McCoy Archrival Trai Turner Spotlights 2014 Draft
October 26th, 2017
GM Jason Licht
If you talk football with Gerald McCoy, when he’s not sharing a hint of frustration about a three-man front, he’ll tell you that one of his toughest match-ups in the NFL is Panthers guard Trai Turner.
And that brings Joe to general manager Jason Licht and the start of his draft regime in 2014.
The Bucs needed serious help on their offensive line after needlessly cutting left tackle Donald Penn and trading center Jeremy Zuttah. Tampa Bay was banking on names like Jamon Meredith and Oneil Cousins at guard.
As the third round of the draft began, three accomplished SEC offensive linemen were on the board, center Travis Swanson and guards Gabe Jackson and Trai Turner. Tampa Bay didn’t need a running back, but they pounced on Charles Sims.
The rest is history.
Turner is a two-time Pro Bowler, Jackson has a massive new contract as a pillar on the Raiders’ stout O-line, and Swanson has been Matthew Stafford’s trusty center.
Right now, Sims is a nice third-down back.
The O-line blunders of 2014 led to the 11th-hour, August trade with the Patriots for Logan Mankins, and to the Bucs investing heavily in the O-line in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Every time Turner squares off against McCoy, Joe’s chronic heartburn acts up thinking of this.
Joe hopes McCoy can get the best of his rival on Sunday. Given how brutal the Bucs’ defensive line play has been, McCoy likely needs to have an extra special day.
October 26th, 2017 at 11:04 am
Aaron donald was gonna fall right to us and making waves to tampa. If only didn’t Gmc make headlines about being bench before playing next him Oh boy this defense will be a non issue. Thank me13 for bwing a great player tho
October 26th, 2017 at 11:04 am
Great article Joe. Not sure though whether that draft should be on Licht or Lovie. Still don’t know for sure who pulled the trigger on all those miscues.
October 26th, 2017 at 11:05 am
a nice third-down RECEIVING back 😉
October 26th, 2017 at 11:07 am
Thanks for nothing again Lovie
October 26th, 2017 at 11:19 am
No one was crying about Sims or Martin in 2015. If you thought so lil’ of both then you should have been trashing them 2 years ago also. Is Sims a good every down runner? Nope. But when we do the right things we see how he and Martin complement each other. Until we stop tipping our play calls based on personnel groupings the Defense will have the advantage.im hate this constant player groupings pass from shotgun. Run from under Center and maybe a couple of play actions from under Center. That’s it. OJ and Brate in 2 WRs and Martin. Keep the D in base.
October 26th, 2017 at 11:20 am
You learn something new everyday by reading Joes blog… all this time I thought that the joker and the penguin or maybe even catwoman was McCoy’s nemesis.
October 26th, 2017 at 11:21 am
Nice third down back..are you kidding…
Hurt all the time and dances like Fred Astaire…
WASTED PICK= Licht
October 26th, 2017 at 11:25 am
“nice” third down back……hehehehhehehhe
October 26th, 2017 at 11:29 am
Jason Licht is as bad as any GM in Bucs history, including Bruce Allen who I thought would always own that title of worst. His two best picks in Evans and Winston are hardly the work of genius. Any one of us would have made the Winston pick and it is arguable that OBJ and Donald are at least on the level if not better than Evans. The oline can’t run block, the Dline can’t do sht, we can’t cover or tackle anyone and this team is softer than a baby’s aas cheek. Licht is an unmitigated disaster at this point and really needs to go back to his role as errand boy GM fetching takeout and coffee for the competent professional football people that can actually evaluate talent.
October 26th, 2017 at 11:30 am
Charles Sims college film was mighty impressive
and as always, the draft is not an exact science……Can’t blame the GM for trying……..
October 26th, 2017 at 11:31 am
Did anyone see the video from NFL.com where they discuss the 2 teams likely to make the playoffs from those with records under .500?
Along with the Bengals, the guy crosses us out immediately saying, “utter and complete dysfunction, I wouldn’t touch them.”
… am I missing something? We’ve got our issues but that seems a little strong…
October 26th, 2017 at 11:34 am
@ mike10
we’ll they’re right
– there’s locker dysfunction
– the defense can’t stop anyone
– Jameis and his “slow starts”
– Offense has problems scoring the red zone (end arounds, really dirk?)
