SR’s Fab 5 is a collection of reporting and analysis on the Bucs from yours truly, Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds. Here are four things that caught my attention this week, plus some random tidbits in my Buc Shots section at the end. Enjoy!

FAB 1. The Bucs’ Center Of Attention

Tampa Bay was preparing to lose either Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen and/or right guard Alex Cappa this offseason – depending on the prices they fetch in free agency.

Until Pro Bowl left guard Ali Marpet retired.

That changed everything, of course.

“It changes a lot of things as far as where we’re headed in free agency, with Ryan and [Cappa] and [Aaron] Stinnie,” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Obviously, for us, offensive line is huge. It’s prominent. It’s paramount. We’ve got to dive into more guys here than we probably would have.

“We can’t replace the player, but if we can get back Ryan and Alex and Stinnie – they all played together. Nick Leverett played. We went through seven or eight offensive linemen last year. Those five guys were iron men for most of the year until January. I think we’re fine there.”

That’s a big if when it comes to Jensen and Cappa especially on the heels of Marpet’s sudden retirement.

Bucs C Ryan Jensen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs aren’t going to lose three interior offensive linemen this year.

That’s just not going to happen on general manager Jason Licht’s watch.

Licht has a knack for finding good offensive linemen. He’s built the O-line primarily through the draft. Licht spent a first-round pick on All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs in the first round in 2020 and used a pair of second rounders on left tackle Donovan Smith and Marpet back in 2015. In 2018, he used a third-rounder on Cappa, who has been a three-year starter at right guard.

Licht also signed Jensen as a free agent out of Baltimore in 2018 and made him the highest-paid center in the NFL. Jensen signed a four-year, $42 million deal. He’s currently the league’s fifth highest-paid center, as Detroit’s Frank Ragnow makes $13.5 million per year.

During his free agent visit to Tampa Bay, Jensen and Licht really connected over their Midwestern roots and upbringing. Licht even had a custom-made airbrushed helmet for Jensen on his visit. It had Jensen’s likeness on one side with the Tampa skyline and the word “REDMAN” on it for the center’s long ginger locks. The other side had a Bucs-like skull and sword on it.

Jensen loved it and felt the love from Licht and the Bucs and decided to play for Tampa Bay. The Bucs loved the passion, toughness, leadership and skill that Jensen brought to the team.

Tampa Bay has heard whispers that Jensen wants to once again be the league’s highest-paid center. The Bucs were initially cool to the idea of paying him north of $13.5 million per year. Jensen averaged $10.5 million per season in Tampa Bay.

“He has been the center pivot of our offense,” Licht said Tuesday at the Combine. “We signed him when we did to elevate and set the tone of the toughness of the team, and he’s definitely done that. I think for me it’s a definite priority to continue that.”

Now with Marpet’s retirement and the Bucs resigned to the fact that there will be a new quarterback under center, the team is rethinking letting Jensen get big money elsewhere. Jensen, who will be 31 in May, is looking to cash in on one more big contract before he retires.

Who can blame him? Jensen’s value has never been higher. He won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay in 2020 and is coming off his first Pro Bowl this past season.

Pewter Report has learned that the Bucs will indeed make a strong run at re-signing Jensen. Of course the fact that the team resides in the state of Florida helps. Florida does not have state income tax, so the Bucs could offer slightly less than teams in other states that do have income tax and Jensen could still make more money in Tampa Bay.

Re-signing Jensen with a raise might mean the team loses Cappa, especially if the right guard commands as much as $8.5 million per season. But the team likes Cappa. He’s homegrown and only 27.

Cappa is tough, physical, knows the Bucs offense and has good chemistry playing next to Wirfs. There is a lot to like about Cappa’s game and if he’s the one they re-sign he could be as much as $4-5 million cheaper than Jensen.

If the Bucs choose to save some money instead of bringing Jensen back and need another center they have an in-house option in Robert Hainsey. The Bucs used a third-round pick on Hainsey last year, but he only played 31 snaps as a rookie.

Chances are Tampa Bay would sign a veteran center to compete with Hainsey, and a likely target would be Baltimore’s Bradley Bozeman. Licht had great success plucking a center from the Ravens five years ago. He might be inclined to do it again. Bozeman is almost a carbon copy of Jensen.

