Consider Chandler Jones In Play
March 6th, 2022
Joe firmly believes when a durable Hall of Fame grade pass rusher is available in free agency, the Bucs always should be interested and prepared to strike.
Would the Bucs have been a playoff team in 2010 if Julius Peppers was starting in place of Stylez White? They sure would have been. Instead, the Bears won the bidding for Peppers that offseason and very quickly landed in the NFC Championship game.
Yes, the Bucs now have salary cap challenges, but reports now say the Cardinals are not slapping the franchise tag on mighty, do-it-all edge rusher Chandler Jones and Joe believes Tampa Bay must consider the pending free agent.
Jones, 32, is an absolute terrorist on the field every year. Six forced fumbles last season in 15 games (COVID cost him two absences), to go along with double-digit sacks and his overall complete game is an example of why Jones is annually a darling of the stat-nerd crowd. More importantly, he affects games.
Pair him with Shaq Barrett and both would instantly be better and potentially dominant if the Bucs allow Vita Vea to play more snaps.
Yes, adding Jones almost surely means losing Carlton Davis, Will Gholston and Ndamukong Suh. Adding Jones also strikes real fear in the heart of every defensive coordinator the Bucs will face next season.
Add Jones and all of a sudden the entire secondary looks a lot better.
It doesn’t take long on Google to find out that Jones became a big fan of Bucco Bruce Arians when the Cardinals traded for him in 2016, one of the worst personnel moves of Bill Belicheat’s career.
Jones is a long shot and may be considered out of reach by Bucs officials, but Joe thinks Arians and general manager Jason Licht should be thinking very long and hard.
Winning a Super Bowl will require making Super Bowl moves this offseason, especially if the Bucs are going to roll with Kyle Trask or Blaine Gabbert at quarterback.
March 6th, 2022 at 2:53 am
Would be a nice addition. If we financially had to choose between him and Carlton Davis, I’d lean towards Jones, provided the guy still has plenty in the tank.
March 6th, 2022 at 4:34 am
Wrong side of 30. This team needs to get younger up front on defense.
March 6th, 2022 at 5:46 am
So you want to keep first round pick JTS on the bench for 2 more years? Or best case in a rotation getting 30% of defensive snaps? I guess that’s one way to guarantee a guy becomes a bust!
Yeah I like Jones too, but the heir apparent to the other starting edge spot is already on the roster, and there are too many holes to fill elsewhere with the limited cap we have.
March 6th, 2022 at 6:22 am
What happened to our 1st round pick Tyron did he retire too. Why would you even consider Chandler Jones thet position is the only one we have depth. Barrett, Tyron, Nelson.
March 6th, 2022 at 6:48 am
Need to get younger on D Line. Too many 30+ guys already in JPP, Suh, Gholston ans McClendan. LVD also.
March 6th, 2022 at 7:19 am
‘Yes, adding Jones almost surely means losing Carlton Davis, Will Gholston and Ndamukong Suh.’
And there-in lies the rub when it comes to adding high-dollar FAs … 1 guy can’t truly replace 3 starters (except in cost).
We won’t keep those three guys with or without Jones. –Joe
And when we ‘settle’ for lesser talent at the other positions, we create a weakness that opponents gleefully exploit.
March 6th, 2022 at 8:07 am
It also gives us leverage on JPP….but throwing money at guys 30+ yrs old with multi year contracts hasn’t exactly worked well for us. LVD has missed games….JPP missed games….Gronk missed games….AB missed games. We definitely need a d-line that gets consistent pressure but our cap is going to be such a mess when/if we ever let Trask step in that he’ll have little to no help.
March 6th, 2022 at 8:21 am
Pass. Next year is keep who you can, manage the cap, see what Trask has, and build for the next three years. Everyone knew Brady was a temporary elevation of the team. It worked. No other QB would have won that SB.
Now is the time to get the younger players to begin taking a bigger role in the team. Tryon. Get him in the weight room. Keep Suh. Keep Godwin. Keep Davis if he signs for mid level money or let him go. Any FA who wants to chase the money, let him go.
March 6th, 2022 at 8:23 am
I’d rather resign JPP to a much cheaper deal….I believe him when he says he’ll be back…
We will need to draft a DT & CB to likely replace Suh & Davis…
Concentrate on signing Godwin, Cappa, Stennie & Whitehead…
March 6th, 2022 at 8:33 am
2 big issues with your story here Joe.
1) How do you know for a fact the addition of J Peppers would have guaranteed us a playoff spot.
2) Why would the addition of C Jones strike fear in the opposing D coordinators?
Does the Defense now play against the other team’s Defense?
March 6th, 2022 at 8:33 am
If the Bucs are just rebooting like JL & Ba says then signing Jones would be a nice add to make a run at SB. Rather have Jones instead of Davis, JPP & Suh/Gholston.
March 6th, 2022 at 8:40 am
What TBBF just said!
March 6th, 2022 at 8:53 am
I suggested last offseason, when Jones was saying he wanted off the Cards, wanted a trade, that the Bucs should move in and trade JPP and a pick for Jones, that JPP is clearly on the decline, is injury prone at this point in his career, and in any case Jones is the better player at this point in their careers.
