The Luke Kuechly Draft
April 23rd, 2017
What could have been.
Joe remembers before the Bucs drafted Mark Barron in the first round in 2012, quite a few readers of this here website beat the drum for Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly.
The man was a beast in college, and it sure looks like someday he will wind up in Canton. Dude is that good. Very much like Ray Lewis, a pure warrior.
Who could forget that nationally televised Panthers game when Kuechly was concussed. When he was told he had to leave the field, he just sat on the grass and cried rather than getting up to leave?
Two spots after the Bucs drafted Barron No. 7 overall, Kuechly was drafted by the Stinking Panthers.
To this day, there are Bucs fans who have had to replace their remote controls annually after impaling the device into a wall thinking of missing out on Kuechly.
Jenna Laine of ESPN remembers and she wonders, “What if?”
Tampa could have taken Luke Kuechly, who was picked two spots later and is a four-time Pro Bowler for Carolina. The Bucs’ secondary struggled and Barron was traded to the Rams in 2014. The Bucs also could have picked Aaron Rodgers instead of selecting Cadillac Williams with the fifth overall pick in 2005. Rodgers went 24th overall. They also could have selected Drew Brees, who was taken 32nd overall in the 2001 draft, but instead, they selected a human-penalty machine in offensive tackle Kenyatta Walker. For an organization that’s never had a true franchise quarterback until now, those misses are tough to swallow.
Joe will take the Barron issue in a moment. The reason why the Bucs didn’t draft Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees? Chucky had zero interest in developing a rookie quarterback. He’d rather run with horse manure like Son of Bob (Brian Griese) than draft a Rodgers or Brees.
And that is exactly why Chucky is no longer coaching. Team Glazer begged him to draft and develop a quarterback and he refused. In football as in life, it’s generally a good idea to, once in a while, heed the suggestions of those who sign your paychecks.
That brings Joe to Barron. Joe will play a what-if. What if lazy Lovie Smith hadn’t been the Bucs coach and de facto defensive coordinator? Barron played his best for the Bucs under former commander Greg Schiano, though he was never a good cover guy. He sure as heck was a missle in the run game.
When Lovie took over, Barron progressively got worse and AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht found a team, the Rams, to take Barron off Lovie’s hands. But it was Jeff Fisher who had the last laugh.
Two years ago, Joe asked Fisher directly if he thought Barron was an outside linebacker and Fisher said yes. And when Fisher acquired Barron, he moved Alec Ogletree to the inside and put Barron in an outside linebacker position. Since, Barron has been a 100-tackle a year guy.
If Fisher could have seen that on tape from (then) St. Louis, why the hell couldn’t Lovie have seen that since he saw Barron in practice every friggin’ day?
This Lovie Smith was the sorriest NFL coach Joe has seen in years and easily the worst Bucs coach Joe has witnessed regularly. Lovie didn’t know s(p)it from applesauce when evaluating talent (remember when Lovie, as the shot-caller of the Bears, gave the Bucs a second-round pick for Gaines Adams? LOL!).
Bad enough Lovie fully ignored the offensive side of the ball (good thing?), but the one side of the ball he focused on was a complete and total trainwreck.
One could also argue, with a lot of logic and evidence, that had then-Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik drafted Kuechly in 2012, then he wouldn’t have drafted Lavonte David, who Dominik selected 51 picks later in that same draft. So there’s that.
April 23rd, 2017 at 9:28 am
Its in the archives if they go back far enough….I said move him to LB while we still had him. I liked Luke but didnt know he would blow up like he did, so I missed on that one.
April 23rd, 2017 at 9:33 am
David had a better first year than Luke did and I was stoked. Then Lovie came in and F’d him all up. Hopefully Mike Smith can right the ship.
