The Bucs’ addition of Akiem Hicks this offseason does more than just solidify the defensive line. It adds speed and athleticism while not losing anything in run defense. But more than that, it adds another big-bodied defensive lineman who is hard to block one-on-one.

So far in camp, veteran defensive lineman Will Gholston has noticed the impact Hicks has had and how quickly he’s gotten up to speed.

“It’s really hard to block one of us individually, as I’m seeing with camp going,” Gholston said. “We didn’t necessarily lose a step at all. I know we lost some guys in that room, but we didn’t lose too big of a step. He’s coming in, he’s got the playbook down and he’s doing his thing. You see him, he can literally stand straight up and push somebody in the backfield. And that’s really good to have.”

The Bucs now have a ton of versatility on the line. With that versatility comes the ability to present different looks up front. It allows head coach Todd Bowles to go deeper into the playbook to give the Bucs an edge on defense.

“I think that just gives the ability to reach deeper into the playbook,” Gholston said. “You’ve got the ability to reach deeper in the playbook when you’ve got guys who know the plays. Guys who know the scheme. And it’s not just us three (Gholston, Hicks and Vita Vea), it’s everybody in the room. We’ve got Nacho (Rakeem Nunez-Roches), Will (Willington Previlon), Logan (Hall), Mike (Greene), every single person in that room has shown the ability to be able to get after the quarterback and get after the ball carrier.”

In addition to being more versatile with what they can do up front, the Bucs pairing Hicks with Vea frees up things for the rest of the defense. It’s something linebacker Devin White has noticed early.

“I know that I can make a lot of plays in the backfield having great guys like those two and the rest of the guys we got. Because those are some pretty heavy guys and they penetrate,” White said. “I think one thing is once the season starts, we do really well in the run game and can kind of make teams one-dimensional, make them try to throw quick, which is basically their run-game. So, we can start to figure teams out if we do what we’re supposed to do. So having guys like that is a huge favor to us.”

Whether it’s consuming blockers, freeing up the linebackers to make plays, applying pressure to assist in coverage or allowing the Bucs to dive deeper into the playbook, Hicks adds a ton of value to Bowles’ defense.