What Does Koetter Think About Short Corners

The Bucs roster is mostly filled with smaller more quick twitch athletes at corner in Brent Grimes, Alterrraun Verner, Josh Robinson and Rookie Vernon Hargreaves but that doesn't seem to bother head coach Dirk Koetter as he gave one of the best quotes ever about his smaller guys. Via Greg Auman Tampa Bay Times.

"They're not going to grow, alright? So we've got 5,000 stories out there about short corners. You can't bitch about your players. They're the ones you've got. These guys aren't going to grow."

Koetter is a straight shooter and obviously doesn't beat around the bush. If a guy can play he can play and obviously by collecting all these guys with similar traits means that's the type of corner that fits this defensive scheme. Koetter went on to describe the research of the ratio between shorter and taller corners.

"There's plenty of research both ways about size and corners. There's some misnomers out there," Koetter said. "There's just as many corners that are 5-10 that have been successful as corners that are 6-4. So the guys are who they are. We're happy with our guys and we're going to keep working with them."

All that matter's is who is on your team right now. You work with what you got and you make the most of it and that seems like what Koetter's mind set is. Looking at the roster right now the only corner above 5'11 is Jonathan Banks (6'2) so who is the outlier? The bucs seem confident with the height of their corners right now, lets see if that confidence shows itself on the field come game day.

What Will Happen With Jude?

Last year the secondary was down right embarrassing and Lovie would throw anyone and everyone out there to see who could play the best. That when number 38 was thrown into the fire. A guy with a name no one could pronounce and could barely fit on his jersey. The guy was practice squad rookie Jude Adjei-Barimah out of Bowling Green State.

Jude's background is in soccer and he didn't even start playing football until his freshman year of high school. When he was thrown into live action he looked just as bad as everyone else in the bucs secondary but he did show flashes of athleticism and hustle. He ended up playing in 13 games and starting in 7 of them as well as totaling 41 tackles. He was targeted often due to being a no name rookie but it seemed as if he never shied away from it and took it as a learning curve.

Looking at the roster now, the bucs have loaded up on corners in hope to fix the mess that was our secondary last year. That means Jude will have stiff competition to make the final roster in 2016. With Grimes and Verner getting the early first team reps and top pick VH3 likely to win the nickel position where does that leave Jude? He will have to compete with veteran Jonathan Banks and free agent pick up Josh Robinson to make the roster. Luckily for Jude it seems like the bucs defense values smaller quick corners and that fits Jude to a T.

He no doubt caught the eye of Jason Licht and I will never doubt Licht's talent evaluation based on his recent draft decisions. It's all up to Jude now to prove he's worthy of a roster spot and most likely will have to shine in special teams to make the team.

Back End Help

It's still early in the process to be guessing what players teams will be drafting but its still fun to see what people think the Bucs will do. One interesting mock draft was on NFL.com where Daniel Jeremiah, a past college scout for multiple NFL teams gave his two cents on the Bucs selection. He decided on Vernon Hargreaves CB out of Florida and here's his reasoning.

The Bucs need to add a playmaker to the back end, and Hargreaves has very good ball skills.

 Its true the Bucs do need a playmaker in the back end of the defense as the team only had 11 interceptions last year and 5 of those were from Lavonte David (3) and Kwon Alexander (2). Half the time the secondary looked lost last year, along with no consistency of keeping the same guys out there. Yes, the defense was a complete mess. Now was that due to no playmakers in the back end or players not being utilized correctly? On many accounts last season players would argue at each other due to not knowing where they were supposed to be. If Mike Smith has his way, he will study up on the secondary that he currently has and learn to use them the right way as he stated during his introductory press conference.

Put your players in the best position you possibly can

Put them in a spot they can be successful and be the best versions of themselves

 Obviously these guys didn't understand the zone schemes Lovie installed and couldn't execute them on the field. Lets see if Smith can find ways to simplify the defense to the strengths of his players. There is talent on this team with Alterraun Verner who was a pro bowler in 2013 and Jonathan Banks who has shown flashes in the past. Use what you have on the roster first as there is more talent in the back end than in the front line where Gerald McCoy is by his lonesome. The kicker here is Jeremiah had Noah Spence going one spot behind the Bucs, to the Giants at pick 10. To me pass rusher is the biggest weakness on this team and I'm sure Jason Licht knows that as well and will be searching high and low to fix it.

Should Sterling Moore Be Re-Signed?

The Bucs signed Sterling Moore last off-season on a 1 year deal with the expectation that he would be the nickel corner like he was previously with the Dallas Cowboys. Moore started the season slow where he didn't play much as he struggled when on the field which led to being demoted to fourth corner. Then came week 8, where the Bucs decided to insert Moore as the starting corner due to poor play from Jonathan Banks and Alterraun Verner, and Moore took full advantage. He went on to put up 45 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 1Int, and 6 pass breakups, which is a decent season for only starting 9 games out of 16.

The good news for the Bucs is that they should be able to bring back Moore for pretty good value if they want him back. I think they can get him back fairly cheap due to the fact he is only 26 and really hasn't put up much production in his short career. Moore coming back would provide great depth to go along with Verner, Banks, and young rising corner in Jude Adjei-Barimah. Plus, the Bucs are expected to add to the secondary this off-season, but I expect more changes to occur to the safety position than at corner.

It will be interesting to see what the Bucs do with Moore, as I expect him to be back, but new defensive coordinator Mike Smith might have something different in mind. We should find out soon enough as Free Agency is only 5 weeks away.

Will Janoris Jenkins Come Back Home?

Lets face it the Bucs defense needs more talent in all three position groups, and I believe Rams cornerback unrestricted free agent Janoris Jenkins would be a good start to the offseason. If the Bucs could add Jenkins to the secondary group that would be a vast improvement and provide a guy that is one of the top man to man corners in the league. Jenkins had 15 pass breakups to go along with 3ints, but most importantly 64 tackles which means he is aggressive against the run providing physical play. Jenkins,27 has good size at 5-11 200lbs as he and Trumaine Johnson were one of the better cornerback duos in the NFL this past season.

Jenkins, who is a former Florida Gator, would probably welcome the opportunity to come back home and play in Florida where there is no state income tax by the way. Jenkins would be a good fit in Mike Smith's scheme which would allow Jenkins to play a lot of press man coverage which is his strength. Paring Jenkins with Sterling Moore and Jonathan Banks would help the secondary improve quite a bit and potentially making the group a strength for 2016.  Jenkins will probably ask for 6 or 7 million annually which is understandable for his ability, the good news is the Bucs have plenty of cap space so might as well use it.