Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times Buccaneers Reporter

The NFL season is inching closer and closer.

Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? We have four downs to figure out your team's future. It's time now for First and Goal on the Zach Gelb show. All right, we'll talk with Rick Stroud right now as we preview the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rick does a great job covering the Bucs for the Tampa Bay Times.

Rick, appreciate it as always. How are you? Doing well. How are you?

I'm doing fantastic. I got to start you off with this Tom Brady vacation for 11 days. Was it just that he went to this all-inclusive resort and that was it? Or is there more to the story?

Yeah, I'm not even sure what resort and can confirm that. But no, I think there definitely more to it. It was something that he made the Bucs aware of prior to training camp. I know there's been a lot of theories out there about just trying to manage family time. It was family related. It was not health related with any of his kids, his mom or dad or anything like that. But in due time, I think we'll find out. It was personal.

There is something there there. It wasn't just, hey, let's go on a vacation that we had promised during the 40 days off. So some things even for Tom Brady are going to remain that way for at least a while.

And yeah, it was more than just a golf outing or something like that. To my knowledge, he's not talked to reporters since this entire Dolphins thing came down from the NFL with tampering. Are you guys scheduled to talk to him this week at all or nothing in the works? I'd be very surprised if the next time we talk to Tom Brady isn't a day or two, the week of the Dallas game.

I really believe that. And at that time, I don't expect him to address this. So yeah, the Dolphins thing, we talked to him the day before that was brought up. And we had a headline writer that calls us now Tamper Bay, which is sort of what it's been, other teams trying to see if they can get Tom Brady from the Bucks.

But he hasn't addressed any of it, including the whole tampering situation because it came down the next day. So Tom in the off season especially or the preseason kind of dictates when he's available. When the regular season comes, of course, you have to talk to the coach and the quarterback at least during the week and then after the game. But that's really the first time I think or the next time we'll talk to him is probably Dallas week. Is he mad at the organization? Do you think in these 11 days he was thinking about retiring again Rick? No, initially I was concerned about that. I think they kind of mishandled the whole message. They could have gotten out in front of this and just whether it was personal reasons or not at the beginning of training camp made us aware that look, he's going to practice for two weeks.

We're going to do the install. He's going to get used to his new teammates and he's not playing against Miami or Tennessee. So really, you know, a couple of walkthrough practices there for the guys that are playing.

He's going to take a couple of days off his birthday and others. He didn't miss a ton of time. And I think they could have just made us aware of that rather than one week say he's missing a day for personal reasons and next week say Coach Bowles will address why he's out for personal reasons. So it created a lot of speculation and intrigue.

And it may have anyway, but I think, you know, saying it once instead of twice probably would have helped the situation. And I just think it was kind of mishandled. Rick, from afar, it feels like this is his last year as a quarterback in the NFL. Would you agree with that? Well, I think it's his last year in Tampa.

I really don't know. You know, it's kind of hard to put, you know, a timetable on a guy that's literally beat time, right? Like Tom versus time, time lost. And all I know is that if he's playing well and he's healthy, those are the two biggest factors. Now, we hear about his family and certainly, you know, that's his kids are getting older and he is missing things. But then he just went ahead and decided that, you know, when my football career is over, I'm going to go to Fox for 20 weeks, weekends out of the year. So, you know, he at least this time around knows where he's going when his career is over. That's something that's different than a year ago when he was trying to figure out what retirement would look like.

So we're definitely closer to the end. He's not. He's a free agent after this year. So presumably, you know, he could go anywhere. And we've seen obviously as some interest in trying to become, you know, involved in ownership at some level. So, you know, an organization willing to offer him that may get his attention even as a quarterback. So I really don't know.

We're certainly really close to that. But this is in my mind. This is last year in Tampa. Why is last year in Tampa?

Why, if he wanted to play, he wouldn't return to the box? Well, I mean, I just think he wants to be a free agent. And, you know, they've built a forever house in Miami. We know that he had certainly conversations about about going down there. Obviously, he has a lot of relationships, not just with Stephen Ross, big Michigan booster. But Bruce Beal, who's a minority owner, is actually on his board of TB12. So he has a lot of connections with that organization. I think he wanted to pair with Sean Payton down there as well, it seemed. And so, you know, somebody that spent as much time as he has kind of looking around for other opportunities. He did this when he was a free agent in New England. We all read the story about the Raiders.

And, you know, certainly San Francisco was another organization that that he had made inroads to. So I don't see what would prevent him if, you know, from doing that now, you know, it could be his last year playing and maybe he goes joins another organization as a minority owner, like I said, but I just feel like I just feel like his time in Tampa, while it's been good, and he would never say never. But if he wanted to be wedded here, they could have extended his contract easily. And he did not want to do that. So he wants to be a free agent like he was his last year in New England.

And I think that means he's probably got his eye on somewhere else. Let's get to the next down. Talking to Rick Shroud, the offensive line injuries are a concern. We know you got to protect Brady.

We saw in his final year in New England, the Patriots didn't do that. They didn't have a good year. How do you kind of look at this offensive line right now with all the injuries they've been hit with? Well, I mean, the way I look at it is different probably than the organization. I was talking to some people, you know, in the front office, and they're not nearly as panicked as their fans.

And I don't know how Tom will feel about it. I mean, it obviously was a terrible loss of Ryan Jensen in a non-contact, not a non-contact, but a non-padded practice, second day of training camp. Tough guy to replace. Robert Hainsey, who's in his second year, you know, was actually a tackle at Notre Dame, has done a good job. But he's not Ryan Denson. He's very smart. He knows what he's doing up front.

