Pre-Free Agency 2023

[Wozzy]

Then he shouldn't come here.

And you’re sure neither Mac nor Zappe are good? I’d bet you’re wrong.

 

[pats_premi]

Pat Mahomes is making only 1.3x what Geno Smith is making.

Just for this reason, teams should draft 2 QB’s every draft until the get the guy that is worth paying the big bucks.

 

[mgteich]

Just for this reason, teams should draft 2 QB’s every draft until the get the guy that is worth paying the big bucks.

One each year plus an UDFA is sufficient.

One will make the team along with a couple from past years. We're keeping Jones and Zappe. We have room for a mid-level draftee and a 7th rounder or UDFA.

 

[Uptown]

 

[Zuma]

Buccaneers announce the release of Donovan Smith

The Buccaneers made it official Tuesday: They announced they have released left tackle Donovan Smith.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[Real fan 02]

Buccaneers announce the release of Donovan Smith

The Buccaneers made it official Tuesday: They announced they have released left tackle Donovan Smith.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Do we attempt to sign?

 

[Zuma]

Do we attempt to sign?

I'm sure the Patriots are looking into the player. He's played a lot...

 

[carmelo15]

I'm sure the Patriots are looking into the player. He's played a lot...

Dude couldn’t even block for the 2 seconds it too brady to get rid of the ball

 

[Zuma]

Dude couldn’t even block for the 2 seconds it too brady to get rid of the ball

He wouldn't have started 124 games at LT if he sucked tho right? Wynn started 40...IDK.

 

[JMC00]

Let Meyers walk.
Sign McGary
Draft JSN or Flowers in the 1st
Draft DJ Turner in the 2nd

 

[PWRxWLF]

Exactly right look at geno Smith.. 1st round pick ended up a career back up..

Had a great year after 10 years in the league and still made a big pay day.. Be it Mac or whoever else if it doesn't work out the patriots are going to have to pay!!!!!!

Gotta draft and develop a qb a minimum of every 2 years. Pats_premi already mentioned as much.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Vanilla Vick

 

[Real fan 02]

Just for this reason, teams should draft 2 QB’s every draft until the get the guy that is worth paying the big bucks.

What will happen 1st that or the WRs? Of us hitting on

 

[captain stone]

I wonder if the Jets go ALL IN to try and pull of a trade for Rodgers now.

That's exactly what they're doing now...

 

[Patsgofor4]

Dude couldn’t even block for the 2 seconds it too brady to get rid of the ball

One of our resident 2020-2022 Bucs die-hards has spoken. He gets very emotional when it comes to the health and well being of Twommy, so it is easy for him to ignore that Smith graded very highly as a pass blocker in 2021. Let’s take emotion out of the equation and look at some facts and possible extenuating circumstances that may have affected Smith’s 2022 performance.

2022 NFL Offensive Tackle Rankings and Tiers

PFF's Ben Linsey reveals the top 32 offensive tackles in the NFL heading into the 2022 season, which includes San Francisco 49ers tackle Trent Williams taking the top spot.

www.pff.com

24. Donovan Smith, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Smith has played a lot of football over the past seven years.

Most offensive snaps at tackle since 2015​

Tackle	Regular season snaps since 2015
Donovan Smith	7,565
Jake Matthews	7,487
Alejandro Villanueva	7,310
Charles Leno Jr.	7,196
Morgan Moses	6,900

No offensive tackle has logged more snaps than he has since 2015, and Smith underwhelmed for much of that span. However, Smith has managed to gradually increase his PFF grade in each of his seven NFL seasons, improving it from 62.5 as a rookie in 2015 to a career-best 80.5 overall grade in 2021.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/06/24/nfc-underrated-players-2022

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Donovan Smith, left tackle

Smith has gotten better as a player each year, allowed just one sack in 2021 and never accrued more than five holding penalties (he had three last year). While right tackle Tristan Wirfs gets most of the accolades, Smith has been a quiet and steady presence for the Buccaneers since making the All-Rookie team as a second-round pick out of Penn State in 2015. While the Buccaneers prefer to run up the gut most frequently and may prefer Wirfs in gotta-have-it third down situations, it’s interesting that the Bucs have had more success running between the left guard and tackle and the left tackle and end, than the opposite side. Smith nets the Buccaneers roughly a yard per play. As an aside, we obviously can’t put Mike Evans here, but according to NFL GSIS statistics, he makes the Buccaneers a full 1.14 yards better per play just by virtue of stepping on the field. Smith isn’t far behind, though, and he compiled one of the best pass-blocking grades in the NFL a year ago, per Pro Football Focus’s rankings.

Bucs Expected To Release Donovan Smith, Shuffle O-Line

The Bucs are expected to release veteran LT Donovan Smith in a salary cap move and could have Pro Bowl RT Tristan Wirfs replace him.

www.pewterreport.com

Meanwhile, Smith had his worst year as a pro, evidenced by a 59.3 overall grade from PFF, including a woeful 40.8 run blocking grade. Smith was coming off his best season with the Bucs in 2021, but he hyperextended his elbow in a Week 1 win at Dallas and wound up missing four games. The eight-year pro was also affected by some tragic off-field issues last year.

Buccaneers releasing starting left tackle Donovan Smith

The Buccaneers released starting left tackle Donovan Smith on Tuesday.

www.espn.com

A second-round draft pick in 2015, Smith, 29, went on to start 124 regular-season games -- sixth most of any offensive lineman in the league from 2015 to 2022. But he had one of his worst seasons as a starter in 2022, with a pass rush win rate of 78.3% and a run block win rate of 64.9%. He also dealt with elbow and foot injuries during the 2022 season, causing him to miss four regular-season games.


