The case for drafting a defensive tackle
With the NFL draft coming up next week there are lot of potential players that could become Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Defensive Tackles Quinnen Williams of Alabama and Ed Oliver of Houston, defensive ends Clelin Ferrell of Clemson Rashan Gary of Michigan and Montez Sweat of Mississippi State, edge rusher Josh Allen of Kentucky, cornerback Greedy Williams of LSU, and offensive tackle Jonah Williams of Alabama.
All of these players could fall to number five and be selected by the Bucs.
The feeling around Tampa is that the Bucs will select Devin White the linebacker from LSU to replace Kwon Alexander.
check out my article here http://nflfanblitz.com/why-the-bucs-should-draft-devin-white-with-the-5th-overall-pick/.
Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy will not be back. He has not shown up yet for OTA’s and whenever Bruce Arians or Jason Licht has had a chance to go on the record about McCoy they have have kind of danced around the issue and not given anyone a reason to believe that McCoy will be part of this football team in 2019.
McCoy is due to make 13 million dollars this season and with the salary cap crunch the Bucs have gotten themselves in, they will have to do some roster shuffling to sign their 2019 draft class.
The Bucs have been trying to trade McCoy but so far have gotten no takers. The best option would appear to be moving McCoy in a draft day deal and acquiring a low round draft pick, or just outright releasing McCoy.
The Bucs would need someone to step into McCoy‘s spot on the defensive line and their are two potential candidates that could be available at the number five spot.
Last year the Bucs drafted defensive tackle Vita Vea of Washington with the 12th pick in the draft. Vea, hampered by injuries in training camp really started playing well the last half of the season and started to look like the player the Bucs thought they were getting.
Ed Oliver is 6-3 285 defensive tackle from Houston. Oliver won the Outland award as a sophomore as the best linemen in college football and had 53 tackles for losses in three seasons.
Oliver is a versatile linemen who can play defensive end in a 4-3 and also play linebacker in a 3-4 scheme. This is exactly the type of player that Todd Bowles is looking for to play in his defense. Someone who is versatile and can play more than one position. This is what makes Ed Oliver a potential pick for the Bucs at number five.
The knock on Oliver is his small size for a defensive tackle and he has a tendency to rely on his feet and quickness to make plays and needs to have better use his hands better when disengaging blockers.
Quinnen Williams is a 6-3 295 defensive tackle from Alabama that is projected to be a top five pick.
The current Outland Trophy winner, Williams had 71 tackles, including 19.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks. Williams has the raw combination of power and speed for an interior linemen. He can be as good as he wants to be.
The case against Williams would be that he has had only one real good season at Alabama, He is much better against the run than the pass, and with the NFL becoming more of a passing league will really have to work on his pass rushing.
Oklahoma neutralized his speed effectively 2in their game with their quick temp passing attack.
Buc fans should not be disappointed with either Ed Oliver or Quinnen Williams wearing the pewter and white next season.
