What Defensive Lineman On the Bucs Are Keepers?

[JDouble]

With no McCoy and no Price, our line actually looked really good the last three games with Okam, Woods, Miller, and Magee. We obviously still lacked a pass rushing RE, but those four guys did a good job of locking down the middle and left side. I think they are all solid keepers.

[PassThePigSkin]

With no McCoy and no Price, our line actually looked really good the last three games with Okam, Woods, Miller, and Magee. We obviously still lacked a pass rushing RE, but those four guys did a good job of locking down the middle and left side. I think they are all solid keepers.

I agree watching them play made me feel nice about the depth we have on Dline. Now all TB needs is starters.

[SunnyD]

Hell, watching the last 8 games of the season made me feel nice about the depth

[bucman44]

keepem all ...fight it out in training camp with the rookies...

[LABuc]

Price at UT, Okam at NT, McCoy at LDE.... Quinn (Am I allowed to dream?) at RDE..... ... Bennett, Miller, Woods, McGee as backups.... hmmm...

[Lombardi_Stacks]

Miller, Price, McCoy are the keepers. Everyone else is fighting for a job.

One must consider how bad the Bucs DL was last season on the perimeter. The only reason that those trying can only definitively eliminate one players....Kyle Moore...from the roster speaks to the fact that these guys are all marginal NFL players who should be backups, rotational guys and possibly situational players at best. You're basically comparing poo to poo...or mediocre to mediocre.

Looking at the statistics from football outsiders, the center of our defensive line is just about the softest in the NFL. We should call our defensive tackles "chewy" and "nougat."

+1

[JDog]

White is old and was never more than average. He's gone.

LOL!   He was the only decent lineman on the Bucs in 2009 and now you are throwing him under the bus?

[JDouble]

Price at UT, Okam at NT, McCoy at LDE.... Quinn (Am I allowed to dream?) at RDE..... ... Bennett, Miller, Woods, McGee as backups.... hmmm...

I really think we might be best with Price at UT and McCoy at LE, but after drafting McCoy so high and giving him such a huge contract, I'll be very surprised (and impressed) if Rah and Dom have the balls to admit Price is the better UT and actually move McCoy to LE. In all honesty though if you forget about where folks were drafted and the size of contracts....McCoy's longer leaner frame and the way he plays the game could make him a dominant LE, while Price is 10x better at getting immediate penetration up the middle. The problem is in real life we can't just forget about where they were drafted and the size of their contract. If McCoy was really moved to LE, Rah and Dom would catch all kinds of hell from the sports writers, the fans, and the owners.

As far as Okam at NT, I'm not sure if he is the best, but with him, Woods, and Miller all competing for that spot I am confident whichever one wins will be a solid starting nose tackle for us. I'd like Okam to win though, because he has the highest ceiling with the most potential.

[smove28]

Price at UT, Okam at NT, McCoy at LDE.... Quinn (Am I allowed to dream?) at RDE..... ... Bennett, Miller, Woods, McGee as backups.... hmmm...

I really think we might be best with Price at UT and McCoy at LE, but after drafting McCoy so high and giving him such a huge contract, I'll be very surprised (and impressed) if Rah and Dom have the balls to admit Price is the better UT and actually move McCoy to LE. In all honesty though if you forget about where folks were drafted and the size of contracts....McCoy's longer leaner frame and the way he plays the game could make him a dominant LE, while Price is 10x better at getting immediate penetration up the middle. The problem is in real life we can't just forget about where they were drafted and the size of their contract. If McCoy was really moved to LE, Rah and Dom would catch all kinds of hell from the sports writers, the fans, and the owners.

As far as Okam at NT, I'm not sure if he is the best, but with him, Woods, and Miller all competing for that spot I am confident whichever one wins will be a solid starting nose tackle for us. I'd like Okam to win though, because he has the highest ceiling with the most potential.

Great post JDouble, why can't we move McCoy to end and have bigger guy rushing from the outside. I would love to see that more that him in the middle. With a rotation of Okam, Miller, and Price in the middle we can move McCoy to end and instead of the comparisons to Sapp, we can have a guy that could play the end position like ....I know this is a reach calm down.....Reggie White.

[SunnyD]

Okam is an Under-tackle guys.

Played three-technique for us.

Didn't play the nose in the 3-4 or 3-3-5

[Biggs3535]

Okam is an Under-tackle guys.

Played three-technique for us.

Didn't play the nose in the 3-4 or 3-3-5

Yeah, but you gotta figure McCoy and Price not being in the line-up affected that.  Okam is more of a NT with those guys on the roster.

[MiltonMack21]

With as bad as the DL was no one should be safe. I don't see why anyone is expecting anything out of Price after he came in last offseason out of shape. McCoy is too soft to play in the middle, he would be better on an end.

[PassThePigSkin]

I like how people are giving up on McCoy already after 1 year. 

[CBWx2]

What are we basing the claim that Price is a better UT than McCoy on? And why does anybody think that McCoy would be a better DE than DT? Just want to know, because Price hardly played at all last season, and McCoy was the only DT on the roster that got a consistent push up the middle. Gerald McCoy will be a great UT/3-tech in the NFL. Notice I said great. Not good, GREAT! Mark my words, he has all the tools you need for it, and if you didn't see that last season, you have blinders on. No way is he a DE. That's asinine.

Also, no way should Roy Miller or Frank Okam be considered to start over Brian Price at NT. Miller got manhandled for most of the 2010 season, and Okam only played well in one game. That doesn't hand you the keys to the castle in my book. This whole notion that you need some big, beefy NT is old school. If Price and McCoy have similar playing styles, then that's still 2 guys that need to be blocked. Both have good motors and both are underrated run defenders. We will be fine lining them up next to one another.

[smove28]

What are we basing the claim that Price is a better UT than McCoy on? And why does anybody think that McCoy would be a better DE than DT? Just want to know, because Price hardly played at all last season, and McCoy was the only DT on the roster that got a consistent push up the middle. Gerald McCoy will be a great UT/3-tech in the NFL. Notice I said great. Not good, GREAT! Mark my words, he has all the tools you need for it, and if you didn't see that last season, you have blinders on. No way is he a DE. That's asinine.

Also, no way should Roy Miller or Frank Okam be considered to start over Brian Price at NT. Miller got manhandled for most of the 2010 season, and Okam only played well in one game. That doesn't hand you the keys to the castle in my book. This whole notion that you need some big, beefy NT is old school. If Price and McCoy have similar playing styles, then that's still 2 guys that need to be blocked. Both have good motors and both are underrated run defenders. We will be fine lining them up next to one another.

You have to take into consideration that Okam started playing well when he got used to being on the team. He gradually got better as he got used to being here. Okam should be one of the starters in the middle for us next year, period. Miller will be a good sub and Price should be our other starter. We have to consider that we do not really even know what we have in the middle of our D line because they got hurt or they were not with us to start the year. I like what Bennett showed but we didn't play much. McCoy is going to be a good DT, but with his skill you have to wonder what kind of numbers he would put up as a DE. I think he could put up incredible numbers.