The Alabama product is 6-foot-5, 325 pounds. Jensen is 6-foot-4, 319 pounds. Both were sixth-round picks in Baltimore who played guard before transitioning to center for their final year. Bozeman had a 73.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus last year. He had a 73.8 pass block grade and a 70.7 run block grade. In his first year at center, Bozeman had one penalty, allowed three sacks and three hits, in addition to 21 total pressures.

During Jensen’s Pro Bowl season in 2021, PFF gave him a 70.3 overall grade. Jensen received a 61.7 pass blocking grade and a 76.7 run blocking grade. He had five penalties, surrendered two sacks and five QB hits, plus allowed 21 total pressures.

Ravens C Bradley Bozeman – Photo by: USA Today

Whether it’s Jensen returning or Bozeman as his replacement for likely $8-9 million per year, it’s hard to imagine the Bucs turning to an unproven center in 2022.

The Bucs have actually done a pretty good job of stockpiling some talent at the guard position with some unheralded players. Stinnie, who is a free agent but could be resigned cheaply. He and Leverett would be the current favorites to replace Cappa and Marpet. Tampa Bay would also likely draft a guard. The team had a formal meeting with Boston College’s Zion Johnson in Indianapolis.

“You don’t want to leave that cupboard bare,” Licht said. “We liked all three of our starting interior guys, but we also like Aaron Stinnie and what he’s done for us. Nick Leverett has done some great things for us. We like Brandon Walton and Sadarius Hutcherson until he got hurt last year in training camp. We’ve got some options there, but we ideally would like to keep Alex and Ryan Jensen on the team.”

Arians echoes that sentiment.

“It starts up front, and you always want to have a strong offensive line,” Arians said. “And I think our offensive line is a major key to our success, winning the Super Bowl and having a really good record this year. We want to continue to build that offensive line or retain the players that we have on that offensive line to continue that position group being strong, and we’ll just have to see how it goes. Sometimes what you want to do and what happens are two different things, but we definitely ideally would like to keep it moving forward.

“Obviously, Ali’s retirement threw a little wrench into it, but we’ll work through that and see how much continuity we can keep in our offensive line – that’s always key. The quarterback issue will take care of itself.”

Imagine that.

Arians, the quarterback whisperer, is putting more of a priority on maintaining the success of the offensive line than actually finding a quarterback this offseason. Yet Arians knows that whoever starts at quarterback in Tampa Bay won’t be worth a damn if he’s lying on his back after hits and sacks.

If Jensen doesn’t return it won’t be due to lack of effort from the Bucs during negotiations.

FAB 2. Are You Ready For Gabbert 2.0?

A month ago in SR’s Fab 5 we broke the news that the Bucs may be resigned to the fact that the team would have to re-sign Blaine Gabbert to be the starting QB in 2022. As expected, Bucs head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Jason Licht spoke glowingly about Gabbert, who has been a backup quarterback the last three years in Tampa Bay, this week at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Bucs QB Blaine Gabbert – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Blaine Gabbert has been in this system for a long time now and his talent is more than enough,” Arians said. “So if we go free agency-wise, we’ll probably bring him back.”

You can remove the word probably.

The Bucs will be re-signing Gabbert this offseason to compete with Kyle Trask and two yet-to-be identified, yet-to-be acquired quarterbacks in camp. While Arians would love to have Tom Brady back instead, he’ll settle for Gabbert because he’s been the quarterback whisperer’s project QB for the last several years behind the scenes. Arians is curious how Gabbert 2.0 will fare should he win the starting job.

“I think he’s got all the respect in the locker room,” Arians said of Gabbert. “They saw him help Tom and he’s helped each and every one of those guys on offense and some on defense. He’s got a great relationship in that locker room.

“He’s been in about eight systems but he’s been in this one for about five years. He was crucial to Tom’s development. He’s got the answers to the test. Now, does he still have the skill level to do it? I think so.”

Arians knows all about Gabbert’s 13-35 career record as a starter. But that came playing for bad teams in Jacksonville and San Francisco, in addition to fill-in stints in Arizona and Tennessee.

