Big Draft Ahead For SirVocea Dennis
April 23rd, 2026
SirVocea Dennis is not a starting NFL inside linebacker, what Tampa Bay evaluated him to be one year ago.
It was a mistake by the front office and Bucs head coach Todd Bowles.
“Voss” got past the injury issues of his first two NFL seasons, which made his 2025 on-field failure more painful. He just wasn’t good enough.
However, that doesn’t mean Dennis is worthless to the Bucs.
As a No. 4 inside linebacker, Dennis could develop into a full-time special teams player; he certainly has the raw talent to be successful there. He has value as a situational blitzer. His downfield run-stuffing is good at times. And for all of Dennis’ faults, he had 3 sacks last season and 10 tackles for loss, second-most on the team.
It’s obvious the Bucs are heading into this week’s NFL Draft determined to find a starting inside linebacker to play alongside Alex Anazalone. Joe is confident the Bucs plan to securte that guy in Round 2, and that reality is tied to why the front office wants to trade down in Round 1. Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht wants flexibility so he doesn’t have to reach.
But what if the Bucs can’t get their guy and ending up drafting, say, an inside linebacker in Rounds 3 and 4, or two in Round 3 after a trade up?
That could be a nightmare scenario for Dennis considering the Bucs signed veteran inside linebacker Christian Rozeboom in free agency, a starter for the Panthers last year and for the Rams in 2024.
Joe is all in favor of the Bucs drafting two inside linebackers this week, but if they only get one, Dennis very well could be a sound fit as the second option off the bench.
Big draft ahead for Dennis, who is entering a contract year.
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:11 am
Why not cut Dennis?
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:17 am
Hopefully not.
He needs to and will be replaced.
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:21 am
After his injury filled first two seasons, last year was basically his rookie season.
Seems quick to give up on him.
He was good against the run. Flashes as a pass rusher. Sucked in coverage.
But it was mental mistakes. Not physical
We draft 2 lbers. Let’em compete
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:23 am
I’ll prioritize EDGE and CB over ILB.
Dennis is a #3 ILB, Just don’t let him cover RB…
My draft plan
1- EDGE
2- CB
3- TE
4- ILB
5- S
6- WR
7- DT
I’d like to trade down for a 2nd or 3rd round
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:25 am
Based on Joe’s notes, Bowles’ comments, etc the Bucs are looking in the draft (no particular order) for:
One Edge
One DT
Two ILB
Two Corners
One Guard
One RB
One X WR
That’s 8 players to be drafted with the following seven picks:
15
46
79
116
153
193
229
I’d still like to trade down from #15 to about #20 and pick up an early 2nd round pick. An extra pick in the first three rounds would be impactful.
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:35 am
Sirvocea Dennis was a 5th round draft pick
And the Bucs wanted him to play at Pro Bowl level
You’re not going to get that from a 5th round draft pick
Dennis performance exceeded his draft position
If he was a 2nd pick like Braswell, he would be label a bust
But to get his production from a 5th round draft pick
102 Tackles
3 Sacks
10.0 TFL
This is really great for a 5th rounder making his 1st start
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:40 am
I think Rozeboom is better than people think, so I’d only draft ONE ILB.
Draft ONE to develop, and having Voss as number 4 isn’t the worst thing ever.
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:40 am
This is my draft order
OLB
DT
ILB
CB
WR
S
OG
TE
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:45 am
If you draft another ILB in Round 1-2
He may struggle more than Dennis
ILB in Todd Bowles defense has a lot of responsibilities
It’s not as simple as it seems, there’s many schemes
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:53 am
I would trust Sirvocea Dennis and Christian Rozeboom
Before l trust a green rookie, new to the NFL
Even LVD had his struggles in Todd Bowles defense
Devin White was one of the vest ILB l ever seen in college
He had a 91.6 coverage rate in college
But he struggled in coverage in Bowles defense
I don’t see any of these rookies coming in and excelling in this defense
Every ILB that the Bucs placed in Bowles defense, struggled in coverage
I don’t see a rookie coming in, and doing any better
I just don’t see it happening
There’s too many schemes, too much to think about
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:54 am
JackBall Says:
“Why not cut Dennis?”
We’ll see after the draft. Doing so now would tip teams to their plans.
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:57 am
JimBobBuc, I question the positions of need totals, but we don’t JUST need to fill them with players…we need to fill them with good players. So don’t expect every spot to be filled this year.
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:57 am
I think we take sadiq at 15 unless he’s already taken. If not we trade back into the 20’s and take an offensive lineman.
