“Jason, I’m telling you, I have an edge rusher you can use.”

BSPN’s foolishly challenged Billy Barnwell would have been right in place to call on Todd Bowles to lie down in the final two minutes of the loss to the Crows two weeks ago so Chris Godwin wouldn’t get hurt.

Why does Joe say that? Because Billy typed up a story this week saying Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht should climb the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, wave a white flag at the passing cruise ships and throw starters overboard to build for the future.

With the trade deadline looming on Tuesday, Barnwell essentially told Licht, “It’s over.” The run is over. Build a stockpile of draft picks for the future.

(Travis Hunter?)

Billy is convinced the Atlanta strangulation destroyed the Bucs. And the way the Bucs defense has completely collapsed — and the Bucs defense is making so many fundamental mistakes in Week 1 of training camp — the Bucs aren’t going anywhere this year.

… …The Bucs have had too many moments where receivers have found wide-open spots in zone coverage, and when they have played man coverage, opposing quarterbacks have gone 23 of 35 for 300 yards, six touchdowns and a 96.3 QBR. The QBR allowing coverage for men ranks 32nd in the league. They could have relied on Mayfield and the passing game to win shootouts — they have the league’s easiest schedule going forward — but this could be a losing season without Evans and Godwin.

The verdict: The Bucs have to subtract at the deadline.

‘Subtraction’, as in selling talent.

To be fair to Billy, he makes a good point. What exactly can the Bucs accomplish with a defense that’s going to be worse than the Smiths’? Unless your offense averages 35 points per game, a terrible defense is very difficult to overcome.

Now if the Bucs decided to go out like Buffalo and Kansas City and acquire a decent receiver, with the addition of Mike Evans hopefully for the Giants game after the bye, maybe the Bucs would have the firepower to deal with teams to go who want NASCAR their way. weekly through the Bucs defense.

It’s sad that the Bucs are finally getting a good offense for the first time since Bucco Bruce Arians was here – and finally found a guy who knows what he’s doing with that offense – and it’s the Bucs defense that’s playing possum.

(For the record, Joe isn’t interested in quarterback hunting in the draft. The Bucs have found their franchise QB, Baker Mayfield. He played well last year; this year he’s playing better. He’s a keeper.)