Chris Braswell Claims The NFL Game Is Slowing Down For Him
June 11th, 2025
Development the goal of 2025.
Unless one was or is related to Chris Braswell, his rookie Bucs season was so forgettable.
It’s hard to remember Braswell was on the roster. An outside linebacker, Braswell sacked opposing quarterbacks just 1.5 times last year.
That’s pretty close to invisible. And while Joe fully understands unless one’s last name is “Bosa,” rookie edge rushers rarely dominate. Still, 1.5 sacks is really low, even for a rookie. So Braswell has been focused this offseason on how he can improve.
Braswell thinks he is improving. Why? The game is starting to slow down for him, he said today.
“Yeah, definitely, it definitely slowed down,” Braswell said. “I’ve been in the playbook a lot so knowing the plays and everything like that, it definitely slowed down.”
It’s not just mental for Braswell, it’s physical improvement as well. So battling Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke, Braswell believes, has helped elevate his game.
“Going against Luke [Goedeke] and Tristan [Wirfs], you know our O-line – we have a great O-line,” Braswell said. “[They’ve] definitely helped me figure out the game and slow the game completely down.”
Joe wants Braswell to ball out, of course. Joe wants every Bucs player to max out his talents. Still, Joe cannot get past 1.5 sacks and declining playing time last season.
As a result, Joe doesn’t know what a realistic goal for Braswell is for 2025. Players don’t often triple their production in one year.
Joe hopes Braswell, a second-round pick in 2024, could get six sacks. And, well, six sacks from a second-round pick of an edge rusher in his second year isn’t very encouraging for a long-term relationship.
While Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht claimed in February he believes Braswell will “shock” people with his play this fall, if Licht was that certain, would he have both signed an edge rusher (Haason Reddick) and drafted one (David Walker)?
Yes, Joe has high hopes Braswell can be that-guy. But man, he was so invisible last year, Joe doesn’t know what to think or expect.
June 11th, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Let’s hope, wish, n pray that the Bucs don’t sit back to consume time n let him elevate to the level of a Vernon Hargreaves, OJHoward, JTS, n yes, I said it, a disappointed JDean. If Braswell don’t show SIGNS of improvement by the end of year two, it’s time to reconsider.
June 11th, 2025 at 5:41 pm
If Braswell and the other LB,s show up. Then maybe we will be able to save LaVonte during the season. If our offense give us some big leads, we may be able to play more of our defensive players in 2nd half of games. That would give them reps in order to determine if they can be our future or it is time to move on. …Go Bucs
June 11th, 2025 at 5:48 pm
Braswell will be on the left side subbing Reddick and maybe Nelly. The right side will be YaYa, Nelly, and David Walker. Hopefully Braswell learns behind Reddick. I’m optimistic that Braswell can have a very productive year.
I’m most interested in team sacks by the front 5. Last year the Bucs had 46 sacks and Denver led the NFL with 63. I’d like to see our front 5 produce 63 sacks without many DB or ILB blitzes. Five or six guys with 10 sacks would wreck other teams. Having a lot of good rushers prevents the offense from scheming double teams on a dominant rusher.
June 11th, 2025 at 5:48 pm
Name one successfully EDGE the staff has developed … The answer is none. They’ve certainly drafted a ton of them and you can’t tell me they’re all terrible. Hopefully the new OLB coach has some new ideas.
June 11th, 2025 at 5:52 pm
I’m not down on bras he didn’t have alota snap but also he couldn’t beat out jts so idk
June 11th, 2025 at 6:05 pm
will the real chris braswell please stand up
🙂
June 11th, 2025 at 6:15 pm
Well for starters the staff has turned over a couple of times. Charlie Strong should pay dividends with the guys up front. Foote is back at OLBC and is a plus there. It’s the players responsibility to allow themselves to be trained, take the coaching to heart and work on it, there’s only so much the staff can do, I’m sure they’re not sitting around letting these guys try to figure it out for themselves. Don’t know why JTS didn’t develop but that’s on him. White was great but short circuited for some unknown reason. There is a huge learning curve from High School to college and even bigger to the pro’s. Braswell hung in behind 2 major players in front of him and then did well when it was his time. As you said Ds, his snap count was limited. I think he will be fine. And there is more to playing LB than just rushing the passer.
June 11th, 2025 at 6:21 pm
Also the slowing down part is the read and recognition of a play from first snap as fast as possible. To see that and flow to the point of attack where you know the ball carrier will be or projecting where he will be based on cut backs and such, shedding blocks to make the tackle, have a balanced base from which to explode from on a RB trying to fake you, seeing who is chipping you, take a center line target on the QB so he doesn’t duck you, sidestep you, etc, and other stuff, that’s a lot to process on the run in less than 5 seconds. Plays over.
