They going to let him wear #55?? He seems quite attached to the number - even in his URL. http://www.angelocrowell55.com/

Nice. Its all starting to take shape now...

Finally. A Linebacker...There is a god.

"Oh yea of little faith Buc Fans who can find nothing right about the Bucs". So explain why this doesn't work?
Good job. More back up with potential to play in games. We have more youth on the team with experience now. #55 is not a holy number right now. Yes it will get retired by next season.
Be positive! We are still a good team.

I've seen some clips of this guy on some different sites and have really liked what I have seen. Missed all of last year, but was a team captain in 2007 with very good stats. If he can regain his form and keep the injuries behind him, he could be a starter for years.

Maybe there is hope. Now they need to pursue a corner,wide reciever and the most important of all DT. Go get Shaun Rodgers in a trade for our third. Then get BPA with our first pick.

Maybe there is hope. Now they need to pursue a corner,wide reciever and the most important of all DT. Go get Shaun Rodgers in a trade for our third. Then get BPA with our first pick.

Great move.......and there will be more.......like some of us have been saying......give this new staff a couple years before bitching about everything they do or dont do ,or how this wont work or whatever......your just wasting your breath until you see this team play a season or two......GO BUCS !!!

Good sign - stay healthy.
This probably puts drafting a LB down a few rounds - which is very helpful.

I like this alot. This dude has a real mean streak. If he can stay healthy he will be starting. Good stuff.

My question is why can't any of our young LBs play weakside? Are we really that desperate that Jermaine Phillips has to convert from safety? Seems like we have 10 outside LBs and no weakside LBs....I just don't see how a safety can convert to a weakside LB, but an outside LB can't do it. Confused :{

Finally we add some dept at one of our weakest positions , don't understand the whole Phillips thing thought wer wanted to get bigger lbs , no we just got riud of the face of the bucs and one of the best outside lbs ever. Nowlets get a cb to pair with Talib maybe Ken Lucas? I think our coaches like our dt that we already have aboard , i'm not sure but we haven't even brought anybody in,. Torry Holt is available and Geg Olson was his off cord in St Louis sounds like a good match to me speed good hands and a vet.

Bucs gave him #59. Based on the fact that they never issued Lynch's 47 or Sapp's 99, I seriously doubt they'll issue out 55 ever again.

This is a pretty good signing for the Bucs , but this guy is not better than Cato June. Cheaper, but not better.

Phillips is great at safety why move him? Plus if he gets injured a lot at safety imagine how injured at linebacker he will be. Maybe he will play 4 games at the most at linebacker.

We screwed up not siging Devery Henderon at wr, unless we get Percy Harvin but we will be a little lucky for him to fall to us. We don't have much speed at receiver.

This is a really nice move if he is 100 % healthy it could huge...

And by the way this guy is much better than Cato...Cato was a system guy that was pretty good and then kind of fizzled out...

I liked Cato, but this guy has some really good size and quite a bit nastier that Cato...

I love this signing too!!! If he can stay healthy he will be a great LB for us. Can't wait to see Crowell, Ruud and either Black or Hayes on the field at the same time. Could be a VERY good group of LB's for a VERY, very long time.
Sorry about that Flip, I just do not see you beating out Hayes or Black at the LB position. Not even sure if he beats out Hayward.

My only question now is do the Bucs need to draft some quality depth at safety, which we have not really discussed so far this off season. We thought we were set when we re-signed Phillips, now there is a void. Might need to look at the depth of the safety position in the draft. What do you think JF, SR or CC?

I know that if the experiment does not work we still have Flip to play at safety, but they DID say that he is now a LB and not a Safety. Oh well, go BUCS !! I still have a lot of confidence in the coaching staff and the front office to right this ship. It may take a year or two but I think we are definitely heading in the RIGHT direction ! ! !

Fellow Bucs,
I say this with all sincerity. I do like the signing of Crowell but is it groundbreaking NO; nor does it need to be. Guys the front office has done an exceptional job to date at changing the face of this team in a matter of two months. They do deserve some praise. Not saying that they have did everything that maybe some of you wanted to do but nonetheless there has been great business and football decisions made in order to make this team better. I will support my argument.

