Two new competitors enter the fray for the 2020 Buccaneers’ ‘Hidden Hero’

Another day this week on the Locked On Bucs Podcast means another nominee to be crowned the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ “Hidden Hero”. Only this time, thanks to a mistake in rule reading by yours truly, we have two nominees!

Paige Dimakos of The Draft Network and the TDN Fantasy Podcast joined James Yarcho and I to discuss matters closer to the heart of the Buccaneers’ 2020 off-season and year to come, and also to nominate her player for the upcoming Bucs Nation vote on Friday.

The rules clearly - or not so clearly - state the nominee must not have had a ‘recent’ Pro Bowl, All-Pro or NFL Top-100 nod. This eliminates linebacker Lavonte David who was named to the player-voted list just this year. However, I forgot to include the NFL Top-100 provision, leading to Dimakos’ selection of David as her player, saying,

“He is so underappreciated by everybody in the NFL. I don’t know how this happens. I literally do not know how somebody who puts up just as good of numbers as Luke Kuechly has for the last three years doesn’t get put in any of these conversations....The dude is so underappreciated, and I feel like he just needs to be talked about on every Buccaneers podcast that I’m ever on, ever.”

Dimakos was so passionate about her case - and it was my fault David was left in the pool in the first place - that we had to let his nomination stand.

However, The Draft Network’s COO doubled down by giving us another nominee who does fit the originally planned criteria in running back, Ronald Jones. Earlier in the conversation I asked Dimakos if she felt Rojo was truly ready to become the ‘RB1’ Tampa Bay has been missing.

“I do think he’s going to become the true running-back-one for a lot of reasons,” Dimakos said. Expanding on the conversation, she also said, “He is going to be given every opportunity to be the dude in Tampa Bay, and he’s the only one that can then slip it away. And I think he’s up for the challenge; he’s up for the opportunity.”

So, there you have it! Two more candidates via Paige Dimakos of The Draft Network and TDN Fantasy Podcast. Lavonte David getting added to the list because he deserves to be on every list until he gets the recognition he deserves! (and also because I messed up the rules delivery...) And Ronald Jones who Dimakos went on to say could be a ‘low-key MVP’ type player!

We’ve got one more candidate to reveal tomorrow, and then it’s on to Bucs Nation to select the true “Hidden Hero” for the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers!