Giants In Mix For Chris Conte
March 13th, 2016
In demand
Joe’s confident the Bucs can keep losing without safety Chris Conte, but Joe would be happy to have Conte return.
Dirk Koetter likes him, and the 27-year-old did enough last year to earn a long look.
Conte is a free agent, and the Bucs have shown interest, but not enough to lock him down quickly or before the free agency dinner bell rang Wednesday afternoon.
On Friday, a credible report from Giants beat writer Jordan Raanan, had the Giants serious about Conte. Joe was told last night that Conte is still in the mix there.
So now what? Do the Bucs bite at the threat of losing Conte? How much could he expect, $2 million per season? The Bucs certainly have the salary cap room remaining to accommodate Conte.
Major Wright is still on the roster, but Joe thinks Conte is better. Bradley McDougald and Keith Tandy were blessed to return for 2016. The Bucs have a couple of no-name, no-experience safeties on the roster, too.
If the Bucs don’t sign Conte, then they’ll really need to find another quality safety, and Joe surely doesn’t expect a big investment there in the draft next month.
March 13th, 2016 at 8:02 am
Sign Eric Weddle. Dude is a beast.
March 13th, 2016 at 8:05 am
I agree with Mort.
March 13th, 2016 at 8:07 am
The Bucs aren’t interested in Weddle, I guess the asking price is too high. I hope they get Conte back & The S Cash from Duke drops to them in the draft.
March 13th, 2016 at 8:11 am
Bring in Reggie Nelson!
March 13th, 2016 at 8:14 am
I recently posted this in the “cap space” thread but wanted some thoughts so here it is in the latest thread.
In response to Bill noting the Bucs may target a WR early.
Hey Bill,
Its funny you say that because I told a friend of mine yesterday that If Bosa or Buckner does not fall to the Bucs, I would not be surprised at all if we picked Laquon Treadwell. It is my opinion that he would be BPA at that time and if we do not address WR in FA it would be a need.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the other pass rushers (Lawson, Dodd, Spence) and even CB Hargreaves III, but to me none of them are slam dunks so I don’t think they should be top 10 pick.
Treadwell on the other hand looks like a WR1.
March 13th, 2016 at 8:15 am
I mean think about it Bucs Fans.
We haven’t discussed the possibility of adding a WR. We bring back Doug. Check. Replace Mankins (Sweezy). Check. Address DE with Ayers. Check. Upgrade at CB with Grimes. Check
Safety and LB are the teams biggest need right now IMO. However, I can see us addressing safety in FA by either resigning Conte or bringing in someone else, there are a few good safeties available.
This brings me back to WR. Even if we sign Roddy (which I am in favor of) WR would still be a need going into the draft just as DLine is still a need. At 9, why not just pick BPA at a position of need which Treadwell would be with Bosa and Buckner off the board???
What do you guys think??? Treadwell over Hargreaves III, Lawson, Dodd, Spence???
March 13th, 2016 at 8:20 am
I really like S Karl Joseph from West Virginia. Dude is a ball hawk and can can play in the box. Supposedly he has a lot of passion for the game. 5 ints in 4 games last year… If we try to fix the safety position then Reggie Nelson and Rashad Johnson are still available.
March 13th, 2016 at 8:30 am
I disagree with Joe
There are some good safeties available in the draft that could be had in the 2nd or 3rd Round:
Von Bell (2nd)
karlos Joseph (2nd or 3rd)
Jeremy Cash (2nd or 3rd)
Jeremy Mills(4th)
March 13th, 2016 at 8:33 am
I think we could pick WR with #1…..but we will likely have a choice of CB or DE there….It would be very hard not to address our defense.
As for safety, I think Conte will give us a chance to retain him but we still need another quality safety.
What we do with our remaining cap $$$ will probably tell us where we are going in the draft.
March 13th, 2016 at 8:49 am
I agree that the rest of FA period could be telling.
March 13th, 2016 at 9:05 am
Conte showed last year that he can make plays. Maybe not consistently – but his tape is pretty decent overall I would say. Exact same thing can be said about Sterling Moore. No reason not to re-sign them both IMO. We could get them both under contract again for less than $5M combined. Why not do it? We still have enough $ left to sign Conte, Moore and another receiver. No reason not to bring back guys who we know can contribute.
March 13th, 2016 at 9:27 am
@bucsfans
Its no surprise to anyone we need a safety. Someone I have scouted since high school and is a very good safety could very well be on the board in the second round. Vonn Bell from Ohio State University. Dude is a pick machine, and was a top 50 player coming out of high school. Continued the dominance at ohio state and was a starter all 3 years. If you are bored search this guy on youtube and be amazed. I think he is a dark horse pick for the 2nd round after the signing of brent grimes.
As for the first round, Im pretty positive LEONARD FLOYD will be the pick. Dude is a absolute freak at rushing the QB and scary dropping into coverage with his 6’6 frame. ran a 4.6 flat at the combine with a 41′ vert. Mayock has his rated #2 as a pass rusher behind bosa. His only knock is he is skinny but thats a easy problem to fix. With a glaring hole at LB now, the correlation is real. he would play LB 1st and 2nd and pass rush 3rd downs. Read many reports that bucs have had a couple interviews with the kid. Leonard Floyd is the pick @ 9 IMO. way better then shaq lawson, kevin dodd, noah spence and emmanuel ogbah. Elite pass rushing skills.
