FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• There are two big reasons why the Los Angeles Chargers are parting ways with Philip Rivers. The first is his age. At 38, Rivers is in the twilight of his career and the Chargers need a quarterback of the future.

Second, L.A.’s 5-11 record last year has given the team the sixth overall pick, so the Chargers are in an excellent situation to draft a young, talented QB to replace Rivers – likely Oregon’s Justin Herbert. The plan would be to play Herbert right away to accelerate his learning curve, rather than have him develop behind Rivers for a year or two.

But Chargers general manager Tom Telesco believes Rivers can still play at a high level.

Chargers QB Philip Rivers – Photo by: Getty Images

“I think Philip would say the same thing, there are some plays that he probably definitely wants back, but there are also some throws that he makes still that a lot of quarterbacks in this league can’t make,” Telesco says. “It doesn’t matter how old you are. I think he can still compete at a top-starter level.”

Rivers has been the model of durability with the Chargers, not missing a single start in the last 14 seasons. Despite L.A. turning the page on him, Rivers, who just moved his family to Florida, wants to continue playing.

“If one of 32 teams wants me and it’s the right situation, and I can start that 225th game in a row, I’ll be running out there,” River said.

That situation could be Tampa Bay if the Bucs are ready to turn the page on Jameis Winston after a 30-interception season, but there will be some competition for Rivers’ services in free agency. Indianapolis also needs an upgrade at quarterback over Jacoby Brissett, and head coach Frank Reich served as Rivers’ quarterbacks coach in San Diego in 2013.

So there’s that connection. The 2013 season was one of Rivers’ best as he completed a career-high 69.5 percent of his passes for 4,478 yards with 32 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions.

Former Bucs head coach Jon Gruden and QB Brad Johnson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

• The Bucs have the distinction of being the only team in the NFL that has never signed a quarterback they have drafted to a second contract. If Jameis Winston doesn’t get a contract extension this offseason, that dubious record will remain intact.

Every head coach that has tried to draft and develop a quarterback over the last three decades in Tampa Bay has been fired, dating back to Jon Gruden. While Josh McCown and Ryan Fitzpatrick are exceptions, the Bucs have had better luck with veteran free agent signings dating back to the arrival of Brad Johnson in 2001 than drafting QBs.

Veteran Free Agent Starting QBs in Tampa Bay (2001-19)
Brad Johnson – 20-16 (2001-04)
Rob Johnson – 2-0 (2002)
Brian Griese – 12-9 (2004-05, ’08)
Jeff Garcia – 14-10 (2007-08)
Josh McCown – 1-10 (2014)
Ryan Fitzpatrick – 4-6 (2017-18)
Total Veteran Free Agent QB Record = 53-51 (Super Bowl + 3 division titles)

Drafted Starting QBs in Tampa Bay (2001-19)
Chris Simms – 7-8 (2004-06)
Bruce Gradkowski – 3-8 (2006)
Josh Freeman – 24-35 (2009-13)
Mike Glennon – 5-13 (2013-14)
Jameis Winston – 28-42 (2015-19)
Total Drafted QB Record = 67-106 (Simms gets an assist for 2005 division title, but otherwise just 2 winning seasons for drafted QBs in Tampa Bay – 2010, 2016)

Just something to keep in mind this offseason as general manager Jason Licht and head coach Bruce Arians ponder whether to re-sign Winston or use the franchise tag on him, or pursue a veteran like New England’s Tom Brady or Los Angeles’ Philip Rivers in free agency.

Chargers QB Philip Rivers – Photo by: Getty Images

• Having tunnel vision on the Buccaneers, the NFC South division, and the NFC conference, I’ll admit my expertise on AFC teams is quite limited. From afar, I knew Chargers QB Philip Rivers was very talented and has quarterbacked for well over a decade.

But I didn’t realize he was No. 6 on the NFL’s all-time leading passing yards list until I began doing my research on him this week. I would have guessed Rivers was in the top 10, but he’s actually set to pass Hall of Famer Dan Marino and move up to No. 5 next year.

NFL’s All-Time Passing Yardage Leaders
1. Drew Brees – 77,416 yards
2. Tom Brady – 74,571 yards
3. Peyton Manning 71,940 yards
4. Brett Favre 71,838 yards
5. Dan Marino 61,361 yards
6. Philip Rivers 59,271 yards

Rivers just passed John Elway, Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger over the last two years. He is 2,091 yards away from passing Marino and he would need three more 4,250-yard seasons to move past Favre and Manning to get to the No. 3 spot.

