The Bucs DO NOT HAVE “HOLES” AT NOSE TACKLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roy Miller and Gary Gibson make a very good tandem at that position…..

What we need is a solid veteran UNDER TACKLE to spell McCoy and keep the rotation fresh.

ONCE AGAIN……the “tilted nose tackle” in this defense is not going to get a bunch of sacks….

If we bring in a “pass rushing” nose tackle….WE WILL GET GASHED AGAINST THE RUN…….

Roy Miller will continue to get better (he’s 25yrs old) because he WILL NOT be outworked by anyone. Exactly the type of dude (physically and mentally) we need to play the tilt nose in this scheme.

The point is that if you look at the great defenses that have been in the league in recent years, they aren’t built from the back forward – they’re build up front first. Yes, the Bucs have some talent up front, but not enough. As such, that has to be the priority, with filling in back end talent (focusing on quantity more than high-dollar quality) is a much more successful path to take.

I guess that’s one of the things that makes this fun. We can go back and forth all we want, but in the end, all we’re doing is chattering. It’s MD’s call, and I trust that he’ll make the right calls in the draft. I just fully expect that it’ll be top-heavy on the DL and OL, with depth choices (third round and later) on a couple of CBs, another RB and likely a safety (all of whom will need to play special teams).

IMO our pass rush suffered from a terrible defensive scheme that focused on “stunting” all the time instead of just attacking the QB.

As far as Brian Kelly and Dwight Smith, im not trying to be disagreeable but both of those guys were absolute ball hawks, they had great coverage skills. I believe Brian Kelly lead the league with 8 picks our Super Bowl season? Dwight had 2 pick sixes in the SB? Of course I’m not sayin the DB’s didnt benefit from the pass rush but they were certainly good at what they did. They were “starters” unlike who we have playing for us now.

Listen, the QBs in this league are too good. They’ll pick apart any defense if they have time. The Bucs front seven did a remarkable job against the rush this year, but lets face it, they started going south the day that Adrian Clayborn went out with his knee. From that point, teams could double Gerald McCoy, and the only other push they received was the occasional sack from Michael Bennett.

I’ll contend that if they had gotten a healthy season from Clayborn resulting in a more consistent pass rush, the panic that we see about the CBs would be far less. If they can generate a consistent pass rush without having to blitz, they can put two EJ Biggers back there and be successful against the pass. This is how the Bucs won their first Super Bowl – it certainly wasn’t that Dwight Smith and Brian Kelly were Pro Bowl players, because they were solid but little more. They benefited from a wicked front four.

Instead, smart teams (and I count Dominik and his front office in this group) put the prioritized share of their cap money on QB, then DL and finally OL. All other positions are based on need (such as Vincent Jackson this year). On top of that, the two positions where high draft picks flop most seem to be WR and CB.

It all depends on how the FA season goes. I expect they’ll find at least two DBs (if Ronde retires, one if he stays) as free agents, lessening the need for a draft in that position. Instead, I fully expect them to draft either a RT (the Matthews kid from A&M makes sense) or a DL for depth in round one.

If Dominik and his staff truly valued CBs in the draft, they’d have never passed up a CB who fell into their lap at #5 last year, one that is a clearly superior prospect to any CB in this year’s draft.