– no run game what-so-ever
…..sorry, but all this is true…the bucs currently are not a good football team
October 26th, 2017 at 11:39 am
Since this is an article about the O-line, anyone gonna talk about the disaster that is D Smith on the Left Side? The guy could be a very good RT but we keep trying to fit square pegs into round holes. He is terrible at LT- ALWAYS gets drive killing holding penalties, false starts or whiff blocks at key times. Another draft pick that we know better than all 31 other teams. Market was dominating at RT but lets move him to center instead of drafting a center in the 5th or 6th round or developing one over the last 2-3 years. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot with all this I know better everyone else spit! If it was that easy to move positions in the NFL everyone would be doing it.
October 26th, 2017 at 11:41 am
Its hard to point the finger when the Front office is in such a transition!!!!! A brand new GM, with input from a new OC that won’t make it thru training camp, you have scouting reports from the old regime and scouts!!!!!! usually front offices are not fully in place until after the draft!!!!!!!!
And seeing how they drafted 2 guards after CS34, makes it seem like Joe is crying over hindsight of a player being develop and succeed somewhere else!!!!!
Joe whined and complain about CS34 since he was drafted!!!! But joe is not concerned that a 3rd year late 3rd round pick is manhandling the so called former face of the franchise/ so called best DT in the league Gmc93????????????
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 26th, 2017 at 11:45 am
“The Bucs needed serious help on their offensive line after needlessly cutting left tackle Donald Penn and trading center Jeremy Zuttah. Tampa Bay was banking on names like Jamon Meredith and Oneil Cousins at guard.”
If memory serves me right, weren’t these decisions as well as bringing in the free agents (Evan Dietrich-Smith, Anthony Collins, Josh McC(l)own, “Ghost” Michael Johnson, Mike Jenkins, Alterraun Verner, Clinton McDonald (only one with the team still), Brandon Myers), all fall under the umbrella of WHAT LOVIE WANTED? Did he not hand pick these guys? Wasn’t Charles Sims the second coming of Matt Forte?
I put all of the decisions in 2014 on Lovie. It seems Lovie hand picked the groceries and Jason checked them out at the register.
October 26th, 2017 at 12:05 pm
I cannot wait for Jon Gruden to take over as GM and head coach. Hell, let’s bring back Tony Dungy as D Coordinator. This Todd Licht guy is a clown…I bet he is the only GM in the NFL that is asking Siri random things just to see what she comes back with…as seen on hard knocks.
We Want Gruden
October 26th, 2017 at 12:11 pm
If you believe this then Mike Evans, Charles Sims, ASJ, Jameis, Kwon, Cameron Brate, Adam Humphries, Ali Marpet, and Kevin Pamphile are all Lovie decisions because during his tenure he had control of the final 53.
The narrative around here, which always makes me chuckle, is that every bad personnel decision the Bucs made in 2014 and 2015 was because of Lovie and every good decision made was because of Jason Licht. ASJ didn’t work out here but he’s become a very good TE for the NYJ.
October 26th, 2017 at 12:12 pm
Hope you are kidding
Gruden was terrible with talent and being GM
He even admitted that was his down fall
October 26th, 2017 at 12:24 pm
Gruden and Bruce Allen set this franchise back many years from their horrible free agent pickups and drafts…..all you gotta know are two names: charlie garner and Tim Brown.
Gruden ‘ also refusal to develop a QB is another reason for him getting fired too.
Gruden thinks every player is amazing and he’d probably would signed every re-read from the Practice Squads too.
Stop with all this Gruden talk…..it makes me wanna vomit
October 26th, 2017 at 12:30 pm
WewantGruden you clearly were not paying attention when Gruden was here. Great coach yes but from a talent evaluation standpoint he was flat out horrible. Give him a good team he can make it great, give him a bad team he can make it good, give him a good to great team he can make it special, but give him control of picking players and you get 8-8 and getting older and worse every year.