June 11th, 2025 at 6:26 pm
Sounds like you’re really bummed out Joe because Braswell only got 1.5 sacks. Maybe what he needed was a veteran OLB to kinda give him some tips & pointers. You know, someone like Haason Reddick. Or maybe he just needed a different position coach. You know, someone like Larry Foote.
But to put your mind at ease, I went back into the 2024 NFL draft to see how well his counterparts fared (other OLBs & DEs).
o Dallas Turner (Vikings-Rnd 1) … 3 sacks-300 def snaps
o Chop Robinson (Miami-Rnd 1) … 6 sacks-565 def snaps
o Edgerin Cooper (Packers-Rnd 2) … 3.5 sacks-491 snaps
o Chris Braswell (Bucs-Rnd 2) … 1.5 sacks-329 def snaps
o Junior Colson (Chargers-Rnd 3) … 0 sacks-218 def snaps
o Trevin Wallace (Panthers-Rnd 3) … 1 sack-583 def snaps
o Bralen Trice (Falcons-Rnd 3) … Spent year on IR
o Jonah Ellis (Broncos-Rnd 3) … 5 sacks-434 def snaps
o Marist Liufau (Cowboys-Rnd 3) … 1.5 sacks-521 snaps
o Ty’Ron Hopper (Packers-Rnd 3) … 0 sacks-18 def snaps
o Adisa Isaac (Ravens-Rnd 3) … 0 sacks-32 def snaps
o Jalyx Hunt (Eagles-Rnd 3) … 1.5 sacks-241 def snaps
o Payton Wilson (Steelers-Rnd 3) … 0 sacks-492 def snaps
So that’s 13 players (OLB and DE) drafted in Rnds 1-3 last year, who got a grand total of 23 sacks. Disregard the one on IR for the season, and the other 12 averaged 2 sacks on the season in an average of 352 def snaps each (roughly what Chris Braswell got here). The 3 players selected in front of Chris all did better than he did in terms of sacks, but only ONE player (Cooper with the Broncos) who were selected below him in the draft did better than he did.
Now that SHOULD make you feel better about Chris, but instead we probably should expect at least 3 new articles focusing on why we should’ve drafted Cooper instead of Braswell. Don’t worry, be happy Joe. Chris is gonna blow up this year, and his sacks will probably triple.
June 11th, 2025 at 6:48 pm
Defense Rules, now list all the edge rushers drafted last year that did better than Braswell.
June 11th, 2025 at 6:58 pm
I think he’s going to work out well.
Let pass rushers rush the passer and we will be fine.
June 11th, 2025 at 7:22 pm
LOL. Six sacks would be 50% more than JTS’ annual average. I’ll take it in year 2!
June 11th, 2025 at 7:54 pm
I agree with DR. Data rules too. Thanks for the data. I also think Braswell was drafted as a project because Sabin likes him, he has freak strength, he has freak athleticism, and he is a hard worker. If he has a huge break out year Todd deserves a lot of credit. He really did not get a lot of snaps at Alabama but played well when he was in. I expect to see him get better for several years and see him be coming all pro and versatile. Reddick will serve as another great mentor r to him. It’s a great time to be a Bucs fan. Let’s enjoy it. Go bucs.
June 11th, 2025 at 7:56 pm
AlabamaBucsFan … Those 13 were all the Edge guys (OLB & DEs) drafted in Rnds 1-3 last year. Only 4 of the 13 did better (and 3 of those were drafted BEFORE Chris).
June 11th, 2025 at 8:12 pm
Joe … ‘Still, Joe cannot get past 1.5 sacks and declining playing time last season.’
Wow, his playing time sure did decrease a bunch in the last 6 games (he only got 65 def snaps total in those 6 games).
Looks like he was on fire in his last game though (against the Panthers). Chris had 1 sack, 1 FF, 1 TFL, 1 solo tackle … all in only 13 def snaps. He’d be a starter if he got that level of productivity every game.
June 11th, 2025 at 8:15 pm
I don’t think we have seen enough to make a judgement.
Reddick should help. Shaq had limited opportunities his first few years, developed and blows up for 29 sacks over 2 seasons.
Braswell has a proven mentor, how many of those snaps last year did he drop in coverage?
He was not afforded a ton of opportunities at Alabama behind some studs… give him a little time. Another development year this season where hopefully he contributes and then he might be our Reddick replacement for his 3rd season.
June 11th, 2025 at 8:21 pm
So was Warren Sapp’s. That’s history.
June 11th, 2025 at 8:27 pm
Look it up, Reddick had one sack his rookie year!
June 11th, 2025 at 9:02 pm
haasan reddick Had 2.5 sacks as a rookie
June 11th, 2025 at 9:10 pm
How many sacks did yaya have in Yr2? 4.5, I guess he won’t pan out.
It’s all about your supporting cast with a bunch of young growing players. There wasn’t a lot of veteran high end edge talent on our roster last year, so yaya got the attention and it hindered him. They also thought that the veteran players we did have, had a better, well rounded game, which limited Braswell from being needed as he continued to learn.
