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Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defense Preview
Defensive Line
The starters from this group are all returning for another season on the Bucs. Derek Barnett and William Gholston on the ends and Gerald McCoy with Michael Brockers are the tackles. The Buccaneers defensive line got even better last season with the additions of Barnett and Brockers. Barnett tallied up 13 sacks on his way to winning the NFC's Defensive Rookie of the Year award and is looking like he's gonna be terrorizing quarterbacks in the NFC South for years to come. Brockers had 5 sacks on the year and was a great asset to have in the run game. This Bucs D-Line has prides itself on being great against the run. Gholston is essentially a run stop specialist but has the ability to rush the passer as well. He has 8 sacks last season. McCoy used to be undoubtedly the best player on the line but Barnett may have overtaken him for that honor. McCoy still had 8 sacks last year and is still a monster against the run but Barnett is such a beast and is only going to get better as he's entering his 2nd season in the NFL. There are quite a few new faces competing for depth spots on this line this year as Robert Ayers, Damian Hubbard and Devin Taylor all were not brought back. Noah Spence is entering his 3rd NFL season and adds some speed to the pass rush when he comes in occasionally. Terrence Fede, Cassius Marsh and Andrew Trumbetti will all be competing for backup spots this preseason. Fede was signed this offseason and is another guy who adds some speed to the line and could be a solid situational pass rusher. Marsh spent the past few seasons in Seattle but hasn't gotten much playing time. He's another speed rusher and is probably tied with Mike Evans for most tattoos on the team. Trumbetti was the Buccaneers 5th round draft pick this year and the rookie out of Notre Dame is another New Jersey native. He's pretty similar to the rest of the depth guys but he's younger and will get plenty of snaps in the preseason.
Linebackers
Another fantastic part of the Buccaneers defense. Led by Lavonte David and Kwon Alexander, this linebacker core is a huge reason why the Bucs are consistently one of the best defenses in the NFL. The LOLB position has had 2 different starters the past 2 seasons. Started off as Daryl Smith and after his retirement Jeremiah George took over and was a solid player last season. However, the front office wanted to get even better at the position and they signed Devon Kennard to a 2 year deal. Kennard has spent the past few seasons with the Giants and the Giants even lost to the Bucs in the wild card last year. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Kennard adds even more speed to an already quick core of linebackers and it should be scary to see how good the front 7 will be this season. It's worth noting that Kwon Alexander is on the last year of his contract and after last season's injuries to him and Lavonte David we now know how much depth this team has at the position. Kentrell Brothers, Matty Milano and Khairi Fortt all stepped up big time when those starters went down for multiple weeks and the defense didn't miss a beat. Brothers proved he could be a solid option on the inside while Fortt mainly got playing time in nickel formations and showed he can be good in man as well as zone coverage while also being able to tackle well enough to stop the run. Milano showed the grit you'd expect from a BC kid and was very impressive in all aspects of his game. These guys all have spots locked up on the roster and the preseason at this position is mainly for seeing what the team has behind these guys. Micah Awe, Jeremy Cash, Devante Bond and Quentin Gause are the names who will be competing for spots. Awe has been here since the start and even got some regular season playing time last season with all the injuries. He was an undrafted rookie out of Texas Tech and is now entering his 3rd season. He's a super speedy linebacker who hits like a truck, he just needs to improve on his ability to predict plays and not getting faked out rather than relying on his speed to make up for his mistakes and he could be a very good linebacker. Next up is Bond, Devante Bond. He's also been here from the start but hasn't gotten any regular season playing time. He was hurt for most of the preseason in his rookie year and just got outshined last preseason. This year he'll need to try his best to stand out for any chance at making the roster. Jeremy Cash was signed last offseason and spent last year on the practice squad. He's a similar player to Awe as in he's fast and hits hard but the coaching staff likes Awe more as of now so Cash will need to find a way to separate himself from Awe. Gause was brought in this offseason and is a long shot to make the roster. He might even have a hard time getting playing time this preseason will all the linebackers Tampa has. It's worth pointing out that Gause went to Rutgers but we don't think that'll be enough to sell anyone that he has what it takes.
Cornerbacks
This is a position that has seen a lot of different players in the past few seasons for Tampa but it's starting to look like they've got themselves a solid core now. Vernon Hargreaves has blossomed into a #1 corner and is entering his 3rd pro season. Marquez White would of been the team's best rookie last season if Barnett wasn't on the team. White had 2 INTs in the regular season while also being in the top 5 on the team in tackles. He has a few clutch picks in the playoffs as well. He was the #2 corner last year but the front office brought in E.J. Gaines who could end up with that spot. White and Gaines will be competing to see who's #2 and who's #3. Channing Stribling was signed as an undrafted rookie last season and was so impressive in preseason that he earned the 4th corner spot. He'll most likely be back in that spot again this season. Josh Robinson has gotten caught in the signing and drafting of all these new corners and is getting pushed down the depth chart. He was the #2 CB 2 seasons ago and the nickel last season but now he'll have to battle with Stribling to be the dime corner. We'll see what what happens in the preseason but the fact of the matter is that this is a position that has seen significant upgrade since new ownership took over.
Safeties
Bradley McDougald and Aaron Williams are penciled in as the starters at free and strong safety but Williams might have himself some competition. Kavon Frazier, the former Central Michigan Chippewa, spent all last season on the practice squad and coaches have been raving about how much he's improved since last year. There's also Steven Parker who the Bucs took in the 3rd round out of Oklahoma. Parker was the 45th overall talent in this year's draft class and the Bucs were ecstatic to snag him at pick 93. He was a value pick as the Buccaneers didn't particularly need a safety heading into the draft but Parker was too good to pass up. Aaron Williams is 28 and on the last year of his contract so even if he wins the starting SS job, Parker or Frazier could very well take over that job next season. The interesting thing to watch is going to be who's better between Parker and Frazier. Rashad Davie was signed this offseason as well to backup McDougald at FS. Davie is a 2nd year pro out of Oklahoma and still only 22 years old so he has plenty of room to improve.