Olson Offers Bizarre Assessment Of Josh Johnson
May 11th, 2010
First, Raheem The Dream called Josh Johnson a “career backup.”
Now, Greg Olson compares third-year pro Johnson, known for his intelligence and grasp of the offense, to an undrafted rookie quarterback.
For a short TBO.com feature story about interception-happy former University of Mississippi quarterback Jevan Snead trying to make the Bucs roster after being signed as an undrafted rookie free agent, Olson told beat writer Anwar Richardson that Snead should be on “equal footing” with Johnson.
“The good thing is we have two younger players in Josh Johnson and Rudy Carpenter that aren’t that much older than him and haven’t been in the league that long, so development wise, they shouldn’t be much further along,” Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson said. “He has an opportunity to come in and compete with those guys as opposed to a four-, five-, six-, 10-year vet guy. He should be on equal footing with those guys.”
Poor Johnson, taking one on the chin from the offensive coordinator.
Joe’s all in favor of coaches tyring to foster competition in the offseason, but Olson’s comment crosses the line.
If Johnson is on equal footing with Snead, then the Bucs better pray harder for Josh Freeman’s health than they ever intended.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:23 am
I really wish JJ would get traded to a team that would legitimately like to develop his skills. Last year Josh did nothing except go from a “mostly likely to be cut” #4 spot in preseason to starting a couple games. Though in those games he was given no support by his coaching staff, but still had flashes of of amazing ability. Opposing coaches in those games had nothing but good things to say as well about JJ. I watched him play all through college and he is one hell of an intelligent athlete. Hopefully he’ll go someplace where he gets a legit chance to prove himself.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:28 am
I would have thought that Josh was firmly the back up, and miles ahead of an undrafted rookie. I hope they arent planning on reducing his reps while he competes with Snead.
Surely Olson doesn’t mean that Snead could actually be the primary back up QB this season.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:37 am
This must have been written by “sensitive joe”
May 11th, 2010 at 11:41 am
This guy is a career backup. Morris was right.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Most of yall know that one of the things I rail against is the media just mindlessly regurgitating team talking points without ever examining them. Nothing has pissed me off more than how the team was able to get away with trashing Antonio Bryant in an effort to obscure the fact that the primary reason they didn’t resign him had to do with money. Not route running or being a diva, but money. And the media enabled it without every taking a skeptical stance towards the evolving arguments the Bucs had against resigning Bryant.
Well one talking point of course has been that the Bucs have plenty of money and can and will spend as they see fit. They say they aren’t spending money now because supposedly there were no good free agents available. Well that’s all fine and good but what proof of that is there?
Not much.
Several positions where we have a need there were young productive players available via free agency and we never even got in the game.
But even if you buy that I feel and felt like there is one major position that would really tell the tale on where we are financially. I tweeted to the TBO reporters in response to one of their tweets about our probable/possible interest in Marc Bulger that if the Bucs did not sign a veteran QB to backup Freeman this year it would be the surest sign that money is an issue. They never responded but I stand by that.
Unless you have Peyton Manning or Brett Favre as your QB, guys that never missed a game during their career, you had better have a good vet backing your starter. And I say that being a fan of Josh Johnson. The truth is none of us know how durable Freeman will be let alone if he might falter this year. Not having a guy behind him that has wins in the NFL under their belt is a recipe for disaster. And truthfully I don’t necessarily buy that he needs a baby sitter/mentor, but he DOES need a guy who has been there and done that who can step in if needed and can also push him work ethic wise and film room wise. We still have time yet but if we don’t sign anybody to fill that role before the season the media should NEVER repeat the talking point that the Bucs can spend money as they please ever again.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:55 am
LOL its funny cuz some times I get carried away in the comments sections here and write something that should probably be its own blog post. Oh well. Might post it anyway.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
So, there is no clear-cut #2 QB???!!! Would’t it have been smart to bring in a veteran in case Freeman is injured (or sucks)? How many times has a Bucs QB started all 16 games in a season? This off-season just keeps getting better. I can’t wait to hear the apologists spin this.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Snead sucks.. if this kid cant play well in college why would he be able to do it in the pros?.. this kid was once projected to be a 1-2 round pick and he went undrafted.. for them to say he should be on equal footing with rudy carpenter and Josh Johnson is pure BULLSHIT.. thats a pure slap in the face to JJ especially.. this kid is better than what he is getting credit for..
