“His Talent Is Undeniable”
August 16th, 2026
Can’t be a one-trick pony.
Can David Walker defend the run?
That seems to be the key question for KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
In his press conference Saturday morning, Bowles was asked for his breakdown of outside linebacker David Walker from the first worthless preseason game on Friday night — Walker’s first-ever game action.
Strangely, Bowles said he only had a chance to review a small portion of the game film. Often this is completed on the flight home, and often into the wee hours of the morning after the team gets back to One Buc Palace.
All offseason the Bucs have been crowing about Walker’s ability to get to the quarterback. Jason Licht even got scolded on national television for gassing up Walker.
The hype continued from Bowles yesterday morning.
“His talent is undeniable,” Bowles said.
Bbbuuuttt… Bowles said he had to finish watching the tape to offer a fair assessment. Bowles added Walker also must be able to defend the run.
Joe remembers when YaYa Diaby was a rookie. He was starting to produce in a road game at San Francisco. The Bucs were hanging in the game by their fingernails. YaYa had a pair of sacks. Then, inexplicably, Bowles pulled YaYa out of the game. The 49ers pulled away, scoring two third-quarter touchdowns for a 27-14 win.
After the game, Joe asked Bowles why he pulled YaYa, who was on fire. Bowles responded with his usual line that edge rushers for the Bucs are also asked to do other things.
So while the Bucs may have stumbled upon a pass-rushing jewel in Walker, remember, the man has other responsibilities, too.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:07 am
He has other responsibilities. How well can he cover???
August 16th, 2026 at 11:13 am
In January, 2027 we’ll be watching a press conference where the Glazer family makes some form of this comment about Bowles: “..but he has to be able to win games.”
He escaped the axe last year. The season ticket holders and rest of the fan base will revolt if it happens after this season. Bowles the person is a role model, Bowles the head coach is another story.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:17 am
Best 11 players on the field. When they get tired …the next best!
August 16th, 2026 at 11:27 am
“There asked to do other things.” Gaaaaaaa
August 16th, 2026 at 11:29 am
I hope like hell Bowles doesn’t ruin Bain. And if we get a new coach, I want one who uses a 4-3 defense and never makes his edge rushers drop back into coverage.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:30 am
Walker looked like a 26 year old coming off an ACL who never played a snap in the NFL. Stop the undeniable talent BS. For all the practice sacks, and hype, he flat out didn’t show up. Lower your expectations or you’ll be disappointed.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:39 am
Don’t forget.
Everybody is sore right now. They are not in game shape yet.
Players are still getting into NFL shape.
We will see who David Walker is and the rest of the rookies by Week 5.
Walker had a medical redshirt last year. He’s essentially a rookie.
And Pyburn? We need an article Joe.
He was an LSU man. À 6-4, 260 beast against the run. Who had 2 sacks in his first preseason game.
I think we have 2 UDFA who could make the roster.
Pyburn and Garnes.
I love Nelson. He’s a Bucs legend.
But if we have to cut Braswell and Nelson this year? To get younger and hungrier?
Then we keep David Walker and Pyburn and we cut Nelson and Braswell.
2nd round picks aren’t that expensive either.
It might be time to cut Morrison also.
We need to start letting some heads roll.
Reddick, Hall, Braswell and Deion Jones (bc of his special team play) all should have been cut during the season for loafing.
Did you see what NFL divas did to Raheem Morris for the Bucs? And Mike McDnaiels?
NFL players are alphas with huge egos. They are NOT your friend.
If you are too nice, they will eat you alive!
“When you give them your hand, they take your arm.”- An Albanian Proverb
(Teacherman spent an entire year teaching in Albania)
It’s a great country. With great food.
Shout out to all the Albanians in Tampa Bay.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:40 am
Hodad Says:
Walker looked like a 26 year old coming off an ACL who never played a snap in the NFL. Stop the undeniable talent BS.
***********
I’d grumble about this website, but this year I’ve noticed every other Bucs media site doing it too. It isn’t just the blogger sites like this, but even the brick and mortar media folks are doing it now.
Nothing that Walker does counts until the regular season starts, and so far he’s still a complete unknown where that’s concerned.
My expectations are he’ll get about 4-5 sacks in rotation work, not that different from Anthony Nelson. A decent reserve and spot starter but not someone who’ll change the defense. Anything more than that is gravy.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:45 am
Yeah, Pyburn was kicking a$$….was wondering why no mention of him other than a few posters here.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:48 am
We’re gonna get lots of gravy then.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:55 am
Joe has a hunch you didn’t read the story.
August 16th, 2026 at 11:56 am
Teacher.
Just curious.
Why all the one sentence paragraphs?
Most of those sentences could be consolidated.
