Bucs May Cut McCown; Keep Johnson
August 19th, 2009
Joe must apologize for not posting this sooner. He had a radio engagement this morning with Ron Diaz and Ian Beckles on WDAE-AM 620, where Joe and Ian talked mostly about the offensive line.
Afterwards, Joe was stuck in a long meeting (fighting to stay awake while struggling without any aid from coffee). Now that Joe has sprung loose, it seems Joe isn’t the only one wondering about Luke McCown.
So to is Jason La Canfora of NFL.com. Citing sources “inside [the Buccaneers] organization,” La Canfora claims there are movers and shakers in the Bucs front office that want to let McCown go in favor of keeping Josh Johnson.
The Tampa Bay Bucaneers raised some eyebrows when they gave unproven QB Luke McCown a $2.5 million signing bonus this offseason. By all accounts, he has struggled, and some within that organization believe that it might be time to cut their losses with him so reps can open up for others.
The development of rookie QB Josh Freeman, the team’s first-round pick, has been well chronicled, and team sources have indicanted to me for months that Byron Leftwich has been the front-runner to land the starting gig for Week 1.
No one talks much about second-year QB Josh Johnson, but had Jon Gruden stayed as head coach, it’s Johnson who would have been the favorite to be the starter, sources said, and he remains highly regarded by the organization. Johnson was sharp in the preseason opener, and flashed his elite athleticism on a 43-yard touchdown dash on a busted play.
Joe pointed out this same scenario yesterday. Johnson’s workload has increased; he’s taking more snaps in practice. Coaches don’t do that just to make a kid feel good. Also throw in the fact there were whispers this spring that McCown wasn’t exactly lighting things up in the OTAs, and the way he struggled against Nashville, all these signals point to McCown being the odd man out, not Johnson.
If McCown has an equally erratic performance at Jacksonville on Saturday as he did in Nashville, the bell may begin tolling for McCown.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Neither McCown brother has made it (so far) as a starting NFL QB. Josh at least has some stats in the books, with 2004 being his 1 season to (almost) start a complete season…14 games.
GP Comp Att Pct Yds TD INT
Regular season totals 46 609 1052 57.9 6582 35 40
but he is also on his 4th team in 4 years. Luke at least has been on the same team for the same period. But has no stats to mention.
Maybe they are destined to be just servicable back ups for their career’s.
August 19th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Hey how about this – trade Luke to Minnesota for Tarvaris Jackson?
August 19th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Please release him. Let him go !!
August 19th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
It’s funny that after the game the other night it seemed like JJ was history, although he played very well. Raheem touted McCown the next day and made some excuses for him too. In the last couple of days the scuttlebut has changed. JJ is getting more reps and the tide appears to be changing direction. Luke may be the on caught in the outgoing tide now instead of JJ. Who knows? I think we will end up with 4 QB’s on the roster, just like last year unless Luke really starts to stink the place up on Saturday. The good thing is the youngsters do show some promise. I think they need to run Freeman through a rigorous workout regimen for the next 6 months and get him cut up, in real shape, and work on his stamina. He can still practice and learn how to be an NFL QB, but get him some good MMA training and conditioning. 6 mos with Randy Couture will make him a total stud. He is decent but that will get rid of his sluggishness while the Slug plays QB for the team. Oh ya, these guys need to stretch more and quit injuring hamstrings.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
When you have 4 QBs on the roster, and are halfway through training camp without knowing exactly who will be your #1, that means you have no #1. I expect to see at least 3 of the 4 start at some point this season, that is if they keep 4 QBs like last year.