April 23rd, 2017 at 9:38 am
Don’t forgot. Not only would taking keuchly over Barron be puzzling becuase that year we already had a decent starter at MLB in mason foster, but whose to say that the need for LB from another team like THE PANTHERS, they or someone else wouldn’t have taken lavonte david later… WOULDA COULDA SHOULDA is a dangerous argument because the fact remains, we got Doug Martin and lavonte still on the roster.
April 23rd, 2017 at 9:42 am
I can say one thing for sure. After watching his tape listening to him speak and learning more about him, I am now co-op conductor on the Obi Train. That kid has star written all over him.
April 23rd, 2017 at 9:44 am
That was supposed to read…….” Co-conductor”
I know I’ve been saying this for years but Joe you really should get an edit button.
[Last thing this site needs is an edit function on comments. Dudes would be editing their comments constantly to prove themselves right. — Joe]
April 23rd, 2017 at 9:50 am
Yeah, Obi fires me up too SB, but he’s going in the bottom of the first at most unless we take him. A chance to trade back and grab him if we dont land Barnett.
April 23rd, 2017 at 9:52 am
🙈🙉🙊…..That is what I think about many of our past drafts
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:07 am
@MadMax – LOL! Were you a GM when you “missed on” Luke? Is that why you’re a poster on a blog now?
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:08 am
Kuechly’s better days are behind him in my opinion. He has benefitted from better players around him than he would have in Tampa. The Cowboys jumped ahead of Tampa to select Morris Claiborne and now he’s on the Jets. RG3, Justin Blackmon and Trent Richardson were picked even higher in that draft. Quite a crapshoot…if anything…the Bucs gave up on Barron too soon in my opinion. It may have given the Bucs the Kwon pick speaking of “what ifs” however. At least Lovie Dovie was an equal opportunity roster wrecker…running off Greg Olsen from Da Bears during his time there…
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:09 am
You and I are thinking alike Max.
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:10 am
Our division had some of the top TE’s in the entire league. Barron was brought in to help a position of need within the division we played.
And in fact…obviously that’s not Barron’s forte but when have the Bucs stopped the TE over the middle? Tandy showed some form late. Have we fixed that problem?
Two things I want to change from the past five to seven years….I want our DL to stop getting gashed up the middle by power runners and I want to stop watching TE’s run free over the middle. Hopefully Baker can fix that run problem at least.
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:15 am
@TDTB, Yep, #1 GM in my mind haha… Just a fan blog poster in reality though 🙁 ahhh, the life…..but I really didnt think Luke would blow up like he did.
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:26 am
I’m wit you Pete. That’s why another BIG time DT would suit me quite nicely. We’ve been getting gashed up the middle far too long. Swaggy should help but will he be enough is a question that won’t be answered until next season. Control the Los you control the game. That’s how them pat boys do it. Buy making teams one dimensional.
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:26 am
Luke is a beast, and will be in Canton, but hopefully he’s doesn’t kill himself before his career is over either. The crying was quite possibly pseudobulbar effect (PBA), uncrollable display of emotions from his brain injury, not just being upset he was leaving a game or concerned over an injury.
I guess hindset is always 20/20. The weak’s “see I knew and you didn’t.” Yup, glad we have JoeBucsFan.com. However, it takes a certain kind of jerk behavior to call a player “horse manure” or a “steaming pile” (as he’s done recently) for just doing their best, and to pretend their coaches/potential coaches are clueless, lazy, etc. It’s amazing Joe knew about Brees and Rodgers all along. It took the rest of the world to find out years later. And Joe says “LOL” over Lovie and the Gaines Adams trade? Really? Adams? The guy who died with an enlarged heart right after a troubled season…a condition that might have dogged him undiagnosed for a while (and affecting his play)? Joe is going to hold that over Lovie’s head? What a piece of work thing to say, Joe. I wonder if Joe would have laughed at and called names to Ricky Bell.
Ah yes, Joe should get credit for being a genius. Just ask him. Build a statue on Dale Mabry for Joe. He knows his “s[p]it.”
