It's time for another Give Me Five list and it's time for me to put Carmen on the spot again. This time, I want her to take a look around the league and think about what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could steal from other teams.
Or who they could steal, that is. Here's my challenge to Carmen this week: Who are the top five players you would steal from other current NFL rosters to help the Buccaneers win in 2020?
I make this challenge as we begin our third week in the Give Me Five series. Sure, it's another series of lists, but this one has a twist: The list-maker doesn't get to choose the topic. I start each week by giving Carmen a topic and then she turns the table at the end of the week with a topic for me. We make our lists and then the person who chose the topic adds some final thoughts.
This particular question is one that no general manager or head coach could answer in public for fear of being charged with tampering. However, Carmen and I are allowed to speculate, and since none of this can actually happen, it's harmless anyway. It's just a thought exercise. That said, please understand that none of what is followed is meant to reflect the opinions or strategies of Jason Licht, Bruce Arians or anyone on their staff.
A couple quick ground rules, Carmen. First, you don't have to worry about salary cap. Take any player you want and assume it will work out. Second, you need to consider actual need on the Bucs' roster, and not focus too much on incremental improvements. Sure, every team in the league would like to add Patrick Mahomes, but there's not much point in that for the purposes of this exercise when you already know you're going to roll with Tom Brady. That said, you can add to what is already a position of strength if you think it will still improve the team's chances in 2020. For instance, the Bucs don't need a replacement for Mike Evans or Chris Godwin, but perhaps there is a third receiver out there who would fit in with those two.
Third, only consider the 2020 season. It might be tempting to snatch Joe Burrow away from the Bengals for the post-Brady future, but is he one of the five guys you want to add just for this season?
So, to reiterate
Today's Topic: Identify five players you would steal from other current NFL rosters to help the Buccaneers win in 2020.
Carmen's Thoughts: I would like to start by saying how the Bucs excel in the area of capology year in and year out thanks in large part to one Mike Greenberg and many others on Jason Licht's staff. That being said, the below would be impossible – even for them. But you told me salary wasn't a concern so yeah – I'm running with it. I'd venture to say this offseason has been pretty darn close to an ideal one already so I'm really off in dreamland with the below list.
The exercise was pretty simple though as soon as I figured out how I wanted to attack it. I identified areas of need or where the Bucs could improve and then thought of the best player in the league at that position. However, I also took into consideration how said player would fit into the Bucs' system. For instance, Titans running back Derrick Henry was the league's leading rusher last season, but given how quarterback Tom Brady likes to throw to his backs and can use them often as another receiver – I instead listed Carolina's Christian McCaffrey, who not only had 1,387 rushing yards, but also had over 1,000 receiving yards with 1,005 last season.
With that in mind, also note that these aren't in any particular order. I tried to weigh one position/player over another and there were too many factors. These are very much the top five additions that I came up with, but feel free to place your own ideas of importance upon them.
To the list!
5. DT Aaron Donald
Hey, go big or go home, right? Again, the cap wasn't a concern – and neither was the availability of these players. I know Donald isn't going anywhere soon, signing a six-year extension with Los Angeles in 2018 but a girl can dream in this exercise. They're wise to keep him locked up, too. Donald is the most dominant defensive tackle in the league, bar none. Despite his interior dwelling, he managed 12.5 sacks, which was the seventh-most, last season. What's even more incredible is he did it as an interior defensive lineman in a 3-4 system, not entirely unlike the one the Bucs run.
While the Bucs actually finished tied for the seventh-most sacks as a team last year (and had the most of any team from weeks 9-17 with 31.0), most of those takedowns came from outside linebackers. Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul combined for 28.0 of the team's 54.0 sacks. Defensive tackles Vita Vea and Ndamukong Suh combined for five sacks last season.
Now, that's not to say Vea and Suh didn't have an impact on the pass rush. It's quite the opposite, in fact. Because they both commanded so much attention on the interior, eating up space and blockers, others like Barrett and JPP were left one-on-one on the outside a lot of the time. A 6-5, 275-pound outside linebacker with freakish bend and athleticism like Pierre-Paul isn't going to be contained by one blocker – especially if that blocker is someone like a tight end.
But this is all the more reason to increase the interior presence. If you could get a rotation of Vea, Suh and Donald, there would be absolutely no reprieve for opposing offensive lines. If you could get more pressure from the middle like Donald has been able to do throughout his career, how in the world do you account for that? In fact, Donald coming to the Bucs would probably negate the need for the next guy on this list…
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July 07, 2020 at 06:34PM
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What five players would you steal from other current NFL rosters to help the Bucs in 2020? - Buccaneers.com
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