Or maybe you like seeing a long post?
Either way, just curious.
There may be a method to your madness that we’re not aware of.
Or not.
Regarding Morrison.
We’re all disappointed in him no doubt.
However….
As has been pointed out in the past..
We would have cut Ronde based on the parameters you’re setting here.
And that would have been a mistake.
Obviously he needs to produce.
Quickly.
August 16th, 2026 at 12:02 pm
If Todd Bowles has defenseman do things outside of their normal responsibilities, it has been a stumbling block for the defense. It’s difficult to have a player cover someone elses duties let alone what they were paid to do.
It’s been the downfall of Todd’s defense for the last several years. Why hasn’t Jason Licht addressed it in the draft or free agency. Is he willing to trade Vita for a corner or draft pick? Is it the Glazers tight fisted reputation the problem or is it Jason Licht’s drafting players with preexisting injuries from College football.
It’s appears to be a faul that’s killing the entire organization and needs to be addressed for the Bucs to be legitimate contenders
August 16th, 2026 at 12:11 pm
For the last ten year we have been one of the top run stop teams in the league. We’ve also been one of the overall worst defense in allowing point scored.
This is a passing league Todd. Play your pass rushers and press the receivers to throw off the route timing like all of the other top defense in this passing league do
August 16th, 2026 at 12:15 pm
It’s hard for me to evaluate some of these guys because some are playing against 2nd team opposition (Walker) and some against third team offenses (Pyburn). Both of those edge guys showed some potential but it’s too early to say.
I was most disappointed with Trotter in run defense, he made very few plays.
August 16th, 2026 at 12:51 pm
There is a constant river of “talent” flowing through the NFL every season…
What is the difference between a successful NFL player and a very talented athlete that has all the tools but for some reason can’t cut the mustard?
Like Chris Braswell for example.
I don’t think this guy has the same “moxy or grit” that our QB has.
I think a lot of these folks are happy getting their little “bag” and don’t have the MINERALS it takes to play in the NFL.
Too many pretenders not enough contenders…
August 16th, 2026 at 1:01 pm
I watched the cut up of all his pass rushes Friday. He had one QB pressure and got handled on the rest easily. Bain will probably be about the same in his first NFL game. Now, second year man Elijah Roberts was the Bucs best pass rusher on the field in that game. Having that rookie year behind him, he’s clearly stepped up his game. I like him lining up inside on 3rd downs.
August 16th, 2026 at 1:16 pm
Steven007 … Nicely played 007.
August 16th, 2026 at 1:17 pm
I think I understand Todd Bowles now. If walker can not stop the run then just stick him at corner and problem solved!
August 16th, 2026 at 1:18 pm
Edge rushers in Todd Bowles defense “have other responsibilities” – NO WONDER we see so little production from the edges and young pass rushers never develop in his system. Only proven pass rushers with a very high motor can succeed in his scheme (a la: Shaq Barrett, JPP, uhhhh, I guess that’s it, so far…)
August 16th, 2026 at 1:21 pm
I haven’t watched the tape either, probably won’t bother, but during the game, watching it live, the couple of times I focused just on watching Walker, I thought he looked quite good. I do give him credit for helping to force the pick six, on another play he was double teamed and I saw him do probably 3 different pass rush moves out and get decent penetration. Then another snap was a quick pass I think, not much happened. Regardless, in 2 of the 3 plays I noticed, he looked good. For a 4th round pick who is coming off a year-long injury and has never played an NFL snap, I think it was a pretty successful debut. The fact that angers people, well, maybe that’s more of a you issue – and the fact you’re a miserable piece of garbage. Or maybe not. Who knows.
Anywho, I’d much rather hear hype about how he looks and see some highlights compared to hearing about how he’s going to take a while to develop, and perhaps we’ll know more in a couple of years.
August 16th, 2026 at 1:36 pm
He looked better than Braswell already.
August 16th, 2026 at 1:44 pm
Teacherman … ‘But if we have to cut Braswell and Nelson this year? To get younger and hungrier?’
Both Braswell & Nelson are actually quite good against the run, and that’s probably what’s kept them both on THIS defense (certainly not their sacks production). Look at our OLBs from 2025 in terms of their sacks, QB hits & tackles ‘productivity’ per defensive snap …
o Nelson: 387 def snaps – 3 sacks (129 snaps/sack) – 4 QB hits (96.8 snaps/QB hit) – 38 tackles (10.2 snaps/tackle)
o Braswell: 283 def snaps – 1 sack (283 snaps/sack) – 4 QB hits (70.8 snaps/QB hit) – 30 tackles (9.4 snaps/tackle)
o Diaby: 783 def snaps – 7 sacks (112 snaps/sack) – 19 QB hits (41.2 snaps/QB hit) – 50 tackles (15.7 snaps/tackle)
o Reddick: 570 def snaps – 2.5 sacks (228 snaps/sack) – 6 QB hits (95 snaps/QB hit) – 31 tackles (18.4 snaps/tackle)
Obviously Diaby was the most productive in terms of sacks (7 sacks – 1 sack every 112 def snaps), but Nelson had decent productivity in that area also (3 sacks – 1 sack every 129 snaps) considering that he had a full 500 FEWER def snaps than YaYa did.
And considering that he had so many fewer snaps, Nelson was a beast when it came to tackling … 1 tackle every 10.2 def snaps. So was Braswell BTW … 1 tackle every 9.4 def snaps. Both of them BTW also had the lowest Missed Tackle Rates of any of our OLBs … 0% for Nelson and 3.2% for Braswell. Of course (before you say it) Bowles probably inserted those two into the game in situations that probably would require strong tacklers on the outside.
August 16th, 2026 at 1:52 pm
@ Steven007 Says: “We would have cut Ronde based on the parameters you’re setting here.”
That’s a “Bucs Famous” Rod Munch Quote right there, if I’ve ever seen one before. The Oracle of anything and everything involving Tampa Bay Buccaneers FOOTBALL.
August 16th, 2026 at 1:54 pm
Rod Munch … ‘The fact that angers people, well, maybe that’s more of a you issue – and the fact you’re a miserable piece of garbage.’
Not sure who you were addressing that to Rod, but your ‘way with words’ is certainly coming along. Took me reading a whole paragraph to get to your ‘miserable piece of garbage’ bottom line.
Sorry, just pulling your leg. I think what we talked about in Sunday School this morning triggered it, ie, something about the Book of James and ‘words matter’. Or not apparently.
August 16th, 2026 at 2:00 pm
The plane ride home from NY. All day Saturday. Sunday.
Still hasn’t bothered to watch much of the game tape.
Zero Urgency Todd strikes again.
August 16th, 2026 at 2:09 pm
The real question is how well does this rookie corner from Arizona rush the quarterback
August 16th, 2026 at 2:26 pm
WillieG Says:
August 16th, 2026 at 11:29 am
I hope like hell Bowles doesn’t ruin Bain. And if we get a new coach, I want one who uses a 4-3 defense and never makes his edge rushers drop back into coverage
——————-
It’s not 1972 anymore Willie. All modern defense’s run hybrid fronts and very few ever do classic 4-3s @ all. All OLBs have to drop into shallow zones, league wise. Not a TB or Todd thing. Try to keep up.
August 16th, 2026 at 2:51 pm
Defense Rules – I don’t know who I was responding to, just whoever the first numbnut was who was complaining that Walker is getting compliments on looking like he might not be a bust. The fact people are triggered by that – well, I stand by what I said, that they’re just not good people. They want to see everyone fail because they, themselves, are complete and total failures – and the idea of someone else doing well for themselves makes them angry.
Will Walker be any good or not? No idea yet, but as I said, I’d rather be hearing good things about him right now, than hearing excuses about how he’s coming off an injury and only played at D2 and will need time to develop, etc.
August 16th, 2026 at 3:10 pm
Rod … As I said, I was ‘just pulling your leg’. Walker’s gonna make the team obviously, and how he looked (or didn’t look) in his 1st real preseason will be irrelevant once the season begins (no one gets paid big-bucks for how they did in preseason?). The fact that he was D2 doesn’t concern me one bit (a number of quality NFLers just felt ‘more comfortable’ at a ‘smaller’ college). It’s all about how you do when you hit the big-time & start wrestlin with the big dogs.
August 16th, 2026 at 3:23 pm
HeartyDickerson … ‘Still hasn’t bothered to watch much of the game tape. Zero Urgency Todd strikes again.’
So Todd Bowles exhibited ‘Zero Urgency’ because he commented that he hadn’t watched much game tape of a (worthless) PRESEASON game? MAYBE (just a possibility) he was more concerned about making sure that THIS WEEK’S training was focused on fixing what he’s determined were some of our major problem areas he saw from last week’s training? And MAYBE he’s delegating more of certain things this year (like preseason film study) to his coordinators & assistant coaches than he did last year?
From what I’ve previously read on JBF, Bowles is usually the first one in (or close to it) each morning during the season. Being dual-hatted, he’s been trying to do TWO jobs and I question whether he’s one of those few coaches who can effectively do that. The ONLY way to pull it off IMO is to (1) surround yourself with top quality assistants; and (2) delegate delegate delegate instead of trying to do it all yourself. I’d venture to say THAT’S what made Belicheck successful in New England and McVay successful in Los Angeles.