But no one is perfect, except Joe. Guys make mistakes their whole lives. Except Joe. And they still make untold fortunes and win NFL Championships and Super Bowls and are highly respected NFL professionals. Cmon, Joe you shouldn’t stoop to the Tom Jones style. You’re better than that. Dogging Lovie over Gaines Adams and calling successful players and coaches names is over the top, wouldn’t you think?
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:51 am
After watching Dontari Poe do 44 reps on the bench press and run a 4.79 at 330 LBS at the combine. I thought he was the pick for us, and i still believe we should have drafted him. NT was our biggest weakness on the D-Line and Poe would have been the perfect NT next to GMC.
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:55 am
Fred:
Y’know, there are other Bucs sites if the Joes upset you that much. 🙄
Brees and Rodgers were wild cards to me during their drafts, but I stumped for Kuechly to anyone who listened. his non-stop sideline to sideline motor was apparent when BC played the Noles.
But, hindsight’s a bitch…
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:58 am
The one thing this team has been 100% clear on is that the priority for this draft is explosive players. So if Cook is there he is the pick the question is if he’s not there. Much like Barron they had something in mind I hope they don’t get stuck in that mind set again. Just get the best player available that will play a lot for us and make a impact.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:01 am
I was watching a NFL Films Docu on the 2005 draft the other day and Aaron Rodgers said that Chucky called him and told him the Bucs would take him if he was there at 5.
Of course we took a RB instead. What is Cadillac Williams doing these days?
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:06 am
It’s worth mentioning that he has missed 9 games in the last 2 season and is likely to retire after 5 seasons due to concussions.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:08 am
BucFamous. I often laud the material written here by. As I said, I appreciate having Joe Bucs Fan around. You are right, there are other places to go…if it upsets me that much. It doesn’t. But I’m calling out a reasonable foul, is all. A blog owner referred to a family friend as horse manure for no good reason, so I called him out on it. While Brian Griese and his dad are used to this kind of stuff from media folks, it doesn’t mean you don’t dish it back. And I had to mention the Gaines Adams part because that’s just a stupid, mean thing to say.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:11 am
Lovie was decent in Chicago but failed as a coach here although he did not get much time here . i think he is an honorable man and can be admired for that. The bucs gm now has not been all that great wasting 2 high drat picks for a kicker ! lets hope he has learned a lesson .
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:14 am
I was pounding the table for Luke. Dominik is a bum.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:18 am
Honorable? So he treats everyone around him like their stupid and hires not the best people rather his friends and family. Again I’ll ask honorable?
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:18 am
Cry me a river! Oohhh Lovie this that! Lovie that! Joe you cry over the same old crap all the time!
You won’t let Michael Bennett go. The Bucs did it why can’t you? Why do you care about Lovie anymore??? He’s gone and stinkin stop bringing him up!
Jon Gruden is the reason we had to deal with Lovie in the 1st place so why don’t you constantly bring up his mistakes? If Gruden had picked Rodgers look where we’d be now.
At least Lovie saw the need for a franchise qb and went out and got him and he was smart enough for our sake to go out and get his replacement so let it go How can you see the future if you keep livjng in the past? Let it go Joe for the readers sake!
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:19 am
I’ve believed for a while Lovie’s downfall was not his football knowledge (or lack of it depending on your opinion), but it was his undying loyalty to family and friends, and those loyal to him. That doesn’t mix with business all the time. Lovie didn’t get rid of failing DC, and his two sons, on the coaching staff of his failing DC, or DBs–he kept giving them chance after chance, for the most part. It was the end of his second season, and he didn’t outbrief the owners with any major changes other than to say he wanted to bring in another consultant…friend…from Chicago. Good man. Good person. Good coach. Just not consistently good enough in the NFL as a head coach…it certainly seems.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:22 am
Maybe he did so reluctantly, but Chucky did try to draft and develop a QB: Chris Simms in the third round in the 2005 draft (yes, the horse manure reference applies here, too). And, we all know what happened. This failure fed into the narrative that Chucky could not develop young QBs.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:25 am
.