• The Next Pewter Nation Podcast: The Pewter Report staff will tape a brand new Pewter Nation Podcast on the morning of Friday, January 31. The new podcast will be posted later in the afternoon. Stay tuned.

There is no better time to listen to a new Pewter Nation Podcast, which is presented by Chris Garrido of Westshore Financial, than on your drive home from work on Friday or early Saturday morning at the gym or running errands.

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.

• One of the arguments some Bucs fans have against the team possibly pursuing Philip Rivers to replace Jameis Winston is that while Winston’s 30 interceptions led the league in 2019, Rivers threw 20 INTs, which was the third-highest total in the league last year. Interceptions are oftentimes the result of bad throws, and quantifying which throws are truly bad can be subjective.

So take this statistical comparison from Pro-Football-Reference.com with a grain of salt, but here are the number of bad throws and the bad throw percentage for Winston during the 2019 season.

As you can see, 124 of Winston’s 626 throws were categorized as bad throws in 2019. As a result, 20.6 percent of Winston’s throws were off target, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com.

Rivers threw 35 fewer passes (591) than Winston did, but also had 36 fewer bad throws (88), according to the chart. His bad throw percentage was just 15.4 percent. This discrepancy could be because Winston attempted more downfield throws, which are more difficult to complete, but that’s difficult to determine because there is no distance data provided on the bad throws table.

Yet Rivers has been the more accurate quarterback of the two over their respective careers with a 64.7 percent completion percentage in his 16 years with the Chargers. Winston has completed just 61.3 percent of his throws in his five years in Tampa Bay.

• FOLLOW PEWTER REPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA We appreciate the 34,000 Twitter followers we have on the @PewterReport Twitter account and passed that big milestone at the end of 2019. Now we’re on our way to reaching 35,000 in 2020. So if you don’t follow us on Twitter please take the time to do so, Bucs fans.

Also, make sure you follow PewterReport.com on all social media platforms this offseason as we cover the NFL Scouting Combine next month and the NFL Owners Meeting in March, plus any breaking Bucs news or press conferences.

Twitter: @PewterReport

Facebook: PewterReport

Instagram: PewterReport

Soundcloud: PewterNation

• PewterReport.com’s Mark Cook debuted two weekly columns this week on the website, and both were great to read and a fun ride for Bucs fans based on the article comments thus far. Both of these weekly columns – The Hook and Bucs Throwback Thursday – will be published every Thursday on PewterReport.com except when Cook is on vacation.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

In The Hook this week, Cook talks about the risk of bailing on quarterback Jameis Winston for a game manager QB, in addition to some witty comments in his Cannon Blast section at the end of his column. And in this week’s Bucs Throwback Thursday, Cook recalls starting to follow the Bucs as a kid during the dreadful 1977 season during Tampa Bay’s 0-26 start as a franchise.

This column appeals to old-timers like me, but also should be read by the younger generation of Bucs fans to give them some perspective and history about the franchise. Make sure you give those columns a read today or this weekend if you haven’t already.

• Thanks for the great feedback on the new PewterReport.com’s 2020 Bucs’ 7-Round Mock Draft 2.0. I enjoyed reading the nearly 70 article comments and the debates that went back and forth. If you haven’t read the latest PR Bucs’ mock draft, click on the link above.

• And finally, I want to let you know that Pin Chasers, a long-term PewterReport.com advertiser, is now a proud sponsor of the Pewter Nation Podcast. Pin Chasers is a family-oriented fun place to go bowling with two locations in Tampa and one in Zephyrhills. The Tampa Midtown location is the main location and typically hosts Bucs players events, as well as our Pewter Report charity events.

The Pin Chasers Midtown location in Tampa also hosts our Pewter Report Bowling Leagues, which happen in the spring and the fall, in addition to our Pewter Report Charity Bowling events. Pin Chasers is a great place not only for family bowling and birthday parties, but also for company team-building and corporate events. Pin Chasers has great food in addition to a snack bar, and a full bar with beer on tap.

For more information on Pin Chasers hours of operations, daily specials and locations, visit them online at PinChasers.net.