Keanu Neal Issues Warning To Opposing Offenses
April 7th, 2022
Bucs FS Keanu Neal.
Joe just loves to see a guy motivated in the spring.
Yesterday the Bucs signed versatile defender Keanu Neal. Sadly for Neal, he has dealt with a bunch of injuries throughout his career. When he is healthy, he is a total beast.
Neal is mostly a safety. But last year with the Cowboys he reunited with his old Dixie Chicks coach Dan Quinn and volunteered to play linebacker where he had modest results.
With the Bucs, judging from his Twitter post from last month (he doesn’t twitter too much), it seems Neal is going back to free safety where he raised hell for Atlanta.
Yes. Playing LB was a choice. Just wait https://t.co/bYFfVgEfMc
— Keanu Neal (@Keanu_Neal) March 20, 2022
Joe freaking loves it. A guy in March chomping at the bit to prove he still has Pro Bowl skills.
The Bucs ought to be set in the defensive backfield with Carlton Davis coming back and the Bucs signing Logan Ryan and Neal.
Now it is time to start worrying about the defensive front.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:06 am
This rate, we’re drafting DT in the first two rounds.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:22 am
Agreed JOE. — This is a very strong signing, and does now allow us to start to focus on DL. — It is really starting to seem like maybe SUH is out of the mix, and we are looking to draft some young help at both DT and OLB/DE.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:28 am
I feel like they are staying on the front defensive line to me at least for the first round. I also feel like 2 of the first 3 will indeed be defensive. The way I’m judging it is simple elimination. We’ve been AGGRESSIVE with the back field but haven’t seem to have taken seriously the line at all yet with the exception of Gohlston. We haven’t even locked down Suh so like I said, simple obvious deduction via elimination. I have a strong sense of a TE coming as well. Probably Gronk comes back but even at that it seems slim pickings and Gronk and Brate are injury prone. Like I said, strong feeling about a brand new TE within the first 3 picks.
I’m just guessing of course but if I had to lay money down today on the first 3, my money would be lined up with DT, TE, and an Edge for our first 3 picks.
Still time to change that around and my bets may change But Today it’s 2 Defensive linemen and 1 TE in the first 3.
GO BUCS!
April 7th, 2022 at 12:45 am
Speaking of motivated in spring ,
Grok was on kimmell and still said he was unsure if he wanted to play football.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:54 am
I need Suh and a DT with the first round pick.
Davis
SMB
Logan ( nickel/ safety)
Winfield
Neal
Come off the bench
Dean, Edwards and draft picks.
Save that Dean ish. He has no hips.
April 7th, 2022 at 1:15 am
D green
Dean is the starting CB along with CD.
Dean is WAAAY better than most realize and easily better than SMB.
Do not sleep on Delaney. He showed a lot of promise
Definitely D line in round one
April 7th, 2022 at 1:36 am
Given the injury history, it’s a little ridiculous to count on him. Still need to draft a SS. If Neal works out and stays healthy, it’s gravy.
April 7th, 2022 at 1:50 am
The word you’re looking for is “champing”, not “chomping”.
April 7th, 2022 at 2:10 am
Always excited for the last name’s a first name guys.
April 7th, 2022 at 2:18 am
I wish this dude all the best, both for himself and for us, but I think that we should also draft a corner early in the draft. Every single one of our corners has proven to be injury prone and I would hope that we would have learned a valuable lesson after last year’s rash of injuries. We also haven’t had a pro bowl corner since Darrelle Revis made it in 2013, so it’s not like we are loaded with studs at corner.
April 7th, 2022 at 2:42 am
Here’s what I think about Gronka
He reminds me of Willie Wonka
I don’t think he really wants to play
He would rather just PARTAY.
April 7th, 2022 at 4:10 am
Neal has a LOT to prove on the field BEFORE opposing offenses are going to take any of his warnings seriously. He started out like a ball of fire in his first 2 years, but injuries blew up his next 2 years (only played 4 games). His 5th year (still with Atlanta) was OK, but nothing exceptional (Falcons’ passing defense ranked #32 in the league as they went 4-12).
One of the things I did notice is that he blitzed a bunch that year. One write-up on him stood out to me … ‘Neal popularized the hybrid safety/linebacker role while in Atlanta, as his size and run-stopping ability made him a natural playmaker close to the line of scrimmage’.
Knowing how Todd Bowles loves to ‘tinker’, I’m not surprised at us signing Neal given that last analysis. Not particularly fast, but seems to have very good instincts, thus the ‘hybrid’ safety/LB role is probably appealing to Bowles. It’ll be interesting to see how he’s ultimately used in this defense.
April 7th, 2022 at 4:31 am
Deone Bucannon part II
April 7th, 2022 at 4:55 am
Oh and on looking at our current salary CAP position ($7.5 mil with 66 players signed but 4 still ‘unpaid’ … Bernard, Johnson, Gabbert & Neal), Bucs are in no position to sign either Suh or Gronk. I’m confident that both will be signed because of their ties to the Bucs AND that this’ll probably be the last stop in their respective careers. Suh’s already said he wants to come back, and Brady will send Gronk on a guilt trip if he threatens not to re-sign.
On defense, Bucs are still a couple players light at Safety, ILB & OLB. At CB we could go with Davis, SMB, Dean, Cockrell & Delaney (all under contract). At Safety we have Winfield, Edwards, Neal & Ryan (plus Cooper & Warner who I know nothing about). I’m still convinced though that Logan Ryan will be more of a CB than a Safety (so he’s kinda in a ‘hybrid’ role also, as Edwards could also be BTW). Bottom line though is that we still need another Safety (Andrew Adams perhaps now that BA won’t be patrolling the sidelines waiting to beat him up?).
