Bucs Improve Their Special Teams

The Bucs have definitely gotten better as a football team not only on offense and defense but on special teams as well. The Bucs added speed with the additions of Desean Jackson who can provide some return ability if needed. The Bucs also signed J.J Wilcox who can not only start at safety but has also made an impact on special teams during his time with the Cowboys. However, the biggest piece to the special teams was re-signed and that is Cb/S Josh Robinson who made big plays every week on special teams during the 2016 season.

Bucs make official the re-signing of defensive back Josh Robinson, who led team with 12 special-teams tackles last season ... two-year deal.

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) March 12, 2017

Robinson is a fan favorite and is just one heck of a player. He has 4.3 speed with plus size and has now learned how to play safety and he isn't afraid to hit opponents in the mouth. It will be intriguing to see if Robinson gets a chance to compete at safety as it would be cool to see what he can do with his speed as a center fielder. Again great job by Jason Licht who is making an emphasis on retaining his players as it is good to keep continuity,

Special teams made big strides last year and became one of the better units on this team. Bryon Anger was probably the best punter in the league last year who got a new 5 year extension right after the season ended. Now granted, the Bucs still need a consistent return man who can get past the 25 and make defenders miss, I think Mr.Licht has his eye out for one. Then there is Bucs fan favorite Roberto Aguyao who I thought did a decent job for a rookie and was getting better in the second half of the season. Expect Aguyao to take the next step this off-season or else he will be replaced. Still long way to go till the season begins, but right now the Bucs are building a team that can win in all three phases.

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.

Bucs Free Agent Signings Have Winning Past

The great Vince Lombardi used to say that "winning is habit, but unfortunately so is losing", and the Bucs have made losing a habit since 2007 which is their last playoff appearance. Bucs Gm Jason Licht is trying to change the culture and build a winning organization. That started last year by getting franchise Qb in Jameis Winston, who has stated before that in 2016, the team is going to create a winning mindset. So far this off season, it looks like Jason Licht wants to accelerate that winning mindset by bringing in free agents who can not only play at a high level, but have a history of winning and playoff experience.

The Bucs have signed J.R Sweezy, Brent Grimes, Robert Ayers, Josh Robinson, and Daryl Smith whom all have been apart of winning organizations, and have won in the playoffs. Sweezy and Ayers have played in the Super Bowl which was in 2013 as they went against each other with their former teams in Seattle and Denver respectively. This free agent group is very talented with winning experience which will hopefully rub off on this roster, and can help this team learn how to win and finish games. The Bucs have a high quality veteran at every level of the defense as Ayers,(defensiveline), Smith(linebackers), and Grimes (cornerbacks). This is key as young guys like Jacqueis Smith, Kwon Alexander, and Johnthan Banks can learn from them and become better players as a result.

Jason Licht knows this team needs to start winning as 8-24 over the last two years are just unacceptable. It looks like Winston's end of the year press conference hit home with Licht, as it is time to create a winning mindset because this team has had a losing one for too long. With now having key quality veterans in place on defense, hopefully they can help Jameis instilled a winning culture into the rest of the team.

Bucs Sign Former Vikings CB Josh Robinson

The Buccaneers added more depth to the secondary today by signing former Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson to a one year deal per Scott Smith.

More much-needed help for the secondary: Bucs have signed former Vikings CB Josh Robinson to a one-year deal. More: https://t.co/EILXBlv7bJ

— Scott Smith (@ScottSBucs) March 14, 2016

Robinson comes back to his home state as he played his college ball at UCF and was a third round pick for the Vikings in 2012. Robinson, 25 brings starting experience (21 starts) and brings speed with an 4.33 40 time and has the ability to play on the outside corner position or inside at the slot position. When Robinson has been the regular starter, he has produced good numbers, just look at his 2013, 2014 seasons. Robinson didn't get the chance to play in 2015 as he was out most of the season with a torn pectoral and is looking for an rebound season with the Bucs.

I haven't seen Robinson play much since being with the Vikings, but sometimes players need a change of scenery. The Bucs feel he is a fit for Mike Smith's defensive scheme as it sounds like they want fast aggressive corners like Brent Grimes. Robinson fits the bill there at 5'10 199lbs and brings plenty of speed and athleticism which is always good to have. At the very least Robinson provides depth and competition for the cornerbacks group, and also means Mike Jenkins will probably not be back with the team which is great news. Its another smart move by Jason Licht, as it gives the team more flexibility on the roster and for the upcoming draft.