March 13th, 2016 at 9:29 am
Also drafting leonard floyd to play LB/situational pass rusher for the first year while he bulks up to be a full time 4/3 DE, will give the green light to steal the LB smith from Notre dame later in the draft… thats another reason why i believe bucs go floyd.
March 13th, 2016 at 9:45 am
Regarding the draft… a few things to think about:
When it became evident that this draft class was highly rated for DE’s I did something either indicative of my passion for Buccaneer football…. or validation that I have WAY too much time on my hands on the weekends….
Accepting that IMO JJ Watt is the best DE in football, I went back and watched his college highlights and a couple of games. His college film looked very similar to what you see now. Then I went to loom at the present draft class and who looked similar. Again, here’s my opinion and I have just enough football knowledge to be dangerous.
Joey Bosa – Even though he had a down senior year, his body of work is such that he appears to be the cream of the daft class. If he falls, Licht should be all over him.
DeForest Buckner – – If this guy falls to 9, RUN! Very inconsistent motor and he was totally dominated in their game against Michigan State. Has Gaines Adams/Eric Curry written all over him.
Shaq Lawson – RUN!! While his video looks good at times
1. He’s from Clemson (please see Adams, Gaines …. Bowers, Cheeseburger)
2. In the semi-final game against Oklahome redshirt OT Orlando Brown (who in fairness looks like he’ll be a beast) absolutely manhandled Lawson for the first two possessions until Lawson’s falling draft status hit his knee and he sat the rest of the game out.
Noah Spence – Looks phenomanol but he’s one helluva risk at 9.
Emmanuel Ogbah – I REALLY like him but not at 9. Relentless… never gives up on a play and has multiple pass rush moves.
As for the rest, Shilique Calhoun plays relentlesss but he looks very much like Will Gholston, (who he replaced at Mich State), but should be there in rounds 2-3. Carl Nassib is huge, put up great numbers this year and should be there in rounds 4-5.
Moral of the story? I’m not JL, but if one of the top 5 don’t fall to 9, I’d seriously considering trading down for the right amount of picks.
March 13th, 2016 at 10:27 am
Ocala
I agree. Quite a few good ones will be available in rounds 2-4. Still would like to resign conte at his small salary tho.
Keanu Neal and miles killebrew are a couple more I like alot.
March 13th, 2016 at 11:43 am
I’d offer Mike glennon and swap 1st picks with Rams for the higher Rams 2nd itll give us 15 40 n 45 (just guessing order)…for what the bucs need and bpa 9-15 or basically the same, but the true value in this draft is the depth on DL and DB and getting an additional potential starter for our backup QB that’s leaving next year…we don’t get a compensatory pick for 8 if we sign a free agent to a similar contract to what he gets from a new team….we are never going to get better value than now for 8… If 3 goes down our season is toast anyways asking 8 to save our season sounds great but realistically he’s going to fail, honestly even 3 all season would probably max out at 8 wins we don’t have playoff talent yet we are going to be just like Jax Oak n Minn were last year, competitive fun to watch but still growing as a team
March 13th, 2016 at 12:26 pm
Shabby piscatelli is available…might as well bring in over thirty savvy vet!
March 13th, 2016 at 12:41 pm
Bucs don’t need one safety … Bucs need two safeties. Wright, McDougald and Tandy are all fine for depth, but none of them is a starting caliber safety. Conte is better, in my opinion, than anyone we’ve now got on the roster right now. In 5 years he’s played in 71 games (started 65) … about 14 games per season. Not that shabby. He’s averaged a little over 60 tackles and 2 INTs per year. Again, not that shabby. But he strikes me as someone who plays better down in the box (Barron?) than one who’s great in deep coverage. All depends on how Mike Smith is planning to use his safeties, and whether or not he needs a speed-burner or two back there.
March 13th, 2016 at 1:08 pm
@DefenseRules
As always excellent analysis and it made me realize why I’ve been conflicted about Conte. I’ve seen him make some great plays but sometimes get a bit lost in coverage. A good hitter and so like you I feel he seems more comfortable playing a Mark Barron style game.
March 13th, 2016 at 1:13 pm
Conte has good coverage range but struggles making plays on the ball, I’d rather have McDonald’s playing free in singles safety concepts, Conte is a good 2 deep safety and Tandy fits playing in the box.
March 13th, 2016 at 2:06 pm
Conte signed. TBO
March 13th, 2016 at 2:10 pm
Yep..he is staying! He doesn’t want to miss out on the “ring”..
March 13th, 2016 at 2:41 pm
Idk if the team would expect our first round pick to sit on the bench if we drafted a wr. If we draft a wr it might be round 2 or 3 but the beauty of drafting one in round 1 would be the talent level that could replace vjax on 3rd downs eventually so i see what you’re saying, but can a 2nd rounder do the same? We need a starter quality 1st round pick
March 14th, 2016 at 6:54 am
I’m a bit suprised at all the teams interested in Conte’s services, shows the lack of talent at the safety position in the league right now. He is a solid but not spectacular player that the bucs could use right now. Wouldn’t mind seeing the bucs a dress the position in the draft. A guy like Joseph or Cash or even Bush from the U would be a upgrade. I hope we don’t stick withe same exact safety’s as last season.