They've been trying to figure out what to do at left guard. Ali Marpet retired at age 28. Aaron Stinney went down, you know, with a knee injury for the season. He was the guy that played during the three playoff games in the Super Bowl. But quite frankly, I'm not sure he would have made this team.

There are some other guys they like better, believe it or not. And one of the guys is who they drafted. Luke Gedecke out of Central Michigan had a rough outing his first start in preseason. Couple of holding penalties and gave up a sack. But the guys that watched the film in the building tell me that, you know, well, you know, one really probably should have been holding in the sack was probably caused more by, you know, a missed block on the tackle.

So, you know, there's all ways to cut it up. They think that they're OK. They can't sustain many other losses on the offensive line. They simply don't have the depth now.

But, you know, they think they're going to be all right. And the quarterback, you know, makes it is a big difference maker because when you're getting the ball out as fast as he does, two point five or less most times, that can make your offensive line look pretty good. But there's no question it's a concern when you got three new inside guys and where you cut it on this offensive line. What's the latest with Chris Gobbin and his health?

He looks really good. I mean, you know, it's hard to evaluate because he's had no contact. But, you know, he tore that ACL. You know, December 20th had surgery on January 3rd.

Here we are. Some going to be about eight months later. And they say he's still on track to maybe play against the Dallas Cowboys, watching him move. He's playing with a brace, which is a little cumbersome and he won't have any contact. I don't expect him to play in a game before Dallas. So it'll be a little bit of a of a of a challenge, you know, for him not having been tackled to the ground or had guys around his feet. I don't think they'll rush it because they do have some depth, a lot of depth at receiver.

But I watch him today. I think there's actually a real chance that he plays against Dallas, which is remarkable. Do you buy that Gronk is actually done or in a few weeks when Brady calls him, maybe Gronk comes back, Rick Shroud? I think Gronk gets a call probably around December 1st, especially if the Bucks are in good position to maybe secure a high seed in the draft. You know, and they'll work something out, you know, contractually for those final four games in the playoffs or whatever.

That might be, you know, Bucks fans probably wanting that to happen. But it just seems to me that, you know, he he's a beat up guy. I mean, the year he came back, he had had a year off his body. It healed up. He made it through all the games.

And then last year he was reminded why he quit. You know, he broke four ribs and punctured along and still played really, really well. They're going to have to find a way to make up those 50 something catches for eight hundred yards and five touchdowns. I think you do it with Julio Jones. I think you do it with four receivers instead of the tight end position.

So you got to do a little bit different. But come on. We know that Gronk's going to take that call, ask his mom for the football pants when Tom Brady, you know, dials them up in December and says, hey, we need you for a couple of games in the playoffs in the Super Bowl.

Let's get to the next down. No more J.P.P., no more in a domic in Sue. This defense, how do you look at it? Todd Bowles moving over from defensive coordinator to being the head coach? They're real athletic, more athletic up front, which is what they needed to get.

That's why Sue is not here. They drafted Logan Hall, who has a lot to learn, but he's got a heck of a get off. He's a good pass rusher.

I think Joe Tron, Shawinka is going to surprise people this year. They moved him around a lot last season, played a lot of football because J.P.P. was hurt, but he really didn't find a home. Now he's at that left outside linebacker position. So they're deep, they're more athletic. They've added on the back end, when you get a Logan Ryan, when you get a Kana Neal, to add to that secondary. Of course, they still got Carlton Davis and Sean Murphy Bunting and Jamel Dean.

It's a good group. And then the two linebackers, I expect a better year out of Devin White, but Monte Davis is still doing it at 32. This is a really deep defense that's been together, and I think they've just gotten faster and more athletic and deeper up front.

Let's get to the final down. Wrapping up with Rick Stroud, what's the truth why Bruce Arians is no longer the head football coach of this team? Well, I mean, if you talk to Bruce, he's a very altruistic guy that always wanted to have a succession plan, tried to do it in Arizona with his guys, Todd Bowles.

The Bidwells didn't go for it there. He retired, he came back to coaching, and he had an opportunity when Brady decided to come back to hand Todd Bowles, the Super Bowl ready team, with Tom Brady at quarterback, which he preferred over handing him one that had Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask battling it out. That's his side of the story. I think we'd be naive to not think that this is okay or not better than okay for Tom Brady in some ways.

I don't think he ordered the code red. I don't think he did any of that, but I do think that he's used to working one way with a very engaged coach. Really, Todd Bowles, he's really as much from Bill Parsell's tree as anybody. Brought him to Dallas, taught him the 3-4, brought him to Miami, and I think he likes the way he works and the fact that he's engaged, still calling the defense. This does not upset Brady. I keep hearing they see the game the same way, which means complimentary football against some of these high-powered offenses.

Man, you've got to protect your defense a little bit, run the ball a little bit more, so we'll see how it plays out. We've seen some changes in practice. The accountability is better.

The work ethic, I think, is a little bit better. I think everybody's happy. I think Bruce got what he wanted, and I think Tom Brady is fine with the arrangement. You can follow him on Twitter, at NFLStroud, always has big stories, Tampa Bay related, and also covering the entire league. Make sure you give him a follow and read his work at the Tampa Bay Times. You can also listen to his podcast, the Sports Day Tampa Bay, a podcast available on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, and TampaBay.com. Rick Stroud, thanks so much. Thanks for having me. Thank you.