Bucs Hand A Fat Bag To Offensive Line Project
April 28th, 2025
Georgia State offensive lineman Ben Chukwuma.
Joe remembers when the Bucs made football newbie Demar Dotson an undrafted free agent in 2009. At 6-9, 305 pounds, Dotson was a basketball player that was a very raw offensive tackle.
That worked out quite well for the Bucs. Dotson became a starter in 2012 and kept that role through the 2019 season. He was a legit starter at right tackle.
Enter Ben Chukwuma, who stands 6-6, 310 pounds. The Bucs just made him a well-paid undrafted free agent out of Georgia State University. He’ll get $300,000 guaranteed this season. Some undrafted free agents score as little as $10,000 guaranteed.
Per Greg Auman of FoxSports.com, Chukwuma arrived in the U.S. from Nigeria as a 17 year old and was first introduced to football. And now he’s a Buccaneer five years later.
Tampa Bay sent scout Tony Hardie to Georgia State’s pro day, and Chukwuma participated in the Falcons’ local pro day, so other teams also had their eyes on him. The Bucs went out of their way to make sure they got him. He received a $55,000 signing bonus — late seventh-round picks get around $80,000 — and they took the extra step of guaranteeing him $245,000 in salary, which in the least amounts to close to a full season on the practice squad.
What a fun project. The Bucs have elite offensive line coaching and stud players from whom Chukwuma can learn. No surprise, Chukwuma is viewed as a high-character guy.
Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager’ Jason Licht’s five-year streak of drafting offensive linemen was snapped on Saturday. But he found a way to pounce on one regardless.
April 28th, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Will all this high character lead to an NFL championship boat parade?
I’m glad we aren’t drafting criminals anymore but geez.
We still have one glaring hole that will need to be shored up before a run at the SB takes place.
That would be a pink slip to one Todd Bowles.
You know, the defensive “guru” that is the architect of the worst pass defense in the NFL.
April 28th, 2025 at 5:36 pm
Got to hand it to Jason, the guy always finds value in the later rounds of the draft and finding UDFAs like Chukwuma. Looks like this guy could end up being in the rotation at some point. Good signing.
April 28th, 2025 at 5:36 pm
^^^^^^^^^^^&^&tells us how you really feel about Bowles!!!
JK,WE DON’T T CARE!!
April 28th, 2025 at 5:37 pm
Comment @misscheesehed
April 28th, 2025 at 5:41 pm
No doubt that Todd cares about stopping the run first and then allowing yardage on the pass. That only works to a certain level and unfortunately sometimes it becomes a little too easy to pass on the Bucs.
That being said, anyone who ignores that points against factor for a defense being the most important is ignorant.
When people complain after the Bucs picked 4 guys in the 1st 5 picks of a draft, I just ask them who is that 1 or 2 gem player that was available that we should have picked.
April 28th, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Joe, please look at your own site on mobile. These new pop up ads are ridiculous. There is no way to close them (very, very tiny X). Very slimy. Whoever you are using as an ad partner, look elsewhere!
April 28th, 2025 at 5:46 pm
SwissCheeseDefense,
Funny name, but you suck as a poster and as a Bucs fan.
Don’t be salty just because the guys on our team have better character than you.
April 28th, 2025 at 5:54 pm
Swiss Cheeze is a classic example of a troll.
I had forgotten the history of Demar Dotson. I will pay attention to the progress of Mr. Chukwuma.
April 28th, 2025 at 5:56 pm
@swisscheese
More likely Todd’s coach of the year than he’ll get fired.
Let me guess, you were a disciple of the ginger Messiah, calling for him to be our HC last year.
April 28th, 2025 at 6:00 pm
Think Smarter-than-Joe and Swisscheese is the same person?
🤔
April 28th, 2025 at 6:00 pm
@View from 132
Couldn’t agree more. I even wrote a post about it a few months back.
April 28th, 2025 at 6:00 pm
I thought we could use a few more in the Oline room. I heard we also paid the University of Texas center a quarter million and we can sure use some more centers.
