Warren Sapp: Bucs Will Not Re-sign Ndamukong Suh
May 25th, 2022
“He’s toast, Mr. Glazer?”
Joe often references former Buccaneers with access deep inside the walls of One Buc Palace.
Hall of Famer Warren Sapp is one of those guys.
So Joe pays attention when Sapp makes a bold statement about his beloved team. No. 99 joined WDAE Radio yesterday and tried to set co-host Ian Beckles straight when Beckles suggested the Bucs need to bring back Ndamukong Suh.
“We won’t be bringing Suh back,” Sapp said.
“You can skip that. You don’t draft a defensive tackle and bring one back that can’t rush, and that’s what you’re looking for is one that can. That’s an opposite message. We got Vita Vea. He’s big enough to hold two A-gaps.”
Joe has inhaled similar smoke from One Buc Palace: claims that the Bucs don’t believe Suh has enough juice left as an interior rusher, so they don’t want to pay him.
Sapp went on to say the Bucs must quickly coach up rookie Logan Hall as an interior rusher, so they can have two beasts up the gut. As for second-year edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Sapp said he was not a fan last season and didn’t see JTS winning straight 1-on-1 matchups.
May 25th, 2022 at 11:59 am
I kind of agree but still think SUH ends up with the Bucs later on this summer.
As for JTS, I completely disagree. He showed a lot during preseason and occasionally during the season that tells me he can be a 10 + sack guy. During the season he looked like someone who was thinking too much. Partly from being a rookie and partly from learning a new defense and where to be positioned etc. I expect a big leap forward with him this year
May 25th, 2022 at 12:07 pm
Agreed on JTS….and yeah i feel it on Suh. He’ll be a part time player as long as his guys he’s mentoring are pushing too and causing destruction.
May 25th, 2022 at 12:08 pm
GBoy’z loved 99
May 25th, 2022 at 12:12 pm
I would agree with Sap, however, we are not a rebuilding team and Licht and company knows that another super bowl is at our grasp. Suh would be great at play 1st and 2nd downs. Hall could come in on the pass rushing plays. I see us signing Suh next month.
May 25th, 2022 at 12:13 pm
I am with DR that we need someone else to fill the snaps.
If not Suh, I think that I would be OK with Sheldon Richardson.
Maybe 3 to 4 million per year?
May 25th, 2022 at 12:28 pm
Imagine Sapp lined up next to Vita…
May 25th, 2022 at 12:31 pm
Suh, just isn’t worth what he’s asking for. He doesn’t strike me as the type of dude that would take a one year, 3 million, incentive laden deal. I’ve been screaming for Akiem Hicks, Brandon Phillips and or Sheldon Richardson. I think you could sign two of the three, for what Suh is probably asking.
May 25th, 2022 at 12:47 pm
That’s what I thought. Please sign Sheldon Richardson.
May 25th, 2022 at 12:50 pm
Right now, other than the awesome Vea and to some extent Gholston,
the D-Line is very concerning! Where are all the snaps coming from?
a 2nd round rookie and who?
May 25th, 2022 at 12:50 pm
Agree on both points especially JTS last year……Cannot believe that Sapp does not have a TV gig; First hand the guy is a grade A jackwagon, but he knows football and is entertaining. BSPN has Spears and that minka chick who are garbage and basically cartoon characters at least sapp would speak his mind. Heck Fox is letting ol Urb back on the set.
May 25th, 2022 at 12:59 pm
I would like Suh back,, but at a sensible price.
IMHO, he has overvalued himself, and that is what the problem is.
He wants more then we are willing or able to pay.
In his day, Sapp was like Suh and JPP combined!
I greatly respect his opinions, so if he says Suh is toast, I have to listen.
I am not thrilled by JTS either, nor is Sapp.
It looks to me that he does not have the strength to beat big NFL Linemen one on one.
I really hope he has worked at getting stronger this off season. He has plenty of speed and quickness, however at the NFL Level you can not always run around a Lineman, sometimes you literally have to run right through them. That takes sheer physical strength that I have yet to see from JTS
May 25th, 2022 at 12:59 pm
I strongly suspected that there was a major gap between Suh’s ask price and Licht’s bid price. That gap is called pride. Suh had an excellent game against the Rams, but overall there was a noticeable decline during the 2021 regular season. He isn’t worth $8 million or $9 million anymore, I think it’s closer to $3 million to $4.5 million, max.