Some of you, so-called, true Buc fans have been very pessimistic and haven't been shy about voicing your concerns and desires. But the truth is that they have done what they can within the interest of the business, team, and fans to get better. Even if that means not signing someone that you and I so called think that we should have. The number one misconception here is that this is STILL AND WILL BE A BUSINESS! You are a part of this business but not your opinion, thats the way it works. (sucks though huh) But that is life, unless you input resource or your are paid to represent a brand you are not important. With that being said I must say that we have to do a better job as a market and fans being loyal to the brand, through the good and the bad. Every franchise has seen some darkness and if it hasn't it will surely come but for what Dominik and Morris has done for this team should be praised.

Some of you quaked when you saw that we lost out on Fat Albert, some sqwuaked at the passing of Henderson for Clayton, and some were mad about Greer. Listen if you look at what each of those players have accomplished prior to coming or being courted you will curb your enthusiasm some. Lets begin with Fat Albert:
- Solid Against the Run
-Can pass Rush
-Heady player for the most part
-Yet to play an entire season
-Never have won anything
-Not a everydown DT
-Injury Prone
-Questionable character
Greer:
-Speed
-Some cover ability
-Ok tackler and blitzer
-Nothing that stands out
-Never won anything or personal awards
Henderson:
-Speed
-Subpar route runner
-Questionable hands
-3rd Wr at best
-Limited production in his career

Point is these were three guys that many of you guys really coveted, even to the point that you would overpay and that is where I disagree. YOU DO NOT OVERPAY FOR ANY SERVICE. Even in your personal lives, do you go with the more expensive cable provider or do you go to Directv (lol) or why pay the more expensive utility bill when you have alternatives. Dont get me wrong I know you guys want to win and we will but my point is there is a breaking point. Lets look at it, Washington has had less success than the Bucs in recent history but Haynesworth felt that they were closer to winning a ring than Tampa, Brooks was gone now, and the money offered was substantially higher in Washington. (Guaranteed Money) Greer errored when he stated that the Saints are a few players away from being a Champion and they have two All-Pro DE's...Dont hold it against him. Do you really want to overpay for that DoeDoe? Henderson...ahh lets not even waste blog time on him.

With all of this being said you guys should be excited because we are getting everything that Gruden & Kiff would not do. We are leaning on these young players that never got a chance and would not have. Here is my prediction:
- Offense will finish above 10 in both categories
- Luke McCown will be most improved Off. Player
- Graham and Ward will eclipse 1K yards
- Oline will feature another ProBolwer
- Bryant will catch 80 balls/12 TDs
- KII will catch 68 balls/8 TDs
- Clayton will have a solid year

Defense I dont have a prediction for yet because its still shaping but stay tuned. We just need to finish in the top 15 to be effective, but the Offense will carry us this season, no doubt about that. Also we must see what Tampa does in the draft.

Thanks,
architek

If Flip can play LB, perhaps Crowell can play DE?

Offense with a career 1-7 starting QB will likely not carry the offense

Jdouble: The weak-side " will" is an outside linebacker position.

Architek - The Buc's have lost 5 Starters off of their defense and in my opinion have only really replaced one and thats if Crowell can stay healthy. Thats a defense that folded up like a cheap lawn chair at the end of the year, last year. I can be optimistic and hope that a couple of our young guys can step up and play at a higher level, but I don't see 5 playmakers stepping forward on a new defense next year. Bates is a very good coach, but this group will be lucky to be ranked in the top 20.
The offense should be much better, but they still have a glaring whole at receiver. There is virtually no speed and besides Bryant, nobody can catch or get open. I know Henderson is average at best, but his speed would have opened things up for Bryant and Clayton.
The reason for my pessimistic attitude is not the loss of the two players you mentioned, but the fact that their were a lot of good players out there, that could have really helped this team and we signed virtually none of them (I think Ward was a great signing). We traded away a 2nd round pick, for a player at one of the strongest postions on the team. I think Winslow is worth the picks, he's a good player, just not when you have some really good players at that position already. I agree with you, in that I think the offense will be much better, but unfortunately with our schedule that won't be enough. I think they're looking at 4-12 right now, with a great draft and lot of good luck they could pull off 8-8. These personel decisions are what's going to kill them. Their two biggest weaknesses were WR & DL. There were some very good DLinemen available, that they didn't even look at in free agency, it wouldn't suprise me to see Chris Canty rack up 15+ sacks in New York this year. There were some very good WR's out there too. They basically chose Clayton over Huzmanzada, which I'll never understand. They should go grab Holt if he's still available. Right now we're in a whole and I don't see a way out this year.

