Donovan Smith Lauded For Extreme Physical Gifts
June 9th, 2023
Lots of Bucs bonding in Kansas City.
A lot of love was flowing in Kansas City this week.
Of course, the defending-champion Chiefs are enjoying happy times, but Joe is referring to Chiefs backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert lauding the team’s new starting left tackle, Donovan Smith. Both were longtime Buccaneers that bolted in free agency this year.
Chiefs media asked Gabbert about his old/new teammate and what Smith is all about.
“Extremely gifted. One of the most athletic, physically gifted left tackles I’ve seen going on 13 years now [in the NFL],” Gabbert began. “I told Patrick [Mahomes] when we all got here; I was like, ‘He’s going to help this team a lot.’ He’s going to help solidify that front with [Jawaan Taylor] and Donny [Smith] on the edges and our interior guys, that’s got to be the best if not the best offensive line in the NFL.”
Gabbert went on to remind Kansas City reporters that Smith is incredibly durable but was “nicked up last year.” He said Smith is hungry to play well this season and definitely will.
“He’s a great friend and he’s a great football player,” Gabbert said of Smith.
Joe is very intrigued to see how Smith performs.
First, Smith turns 30 this month, and he’s in a contract year. Second, was Smith’s body breaking down last season after 110-plus NFL starts in the trenches, and/or did he just have some bad injury luck?
June 9th, 2023 at 9:47 pm
Smith has always been an ‘average’ player, which isn’t a bad thing – average just meant he was somewhere between the 12th best and 20th best LT in any given year, with a huge boost given to the fact he never used to miss any games.
The anti-Smith haters entire fake news agenda was based on the fact some scouting report in 2015, coming out in the draft, said he was ‘lazy’, and those idiots have repeated that nonsense every sense. Meanwhile Brady was putting his health on the line to play behind a guy who is lazy, and you’d think that would have made those morons shutup, but nope, stupid is stupid, and stupid is loud.
Anywho, assuming he’s healthy, he’ll probably end up playing another 5-years and being an average LT.
June 9th, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Wasn’t he like tops in penalties?
June 9th, 2023 at 9:59 pm
iT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE IF WE HAD ENOUGH CAP SPACE TO KEEP HIM
June 9th, 2023 at 10:10 pm
Smith is playing this year for $2.76M with about $1M in game active incentives.
Of course KC is happy with that deal – even if Smith is the 17th best LT (or whatever) like he’s been most of his career…..
“One of the most athletic, physically gifted left tackles I’ve seen”
LOL – Really Gabbert?? You sure you’re not confusing Durable Donnie with your RT of the last 3 years??
June 9th, 2023 at 10:11 pm
Good thing we got rid of a good left tackle. Good Grief.
June 9th, 2023 at 10:30 pm
Oh he’s gifted alright.
He’ll gift the opposing team field position and make touchdowns disappear.
I look forward to watching him confirm what I’ve seen since he came into the league.
What I’ve SEEN and not what I READ.
June 9th, 2023 at 10:35 pm
Grover and AtlBuc – we got rid of Donnie because it would have cost like $20M to keep him and we didn’t have the $ – and he sucked last year….
KC scoops him up for $3M after he sat on the open market for like what – 2 months?
The fact that no other team offered Smith enough for him be a FA for that long is proof that the Bucs had no business overpaying Smith for another year of his services and did the right thing in releasing him to save over $10M in cap space this year (so we could afford to sign the new safety and resign LD54!)
June 9th, 2023 at 11:11 pm
There was a game last year where DS76 effort was so bad that every play he was holding for an entire drive, he was finally called in the red zone and touchdowns often negated because of his lack of effort, so we all saw it last year, he was awful! So now he will try harder but his good days are likely over. See how good he is for runaround quarterback Mahomes. These matchups (anyone versus Donnie) make watching that team worthwhile as I do not like KC and hope they lose consecutively here on out.
June 10th, 2023 at 12:42 am
Keeping Smith at LT and keeping Wirfs at RT would’ve been a best case scenario for Tampa Bay. A damn shame… and Marpet retiring didn’t help.
June 10th, 2023 at 12:46 am
Yeah his “EXTREME PHYSICAL GIFTS” are getting called for penalties & not protecting his QB. Good luck Mahomes.