May 11th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
I like Josh Johnson, shame on the Bucs for under appreciating him
May 11th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
What quarterback currently on the FA market would you feel comfortable with mentoring Freeman and being a solid replacement if Freeman went down?
As for Bryant, I’m not an expert, but it seemed that the week after Bryant started making noise in the media, Freeman started trying to force him the ball and it resulted in interceptions. Is there any way someone can go back and look at who the intended target was of each of his 18 interceptions last year?
May 11th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Valid points sgw, I also feel like we should have a vet behind freeman, with JJ as a very capable 3rd stringer.
But I also found Olsons comments very very odd. He says that Snead is on equal footing in terms of yrs of experience with JJ and carpenter, but doesnt mention Freeman. JJ has been in the league for a few more years than freeman. Obviously he cant add freeman to that sentence because it would be trashing his baby, but it just seems like there is something they dont like about JJ when we as fans see something in him.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
doesn’t everyone realize that the Bucs have forgone winning for youthful player playing time. I didn use development, because all because you get PT, there is no guarentee that the PT will result into positive development… which is why i am puzzled that we don’t experienced coaches to develop these young guys…
May 11th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Charlie B, I know in the Carolina game(the game after said complaining by Byrant) he threw 5 ints. 1 was intended for Stroughter, 2 were intended for Stovall, and 2 were intended for Byrant. So I guess Stovall was just as much to blame for his interceptions, LOL! Not sure about the rest.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
It’s entirely possible it’s just my perception of events, as I was actively paying attention to whether or not the vocal complaints of the leading veteran receiver would affect him. If the rest of the interceptions are spread out like that, then its complete horse shit that we let Bryant walk. Imagine Bryant, Benn, Williams, and Stroughter.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
They want young guys to be their best self.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
oar:
One of those interceptions in the end zone which was intended for Bryant was due to one of the best plays Joe’s ever seen by a linebacker. Jon Beeson completely and totally faked out Freeman, not unlike what James Harrison did to Kurt Warner in the Super Bowl two years ago.
Sometimes, you have to tip your cap to your opponent. On that play, hats off to Beeson. It was a helluva play and Joe couldn’t pin any blame on Freeman for that one.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
@charlieB i think culpepper would be a good FA qb to bring in to tutor Freeman..they both have similar build/height/ throwing power or atleast culpepper once did..Lets not forget how he and Randy Moss tore up the league back in the day.. although his talent has clearly dropped over the years i still dont think he would be a bad back up QB in Tampa
May 11th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
@CharlieB
First and foremost I would have kept Leftwich rather than trade him for next to nothing. Its funny because all last year all we heard was how hard he worked and how great he was in the lockerroom prior to him winning the starting job. Now on his way out of town there are leaks that the Bucs didn’t like his work ethic and he wasn’t a good guy for Freeman.
Does that revisionist history sound familiar?
As for how many ints Freeman threw while trying to hit Bryant let me say two things.
1st nobody will ever pull up every int to find out but I bet most of them where to Freeman. Why? BECAUSE HE WAS THE BEST DAMN OPTION WE HAD IN THE PASSING GAME OTHER THAN K2
2nd what I do know of some of the ints Freeman through, quite a few I would say, is that they were into double if not triple coverage. No route known to man would help him throwing into coverage and even Olsen pointed out during the season there were times when Freeman threw an int when he should have just checked the ball down to the back.
But hey I know the Bucs have changed their story so many times its probably confusing at this point.
May 11th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
This could be taken 2 ways…….. If Snead struggled so playing college ball and is still competition for JJ, doesn’t that sound like Rudy Carpenter could already be perceived as the backup?……. Just more of an observation really!!!
May 11th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
the thing i dont understand in that comment is he cut jj down so badly……lets say they wanted to trade him…..the comment actually in a way diminishes his trade value because either snead is playing lights out football in rookie camp like a 4 year veteran back up, or jj is a complete failure….so olson has basically just branded jj a piece of sh*t……if there is any plan of bringing in a back up like a bulger, then olson really should be pumping up jj’s value in case they want to unload him via trade…..the whole thing is weird…in my humble opinion, i think the glazers are keeping the team in financial limbo till when the 2011 season begins to take shape…for one, the economy sucks, secondly the team sucks, and thirdly, if they arent spending money, their mantra most likely is to ride it out with the cheapest guys for a couple years while letting the cream of this current bucs crop differentiate themselves from team fodder….then get rid of the fodder, sign and keep the group of solid performers, and piece together all other missing parts around 2011 and after the economy bounces back….that includes all players and coaches….they are going low budget across the board for now and will keep all standouts and dump the rest and regroup around 2011…..because they know if all this crap fails, all they have to do is sign a premiere headline coach around 2011 and 1 or 2 high profile free agents to add to the mix……then the hype is rejuvenated in tampa and the fans come flocking back to ray jay……adam from ny
May 11th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Who in the hell is Rudy Carpenter? He is a candidate for the back up role also?
