The PR Bucs Monday Mailbag is where PewterReport.com’s Mark Cook answers your questions from our Twitter account.

Question: Who has a better chance to be with the Bucs in 2022 – Josh Rosen, Leonard Fournette or Ryan Smith?

Answer: That is an interesting question and one I will need to consult with my Magic 8-Ball with to get the answer. Unfortunately after shaking it multiple times, it keeps coming up with “Answer Unclear” and “Try Again.”

Seriously, it is just too hard to see two or three seasons from now. If I had to guess I would say quarterback Josh Rosen, but without much conviction. The Buccaneers signed Rosen to the practice squad to kick the tires a bit, and get a firsthand look at what the former first-round pick offers. They still have all of their scouting notes from two years ago and this is a perfect example of why teams seemingly with their starting quarterback already set for what they hope is a long time, still scout other players like quarterbacks.
They just never know if they might become available and under what circumstances.

No one would have predicted that in April of 2018, after spending just one season in Arizona that Rosen would be shipped off to Miami after being drafted in the first round by the Cardinals. Now the question that Tampa Bay must determine is, was it because of deficiencies in Rosen’s game or just plain bad luck with Kyler Murray being available to the Cardinals and then first-round quarterback Tua Tagovailoa falling into the Dolphins’ lap this past April?

Bucs QB Josh Rosen – Photo by: Getty Images

We know offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich has inside information on Rosen since they were both in Arizona together during Rosen’s rookie season. If Rosen was too big of a project, then Leftwich surely would have told head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Jason Licht to not even bother signing him to the practice squad. That tells me there is something there that the staff and front office believe they can work with.

Add in Rosen having an opportunity to learn from the best quarterback of all time in Tom Brady, and it is a low-cost, low-risk opportunity, but possibly one with a high reward to see if the Cardinals and Dolphins ultimately made a mistake.

Question: With all the hype and excitement over the Bucs’ 2020 season, are we just setting ourselves up to be disappointed?

Answer: Bucs fans have been conditioned for disappointment for a long time, even going back to 1980 when the team was coming off a 1979 NFC Championship appearance and being just 10 points away from reaching the Super Bowl. The 1980 season saw the team fall to 5-10-1 and miss the playoffs. The Bucs made the playoffs in 1981 and 1982, and then had to wait until 1997 to return to the postseason once again.

After a long-awaited playoff appearance in 1997, Bucs fans were disappointed once again the following season when many expected the team to improve and go deep in the playoffs – only to see Tampa Bay slip to 8-8 and miss the postseason entirely in 1998. It took a few more years to finally win the Lombardi Trophy following the 2002 season, but once again the team let their fans down, going 7-9 in 2003 while defending its championship.

And most recently in 2016, Tampa Bay was coming off of a 9-7 season and the hype surrounding the team entering 2017 was high. So high that HBO showed up to feature the up-and-coming Buccaneers on Hard Knocks. Unfortunately the only “hard knock” was the one fans felt in their gut as they watched the team go 5-11.

Former Bucs DT Gerald McCoy and RB Doug Martin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

So I think most fans understand your skepticism. Historically, this team has often failed to live up to the hype. How many teams that win free agency and the draft in the spring end up as Super Bowl champs? Very few.

With that said, I believe the Buccaneers won’t fall on their face by any stretch. Will they win a Super Bowl? I’m not necessarily as optimistic as NBC Sports’ Peter King is, but I do see a team that makes the playoffs for the first time since 2007, and once in the tournament, we never know what can happen.

The Saints are still the cream of the crop in the NFC and dethroning them will be difficult despite the additions of talent the Buccaneers have accumulated. But that’s what makes sports fun. Can teams live up to their billing? What teams comes out of nowhere and surprises an entire league? At this point I am just happy to see football season starting in a few days after months of uncertainty due to COVID-19.

Question: Was Matt Gay’s final game in 2019 the nail in his coffin? It seems like he really stepped off a cliff and that Bruce Arians lost all faith in him for Gay not to be considered for practice squad.

Answer: There is an old saying that a woman will forgive and forgive a man multiple times, but when she’s done, she’s done for good. I feel like that is Bruce Arians in some respects. We saw that with quarterback Jameis Winston, whom Arians defended over and over for 15 games in 2019. But when the team walked off the field following the season-ending loss to the Bears on yet another Winston pick-six, it was a different Arians we saw at the podium that late afternoon. Looking back now we can see where Arians was essentially “done” with Winston.

Bucs K Matt Gay – Photo by: Getty Images

I am not sure it was quite as strong in Matt Gay’s case, but Arians saw too many kicks that he felt should be automatic, missed in late 2019, and clearly in training camp as well. A big red flag for me was on a Zoom call recently with Gay, who told the media he had worked on changing his technique over the offseason.

It is one thing for a kicker to tweak a couple things from time to time, but it seemed Gay was taking his changes to a whole other level. That, to me, screamed of a lack of confidence. I suspect maybe for Arians, too.

Whatever it was that made the team decide to move on from Gay was more than just veteran Ryan Succop coming in and winning the job in three days of practices. That late stretch last season that saw Gay miss five of his last eight field goals likely had a lot to do with the Bucs trying to solidify the kicker position once again.

Question: It’s awesome having this loaded roster, but what does this team look like one to two years from now contractually? Who stays and who goes?

Answer: Right now that isn’t a high priority within the organization. Of course they have people in the front office keeping an eye beyond 2020 as far as which players’ contracts are expiring, which players aren’t playing up to their paychecks and so on. But the focus right now is on the 2020 season and reaching the playoffs – and hopefully more.

Bucs director of football administration Mike Greenberg and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

I wouldn’t say they’ve sacrificed the future for the now either though. Cap guru and director of football administration Mike Greenberg knows the ins and outs of the financial side of football better than anyone, but there are still question marks on things like what the cap will even look like in 2021 and 2022 with the amount of lost revenue due to attendance issues for all clubs this year with the COVID-19 protocols and restrictions. So that leaves teams in the dark somewhat.

In the case of the Buccaneers, they have built this roster to win now, and are focusing on the now, which is the 2020 season. General manager Jason Licht and Greenberg will evaluate the future after this season. The picture will become much clearer following the 2020 campaign, and the Buccaneers and the other 31 teams can begin to formulate sound financial strategies for the years to come.