Edge Rush Development
March 9th, 2026
Bad pattern.
A number of Bucs fans don’t want the team to try sign aging edge rushers. Too much of a gamble, they say. Too old, too hurt.
Well, if you don’t want to go for edge rushers in their primes you better be able to develop them.,
And if you don’t want to pay for studs and you cannot develop an edge rusher, then the only thing left is to get a 30ish edge rusher that’s probably damaged goods.
When Dirk Koetter ran the Bucs, he said something that hit home for Joe, both then and now. “The NFL is a production league,” Koetter said. Produce or watch your back.
Joe’s research revealed unnerving but not surprising intel. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say much for production or development.
Since 2022, the edge rushers/outside linebackers the Bucs have drafted or signed who are still on the roster (just three) had their most sacks as rookies. (Joe did not count David Walker as he has yet to complete a padded practice, much less play in a game.)
Here is what Joe found:
Chris Braswell
2024: 1.5 (sacks)
2025: 1
YaYa Diaby
2023: 7.5
2024: 4
2025: 7
Markees Watts
2023: 1
2024: 0
2025: .5
Notice all three have thus far maxed out their sack production as rookies.
So what does this tell Joe? Simple. They aren’t being coached up.
If you want to argue that YaYa is a better player than he was as a rookie, Joe won’t argue. But the production numbers don’t lie. They are there for all to read.
YaYa, who Joe likes a lot as a secondary edge rusher, logged a whopping 268 more snaps on defense last year than he did as a rookie. If you want to argue Bucs coaches are not putting him in position to get more sacks, Joe will very much buy that conclusion.
It may help to ask these guys to focus more on getting after quarterbacks than, as Bowles likes to say, do other things?
March 9th, 2026 at 3:26 am
Well, that’s just crazy, Joe! But it seems like the place to start would be the DC. Oh, wait! It’s never his fault!
March 9th, 2026 at 4:10 am
Ive been saying this for a long time, and it doesnt stop with the pass rush guys, its across the entire defense.
New players come in playing loose and fast and the longer Bowles has with them the more he overcomplicates their game and slows them down on the field.
This defensive scheme micromanages the speed and common sense right out of players.
March 9th, 2026 at 5:35 am
Well if a good coach is all you need and talent doesn’t matter ?
Sign me up?
I’ll bring my old high school cleats and jock
March 9th, 2026 at 6:00 am
Joe … ‘Notice all three have thus far maxed out their sack production as rookies. So what does this tell Joe? Simple. They aren’t being coached up.’
Coaching is certainly ONE factor, but OLB sack production is sooo much more than that. Once teams get you on tape after your rookie season & see your tendencies, then you’d better have a nice bag of tricks to adjust. Talent levels kinda vary too.
March 9th, 2026 at 6:35 am
Todd has a unique ability to make good college players look pedestrian in his defense. We have used A LOT of draft picks over the 5 years on this position with little to show for it.
March 9th, 2026 at 6:45 am
Small sample size. If you just go by the first three years, you would never consider Trey Hendrickson:
2017: 2
2018: 0
2019: 4.5
That’s only 6.5 sacks in his first three years. Wow, Diaby with 18.5 blows him away!
Just sayin’ …
March 9th, 2026 at 6:46 am
“”“The NFL is a production league,” Koetter said. Produce or watch your back.””
*** Except if your name is Todd Bowles.
March 9th, 2026 at 7:12 am
To go along with Defense Rules, Shaq ‘s total sacks over his 1st 4 years was 14. With the highest number his rookie year. Denver let him go.
He exploded when he got to the Bucs with 19.5 sacks.
Why? In large part due to inside DLine guys, other speedy linebackers and some guys in the secondary that can cover a second or two longer.
It’s a team sport and maybe some of us undervalue the skills of various individuals on the defense because they’re not playing together – didn’t our HC say someone is out of position on the big plays – it’s a different guy each time.
So, is it…..
Coaching? Sure
Communication on the field? Yup
Player accountability? Absolutely
Lack of discipline and leadership on that side of the ball? Seems so.
March 9th, 2026 at 7:14 am
A big part of it is coaching no doubt. Seems like since Arians left Winfield has also regressed. The position coaches are slugs on this defense.
March 9th, 2026 at 8:07 am
Scotty Mack- Good point. However we still need another stud edge rusher.
March 9th, 2026 at 8:35 am
Bowles has said in every interview that he doesn’t value outside pass rushers those positions are not that important to him . So it really doesn’t matter and also I’m sick of Bruce Arians the bucs need to let him go he does nothing for the team.
March 9th, 2026 at 8:51 am
Joe is a big coach’s guy. That’s both bad and good. Joe is a product of what good coaching can do.
A good coach can take shiite and turn it into less stinky shiite. A bad player into a less than average player. An average player into a good player… and so on.
Good coaches help a player improve, no what the foundation you start at. When players have had their best production as rookies, to Joe, that strongly suggests they are not being coached up and/or not being put in position by coaches to make plays.
Am quite sure Team Glazer looks at that and wonders where the appreciation is for their investments.
March 9th, 2026 at 9:05 am
Name one pass rusher that Bowels has ever developed from the draft, and I mean from all the years he has coached. Go ahead I’ll wait. Someone above said it best, Arians and is flunky IBS need to hit the bricks. Thanks for the SB Bruce (um I mean Tom Brady) but deuces!
March 9th, 2026 at 9:08 am
Joe has been beating this drum for years.
March 9th, 2026 at 9:54 am
Amazing how fans see this and the bucs dont. Unreal
March 9th, 2026 at 10:45 am
“Since 2022, the edge rushers/outside linebackers the Bucs have drafted or signed who are still on the roster (just three) had their most sacks as rookies.”
I guess I’m not reading the stats correctly. What the numbers say is that production for all 3 draftees went down in each of their second years. However, Watts had more sacks his 3rd year (5) than he did as a rookie (1), and YaYa in his 3rd year (7.0) came very close to his rookie production (7.5).
March 9th, 2026 at 11:06 am
D Rules… “Once teams get you on tape after your rookie season & see your tendencies, then you’d better have a nice bag of tricks to adjust. Talent levels kinda vary too”
This goes back to coaching though. A good coach watches tape of how teams are adjusting and teaches his guys how to counter that with scheme adjustments, new moves &/or game plans. It seems either Bowles or Co. or incapable of that or just leave it up to the player to figure it out themselves. Either answer is bullsh!t.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:14 pm
Todd is misunderstood. The genius of the scheme is confusion. No one knows who will be rushing the passer, and when no one does, it really gets confusing.