Buccaneers head coach contradicts himself with poor roster move
By Rob Leeds
The Buccaneers chose to cut Deven Thompkins and Tyler Johnson to keep Breshad Perriman and Scotty Miller. This was a mistake.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers don’t make a bunch of bad roster moves with Jason Licht at the helm. Sure, there have been a few strange ones, but most of these decisions have been explained properly and end up helping in the end.
The same can not be said for the Buccaneers choosing to cut Deven Thompkins and Tyler Johnson.
The decision to cut Johnson came as a shock to most throughout the league, and while Thompkins was always a long shot to make the 53-man roster, Todd Bowles’ recent comments only make this decision all the more strange.
Todd Bowles said a lack of special teams value was why the Bucs cut Tyler Johnson, but when asked what Scotty Miller's special-teams role was, he said "probably backup punt returner and kick returner." Said he also can run down the field on kickoff coverage as a gunner.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) August 31, 2022
The Buccaneers chose to keep Breshad Perriman and Scotty Miller over Tyler Johnson and Deven Thompkins due to special teams considerations? Really?
Before we really jump in, this is an obvious mistake by the Bucs. Forget the faulty logic. The Bucs need a proven five to step up when one or several of the top-four get hurt, and Johnson was the best remaining receiver of the bunch. Also, Thompkins is young, but he actually played this offseason to earn a role over Perriman, and he would project to play on special teams.
However, even if you forget all of that, Bowles’ argument falls apart when you look at the fact that Perriman only has six career snaps on special teams.
Tell us again how he brings more value than Tyler Johnson in that area.
Also, Bowles saying Miller was “maybe a backup” as a return man does not show a mountain of confidence in him earning that role, which again begs the question why the Bucs made these decisions when it is obviously not based on special teams ability like Todd Bowles said.
These decisions would have been much better if the team could actually get reasons that were based in numbers. We hope to get some of that clarification soon.
Miller and Perriman still bring something to the table as pass-catchers, but pretending they are dramatically better than their cut counterparts is silly.
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