Who is the one player the Bucs can least afford to do without in 2024? IMO it's Vita Vea. We have HOF and ROH players. We lost him for one game and a mediocre offense torched us. Vea's push up the middle is the key to Bowles' defense. Teams have to deal with him and that allows other players to slip through the cracks and get to the backfield. If Vea is not in there teams can sit back and run the plays they want to run. Baker Mayfield is playing as well as any QB in the league pretty much, but if you put in Trask we'd still be able to function. So Vea gets my vote for MIP. If he stays healthy the Bucs can go far. If he doesn't stay healthy we're just an average team IMO. Any thoughts?
Baker mayfield
It's not Vea. He only plays about half of the snaps as-is.
QB is the most important position in professional sports, so that's the obvious answer. But the offense would be significantly different without Mike Evans and the defense would be significantly different without Lavonte David.
The most indispensable person on defense is Bowles because he's calling the plays and setting the plan that is getting a lot out of the younger, lesser players.
Vita Vea obviously has a very significant impact on the defense
to name a few in the discussion, id' rank them in this order - it's basically our team captains lol
1 - QB Baker Mayfield - say what you will, but the guy has been playing like a top QB since our run last year. We are 9-3 under him in our last 12 games (5-1 in last 6 regular season games, 1-1 in playoffs, 3-1 this year) and he is obviously a big part of that. Kyle Trask is still unknown. He looked decent in preseason play this year and looks to have taken a step forward; i'd say he may be able to have a spot start or two but we would struggle to finish .500 if Mayfield was to miss remainder of the year.
2 - WR Mike Evans - Teams game plan for him and he still has monster games. If he goes down, they then double Godwin and we are in big trouble.
3 - OT Tristian Wirfs - We saw the impact of Luke Goedeke being out and how that looked against Detroit and Denver. Somehow, we managed against the Eagles. Now imagine the scenario without Wirfs. Not good.
4 - DL Vita Vea - The dude is pivotal to our success in stopping the run
5 - ILB Lavonte David - saved the game with his strip sack fumble. The heart of the defense
6 - S AWJ - now we have missed him for a few games already but this team is not as dominate without him.
you can likely argue the rankings but it's between these 6 and since we managed to be 3-1 with guys like Vea and AWJ out, i place more emphasis on the offense.
Remember, without Vea, we managed to make the NFC championship game back in 2020 season. He returned and provided a spark but a team can likely still make a run without top defenders. Ask the same of how the Bengals or Jets made out last year without Burrow and Rodgers.
That's true QB is the most important position, but what's the drop-off? Obviously, there is significant drop-off if you go from Mayfield to Trask, but I still think Trask could run the offense and we wouldn't be totally lost.It's not Vea. He only plays about half of the snaps as-is.
QB is the most important position in professional sports, so that's the obvious answer. But the offense would be significantly different without Mike Evans and the defense would be significantly different without Lavonte David.
You can argue David for now because of the loss of Dennis. David played 100% of the snaps in the Eagles game, and now with Dennis out there's just him, Britt and practice squad guys at ILB. I thought ILB was our thinnest position on the team at the start of the season and it just got thinner at least for four weeks or more with Dennis out. If David goes out, we're screwed.
1 - QB Baker Mayfield
All teams sort of rise and fall with QB play, but for the look no further than the difference between the Broncos game and the Eagles game, both if which largely (not exclusively) turned on QB play
Last year (for bigger sample size) only the Texans game leaps to mind when I try to think of great Mayfield play that ended in a loss. Could be wrong about that, but we can all think of multiple games last season where Mayfield's poor play coincided with a loss.
Nature of the game
That's true QB is the most important position, but what's the drop-off? Obviously, there is significant drop-off if you go from Mayfield to Trask, but I still think Trask could run the offense and we wouldn't be totally lost.
You may very well be right that wouldn't be totally lost, as nobody really knows how he'll perform with live bullets. But the possibility exists that he would blow and play like Mayfield did vs. Denver a lot more often.
You can argue David for now because of the loss of Dennis. David played 100% of the snaps in the Eagles game, and now with Dennis out there's just him, Britt and practice squad guys at ILB. I thought ILB was our thinnest position on the team at the start of the season and it just got thinner at least for four weeks or more with Dennis out. If David goes out, we're screwed.
And it's not just about his actual play on the field. The dude is an on-field coach, getting the other guys in the right positions most of the time. He's more valuable than his actual play, which is still pretty damn good, because of that.
1 - QB Baker Mayfield
All teams sort of rise and fall with QB play, but for the look no further than the difference between the Broncos game and the Eagles game, both if which largely (not exclusively) turned on QB play
Last year (for bigger sample size) only the Texans game leaps to mind when I try to think of great Mayfield play that ended in a loss. Could be wrong about that, but we can all think of multiple games last season where Mayfield's poor play coincided with a loss.
Nature of the game
Your are largely right. I’d argue the Detroit playoff loss.
1 - QB Baker Mayfield
All teams sort of rise and fall with QB play, but for the look no further than the difference between the Broncos game and the Eagles game, both if which largely (not exclusively) turned on QB play
Last year (for bigger sample size) only the Texans game leaps to mind when I try to think of great Mayfield play that ended in a loss. Could be wrong about that, but we can all think of multiple games last season where Mayfield's poor play coincided with a loss.
Nature of the game
Your are largely right. I’d argue the Detroit playoff loss.
oh hell yeah. Not sure why that didn’t pop into my mind. Defense gave up 3 long drives