Hell no, will never forget that travesty. Nor will Joe forget cutting Darrelle Revis.
Joe’s not one to bury his head in the sand.
As for Lovie being “honorable’ just one example: Ask ASJ about how “honorable” Lovie was. Joe was no fan of ASJ but how many times did Lovie hang him out to dry saying he was practicing but in reality had never been cleared by team doctors?
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:30 am
Once you’re on top, why would you want to start over again from ground up? Chucky had Rich Gannon in Oakland and that worked out well, and he came here an won a SB. I could see reasonable relucatance in not wanting to bring on a guy as rookie. I’d not expect Belichick to stay and start over in NE either. He’ll probably retire when Brady does. You can’t top that. But a comment above is right…Chris Simms. And it being hit or miss, perhaps Chucky wanted to keep getting high priced retreads and the Bucs owners needed to go new and less expensive…hence the housecleaning of Gruden, Brooks, Lynch, etc…maybe too early. Nonetheless, Gruden did bring us a SB with some help from another key guy named Tony Dungy…another mentor of….Lovie Smith.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:32 am
Just showed how clueless Dominick was as a GM. That and letting Michael Bennett walk. Everyone knew that was a questionable pick at the time. The fans were right on that one.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:35 am
Lovie’s problem is he never evolved. He probably couldn’t. He learned from Dungy and wasn’t capable of doing anything else besides Tampa 2 defense and old school conservative football.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:35 am
Lovie set himself up to fail in Tampa, by accepting the job. No one wanted the HC job in Tampa, it was the worst HC job available. The roster talent level was about the worst in the NFL. His biggest mistake was demanding to be head of all football operations. He knew it would take up to 5 years to fix this roster (how often do the Glazers keep a HC around for 5 years), and get decent players in here. He tried the one year fix, replacing bums with bums. Then he wanted to call the defense. He wanted to be the GM, DC and HC, that will never work in the NFL.This will be the 4th season since Schiano was fired, and we still have a multiple holes to filled on the roster. We have the least talent secondary in the NFL. And we have a garbage O-Line, those two positions should be our top priorities going into the draft.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:37 am
The continual effort to prop up Dominick is very sad…..sure, If we had Kuechly, we probably wouldn’t have Jameis…….so what!!!
You have to look at the full body of the man’s work…..how many Bucs do we have left from all of his draft picks…..GMC, LVD, Gholston, Tandy?…..maybe I missed one….but that is a disaster that we are still trying to overcome.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:41 am
I would take Kuechly over David any day of the week.
David is working his way toward being a bust.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:56 am
Hindsight is such a wonderful thing, isn’t it?
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Macdougald is Licht’s Bennett.
It’s worth mentioning that Gruden lost multiple first round picks. He may have developed a QB if he had them.
Raheem blew it too.
Schiano might have worked out over time. Too many things happened out of his control, such as MRSA, rumors that were never proven true. Dominick kept him from drafting a QB in the first round.
Lovie was jinxed too. He got blamed for everything that went wrong, even though Licht was equally responsible. I agreed with his firing though, because keeping Dirk was more important. Lovie was the third worst Bucs coach, as the records clearly show.
As to Licht “blowing two high draft picks” on a kicker, that is simply not true. A 4th round pick is not a high pick. Therefore, he only used one high pick (the 2nd). Also, we don’t know if Aguayo is a bust yet. He could be working hard this off season and come back on top of his game.
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:06 pm
Tom Edrington, some of us hard foresight on that one.
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:10 pm
That’s fair.
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:15 pm
Lovie was never any good….he’s always relied on top tier coordinators. If you look at the years he had success, it was with Ron Rivera and Rod Marinelli. Lovie was doomed when he couldn’t get Marinelli as his d-coordinator. The dude couldn’t work with Barron….OR….REVIS for that matter. He was exactly what Bears fans warned…..clueless.