June 11th, 2025 at 9:36 pm
Imagine a Bucs world with a defense that has pass rushers rushing the passer, DBs covering receivers, and LBs going sideline to sideline but smothering the middle of the field.
That smells like a winner to me.
June 11th, 2025 at 9:59 pm
Doesn’t surprise me to see the Bucs sign a edge rusher this cycle, (Walker) if Reddick balls our & hits his goals he may break the bank in a bidding war next off season so makes sense to bring in a ringer to fall back on if the Bucs decide not to try & out bid the league for a player over 30 IMHO
June 11th, 2025 at 10:08 pm
Another Alabama bust
June 11th, 2025 at 10:15 pm
Will MacDonald IV went from 3 to 10.5 sacks last year. He is probably a better pass rusher than Braswell but a big jump in play should be expected from year one to year two, imo.
June 11th, 2025 at 10:42 pm
Keep throwing capital at it. With good coaching eventually it will pay off.
June 11th, 2025 at 11:16 pm
Defense Rules – That’s a good write-up, thanks for posting it. I’m a huge believer in not worrying about what developmental guys do in their rookie years – but I’m also not overly optimistic about Braswell either as you’d like to see them improve over the season in the eyeball test, even if their stats don’t show it. We shall see what he does, I’m certainly not writing him off yet, and hopefully, if things are slowing down for him, we’ll see improvement.
June 11th, 2025 at 11:37 pm
@Crunchbuc76 Says…
Couldn’t agree more. Perhaps my recollection is failing me, but I can remember 2 players from Alabama that were busts,
O.J. Howard (2017, TE, Round 1)
Mark Barron (2012, S, Round 1)
Struggling to remember any that produced for us.
How many times are we going to go to Alabama well?
Braswell…please prove me wrong. I want to believe …. Roll Tide.
June 11th, 2025 at 11:39 pm
sounds like joe thinks this guy is another jts, and that a good performance against carolina meant nothing for whatever reason.
its hard to expect much from braswell in that reddick has his spot, if braswell plays its not a good sign
i dont know how much of the problem is the guy and how much was the situation in that the 3 interdependent coverage guys i group with jts are all gone – whitehead, britt,& russell, so jts had to play back. again, some of it was branding jts as a lightweight instead of realizing he was never free to develop his talents.
many think jts has high level talent but had fit issues here. no one had a bad word to say about him personally.
braswell would like a situation where the bucs no longer felt they needed to spend reddick level money as the entire interdependant grouping was improved. even then that wouldnt necessarily translate well for braswell, there are a couple of other guys that would benefit from not having to cover as much.
i dont think braswell will be affected by sadistic comments from fans, jts took it well, but i dont see braswell being as talented as jts, even if he s freed up to have more sacks that jts was when he was here.
if he proves me wrong, great, but no point in expecting much as things stand right now.
if anyone should get sadistic comments from the fans and the media like jts, its reddick only because he is paid more, and is the brand for a new group of interdependant players, and if they dont get the results, reddick is where the money went.
June 12th, 2025 at 1:51 am
Well unless he supplants Reddick or Diaby, he’s not a starter… so even 6 sacks would actually be pretty good IMO
June 12th, 2025 at 2:32 am
I don’t have high hopes. We shall see.
June 12th, 2025 at 5:56 am
Braswell’s average get off speed had dropped to .80 seconds by the end of last year. That’s a number you see on elite pass rushers. He should see a lot of pressures and sacks this year as a result as long as the Bucs platoon him this year.
June 12th, 2025 at 6:05 am
Tripling is multiplying a number by 3, so tripling his sack production would be 4.5 sacks (1.5*3). He would have to quadruple his sack production to get to 6 sacks (1.5*4).
June 12th, 2025 at 9:34 am
after this year it should be clear which way braswell is gonna go. if he spent his offseason working his tail off to get better then that should show in his play this year. after rookie year you better earn your spot and show you belong or get cut….
have to know when to cut your losses JL.
June 12th, 2025 at 10:54 am
Braswell = JTS II ?
June 12th, 2025 at 2:53 pm
Vinny from Vermont — I certainly wouldn’t consider Barron a bust, the guy played for like 9 years in the NFL as a starter, that’s clearly not a bust. Plus the Bucs traded him for a pick that turned out to be Kwon Alexander, who was a pro-bowler and was on the road to have an amazing career before he got hurt (and he was still playing as of last year as well). OJ was another guy who looked great early on, then the injuries started racking up and robbed him of his power – if you label him a bust it’s 100% based on health.
If you want a true Alabama bust, look no further than Keith McCants – that is the true definition of a bust. A guy took top 5, between two future HOFers, and taken instead of Emmitt Smith, who people thought the Bucs would take in that slot (until the Bucs traded for a RB just before the draft).