FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• HERE’S THE TRUTH ABOUT “THE TRUTH”: I’d like to submit one more candidate for consideration to the Bucs Ring of Honor – Karl “The Truth” Williams. No, I don’t think Williams, who was a wide receiver and punt returner from 1996-2003, has any real chance of having his name memorialized on the walls of Raymond James Stadium, but he does deserve to be recognized.

I’ve consistently put Williams’ name on the list of PewterReport.com’s Top 25 All-Time Buccaneers – albeit at No. 25 – but as time goes on and more prominent players make the list, Williams will slide off that list. The reason? He was Tampa Bay’s greatest punt returner by a mile with a team-record 2,279 yards and five touchdowns.

Former Bucs PR-WR Karl Williams – Photo by: Getty Images

To put that in perspective, the Bucs have only had nine punt return touchdowns in franchise history, and Williams has over half of them. No other Buccaneer has more than one. The Tampa Bay player with the second-most punt return yards was Danny Reese, who had 1,554 yards from 1976-1980. Williams’ career average of 10.7 yards is the best for any Buccaneer with 60 returns or more.

Williams also has six of the longest punt returns in team history:

88 TD vs. Chicago – 1996
84 TD at Detroit – 2001
73 TD vs. Buffalo – 2000
72 at Minnesota – 1996
63 at Indianapolis – 1997
61 TD vs. Chicago – 1997

In addition to being the best punt returner in Tampa Bay history, Williams also amassed 1,245 yards as a part-time kick returner and caught 137 passes for 1,700 yards and seven touchdowns as the team’s third receiver where his impact was greatest felt converting third downs. When looking at Williams’ all-purpose yardage, combining punt returns, kick returns and receiving yards, “The Truth” totaled 6,904 yards.

That’s fourth in Bucs history behind Warrick Dunn (8,048 all-purpose yards), Mike Alstott (7,372 all-purpose yards) and James Wilder (9,449 all-purpose yards). It would be hard to put Williams in the Bucs Ring of Honor ahead of Dunn, who was the third-best rusher in the Tampa Bay record books, but it is important to recognize Williams for being a great all-around weapon for the Bucs – and the best punt returner in team history.

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• ROOKIE LEVERETT IS ONE OF BUCS’ GOOD GUYS: One of the undrafted rookie free agents trying to make Tampa Bay’s 2020 roster is guard Nick Leverett, who played at Rice. The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Leverett transferred to Rice last year from North Carolina Central where he started all 34 games and earned All-MEAC honors each year from 2016-18.

Leverett is a smart young man of high character, earning his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in just three years with a 3.37 GPA. He’s also done some outstanding work in the community too, and was a member of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team in 2018. Click on the Twitter link below to watch a cool video about one of the newest Buccaneers.

Story on @NCCU_Football star and @Buccaneers FA @_BigNick74 making his dreams happen. @WNCN pic.twitter.com/LxxSC0HJpV

— Chris Clark (@ChrisClark_) May 11, 2020

• NEW PEWTER NATION PODCAST IS HERE: The PR staff – minus yours truly, who was on vacation – taped a new Pewter Nation Podcast this week, discussing among other things the Bucs’ potential interest in Jets Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams, who was drafted in New York by former Jets head coach and current Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. Bucs general manager Jason Licht had a very high grade on Adams coming out of LSU years ago.

With Adams in a contract dispute with the Jets, would the Bucs be interested despite spending a second-round pick on Antoine Winfield, Jr.? Could Tampa Bay create the necessary cap space to acquire Adams in a trade? Listen and find out!

Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 193: Are The Bucs Interested In Adams?

If you missed the previous Pewter Nation Podcast, which centered around Bucs tight end O.J. Howard potentially having a rebound year in 2020 and potential complications regarding Tampa Bay’s running game, you can listen to that episode right here:

Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 192: Howard’s Rebound Year; Run Game Complications

There is no better time to listen to a new Pewter Nation Podcast, which is presented by Chris Garrido of Westshore Financial, than right now or early Saturday morning during your workout or while running errands. The next Pewter Nation Podcast will be recorded Friday, followed by another one next week. Stay tuned!

The popularity of the Pewter Nation Podcast continues to grow. In addition to listening to the Pewter Nation Podcasts on PewterReport.com you can also subscribe to the free podcasts at PodBean by clicking here and on SoundCloud by clicking here. And of course the Pewter Nation Podcast is also available on iTunes. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode.

• BUCS’ NEW NO FLY ZONE? Pro Football Focus put out a Twitter graphic last week that revealed that the top two players that forced the most incompletions from Weeks 12-17 last year were Tampa Bay cornerbacks Carlton Davis, who had the most with 12, and Jamel Dean, who was tied for second with 10. The Bucs love their young cornerbacks, including slot corner Sean Murphy-Bunting, and that’s a big reason why Tampa Bay didn’t sign a free agent CB or draft another one this offseason.

🚫 ✈️ pic.twitter.com/7ccjHsDDaN

— PFF (@PFF) May 19, 2020

• FOLLOW PEWTER REPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Thanks to a lot of new Buccaneers fans due to the signing of Tom Brady and the trade for Rob Gronkowski, PewterReport.com has surpassed 36,300 Twitter followers on the @PewterReport Twitter account! Thank you to all of our Twitter followers. We’re also approaching 10,000 followers on Facebook, so if you don’t follow us on Twitter or Facebook please take the time to do so, Bucs fans.

Here is a list of all of the PewterReport.com social media platforms. Make sure to follow us this offseason as we cover the team’s offseason workouts when they resume, plus any breaking Bucs news or press conferences.

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• THE SAINTS HAVE A NEW BUCS’ KILLER: New Orleans Pro Bowl wide receiver Michael Thomas set a new NFL single-season record last year with 149 catches, which went for 1,725 yards. But as Bucs Nation reporter Evan Winter points out on Twitter, Thomas did most of his damage against Tampa Bay’s young secondary.

Y’all gonna hate me for this, but oh well.

In 2019 vs the #Bucs, Michael Thomas recorded 19 rec for 296 yds and 3 TDs. He averaged 15.6 ypc. He also averaged 14 YPT/11.4 YPT in each game, 2 of his 3 highest totals on the year.

He averaged 10.8 ypc in the other 14 games.

— Evan Winter (@evan_winter) May 20, 2020

It was no surprise that the 13-3 Saints swept the Bucs last year with Thomas leading the way, but we’ll see how he fares against Tampa Bay’s secondary, which improved a great deal down the stretch, in 2020. The Bucs open the 2020 regular season at New Orleans in Week 1.

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