As for our picks, Gruden was producing competitive teams that pushed for the playoffs each year. He was not a coach that wanted to rebuild, he wanted to contend. The Dominick as GM era was why we now celebrate 9-7…..5+ years of wasted picks. Injuries are one thing, but Dominicks picks routinely had either a lack of talent or character. Cadillac Williams is a great example….when healthy, great talent to watch but derailed by a series of just career ending injuries. Doug Martin….great talent as well but derailed by stupidity.
What we should do is look at the players available when we traded away picks for a recovering Revis…#RockStar
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:18 pm
everyone of dungy’s stubborn one dimensional coaching tree members has FAILED miserably at being a head coach. Lovie had 2 good seasons and 9 horrendous seasons hardly a decent track record. apple does not far from the tree
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:29 pm
Lovie is a dumbazz
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:36 pm
tmaxcon…Mike Tomlin comes from Tony Dungy tree, and he recently made it to the AFC Finals. He has 2 Super Bowl appearances , with one Super Bowl win.
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:37 pm
And Tony Dungy went 92-33 after leaving the Bucs with a Super Bowl win.
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:48 pm
Tomlin and the Steelers run a 3-4 not the Tampa 2. Dingy had Peyton Manning. That doesn’t count.
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:51 pm
And Tomlin had HOF defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau. I do think Tomlin is a good head coach though.
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:57 pm
Owww- what a horrible way to start a Sunday!!
Its like a ride thru a haunted mansion!
I bitched, on this site, the day they drafted Barron. Most wont remember, but The idiot Dominick traded back with that first round pick. I will go to my grave believing that Dominick wanted Morris Claiborne, a cb. The thought he could trade back a few spots- and still get him.
Then Dallas traded up- just before our pick, and took Claiborne.
Even then, Barton seemed like “Now What” pick.
Our defense was ranking badly in Pass coverage. But oddly well against the run.
The book on Barron- great run support. Not fluid in Pass coverage.
Truth- he was terrible in Pass coverage.
I gave him a year, then complained frequently here- that Barron was killing us.
I posted here, that as bad as he was at Safety- he’d make a good linebacker.
Luke is still a monster. Lavonte was bad last year. And the year before.
I hope its not a “signed a big contract” syndrome. But it lloks like it.
Bennett was our sack leader. And we let him go, to give playing time to kid who had shown nothing.
I feel like i just threw up.
Its so nice to have Licht here. At least drafting the best Kicker in college history seeemed like a good idea.
Who knows, he may still pan out. Those other moves were just insanity.
I may actually throw up.
April 23rd, 2017 at 12:58 pm
At least that chapter is behind us. Can anyone imagine how boring hard knocks would be with Lovie????? At any case I was excited by the Barron pick. Lynch thought we were crazy to let him go. I agreed. I didn’t project him as a linebacker but i all honesty, if you go watch his highlights, they are really pretty good, before Lovie. As far as Bennett. I agree, that shouldn’t have even been a hard decision. The revis thing, I hated the trade to get him but cutting him was insane. Water under the bridge. I see a drafting of Cook then trading back in to get McDowell… I can have my dream.
April 23rd, 2017 at 1:06 pm
David is a 2nd round bust but Aguayo isn’t?!
Only my man Buccaneer BrownEye can trot out such logic…
April 23rd, 2017 at 1:08 pm
I was standing next to Steve White, at the JBF draft day party in Clearwater, when Tampa called out Barron’s name.
1/2 the room was in shock, because of who we could have had.
April 23rd, 2017 at 1:13 pm
Bucamania…that’s my point. Mike Tomlin is smart enough to let the DC call the defense and he be the HC. It don’t matter if it’s a 3-4 or 4-3 as long as it’s successful.
