Hungry George Johnson
May 12th, 2017
Getting noticed
Sackless through 20 games as an active Tampa Bay Buccaneer defensive end (Hello, Kyle Moore), George Johnson is still on the roster and hungry to break out.
Yes, really.
Johnson, 29, is truly a forgotten man. He’s been invisible and/or man fans have tried to forget him since Leslie Frazier threw him under the bus in 2015. But candid Robert Ayers brought up Johnson’s name this week.
“George Johnson, he’s hungry, he’s motivated. We get him back,” Ayers said.
Keep in mind Ayers has a high threshold for his “hungry” label. If you’re not in beast mode, then Ayers won’t call you “hungry.”
Johnson arrived in Tampa for the 2015 season via trade, after playing sparingly for the Bucs in 2011 and 2012.
Before the ’15 season, general manager Jason Licht coughed up a 2015 fifth-round pick for Johnson while the Lions sent back two seventh-rounders that year. Johnson had racked up six sacks alongside Ndamukong Suh in 2014, but he hasn’t had a sack since. He blew out his knee early last summer and missed the 2016 season.
As crazy as it sounds, Johnson has a shot with the Bucs this season.
That’s just the reality for pass rushers in the NFL. They get all kinds of second chances. If Johnson can look alive in preseason, and play good special teams, then he’s got a shot. Otherwise, and more likely, he’s just highly experienced camp meat.
May 12th, 2017 at 10:47 am
well look what the wind blow in…..GO BUCS!!!!
May 12th, 2017 at 10:51 am
lol seriously forgot this guy existed
May 12th, 2017 at 10:51 am
Joe’s,
Ayers doesn’t say “hungry” he says ” hone-gry.”
May 12th, 2017 at 11:05 am
The dude has 6 career sacks in 6 seasons on 3 teams.
The 6 came in one season, and before he came back in 15′ he had never started a single game anywhere.
Started 5 with us and has 38 career tackles in 38 games played.
That’s only one more tackle a game than me and I don’t play football.
Move on.
May 12th, 2017 at 11:06 am
If guys like Johnson and Jaq Dmith can get healthy and contribute then we suddenly have pretty decent depth at DE. But that’s a big IF.
May 12th, 2017 at 11:11 am
@BPB….that “IF” is bigger than the 7th rounder we just drafted…lol…GO BUCS!!!!
May 12th, 2017 at 11:13 am
No matter how hungry a guy is there has to be talent to actually eat. A lot of guys on this site would be just as desirous of good results and collect as many sacks and Johnson is likely to.
May 12th, 2017 at 11:31 am
SHOW ME..!!
May 12th, 2017 at 11:33 am
Well if he could chip in with six sacks this year it would be a great story for George and a great story for the Bucs!
Who doesn’t love great stories?
May 12th, 2017 at 11:37 am
Hopefully George Johnson surprises us all and becomes a contributor in 2017. Bucs didn’t tender HoJo an offer this year and we didn’t draft any DEs – so unless they bring someone else in, all George has to do is beat out free agents for a roster spot.
May 12th, 2017 at 11:39 am
I’m pretty sure we will be looking to draft a DE in either rd 1 or rd 2 next year.
May 12th, 2017 at 11:41 am
He’s still on the team?
May 12th, 2017 at 11:48 am
Put up or…..
May 12th, 2017 at 12:03 pm
Fat donald penn was also “hungry” when he was a Buc!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 12th, 2017 at 12:17 pm
Another glorious coup by the human bobblehead
May 12th, 2017 at 12:40 pm
Who?
May 12th, 2017 at 12:48 pm
Health will be big with the D-line as we saw what injuries did last year.
I will never forget the complete joke of a pass rush we had against Carolina early when McCoy/McDonald/Ayers were all out. In general the defense is pretty f*cked when those guys are gone. No one touched Anderson that entire game and the push up the middle was non-existent with guys off the street like Lambert & Ward literally just taking up space and doing nothing else. If Cam was in that game we would have been destroyed. This is why I’m happy to pay ice cream man’s salary all day. You want f*cking Devonte Lambert out there instead lol?
Signing Baker was HUGE as I thought DT was a big need due to what I saw last year – simply for depth since our DTs don’t stay healthy.
In general I forgot how beat up the D-line was last year. Ayers was out the like almost all of the first half of the season and McDonald missed lots of games. When those 2 came back it had a huge impact on the pass rush.
Because I love stats – these were the only weeks in which McDonald/Ayers/McCoy were all healthy & playing. Every other week at least 1+ was inactive on game day:
1 @ atlanta
10 vs Bears
11 @ Chiefs
12 vs Seahawks
13 @ Chargers
14 vs Saints
15 @ Cowboys
16 @ Saints
So we were 6-2 when all 3 of those guys were on the field; with the Bears being the only weak opponent in that stretch.
After looking at this it seems D-line health was just as important as the fixes in communication in the secondary; and the team seems to have realized this by bringing making sure they brought everyone back and also added another 2 bodies via Baker & Stevie. Hopefully Jack Smith can also at least play like 6-8 games or something lol.
DT – McCoy/McDonald/Baker/Stevie
DE – Ayers/Gholston/Spence/Smith/Johnson(?)
Much better depth than last year.
May 12th, 2017 at 12:50 pm
Jason won’t draft a d lineman early for some reason.
Putting the other teams qb in the dirt and getting him off his rythm and feeling fear is overrated…
May 12th, 2017 at 1:08 pm
“Destinjohnny Says:
May 12th, 2017 at 12:50 pm
Jason won’t draft a d lineman early for some reason.
