{"id":783966,"date":"2026-03-01T08:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T08:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/783966\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T08:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T08:14:34","slug":"aaron-schatz-go-sign-this-linebacker-joebucsfan-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/783966\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Schatz: Go Sign This Linebacker &#8211; JoeBucsFan.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tAaron Schatz: Go Sign This Linebacker<br \/>\nFebruary 28th, 2026 <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/alex-anzalone.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-394571\" class=\"wp-image-394571 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/alex-anzalone.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"314\"   \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-394571\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Targeted for Bucs?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">A linebacker who will be 32 is considered long in the tooth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Except when a team has a roster spot reserved for a guy who will be 36.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Lavonte David has trained at One Buc Palace this offseason. Yeah, this offseason. Jason Licht said this on WDAE-AM 620\/FM 95.7 this week.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Does that sound like a guy who has decided to pack in his career?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Whether David retires or not, plays or not, the Bucs need linebackers. And Aaron Schatz, the inventor of <a href=\"https:\/\/ftnfantasy.com\/learn-more-about-dvoa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">DVOA<\/a> and creator of Football Outsiders (RIP), typed in a piece for BSPN that the best free agent signing for the Bucs should be Detroit linebacker Alex Anzalone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The time might have finally come for 36-year-old Lavonte David to leave the Buccaneers, which opens a spot for a veteran in the middle of Tampa Bay\u2019s defense. Anzalone is strong against the run and had 2.5 sacks and eight passes defensed for Detroit last season.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Joe loves this idea and here is why: Tough guy Lions coach Dan Campbell would never have a linebacker as a five-year starter unless he was tough as nails and physical. And Joe thinks that is just what the Bucs lack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Was David a physical player last year? That\u2019s up for debate. Aside from Tykee Smith, the Bucs defense simply is not that physical. Vita Vea is, but teams stay away from him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Get a tough guy on the second level like Anzalone, a former Gators star, and watch this defense perk up. And good grief, a fire eater like Anzalone would be a welcome trait for Bucs linebacker and the defense as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron Schatz: Go Sign This Linebacker February 28th, 2026 Targeted for Bucs? A linebacker who will be 32&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,2599,2598,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-783966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-buccaneers","9":"tag-bucs-message-boards","10":"tag-bucs-news","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-tampa-bay","14":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","15":"tag-tampabay","16":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116152924727162074","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783966","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=783966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}