Buccaneers Round Table: Is T.J. Ward right about his comments?

Jerry Stalheim

So T.J. Ward and Chris Baker are whining saying that they did not come to the Buccaneers to play the limited roles that they are currently playing, and they are both obviously frustrated during the Buccaneers three game losing streak, but do either of them have a point that they should be playing more so far this season?  

CHRIS BAKER

Chris Baker is coming off of starting a full 16 games for the first time in his career last season with the Redskins, and he played okay getting a career high 48 tackles and the second most sacks in his career at 3.5.  Which gave him an average of three tackles per game or 27% of his total career tackles of 181.  If he was on the Buccaneers last season he would have had the second most tackles by a defensive lineman right behind William Gholston.  

This season with the Buccaneers he has the fourth most tackles by a defensive lineman with a mere thirteen in five games and zero sacks with a season high of four tackles in a game.  He has currently played 140 defensive snaps or 32.94% of the Buccaneers defensive snaps, and has been outplayed in snaps by last seasons defensive tackle starter Clinton McDonald who has played 183 defensive snaps or 43.86%.  McDonald only has eleven tackles in the first six games of the Buccaneers season but he is tied with Gerald McCoy for the lead in sacks with two or 29% of the Buccaneers total sacks on the season (7).  

McDonald has actually out played Baker throughout his career with 230 tackles to 181 and 16 sacks to 11.5 sacks, and until Chris Baker starts producing more for the Buccaneers I think that Clinton McDonald should continue to out snap him.  With Baker having the best game of his season so far with five tackles against the Bills maybe that will continue and he will gradually gain more playing time and eventually pass McDonald but right now that should not happen.  

More from The Pewter Plank

• Devin White posts cryptic message to Lavonte David on Twitter
• ESPN predicts surprising outcome to Devin White trade saga
• Updated Buccaneers depth chart after signing two players from rookie minicamp
• Todd Bowles sends clear message about Baker Mayfield’s role with Bucs
• The Athletic is wrong about Bucs one ‘must-watch’ game in 2023

The old “show me you deserve more play time” strategy so maybe now once his grievance have been aired publicly and he was kind of shunned for it maybe he will show that he deserves more playing time.

T.J. WARD

Despite missing two games Ward has played the third most snaps at safety behind Chris Conte and rookie Justin Evans with 134 total defensive snaps or 31.53%.  In four games with the Buccaneers where he started one he has been highly unproductive grabbing just thirteen tackles and two passes defensed compared to 31 by Chris Conte with three passes defensed and 25 tackles by Justin Evans and three passes defensed and one interception.  

Ward aired his grievances on Twitter about his playing time but clearly isn’t the player that he was with the Broncos and that could be why they surprising released him right before the season started.  When the Buccaneers selected Evans in the second round he was clearly positioned to be the safety of the future and after not getting the start the first two weeks has played a majority of the snaps the last four games.  With Evans and Conte deemed as starters Ward really doesn’t have a fit on the team other then being a backup player so I am not sure what he is complaining about this is what he is at this point in his career.  

My confusion is how after leading the safeties in tackles the last five games of last season and with four interceptions why Keith Tandy has fallen so far out of favor to get only 118 snaps (27.76%) at safety, what did he do to get into Mike Smith’s dog house after the way he played last season.   

I digress so does TJ Ward deserve more snaps at safety well it basically comes down to is he better at coverage then Chris Conte or Justin Evans at this time?, and the answer is no because he is basically an in the box safety whose main job is to stop the run.  In other words he does not play the pass very well with only eight interceptions in his eight year career.  

Again after Tandy’s performance last season Ward is lucky that he is not getting out snapped by him also but just like Baker if he wants more playing time he should show the Coaches that he deserves it out on the field and I do not believe that he has not done that yet.  Maybe though after his outburst that he will realize that he has to show it to earn it and start focusing on his craft instead of complaining about playing time.  

There you have it then two veteran players who are not performing very well out on the field both complained that they are unhappy with the amount of playing time that they are receiving, so being veterans you figured that they would know the routine but the Buccaneers are putting the best players out on the field .  Now granted it might not be working right now with the team losing three straight games and having the 29th ranked defense, but I believe that once the players start to gel that everything will come together and ALL of the player will be happy because guess what, the Buccaneers will be winning at that time.  

So Ward and Baker, you do not deserve more play time until you earn it just because you are veterans does not mean that it gets handed to you.