This has been a very odd offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in terms of national attention. On one hand, you have the additions of players like DeSean Jackson and Chris Baker, who have certainly brought positive attention. Then you have places like Pro Football Focus pointing out that certain players on the Buccaneers, such as Mike Evans and Brent Grimes, had some of the best production in the league for their positions.
But then, there’s the other side of things. The most glaring oversight of the 2016 season seems to be the success of the Bucs linebacker position, specifically, the work of second-year linebacker, Kwon Alexander. Alexander was left off the NFL’s All-Under 25 team and was also left off the NFL Network’s Top 100 players list, despite leading the league in solo tackles.
Now, this Bucs unit is being overlooked again, this time by not being considered as one of the Top 10 linebacking units in the NFL, according to NFL Network’s Willie McGinest.
The Top 10 went as follows.
- Denver Broncos
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Carolina panthers
- San Francisco 49ers
- Oakland Raiders
- – 10. Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals
The main counterpoint to the Buccaneers not being on this list is that, though talented, they only have two solidified linebackers, Alexander and Lavonte David – since the team plays in nickel defense more than 60 percent of the time. If you’ll notice, most of the teams on that list were 3-4 teams, so they have four linebackers contributing instead of just two. More names, to some, could mean more talent.
A few of the teams on that list are there for having great depth, and that should be a factor – one that would hurt the Bucs chances of being on this list. But, I feel as though there wasn’t much of a chance given to a Buccaneers group that often has to do the work of three linebackers with just two. It feels like that should have been taken into account, and I’m not sure it was.
Regardless, I guess it will just be more motivation for an already motivated Alexander to take into the season.
