeared to spend much of 2014 lamenting lost barbecues, and being shocked by getting booted from the Patriots. This year, so far, Mankins is invigorated, and he did play left tackle for a stretch in New England, so he can assist the young tackles.
Pamphile’s parents are Haitian and he has family in Haiti. Education is a big focus for Pamphile, he said, and reading to kids at schools with Patrick Omameh last year was a big highlight of his Bucs career.
Alterraun Verner joined the radio interview and praised Pamphile for being a rare NFL rookie, one who didn’t blow money on himself or buy family houses, for example, but a guy who quickly used his new cash to help others.
The Bucs’ offensive line might very well be a train wreck this season, but at the least the attitude is right. And that’s all you can hope for in July.
July 17th, 2015 at 9:32 am
Th only pesos who seems obsessed with the whole barbecue things is you, Joe.
MankinS mentioned it once briefly and you have never let it go.Get some new material. You are sounding like an old tired stand up comic using to old material. So unoriginal.
July 17th, 2015 at 9:40 am
“Lovie Smith and Dirk Koetter let the No. 34 overall pick in this year’s draft, left tackle Donovan Smith, deal with second-team reps and hunger for better.”
Sorry Joe, but this just makes no sense to me. Unless last year’s line is considered to be something special so he has to earn it. So he essentially has to earn a spot on one of the NFL’s worst O-lines. WTH did they draft him so high for then? Understandable make rookie’s earn it, but not when it comes to that o-line. He needs as much first team reps as possible. I now, I know it was underwear football. I hope this 2nd team reps nonsense stops come training camp.
Same goes for Jameis as well. Same goes for Marpet Hobart. Get them ready Koetter and Lovie. They need LOTS of first team reps or they surely won’t understand what it’s like to play up against starting NFL defenses. Not that we have a great D to begin with though…
July 17th, 2015 at 9:44 am
Sounds like somebody is cruising for a bruising from my vantage point. And the tide rushes in.
July 17th, 2015 at 9:48 am
Howard thinks that Joes epithets are entertaining and set Joe apart
from the more tight-arse media members.
Heck, by Tampa media standards Joe is a rebel.
That said, it is interesting that Mankins would bring up BBQ’s in
a media interview. Comments like that speak volumes if you
know what to listen for.
Howard is feeling good about 2015.
Koetter, the Messiah, the 4 O-linemen drafted over the last 2 years,
A healthy ASJ, keeping VJ, of course Godzilla, great depth at LB,
the new kid Alexander sounds great, Lovie learning to leave offense
alone, Mankins getting his sea-legs in Tampa and becoming a mentor,
nice talent at CB (Banks, Verner, et al) and the biggest factor of all:
A huge chip on the shoulder and the stinging memories of
2014 still fresh in the mind. The Bucs (for the 1st time in a long time)
appear to have some attitude and direction and urgency.
July 17th, 2015 at 10:10 am
Drdneast….i hope you’re not a doctor. Awful grammar…just awful…
July 17th, 2015 at 10:24 am
I am encouraged if Pamphile has developed to where he can compete for a starting job…..I look at as a very positive thing…..the same goes for Edwards.
If we succeeded with our two Oline draft picks last year….that will simply give us more depth and make us much stronger going forward.
As for Pamphile supporting charities with his new NFL money…..wow, what a breath of fresh air.
July 17th, 2015 at 10:40 am
What a nice guy. McCown was a really nice guy too.
Speaking for TBBF, who speaks for Pablo…
Pablo longs for the day the Bucs have a nasty mofo on the Oline who other teams complain about being nasty and are afraid of. But Pablo is more concerned about right guard (bc we stink there), than LT. Pablo has always said, when you don’t know who your starter is, Pablo feels it is bc you don’t have one. Pablo wishes L&L would have drafted AJ Cann instead of being cute and drafting Ali Hobart U. Then Pablo would know who the starter is at right guard and the Bucs wouldn’t stink there.
July 17th, 2015 at 10:46 am
The OL can’t be worse than what we saw mimicking human turnstiles last season. Just jettisoning Collins made us better. No way Smith or Pamphile can’t out perform Collins. If Marpet can become a solid starter, then I think this draft class can be viewed as a good one in a few years. I also am hoping at least one of the late round picks Alexander, Bell or Clay produces at least one solid starter as well. Time will tell.
July 17th, 2015 at 11:00 am
I’d be happy if either Pamphile or Edwards can develop into a starter. If they’re better than the rookies, you have to play them. Winston’s development depends on him being upright.
July 17th, 2015 at 11:06 am
@ Harry
I agree with Pablo… Moving up (and wasting a pick) to pick Marpet while AJ Cann was still available will one day be on Joe’s top 20 stupid personel moves of the decade…
I hope Marpet will prove both Pablo and I wrong but I doubt he will…
If your willing to take a major risk on Marpet why not take a risk and draft Collins in the seventh round?
Boooooo!!!
July 17th, 2015 at 11:16 am
Where is Pablo?
July 17th, 2015 at 11:32 am
Pablo’s IP is located in Ecuador.
Could just be a proxy though.
July 17th, 2015 at 11:32 am
Hope he doesn’t end up like Manute Bol after helping people in need. Great story though. Positive look for the team in the community.
July 17th, 2015 at 11:57 am
If your willing to take a major risk on Marpet why not take a risk and draft Collins in the seventh round?