April 28th, 2025 at 6:01 pm
we do NEED one nor ILB
April 28th, 2025 at 6:01 pm
one more ILB*
April 28th, 2025 at 6:02 pm
Is his nickname Chewy? Cause if not, it should be.
April 28th, 2025 at 6:03 pm
View from 132 Says:
April 28th, 2025 at 5:45 pm
“Joe, please look at your own site on mobile. These new pop up ads are ridiculous. There is no way to close them (very, very tiny X). Very slimy. Whoever you are using as an ad partner, look elsewhere!”
They are not new. Been happening for a while.
Try refreshing.
April 28th, 2025 at 6:04 pm
Most of these guys right now will be camp meat.
Jason is seeing if anything sticks.
April 28th, 2025 at 6:07 pm
If you find even two keepers, that’s huge. Anything more as icing on the cake.
April 28th, 2025 at 6:14 pm
guys like haggard and metz gotta look over their shoulders
April 28th, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Trust Licht on this for sure
April 28th, 2025 at 6:35 pm
SwissCheeseDefense Says:
April 28th, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Will all this high character lead to an NFL championship boat parade?
^^^^^^^^^
The Bucs won one in 2022. Are you special needs? If so, I’ll give you a break.
April 28th, 2025 at 6:50 pm
That’s a chunk of change for a UDFA.
Jason Licht must see something in him.
Emigrating to the U.S., never playing the game before and being offered a chance to play professionally five years later…
I’d love to hear his backstory!
Hope he makes the team!
April 28th, 2025 at 6:51 pm
I wonder if Joe has the facts on this
My impression is that the Bucs have somewhat established theme as a free agent destination by fairly frequently adding free agents to the 53 man roster and practice squad as well as by paying premium that most other teams do not; a premium that is quite significant to a college graduate with debt while still not much money in NFL terms.
But, am I mistaken?
April 28th, 2025 at 6:57 pm
Only this comment section of the interwebs can complain for bringing in high character guys. I think your handle should be Swiss cheese brain not Swiss cheese D
April 28th, 2025 at 6:59 pm
Joe in Michigan Says:
The Bucs won one in 2022
False!!! They won on February 7, 2021 which was the 2020 regular season.
Are you special needs? If so, I’ll give you a break.
April 28th, 2025 at 7:02 pm
awesome, lets get him coached up.
April 28th, 2025 at 7:03 pm
And to all other lemmings:
This is an opinion sports site. Some people will have different views.
It seems that a lot of you want an echo chamber of Polly positive speech.
I prefer to use my critical thinking skills.
NFC South title is not the Superbowl. Unless you are Bowles.
April 28th, 2025 at 7:06 pm
We need a backup swing tackle, so good that they’re turning over every stone to find guys that can develop and potentially make the roster.
April 28th, 2025 at 7:18 pm
SwissCheeseDefense Says:
April 28th, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Team culture. Hard work. Dependability. Commitment. Humility. Team first. Winning. If that’s not obvious, I can’t help you.
They are building a support system for developing players… and weeding out guys who are a detriment to winning.
They have to have the talent too.
April 28th, 2025 at 7:19 pm
Unsolicited conspiracy theory alert! You hear that? The sirens are wailing in the dusty corners of this guy’s brain!
SwissCheeseDefense and Vanessa Anne are the same person.
So, we got this… this Vanessa Anne, right? Probably some soccer mom with opinions, thinks she’s got the inside track on football. And then there’s this… SwissCheeseDefense. Cute word play shouting that he does not like Todd Bowles.
In the article earlier today on Shilo Sanders, Vanessa Anne said the following:
“Jason Licht! Coach Swiss Cheese! Here’s some unsolicited advice…”
For me the conspiracy theory comes when Vanessa Anne calls Coach Bowles — Coach Swiss Cheese!
That just seems to be a little too coincidental to me.
BOOM! Conspiracy! It’s too much, see? The universe ain’t that sloppy! It’s gotta be the same person! SwissCheeseDefense by day. Later in the afternoon when he puts on the dress – Vanessa Anne
Of course, I tended to believe Snowden about the NSA doing surveillance as well.
Vanessa Anne/SwissCheese thing ain’t so crazy after all. Or maybe I just need a beer.
