Void in Bucs’ roster.
Joe is relieved to see others are noticing the potential forest fire.
Every team, no matter how good it may be, always has a hole in its roster. At least before the season kicks off. So in scanning the rosters of the 32 NFL teams, Kevin Patra of NFL.com found what he thinks are the 10 biggest holes in the NFL.
On is right off MLK, Jr. Blvd. in Tampa just east of Himes. And it’s not a sinkhole, either.
Patra believes a giant hole is on the Bucs’ roster and it happens to be a pass rusher.
Shaq Barrett moving 200 miles south this offseason highlighted a gap off the edge of the Bucs’ defensive front. Barrett led all Tampa defenders with 44 QB pressures last season, per Next Gen Stats. The next two players were interior defenders (Calijah Kancey, 33; Vita Vea, 29), and fourth on the list was departed linebacker Devin White (27). The top edge defenders left are Yaya Diaby (26 pressures in 2023), coming off a stellar end of his rookie season, and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (26), who hasn’t lived up to the first-round billing. Right now, second-round rookie Chris Braswell, who had 10.5 sacks last year at Alabama, is in line to see a hefty role out of the gate. Todd Bowles likes to play big, but finding edge aid remains necessary. I like this Bucs roster probably more than most, and adding some veteran help off the edge would boost the odds of taking a fourth consecutive division title.
He’s not wrong. But as Joe has pointed out several times, what did the Bucs lose in Shaq Barrett? Joe loves the guy to death but in the final nine games (including two playoff games) last season, Shaq had a grand total of a half-sack.
(It’s interesting that NextGen Stats has Shaq with 44 pressures. Pro-Football-Reference.com has Shaq with 19 and that puts Shaq at No. 74 in the league last season. Given that NextGen Stats uses GPS technology from sensors in players’ equipment and the ball, Joe will go with NextGen Stats over the eyeball test for pressures.)
Again, Joe’s a big fan of Shaq but there is no way around that. That stat — half a sack in the last nine games — is downright embarrassing.
Sure, Chris Braswell could be that guy but it’s rare for a rookie to be a stud edge rusher right off the bat (unless his name is “Bosa” or Josh Allen or Maxx Crosby). So Joe doesn’t expect a lot from Braswell this year. Great if he is but Joe won’t jump off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge if Braswell has a meh rookie season.
Joe also is a big fan of YaYa Diaby. Still, it concerns Joe that his production dropped after he became a starter last season.
If the Bucs had a consistent edge rusher, this defense could be scary good.
(Hell no, Joe didn’t forget about MIA Randy Gregory.)
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