Not The Same As It Has Been
November 28th, 2025
More problems than edge rush?
It isn’t the same as it always was because not too long ago the Bucs actually had edge rushers. And a weird thing, too: When those edge rushers still had gas in the tank, the Bucs were one of the best teams in the league and also won a Super Bowl.
Funny how that works.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN typed a few sentences on the Bucs earlier this week. He noted that unlike in previous years when the Bucs had their annual midseason swoons, the Bucs’ defense is getting dragged up and down the field this fall.
Fowler cited the lack of an edge rush.
Despite losing three straight games, the Bucs are in an all-too-familiar position — poised to make a December playoff push against a weaker schedule. The Bucs have been one of the league’s most depleted teams, and their losing streak came against teams with a combined 25-8 record. There’s no shame in losing to the Patriots, Bills and Rams. What’s truly concerning is their lack of pass rush.
Tampa is not generating enough edge pressure, and though defensive tackle Vita Vea faces frequent double-teams, the defense doesn’t have a healthy complement to take advantage. Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey was probably the team’s best pass rusher entering 2025, but he has been out for most of the season. Despite all of that, I’m still bullish on the Buccaneers. They have a top-10 roster when healthy, and they’re getting closer to that every week. And Todd Bowles’ late-season track record is strong as the Bucs have finished the past two seasons with 5-1 and 6-1 records, respectively.
Well, since Shaq Barrett had 10 sacks in 2021 (hhhmmm, what happened the next season?) the Bucs have not had an edge rush. So Joe doesn’t believe the defense blowing chunks the past three games is directly responsible for a lack of an edge rush (hell, YaYa Diaby sacked Matt Stafford last week).
Joe sees people beginning to point fingers at Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht for not drafting a quality edge rusher (Lord knows he’s tried). OK, fair. But Joe was talking to a hardcore Bucs fan, who said to Joe, “Name me a player in college Licht can draft who can get sacks when he’s guarding wide receivers 20 yards downfield.”
In other words, you can’t blame just a lack of an edge rush on the defense suddenly imploding and looking like the Smiths snuck in through the hole in the fence near the Glazer Shed.
November 28th, 2025 at 5:12 am
Another running theme. We do what we do, even when it does nothing.
November 28th, 2025 at 5:36 am
When an offense hits a road block, great OC’s will think and scheme outside the box! Sadly, the current OC appears to be trapped by the box.
November 28th, 2025 at 6:16 am
When the Bucs were 5-1, I thought they could beat anyone in the league. Now, I have no confidence they can beat anyone. They have the talent on the field, but the coaching, scheming and play calling on both sides of the ball seems seems to be lacking. Hopefully, my mindset will change with the upcoming schedule. Just win baby. I need to get back into a positive headspace.
November 28th, 2025 at 6:21 am
Bucs have 2 big holes in their draft history over the past 25+ years (under JL and pre-JL): QB and DE. The Bucs have a much better history getting those positions through trade or FA.
QB: Brad Johnson, Jeff Garcia, Tom Brady, Baker Mayfield
DE: Shaq Barrett, JPP, Simeon Rice
The Bucs don’t need a QB, but are desperate for a DE. So open up the Glazer checkbook and go get a top end proven DE in FA. Get a 26 year old guy coming off his rookie contract by throwing big $$ at him. Don’t go after a 34 year old at the end of his career with downward trending production.
November 28th, 2025 at 6:46 am
Joe … ‘Now Joe sees people beginning to point fingers at Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht for not drafting a quality edge rusher (Lord knows he’s tried).’
JL has tried? Sorry Joe, but our drafting of DLine & OLBs since 2014 has been meh. The 2 most productive edge rushers we’ve had since Bowles has been here … JPP & Shaq … were both FAs. And 1 of the key reasons both were successful here was because we had Vea AND Suh AND RNR (2 more FAs) pressuring from inside. Pressure is rarely just 1 guy up-front who dominates; it’s almost always multiple solid players on the Front that opposing offenses have to contend with.
Bucs don’t have that ‘upfront solidarity’ right now, and it’s not because Kancey went down IMO. He did NOTHING in the first 2 games). Vea has been neutralized very effectively, and no one else on the interior has picked up the slack. I really like Diaby, but against better teams he’s fighting an uphill battle without much help to get to the QBs.
Yes Bowles drops his OLBs (and others) into coverage too much, but I think that’s because he blitzes too much. I’ve gotta believe that he blitzes so much because without blitzing we’d be REALLY BAD at pass rushing (we simply don’t have the horses).
And whose job is it to provide the horses? Yup, good ol’ Jason, but ‘Lord knows he’s tried’. Sure Joe, we’ll go with that.
