The Bucs And Pierre Desir
February 20th, 2019
Joe would understand if the Bucs brass wants to see what its stable of young cornerbacks does with competent defensive backs coaching and more experience.
Last year, the Bucs entered the season needing somebody to emerge as special among cornerbacks Vernon Hargreaves, Ryan Smith and rookies Carlton David and M.J. Stewart.
It didn’t happen.
Heck, even Brent Grimes let them down. His “whole vibe” was screwed up before he even played a regular season snap!
Yes, the Bucs are hurting at cornerback whether they want to believe it or not.
Enter Pierre Desire who turns 29 in September. He was the surprise of the 2018 Colts defense and the journeyman will be a free agent if he’s not locked up before the free agency dinner bell rings in three short weeks.
Scouting godfather and new Hall of Famer Gil Brandt, writing for NFL.com, labeled Desir as the fifth best cornerback available this offseason in the draft or free agency. That’s high praise.
Pierre Desir, free agent: … … Desir started almost as many games last season (12) as he did in his first four NFL seasons (13), with the Browns, Chargers and Colts. He also recorded 79 tackles, which nearly matched his career total entering 2018 (81), and, perhaps more importantly, proved he could hold his own against some of the NFL’s top wideouts. Consider the work he did on Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was limited to nine catches for 73 yards in Indianapolis’ wins over Houston last December and in the playoffs.
Desir is an interesting wild card for the Bucs because of his age, limited wear on his tires and being a bit of a one-year wonder who now has playoff experience. He won’t command a fortune, and he might be better than every cornerback on the Tampa Bay roster.
Desir is a guy who could really test the evaluation skills of Jason Licht’s pro personnel department.
Could Desir play in Todd Bowles’ blitz-happy defense? What’s his market value? What’s he like in the locker room? On paper, Desir looks like an affordable veteran the Bucs need, much like Morris Claiborne.
February 20th, 2019 at 4:09 pm
i liked desir coming out of college….small college kid with great measurables and some upside…browns didnt develop him properly imo….he received better coaching in indy and had a productive year….
i wouldnt mind him….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!!
February 20th, 2019 at 4:16 pm
Sounds like Ryan Jensen, average then has 1 good year and now in for a big payday.
February 20th, 2019 at 4:32 pm
as long as he don’t wanna play two hand touch like grimes we all know we need corners
February 20th, 2019 at 4:36 pm
Always scared to pay for this kind of guy but he did look great in the playoffs.
Also good reminder on how CBs take time to develop / need to be developed.
For all we know we have our next Desir on the roster somewhere.
Fun fact: Ryan Smith was actually our best graded corner per PFF in 2018 – over Grimes or Davis.
February 20th, 2019 at 4:37 pm
Tired of these one year wonders and “value” FA. Value is supposed to mean the production exceeds the cost but this guy seems like nothing but depth to me.
Trade for Rhodes, PP, or some other proven guy.
February 20th, 2019 at 4:39 pm
Corners? We don’t need corners……we have plenty of corners……(sarcasm)
I mean…..all these players and so little money available to spend.
Many think we are saving cap money by the exit of Grimes……wrong.
February 20th, 2019 at 4:42 pm
Limited DeAndre Hopkins to 9 catches 73 yards? Hahahahaha yea he’ll fit right in with this cornerback group.
February 20th, 2019 at 4:43 pm
Competent defensive coaching is gona get these guys going. And they got plenty of experience last season, on what Not to do. So theyre gona be alright. Definitely wont hurt to throw someone else in the mix though.
February 20th, 2019 at 4:44 pm
Love your posts, Alaskan, but I don’t think the Vikings are going to be trading Xavier Rhodes any time soon.
February 20th, 2019 at 5:16 pm
Was just wanting on the other page about leadership and the DB room sticks out as the biggest sore thumb. We have no leadership at all in the unit…….Unless you wanna resign Brent Miko.
We have a ton of youth so there’s a decent chance a leader could emerge but counting on it will be foolish.
The solution is simple. Trade Arizone for Peterson. Just have to hope they are willing.
To afford Peterson’s contract you dump McCoy. In turn this assumes all business run through the DL room is handled by our new leader there. Mister JPP.
We lose a good player in McCoy but get back a good player for our secondary. We also improve the team leadership and create a new attitude for the defense………This is my plan and it is without flaw
February 20th, 2019 at 5:27 pm
And if you wanna bring back Brent Miko you will have to give him a 50% raise. That’s the only way he said he would assume a leadership role here.
