Key Camp Battles: The Cliff’s Notes

July 27, 2009 at 09:55am by Scott   •  1 Comment »

With training camp starting this week, everyone is doing their “Key Camp Battles” articles for the fans who just now start paying attention to the Bucs, or as I call them, poseurs. That’s right, I added the optional “u” to make it even more gay. What, you think you can just show up whenever you want and still be considered a full fan? I don’t think so, pal. Suck it. Suck it with gusto.

For the rest of us, you should already know what the main camp battles are and who is in them. That’s why I’ll just summarize them here and tell you who the winners will be. This way while the poseurs are trying to catch up, you guys can go out and enjoy yourselves for a few days. Buy me a souvenir.

Quarterback: Luke McCown vs Byron Leftwich.
McCown wins in the preseason games. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Josh Freeman as the primary backup with Leftwich as the third stringer. And if the Glazers really feel like saving some money, they could cut Leftwich altogether and keep Josh Johnson as the #3.

Strongside Linebacker: Angelo Crowell vs Quincy Black
I’m going with Black on this one. This is a coaching staff that is trying to get the younger drafted players some on-field experience, and Black and Crowell are close enough to make that the determining factor. It’s his time.

Weakside Linebacker: Jermaine Phillips vs Geno Hayes
Phillips to start, but it may not last. Phillips is on a one-year deal, and if he doesn’t perform well in the games, they’ll replace Phillips with Hayes and not look back.

Left Defensive End: Jimmy Wilkerson vs Greg White
Wilkerson, and I don’t think it’s going to be close.

Kicker: Matt Bryant vs Mike Nugent
Nugent. Stronger kickoffs will be the difference.

Those are really the only major competitions I can think of. Of course everyone is under scrutiny, but most of the starting spots are locked up and competition for backup positions isn’t usually interesting. Some articles are making a big deal about the race to be the “third receiver”, but that’s misleading. There will be five or six total receivers on the roster, and each of the non-starters will get their shot based on the situation. You need a burner to pull the safety off on a post route? You don’t call on Maurice Stovall, you get Kelly Campbell.

In addition to my normal contacts, I think there are going to be a couple readers who are going to attend a couple of the practices and report back, so we should have some interesting perspective. Or at least the best perspective that unpaid amateur reporting will get us.