April 23rd, 2017 at 1:20 pm
Tony Dungy went to the Colts who had Peyton Manning as QB..and Mike Tomlin went to the Steelers with Big Ben as their QB. You need a decent QB to win in the NFL..with that being said…why would I accept a Buc HC job with Mike Glennon as the QB?
April 23rd, 2017 at 1:22 pm
Barron at his best isn’t anywhere close to how good Luke Kuechly was when he stepped on the field for the first time as a rookie. Do not even try to make that comparison. And the argument about how we wouldn’t have Lavonte if we got Kuechly is also a load of crap. We had a big need at middle and outside, we could have taken both of them and we’d have the most dominant linebacking corps in the NFL. By the way, we all love Lavonte, but Kuechly has been a Top 5 defender in this league…Lavonte is lucky if he’s Top 30.
April 23rd, 2017 at 1:36 pm
Lavonte David a bust? A seond rounder, starting with a single/only NFL team for five years, going to a pro-bowl, and a team captain…a Bust? Agreed, he’s not Derrick Books or Luke Keuchly, or other great LBs, and he has had some rough patches, but he is hardly a bust. I could see it if the Bucs drafted him in Round 1 or 2 and he had two bad first/second years, and was shipped to another team and failed there too…but that’s not the case here either. Far from it. Good lord. What do you call the guy who graduated absolute last in his class at medical school? “Doctor.” David is in his second contract and doing fine. Yeah, he could improve….
Our kicker, Oh-My-Oh…he’s technically not even a bust…not yet… He’s certainly bought that ticket and got on the bust bus…but I don’t think he’s there just yet. We’ll know soon for sure, and I don’t mind if they boot him off before it arrives to confirm it all. Too much at stake.
April 23rd, 2017 at 1:46 pm
LVD is one of the best 4-3 OLB in the NFL, if not the best. 471 Solo tackles in 5 seasons..18 sacks..10 INTS..33 PD….And 75 Tackles for losses..how many other 4-3 Linebackers have numbers even close to that?
April 23rd, 2017 at 1:48 pm
Dom doubled down on DT the year he drafted McCoy and drafted DE back to back when he drafted Clayborne so why wouldn’t he do it again?
No matter how you slice it Dominik messed up by getting Barron
April 23rd, 2017 at 2:38 pm
I wouldn’t trade Lavonte for Kuechly ever. Lovie the idiot did everything he could to destroy this team. Worst coach in history lol.
April 23rd, 2017 at 2:42 pm
This is a perfect example of why you take the best player available on your board. Even if you already have a capable body at that position you can cause competition and both players become better. You can always trade them later if it doesn’t work out.
April 23rd, 2017 at 2:56 pm
Dungy has a career losing playoff record which renders his hall of fame induction not only a joke but a complete embarrassment… see tom flores who is also the first minority to win a super bowl.
Mike Tomlin was with Dungy one year. He is not a dungy guy. You can’t rewrite history… Dungy was a one dimensional stubborn failure that could not win big games nor playoff games which is proven by his career losing playoff record and 1 measly super bowl title with arguably one of the best defensive teams of all time and definitely one of the greatest offensive teams of all time. he is a underachieving CHOKE ARTIST at best. Dungy did more damage than he did good. Whyce gave him a defense and he and that egomaniac politician mckay could not field an offense. 2 playoff wins with a great defense is failure by anyone standards yet some of you fools call those glory years. glory years are super bowl wins only. legend of dungy far outweighs reality.
April 23rd, 2017 at 4:22 pm
So how at one time can LVD look like (and just about everyone on this site said it) a clone of Brooks. And now???? So was Greg that good with him? Lovie and Mike Smith that bad using him? Or LVD just does not give 2 Sh!ts anymore? He is not the same player. I just can’t help but keep thinking about that.
