Chris Conte Is The Best Bucs Athlete?
July 14th, 2017
When disbelief compels Joe to rewind audio a few times after hearing a Bucs take, you just know Joe will write about it.
That happened yesterday.
Veteran Tampa Bay reporter Roy Cummings, who is part of the launch for a new site called PewterPirates.com, was talking Bucs yesterday on sports radio WDAE-AM 620 in prime time.
Cummings speculated that the Bucs are most likely to sign a safety in free agency this summer compared to any other position. In short, he said if they are looking to bolster a unit before opening day, then safety would be the top choice.
OK. Joe disagrees, but a case could be made.
Cummings was adamant that he’s not down on the Bucs’ safeties and he said fans might want to open their eyes when it comes to popular punching bag Chris Conte.
“Look, people want to beat up on Chris Conte all the time. But most fans don’t realize he’s easily one of the five best athletes, if not the best overall athlete on that football team,” Cummings said. “And he’s a pretty good player when he’s healthy.”
And that’s why Joe hit the rewind button. Conte could be the best athlete on the roster? Whaaat?
Maybe Conte is the third best athlete in the secondary behind Brent Grimes and Vernon Hargreaves, both freakish athletes. Maybe. Even going back to the NFL Scouting Combine, Hargreaves and his 39-inch vertical leap was faster, quicker and more explosive than Conte at his Combine day.
Thinking further on the athlete discussion, Joe might put an additional seven Bucs ahead of Conte on the athlete scale.
And that’s a good thing. If Conte is in the running for a team’s best athlete, then that’s not going to be a special team.
July 14th, 2017 at 11:27 am
Joe, on a semi-related note I really respect that you link to a site that could be viewed as competition to your site while news organizations like the Tampa Bay Times will rarely even mention the call letters for WDAE.
He’s not a punching bag. He’s a fan favorite!
July 14th, 2017 at 11:27 am
I don’t see any way to define “athlete” that would make sense of this.
Size/speed/agility… Justin Evans is faster / bigger / better footwork. VHII / Grimes are better athletes. Noah Spence / Gerald McCoy are more premiere athletes for what they can do with their bodies. Hell ALi Marpet / Desean Jackson / OJ Freaking Howard … Kwon Alexander! Lavonte David! Those guys are as fast as conte lol
Hell there are probably some freakss on the practice squad that are more athletic than Conte. Not a knock to him but wtf lol
July 14th, 2017 at 11:28 am
*correction Justin Evans isn’t bigger or technically faster based on his 40 time lol; but his 40 was ran injured. He’s about the same size; and his footwork showed me in one clip that he’s a better athlete than Conte
July 14th, 2017 at 11:30 am
I’ll tell you… NO ONE trails a big play better than Conte. No one.
July 14th, 2017 at 11:49 am
Athlete is a bogus term used when trying to find something nice to say about a player that doesnt earn it.
Are you sure it wasnt Coach Lovie scheme giving this interview?
Does Roy need a mental health checkup? What the hell has he been watching the past 3 seasons of Conte.
July 14th, 2017 at 11:49 am
Grimes has got to take the top spot for most athletic in terms of his size. Dude can sky for balls like no other cornerback Ive seen in awhile for his size
July 14th, 2017 at 12:07 pm
Meth is a helleva drug. Maybe we should test Cummings and put him on a 4 game suspension.
Conte wouldn’t be the best athlete at the special Olympics and that’s no slight on the olympians.
July 14th, 2017 at 12:10 pm
Chris Conte is a fan favorite!
July 14th, 2017 at 12:56 pm
I like him.
July 14th, 2017 at 1:51 pm
BucTrooper Says:
July 14th, 2017 at 11:30 am
I’ll tell you… NO ONE trails a big play better than Conte. No one.
——
Applicable or not … I lmao’d at this comment.
July 14th, 2017 at 1:53 pm
Yea he consist on those wtf shaqtin a fool moments. Every game. He was hot before the injury but what who see is what u get
July 14th, 2017 at 2:49 pm
Wait you all forgot, Conte is obviously the best swimmer, golfer, discuss thrower, badminton player, and horse rider on the team. As these people are all seen as athletes it’s obvious Conte is the man. Side notea lot of great athletes were terrible football players
July 14th, 2017 at 2:53 pm
its crazy how after you meet or get to know a person your perspective can change about them….after meeting conte and chatting with him I became a huge fan of his….the guy is very cool, down to earth and very smart….he’s also taller than I thought…im 6’0 and he easily had 2 inches on me….
with that said, I don’t think he’s as bad as some(myself included) makes him out to be….but he isn’t who I would want starting 16games…..GO BUCS!!!!
July 14th, 2017 at 3:32 pm
The best athlete is definitely Brent Grimes
July 14th, 2017 at 4:45 pm
Hmmmm….Wasn’t Sabby the GOAT the best athlete on the team a few years ago to0? How did that turn out?
July 14th, 2017 at 4:46 pm
“Chris Conte is a fan favorite”
Sabby Piscitelli was a fan favorite too. How’d that work out for us?
lol I remember people would wear his jersey even while he gave up multiple touchdowns per game (due to being out of position or taking terrible pursuit angles).
July 14th, 2017 at 5:34 pm
Sabby… dood was Talib 2.0 without as much talent as Talib. Same dumb mouth though
July 14th, 2017 at 9:28 pm
I heard he is taking bad angles in wwe nxt?
July 15th, 2017 at 7:12 am
There it is – the dumbest thing I’ve heard today *facepalm*
July 16th, 2017 at 3:03 am
Roy Cummings knows nothing.
July 16th, 2017 at 6:49 pm
I’ll reserve comment on any of the players until I see them take the field. Another year with Coach Smith could be huge. I think the defense will come together as a top 10 unit and again it’s team sport where everyone has to do their job. We will see very soon.