As much as being a Buc fan hardens you for dissapointment and losing there are always still a few things that will always tick you off. Brent Miko is one of those things.
The way that POS played in that Pittsburg game was the turning point of this season IMO.
After Conte got nationally embarrassed somebody needed to step up and change the tone. The one player that was in position to do it was when Miko found himself in open field for a routine tackle………That MF got run over like a lil B**** and we got burnt for a 2nd long TD.
We need to make a statement and Miko did just that. He showed the entire league that the Bucs were nuttin but a bunch of big fat Pu*****.
A great coaching staff would not have even had a little B**** like Miko on the field for that moment…….But our staff was so bad they just kept him out their the next series and rest of season. Great accountability
February 20th, 2019 at 5:28 pm
LC
that is a fun and crazy fact….
like you said, CB’s in general take time to develop….CB’s like ryan smith, desire and even rashaan melvin may take a little more time to develop especially if they come from smaller schools….scheme has a lot to do with it as well….
but its good to hear that about ryan smith….unfortunately, most will take PFF’s grading with a grain of salt….lol…
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!!
February 20th, 2019 at 5:37 pm
Bucs corners need a real nfl defense to play in. Any idiot that judges them after being coached to line up in a different zip code and play primarily zone defense well…you are just that.
That doesn’t mean no upgrades are needed….but its not nearly as bad as it seems. VH3, Davis even Smith all like to play tight aggressive coverage. This team has been a joke playing what they called defense every Sunday. Smitty and Lovie were pure embarrassments to the city, the team, the fans and players.
February 20th, 2019 at 5:41 pm
Desir is a guy who could really test the evaluation skills of Jason Licht’s pro personnel department.
Really test the evaluation skills of JL’s pro personnel department??????????
I could put a high schooler in pads and make JL’s team gush…are you kidding me?
Lichts FA & Draft records are terrible. I have little to no faith in this years off season.
February 20th, 2019 at 5:53 pm
The Colts have the LARGEST cap space available this year BY FAR.
Sooo…they will re-sign Desir before he leaves, because Matt Eberflus’ scheme that became real strong late last year, at least in part, depended on Desir for one of 4 key parts.
IF…Indy doesn’t re-sign Desir, with over $110 million of available cap space, (which won’t happen), then…we probably don’t want him, if they ranked in the Top 10 from week 10 on in the secondary, and have over $110 million in cap room, and then don’t sign him…..
Right?!? Well, I’m right.
Xavier Rhodes…(per Minny radio voice) if at all available for 3rd round pick in trade!
Go Bucs!
February 20th, 2019 at 5:55 pm
813
Yeah i don’t know how much I buy into it at all. I just know that Ryan Smith had like our best CB performance of the season one week and then didn’t get play time after that lol.
I’d like to add at least one proven vet that can start – maybe 2 at the most
February 20th, 2019 at 6:55 pm
Nooooooo let the colts over pay for him, we need Mo Claiborne or Jason Verrett, and over pay for Landon Collins, Landon should be a too priority for us bc I don’t really care for Whitehead
February 20th, 2019 at 7:24 pm
I say we will all be pleasantly surprised at how good at least 2 or 3 among Davis, Hargreaves, Stewart and Ryan Smith look in Todd Bowles aggressive defense.
That said – it would be wise to try and bring in an established #1 CB if that is at all possible/affordable…
Trading McCoy’s salary for that of a very good NFL CB would be a wise move at this point IMO.
Patrick Peterson would be perfect – but that almost certainly ain’t happening…
I’ve hoped openly before that Jalen Ramsey might somehow make his way to the Bucs sooner than later in his career if at all possible. He’s not happy in Jax and I believe the feeling is somewhat mutual. Make the call Jason…
Ronald Darby is another good young CB that the Bucs should be looking into bringing to Tampa Bay (yea-yea I know – don’t give me that “but he’s always around when Jameis gets in trouble…” BS)
February 20th, 2019 at 8:06 pm
what about Earl Thomas?
February 20th, 2019 at 9:59 pm
Pass on this guy ……
February 20th, 2019 at 10:55 pm
No need…Licht Weight spent 2 premium 2nd round picks on corners last year…all good there. Wait…
February 21st, 2019 at 8:56 am
DarQuese Dennard of the Bengals might be worth kicking the tires on if released, which is a real possibility. Ryan Smith has never impressed me as a CB or S. Good ST player. If he was rated the best of the DB’s the Bucs are worse off than I thought.
February 21st, 2019 at 9:03 pm
brian poole is better.