Inside Blitz: Lovie Smith May Not Want a QB 1st Overall, Will Tampa Trade the Pick?
By Jason McIntyre
It’s widely assumed that because the Tampa Bay Bucs need a quarterback, and that Jameis Winston is such an impressive QB prospect – on the field, that is – that the FSU star will be drafted first overall at the end of April. Winston has warts, of course – he appeared to regress at times last season, as his interceptions were way up; he’s had numerous off-the-field problems; his maturity has been called into question – but NFL scouts love his size, arm strength, and his ability to read defenses and make adjustments.
But there’s a problem, of course.
Lovie Smith, Tampa’s coach, went to the Super Bowl coaching the Bears, who were quarterbacked by Rex Grossman. The Bears had a tremendous defense that year, which was able to overcome the ups and downs of Grossman, who may be the worst QB to start a Super Bowl since Trent Dilfer.
Smith came to Tampa last year before – and that’s important – GM Jason Licht. He was hired three weeks later. So did Smith have a hand in picking Licht? That’s unclear. But Licht’s background is as a player personnel guy, not a money guy, so presumably, his voice will carry significant weight when it comes to the draft and free agency.
You can see where this is headed. What if Smith says, “hey, QB doesn’t matter that much, let’s pump up the offensive line, get our backs healthy, and improve the defense? I went to a Super Bowl with Rex Grossman.”
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk mentioned this week “there may be some tension in the front office” over the No. 1 pick. Three ways to look at this: 1) Tampa strategically leaked this to Florio to let it be known that Tampa is open to trading the No. 1 pick to a QB-needy team. 2) There are still more than 10 weeks to the draft, so take this rumor with a grain of salt. 3) There’s a legitimate issue in Tampa.
Last year, Licht talked about how he and Lovie were “on the same page,” but that’s much easier said than done, especially with the No. 1 pick on the line. Everyone knows QB is the most important position in the NFL, and passing on one who becomes a star could haunt a GM/coach combo for years. Of course, that could be the issue, too, if Winston flames out.
So is the safe move to trade the pick for a cache of draft picks to build up that poor defense?
Fun note to remember: Before the 2006 draft, the Bears traded away their late 1st round pick for 2nd and 3rd round picks from Buffalo. Chicago proceeded to draft five defensive players. Two of those players – Danieal Manning and Devin Hester – turned out to be stars. The Bears went 13-3 and reached the Super Bowl.
Dan Patrick vs. Colin Cowherd
Because I was on vacation last week, I missed much of the Dan Patrick vs. Colin Cowherd debate. Full disclosure: Have been on both of their shows. When we approached Cowherd about doing this profile, he was open to it. A few years ago, we lobbied Patrick’s team hard to do a story on his radio show (the angle was extremely good, if memory serves, but I hope I’m not going all Brian Williams here). For reasons that still remain unclear, Patrick – through intermediaries – said no.
Anyway, their slap fight last year was silly. I thought this was hilariously terrible; love him or hate him, Cowherd does a 3-hour solo radio show 5-days a week and has done a solo football show for two years, and regardless of what you think of both products, that’s extremely difficult.
This is the best piece I’ve read on Cowherd vs. Patrick. Both talented, successful, wealthy guys who go about their radio shows in different ways.
A six-month suspension without pay? Really? What purpose does that serve? Shouldn’t they have either stood by their man, made him apologize, or fired him? What, six months is penance for exaggerating or ‘misremembering’ a few incidents? This whole, ‘viewers won’t be able to trust him!’ business is poppycock. Who sits down to decide which news broadcast to watch based on whether or not they ‘trust’ the guy? For the most part, Republicans watch Fox News. Democrats/independents watch MSNBC or CNN (though there is plenty of crossover). The 60+ crowd watch the network evening news because that’s what they grew up with.
Usually, these events blow over after a few days and something else happens to flood the newscycle. Couldn’t NBC have simply waited out the media? Jon Stewart leaving Comedy Central became the dominant story last night, and if NBC hadn’t suspended Williams, everyone outside the insular media would have forgotten about it.
MOST OBVIOUS PLANTED SPORTS MEDIA ITEM OF 2015
“We have already chronicled his comeback after the Bristol Clown Community College faculty elevated him to the ivory tower only to eventually throw his tuchis out on the street. Smith, helped by some great advice, mapped a route back to the top using radio, including ESPN-98.7, to return to prominence.” – New York Daily News, Saturday.
(Bold mine.)
“Great advice.” Is Smith an athlete surrounded by a team of savvy, brand-pushing handlers? Why not just come out and say it: ‘I think his agent, Lou Oppenheim, gave him great advice!’ Funny Opphenheim story: When we last spoke, he threatened a lawsuit over this story, demanding it be taken down. He hasn’t taken numerous calls since, including when we called him about Stephen A. Smith staying at ESPN last month.
ODDS & ENDS
Word on the street is that Sportscenter/Outside the Lines host Steve Weissman recently left ESPN after his contract wasn’t renewed … Longtime NFL writer Dave Goldberg passed away at the age of 73 … this is how desperate the PGA is to lure in young fans: Let’s announce our deal with Skratch TV in the New York Times! … “Is there still a glass ceiling to break when it comes to sports journalism?” … RIP to the MLB Fan Cave after four years … before you freak out about the Atlanta Falcons manufacturing noise during home games, Al Michaels said that the Twins did it during the 1987 World Series …Oddity: Super Bowl 49 was the ‘most-watched’ TV program ever, but not the highest-rated … podcast with four white guys talking about the NBA turns into a show on NBA TV … the cool/funny story of Verne Lundquist’s CBS debut in 1982 … lastly, this had to be the least self-aware thing on the entire internet this week. Me, me, me, I, I, I – couldn’t you have boiled it down to 140? Get off twitter right now. Find an opening, preferably on a topic that interests you. Work your ass off. Improve daily.