The Tampa Bay Buccaneers just wrapped up minicamp, and the Bucs had several players that stand out and will be joining the veterans when the third round of OTA’s start on Tuesday.
Taking a look at the offense:
Nick Fitzgerald the quarterback from Mississippi State will be at OTA’s on Tuesday and is someone who is willing to do whatever he needs to do to make this team. Fitzgerald is a Swiss Army knife type of player, someone who can do a bit of everything if given the opportunity. He can be compared to Taysom Hill of the Saints and Joe Webb III of the Texans, two college quarterbacks who made an NFL roster due to their special teams play and their ability to be used in multiple offensive roles. It seems as if Fitzgerald would be open to playing on special teams if asked to step in.
Wide receiver Scotty Miller, the sixth-round pick from Bowling Green turned some heads with his speed and playmaking ability. Miller is undersized for a slot receiver at 5-foot-10 and will see most of his work on the outside where he can better utilize his speed versus an area where more physicality is required.
Meanwhile, most of the offensive linemen who were at rookie camp struggled at times. Head coach Bruce Arians suggested that it is going to take a lot of coaching to get these rookie linemen ready to play at the NFL level.
Taking a look at the defense:
One free agent who opened some eyes and will be attending OTA’s was free agent defensive end Kahzin Daniels from Charleston College, Division II school. Daniels is blind in his right eye from a bike accident when he was five years old, but has 20/20 vision in his left eye and had 34.5 sacks in his career at Charleston. He impressed Arians with his speed and his ability to get to the quarterback. Daniels would be used as an outside linebacker in this defense.
With Jason Pierre-Paul out until October or November and Kendall Beckwith on IR for the second year in a row, the Bucs are looking for players who they think can help bring pressure to the quarterback from the linebacker/defensive end position. David Kenney, another outside linebacker who also turned some heads at rookie camp, impressed everyone with his speed and seemed to always find a way to get to the quarterback.
Linebacker Devin White did not disappoint as he appeared to be everything that the Bucs were hoping for when they drafted him. White had a pick six on Saturday after dropping one on Friday and could be seen calling out signals and making sure the defense was lined up correctly. That is the piece of White’s game that really appealed to the Bucs, his leadership ability. White remains unsigned though, as does defensive backs Sean Murphy-Bunting as well as Mike Edwards.
Defensive end Anthony Nelson, the sixth-round pick from Iowa, looked good and could have multiple uses defensively. Arians will be looking closely for his strengths. Nelson, as with a lot of the players on the Bucs defense, needs the coaching staff to evaluate them in different positions and roles, to find out what their strengths are to put them in the best position to help the team succeed.
With OTA’s starting again on Tuesday, Arians and the staff want to look at how these free agents will look against some veteran competition.
It seems as if Arians was pleased with the two practices on Friday and Saturday. It looks as if the Bucs are doing their best to bring in some guys that may be able to help this defense out. This rookie and free agent class on the defensive side of the ball will have contribute in a big way for the Bucs to get things turned around this season.
