Five Homeless Cogs
July 24th, 2022
Five key pieces of last season’s Bucs defense are without a team for 2022?
There are many ways to interpret that, but Joe’s going to say it’s a tell that the Bucs have quite a bit of room to improve defensively.
To the best of Joe’s knowledge, all five want to be employed but aren’t.
Linebacker Kevin Minter is one of the homeless Bucs. He played in 16 games last season and made five starts at linebacker. Not only was he busy on special teams, but he logged plenty of time on defense. His position coach, Mike Caldwell, got the Jacksonville defensive coordinator gig but Minter didn’t follow him there.
Then there’s Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh. Joe won’t rehash their statuses, but however you spin it, neither has a team and training camps are either open or hours away.
Then there’s the bottle of cologne, cornerback Pierre Desir. He played more than 300 snaps at corner, including two starts, and another 150-plus on special teams. Joe’s not surprised he has no team, but it’s telling when you add him to the other three homeless ex-Bucs.
And last is defensive tackle Steve McClendon.
All five are 31 or older, and McClendon was the oldest defensive player in the NFL last season with Suh right behind him.
The Bucs got a lot younger on defense. Better? Joe thinks so, but that will be answered on the field.
Flash poll posted at 3:32 p.m.
July 24th, 2022 at 2:39 pm
Stevie is definitely done and I’m surprised hes not anounced his retirement.
Minter is smart but slow. If he is staying in shape, he is an in-season add in event of injury. I guess the coaches feel good about Britt and Stuard.
Desir sucks bottles of cologne.
JPP’s injury history s catching up to him and his tape from 2021, as a result, is damning.
Suh must simply want too much money.
Of the five………..Suh. At the right price and at the right time. He doesn’t need Training Camp.
July 24th, 2022 at 2:41 pm
Suh
July 24th, 2022 at 2:53 pm
I’m betting Licht told Suh to go see if he could get what he wants in the free agency market. If he doesn’t get what he’s asking, he can come back to the Bucs at a set price. 3 or 4 million?
July 24th, 2022 at 3:02 pm
LOL…Jim or Mike Caldwell?
July 24th, 2022 at 3:08 pm
The non resigning of Minter has had me aggravated. He is a very good backup LB and a captain on ST. Very surprised he hasn’t been picked up by anyone yet.
July 24th, 2022 at 3:25 pm
We could certainly afford and use Minter……we are very, very thin at ILB……they must think a lot of KJ Britt & Stuard.
July 24th, 2022 at 3:27 pm
Suh! The pressure he could put on a interior of an o-line playing part time with Vea, hicks and gholston. My goodness
July 24th, 2022 at 3:40 pm
There is a reason no one picked these players up. They are either old, not good or both.
July 24th, 2022 at 3:47 pm
Carlos dunlap or trey flowers at D end.
Both would be cheapie additions. Sorry. We need one more guy there for rotation A little light there.
Coaches really high on britt so we will see but think inside linebacker needs to be added (not minter)
And suh of course would be welcomed but…and i am so glad he was on bucs for these last few years. His toughness and durability unmatched. But what did the coaches talk about after last season. Speed up front. Looked at several fans/ analysts/ writers break down of his game and yes numbers were good. It they all showed he lost a step which is understandable with age and reps. And his win percentage was lower then gholston. Pretty sure management and coaches will only bring back if bad injury early ( and he is still unclaimed?)
July 24th, 2022 at 3:52 pm
For all you fans who still think these guys have something left, the NFL has spoken without saying a word.
July 24th, 2022 at 4:13 pm
I figure Suh would take McClendon’s slot as a part-timer, mebbe $3 mil or so? (Just noticed, Steve made $1 million last year)
July 24th, 2022 at 4:33 pm
@ Hodad
That pretty much sums it up. Nobody signs guys like this before week 1 because they don’t want to guarantee the contract.
July 24th, 2022 at 6:15 pm
If Brady stays healthy 12-5. NFC South Champs.
July 24th, 2022 at 6:16 pm
Thanks, Bird. I’ve been saying for a long time that they need another pass rusher, and Dunlap is the best still out there in FA. Flowers would also be great, and familiarity with Logan Ryan and TB12 is a plus.
July 24th, 2022 at 6:56 pm
Marine Buc … And what will our record be if Vea goes down in Week 5 like he did in 2020? Or if Hicks only gives us 5 games like he got with Chicago in 2019 or 9 games like he got in 2021?
So much of every team’s season record is dependent on injuries status. In our case, the Bucs lack of depth on defense could very well end up being our Achilles Heel. HOPEFULLY that isn’t the case and we run the table.
July 24th, 2022 at 7:28 pm
You all asking what happens if so and so goes down: we don’t know who’s going down yet.
Let’s save our last few dollars for someone who actually does go down. Spend the money in the wrong spot now and we’re screwed later.
Fan favs went down the toilet and few of them found jobs
More of the same is gonna happen in the summer
Darden, Miller, Thomkins, oh crap… I could conjecture all night.
Let the camp begin and may the best players win!!!!!
July 24th, 2022 at 8:01 pm
Bird, I’m all on board for Trey Flowers. He’s the only end/stand up backer left, who’s under 30. He’s had a knee and shoulder early in the last two seasons. They never healed properly, and he hardly played. Him, or Dunlap would make the rotation complete.
As for all these other guys, they don’t have a team because they either can’t play anymore, or plain suck. The bucs special teams sucked last year for a reason.
July 24th, 2022 at 11:25 pm
They got younger and better. SUH and JPP have nothing left.… Although JPP if completely healthy would be interesting if he has one less hurrah as a pass rush specialist.
DESIR was worthless. McClendon has been replaced by a rookie.
Mintor is the only one who might be worth bringing back. I’m not sure what they have backing up White or David right now. Britt? Gill? Stuard? No idea if any of them are up to the task if they have to play a lot.
July 25th, 2022 at 12:25 am
Fred has a good point.
July 25th, 2022 at 8:59 am
Joe, please write a follow up article on which of these five you think did/didn’t burn bridges on/off the field, and thus if any of the 5 could come back?
Not expecting you to throw out random assumptions, but getting your thoughts would be fun.