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:57 am
What I don’t understand is how they had Dennis in the building for 2 years, and couldn’t tell he isn’t good enough?
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:58 am
In regard to ILB, I don’t see us taking one (unless a certain one falls to us). They signed free agents to give themselves freedom in the draft.
April 23rd, 2026 at 10:58 am
I also think there is zero chance we take Sadiq.
April 23rd, 2026 at 11:00 am
Everyone wants fresh new guys at all positions…not going to happen.
I’ll settle for getting good Edge, G, DT, and one CB. And a QB late.
April 23rd, 2026 at 11:04 am
Lakeland Says:
“This is my draft order
OLB
DT
ILB
CB
WR
S
OG
TE”
That’s a pretty good list. Mine is similar:
OLB/Edge (Or ILB if a miracle happens and we get Styles)
OG
ILB
OLB/EDGE
CB
S
WR
April 23rd, 2026 at 11:17 am
I didn’t realize that Sean Tucker was re-signed. Cool. I like him.
April 23rd, 2026 at 11:18 am
Dennis is a fraud. A liability, but TB is too proud and arrogant to admit he only coaches players down, not up. His regression program is second to none. So who is the fraud really?
Both.
April 23rd, 2026 at 11:24 am
The Bucs keep meeting with Josiah Trotter
He may be the ILB they want
April 23rd, 2026 at 11:29 am
Based on how he played before he got hurt in 2024 he looked great. Had great hopes for him. He just never showed that in 2025 except a handful of plays.
April 23rd, 2026 at 11:43 am
Gus-Swayze … ‘I think we take sadiq at 15 unless he’s already taken. If not we trade back into the 20’s and take an offensive lineman.’
Based on Jason Licht’s historical preferences, you may very well be right. And then we can proceed to flush 2026 right down the toilet.
Our offense had a miserable 2025, scoring over 1 TD LESS per game on the average than they did in 2024. We lost Mike Evans (3 TDs) & Rachaad White (4 TDs), but added Kenny Gainwell (8 TDs) as well as Tackle Justin Skule. I think our offense will be OK, as long as most starters stay relatively healthy. But the same can be said of most NFL teams.
Our defense also had a miserable 2025, allowing an average of 24.2 PPG, Our biggest problems IMO were (1) allowing far too many explosive plays; and (2) allowing a ridiculous 69.8% of opponents’ ventures into our Red Zone to result in TDs. THAT was the worst Red Zone performance in the entire NFL. Fans can blame it on Bowles all they want, but without substantial TALENT upgrades in about half of our defensive starter positions, it’d be hard to imagine us doing any better this year defensively than we did last year.
The Top-3 draft picks are critical, because they most often become the starters. Bucs have signed a number of older free agents with good skillsets, BUT … they’re not the future of this defense. We can’t draft our way out of a bad defense in just 1 year, but we can at least START this year. And drafting a TE and/or an OLineman in Rnds 1 & 2 hurts our defense, it doesn’t help it one iota.
April 23rd, 2026 at 11:48 am
Our ILB can be a lot better if we were big upfront
A big Frontline will stop the run, keep blockers off the linebackers
And allow our ILB to play in space
April 23rd, 2026 at 12:12 pm
Understanding drafting is important. People that took an edge are unlikely to take another one and people that picked before the Bucs either took one or didn’t need one. Therefore, lots of edges are likely to fall into round 2 and make it to pick 15.
ILB
OLB
CB
DT or G
The other between DT and G
The rest
April 23rd, 2026 at 12:13 pm
Capt.Tim you’re spot on. Voss was a rookie last year, don’t boot him so dang fast. let them compete, you just may be surprise. To steal a quote from Platoon, ” Man might have stayed alive if he’d of had a few more days to learn something”.
April 23rd, 2026 at 12:18 pm
SVD ran a 4.64 40. That’s way too slow to deal with NFL running backs. Allen’s 4.48 sounds much better. Or Rodriguez’s elite short area quickness+lateral and backpedaling speed. We need another starter caliber inside LB more than anything else in the team’s current condition. We already have Muhammad and Walker to challenge our second round pick to start or be in sub packages.
April 23rd, 2026 at 12:26 pm
SVD has to earn his keep this season, you lose a player like David and bring in some experienced vets that’s already raising the bar for Dennis. So to add some youth w/a good athletic profile just turns the heat up for him. You either rise, or you get replaced.
That simple, but it should be considered that Dennis is healthy and has the rest of this offseason to compete and that should be the name of the game at every position on defense. Got about a good 3 months of this 90-man roster, before things start getting real.
