2015 Fantasy Football Team Preview: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

One of the best ways to get ready for the upcoming fantasy football season is to get familiar with all that has happened since Pete Carroll decided throwing the football on the goal line was a great idea in Super Bowl 49. But how can you sort through all of those free agents, trades, suspensions and draft choices?

Before you get overwhelmed let’s cut all of this down into digestible pieces. I am going to break down this NFL off season on a team by team basis. Every couple of days this summer, I’ll get you caught up on where each team left off in 2014, who they added & lost in free agency, all coaching changes and a scouting report of each draft choice they made.

I’ll be posting these in order of worst to first last season. Thus, we begin with the worst team in the NFL in 2014 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Overview

An NFL team doesn’t go 2-14 and not win a single divisional game by accident. This team did absolutely nothing right in 2014 and that is quite unusual for a Lovie Smith coached team. But out of the shadows of that terrible record comes some bright spots. The first overall pick in the NFL Draft helps a team with so many needs to fill them with some of the best talent in college football. Also, a front office who is willing to attack free agency and spend some money to help plug some holes is another major advantage. The Bucs had both going for them this offseason and I think you will agree that things can only be looking up for Tampa Bay in 2015.

2014 Breakdown

Lovie Smith had as rough a first year in Tampa Bay as he has had in his entire professional coaching career. But when you consider that his offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford was never able to coach a single down due to medical issues and the Bucs investment in QB Josh McCown was a complete dumpster fire, it isn’t too hard to understand why the Bucs were so bad. 

Let’s take a look at how Tampa Bay ranked in some specific stat categories:

As you can see neither the offensive nor defensive side of the ball got it done for the Bucs last year. The offense we can explain away with no coordinator, no QB, a subpar offensive line and no impact RB’s. But on defense this is more of a concern because Lovie Smith & Leslie Frazier’s cover-2 system has been getting destroyed across the NFL in recent years. They are not giving up on it anytime soon either which should make everybody in Tampa cringe or everybody who is drafting players who play the Bucs this year very excited.

Free Agency

Signed

DE George Johnson from the Lions

DE Bruce Carter from the Cowboys

Safety Chris Conte from the Bears

Departed

DE Adrian Clayborn to the Falcons

OT Anthony Collins

DE Michael Johnson to the Bengals

QB Josh McCown to the Browns

There is much ado about nothing in terms of the Bucs free agent signings this season. They went hard after George Johnson who they had in Tampa as an undrafted free agent just a few years ago. He is a pass rush specialist who has only been productive in four games in four seasons as a pro. Chris Conte is a fit for the cover-2 scheme but is an awful player by and large. The best thing about these acquisitions is that they got rid of Josh McCown which significantly upgrades their QB corps.

NFL Draft

Round 1 (1): Jameis Winston. QB, Florida State

What can I say? Winston is a very good QB prospect that has a lot of NFL ready tools at his side. He’s got a big arm and an advanced recognition of defensive setups and tendencies. He reads defenses at a very high level and is extremely smart in that regard. My problem with him is that he’s had a number of significant controversies in college including allegations of sexual misconduct and theft. I am very concerned about his lifestyle after his twice a week paychecks start rolling in.

Round 2 (34): Donovan Smith. OT, Penn State

A very good pick especially after drafting what you hope to be your franchise QB a round earlier. If Smith can lock down the left tackle spot it will allow Logan Mankins and Evan Dietrich-Smith to only worry about the interior. The best thing any team can do for their young QB is improve his protection.

Round 2 (61): Ali Marpet, C, Hobart & William Smith

Marpet is a small school kid that plays at a very high level. Another interior lineman with a lot of upside, Tampa is obviously making sure they protect their QB and ideally open up some lanes for their RB’s in the process.

Round 4 (124): Kwon Alexander, OLB, LSU

Round 5 (162): Kenny Bell, WR, Nebraska

Bell is an interesting WR prospect. His size, speed and other measurable are a value find in the fifth round. He’s a guy that will only be able to run a few routes early on in the season and thus won’t be on the field much.

Round 6 (184): Kaelin Clay, WR, Utah

Another candidate for the starting slot WR role here in Tampa. Clay is fast but lacks ideal size or wingspan that you look for in big play WR’s.

Round 7 (231): Joey Iosefa, FB, Hawaii

Interesting Numbers

Vincent Jackson was 8^th in the NFL in targets (143) last year but only 106^th in receiving TD’s (2).

As of week three of the 2015 season, Doug Martin (26) will be just one year older than Charles Sims (25).