Chris Braswell Has A Really Weird Stat
June 14th, 2025
“Shock” value?
Boy, talk about your small sample size.
But if you are the Bucs, you grab at anything to make an otherwise forgettable, regrettable lack of production and spin it for a positive.
Joe has written all about second-year outside linebacker Chris Braswell, the 2024 second-round pick. Braswell as an edge rusher was about as invisible as one could be.
In fact, Todd Bowles was so desperate for an edge rush last year, the team pulled over-the-hill Bucs sacks king Shaq Barrett out of mothballs.
Joe is often one to give rookie edge rushers a pass because they rarely make a big impact. But Braswell only having 1.5 sacks is strikingly low, even by rookie standards. For example, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka had four sacks as a rookie. Noah Spence had 5.5 as a rookie. And those guys overall were a waste of time and effort.
JTS and Spence each had a lot more snaps than Braswell as rookies, but there was a reason Braswell wasn’t on the field.
Braswell sure has a steep hill to climb if he wants a second contract with the Bucs in 2028.
As noted above, when something is really bad, folks grasp at straws for any silver lining. So this may be why Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht said he has a hunch Braswell will “shock” people this fall with his play.
Joe assumes Licht meant in a good way.
NextGen Stats listed the top-20 fastest sacks of 2024. “Fastest” meaning from the snap until the quarterback was on the ground. At No. 6 is none other than Braswell with the lone full sack of his career.
The sack came with the Bucs leading the Panthers 48-14 in Week 17. Braswell beat backup Panthers left tackle Yosh Nijman in 2.38 seconds to put down Bryce Young, per NextGen Stats.
If a man can get to the quarterback that quickly, perhaps there’s something to work with.
June 14th, 2025 at 11:22 am
Hopefully he works out because I wasn’t much of a fan of him or Turner even at Alabama. Just wish they’d use Ramirez & Watts. They’re just sitting there.
June 14th, 2025 at 11:49 am
Braswell should have gotten more snaps last year – especially considering how many snaps JTS played – and did nothing with….
June 14th, 2025 at 12:04 pm
Hey, Joe!
The “complete waste of time” crack is too harsh.
Certainly they proved to have been drafted too high like about 50% of the early round picks do. That doesn’t make them Al Davis specials. It is not like they held out for a $68 million rookie deal with $31,5 million guaranteed only to be cut for atrocious performance.
Spence actually had a promising rookie year. But, he really never did much after he injured his shoulder in his second year.
JTS was drafted in the first round when he has turned out to be more a backup/replacement level player.
That makes them over drafted, not a complete waste of time” like certain free agents who signed and mostly loafed until the end of the season.
June 14th, 2025 at 12:31 pm
Sounds like a offensive linemen missed his assignment and Braswell went untouched.
June 14th, 2025 at 12:46 pm
Sounds like the kid didn’t know the playbook very well and was overthinking all season. Says he knows it now and can play fast. Game has slowed down. Fight in the phone book rather than power and speed rush. Use your hands better. Improve those hand fighting skills then get after it.
June 14th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
If the dude’s assignment is to rush the passer instead of worrying about which zone drop he’s responsible for out of five scenarios, each with three variants, maybe he’ll look better.
June 14th, 2025 at 2:05 pm
They keep saying the kids gonna blow up. Is he cookin’ meth in the team bathroom? I didn’t see much reason for hope in him. We shall see I guess.
June 14th, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Way to early to give up on him. Good news is with Reddick, and drafting Walker, resigning Nelly, we don’t have to depend on him. Think we’ll see a big improvement.
June 14th, 2025 at 4:33 pm
I’m very always looked at Braswell of being comparable to Jared Verse. Same build, same speed. Braswell just needs more snaps and some confisence
June 14th, 2025 at 7:20 pm
In last year’s camp, former OLB coach George Edwards had Braswell dropping in coverage too much. Joe noted that Braswell hardly ever practiced rushing the passer in camp. Edwards totally mismanaged his edge guys, even Yaya didn’t really improve last year.
With Larry Foote moving back to OLB coach, and Reddick mentoring Braswell on the left side, I think BrasWill improve.
June 14th, 2025 at 8:40 pm
Braswell and Diaby are two separate issues.
Unless you have a defense that doesn’t care about sacks — and Kacy Rodgers flat out said they didn’t — no way you should have an edge rusher dropping back into coverage more than three or four times a game. Even that may be too much.
While Braswell dropped back into coverage too much, it’s not like he gave the Bucs any confidence he could rush the passer. Let’s face it, 1.5 sacks is damn bad for a healthy second-round pick.
Diaby started tailing off his rookie year after he jumped out with six sacks in five games. He got on people’s radars and leveled off.
Last year, offensive coordinators had all offseason to figure out ways to stop him, knowing the Bucs had no one else to rush the passer. Diaby hasn’t really yet adjusted to that adjustment. That’s why getting a veteran in here (Reddick) to take some heat off of Diaby was so important.
June 14th, 2025 at 9:00 pm
Unfortunately using my advanced grading techniques, I don’t see Braswell becoming an impact player. I think the most we get out of him is average to slightly below average. We will know for sure after this season.
June 14th, 2025 at 9:05 pm
My advanced grading technique is a player can be bad, below average, average, above average, good, and great. The most a player can move up is two spots and Braswell falls into the bad category so the most we can expect is for him to move up to average. Unfortunately because of the arrival of Reddick he will still see a low number of snaps so less time to develop in real game situations.
June 14th, 2025 at 9:10 pm
kind of a wait and see, did Licht ever say why he thinks Braswell will surprise on the upside? Our defense seems like we got some quality players now. Good secondary can help the rush get home as well as vice versa. Well I’ll be watching for him, last year he was so infrequently on the field, I never even knew his number.
June 14th, 2025 at 10:45 pm
Who did Edwards report to? I forget. Maybe a guy who at most can devote 49% of his time to the defense because his “real job” is to be head coach.
It’s hard to believe Jason lets the team be so severely under-resourced that way, leading to things even we fans notice poor results from and complain about, yet nothing is done .
JBF leading the charge for change! Thanks for calling Edwards out, lads. More beers for you.