April 23rd, 2026 at 1:06 pm
Cut him for who got what? Uh David Walker anyone? Vos started for an entire year. Leave to Bucs fans to think every rookie comes in elite day one. Vos needs to play out his contract in case of injuries or slow development.
April 23rd, 2026 at 2:27 pm
Plenty of players did terrible in their 1st season as a full time starter. First 2 season he was hurt he started last season. Shoot JOE you even said it was like his rookie season starting cause it was his 1st being a full time starter. Deff wasn’t good but there were glimpse few but they were there. He can still turn the corner but I was beating the drum hard last draft for the Bucs to take Campbell they didn’t but man he couldn’t learned from LVD before he retired. Hopefully we can get a stud at ILB today or tomorrow.
April 23rd, 2026 at 2:54 pm
So lets see…
White couldn’t get it done, we got to get rid of him, despite the Bucs never winning a SB without him. But he can’t play, so good bye.
Lets put Britt in his place, who clearly is way too slow to be an NFL starter. Anywho, shockingly enough, after watching him play a few games and get beat over and over again to the edge, in the passing game, etc – he’s out.
Dennis is now the starter, and you’ll be shocked to learn, in this Bowles super soft passive scheme, he too doesn’t look good and everyone wants his head.
So on to the next guy, then the next guy, then the guy after that.
Maybe the issue is what the LB is asked to do – not the LB himself. Britt clearly should have never been a starter, and it was stupid for the Bucs to put him in that position. But White was a very good player when he was attacking – and Bowles decided to take that good player, cut his balls off, then have him stand around in zone and wonder why he suddenly went from an ALL-PRO to the unemployment line.
Anywho, the point being, whoever the Bucs pick – if Bowles is just going to have them stand around in zone, they too will look like garbage and everyone will be calling them a bust at this time next year and wanting a replacement to be drafted.
April 23rd, 2026 at 3:03 pm
ILB, G, RB, Edge.
Don’t care what order. Those are the weak spots on this team. (Other than Head Coach).
April 23rd, 2026 at 3:05 pm
“if Bowles is just going to have them stand around in zone, they too will look like garbage and everyone will be calling them a bust at this time next year and wanting a replacement to be drafted.”
Devin White was literally picking his own teammates that were mirroring routes becuase he was clueless in finding his depth in zone coverage, not all the time but I know his last/second to last year here against the Eagles he did that more than once in the same. Poor Carlton Davis.
April 23rd, 2026 at 3:14 pm
Warren Brooks Lynch Says:
Devin White was literally picking his own teammates that were mirroring routes becuase he was clueless in finding his depth in zone coverage, not all the time but I know his last/second to last year here against the Eagles he did that more than once in the same. Poor Carlton Davis.
———–
But here’s the thing… if he’s not good at something, then don’t have him doing it. White was exceptional as an interior rusher, he could disrupt the other teams passing and running game by just being a tasmanian devil and gumming stuff up. That’s what he did so well. But once Arians left, Bowles went limp, started his soft serve defensive garbage, having White stand around and wait for things to happen instead of attacking, and the drop off was huge.
Then comes Britt, he looks like trash. Then Dennis, he looks like trash.
The 2023, 2024, 2025 Bowles defenses are not the same scheme the Bucs won the SB with. At some point you got to ask, is it the players – or is there something about the scheme that is the issue.
Anywho, I’m still hoping the Bucs end up with a couple of the ILBs. I really think J-Rod, Hill and Louis all have a chance to be very good NFL players, and frankly if Dennis was in a different scheme I think he’d be a decent NFL starter, at worst a very good backup.
April 23rd, 2026 at 5:13 pm
“But here’s the thing… if he’s not good at something, then don’t have him doing it. White was exceptional as an interior rusher, he could disrupt the other teams passing and running game by just being a tasmanian devil and gumming stuff up.“
As simple as this sounds, it’s also effin ridiculous to think Rod. Bro was the 5th overal pick, and getting better at things you’re not good at is literally the basis for improving/developing at anything in life, football included.
If as an off-ball backer, I can’t trust you in coverage man/zone then I don’t need you on the field. Devin Whites career post-Tampa is inching closer to the “not for long” side of things.
This notion of “only Make’em do what they’re good at” is lazy thinking, Rod. Especially at this point of the game when players have pretty much spent their entire football existence developing & honing their skills. The best football players never stop and any great player you can think of, growth is a big part of what made them great. Otherwise everything is past tense, Devin White was good for us at one point, we need more from him tho and we not anybody else is getting more from D-White.
April 23rd, 2026 at 5:40 pm
Jason will give him a monster 2nd contact.
Just wait