The LB position group (interior & outside) seems like a potential weakness to me because it lacks depth. LVD & White are both great together, but injuries hampered LVD quite a bit last year & White just didn’t look the same without him. Neither Britt nor Stuard has impressed me, even in clean-up duty. Minter hasn’t been re-signed & probably for good reason (lacks speed to play sideline-to-sideline in Bowles’ defense). Bucs will need to draft LVD’s eventual replacement either this year or next (and not with some non-descript late round pick).
Our OLB group without JPP still has me scratching my head. Shaq NEEDS someone like JPP on his other side to really perform at his best (gets taken out much easier IMO if the opposing offense is allowed to focus on just him). JTS has a ton of promise, but that’s all it is at this point. Nelson is coming along nicely, so nicely in fact that there’s a good chance he’ll be moving on at the end of this season ($$$?). Bucs NEED to draft JPP’s replacement this year with a high pick (AND would probably be wise to re-sign JPP IF the price is reasonable).
April 7th, 2022 at 5:36 am
Been saying DE/Edge, DT and TE in the first 3 rounds since the end of the season. Re-sign the O and replace the D through the draft. Need to get younger and less expensive.
Suh, McClendon and Gholston were all FAs and over 30. We kept Gholston — the youngest. If you want a DE you need to take him in the 1st. However, the Bucs need to decide if they want the 6th best DE or the 3rd best DT in the first rd. Very good DTs are still available in the 2nd; however the Bucs may need to trade up in the 2nd. If Wyatt UGA isn’t available, I like Hall UH and Jones UCON.
Very good depth in TE this draft. I like the TEs from TXA&M and UVA. The first TE or two will come off the board in the second round with day 2 being a big TE day.
April 7th, 2022 at 5:48 am
With Suh, JPP, and Gronk unsigned, looks like we’re waiting till after the draft to see if any come back. DT’s, an edge, and a TE have to be high on our draft board.
April 7th, 2022 at 6:06 am
If this DB group stays healthy – who’s rowing the boat or digging the graves – no JPP
April 7th, 2022 at 6:09 am
Dude was a thumper his first two years before the injuries came
Hopefully his full year to recover in dallas has him closer to being that player again. Dallas had him trying to fill some spot that quinn dreamed in head would work out. Think he still had 100 tackles.
Either way. Hope the guy is rejuvenated to play safety again. He was the guy that popped evans on sideline with one handled grab catch in those ugly red clock jerseys
And bucs could trade back and get extra pick in quality first 4 rounds
-edge/ d tackle/ guard/ tight end/ corner and we are set
And late 7 rounds , get the stud punter from san diego state or colorado state and draft an actual return guy…they cAn be found at end of draft cause thats what they do best and they are average at actual non return position
April 7th, 2022 at 6:34 am
Defense I totally agree. Jpp, suh , lvd n honestly gronk too we need to draft their replacements. I feel like LVD n suhs replacements should be high round draft picks. Maybe JTS replaces jpp that’s still up in the air and gronks replacements can be found in the later rounds. Brate is a perfect example of that.
April 7th, 2022 at 6:56 am
Big hitters get hurt too.
We are trying to bolster the Bucs injury prone secondary with an injury prone player. Love signing Neal but wont be surprised if he winds up on IR.
There is a reason why such a talented player became available.
April 7th, 2022 at 7:35 am
i think we either get back Suh or JPP depending on how the draft goes but very doubtful we bring back both. IMO….JPP provides us with the most versatility as he can play every position along the line IF he can stay healthy. Big IF. Suh is probably the most reliable but he gets no pass rush and this defense without any pass rush is basically neutered.
April 7th, 2022 at 9:02 am
Neal is great replacement for Whitehead, maybe Jordan Davis falls down to the bucs at 27 and they can grab him to help with depth on the DL and maybe go LB in round 2 for a bonafide backup to the LB’s….definitely need help on DL and in LB’s and maybe if the bucs have the $ they can add Brandon Crooks later on as a FA to help with some speed at WR
April 7th, 2022 at 9:45 am
If they don’t do something about the pass rush, it won’t matter if the have HOF players at both corners and safety spots.
April 7th, 2022 at 11:47 am
He was never a free safety. He’s a strong safety and at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t make the team. He was athletic but not fast before all his injuries, if he isn’t the same player before, he’s not gonna have the long speed to play defensive back in the NFL.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:13 pm
You can never have enough good secondary players is the Fanman’s family motto!
Injuries WILL happen. Good signing.
Defense Rules- Great breakdown and I agree. The Bucs need to get younger. Even if Suh, Gronk or JPP return, the Bucs still need to address these roster spots with their eventual replacements.
April 7th, 2022 at 7:06 pm
Solve the communication issues and it all will work itself out!!!
April 7th, 2022 at 8:08 pm
STRONG safety, not FREE safety
April 7th, 2022 at 8:12 pm
It’s like everyone forgot they drafted Joe Tryon with the first pick last year?? DT is the most obvious need at the moment. Not sure why they paid Vita Vea so much money when he’s only on the field for 2 downs at a time. They literally need a pass rushing DT which is the biggest hole on the roster. TE could be picked up in the later rounds or unsigned rookies.
April 7th, 2022 at 8:14 pm
It’s like everyone forgot they drafted Joe Tryon with the first pick last year?? DT is the most obvious need at the moment. Not sure why they paid Vita Vea so much money when he’s only on the field for 2 downs at a time. They literally need a pass rushing DT which is the biggest hole on the roster. TE could be picked up in the later rounds or unsigned rookies.