FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• There are some Bucs fans out there that simply believe the NFL is out to get Tampa Bay. Whether it’s bad calls on Sundays from referees, the league sticking the Bucs with Hard Knocks in 2017 or nailing quarterback Jameis Winston with a three-game suspension last year for an alleged groping incident with a female Uber drive in 2017, despite no criminal charges being filed.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Getty Images

Well, Bucs fans have the right to cling to that conspiracy theory, especially after the NFL royally screwed Tampa Bay with its 2019 regular season schedule. It’s been well documented that the Bucs don’t play a true home at Raymond James Stadium for a seven-week span from Week 3 against the Giants until Week 10 when the team hosts Arizona.

Even the NFL’s senior director of broadcast planning and scheduling, Mike North, spoke about the Bucs’ perplexing schedule on Late Hits, a football talk show on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

“If we had to do-over, if we had a redo, I’d love to take another shot at that Tampa Bay schedule,” North said. “I’m not sure that’s really fair to their fans. I’m hopeful that we didn’t do something to the Buccaneers that they feel like was really unfair.”

Well, the NFL did, and it sucks for the Bucs and their fans. I’ve heard from members of the Bucs’ brass and outside of finally having a season opener at home for the first time since 2015, they are not happy with their schedule. Tampa Bay needs to start the season strong with at least a 2-1 record before their month-and-a-half long odyssey to places like Los Angeles, London and Seattle commences.

The only solace the Bucs can take is if they weather the storm with a record of 3-5 or better in the first half of the season because Tampa Bay does have five of its last eight games at Raymond James Stadium. The opportunity is there for a strong finish.

• Bucs tight end Cameron Brate will battle O.J. Howard for some playing time this year, but there is certainly no animosity between the two. Brate took Howard under his wing and has aided his development over the last two years. Howard can’t speak highly enough of how Brate’s tutelage has made his transition to the NFL go faster and smoother.

Brate wasn’t surprised by the leap that Howard made going from 26 catches for 432 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games as a rookie to catching 34 passes for 565 yards and five scores in 10 games last year. Brate said that Howard is ready to continue his statistical climb in 2019.

Bucs TEs O.J. Howard and Cam Brate – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I think from year one to year two he’s just like anyone else, and I think tight end is a hard position to play as a rookie,” Brate said. “You’ve got to block grown men playing at defensive end really for the first time, you have to read the safeties, read the defense because you have so many adjustments to give out based on what the defense is doing. That’s a big jump from college to the NFL – even if you’re coming from ‘Bama, who’s a powerhouse. There’s just a lot more asked of you in the NFL as opposed to college. 

“I don’t think O.J. had to think as much while he was playing last year and I think that was huge for him – just going out there and playing freely. Obviously everyone saw what he could do when given the opportunity. He’s looked great this spring, he looks like he’s bulked up a little bit and I’m sure he’s going to be great this year.”

• Bucs general manager Jason Licht had some interesting things to say about finding a good pass rusher in the draft, noting that finding the right one is not an easy feat.

“Well, they have to know that when they get to the NFL, they are going against a pretty good player day in and day out and then every week,” Licht said. “You can’t get by on talent alone. You’ve got your talented athletic edge rushers, who really don’t give 100 percent effort and try to get by simply on talent, and those guys usually fade, especially if they don’t have any element of power to their rush – if they are strictly speed rushers.

“Then you have the hard-charging, try-hard, full-of-effort guys that usually tend to make it just because of their effort because they are tough to cut because you want that effort on your team. But they are not necessarily talented, but they still stick around. So, if you have the guy that has talent and gives effort every play, then you’ve got JPP [Jason Pierre-Paul].”

• JUST IN TIME FOR THE DRAFT! Pewter Reporter Trevor Sikkema from The Draft Network is back and joined the latest Pewter Nation Podcast, which is presented by Chris Garrido of Westshore Financial, to talk some Bucs draft with myself, Mark Cook, Taylor Jenkins and producer Matt Matera. It was a great, fun episode and we went discussed Jason Licht’s press conference in addition to all of us making a pick for the Bucs in the second round. DO NOT miss this podcast, so listen to it if you haven’t already.

Click here to listen to Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 117: Trevor’s Back.

Our previous Pewter Nation Podcast was also killer, as Bucs running back Peyton Barber stopped by to chat with the PR team about re-signing with Tampa Bay and the upcoming season. Click here to listen to Pewter Nation Podcast Episode 116: Peyton Barber.

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.

• It’s been an offseason of transition for Tampa Bay tight end Cameron Brate, who has not only had to battle through rehab from his hip surgery, but also had to deal with losing two good friends who have departed the Buccaneers. The first was tight end Alan Cross, who retired from football to pursue a graduate assistant job at his alma mater, the University of Memphis.

“I would always talk to Alan about stuff, and I was obviously really disappointed when he called me and told me he was stepping away from football, but talk about a guy that defied the odds,” Brate said. “If you saw him on the street and you talked to him, you’d have no idea he was an NFL player, but he did a great job for us over the past three years. The locker room is going to miss him this year, but this is what he wanted. I don’t want to talk for him, so I’ll leave it at that, but he’s a guy that would always keep it light through the monotony of the season and training camp, and you need guys like that. Alan really brought that every single day.”

Brate also had to see his good friend Adam Humphries depart via free agency for Tennessee where he’ll be catching passes from Marcus Mariota. For the last several years, Brate, Humphries and quarterback Ryan Griffin all lived together as roommates in Tampa Bay.

