Thin ice?
What the hell is Sean Tucker doing on the field in the fourth quarter, playing against a bunch of auto mechanics and insurance claims adjusters?
Sean Tucker is a weapon. Might be the best No. 3 running back in the league. But to hear Ronde Barber, Tucker is on thin ice.
Throughout the game Saturday night, Barber, the Bucs Hall of Famer and color analyst on Bucs preseason TV broadcasts, kept dropping hints that Tucker’s position as the Bucs No. 3 running back is anything but secure and that Josh Williams is about to step over Tucker for a job.
In fact, when Tucker was on the kickoff team and involved in the tackle immediately after his fourth quarter touchdown, Barber all but said that’s what the Bucs wanted to see, that Tucker could shine on special teams in order to keep his job.
Well, this has Joe fully puzzled. The Joe typing here has seen every Bucs practice but the two in New Jersey. Tucker, at least as a running back, is clearly more productive than Williams and Tucker gets many snaps with the first team, which is a tell.
So when Barber kept dropping hints that Tucker’s job is anything but secure, it made Joe scratch his head.
After Saturday’s second worthless preseason game, KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles was asked why Tucker was on the field for so much of the fourth quarter. Bowles basically cautioned reporters from reading too much into that.
Bowles said it was simply that the coaching staff wanted to see Williams play against better competition.
Joe knows who Barber talks to at One Buc Palace. He’s basically in Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht’s kitchen cabinet. Barber has mentioned in the past he watches Bucs practice tape.
Only a very select few have access to Bucs practice tape.
So it makes Joe wonder who is dropping this intel to Barber and why? Joe can only go by what he sees on the practice field and after watching all but two training camp practices, there’s no question who the No. 3 running back is.
This is all very strange to Joe.