Jameis Winston’s Best Friend
December 12th, 2015
America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, has one great situation here in Tampa.
Why? The offensive players around him are a healthy, functioning group by NFL standards. In fact, they’re pretty damn good, led by a strong offensive coordinator.
As football junkies know, the best friends of any rookie quarterback are a solid running game and manageable distances on third downs.
Researching Sunday’s Bucs-Saints game, Joe learned that the Bucs, your beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers, lead the NFL in gaining an average of 6.4 yards on first down. Again, that’s the best first-down rate in the league.
Man, if Mike Evans and Austin Seferian-Jenkins could just become reliable targets, “lethal” might be an appropriate word for this offense.
And imagine if the Bucs decide to move all-in to support Jameis and draft a couple of stud offensive players in 2016.
December 12th, 2015 at 3:35 pm
They don’t need a ton on offense. They need defense. Particularly DE, Safety and corner.
Kenny Bell is coming back next year. They have a deep group at TE and RB. WR is pretty solid and O-line is as good as you’ll find across the league.
December 12th, 2015 at 3:51 pm
Right on Mort. Bucs need at least 1 DE, Safety and Corner in the draft … 2 of each would be even better. Picking up another OLineman would be nice, but not mandatory in this coming draft. I’d go defense all the way unless an offense steal happens to fall to us. For instance, I’d grab Derrick Henry in a second if he was still there in the second or third round (doubtful) … love those big backs (like Mike Alstott) to pound the ball and wear down defenses.
December 12th, 2015 at 3:51 pm
Unless a tremendous WR or Olineman fall to us……I think we need to go with a CB, DE, S….in no particular order….depends on the player available.
December 12th, 2015 at 4:04 pm
Yeah….and imagine how it will all fall apart if Jon ngruden get’s his wish and Dirk Koetter goes to another team to be a head coach.
DON’T LET IT HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot WAIT to see Kenny Bell ball out….he’s going to be a huge part of this offense.
December 12th, 2015 at 4:13 pm
I think with the big cap space we have, our offensive assistance can be probably come with free agency. Depth at WR and oline never hurts, a big playmaker never hurt anyone. But secondary is still lacking, and the dline is still offensive.
December 12th, 2015 at 4:24 pm
biggest offseason move keep Koetter ie. ck whats happening to Matty ice
December 12th, 2015 at 4:35 pm
Our success on first down is a combination of three things….
Koetter’s playcalling….we are no longer predictable….
Martin’s running….because we are no longer predictable….
Winston’s passing with play action….because we are no longer predictable
December 12th, 2015 at 4:42 pm
Percy Harvin and Vernon Davis are scheduled to be FA and really could over pay and not break the bank on them. Two dynamic guys that have done it before , with still plenty of room left to help the defense
December 12th, 2015 at 5:00 pm
They need a 3rd WR more than I need a third paycheck this month. Guys, that’s a lot of need.
December 12th, 2015 at 5:03 pm
Wouldn’t mind a dynamic slot receiver and Mankins isn’t gonna last forever
December 12th, 2015 at 5:09 pm
Def need more offense in the offseason
Keep adding weapons for Hillsborough County’s QB
December 12th, 2015 at 5:21 pm
Bucs have 19 players whose contracts expire in 2016. Could see resigning as many as 14 of those, at a cost of around $18 – $20 million. With the money Bucs would still have available after that, we should be able to pick up at least one excellent DE and one excellent OLineman in free agency, plus several other depth players, particularly for defense.
We look to be pretty well set on offense for another year or two. I don’t think that slot WR will be an issue next year … we’ve got Kenny Bell and Louis Murphy coming off of IR, and Adam Humphries has done a great job in my opinion.
December 12th, 2015 at 5:32 pm
We desperately need speed on Offense….
I’d like to see us pick up a combination WR/KR/PR
December 12th, 2015 at 5:39 pm
Guys don’t forget Kenny Bell. Let’s draft defense next year. And no thanks to Percy Harvin. He’s an injury plagued head case.
December 12th, 2015 at 5:42 pm
It’s martin. More martin. As coach McKay said “the ball ain’t heavy”….
December 12th, 2015 at 6:03 pm
Say Joe, YEs it would be a non stoppable Offense should we decide to draft 2 more studs on Offense. Butt….We got so many needs on Defense my man. We need to make this Defense top notch. Once we do this? We will relive them days of old when our Defense was truly feared.
December 12th, 2015 at 6:15 pm
I am excited to see who Jameis recruits here in the offseason. Don’t underestimate his impact in this area. Especially the way his teammates are speaking up for him.
Look at the transformations of Mankins and Smith. It’s contagious and I bet several will call Licht and Lovie. They won’t have to work that hard to attract people. And no state income tax won’t hurt.
December 12th, 2015 at 7:29 pm
I wonder how many more years VJ has in him
December 12th, 2015 at 8:14 pm
“lethal”, right on! Break up the Bucs!
December 12th, 2015 at 8:59 pm
You can’t really divorce the free agency period from the draft IMO …. pointless to say what positions will be definite needs in the draft without knowing what happens in free agency. Could sign a starting caliber DE and/or CB for instance and then make drafting offense a more realistic option. Or vice versa, maybe we pick up a couple toys for Jameis and the offense in FA, then totally focus on D in the draft as expected.
BoltIsle makes a great point that has been brought up before … I expect Jameis to make Tampa Bay a destination team for free agents in the next 1, 5, 10 years. They will see the arrow pointing up, see the culture change and the stability that a true franchise QB brings to a team. And no state income tax. Bucs will have options ….
December 12th, 2015 at 9:20 pm
Need a RT and young LG to learn from Mankins. I think Licht can find those in later rounds. If they do decide to go that way.
December 12th, 2015 at 10:29 pm
We already have one of the best offenses in the NFL with a ton of rookies. We need to draft some defense.
December 13th, 2015 at 8:18 am
Doug Martin only needs 116 yrds rushing to pass
December 13th, 2015 at 8:20 am
Doug Martin only needs 116 yards to pass Adrian Peterson for the season!
December 13th, 2015 at 8:41 am
I love all the hope for Kenny Bell, seems like a nice kid. However, he got significant playing time in the preseason before he got hurt and if memory serves, he did not catch any of the passes thrown to him. Seems like a long shot to make it in this league. The other day someone posted that the Bucs put him on IR to give him more time so they did not have to cut him. Don’t know if its true but it makes sense.
December 13th, 2015 at 10:26 am
Doug Martin is indeed the best thing that happened to Winston, and vice versa, with Dirk Koetter coming in a close second to each. The Bucs need to step up and reward Martin with a healthy 4-year contract extension. Not only will that help with the short term development of Winston, it will show the other young players that the Bucs will take care of them when their contracts are due.
December 13th, 2015 at 11:01 am
@ Dream
That’s exactly why the bucs put bell on IR.. He looked pretty bad IMO during the preseason however, I think the bucs saw potential there (and so do I) especially considering that he has top notch character and top end speed. I think this year of development will do him good and firmly expect big things from Mr. Bell next year