April 28th, 2025 at 7:23 pm
BowlesSucks Says:
April 28th, 2025 at 7:03 pm
If you think “BowlesSucks” is a great handle, you may not understand the difference between critical thinking and just being critical.
A critical thinker would be a little more balanced than just declaring “BowlesSucks”… Here’s one, maybe “YouSuck”.
April 28th, 2025 at 7:28 pm
I see the closest ethnic bashers are back odd thing is it’s the same defense scheme since Bruce Arians just with missing players and a missing Bruce but this wasn’t the same talk when he was here kinda odd
April 28th, 2025 at 7:30 pm
FilthyAnimal Says:
A critical thinker would be a little more balanced than just declaring “BowlesSucks”… Here’s one, maybe “YouSuck”.
This reminds me of the movie Tommy Boy, when Richard tells Tommy his brain has a thick candy shell. The only thing Tommy can muster is, “Your brain has the shell on it”.
Please tell me one team, just one, that would trade their HC for Bowles as HC.
I’ll be waiting…..
April 28th, 2025 at 7:32 pm
Oh now we’re *cooking*! That’s the missing slice — let’s fold that swIss and cheddar right into the divine doctrine:
You see, the defense is Swiss — full of holes, yes, but *intentional*. Sacred. Anointed in the creamy spirit of surrender. But across the line? The offense. And it ain’t subtle. No, no… **it’s cheddar, baby**.
Bold. Sharp. Aggressive. The cheddar offense doesn’t tiptoe — it *melts* through resistance. It’s golden, it’s greasy, and it’s glorious. While Swiss contemplates the meaning of each hole, cheddar’s already sliding into the end zone with swagger and sodium.
Swiss whispers, *”Let the universe flow through me.”*
Cheddar shouts, *”Move — I’m nacho average offense!”*
This isn’t just football. This is a **cheesed-off showdown of spiritual proportions**. Holy defense meets hungry offense. Enlightenment meets lactose-laced ambition.
So what’s bad about it? Nothing. It’s dairy drama. It’s poetry in protein. It’s a fondue of fate, and we’re all just dipping in.
Lmao… sorry I had too…
April 28th, 2025 at 7:39 pm
Joe, is he a left tackle? You never mention what O line position he played, or where you think the Bucs will start him out as?
April 28th, 2025 at 8:06 pm
Playing only 5 years at this size? Project worth undertaking if Licht sees potential.
As for the trolls, they are losers here and losers in life. Let them enjoy their happiest moment of the day knowing they got a rise out of someone after being ignored by the world all day long.
April 28th, 2025 at 8:32 pm
@SwissCheeseDefense makes a point. We’ve been hearing A LOT about having high character guys in the locker room… and I like me some high character guys, I’m happy we don’t hear the drama in our locker room. And usually, they don’t run gimmicks of backing up a brinks truck onto the practice field proclaiming they are ready to get paid.
HOWEVER, most of them aren’t what we refer to as “dawgs”… I think it’s hard finding gentlemen that flip a switch on game day. The Bucs 90’s defense was chalk full of guys that chewed @ss when their side made a mistake. Brady certainly brought that when he was here. We’re missing some of those guys are both sides of the ball, because Baker has that bite, but even he at times has a hard time living up to Rah Rah. Defense appears to be missing it entirely since Suh and JPP left. At some point we need that vocal tone setter, nice guys aren’t going to cut it.
April 28th, 2025 at 8:48 pm
Marshall Pass rusher Mike Green, who led the nation with 17 sacks had sacks in all but three games last season, but one of them came against Georgia State and Chukwuma, who deprived Green of a sack.
“When the game started, my main goal was to try to be more physical than him,” Chukwuma said. “I tried to be so physical that it disrupted his game and got in his head. Once I had that game, I just tried to build from that.”
April 28th, 2025 at 9:08 pm
Thanks AlabamaBucsFan, that’s the kind of info I need to get when I’m looking for knowledge. You, and Joe have just made me smarter about “Chewy”. Credit Irishmist for Chucwuma’s new nickname. As it should be.
