Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said just over a week ago that following the loss of linebacker SirVocea Dennis, who is currently on injured reserve, Tampa Bay had extremely limited options backing up starting linebacker K.J. Britt.

When asked by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times if there was anyone else who could play Dennis’ role if he did end up injured Bowles replied, “There was not one ready at the time. We’ve been getting them ready the whole time, but they were not ready when he got hurt. They were not ready at the time [or] could do the things that he could do. Some of the things that he could do changes a lot of things that we can do.”

Bowles would later identify practice squad player Vi Jones as the player most likely to fill Dennis’ role.

And for that reason, Britt has played a much larger role on the Bucs defense than Bowles and the team envisioned coming into the season.

Bucs ILB SirVocea Dennis – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

That statement leaves a lot of questions though.

Backup linebacker J.J. Russell has been in the Bucs defense for two seasons now – spending time on both the practice squad (last year) and the 53-man active roster (this year). The Bucs have said many times over the past two years they cross train their players to be “multiple.”

What did Russell not know/possess that prevented him from at least trying to fill the Dennis role that Britt had proven to not be able to fill?

I cannot find a reasonable answer to even venture a guess other than believing Bowles when he implied that Jones was faster and more athletic, and that Russell was more like Britt as an athlete.

Bucs Looking For A More Athletic Linebacker

Since entering the NFL no one has ever accused K.J. Britt of being the most athletic linebacker – or even a kind of athletic linebacker.

K.J. Britt was drafted with pick 176 of round 5 in the 2021 draft class. He scored a 4.7 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 1144 out of 2155 LB from 1987 to 2021. https://t.co/YAw9PoN3zb #RAS #Buccaneers pic.twitter.com/TVLb9D9P5j

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) May 1, 2021

When compared to Dennis, well there is no comparison in terms of pure athleticism.

But behind those two, the athletic traits fall off as soon as you get to Russell. He does not have an official Relative Athletic Score from Kent Lee Platte, but I found his Pro Day numbers from when he was coming out of college.

Using Platte’s RAS Calculator I discovered Russell’s RAS score would have been an unofficial 6.58. That’s certainly a step up from Britt while not quite approaching Dennis. It could be that the Bucs, or perhaps just Bowles himself, views athleticism on a “pass/fail” system. Maybe an RAS score of 7.0 is the cutoff. I don’t know. This is complete conjecture on my part.

But I do find it interesting that Vi Jones had an RAS score of 8.87 when he came out of college.

Vi Jones is a LB prospect in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 8.87 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 274 out of 2419 LB from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/b78EgoY5JP #RAS https://t.co/TKPMYjHTzB pic.twitter.com/ivfF6qRo3Y

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) May 2, 2022

Coverage Skills Go Beyond Athleticism

Here’s the thing. Fast guys who move well are not a guarantee to be good coverage players.

Don’t believe me? You must not have been a Bucs fan from 2019 to 2023. Lavonte David’s RAS when he was coming out of college was 7.21. Bills linebacker Matt Milano scored 6.95 and he is one of the best coverage linebackers in the NFL. Being able to move smoothly in space certainly helps, but it’s not necessary.

Bucs ILB JJ Russell – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Russell had limited NFL experience prior to this year. He played well in his first real action as a pro against the Carolina Panthers in Week 13 of last year, but entering last week he had just 18 defensive snaps through the first eight games of this year. For some reason Bowles and Co. did not have any faith in Russell to operate the SirVocea Dennis role.

But what I don’t get is that while Russell is most likely not as good as Dennis in pass coverage, that shouldn’t be the bar the Bucs were asking him to clear. Dennis was injured and no longer the benchmark. The benchmark at that point should have been, “Is he better in coverage than K.J. Britt?” 

And while the sample size was, and still is, extremely small, the sample size of K.J. Britt’s play on long and late downs was ample enough that trying other options was not only a viable option, but a prudent and wise one. And yet through eight weeks, Bowles and the Bucs continued to trot Britt out as the nickel linebacker down after down and drive after drive.

It just didn’t make sense.

What Did J.J. Russell Learn Last Week?

Per Todd Bowles’ own words above, apparently J.J. Russell learned something last week that he had not learned in the previous 18 months because he finally saw extended action on defense against Kansas City. On Monday night he played 30 snaps. And you know what? He played fairly well.

In 16 coverage snaps Pro Football Focus credited him with a 69.2 coverage grade. I watched all 16 of those snaps and I felt like he played well. Need someone to run the pole in Cover 2? He executed that drop pretty well.

pic.twitter.com/uju9DQv9wk

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) November 9, 2024

The Bucs have struggled mightily to have someone properly pick up seam routes in Cover 3. Russell showed he could perform that expectation well, walling off the route and passing it off properly.

pic.twitter.com/DRP0lx7QTm

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) November 9, 2024

Russell even stayed sticky on some match reps with Travis Kelce.

pic.twitter.com/aFKWkzuzNg

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) November 9, 2024

Raise The Floor, If Not The Ceiling

Bucs ILB KJ Britt and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

J.J. Russell is not a panacea. He should not be the player the Buccaneers are looking to build around for the future.

But right now…right now…he looks better than K.J. Britt as an option on pass-obvious downs.

And Todd Bowles should lean into that. Any improvement in the floor of the on-field product on defense is a monumental improvement given the stakes and the talent and production on the offensive side of the ball. J.J. Russell can be that improvement.

And the Bucs have run out of time to ignore that fact.