You can just imagine the morons out there that don’t know anything about football squealing like pigs, saying JPP is the heart and soul of the defense and you can’t just get rid of him, oh and Jones is the one that is injured plagued, JPP would be just fine and would have a big year, etc… Once again, I was right, the dopes in the comments arguing with him were wrong.
March 6th, 2022 at 8:59 am
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
March 6th, 2022 at 9:08 am
Should of stopped at “Surely means looking Gholston,, Davis, and Suh.” to get one 32 year old Jones.
March 6th, 2022 at 9:30 am
Get C Jones signed ASAP. The Secondary is not that great, and beat up and so much time missed by the players. Bolster the Pass Rush, this is imperative in any era since the forward pass became more prominent. The pass rush was alive and well in 2020 post season, and last Post season basically nonexistent. And hence a playoff divisional beating at the hands of the LA Lambs
It is imperative they get a better pass rush.
The Lost Decade and a weak pass rush goes hand and hand.
GO BUCS!!!!!!
March 6th, 2022 at 9:51 am
Rod. Toot, toot. Wishes, kisses, and near misses…. if only we all had your superior football knowledge and insight, the bucs would be aiming for 3 in a row instead of the Gabbert dumpster fire.
March 6th, 2022 at 10:10 am
Hell yes! He’d instantly become our best defensive player.
March 6th, 2022 at 10:11 am
With the power of hindsight any rod muncher can be a soothsayer huh? So gifted, so talented, we don’t deserve you Rod!
March 6th, 2022 at 10:13 am
Wrong side of 30. This would be a patch not a fix for JPP.
March 6th, 2022 at 10:29 am
“adding Jones almost surely means losing Carlton Davis, Will Gholston and Ndamukong Suh.”
Yikes! I don’t think all are here to stay, but 2 are not out of the question. Why are ppl so willing to accept Suh’s departure, but pine for Jensen. Suh has been productive, especially with Vea on a short leash; embodies the warrior spirit on that line, just like Jensen on oline; and likely won’t fetch top dollar which is great value for a workhorse such as he. Not an end so speed not as critical as say a 32 yr old end (Suh turned 35 in Jan). Jones would be a major score, but at what expense
March 6th, 2022 at 10:32 am
Would be a good sign. Would equal the rams trading for Von Miller. We need him.
March 6th, 2022 at 11:08 am
C Jones is a long time “supplement” user, and amazing pass rusher. He one of a few NE players in 20 y whom left the team and actually got better. Pass Rush was the fatal flaw on defense in 2021, id take 2 strong pass rushers over 3 shutdown corners and 2 top safeties any day.
March 6th, 2022 at 11:49 am
On further investigation, comparing gaining Chandler Jones to losing Suh, Gholston & Davis in terms of ‘value’ and ‘cost’ is rather meaningless.
Chandler Jones is a DE (6’5″ & 265 lbs) like JPP (6’5″ & 275 lbs), and would have roughly comparable Market Value (Jones $14.7 mil) to what JPP cost us last year ($12.5 mil).
Carlton Davis projected Market Value ($19.7 mil) alone exceeds the projected value of Jones & Gholston more than likely. But in any event, how does a DE like Jones replace a CB (Davis), a DT (Suh) & a DT/DE (Gholston). He doesn’t; he’d replace JPP and Bucs would STILL have those other 3 holes to fill with talent comparable to Davis, Suh & Gholston.
Good luck with that if we spend our available salary CAP dollars on Godwin (around $20 mil) and Jones (around $15 mil). And oh ya, find a couple of QBs, a couple RBs, a couple TEs, at least 3 OLinemen, a Safety, a few depth players, our draft class, and oh ya, a partridge in a pear tree.
March 6th, 2022 at 12:09 pm
Defense Rules exactly I bet Licht is running around chasing his tail right now.
March 6th, 2022 at 12:34 pm
I thought we were getting rid of JPP so JTS could flourish. Wouldn’t this move not only cost you a few key defensive FA resigns but stifle another. Jones was great but signing a guy that old on the tail end of his career cashing in feels more like a Gruden move than getting a Suh.
March 6th, 2022 at 2:40 pm
I think Tryon still needs another year. But yeah he’s definitely got the potential to be good. Anything right now to help keep us in playoff contention. Who cares how old they are as long as they can still they can still play well & help the team.
March 6th, 2022 at 4:05 pm
I think Tryon still needs another year. But yeah he’s definitely got the potential to be good. Anything right now to help keep us in playoff contention. Who cares how old they are as long as they can still they can still play well & help the team then why not give them a chance. I’d take winning over losing anyway even if they are a little older. If it came down to somebody in their 20s that sucks or someone in their 30s that’s still playing well I’d choose the players that’s still playing well. Even if they’re in their 30s.
March 6th, 2022 at 4:51 pm
Looking at all the numbers , I think Godwin should walk .this is a special class for WR and O Linemen . Christian Watson is an absolute stud and can be had in the 2-3rd round .
March 6th, 2022 at 5:18 pm
Free agency is full of top edge rushers. Jones, Melvin Ingram, Von, Dante Fowler, Jerry Hughes, Clowney, Ogbah, Justin Houston, Akiem Hicks, etc.
March 6th, 2022 at 7:17 pm
Yep & all the edge rushers that’ll be available hit 30 except for Clowney, Ogbah & Hicks I think.