April 28th, 2025 at 9:13 pm
Nice find, Alabama!
April 28th, 2025 at 10:17 pm
I like Chucwuma more already… And I’m glad we didn’t draft that scrub Mike Green. LOL
Josh… Thanks alot!! Now I have to go make me a grilled cheese sandwich. 😜
Zoocomics…
Vea’s a dawg, so is David… and you can’t say Mike and Chris aren’t dawgs. It’s just that they’re only that way on the field. I bet you see some serious dawg in Reddick, Kancey, Diaby & Walker this year… but they’ll still be good teammates and keep building that starting to be famous culture.
In the late ’90s and into the turn of the century The books had some dogs but they were also good citizens. They don’t get any better than Brooks, Lynch, Alstott, Dunn and Barber. Sapp was a jackass off the field but he was a serious dawg on the field. At the same time, he was a good teammate and not a locker room disrupter. If anything, he held that D to the same high level of expectation that Brooks and Lynch helped enforce.
April 28th, 2025 at 10:28 pm
“Zoocomics Says:
April 28th,
HOWEVER, most of them aren’t what we refer to as “dawgs”… I think it’s hard finding gentlemen that flip a switch on game day. The Bucs 90’s defense was chalk full of guys that chewed @ss when their side made a mistake. Brady certainly brought that when he was here. We’re missing some of those guys are both sides of the ball, because Baker has that bite, but even he at times has a hard time living up to Rah Rah. Defense appears to be missing it entirely since Suh and JPP left. At some point we need that vocal tone setter, nice guys aren’t going to cut it.”
High character doesn’t mean nice.
We have several high character players who are absolute dawgs on game day – Evans, Wirfs, Godwin, David, Winfield.
What they’re avoiding is guys who like to touch uber drivers, are disrespectful and disruptive in the locker room and generally aren’t worth the trouble they cause. Example – Devin White. Great player (for a while) but was only ever about one thing- “the bag”. So much so, he overvalued himself and became a huge cancer in the locker room.
The Bucs want guys who love football. Want to work. Put the team’s success first. Understand that when you do that, the money will follow. They have Lavonte as the model – I’ll take a whole team of Lavonte Davids, any day.
April 28th, 2025 at 10:28 pm
Lee Roy Selmon was an absolute beast on the field, but the nicest guy off of it. High character.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:24 pm
Bowles: I do have a slight case of CTE. Does that count?
April 28th, 2025 at 11:29 pm
What kind of joker changes his user name midway through a convo? Hahaha
April 29th, 2025 at 3:32 am
The rest of the story on Chukwuma is one of the craziest ones I have seen. A credit to Georgia State and Coach Elliott. He is a walk on, and has only played 23 games of football in his life (Did not even know the rules two years ago) but has huge upside. I got a new underdog to root for along with Watson. Go Fatboys!
Go Bucs!
April 29th, 2025 at 7:39 am
Parrish should plug into the starting nickel , Morrison will learn the outside to get ready to replace Dean if he goes down again. Really glad we won’t have Josh Hayes or Tyrek Funderburk in our secondary. No excuses for Bowles pass Defense this season we passed on best graded CB in nation for a WR, Love the Draft Licht had and I believe we’ll have a top 3 Offense in the League, just hope taking a WR in the 1st works out. Because we really could have used a LB in round 2 or 3 .
April 29th, 2025 at 7:54 am
Chris if taking the PFF highest rated guys were NFL priorities we actually should have taken Defensive End Josiah Stewart of Michigan in the 1st round. He had a higher PFF grade than Barron.
April 29th, 2025 at 10:51 am
Yeah, Joes, your mobile experience sucks with these ads covering the comment section. Refreshing the page clears them , but c’mon man…please get your web designer to fix it.
April 29th, 2025 at 12:32 pm
Joe in Michigan – I hope the irony of you calling someone else stupid (while in the same post getting the year wrong of the franchise’s 2nd championship wrong) isn’t lost on you.
April 29th, 2025 at 8:21 pm
I think him and the center out of Texas both make the team. Excellent UDFA additions. The team is really starting to put together a solid depth chart on the OL. This may end up being the best offense in the league this year.