Again…because Collins said CLEARLY he would not go to a team that drafted him 7th. Why would he? He obviously could score far more $$$ on the open market as a FA than a slotted 7th round draft pick salary. He would have just held out.
OL has to be the tightest team within the overall team. The OL needs to be a coordinated unit that works well together. Last year we hit the daily double. A lack of talent combined with a complete lack of team or cohesiveness.
Mankins and Smith came from SB winning teams. They had to HATE last year.
Koetter is an ACTUAL NFL OC not some kid wannabe like Arroyo. We’ve had a new infusion of talent which has to be better than last year’s group. Although I agree the verdict is still out on Pamphile and Edwards since they were rookie backups for the most part until late in the season.
It’s all good! 10-6..playoffs…one and done and then we draft to become true contenders in ’16.
July 17th, 2015 at 2:06 pm
St.Pete, according to overthecap.com, a 7th round pick makes roughly 100,000 a season more than what Collins signed for. Rounded values are 521,000 611,000 701,000 for a 7th rounder and 435,000 526,000 616,000 for Collins.
July 17th, 2015 at 3:38 pm
It would be awesome if Pamphile is able to legitly play tackle in this league. Even if Smith beats him out which we all hope happens, it would be nice to have some degree of depth up front for a change. When Gilkey and Cousins are your “depth” – then you know you are in trouble.
July 17th, 2015 at 4:02 pm
It seems like Kevin Pamphile will make a good guard in the NFL, and Ali Marpet a good center. The Bucs has some young talent on the offensive line, I think some of them are out of position.
July 17th, 2015 at 4:14 pm
I’m pulling for Pamphile to gain on last year’s experience and improve to at least be a solid backup. If he is from Haiti, growing up in a poor country, he is probably humble and appreciative of the opportunity as your description suggests. Those attributes should help with his determination to succeed. I like this guy after reading your article.
July 17th, 2015 at 5:00 pm
Can someone explain why we did not sign Dan Connolly? Joe, any insight, I know he visited, what happened. I think he would have been a good pick up.
July 17th, 2015 at 5:16 pm
I don’t care about the name on the back of the jersey. No more gifted starting jobs. Especially on the OL!
July 17th, 2015 at 8:22 pm
TheRealMalloy, I.m typing on a phone because my laptop freezes up every time it visits Joe’s Web site.
I see a lot of typos and mistakes put here on posts and figure it’s from the same thing.
good to see that is all you can criticize since the contest is true you tiny little anal retentive philistine.
July 17th, 2015 at 9:01 pm
Criticizing grammar is an unwritten no-no on here IMO. We all type from phones or quickly because we have stuff to do. I could understand if it was practically unreadable but c’mon. The ingenious use of the word philistine was classic. I gotta give props there.
July 17th, 2015 at 10:03 pm
@RealMalloy
I gotta stick up for drdneast one this one. Cmurda is correct. I also participate on a political blog and generally speaking criticizing grammar and spelling is considered taking a cheap shot.
Blog platforms vary widely. Some provide edit functions, some give a preview window to clean up and then as cmurda correctly points out some people here, far more patient than me, post from mobile devices.
I do not know if drdneast is a physician has a PhD or that’s just his name. But I’ve read enough of his posts to know that he is obviously educated and can make his point cogently.
July 17th, 2015 at 11:45 pm
Um, he retired.
July 18th, 2015 at 1:19 am
Hold on about to have a shot of Jameson
July 18th, 2015 at 10:47 am
Connelly didn’t want to move his family down here for probably one year. Simple as that.
Thx for the props cmurda. I’m sure it sent him to the dictionary.
July 18th, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Someone should tell Mankin’s that Four Rivers has great brisket. It could really help his game!
July 18th, 2015 at 5:23 pm
I agree with Buc1987 and Pablo. I am so tired of this “nice guy” image. First it was McCoy for helping the opponents players up. Then it was Gilkey who was getting bullyed. Now its Pamphile. “It feels amazing to, you know, be support for the younger guys who are here to take my starting position over me.” Pamphile said. C’mon.. you should be sayin “I am the starting Left Tackle and Donovan Smith is going to have to take it from me”. I want a team that is mean, nasty and demands respect like Danny Lansanah. As for the OL there is no frigin way Pamphile is going to start over Donovan Smith and there is no way Garrett Gilkey should start over Ali Marpet. The OL including Winston should be practicing together..NOW. When training camp begins. Nice guys always finish last. This team should no longer accept losing or disrespect.
July 19th, 2015 at 2:18 am
Pampile’s best position is not Guard, it is RT. He is a former Basketball Player and has the ability to pass block. He also got some training last year in run blocking in games too. I am for starting Smith at LT in camp in pads and see if he can block our speedy DEs. I have no doubt he can run block right now. However, if he isn’t quick enough to block our DEs then apologize to our LT from the end of last season and give him a raise and give him more first team reps. Also if EDS is still shaky at Center like last year remember he was a Guard with Green Bay who was forced to Center during the year. Move EDS to RG to compete with Smith for that position and remain our backup Center, and move Marpet to Center where he played great at the Senior Bowl, and give your best a lot of starting reps so when the Season starts we can win right out of the box. Oh, and scrimmage early in the day and avoid storms and high heat til we get an indoor practice facility. Get a veteran OL as backup support and cut worthless Gilkey too. Next season get a good OL Coach and til then let your LG be a playing OL Coach and kick Warhop to the curb.