“Everybody is judged by the record and when you are playing on a shitty team and you get drafted high you’re probably on a shitty team,” Arians said. “Ben [Roethlisberger] was lucky that he went to the Steelers. He dropped to 11 and got on a good team. You go through those growing pains with eight head coaches, nine coordinators in your first eight years. But you’ve got to have something about you to keep going.

“When we got him, I was always a fan. I go back to his rookie year in Jacksonville at Pittsburgh. They don’t block James Harrison off the edge and hit him in the mouth about the same time the ball was coming out. He jumped up and went and grabbed his guys and I thought, ‘He’s going to be a player.’ He won two big games for us in Arizona when we were decimated with injuries. I know what he can do. I don’t judge records from the past. What can you do for me today? I like what he can do for us today.”

Bucs QB Kyle Trask and head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Arians also likes how Trask developed behind the scenes during his rookie season. He all but ruled out the Bucs drafting a quarterback in 2022 as a result.

“We addressed [quarterback] last year,” Arians said. “We drafted Kyle Trask [in the second round] for a reason. He fits everything we want to do [at the] quarterback [position]. I really, really liked what I saw for a year, so I doubt drafting is an option.”

Not only is Arians curious about seeing what Gabbert 2.0 can do, he’s also intrigued by how much pressure Trask can apply on him for the starting job in training camp.

“They also see what Kyle can do and what he’s got going forward,” Arians said. “I would be very, very comfortable because they know what they’re doing. They both have shown they can do it [in practice].”

FAB 3. Signing Gabbert Boxes Brady Into Bucs

Tampa Bay is not going to be able to trade for a great quarterback this year. There just aren’t any quarterbacks available outside of Houston’s Deshaun Watson. And that’s a very risky move that the Bucs won’t be making.

Re-signing Blaine Gabbert to be the team’s QB this year has a couple of significant advantages for the Bucs. First, Tampa Bay could have a starter for about $4-5 million. That would be a huge savings after paying Jameis Winston over $20 million in 2019 and Tom Brady $25 million in each of the last two seasons.

Saving $15-20 million at the quarterback position will allow general manager Jason Licht to focus on re-signing other players and continuing to build a team around the quarterback position. Gabbert won’t get the chance to start anywhere else, so he would be a bargain.

Bucs QBs Blaine Gabbert and Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But re-signing Gabbert also boxes Brady into the Bucs – just in case he wants to return to football this summer and play somewhere else. There has been speculation that Brady would love to play his final year in San Francisco. His parents live in California and Brady grew up a fan of Joe Montana and the 49ers.

Head coach Bruce Arians already said Brady wouldn’t be playing anywhere else if he wants to un-retire. Saying it was “bad business” to trade Brady and that the Bucs’ asking price would be five first-round picks anyways.

Yet if the Bucs were able to pull off a hypothetical trade for a great quarterback like Seattle’s Russell Wilson this month there wouldn’t be any room for Brady on the roster. Certainly not from a salary cap standpoint, as both QBs would occupy over $50 million of cap space.

So if Wilson became a Buccaneer the team would essentially have to accommodate Brady and trade him out of necessity. But if Gabbert were to be re-signed, Brady loses his argument. Arians and the Bucs would say, “Great news, Tom. You’ll be coming back as our starter and we’ll move Blaine back down to No. 2 again for one more year.”

This won’t be the reason that Gabbert is re-signed. But it is a nice byproduct of bringing him back because it insures that Brady can’t – and won’t – play anywhere else in 2022.

FAB 4. SR’s Bucs Takeaways From The Combine

Five Bucs general manager Jason Licht and coach Bruce Arians

Bucs Aren’t Rebuilding, They’re Rebooting

The fact that the Bucs have had to weather two big retirements this offseason in Pro Bowl quarterback Tom Brady and Pro Bowl guard Ali Marpet means the team isn’t going to be reloading for another Super Bowl run in 2022. But Tampa Bay is still a very talented team if it can re-sign some key pieces this offseason, such as franchise receiver Chris Godwin and cornerback Carlton Davis III. Both are expected to be back, among others.

Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Pewter Report

Just don’t tell Bucs general manager Jason Licht that he and the team will be rebuilding this year.

“I just don’t like that word,” Licht said at the Combine. “Going into free agency we’ve got a lot of great players again and we’d like to bring some of them back. More of that offensive line, always when you have a chance you’ve got to have a good offensive line. So we still have some very good players. We still have overall, what is it, six Pro Bowlers that are under contract with us next year? Bruce and I and the rest of the team feel pretty good about where we are compared to where we were a couple of years ago. So we don’t see it as a rebuild.”

It’s not a reload because the Bucs won’t necessarily be Super Bowl contenders in 2022. But it’s not a rebuild because they have enough talent to make another run at the playoffs. So call it a reboot.

Bucs Are Focused On Winning The NFC South

After two years of being a legitimate Super Bowl contender with Brady under center the Bucs are re-calibrating their expectations in 2023. Tampa Bay fans would be wise to do the same. With a daunting schedule ahead that includes games against the Super Bowl champion Rams and the runner-up Bengals, in addition to the Packers, Cowboys, Ravens and Chiefs, the Bucs are focused on winning the NFC South – not necessarily winning the NFC.

“We’ve got some very good coaches,” Licht said. “We’ve got some good young players coming up, and offensive linemen we feel good about, too. I think we can still make a run at this division for sure.”

Last year the Bucs won the division for the first time since 2007 en route to a franchise-best 13-4 record. With the Saints losing head coach Sean Payton to retirement and the Falcons and Panthers still in flux, the NFC South is wide open in 2022.

“We only won it once,” Arians said. “The Saints still have that defense. Matt Ryan is still in Atlanta. I think it’s going to be wide open, but I like our chances with our defense.”

Even a 9-8 record could win the NFC South in 2022. That would give the Bucs a home playoff game, and after that, who knows?

The Davis Dilemma

Bucs CB Carlton Davis III – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Licht and Arians want to have free agent cornerback Carlton Davis III back, but it sounds like it will be come by way of the franchise tag. Both men talked about Davis being a very good cornerback “when healthy.” This is code for the team wanting to put Davis on a one-year, prove-it deal via the franchise tag.

Davis has missed 14 games in his four years in Tampa Bay, and has never had a season in which he’s played in every game. Last year, Davis missed seven games due to a quad injury.

The other issue with Davis is his playmaking ability. He breaks up a ton of passes – 52 career pass breakups – but only has six career interceptions. Davis notched his first career pick in 2019 and then had four in 2020. Last year, he produced just one INT in 10 games and dropped about three more.

Cornerbacks that can average four interceptions per year, like he had in 2020, get paid a lot more than ones that only pick off one pass a year, as Davis did in 2019 and 2021. How much is Davis actually worth? The Bucs want the 2022 season to find out.

We Knew This QB Situation Was Coming

Licht and Arians are resigned to the fact that the team won’t be able to trade for an elite starting quarterback. That’s something Pewter Report forecasted early on and tried to prep our readers about. We stated that Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask might be the best options because they might be the only options. Licht and Arians admitted that at the Combine.

To all those fans who (wrongly) believe that Arians wouldn’t come back for the 2022 season at age 70 if he didn’t have a great quarterback, you don’t know Arians. He’s a coach, and coaches are teachers. Arians takes just as much joy in developing young quarterbacks as he does in coaching great ones. The thrill is the same for him. It just comes in a different form.

Arians is curious as heck about seeing what Gabbert 2.0 can do in his offense after developing behind the scenes in it for four seasons. No other current NFL quarterback knows Arians’ system better than Gabbert does.

Arians and Licht are also excited to see what Trask can do and how quickly he can develop. They made a wise move in drafting Trask last year because they had him rated higher last year than any QB in the 2022 draft class. If he can somehow beat out an experienced quarterback like Gabbert for the starting job that should be viewed as quite an accomplishment for Trask and not necessarily an indictment on Gabbert.