November 28th, 2025 at 7:15 am
Who’s idea is it to draft college D ends, Hall, Roberts, and move them inside to D tackles? That’s who’s responsible for this mess. I hear the Roberts hype, but he’s no Suh, or McCoy. Not exactly Sapp. Same goes for Hall. Neither played DT in college. I see better DTs in college every Saturday. Now if Todd would play a 4-3 defense, and they could rush from the end like they did in college we might have a pass rush. So does Licht do this, or does Bowles want these type of players? His chess piece JTS, remember that? When Bowles defense was good remember it was Arains calling the shots on personal, and how they were used. So who’s calling the shots now? It’s hard for me to believe Licht didn’t have Todd’s blessing on every defensive player drafted since he’s been HC. I think Bowles is the one who pushed for his friend’s son Morrison in the second round. Did Bowles say lock up Zyon he’s my guy? Did Todd say Dennis is good at MLB, don’t need another one to even compete? Hard to know who’s most responsible for this roster. Right now, it isn’t a SB contender that’s for sure.
November 28th, 2025 at 7:26 am
The Bucs are not executing well as a team, but let’s face it-
They don’t have the quality depth to make up for injuries.
5 starters on offense including the team’s MVP and 3 starters on defense including arguably their 2 best pass rushers and best CB.
Throw in some coaching issues and QB decision making and you get 1-4 the last 5 games.
“Hope”fully, some of the cavalry is coming against lesser competition.
November 28th, 2025 at 7:34 am
I’m up early drinking coffee. A lot of people say this is a top 10 roster. What method is used to calculate that? To me it’s having more top 10 players in the position groups, stats, and body of work, than the other 31 teams. Bucs need more of those guys. Key word was mentioned, when healthy.
November 28th, 2025 at 8:15 am
Let’s beat lesser competition so we can back into the playoffs. Surely there will be lesser competition there too. Not hardly unless quality teams lose over 1/2 their starters.
Enough excuses. Time for Bowles and company to go.
November 28th, 2025 at 8:30 am
DR I agree that effective pressure comes from a collective, which is what I think Bowles preaches but like you said no one besides Vea is producing consistently. And where they have drafted hasn’t lined up for the right players to draft, and I’m talking about the consistent DL guys game in and game out. White was a good pick till he flamed and left a hole that never should have been. David is just long in the tooth. A combination of guys not getting home to the QB and guys just not making plays and/or scheme has left this defense looking crappy. I’m not sure it’s a one guy fix, maybe Walker is a good player but again injury has deflated that position. And I’ve read a lot about McCollum and I would say that I would rather see a rookie get beat than a guy who supposedly has great skill set but isn’t producing.
November 28th, 2025 at 9:13 am
@DR: “…Bowles drops his OLBs (and others) into coverage too much, but I think that’s because he blitzes too much. I’ve gotta believe that he blitzes so much because without blitzing we’d be REALLY BAD at pass rushing…”
as always DR, great post. But I have to question your point a little. I agree, we are terrible at getting pressure. but I do not understand sending our OLBs into coverage so much. They CANNOT cover, which is clear to everyone but Bowles. And the scheme takes them out of what their best God given abilities provides for them to do – RUSH THE PASSER.
JL’s job is to provide talent to Todd. Which I think he typically does a good job of (OL’ DL, DBs, etc.) Todd’s job is to develop that talent. So who is failing here? Neither of us really know, but when you have your OLBs chasing RBs and WRs, IMO, THAT is NOT putting them in the best situation to succeed.
I am further of the opinion that Todd’s ego is so big, he can’t see his failings, so he gravely fails to adjust.
November 28th, 2025 at 9:19 am
Fire Todd
November 28th, 2025 at 9:47 am
Senor Harry … I think that Todd has 1 of his OLBs drop back mostly when he blitzes LVD or SVD or one of our Secondary. Could be totally wrong there, but logically he’d be trying to confuse the offense while still providing SOME coverage (for the space left by the blitzers). And as we’ve seen, oftentimes it’s a mismatch.
Just watching his formations on TV, it’s next to impossible to tell what’s about to happen. I often see 8 or 9 guys up real close to the LOS, then when the ball is snapped defenders go everywhere. My gut tells me that there’s a lot of ‘gambling’ going on, and it appears to confuse our own defense as much as it does the opposition.
The top 3 blitzers on this team after 11 games are: (1) LVD with 38 blitzes; (2) SVD with 35 blitzes; and (3) Winfield with 31 blitzes. For all those 104 blitzes, those 3 together have 5.5 sacks, 6 QB knockdowns & 5 QB hurries (total of 17 ‘Pressures’).
Diaby … all by himself … now has 5 sacks, 6 QB knockdowns & 6 QB hurries (total of 17 ‘Pressures’) … the same numbers as those 3. And so many are saying that he’s ‘underperforming’.
November 28th, 2025 at 9:57 am
Yes must agree Licht has tried to draft quality people up front. However has failed miserbly, exception Kancy who can’t stay healthy. Yes free agency at that position has panned out better and maybe Licht should use that route. Yes Licht gambled on Reddick and lost, but he knew that possibility with the one year contract. It is now time to aqurire someone whom can really play the position!!!
November 28th, 2025 at 10:02 am
Hodad … ‘Who’s idea is it to draft college D ends, Hall, Roberts, and move them inside to D tackles? That’s who’s responsible for this mess.’