Putting the other teams qb in the dirt and getting him off his rythm and feeling fear is overrated…”
He took Noah Spence early just last year lol… He’s signed guys like McDonald/Ayers/Baker and those are all starter caliber players that can get to the QB and were good value FA signings. He picked up Jack Smith. He traded for George Johnson. You act like he doesn’t give a sh1t about the D-line but that’s been our main source of spending in FA.
You can only work with what you have. We’ve had MAJOR needs at other positions as this roster was weak when he got here. I’d love to have 20 first round draft picks so that no one can complain because we loaded up on every position but we don’t. Should we have gone D-line over Winston or Mike Evans? Should we have taken D-line over OJ Howard even though the value wasn’t right? I mean that’s 3 of our 4 1st round picks and most fans are happy as sh1t with those picks.
May 12th, 2017 at 1:17 pm
didn’t we sweep CAR?….cant remember if he was sacked but he was sure pressured and hurried a TON which is also very effective….
injuries will happen….the key is, who gets thrown into the fire once those injuries occur….
the issue was ALWAYS QUALITY DEPTH not health…..
by adding baker and tu tu to go along with siliga we have what looks to be good quality depth…GO BUCS!!!!
May 12th, 2017 at 1:22 pm
@destin….I don’t totally disagree with you, but I really wanted d.walker in the second round…..crazy motor, leader and has that nasty attitude….he could’ve been ayers replacement….GO BUCS!!!
May 12th, 2017 at 1:48 pm
“….cant remember if he was sacked but he was sure pressured and hurried a TON which is also very effective…”
lol. Derek Anderson wasn’t pressured that entire game; considering there were 0 sacks and 0 QB hits. Pressure / hurries = QB is getting hit.
Literally the only contact Anderson made with a Buc that game was when he tried to run for a 1st down and was stripped for a fumble.
May 12th, 2017 at 2:22 pm
I hear everyone. Now let’s look at the facts
In the deepest d line draft in 20 years last draft
We took a 2nd round talent at the 11 pick
Then we traded up for a kicker when there was 5 studs d lineman available.
Then in this draft we took a undersized safties who would have been there in the 3rd.
My biggest suprise is he didn’t trade up for him.
The Ksu end and the fsu dt are ballers and we passed.
May 12th, 2017 at 2:24 pm
U crush the qb with our our offensive weapons…you don’t lose many games
May 12th, 2017 at 2:29 pm
Lord C … Great stats in demonstrating that health is a huge factor in determining our DLine’s effectiveness. Our 5-game win streak didn’t start until Game 10 when GMC, McDonald & Ayers were all back on the field together. Even the 2 games that we lost after that (Cowboys 26-20 & Saints 31-24) were both winnable (playing in Dallas & New Orleans is never easy). Adding Baker (and potentially Tui) should be huge in terms of stopping the run and improving the rotations.
In terms of the potential DT/DE roster, I agree with your picks, although I remember last year when Koetter surprised me by keeping Lambert, Ward & Russell (maybe only 2 of the 3 originally). They’re still on the roster, along with Siliga & now Barnett and Panfil. That’s 6 DT/DE right there. Should be an interesting training camp.
May 12th, 2017 at 2:43 pm
Pressure / hurries = QB is getting hit….
not necessarily…that could be moving him off his spot or forcing him to rush his throw……GO BUCS!!!!
May 12th, 2017 at 2:45 pm
Be careful with the GMC talk guys. You know, according to some, we could put a cereal box there and get better production!!!
100% depends on health, good points Lord C!
May 12th, 2017 at 3:17 pm
For his $2,250,000 salary you could have signed Jamaal Charles twice and bought a quarter-million dollar house.
May 12th, 2017 at 3:32 pm
“813bucboi Says:
May 12th, 2017 at 2:43 pm
Pressure / hurries = QB is getting hit….
not necessarily…that could be moving him off his spot or forcing him to rush his throw……GO BUCS!!!!”
Well that didn’t happen in that game either. Pretty sure Gruden literally said at one point how no Buc had even touched Anderson’s jersy up till the fumble.
I have memories of Lambert and Ward moving no where in space for 4-6 seconds on the line every snap. That’s the visual summary of that game as I recall it but maybe Spence got a couple pressures in. I thought most Bucs fan felt the same afterwards but may be wrong. Thank god for our secondary stepping up
May 12th, 2017 at 4:35 pm
I really hope they release him. He had promise the first time he was here as a young player, but he has sucked since. I was not in favor of bringing him back at all.
May 12th, 2017 at 4:36 pm
Johnson can be hungry all he wants. He’ll get injured in preseason again and ride out a contract if he isn’t cut.
May 12th, 2017 at 7:15 pm
I forgot about that DC completely, I thought he was a sure bet, even more with what we were expecting from Lovie. Man, what a let down.
May 12th, 2017 at 7:18 pm
Nice stat Lord Cornelius.
May 12th, 2017 at 9:51 pm
cut dat foo
May 12th, 2017 at 9:52 pm
From my view, both Johnson and Smith are camp meat. If either of these guys make the team, we will be 9-7 or 8-8 again as it will speak volumes about the non-existent pass rush.
May 13th, 2017 at 1:09 am
I hope he has a huge breakout!!
I dont expect it, but I hope so.
At this point, Im hoping Daquan Bowers comes back, and has a breakout season.
Just anybody in Red and pewter- able to knock a QB down- will be my favorite player! Im buying his Jersey!!
May 13th, 2017 at 4:11 am
The GHOST
May 14th, 2017 at 1:14 am
Should be a very interesting training camp.