My bad Scu....it's been a long day. What I mean t to say is whay is it all our young LBs are competing to start at Sam, but noone except our safety can play will? Just don't get it.

JLeonard - valid points, but..
Dexter Jackson = Speed. I'm not saying he's going to be good, but if he's on the field, defensively, you have to respect that he can burn you. The big question is, can he be good? The answer, IMO, is probably not. Our WR's were average and he couldn't crack the lineup. We'll have to see what he does in OTA's and preseason before he's labeled a bust. He's basically the lesser version of Jaquez Green at this point.
In fairness to him though, the old regime was more veteran friendly, the new regime wants to see what the young guys can do - he'll get his chance.

There's a new dessert special at Bojangles, it's called the Jake Delhomme Turnover - 7 in a box.

I know it's old, but it still cracks me up!

I'm from south carolina, and I am a bucs groupie, i try to catch everything i can about the bucs, but i just want to know, do the DJ's at WDAE hate the bucs? I was able to catch the morining show and everything they said was negative about the off season moves. First they said flip was the starting weakside, that's wrong, he's gonna try to compete at the position. They went on to say that they released a pro bowler for nothing, Brooks was the best thing to happen for the bucs but all real football fans know that brooks should have not been playing those last couple of games, he has great instincts but he has lost some steps, brooks hurt the team. He was hurt with the hamstring, but he want to continue his active streak. If black or haywood was in against oakland, could one of them stoped bush before he turned the corner and took it for that long gain. All im saying is it's time for the young guys to play. Go Bucs

Ditto all the above.... lot of good arguments. I think we added a decent linebacker who can help if he stays healthy. I think Black has a lot of potential. I still cant wait to see the "new scheme" in action at Raymond James. I especially enjoyed the analysis of Haynesworth, Henderson and Greer. Good points. All scouts and analyst point out strengths and weaknesses whether you are a draft pic or FA. I think now more than ever the "Scheme" a team tries to fit a player into is a huge factor in whether that player is considered a success or failure. There are endless scenario's of right team, right
scheme, and right opportunity which determines the success of a player. Of course you have to factor in "Great Players" and the success they bring to mediocre teams, weak schemes, and missed opportunities. That's what makes it (to quote Gruden) "Intriguing." Go Bucs

Yeah Termig8r...and then maybe we can start Josh Johnson at QB so we can move McCown to FB (heard he throws a mean forearm) and oh, maybe Bidwell is the DT we've been looking for?

Or how about we do the smart thing and let people play the positions they've been trained for.....hope I'm not coming across as 'not stoked' about this Phillips move.

lprock22 - WHAT? You mean they traded for Arizona owner Bill Bidwell and are planning to play him at... Oh, wait... You meant the OTHER Bidwell. Nevermind... LOL

Haha, no Bill Bidwell was asking for too much guarenteed money, I'm talking about our punter Josh Bidwell...run stuffing stallion that guy.

lprock22

Josh Johnson and Dexter Jackson are actually really key players...Their speed is killer...If it's raining Dexter has some drops sometimes...Josh is really fast w/ a hell of an arm...

did i mention that this is only true for when I sub them in when I play Madden on X-box...

Yea Buc13jcs, if only Madden translated into the real world....I'd be a Hall of Fame GM by now haha.

The Glazer's, Mark Dominick and Specially Raheem better show some kind of Respect for Mr. Derrick Brooks and retired his number and dont let anyone wear # 55.


DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR ONCE GLAZER'S !

If you look at the four games that Luke McCown played in in 2007 and compare those games to Matt Ryans's and Matt Cassels first four starts in 2008, Luke beats them out in almostr every catagory (completions, passing yards, rushing yards and TD's vs Int. It is still too early to say just how good any of these QB's are but, don't sell him short. We have seen some brilliance in this young QB. He can throw a deep pass, put the ball on the money and has a great run ability. Remember that he is still young and can only get better. I would not panic about the QB position. While we are screaming for a young franchise QB, he could already be right here.

The Bucs aren't stupid enough to cut Derrick Brooks in the fashion they did AND give out 55 two months later. At least, I hope not...

I'm about as big a DB fan as anyone on planet Earth after watching him play his entire career for my two football teams. However, I agree with the personnel move to cut him and I think Dominic did the right thing in not shining him on about resigning him like we did with Sapp. With that being said, I don't ever want to see another player wear 55 as long as I live (or 10 for that matter, go Noles).