April 23rd, 2017 at 4:25 pm
The issue with Barron was that he was a top 10 draft pick at safety, yet there wasn’t anything special about him. He didn’t have exception traits anywhere, he was very average speed wise, he didn’t jump off the screen for any reason. He was good in a few categories, like tackling, but he was mainly someone that you could see as a solid mid-level NFL starter, that’s how I viewed him anyways. If you take that guy at the end of the 1st or in the 2nd it makes sense, but not at the top of the 1st round, that made little sense to me at the time.
April 23rd, 2017 at 4:27 pm
tmaxcon – You should do more than just repeat what you read on the stall of the glory hole you volunteer at. Anywho we get it, you don’t like black people. Get over it, it’s 2017.
April 23rd, 2017 at 6:30 pm
The draft is ALWAYS a crap shoot which is why I would ALWAYS be open to trading down and picking up more picks!!!!!!!!!
April 23rd, 2017 at 7:27 pm
Nothing here! He may not have fit our scheme!!
April 23rd, 2017 at 8:55 pm
You know tmax you are so full of crap being up here running Dungy down like he ain’t shizzle is pure tee shizzle! Wyche only drafted the players Dungy developed them. Ask any of the players, Tony Dungy turnded this team around. He changed the Bucs from the laughingstock of the NFL into a feared defense. It is his defense that won that SuperBowl with Grudens offense. His problem was offense being too conservative . In 99 if we would have had a better qb we would have 2 Championships now proof positive is what he did in Indy. Once he got the defense good enough then Peyton was able to win that Super Bowl. Your hatred of the man borders on the ridiculousness. He might not be Hall material but he still was a great coach. Schiano was a buffoon and a moron but none of you people run him down like you do Dungy. Dungy built one of the greatest defenses ever and you make him out to be a moron. You guys can’t even hold hold his jock strap. Since Rodmunch said it I’ll go there as well the only reason you hate him so much is he’s black and why you pick Flores is he looks more white.
April 23rd, 2017 at 11:15 pm
You can say what you will about Tony Dungy but he’s a good man with high integrity and morals. I’m glad he’s still around and my son goes to his Bible Study when he can. He’s a pillar of the community if ever there was one. Js
April 24th, 2017 at 2:46 am
Posters just need to ignore poor tmax! Dude has a thing for white people as well. Just look at his posts about MG. You know, Glennon will be out of the NFL in 2yrs argument. Dude has been dead wrong on all player evaluations and should be treated as a troll! I’m gonna listen to own advice and just ignore his stupid asssssss at this point. I mean he does like to say “play meaningful games” then says “1 measly Super Bowl title”. Last time I checked, a Super Bowl was meaningful. But what do I know? I just know trolls!
April 24th, 2017 at 8:15 am
People seem to forget that the Buccaneers did not draft Luke because the year before, Mark Dominik drafted Mason Foster and he was growing into the role. LB wasn’t a huge need at the time.
April 24th, 2017 at 9:41 am
Lavonte is the best OLB in the game. He has had to deal with 4 defensive coordinators in his tenure. Greg based the defense around him and blitzed him a lot. Had him wrap the edge quite often.
He has struggled in parts of the last two years because
a) he did too much trying to acclimate kwon into the defense and picking up his responsibilities when need be
b) kwon has taken some of his production
c)adjusting to mike smith’s defense
he was the same old lvd the end of last year and will be the same old lvd this season with continuity. I’m tellin you mike smith will use him right. It’s going to be a good season for our lbs.
April 24th, 2017 at 12:35 pm
Have to say… I was one of the main people clamoring for Luke Keuchly. I loved him coming out of college. I was constantly getting into it with people that swore we HAD to trade up for Richardson, or stay where we were and take Morris Claiborne. I made the Lewis and Urlacher comparisons with Keuchly and the majority of the people on here told me I didn’t know what i was talking about and that Richardson or Claiborne were much better players.
It reminds me of right now listening to the people that love Dalvin Cook when there are much better NFL prospects out there.