I think he’s more likely to hang the cleats up than play at a drastically reduced salary. He’ll be especially missed when the Bucs face Green Bay, Suh lives rent-free in Rodgers’ head.
May 25th, 2022 at 1:00 pm
Passing, exactly
May 25th, 2022 at 1:04 pm
Doubt seriously that Sapp has much love for Suh. He’s probably right in that Suh is 35 & can’t rush the passer as well as he did in past years. Got it, BUT … the Bucs are still missing a DT, Suh still has something left in the tank (he did get 6 sacks last year, and was on the field for over 65% of our def snaps … Vea, Gholston, RNR, McLendon didn’t come close to that). And oh ya, we did have the 3rd best run defense in the league, even with ‘old man’ Suh in there.
At this point we’ve moved on from Suh, JPP AND McLendon, replacing all 3 with … (tada) rookie Hall. It doesn’t take a statistician to figure out that the math doesn’t work. Given a preference, I’d much rather see us re-sign Suh (for around $6.0 – $6.5 mil) than take a chance on someone like Hicks (Richardson is a possibility but he won’t play for peanuts either).
May 25th, 2022 at 1:07 pm
can’t argue with his logic. they better get some guys in there though for depth.
disagree on JTS. think he will light it up provided they let him play like Rice and not like Bennett. i.e. go after the QB moreso than play the run.
May 25th, 2022 at 1:26 pm
The bucs will bring back suh because the bucs have only one year left of being a really good team And they know that, and the bucs may be dumb, but they are not; and I repeat, they are not STUPID.
Generational talents, like suh, dont grow on trees.
Id take suh @75% over anyone on their d-line.
Lets not kid ourselves here.
May 25th, 2022 at 1:31 pm
JTS is another year or two away. Needs to get bigger and especially stronger.
May 25th, 2022 at 1:32 pm
Dudes like Sapp and Donald that get ten plus sacks per year are rare as hell at defensive tackle. Suh had six last year and he is hard to run against as well, so I don’t know what the heck Sapp is talking about. It should be an easy decision to pay this guy given how thin we are at defensive tackle.
May 25th, 2022 at 2:20 pm
since Sapp is saying that JTS is not effective perhaps it is Nelson time–he came on last year and with extra play time he could turn the corner–I think Bucs should give him the opportunities even more than JTS–he proved his worth last year
May 25th, 2022 at 2:22 pm
oh and sign Suh despite Sapp chatter, we need the back up and it is clear as day that we need more and better linebacker depth
May 25th, 2022 at 2:28 pm
Hmmmm….. and not a single mention in this article in regards to Sapp’s disdain for Suh. I have never heard/read Sapp ever give Suh a compliment. But the record is pretty long of Sapp blasting Suh, regardless of the team he was playing for.
May 25th, 2022 at 2:35 pm
Don’t agree on Suh, he has lost a step but is good against the run, can play inside and outside and is good for 6 sacks. We need him back and at this point it’s all about money.
Agree on JTS, I’m not a fan. The guy can’t hold the edge, gets pushed around a lot. He is not JPP and won’t ever be as good. Just hope he gets better this year.
May 25th, 2022 at 4:11 pm
When we won the super bowl we had the best run D Without Suh other teams will attack his side of the field. That means the line backers have to check rum first and that means less pressure on the QB. That means play action works better. We need Suh for run defense and we have other great pass rushers. If we really want to make another run at a super bowl we need Suh. We should have also drafted Wyatt from GA. If you wanted to replace Suh.
May 25th, 2022 at 4:15 pm
I agree that it’s the money…….Licht may be looking at other vets to bring in on a 2-year deal so he can play around with the cap…….
Suh may be bye-bye unless he’ll come for $5m.
May 25th, 2022 at 4:19 pm
I see where Sapp’s coming from, but sign Suh anyway. JTS needs to beef up or get a heck of a lot faster. We’ll see on Logan Hall.