June 10th, 2023 at 3:06 am
Andy Reid and Co. just trying to motivate him. It’ll work until he goes back into self preservation mode and does his best to limit any contact. Like what’s required in the run game. Now as far as pass protection he’s a giant obstacle to get around but having a mobile Mahomes as his QB will certainly help and limit many mistakes, especially holding calls.
June 10th, 2023 at 3:15 am
What exactly were Smiths injuries last year? I
Keep reading about him having injuries last year but don’t recall any made public.
June 10th, 2023 at 6:15 am
Durable Donnie had a few very good years for us. Last year every time we had a positive play Donnie was called for mostly very blatant holding calls. I forget how many sacks he gave up, but it was a lot.
I wish him well in KC. I’m glad I’m not Mahomes’ insurance agent.
June 10th, 2023 at 6:37 am
His draft recap was exactly what he was – skill set out of this world
Too lazy to capitalize on it and was happy being my an okay player, not great
Yeah, stupid Rod… more like spot on accurate
June 10th, 2023 at 7:01 am
For those that have no memory Smith suffered a nasty elbow hypertextension injury last season in week 1 vs the Cowboys.
June 10th, 2023 at 7:24 am
There’s a lot of revisionist history going on this morning. SMH.
June 10th, 2023 at 7:35 am
The comp pick rules are so complicated….but I think with a combination of D Smith, Nacho, Edwards, SMB we should get a pick.We did sign Gaines, Neal & Mayfield……that should take away from our losses.
We need someone to pick up Lenny & Hicks….
June 10th, 2023 at 8:03 am
It’s like we have Buc fans here who didn’t watch a single game. Smith sucked out loud. Most penalties in the league. Don’t give me “but he was injured”. If he played, he was good enough to not be the worst.
June 10th, 2023 at 8:05 am
Average at best
June 10th, 2023 at 8:17 am
“For those that have no memory Smith suffered a nasty elbow hypertextension injury last season in week 1 vs the Cowboys.”
Dude played 23 snaps fully healthy before he got hurt, and was probably getting shot up with pain meds the entire season just to go play, but that type of context doesn’t matter to some fans as they treated SMB the same way after damn near splitting his arm in two against the same team in the season opener in 2021. Wouldn’t be shocked if Smith bounces back in a new environment with the best QB in the game and next to am all-pro LG.
June 10th, 2023 at 8:49 am
HE WAS AN OUTSTANDING PLAYER FOR THE BUC’S, TILL THE ELBOW INJURY MESSED UP HIS SEASON..I BELIEVE HE WAS A CAP CASUALTY FOR US..WE LET THE GREAT JOHN LYNCH LEAVE IN FREE AGENCY TO THE BRONCOS THE FOLLOWING SEASON AFTER AN INJURY LEFT HIS LEFT ARM DANGLING AT HIS SIDE ON THE FINAL PLAY HE PLAYED FOR THE BUC’S ( BIG MISTAKE, HE MADE PRO BOWL AS A BRONCO, AS WELL AS A BUCCANEER ) THAT BEING SAID, I BELIEVE OUR O LINE IS GOING TO BE JUST FINE ( WITH MUCH FEWER HOLDING CALLS ( WHICH KILLED ABOUT A DOZEN DRIVES BY D.SMITH ALONE LAST YEAR ) WE ARE DEEPER WITH O.LINE TALENT RIGHT NOW THEN WE’VE BEEN FOR AWHILE ( DEAR LORD, PLEASE LET RYAN JENSON BE OK & PLAY ENTIRE SEASON FOR US )
June 10th, 2023 at 8:54 am
With our O-line issues we should have done everything we could to keep him.
June 10th, 2023 at 9:55 am
^^^
This would have meant either:
1. Paying him his full salary meaning other people would not be on this team.
2. Restructuring his salary giving him more money and committment down the road.
Although, I have been a solid Smith supporter, I think releasing him was the better move for the Bucs this year.
June 10th, 2023 at 10:33 am
Mickman Says:
June 10th, 2023 at 3:15 am
What exactly were Smiths injuries last year? I
Keep reading about him having injuries last year but don’t recall any made public.
____________
Hurt feelings are very tough to diagnose.
A bruised vulva and/or sore labia is the same way…….
