“An Upgrade At Any Linebacker Position”
April 7th, 2011
Is it possible the Bucs are ready to give up on Barrett Ruud, Geno Hayes or Quincy Black?
Drafting a linebacker in the first round would all but ensure that one of those guys quickly becomes the answer to a Bucs trivia question.
NFL Draft guru Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM, points out that former UCLA linebacker Akeem Ayers is firmly on the Bucs radar and would represent an improvement for Tampa Bay.
Ayers would be a nice fit and an upgrade at any linebacker position for the Bucs. His leadership ability would also be a welcomed addition to the Bucs defense.
Joe suggests you click through the link above and read The Commish’s complete take.
Joe’s got no problem with the Bucs going linebacker in the first round, especially with Ruud and Black without contracts as unrestricted free agents and Hayes another bad late-night judgment call away from a suspension.
April 7th, 2011 at 10:12 am
So are we taking a LB just to take one and go with that ever Popular Need Reach in the draft … Has anyone actually seen film on Ayers ?? He lacks explosion isnt real fast but worst of all is not so instinctive .. But hey he weighs 250 LBS so lets Draft HIM !!!!
April 7th, 2011 at 10:22 am
>>So are we taking a LB just to take one and go with that ever Popular Need Reach in the draft<<
I agree. If the best player available is a WR, we should take him! Who needs defense when you have an explosive, mythical offense!
April 7th, 2011 at 11:24 am
I’m all for building through the draft but that doesnt mean you cannot take ANYONE through free agency. We need LBs, DEs and a CB. certainly one can be a free agent no?
April 7th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Bring him on board.
Has anyone really studied the tape on him? Just curious? I would like to get a better analysis of Ayers.
Although, I probably would rather them pick the ILB Martez Wilson over Ayers at this point.
And I really want the Bucs to keep all there LBs, sub-par starters they may be, but excellent back-ups they are. Geno Hayes and Quincy Black are at the very least, top notch back ups. So keep them for depth.
If we lose Ruud to free agency, I would love for the Bucs to give Quincy Black a shot at the Mike too. That would be killer if it worked out… he sure is fast enough for coverage.
April 7th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
On another note, and this is directly related to the Talib fiasco.
We now should think about getting another CB.
I mean while Talib and mom are guns-a-blazing, LeBron James’ mom was arrested at a hotel for assult! LMAO!!!
Something about bad parenting these days? No different than mom’s on facebook bullying kids and then video taping them in fights only to POST them on YouTube.
Seriously, what is this world coming to?
And that is why we should draft a CB high now. Thanks Talib.
April 7th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Yes, we are looking to upgrade our LB. We probably lose Ruud due to money. As if said for weeks- the other two played badly. We need upgrades in the worst way.
April 7th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Assuming there’s a big run on DE’s between picks 13-19, I dont think the Bucs should try and reach for a guy like Clayborn or Houston. Im even still shaky on the Kerrigan pick but the guy has production and a bunch of teams love him so he’s clearly doing something right..
Like I said though, I dont want to see the Bucs reaching for a pass rush when theres plenty of options down the line in the draft (Jabaal Sheard for one).. I would love to see the Bucs trade down for a guy like Ayers if he slips, or I would love it even more to see them trade down to grab Dontay Moch and Martez Wilson with back to back picks – then focus on our needs at DE in the 4rd and focus on CB last.
As pressing as the CB issue is, there are many more options to explore in free agency and in the later rounds
April 7th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
>>We probably lose Ruud due to money.<<
Exactly. He wants some.
April 7th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Black should not be a starter in the NFL. No instinct to play Mike. He gets out of position and is easily taken out of the play. Over runs the play or takes terrible angles.
My rating:
Black 2/5
Hayes 3/5
Ruud 3.5/5
I’d like a stud MLB or DE for pick 1.
April 7th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Niiiice. Now almost everyone agrees we need to replace Talib da thug, Black, and Hayes. Good! I’m glad everyone has caught up!
April 7th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
I have a feeling everyone writing off Talib will be eating crow. Call me crazy, but I think he has finally learned his lesson and will be a good boy off the field and a pro-bowler on it.
Seems like I’m the only one who feels this way. We’ll see what happens.
April 7th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Been saying for months:
My guess is Watson plays on the outside and McKenzie at MLB. Hayes on the other side.
Add a rookie MLB and a rookie OLB to go with them and those guys could very well be starters at some point this year.
Not sure who the 5th is…. probably Black. Ruud is probably going to be offered too much by some other team to come back here and fight for a job
April 7th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
tha only LB were drafting is a pass rushing type. From what I’ve read we are high on last yrs backups(Watson, McKenzie, Hayward). Expect 1 or 2 of these guys 2 potentially be starters with Ruud gone and Black possibly leaving as well
April 7th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
GARY:
I hope you are right. he changes the secondary and gives them great depth at CB. I don’t see them cutting him though, like some have suggested. He is too valuable. At the very least, he serves a suspension, comes back and plays and then they trade him next year or keep him
April 7th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
@ Dave
Funny that were thinking tha same thing and posting at tha same time
April 7th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
2 all Talib haters
Your favorite “thug” as many of u call him will be back. If we do draft a CB, it’s 4 purposes of releasing Elburnt Mack and giving Lewis and Biggers competition 2 make us more solid due 2 many teams speading things out more, along with Rah’s 3-3-5 scheme
April 7th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Here or not Talib is a thug. Period.