May 25th, 2022 at 4:53 pm
If Hall has the speed and strength off the line than JTS definitely has a better chance at getting to the QB or either dropping in coverage. That dude has got speed and length. Hope he put on some weight for year two.
May 25th, 2022 at 5:25 pm
I usually agree with Big99.
Not this time.
Suh.
(All due respect to #8)
May 25th, 2022 at 5:29 pm
We have a glaring gap of depth at DT/DL if not Suh, we have to sign a veteran rotational player
Controlling the line of scrimmage wins games more than anything else
May 25th, 2022 at 6:16 pm
I suspect its going to take Hall some time to adjust to the NFL. Tryon? He only showed us a few flashes last season. I hope I am wrong, But I do not see him as an impact player this season. I just hope Nelson has improved. D line might be in trouble guys.
May 25th, 2022 at 7:27 pm
You can’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Asking a rookie to be Suh this season is down right dumb. Go Bucs you know what to do!
May 25th, 2022 at 8:17 pm
See that quite a few JBFers would like to have Suh back, BUT at the ‘right price’. So what exactly is the ‘right price’ for the Bucs?
Bypass Suh for a second & look at Gronk. He gave us 12 games last year, with 634 offensive snaps & 0 S/T snaps. In those games he was targeted 89 times, caught 55 (60.2%) for 802 passing yds & scored 6 TDs. Plus he got us 34 1st downs (that’s huge IMO). Pretty well accepted that Gronk will command $10 mil for his services this year IF he decides to play.
We paid Russell Gage the same amount ($10 mil) for roughly similar performance. Gage gave the Falcons 14 games last year, with 612 offensive snaps & 1 S/T snap. In those games he was targeted 94 times, caught 66 (70.2%) for 770 passing yds & scored 4 TDs. Plus he got the Falcons 37 1st downs (again, quite impressive).
So how do we ‘value’ a DLineman like Suh? He gave us 17 games last year, with 717 defensive snaps & 0 S/T snaps, more than any other DT or DE. Didn’t catch any passes, score any TDs or get any 1st downs, but he did have 6 sacks, 7 QB Knockdowns, 6 Hurries for a total of 19 pressures (roughly 1 per game), plus 7 TFLs & 27 tackles. Probably would’ve had more but opponents didn’t seem to want to run against us.
Suh’s stats were in fact lower than in 2020, but our DLine overall actually had more QB Hits in 2021 (127 Hits) than in 2020 (116 Hits), and the same number of sacks just about (47 vs 48) so our DLine performance was roughly the same. We still had an outstanding run defense too (#3). We paid Suh $9 mil last year, roughly the same as we paid Gronk. Hopefully we can get him to come back for about 2/3rds of that this year.
May 25th, 2022 at 8:40 pm
akeem hicks for half the price
May 26th, 2022 at 9:03 am
For $6 million or more, Suh will not be part of this team unless there is an injury that happens to one of the starters. If Suh will take $3-$5 million per, he would have already been signed to a contract. This has to do with his contract demands. He also might not want to participate in the off-season program and camp.
May 26th, 2022 at 10:01 am
The problem with JTS is he was mislabeled by everyone coming out of college. Needs to play one of the two MLB spots in a 3-4 system. Offball short space zone situations mostly with blitz packages limiting H2H combat.
May 26th, 2022 at 10:03 am
The problem with JTS is he was mislabeled by everyone coming out of college. Needs to play one of the two MLB spots in a 3-4 system. Offball short space zone situations mostly with blitz packages limiting H2H combat.
May 26th, 2022 at 12:53 pm
Colt4Life … The problem with JTS is he was a rookie that hadn’t played football in over a year.
JTS put up the exact same stats as JPP in his rookie season. If I recall, JPP put up 15 sacks in his second year. Should be fun to watch.
May 26th, 2022 at 3:08 pm
So sapp is saying we’re going to get at least six sacks out of the rookie
May 26th, 2022 at 5:51 pm
If the Bucs want that rock on their d-line, they will come to terms with suh.
End of story.
May 29th, 2022 at 3:39 pm
And, for the record, being a packers fan — i still hold Mike Alstott in incredibly high regard, he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame simply for being the greatest role player in the history of the NFL