Part of Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ marketing is putting gigantic (83-by-40-foot) banners – featuring the uniformed likenesses of key players – on the side of Raymond James Stadium. But given all the Bucs’ personnel changes – no more Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn, for example — the team has had to change its banners. Now up are middle linebacker Barrett Ruud, wide receiver Antonio Bryant and defensive back Aqib Talib.
Brooks and Dunn are tough acts to follow – as solid citizens as well as pre-eminent players. Ruud, a genuinely nice person who is now coming into his own as one of the better LBs in the league, is a most worthy replacement. Bryant has had a problematic past, but in his one year with the Bucs put up big numbers. Talib makes no sense.
The second-year player is expected to start this year. But he had a checkered past in college (Kansas) and has already been involved in two major, thuggish, intra-squad altercations. An egotistical player with serious attitude issues needs to be reined in – not unleashed to be marketed with a bigger-than-life banner.