June 10th, 2023 at 11:15 am
TOMMY MORDUE, WHY IN THE %@$# DO YOU ALWAYS TYPE IN ALL CAPPS? ANSWER ME!!!!
June 10th, 2023 at 11:24 am
I never wanted to get rid of Donovan because there is too much value on tackles, even average ones. Putting him on the open market sort of shoots ourselves in the foot because the goal is to not help other teams. Especially when there’s a shortness on any LT’s, even average ones. The ideal would’ve been to try to shift him to RT but he was totally against it and felt that it was degrade in pay and prestige. I even thought we might could keep him as backup swing tackle but he was never going to take a pay cut and this couldn’t afford to pay a backup starter money. So pretty much his drop in play, his money demands, and his unwillingness to switch to RT made him expendable. It just to bad Licht couldn’t find a trade partner because of limited tackles available.
June 10th, 2023 at 11:28 am
No one in Bucsland should be surprised to see Donnie play lights out LT this season in KC…It’s a contract yr. He’s going to be solely focused on getting another big money deal to secure his families generational future.
Going forward beyond 2023…Expect the lack-luster but durable “I got mine” guy to show back up.
June 10th, 2023 at 11:38 am
Catcard, if he hasn’t already secured generational weath, he is a complete idiot. Has made MORE than enough already to do that, but if fancy cars and bling are you thing….
June 10th, 2023 at 12:33 pm
EVERYONE CRYING ABOUT LOSING D SMITH
You didn’t watch a single game last year. Smith was TERRIBLE. If he wasn’t holding, he was giving up sacks, TFL, or not getting any push. He was the biggest problem with the oline. If he cost $1, he’d be gone.
The Bucs had an historically bad rushing attack. The worst in NFL history through half the season. That’s the reason you see a new name at all but one position.
BTW … The guy taking over at LT will make you forget Smith pretty quickly.
June 10th, 2023 at 1:01 pm
Nicked ?
99% of the posters here would not have been able to type a post with the elbow injury he had!
Yeah he decided on his own when the play was over, but when he had a QB that followed the play called and was in the spot he was supposed to be in D Smith’s mental clock he was a very good LT .
His arm was in a brace and harness most of last season
June 10th, 2023 at 1:04 pm
If he leads the league in holding penalties then that tells me he’s not a very good pass protector and has poor technique. And if he was the LT for the league’s worst rushing attack last year then he cannot be a very good run blocker. So how does that give KC the best Oline in the NFL. Sorry but I don’t see it
June 10th, 2023 at 1:07 pm
I would’ve liked to see him back. But you know….cap space.
June 10th, 2023 at 1:26 pm
I don’t understand the hate for Donovan Smith.
He was part of the best o-line, the Bucs ever had, and helped the Bucs win a Super Bowl.
You people are un-grateful, and couldn’t win a scratchcard if you had a whole sheet.
June 10th, 2023 at 1:52 pm
Sorry but it’s a what have you done for me lately world that we are living in. And NFL stands for Not For Long
June 10th, 2023 at 4:03 pm
He is no longer a part of the Bucs Organization!
June 10th, 2023 at 4:58 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
June 10th, 2023 at 7:35 am
The comp pick rules are so complicated….but I think with a combination of D Smith, Nacho, Edwards, SMB we should get a pick.We did sign Gaines, Neal & Mayfield……that should take away from our losses.
We need someone to pick up Lenny & Hicks….
————-
Lenny and Smith – they were cut, meaning they don’t go into the formula.
Likely the Bucs won’t get a pick.
June 10th, 2023 at 5:31 pm
D. Smith has made his nut, played with the GOAT and has a SB ring. Pretty sure he could care less what Bucs fans think.
June 10th, 2023 at 8:36 pm
Given what we now know, it’s clear that if we didn’t have Tristan Wirfs, or we didn’t think he could switch, Donovan would still be a Buc
June 11th, 2023 at 1:21 am
And if my Aunt had balls she would be my Uncle
June 11th, 2023 at 11:51 am
You can’t beat natural size and strength. Bucs should have redone his contract and switched him to RT. He’ll be starting somewhere until he’s 38, maybe as a journeyman type. The Redskins thought Trent Wms was washed up, too.
June 11th, 2023 at 2:33 pm
KC’s been on the “can;t beat em then join em mode” since the SuperBowl…there still hurt remembering what coulda been lol