Emory Hunt: Kayden McDonald Has Room To Grow
April 8th, 2026
Ohio State DT Kayden McDonald.
Joe has been borderline obsessed with the possiblity the Bucs may throw a curveball at fans and rather than draft an inside linebacker or edge rusher in Round 1, instead draft a defensive tackle.
Joe has detailed but let’s review:
* Calijah Kancey, though very, very talented, cannot stay on the field. So far in his three years with the Bucs he has played in just 56 percent of Bucs games due to some injury or another. If the Bucs were fed up with Jamel Dean missing so much time, Dean was an iron horse compared to Kancey.
* While the Bucs signed free agent DT A’Shawn Robinson, he’s already slotted for the vacancy left by the departure of Logan Hall.
* Vita Vea is getting long in the tooth. He’s 31 and entering a contract year. How much gas is left in his tank?
So Joe has been fixated on Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald, a true bully in the trenches.
And from the looks of what Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht has added to the defense this offseason, he, like Joe, saw a soft defense that needs to be toughened up.
One way to do that is go get brawlers on the line, which Robinson is and it seems so too is McDonald as CBS analyst Emory Hunt, the czar of the playbook, detailed in his “Football Gameplan 2026 Draft Guide.”
* Tremendous ability at the point of attack, doing a lot of things extremely well. Has the requisite functional strength to handle, and sometimes split, double teams.
* Shows terrific awareness to not chase ghosts in the run game, able to quickly diagnose where the ball is going.
* Good technique to effectively handle double team blocks well and how to attack down blocks on a consistent basis. Major reason why is due to his first step explosiveness off the ball.
Hunt also believes McDonald has plenty of room to improve chasing quarterbacks.
Still building to become much more of a threat as a pass rusher and that’ll be an area where he can continue to grow his game as a pro.
Notice how really good teams often have very deep defensive lines? That’s the Eagles and last season’s Seahawks.
One reason Houston has such a physical defense is the Texans may have the orneriest, deepest defensive front in the game.
Why not copy success? You can’t tell Joe that having a beastly, nasty, deep defensive line won’t pay off in December and January.
Ohio State DT Kayden McDonald is an absolute load for any OL to deal with
I'm always on the lookout for a 3-down DT that can play next to Chris… unfortunately, McDonald is probably worth a Day 1 pick and shouldn't be there at 40 pic.twitter.com/QOH7dvxnLz
— Ron Kopp Jr (@RonOnChiefs) February 15, 2026
April 8th, 2026 at 4:29 am
Yes, Joe! Yes!
The man is a beast. He has the power and the quickness and the smarts and the instincts and the hustle and the drive to be a perennial All Pro.
You want your biggest difference maker to start every down lined up right over the ball where he can impact every play!
April 8th, 2026 at 5:40 am
That’s exactly the spot we need to hit. I believe that this kid “hits the spot”.
April 8th, 2026 at 6:02 am
Sign me up. I want a big man at 15, whether it’s IOL or DT. The difference between Messidor and the next bunch is not huge, we can address those later. There are corners in free agency. Deep linebacker class. A big run-stuffer on a 5-year rookie deal? Sign me up.
April 8th, 2026 at 6:05 am
Sounds interesting. I’m going to look him up.
April 8th, 2026 at 6:19 am
Glad to see you backing the Bucs investing in a true manbeast to pair with Vita Vea now & ultimately take over for him Joe.
Adding McDonald to go with Vea, Robinson & (hopefully) Kancey would give the Bucs 3 Rnd-1 DTs & 1 Rnd-2 DT to man the interior of our DLine (along with RNR & most likely Elijah Roberts). Not very hard to imagine how effective they could be TOGETHER in not just Run Defense, but also Pass Rushing.
And I’m convinced we could run 3 DLinemen on virtually every def snap, and get better pressure without having to use so much blitzing. SHOULD result in better coverage (both Pass AND Run Defense) by our LBs & Secondary. It all starts in the trenches.
April 8th, 2026 at 6:34 am
The Seahawks won the SB because they have three beastly DTs. We need some of that. They’ve been showing a lot of highlights on TV of Reese, and Styles leading up to the draft. I’ve been watching McDonald. He’s constantly double teamed making life easy for Reese, and Styles. He wins these double teams all the time. He’s only 21 years old also, room to grow. He’ll be the first DT off the board, and if that’s at #15 to the Bucs, I’m all for it.
April 8th, 2026 at 6:39 am
These will be the picks in whatever order the draft decides, NT, ILB, Edge and CB.
Could be that exact order if they start with McDonald. There are 3 tall fast CBs that will be available in rounds 3 and 4. I still believe we trade back and get an ILB first as this is a glaring need to fill. ILB and NT would be most valuable as they can start and play a lot from day one. Most rookie edge and cornerbacks need time to adjust
April 8th, 2026 at 7:26 am
Agreed. He’s almost impossible to stop. I’d like to see the Bucs sign him.
April 8th, 2026 at 7:30 am
I’m not sure they can trade back and still get McDonald at this point. If he’s there at 15, the Bucs should take him.
Kancey might stay healthy coming in on passing downs only. McDonald could lengthen Vea’s career, and help the linebackers. Take him and a ‘backer in the second and they’ve improved their front seven quite a bit.