A Todd Bowles crush?

So at Todd Bowles’ table at the NFC Coaches Breakfast in Phoenix on Monday sat Joe and only one other Tampa-based media member.

Strange.

Somehow, a trip to the NFL annual meeting and a chance to talk to the Buccaneers head coach, general manager and owner wasn’t prioritized by other local media. Even the Bucs’ in-house media passed.

This was Phoenix, not Vancouver, and there were multiple daily non-stop flights from Tampa with the NFL action less than 20 minutes from the Phoenix airport.

Oh, well. Joe suspects most fans will blame Bowles.

Back to the breakfast, on multiple occasions Bowles mentioned how much he likes a few free agent cornerbacks still on the street. One one occasion, Bowles sounded like he had a crush in his voice.

Joe’s been studying the corners available and thinks Bowles has a thing for Rasul Douglas.

Douglas turns 31 in August and grew up about 10 miles from Bowles’ hometown in New Jersey. More important, Douglas is the kind of long corner Bowles has historically loved. He’s 6-2, 210 pounds. But even more important, Douglas surprised a lot of people with a bounceback season last year for the Dolphins. Douglas started 13 of the 15 games he played in and had 13 passes defensed. Those 13 passes defensed tied for 14th-most in the NFL.

Douglas also has a load of postseason experience. He won a ring as a rookie with the 2017 Eagles and also started in the postseason for Green Bay and Buffalo.

Last year, Douglas played on a one-year, $1.5 million contract plus incentives. Simply put, a year ago the NFL thought Douglas was no longer the $7 million corner he was in the past.

It seems Douglas is still on the street only because he’s waiting out a raise or a multi-year deal, which is common for veterans who already have banked a lot of cash.

Joe was intrigued to read what various Dolphins fans and media had to say about Douglas. Also, the data nerds claim Douglas allowed only 430 yards in coverage and a 73 passer rating, both very good marks.

Douglas is known as a strong zone corner. So Joe wonders if Bowles sees that and thinks, ‘I sure could use a guy like that in the mix.’

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