Buccaneers Superlatives Pt. 3: After the Honors

The annual NFL Honors were held this week and all of the best players and plays were recognized amongst NFL royalty. Not all 32 teams get to have a player or players represented at the award ceremony and unfortunately the 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers were without representation.

Back in September, when the season was young and the Buccaneers were 1-0, we premiered part one of our Tampa Bay Buccaneers superlatives. Since then, we debuted a bye-week part two, and now the series will officially conclude with a retrospective glance back in part three.

Our original list included nominees for MVP, Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, and the unofficial award of ‘Most likely to become a household name.’ During the transition from part one to part two, we made some changes. Now, as we progress into part three, we can confirm that no Bucs players have claimed any of these awards so, let’s recap—

MVP:

Part 1 pick- QB Tom Brady

Part 2 pick- QB Tom Brady

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Tom Brady had a subpar year, by his own lofty standards. In his last year of football, the Bucs passer tossed 25 touchdowns with just nine interceptions. While these are not bad numbers for most quarterbacks, they do represent a significant dip for the G.O.A.T. They are also not near the MVP caliber numbers Brady had been accustomed to putting up during his previous years in Tampa. Even in a down season, Tampa Tom still treated football fans to a few fantastic finishes and breath-taking moments en route to the NFC South divisional title. Additionally, I would like to add— two division titles, three playoff berths, and a Super Bowl championship in three seasons, quite a run for Tom Brady in Tampa. Thank you to number 12, for coming to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and taking a shot on this organization. I hope you had as much fun on the field as we, here at Bucs Nation did, covering you.

ROY:

Part 1 pick- DL Logan Hall

Part 2 pick- RB Rachaad White

This was a miss, by me and perhaps by Jason Licht as well. Logan Hall’s rookie year was kind of a wash. Hall wasn’t a full-time starter as a rookie, but he was on the field enough to have made more of an impact than he did. The Bucs’ rookie finished his first professional season with two and a half sacks and somehow even less memorable moments.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Rachaad White on the other hand, while nowhere near good enough to beat out Garrett Wilson who played an entire season from start to finish at a high level, was able to show off major future potential. White is a confirmed good selection from last year’s draft and after his debut season he has positioned himself as a solid piece of Tampa Bay’s future. White finished the season with over 750 total yards from scrimmage, even though he wasn’t given significant reps on a per-game basis until November.

Comeback Player of the Year:

Part 1 pick- Julio Jones

Part 2 pick- Julio Jones

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

There was a lot of optimism coming into 2022 surrounding Julio Jones. Flurries of speculation flew that the Tampa Bay Bucs and Tom Brady would revitalize the aging and often injured star. Instead, the revitalized Julio Jones of 2022 looked very similar to the Julio Jones of 2021. Jones popped off the screen every once in a while, when he was healthy and able to play, but creatively managing his health became a major theme of the Bucs season. To the credit of Julio Jones however, he did have his best outing of the entire season when Tampa needed him to be clutch. In the playoffs, Jones grabbed seven catches for 74 yards and a picturesque deep touchdown.

Most likely to become a household name:

Part 1 pick- EDGE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka

Part 2 pick- P Jake Camarda

To this point in his career, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka has simply not lived up to his draft status. Meaning, Jason Licht may have missed on his top selection in each of his two previous drafts. Much like a lot of young Buccaneers, Tryon-Shoyinka has exhilarating glimpses of the player that he could be, but they haven’t even been close to consistent or reliable. If nothing else, his inconsistency has actually been fairly consistent. Tryon-Shoyinka has totaled four sacks in each of his first two seasons with the Bucs.

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Jake Camarda was a rockstar as a rookie punter for the Tampa Bay Bucs in 2022. It is fairly challenging for a punter to catch the eyes of many or any, but Camarda snatched attention in his rookie campaign on multiple occasions.

**WARNING NSFW LANGUAGE**

While his rookie season included a punt which is in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ team record books as tied for the longest in franchise history, the potentially more impressive moment came when the Buccaneers needed a victory against the Carolina Panthers to secure a division title and a playoff spot. On a Sunday filled to the brim with Mike Evans highlights maybe the most sensational individual moment that came from the game was a broken play that didn’t even count. When a bad snap on a punt attempt had Bucs fans’ hearts skipping beats, Camarda calmy rolled outside of the ‘pocket’ and punted the ball while running full speed down the sidelines. Getting the kick off was an accomplishment, but the legend of Jake Camarda grew exponentially when the ball astonishingly landed inside the five-yard line.

The play was, unfortunately, called back due to a penalty forcing Camarda to re-kick. This scramble improv punt is undeniably one of the most athletic feats displayed by an NFL punter in recent memory.

While the Buccaneers superlatives series comes to end without any Tampa Bay Bucs taking home hardware, Tampa Bay was represented by one of their excellent alumni. Bucs fans who were tuned in to the NFL Honors were able to watch as one of the franchise’s all-time greats, Ronde Barber, strutted across the stage after being selected to the Hall of Fame.

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To check out the other parts of this series click the links below:

Part 1- Bucs Superlatives: Who will represent the Buccaneers at the NFL Honors? - Bucs Nation

Part 2- Tampa Bay Bucs superlatives part 2: Mid-season edition. - Bucs Nation