Personally I think that’s at the ‘heart of the matter’. We see it every single week with other teams: you’ve gotta have the horses. Bucs either need more beasts inside, or we need to be using a 4-3 more.
When Todd had Vea, Suh & RNR inside, with JPP & Shaq outside (2019-2021), we had a pretty rugged defense. And yes, the ‘hind end’ was solid too (when it wasn’t hurt). Todd’s schemes worked reasonably well, especially in 2020 & 2021. But it dropped off markedly in 2022 when Suh & JPP left & Shaq only got half a season. Those ‘beasts’ have yet to be replaced.
November 28th, 2025 at 10:33 am
You may have missed the key element in the story: Can’t expect a guy to get a sack when he’s in pass coverage.
November 28th, 2025 at 10:47 am
Paid AWJ he regressed paid Zyon he regressed Vita getting old 31 year old NT are pretty beat up, Logan is taking up space Dean injured again LVD a shell of himself only promising players on D are Parrish n Tykee, Roberts n Simmons are green, scheme sucks but the talent is lacking too recipe for disaster
November 28th, 2025 at 11:28 am
Joe … ‘You may have missed the key element in the story: Can’t expect a guy to get a sack when he’s in pass coverage.’
Potentially Joe. Or MAYBE there’s just more to the story.
All 3-4 defenses seem to use OLBs in coverage SOME of the time. Bowles seems to do it MORE than most others though.
Eagles are a good example. They run a 3-4 defense and their OLBs this season have been targeted 18 times thus far, with 9 completed (50%). Eagles have also blitzed 120 times thus far, mostly with their ILBs.
Bucs’ OLBs have been targeted 27 times thus far, with 19 completed (70.4%). Bucs have blitzed 193 times thus far this season though, much more than the Eagles, mostly with our ILBs also.
Just looking at those 2 teams Joe, one could probably make the case that the more a 3-4 defense blitzes its’ ILBs, the more it’ll use its’ OLBs to drop in coverage.
November 28th, 2025 at 11:28 am
When your best pass rusher is Anthony Nelson the problem is in you face. Look what Parsons did last night. Last time we had a guy like that his name was Warren Saap. Looong time ago. On today’s team he would be covering the RB going out for a pass.
I think Saap would eventually throw Bowles into the Bay.
BTW, Green Bay did not draft Parson, the TRADED for him. It is possible.
November 28th, 2025 at 5:13 pm
Nonsense absolute nonsense with the excuses coaches and general managers are getting from the media in small markets. A 7 round draft and usually if you’re decent within the first 4 pick you find gems and maybe a couple of really good players. You need free agency Our clown gm is acting as if getting more mediocre free agency is the answer low level free agents and his big time udfa’s. No one is building anything except a middle of the pack nfl team with that logic which is exactly what the Bucs have. You need a premier free agent to cover up weaknesses not more unproven. And Bowles is like Duh whatever you want to do it’s only my job to lose
November 28th, 2025 at 6:43 pm
That lone precious sacks didn’t even cause a punt. Pointless if you let them score a td on the same drive. Fire over confident mistake prone clueless Bowles!
December 2nd, 2025 at 1:07 pm
So, let us use some 20:20 hindsight here.
Who is this phantom superhero edge rusher Licht failed to draft at #19 in 2025.
Would that be James Pierce, Jr.? He is a rooky coleader in sacks with 5, and he wasn’t picked until #26 in the first round. Would you trade 5 sacks for Egbuka?
The Mock Draft Data Base listed him as consensus #32 right behind consensus #31 Egbuka.
It can’t be the other coleader with 5 sacks because that is Jalon Walker, and he was picked at #15 before Licht had a shot at him unless you think that Licht should have moved up to get a guy with five sacks.
Nic Scourton and Elijah Ponder are tied for third place with 3 sacks each. Scourton was a Mock Draft Database consensus #41 and went at #51 two picks before the Bucs took CB Benjamin Morrison. Ah, but Elijah Ponder was consensus #295 and was picked up as an undrafted free agent picked up by the Patriots; I guess Jason whiffed on Mr. Consensus 295.
Then you get to Mike Green and Darius Alexander tied for 5th with two sacks each. Green was a consensus #17 who fell to 59, and Alexander was a consensus 51 who fell to 65.
Next, you have a five way tie for 7th with two sacks that includes -drum roll – two Bucs; Jacob Parrish and Elijah Roberts. And, they are ahead of #3 pick overall Abdul Carter with 1-1/2 sacks.
So, there you have it. If there is an edge rushing superhero that Licht missed out on, it must be th Invisible Man. As it is, two guys Licht picked on days 2 and 3 are tied for the 7th most sacks among all rookies.
Now, it is hardly unheard of for an edge rusher to improve over the course of his rookie year and the following camp. Maybe one or some of these guys will yet set the world on fire. But, the only gripe that I can see is that the Bucs missed out getting Ponder on the cheap, and it is not like he is shaking the heavens and the earth yet.
So, strike up the chorus and sing of thw woe of Licht’s failure to draft a “top” edge rusher.