Buccaneers will keep three quarterbacks, four safeties

For the second year in a row, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be keeping three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. That’s what head coach Dirk Koetter said in his press conference today. The Bucs will be keeping Ryan Griffin in addition to starter Jameis Winston and backup Mike Glennon, just like they did last year.

Two reasons: one, we put a lot of time into Ryan Griffin and I think he’s proving that he’s capable of being a backup in this league. And then the second thing is, obviously, it’s not a big secret that Mike Glennon is going into the last year of his contract. Jameis [Winston] is our quarterback for the long haul, but we’ve got to have a two and those guys take so long to train and with the calendar the way it is in the NFL where you can’t bring guys in early…I mean we’ve invested – well, we picked ‘Griff’ up at this time last year - so we’ve invested a full year into his training. A lot of that is him and [Quarterbacks] Coach Mike Bajakian a lot of time that you guys don’t know about. He’s done a good job when he’s been on the field and we think he’s got a chance to be here long-term.”

The Bucs have been trying to trade Mike Glennon for two years now, but they keep not getting the offer they want. It doesn’t seem like that’s about to change, although the Dallas Cowboys could use a backup quarterback right about now. So Griffin spends the season on the inactive list again, before becoming Winston’s backup in 2017.

I like what I’ve seen of Griffin so far, though. He’s a big, somewhat statuesque quarterback with a big arm — the classic pocket passer of the kind that tends to thrive in Dirk Koetter’s offenses. Think Matt Ryan, except a little bigger and with a better arm. Of course, we’ve only seen him play against third-string defenses, but the physical talent is certainly there.

Let’s hope he doesn’t actually have to take the field any time soon, though. Or probably ever. The Bucs are better off with Jameis Winston at the helm.

Koetter also dropped another little nugget, saying that the Bucs would keep four safeties (barring something weird happening) after releasing Major Wright. That’s not surprise, but it means the safety position will almost certainly feature Chris Conte, Bradley McDougald, Keith Tandy and fourth-round rookie Ryan Smith.