April 7th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
IMHO- bet you Dollars to Godell’s, that like last season, he won’t be here the first few weeks. Glad you love this guy. You should invite him to dinner!
I think Freeman, who’s trying to win a SuperBowl, will get real tired of our Starting CB risking Games , so that he can be “punk of the Month”.
Odd that you and Gary seem to be ok with it
April 7th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
Well I would have hated the Bucs taking Ayers based on his atrocious 40 time at the combine. He ran acceptably at his pro day though, so I guess im inching back towards his bandwagon. However, his 18 reps on the bench press is still alarmingly low for such a big linebacker. Then again McCoy had pathetic reps for a D-tackle and he showed me he had plenty of power when he smashed through that double team to sack Flacco. I guess its the long arms. Both Ayers and McCoy have long arms in comparison to their bulk which makes benching tougher. At the end of the day I guess Ayers is one of those guys where you just have to go with the tape. Apparently his tape must be pretty damn impressive for his stock to have remained pretty much the same after that alarming combine performance.
April 7th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
LOL “elburnt mack”. Its the NFL, you need a few loose wires. Give me talent, damn character. this is football not futbol.
April 7th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
@ chris fwc,
Ya but that thug is the anchor of our defense
April 7th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
gitarlvr, are you actually admitting that you haven’t watched Akeem Ayers play? How on earth could you be so high on a guy when you haven’t even taken the time to study him?
WeNeedDefense, I’ve watched what can be seen of him on Youtube and a couple other places. At first I hated him, but I kept going back and watching from time to time and I think now that he’s a pretty versatile player. Unlike Martez Wilson, I think Ayers looks a little quicker on film than his combine numbers indicate. Wilson I think looks slow on film, maybe that’s just because he’s always a step slow in his reads. When Wilson looks best is when he’s blitzing and he doesn’t have to think, but as soon as he’s required to disect a play on the go he slows down. Ayers I think is pretty fundamentally sound but there’s just something there still doesn’t make me believe that he’s going to be great. Neither guy’s tape to me suggests that they are top 20 talent.
Overall, I just don’t think drafting 4-3 LB’s in the 1st round is good value. If I had to choose I would take Ayers over Wilson at this point, but ultimately I would leave them both alone. Ayers is just a little bit more NFL ready in my eyes.
April 7th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
The only CB worth drafting at 20 is Smith. He’s a Talib character clone…not gonna happen.
There are ZERO LBs worth the 20 pick.
If the top 8 or so DEs are gone, we should change our focus to a top RT.
April 7th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
“Elburnt Mack” LOL
Good Stuff. We do have a very witty panel here.
April 8th, 2011 at 6:00 am
Jesse J- you can have our talent, probably for 6-8 weeks. My bet on his suspension. He can stay at your house. This time, don’t let him brag about sneaking in the stadium while suspended! Hope he can help us from your house. He wasn’t much help the first 4 games last year, and he didn’t learn much from it.
April 8th, 2011 at 7:33 am
“… and he didnt learn much from (his suspension)”
BINGO!
That should be at the top of Talibs scouting report.
Hey pieterrr d, why hasnt Aqib learned from his ‘past transgressions’?
April 8th, 2011 at 8:36 am
a) He has a large cavernous space between his ears.
b) Mama is a bigger thug than Jr. and the apple, well you know.
c) Have you ever met an intelligent person named Aqib or Talib?
d) All of the above, and about 98 more reasons.
April 8th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Nice to see there are some people out there that do believe in Aqib… seriously his sister called 911 and her chump boyfriend took and broke the phone, the cops didn’t bother coming so eventually Aqib had to show up. How many of you have sisters, sisters that you would allow some loser to beat down? There was a witness an ex cop that said he saw Aqib with no gun
April 8th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
That’s the first Joe has read of that and that’s a pretty damning charge on the Garland police department, that they refused to respond to a 911 call. That would have actually made national news, not just locally.
April 8th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
gotbbucs- I’ve watched youtube highlights of Akeem Ayers. That’s nothing like studying the piles of game tapes that NFL personnel get to study.
April 8th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Also I didn’t say I was “so high” on Akeem Ayers. I said I was inching back towards being o.k. with the Bucs possibly drafting him after his total sh*t 40 and 3 cone times at the combine because he redeemed himself with a much more acceptable time at his pro day. Also his stock has stayed pretty high across the board with draftniks which tells me that scouts must really like the tape(not freaking youtube highlights)on him despite some poor combine numbers.
April 9th, 2011 at 12:40 am
If we draft a LB we should wait til the 3rd round or possibly trade back into the late 2nd round and draft either Bruce Carter or Quan Strudivant from UNC. Either one would be and upgrade over Geno or Quincy IMO.
1st round-Jimmy Smith
2nd round-best DE available or OT
3rd round-LB