So….Smith was a good to very good starting LT in 2021 but had a poor 2022. His 2022 performance was possibly affected by injury and off-field distractions. If the Pats feel as though 2022 was an aberration, then he is worth a look.

 

[RodThePat]

One of our resident 2020-2022 Bucs die-hards has spoken. He gets very emotional when it comes to the health and well being of Twommy, so it is easy for him to ignore that Smith graded very highly as a pass blocker in 2021. Let’s take emotion out of the equation and look at some facts and possible extenuating circumstances that may have affected Smith’s 2022 performance.

2022 NFL Offensive Tackle Rankings and Tiers

PFF's Ben Linsey reveals the top 32 offensive tackles in the NFL heading into the 2022 season, which includes San Francisco 49ers tackle Trent Williams taking the top spot.

www.pff.com

24. Donovan Smith, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Smith has played a lot of football over the past seven years.

Most offensive snaps at tackle since 2015​

Tackle	Regular season snaps since 2015
Donovan Smith	7,565
Jake Matthews	7,487
Alejandro Villanueva	7,310
Charles Leno Jr.	7,196
Morgan Moses	6,900

No offensive tackle has logged more snaps than he has since 2015, and Smith underwhelmed for much of that span. However, Smith has managed to gradually increase his PFF grade in each of his seven NFL seasons, improving it from 62.5 as a rookie in 2015 to a career-best 80.5 overall grade in 2021.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/06/24/nfc-underrated-players-2022

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Donovan Smith, left tackle

Smith has gotten better as a player each year, allowed just one sack in 2021 and never accrued more than five holding penalties (he had three last year). While right tackle Tristan Wirfs gets most of the accolades, Smith has been a quiet and steady presence for the Buccaneers since making the All-Rookie team as a second-round pick out of Penn State in 2015. While the Buccaneers prefer to run up the gut most frequently and may prefer Wirfs in gotta-have-it third down situations, it’s interesting that the Bucs have had more success running between the left guard and tackle and the left tackle and end, than the opposite side. Smith nets the Buccaneers roughly a yard per play. As an aside, we obviously can’t put Mike Evans here, but according to NFL GSIS statistics, he makes the Buccaneers a full 1.14 yards better per play just by virtue of stepping on the field. Smith isn’t far behind, though, and he compiled one of the best pass-blocking grades in the NFL a year ago, per Pro Football Focus’s rankings.

Bucs Expected To Release Donovan Smith, Shuffle O-Line

The Bucs are expected to release veteran LT Donovan Smith in a salary cap move and could have Pro Bowl RT Tristan Wirfs replace him.

www.pewterreport.com

Meanwhile, Smith had his worst year as a pro, evidenced by a 59.3 overall grade from PFF, including a woeful 40.8 run blocking grade. Smith was coming off his best season with the Bucs in 2021, but he hyperextended his elbow in a Week 1 win at Dallas and wound up missing four games. The eight-year pro was also affected by some tragic off-field issues last year.

Buccaneers releasing starting left tackle Donovan Smith

The Buccaneers released starting left tackle Donovan Smith on Tuesday.

www.espn.com

A second-round draft pick in 2015, Smith, 29, went on to start 124 regular-season games -- sixth most of any offensive lineman in the league from 2015 to 2022. But he had one of his worst seasons as a starter in 2022, with a pass rush win rate of 78.3% and a run block win rate of 64.9%. He also dealt with elbow and foot injuries during the 2022 season, causing him to miss four regular-season games.


So….Smith was a good to very good starting LT in 2021 but had a poor 2022. His 2022 performance was possibly affected by injury and off-field distractions. If the Pats feel as though 2022 was an aberration, then he is worth a look.

Donovan Smith was great with Ali Marpet at LG and Brady at QB, he was a bottom tier starter without one of those circumstances around him. Plug him in next to Cole Strange to block for Mac and my guess is he'll be a bottom tier LT again.

 

[Patsgofor4]

Donovan Smith was great with Ali Marpet at LG and Brady at QB, he was a bottom tier starter without one of those circumstances around him. Plug him in next to Cole Strange to block for Mac and my guess is he'll be a bottom tier LT again.

He had the worst season of his career last year with Brady as his QB but without Marpet next to him, so explain to me why Brady gets equal credit for 2021, his best season. All of the credit should go to the one variable that was removed between 2021 and 2022, no?

 

[RodThePat]

He had the worst season of his career last year with Brady as his QB but without Marpet next to him, so explain to me why Brady gets equal credit for 2021, his best season. All of the credit should go to the one variable that was removed between 2021 and 2022, no?

Because he had Ali Marpet at LG in 2018 and 2019 and was a middle of the road player at best without Brady? Pretty clearly he was only good with both of those pieces in place. But I guess we can keep pretending QB play has no impact in pass protection for your little experiment. Surely Nate Solder, Trent Brown and Isaiah Wynn have flourished at LT without Tom under center.

 

[Ollie]

Now you’re talking. I like Sutton a lot and his injury woes seem to be behind him.

Here’s a link, in case anyone wants it.

(cue the “but he doesn’t separate!” posts)

we should be all over this

 

[Ollie]

Pat Mahomes is making only 1.3x what Geno Smith is making.

I can't recall for sure but wasn't mahommes contract boosted by a 62 million signing bonus? So the salary is actually deceptive