June Won’t Play Safety (or “The Ballad Of Will And Sam”)

Pewter Report has a nice entry on the first day of Buccaneer OTAs, which are voluntary in much the same way that giving your boss a Christmas card is voluntary. One of the most interesting points concerns Cato June and his position with the team. I thought it would be ideal for the Bucs to play June at his college position of safety since the team has virtually no depth/talent there. That's probably not going to happen.

"I'm pretty much a linebacker now," said June. "I don't see myself playing safety with a number 59 jersey on."

Shame. Secondary coach Raheem Morris gave Jermaine Phillips and Will Allen (the goats of the 2006 secondary) a minor vote of confidence.

"When I left in '05 we liked those safeties a lot," said Morris. "They played well then, and I know they had a down year last season. They know they had a down year last season. It's our job as coaches and their jobs as players to fix it."

A much more significant vote of confidence is the fact that the Bucs have done nothing to upgrade the safety position in free agency. The team absolutely has to spend a first day pick on a safety. Morris may be able to squeeze some extra production out of his guys, but you can't tell me that all their screw-ups in 2006 were the result of Greg Burns's bad coaching. They need some serious competition. Eric Weddle, anyone?

And speaking of June, the article had this confusing little tidbit:

"I'm lining up at the Sam, which is essentially the same position I played in Indy," said June. "In Indy they called it the Will, but here they call it the Sam, but it's the same thing."

Huh? Sam=strongside; Mike=middle; Will=weakside. Why would Indy refer to the strongside linebacker spot as Will? Isn't that just confusing? Am I missing something here?