Running Back Is An Afterthought

Outside of answering a question about Ke’Shawn Vaughn, neither Licht nor Arians even mentioned any of the Bucs running backs in a combined hour’s worth of interviews between local media scrums and the podium press conferences. That’s noteworthy given the fact that the team has just two running backs under contact – Vaughn and Kenyon Barner.

Bucs HC Bruce Arians – Photo by: Pewter Report

Both Licht and Arians think highly of Vaughn, a third-round pick from 2020. In fact, they think he’s a starting caliber running back. I don’t see it, and believe he’s a No. 2 or No. 3 running back instead. Barner, who’s mostly a kick returner, is no lock to make the team.

Free agent Leonard Fournette’s name wasn’t mentioned once in Indy. We all know Ronald Jones II is moving on. That’s a mutual decision. But there’s a chance Fournette returns later in March after the first wave of free agency. I think the Bucs would welcome him back on a similar one-year, $3.25 million deal like he signed last year.

Tampa Bay needs to let him test the waters and then wait patiently until his contract demands come down if there are no takers in the 27-year old back. If he does sign elsewhere the Bucs can always draft a running back and sign a value free agent. Tampa Bay showed strong interest in Arizona State running back Rachaad White at the Combine among others. White was featured in Pewter Report’s initial Bucs 7-Round Mock Draft. It sounds like Arians is prepared to use the committee approach at running back in 2022 like he has in the past.

Remember, Arians’ offense is a pass-first scheme. The Bucs may not sling it around as much as they did the last three years without Jameis Winton or Tom Brady, but the emphasis will still be on getting the receivers the ball. Tampa Bay may indeed run the ball more often without Brady to take some of the pressure off the new QB. But addressing the running back position won’t be a top priority when free agency starts unless they get the right player at the right price early on.

FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• THE QB TRAITS ARIANS LOOKS FOR: Bucs head coach Bruce Arians is known as the “quarterback whisperer” due to his grooming and developing of several NFL star QBs. He was asked at the NFL Scouting Combine what he looks for in an NFL quarterback.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and HC Bruce Arians – Photo by: USA Today

“Grit – he’s got to be tough,” Arians said. “A leader – a guy that the team will follow. And, he’s got to know what the hell he is doing. I mean, he cannot turn the ball over.”

That last sentence all but rules out the return of former Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston to Tampa Bay. Winston had an NFL-high 30 interceptions in his lone season with Arians in 2019.

• BUCS MAY RUN THE BALL MORE IN 2022: The Bucs led the NFL in pass attempts with 731, passing yardage with 5,383 and passing touchdowns with 43 last year. But with a new quarterback in 2022 that is not going to be as skilled as Tom Brady, Tampa Bay’s offense will likely throw the ball less and run the ball more.

It’s not that Bruce Arians’ playbook will change this year. It’s just that the Bucs may turn to different pages of the playbook than they used with Brady at the helm.

“Our offense has kind of been there for 20 years,” Arians said. “[Offensive coordinator] Byron [Leftwich] was playing in it. We can do so many things, it’s really who the players are. And once you get the players we’ll build it around them.”

• PR’S LIVE COMBINE COVERAGE ON THE PEWTER REPORT PODCAST: The Pewter Report Podcast is energized by CELSIUS and broadcasts four live episodes each week. Pewter Report Podcasts typically air on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 4:00 pm EST.

Pewter Report’s Jon Ledyard and Matt Matera are in Indianapolis covering the NFL Scouting Combine this week, and did a couple of episodes analyzing the press conferences for Bucs general manager Jason Licht and Bruce Arians.

On Monday, Scott Reynolds and J.C. Allen discussed the sudden retirement of guard Ali Marpet and what it means for the Bucs going forward.

On Tuesday, Ledyard and Matera discussed the big takeaways from the Licht and Arians press conferences.

On Wednesday, Ledyard and Matera broke the news about which tight ends and running backs the Bucs have interviewed at the Combine.

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• GET TO KNOW NEW BUCS OLBs COACH BOB SANDERS: New outside linebackers coach Bob Sanders coached with Bruce Arians in Arizona from 2015-17. At age 68, Sanders has plenty of coaching experience he’ll bring to Tampa Bay. Take a sneak peek at Sanders from this recent podcast interview.