“With the new coaching staff coming in too it’s a similar transition to college to NFL and from high school to college,” Brate said. “Like I went through my four years with Adam and Dirk [Koetter], and now my time’s up for that and I’ve got to move on to something else. It’s definitely weird but when you see a guy who has worked as hard as Adam get rewarded and get the opportunity he has in Tennessee, I’m thrilled for him. I’m going to go visit him a couple of times in the spring and we’ll keep in touch and stuff. He’ll definitely be missed, but I’m just happy that Griff stayed, so it won’t be a 100 percent wholesale change for me. It stinks that Adam is gone but I’m thrilled for him and the opportunity he has in Tennessee.”

• BUCS MINI-CAMP IS NEXT WEEK! And PewterReport.com will be there for all the action! The @PewterReport Twitter account continues to grow in popularity and is almost at 32,000 followers. Join the masses and stay plugged in to PewterReport.com’s mini-camp coverage.

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• Here are two Bucs-related predictions for you. Tampa Bay will stay at No. 5 and draft LSU inside linebacker Devin White, assuming Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and Kentucky outside linebacker Josh Allen is off the board when the Bucs are on the clock. The Bucs love White and we’ve been all over this from our first mock draft – just like we were last year from the start with defensive tackle Vita Vea, who was Tampa Bay’s first-rounder in 2018.

Ex-Bucs CB Ronde Barber – Photo by: Getty Images

The other prediction is that the team will induct cornerback Ronde Barber into the Bucs Ring of Honor this year. It’s time, and Barber, who is one of the team’s Top 5 all-time greats in my opinion, is due. The only question I have is whether or not there will be a dual induction this season.

Barber deserves to have his own induction, but there have been times when the team has doubled up with two Bucs Ring of Honor games – the last time it happened was in 2017 when Jon Gruden and Malcolm Glazer were inducted in the same season albeit on different game days. Putting Barber and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, who is getting up in age and helped feature Barber as the nickel cornerback on third downs, would be most appropriate, although pairing Barber with either middle linebacker Hardy Nickerson or defensive end Simeon Rice would make sense, too.

• One final note on Tampa Bay tight end Cameron Brate, who has been seen wearing an Alex Killorn Lightning jersey at One Buccaneer Place on occasion, as well as at the stadium on game days. The two went to Harvard together and met there in the athletic dorms where Killorn was a hockey star and Brate played for the Crimson football team. The two reconnected in Tampa Bay a few years ago after Brate landed with the Bucs as an undrafted free agent.

“At school we just knew each other a little bit, he was a couple years older than me at school but we actually lived in the same house,” Brate said. “The way Harvard works is that everyone is grouped into 13 different upper class houses and we were both in Dunster House. So we’d eat in the same dining hall, breakfast, lunch and dinner and stuff like that so, we knew each other a little bit. Then he got drafted here and had a little bit of success, and then I came down here and was watching a hockey game. I had kind of forgotten that Alex was down here so I was like, ‘Oh shoot, Alex is down here.’ So then I got in touch with him and it was like, ‘We’ll catch up when he’s can.’ He’s super busy when I’m kind of not busy, and vice versa – our seasons stall at different times. But we’ll try to see each other every other month or something like that. It’s fun to follow them because they’ve been unreal ever since I’ve been here so hopefully some of those winning ways rub off on us.”

Brate tries to go see a Lightning game about once a month during the Bolts’ season.

“I’ll check the box scores every game, and I’ll see if Alex got a goal or got in a fight or anything,” Brate said. “Actually, the last game I went to he got in a fight, which I was thrilled about. That was the first time I’ve seen him get into a fight, which was great.”

Cameron Brate 🙌🙌🙌🙌 #straightouttaharvard pic.twitter.com/ywsVln6YEP

— Alex Killorn (@Akillorn19) December 19, 2016

• There will not be a Discount Garage Doors SR’s Fab 5 next week as we’ll be right in the middle of PewterReport.com’s Bucs draft coverage, but I will be having my annual Day 2 Bucs Draft Insider column next Friday previewing who Tampa Bay might be targeting in the second and third round of the draft – so stayed tuned for that. The next SR’s Fab 5 column will be published on Friday, May 3.

• And finally, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this year’s PewterReport.com’s 2019 Draft Previews + Bucs’ Best Bets series, presented by Edmonson Electric & Security – the official smart home and security company of PewterReport.com.

We’ve got two more position previews coming up – cornerbacks and safeties – as we at PewterReport.com try to make YOU the most informed Bucs fan around. The challenge is on to see if we can match last year with accurately forecasting the selection of three Bucs’ Best Bets in defensive tackle Vita Vea, offensive lineman Alex Cappa and wide receiver Justin Watson.

And I’m racing to have our final PewterReport.com 2019 Bucs’ 7-Round Mock Draft – presented by Discount Garage Doors – finalized before Easter Sunday. Look for that to hit the website this weekend.

After the Bucs’ two-day mini-camp on April 23-24, the shift turns to the Bucs’ 2019 draft, so make sure you stay locked on PewterReport.com for all the coverage as our live Draft Videocast returns for its third year and is presented by Edmonson Electric & Security.

Watch Pewter Reporters Mark Cook, Taylor Jenkins, Matt Matera and yours truly, as well as other special guests, live on-air via PewterReport.com from the team’s headquarters at One Buccaneer Place beginning on Day 1 of the 2019 NFL Draft at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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