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About the Author: Mark Cook

Avatar Of Mark Cook
Mark Cook currently is the director of editorial content and Bucs beat writer and has written for PewterReport.com since 2011. Cook has followed the Buccaneers since 1977 when he first began watching football with his Dad and is fond of the 1979 Bucs team that came within 10 points of going to a Super Bowl. His favorite Bucs game is still the 1979 divisional playoff win 24-17 over the Eagles. In his spare time Cook enjoys playing guitar, fishing, the beach and family time.Cook is a native of Pinecrest in Eastern Hillsborough County and has written for numerous publications including the Tampa Tribune, In the Field and Ya'll Magazine. Cook can be reached at [email protected]

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It is time for another edition of the Bucs’ Monday Mailbag, where PewterReport.com answers reader submitted questions each and every Monday. you can submit your questions via Twitter by using #PRMailbag.

Question: What is the status of Mike Evans contract extension? When we will see him locked up by the Bucs?

Answer: All is quiet on the western front these days. Or the Tampa front at least. Neither party seems to be overly concerned or in a huge hurry to get it done. That doesn’t mean they don’t want it done, it just means this isn’t heading towards any type of nasty holdout or confrontation.

The Bucs are not going to lose Mike Evans who will be playing on his fourth year of his rookie deal, and the team has already picked up his fifth year option for 2018. Evans knows he will – and wants  to be – a Buccaneer for a long time, if not his whole career. The team and Evans sees the bright future this organizations appears at this point to have and to be building, with Evans being a huge building block.

Right now One Buc is pretty much a ghost town, with players, coaches and front office people taking their last vacation until 2018. Things will start getting back to normal mid-to-late July and it wouldn’t surprise me to see negotiations between Jason Licht and Evans’ agent being to heat up. I am guessing both sides have already kind of thrown some numbers around, so they have a starting point to negotiate a deal. Again, I would not be surprised at all to see the team announce a new contract for Evans just before or early in the preseason. And even if not then, I wouldn’t be alarmed and think both sides keep the lines of communication open during the season and at the very least see it wrapped up early in 2018 at the latest.

Question: Who is the one person that the Bucs passed on in the draft that looking back you wish the Bucs would have drafted?

Answer: Well everyone knows I was a big fan of  FSU’s Dalvin Cook and think he will have a tremendous rookie season, but I completely understand why the Buccaneers took O.J. Howard. Howard really helps open things up as far as Dirk Koetter’s playbook and will keep defenses on their toes, especially when the Bucs line up with two tight ends. The threat of pass or run with that set will keep defensive coordinators up the night before games, studying tape trying to find some tendencies.

Time will tell if the Bucs made the right decision to pass on Cook, not so much in the first round, but instead in the second round where Cook was still available on the second night of the draft. Instead the Bucs went with safety Justin Evans who was held out of the majority of the offseason workouts. The Bucs brass loved Cook’s talent, but there were some legitimate concerns off the field. It doesn’t mean they will be a hinderance over his career, but the concerns were real and with good reason.

Let’s take a look at this in three years and see where things are. I am guessing the Bucs and the Vikings will both be pleased with the way things turned out.

Question: How  is Chris Conte supposedly beating out the others for one of the safety spots?! He’s too slow, and always a step late to the catch.

Answer: The Chris Conte situation is much like the offensive line situation. Fans are going to have their opinions, despite what the front office and the coaching staff say. He was disliked in Chicago by most Bears fans, and some of the hate has carried over to his Tampa career. However, by the Bucs signing him in the offseason, and allowing Bradley McDougald to walk in free agency, their opinion of what Conte brings to the table are much different than his critics in the stands. Is Conte a Pro Bowl talent? Most likely no, at least as far as what he has shown throughout his career thus far, but is a starting caliber player in the NFL? Bucs coaches obviously say, yes.

Now part of the reason that Conte has been with the first team throughout the offseason is that he and Keith Tandy have stayed healthy, unlike the others on the roster. So far it hasn’t really been a competition. Conte and Tandy are starting essentially by default for now. Although Tandy earned the right to enter the offseason as a starter based on his play last year, notching four interceptions and sealing two wins with game ending picks.

Once everyone gets healthy, the real battle will begin. But if Conte ends ups starting Week 1 in Miami, then he has earned the job in the eyes of the coaches, despite the opinion of the fans.

Question: If the RBs don’t play up to expectations in preseason, could we see Licht grabbing a vet RB via FA or trade?

Answer: The only way the Bucs make any surprise moves at running back prior to the start of the season is if there is a rash of injuries at that position during camp. The front office and staff are very content to start the season with Doug Martin, Jaquizz Rodgers, Jeremy McNichols and Peyton Barber as the top guys. I really can’t imagine the play of the running backs not being up to par, and again, unless there are a couple serious injuries, I think the Bucs stand pat.

Question: Three of the Bucs draft picks, Justin Evans, Kendell Beckwith and Jeremy McNichols missed much if not all of the offseason workouts due to injuries. Which of the three do you think makes the most noise during training camp, and the upcoming season?

Answer: That is tough to say, as an injury in front of them could send one of the three into a starting role. If I had to pick one, perhaps Evans is the one that might see the field the most, but some of my opinion is based on he is the healthiest of the three at this point. I think one point that needs to be made however, is this football team, for the first time in a long time, didn’t need to draft impact players in the first few rounds that have to step in right away and be counted on to play the majority of the season. Imagine that. A Bucs team that actually has some solid depth and can take a little time to develop a football player. I don’t know that a few seasons ago, the Bucs take a player like Beckwith, who even if healthy, would be on the field no more than 40 percent as the Bucs most likely line up in nickel a majority of the time. At least not move up in the draft to get him. I think that speaks volumes about what Licht and his staff have been able to accomplish over the last few seasons. That doesn’t mean the team isn’t expecting these three to contribute, it just means they aren’t pressured to do so at this point.

ESPN, Football Outsiders Rank '02 Bucs A Top 10 Team In Last 30 Years
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