Surely they jest.
It also amazes me that I never heard a living soul say Antonio Bryant caused any INT’s in 08. To the contrary, the guy “caused” touchdowns and 1200 yards receiving with incredible catches.
I doubt Carson Palmer will have any problem with him.
When Cincy is outspending you, it aint a good sign.
May 11th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
At the :26 mark and the 1:24 marks are Beason’s interceptionsin that game, which includes said interception by Joe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNT-EdF36xY
May 11th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
F*ck beason and carolina!
adam from ny
May 11th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Olsen is simply trying to create competition for the back-up job , which would hopefully make all these guys better. He’s just doing a pathetic inarticulate job of saying so….
But that’s par for the course with everyone else running this team, isn’t it??
These guys are clueless and they can’t even answer questions correctly.
May 11th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Funny!! Olson only said that to make it seem like there is competition in the QB ranks, not to discredit JJ. AB sat on his fat “payed” ass cause we wouldnt give him another contract. Did anybody think that maybe “just maybe” some of Freeman’s interceptions were due to changing the offense (not knowing the routs), hmmmm. Oh yeah, and he was thrown in to a bad bad situation and a bad bad offense without a true #1 or #2 WR because AB was milking his injury.
May 11th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
JJ will be our #2 QB
May 11th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
I hope Olson is coming up with some creative ways to use JJ. He is a heck of an athlete.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Just because JJ has been unfairly compared to Snead, I would not deny the fact that Snead has more upside than JJ. JJ has a noodle arm and throws the ball funny, may be he could use some work on mechanics. But Snead has a rocket arm, quick release, adequate height and experience against elite competition in CFB. The only thing JJ has going right now is his experience in the NFL (2 years). For the primary back up, I would have an experienced QB like Leftwich (who we just traded) and Snead as the developmental QB.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
As much as I rag the haters on the comments section (RadioMushMouth, Eric, Mr. Lucky), I will concede the fact that Greg Olsen is incompetent. Even during his “Behind the Flag”-puff piece on Buccaneers.com, Olsen alludes to his worries about K2 making it through a whole season. He has no idea when to shut his mouth.
May 11th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
I have to say that it always amuses me when somebody who probably never had the courage to play the game feels like they have standing to say a guy was “milking” an injury. A guy who had SURGERY. A guy who only missed 3 games. A guy who could have shut it down at any time and nobody really could have blamed him considering the way our season went but played it out. Yeah, that guy was REALLY milking it. Of course the Bucs in one of their fits of trying to explain not re-signing him said AB’s knee was so bad that it would continue giving him problems the rest of his career. But he milked it.
Effing morons…
May 11th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
My wife calls me a “Milker” all the time, and the truth is I’m just trying to get lucky.
Greg Olson makes Raheem look and sound like Albert Einstein.
I think too many of you just aren’t buying into their core beliefs, and until you do, you’ll never be you best self.
Hey, why not play a 5 man defensive front on run downs White, Mac, Miller, Price & Bennett or Moore??? Having Sabby is almost like having 10 players to begin with, so why not just add another lineman?
May 11th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
With Doug Williams departure is JJ on the way out?
May 11th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
@jimbuc
Interesting question. The inside source at espn mentioned something about Doug and Dom not seeing eye to eye.
Ill be interested in seeing the details come out about that and the suggestion of more overhauling of the scouting Department.
Have u picked up on anything specific?
May 11th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Eric — I think they also let another scout go. The part about JJ is just conjecture on my part because I know DW was a big advocate.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
@mlloye
OOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!! Steve White Just Called You OUT SON!!!!!!
Stand up and be accounted for…
LOL
@SGW94
I Always love your take. Along with your point, I always wonder why fans take the side of ownership when it comes to paying players. Should I, Random Buc Fan, be mad at Clayton for getting paid? Shouldn’t we be able to relate to players, most of whom come from meager beginnings, more than the mega-rich, elitist owners?? I remember some idiot wore a McCardell Jersey that read “Greedy Bastard” on the back, to a game the year he sat out. Being a pro athlete must be a real interesting view into mob mentality…