October 26th, 2017 at 12:57 pm
Hindsight is 20/10. Every team has regrets about past drafts. Let’s not blow this one up. Gotta let the past go.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:48 pm
I would love to hear the line of BS Licht feeds the Glazers these days explaining why our defense cannot effectively rush the passer. Guessing after his now 4th full offseason completed he is carefully crafting ways to shift blame. Glazers aren’t buying what you’re selling doughboy. This sht stinks to high heaven and it reeks of incompetent buffoonery much in the mold of Lovie Smith. I’m going to be at the game this weekend and if they squirt breakfast down the back of their legs at home the end will be near.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:58 pm
We still need a kicker! Must draft one next year. Use a top pick and get someone in here for the long haul. Bucs most important needs are Kicker and LongSnapper. This is a kicking league!
October 26th, 2017 at 2:08 pm
The Bucs 19-35 since Jason Licht been the GM. Only a Pathetic franchise like the Bucs will hold on to him.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:26 pm
LakeLand Says:
October 26th, 2017 at 2:08 pm
The Bucs 19-35 since Jason Licht been the GM. Only a Pathetic franchise like the Bucs will hold on to him.
””””””””””””””””””””””””
Ok, so who do you advocate to be the new GM…..he did find all these studs in LBs….which quite possibly the best LB group in the NFL. He found stubs like Ali Marpet, Cameron Brate, and Humphreys…
……
….what other GM has found that many impact players in such a short amount of time????
I think if you hold up our GMs results up to other GMs results…..it’s pretty damn impressive.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:41 pm
If Licht brought so many good players to the Bucs during his tenure. Then why has they went 19-35, including 2-4 this season?
October 26th, 2017 at 2:41 pm
It don’t add up…..It don’t make sense
October 26th, 2017 at 2:48 pm
USA Today Sports Ranking every NFL general manager, from worst to first
27. Buccaneers: Jason Licht
Licht has been active in free agency, but his signings haven’t always panned out, and his performance in the draft has been slightly above average. Given the capital Licht’s had to work with (plenty of cap space and high draft picks) you would have expected the Bucs to be further along by this point.
October 26th, 2017 at 3:25 pm
@ LakeLand
I want to know by what measure or gage that USA Today uses to rank GMs….because something smells rotten with 27th place.
There is no other Bucs GM in the history of the Buccaneers that have drafted and sign so many impact players in such a short amount of time…..the only other time is to think back to Rich McCay era and that great superbowl winning team….which was by drafts standards amazing to get so many HOF players.
October 26th, 2017 at 3:52 pm
Licht is worthy of 27 if not worse, DallasBuc, right on the guy is a horrible talent evaluator from missing on laremy tunsil to the letting go of all pro penn and then its the drafting of the worst 2nd round blunder ever, unfortunately bucs fans again are suffering as the Cleveland of the NFC
October 26th, 2017 at 4:00 pm
The Bucs are 2-4, they are last in the NFC South! Jason Licht had cap space, high draft picks and the team still sucks. I don’t get this Jason Licht Love, it’s crazy.
October 26th, 2017 at 5:13 pm
What’s this team identity?
IOW, what type of team is JL trying to build.
Just compare the Bucs to Jacksonville and Tennessee. Not wins and losses but direction and identity.
October 26th, 2017 at 6:09 pm
By my count, the Rockstar Dominik was 28-51 in his tenure. Also, Lovie did have control of the draft his first year while Licht focused on free agents. Licht took over the draft the following season, as I recall
October 26th, 2017 at 6:55 pm
Its hard to point the finger when the Front office is in such a transition!!!!!
Amen Realist. And so now after our early season struggles we have a significant contingent here who are ready to throw out the coaches and GM and start yet again!!!!
This ain’t rocket science!!! Look at the franchises who are continually successful.
They have stability in the front office and on the sidelines.
Chucky is our only SB winning coach. We’ll always love him for that. But love can be blind.
After that SB win Chucky was a LOSING coach going 45 and 51. He posted a winning record 3 of those six years including one 11 win season and a couple of 9-7.
I like Chucky and will always appreciate his SB but he is NOT our Messiah!!!!
Especially if he has player/personnel control!
October 26th, 2017 at 9:45 pm
Saban used to rave about turner saying he was he best guard in the sec.
I was shocked when we took sims over him but what do I know