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Buccaneers Round Table: 2017 mock general manager for a day

By David Harrison

TAMPA, FL - OCTOBER 1: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers make their way out of the tunnel to take to the field before the start of an NFL football game against the New York Giants on October 1, 2017 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - OCTOBER 1: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers make their way out of the tunnel to take to the field before the start of an NFL football game against the New York Giants on October 1, 2017 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images) /
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TAMPA, FL – SEPTEMBER 14: Patrick Murray #7 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reacts after kicking his first NFL field goal during the second half of the game against the St. Louis Rams at Raymond James Stadium on September 14, 2014 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Cliff McBride/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL – SEPTEMBER 14: Patrick Murray #7 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reacts after kicking his first NFL field goal during the second half of the game against the St. Louis Rams at Raymond James Stadium on September 14, 2014 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Cliff McBride/Getty Images) /

Jerry Stalheim

Every football fan has wanted to be the GM of their favorite team in hopes that they would make certain moves which make sense for the team at the time, and a lot of times it is a Maddenesque move that would be almost impossible for that team to make.  

Now I get to be that GM and suggests some moves to be made, so positions do the Buccaneers still need to shore up to be that playoff team we all think they will be?

Number one position of need at least after the last two games which cost the Buccaneers a victory against the Patriots just last Thursday is:

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KICKER

Nick Folk starting out good the first two games and the Buccaneers thought that they were done with the kicking issues, … then came the Giants game where he missed two field goals and one extra point but still was able to kick the game winning field goal for the Buccaneers.  

Then as we all know during the Prime Time game against the Patriots he was awful missing from 56, 49, and 31 yards out and basically cost the Buccaneers a win against the Patriots.  He has only hit 54.5% (6/11) of his field goals which is worse then the kicker they release in preseason so obviously the top position of need would be a field goal kicker.

The Buccaneers are expected to have a kicker tryout this coming Monday bringing in four kickers to tryout for the team,  my suggestions if I was GM would be to bring in former Buccaneers kicker from 2014 Patrick Murray who through 16 games was 20/24 (83.3%) with a long of 55 and was 5/6 from 50 yards plus.  Although for some reason although being brought in for tryouts with several teams he has not played substantial time for a team since 2014.

Now we move on to the number two position of need that I would sign or trade for if I was GM:

CORNERBACK

The reason being is because I think the Buccaneers after Brent Grimes and Vernon Hargreaves need more help at cornerback, and I mean Ryan Smith could maybe be a good cornerback but he is still learning and has his struggles now and then when forced to start as we saw in the Vikings game without Grimes.  

There are several options that the Buccaneers could trade for such as: Jets corner Marcus Williams, Bengals corner and former first rounder William Jackson III, Tennessee corner Brice McCain, and Bears corner Kyle Fuller just to name a few.

They could also sign some of the other free agent corners that are out there but in most cases they are free agents for a reason, or they could also go all out and attempt to trade for top corner knowing that Grimes may call it a career at the end of the season, but at this points if I were GM I would go out and trade for a complementary corner like some of the examples that I have mentioned above.

The last position that the Buccaneers could use an upgrade at because they have gotten very little production out of so far is:

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DEFENSIVE END

The Buccaneers have gotten very little production out of their defensive ends so far this season having only one sack by Noah Spence way back in week two against the Bears.  Spence is now playing with a shoulder issue for the second year in a row which may limit his production, William Gholston is not known for getting sack but is known more as a run stuffer, and Robert Ayers so far has not been able to get to the quarterback.

The Buccaneers are currently last in the league in sacks tied with the Dolphins at 4 but the Dolphins have gotten all of their sacks from their defensive ends, so a definite upgrade at the position is needed to bring some spice to the position for the Buccaneers.  

It’s hard to know which player the Buccaneers could target for defensive end again with Ayers aging as GM we could go out and trade a draft pick for a top tiered or second tiered defensive end, of they could hunt the practice squads of other teams and find someone to sign off a practice squad, and the third option would be to look for free agents that are out there.

Those are the three positions of needs that if I was the GM of the Buccaneers I would target but without inside information it would be very hard to know who to target unless I just throw out some Maddenesque type trades that would never be accepted I am not going to suggest any players that I would go after I will let the real GM of the Buccaneers Jason Licht handle knowing what players to go after.  I will just suggest what positions to go after if I was GM of the Buccaneers and hope that some moves will be made to upgrade those positions obviously after the game against the Patriots a new kicker will most likely be added as early as this week.  

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