Chris Long place Buccaneers in Super Bowl conversation
As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-20, last Sunday afternoon, the football world has been hyping up the team regarding what they accomplish this season. With the Buccaneers led by the heroics of Emeka Egbuka, former player Chris Long would go as far as to say that the team should be in the conversation to win the Super Bowl.
Long spoke to Rich Eisen on his self-titled show, where he spoke about predicting Tampa Bay to contend for the Super Bowl before the regular season started. Despite them not being a big-market team, he would go into how injuries plagued them last season and how they “quietly go so much better.”
“I did put the Bucs in the Super Bowl this year before the season started, because I just think they quietly got so much better,” Long said. “They got a lot better on defense, I think, again, confirmation bias, we look at the Bucs last year, not a big market team, and we see them, you know, on red zone, or we catch little snippets of them. The Falcons score like 100 points in two games against them.”
“A lot of it’s because they had injuries,” Long continued. “And you think about the quarterback of your defense, Antoine Winfield, who’s fantastic, missing much of the year…SirVocea Dennis, they didn’t really have a pass rusher opposite Yaya Diaby. I think Kancey and Vea are fantastic inside. And they add Hasson Reddick.”
Chris Long on the impact that Emeka Egbuka had on the Buccaneers
When Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield connected with Egbuka on his first touchdown reception, it was just a taste of what’s to come for the team on the offensive side of the ball.
The rookie wide receiver would catch two touchdown passes in the contest, garnering the attention of Long, who spoke about how head coach Todd Bowles was “giddy” about the multiple moves made this offseason in the NFL Draft.
“I think that the key, though, is Todd Bowles was giddy this offseason,” Long said. “Talking about the two main corners that they were able to draft in Morrison and Parrish, and Parrish playing in the slot, and Parrish made a big play, knocking them out of field goal range. On Sunday, Morrison didn’t even play. So they have depth now. They also are like, yeah, we’ve got a bunch of great receivers, but we didn’t have all of them last year. Let’s go draft this Egbuka guy who scored two touchdowns for him on Sunday.”
Tampa Bay looks to be 2-0, as the team faces the Houston Texans next Sunday.
Saints are paying $13 million to learn what the Cowboys already knew
The Dallas Cowboys made a great trade two years ago when they acquired Brandin Cooks from the Texans for a 2023 fifth-round pick and a 2023 sixth-round pick. It didn't result in much playoff success, but Cooks was a good player for Dallas over his two seasons.
Despite that, it wasn't a surprise when the front office allowed Cooks to leave as a free agent. While Cooks signed with the Saints before Dallas traded for George Pickens, it felt inevitable that they would upgrade at WR2, whether it was through the draft, free agency or trade market.
Unfortunately, Kellen Moore and New Orleans are quickly learning what the Cowboys already knew about the 12th-year pro.
Cowboys definitely made the right choice letting Brandin Cooks sign with the Saints
For a 31-year-old wide receiver, Cooks got a really good deal from New Orleans. He signed a two-year contract worth $13 million, with $7.75 million fully guaranteed and a $4.8 million signing bonus. Not too shabby.
Cooks finished his debut with three catches for 26 yards. It's an underwhelming stat line at face value, and it looks even worse when you consider Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler dropped back to pass 46 times. He ranked fourth on the team in targets (four) behind Chris Olave, Juwan Johnson and Rashid Shaheed.
The Saints would have hoped for a bigger impact from one of their bigger free agent investments. However, what did they really expect?
Cooks is clearly on the downswing of his career. While he missed a chunk of time with a knee injury, Cooks was outplayed by Jalen Tolbert last year. Tolbert is a player Cowboys fans would trade tomorrow if the opportunity presented itself. It would not surprise if Cooks is jumped in the Saints' target pecking order by second-year pro DeVaughn Vele before long.
The 31-year-old is a fine WR4 at this stage of his career, which begs the question of why the Saints gave him $7.7 million guaranteed to be the fifth or sixth option in their passing attack. They are more reckless with the salary cap than any team in the NFL, and this has the looks of another gamble that won't pay off.
