Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles placed an emphasis on finding more pass rushers to complement OLB YaYa Diaby.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Diaby] was clearly our best pass rusher up front,\u201d Bowles said, via ESPN<\/a>. \u201cI thought he had a heck of a season, especially in the second half of the season. He was one of our best players. He plays hard, he plays with a lot of energy, and we just have to help him out with the other guys up front.\u201d<\/p>\n Tampa Bay also has a glaring need in the interior of their defense. LB Lavonte David is on the verge of retiring and LB SirVocea Dennis was inconsistent throughout the year.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought [Dennis] got better as the season went on, especially in the run game,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cHe can be a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n Buccaneers OC Zac Robinson had high praise for RB Bucky Irving, comparing him to Falcons RB Bijan Robinson, however, they do need depth behind him. RB Sean Tucker is a restricted free-agent and RB Rachaad White is an unrestricted free-agent.<\/p>\n \u201cI see Bucky in a very similar light [to\u00a0Bijan Robinson] there with what he can do in the passing game, and there\u2019s not a run concept that he can\u2019t run,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cSo I\u2019m excited to work with Bucky and know that there is a ton of meat on the bone in the passing game.<\/p>\n Lastly, defensive line is a position that Tampa Bay will likely look to upgrade this off-season. They didn\u2019t do as good of a job generating a pass rush as they have in previous seasons and need to get more push up front.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was a tough year, defensively,\u201d he said. \u201cIt starts with me, because I\u2019m the [defensive] coordinator as well, and the coaching staff, but we\u2019ve got to rush better, and we\u2019ve got to cover better. It works together. Sometimes the rush got there and the coverage wasn\u2019t there. Sometimes the coverage was there and the rush didn\u2019t get there. It\u2019s not about the sacks \u2014 it\u2019s more, for us, about the pressure and making the quarterback get rid of the ball and be incomplete. I don\u2019t think we did that consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n Regarding Falcons OLB James Pearce Jr.\u2018s recent arrest, Albert Breer of SI<\/a> writes that Atlanta must operate as if Pierce will be gone for \u201cquite some time.\u201d\u00a0 Falcons OC Tommy Rees said QB Michael Penix, Jr. put a lot on film that he is excited to build upon, most notably his toughness and arm strength.<\/p>\n \u201cExtreme arm talent would be the first thing, just from a film standpoint, that you see,\u201d Rees said, via Falcons Wire<\/a>. \u201cI mean all the throws, outside the numbers, down the field, can throw with anticipation and can throw with great accuracy. He\u2019s a tough guy in the pocket, man. I mean, he will stand in there and deliver the ball down the field. Like any young player, there\u2019s always going to be areas for improvement and growth, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re so excited to get to work with Michael on. But I mean there\u2019s a lot to really, really like on the film. I\u2019m excited and eager to get ready to build that with him.\u201d<\/p>\n Rees added that he\u2019s extremely impressed with Penix\u2019s demeanor and the mental aspect of his game.<\/p>\n \u201cHad a chance to meet him and what a great young man,\u201d Rees said. \u201cOverlapped with some guys that I coached in college over different points of my career and everyone has always spoken so highly of him. You meet him for two minutes and you can feel that right away. I think you\u2019re looking at a young player that\u2019s really hungry and eager to get back out there and it\u2019s our job as coaches to put him in a position to have success.\u201c<\/p>\n Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?<\/p>\n Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors<\/a> on X.com<\/a>\u00a0and FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles placed an emphasis on finding more pass rushers to complement OLB YaYa Diaby. \u201c[Diaby]…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[4127,211,312,4131,7,703,6153,9195,26822,1879,6,9342,9343,26449,704,250,2597,2596,7763,26961,500,11410,22119,9145],"class_list":{"0":"post-750378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-bijan-robinson","9":"tag-buccaneers","10":"tag-bucky-irving","11":"tag-david-njoku","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-james-pearce-jr","14":"tag-kyle-pitts","15":"tag-lavonte-david","16":"tag-matt-nagy","17":"tag-michael-penix-jr","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-rachaad-white","20":"tag-sean-tucker","21":"tag-sirvocea-dennis","22":"tag-tampa-bay","23":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","24":"tag-tampabay","25":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers","26":"tag-todd-bowles","27":"tag-tommy-rees","28":"tag-travis-kelce","29":"tag-tyler-allgeier","30":"tag-yaya-diaby","31":"tag-zac-robinson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116066034891323890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAs for impending free-agent TE Kyle Pitts, Breer writes that he\u2019ll be in demand this offseason. Breer could see Pitts being a replacement for Chiefs TE Travis Kelce or being a fit for the Giants\u2019 offense under new OC Matt Nagy.\u00a0
\nIf Pitts proves to be too expensive for Atlanta to retain, Breer thinks Browns TE David Njoku could be an option.\u00a0
\nBreer is convinced that Falcons\u2019 free agent RB Tyler Allgeier will receive a \u201cnice payday\u201d on the open market. With Bijan Robinson bound to earn a \u201cmegacontract\u201d in the near future, Breer doesn\u2019t think there is space for Allgeier.\u00a0<\/p>\n