Distant Early Warning: Linebackers

January 29, 2009 at 01:51pm by Scott   •  1 Comment »

The good news is that the Bucs don’t need a whole lot of help at linebacker. The bad news is that this would have been a good year to need one since free agency and the draft are stocked with them.

Let’s start with what they have. I’m going to do more lists in the rest of these because they seem to streamline the entry. Three-thousand words per entry is getting out of the “blog” realm and into something that should be purchased at Borders. Also, for the sake of simplicity, I am combining OLBs and ILBs.

Derrick Brooks: Says he wants to come back, so he’s coming back. You can’t fire Derrick Brooks, especially if you’re a 32-year old rookie head coach. He may come off the field even more this year, though.

Barrett Ruud: Obviously not going anywhere.

Cato June: June isn’t such a sure thing. He’s been a good SLB, but he hasn’t made the high-impact plays that he was known for in Indianapolis. I know he’s transitioned from WLB to SLB, but I would have expected more forced fumbles from that position. Besides, he has always said that he is playing the same role he did in Indy because of the “under” alignment. June has had one forced fumble and two interceptions (and one of those was off of Ronde Barber‘s deflection) in his two years in Tampa.

It is no coincidence that all three starting linebackers’ contracts expire next year. The front office can decide now who to extend and who to let walk. The big talk last year was that June would be Brooks’s successor on the weakside when Brooks finally retired. I don’t know that that’s necessarily the case anymore; the Bucs are pretty high on some of their recent acquisitions. It should be a slam dunk that Brooks will retire after 2009 and Ruud will get extended before he hits free agency (don’t make me start a “Sign Ruud” campaign, too.)

Quincy Black is in line to inherit the SLB spot. The question is whether he will beat out June in camp this year and start right away, or if June beats him out, plays out his contract, then leaves in free agency at the end of the year. Black is the better athlete, but June has the experience.

I’ve also heard that the Bucs really like Geno Hayes and that he is going to take over Brooks’s spot when he retires if he keeps up this progress. I was skeptical about Hayes from a character standpoint, but it would seem that having a mentor like Brooks has done him good. The team is also hopeful that Adam Hayward will continue his excellent progress and provide depth at MLB.

Matt McCoy is also still on the roster and can play any linebacker spot, but he didn’t make enough of an impact to be considered ahead of any of the above guys. If the Bucs keep seven linebackers like they did this year, he is most likely the seventh or eighth. There’s also a guy named Rod Wilson on the team who was signed as a total emergency option in December.

Oh, hey, look at that. Patrick Chukwurah is still on the team, and he’s listed as a LB/DE, which is why I didn’t include him in the DE entry on Monday. Cutting and re-signing Chukwurah seems to have turned into a small hobby for the Tampa Bay personnel guys. I don’t think he’s really in this discussion, though. So, I think we have six out of seven spoken for.

Of course, the year we don’t need one is the year that all three Ravens linebackers are scheduled to hit free agency. They won’t all make it, but at least one of them will. Ray Lewis will have no place on this team as long as Brooks is around. Terrell Suggs is the player that got the split position of “DE/LB” made into an official designation so he could collect a higher franchise tender. If Jim Bates is looking for fast and nasty defensive ends who run like linebackers, you can’t do much better than Suggs. I can’t imagine Baltimore letting him go. Even if they do, the Bucs most likely won’t want to spend what he will command. That leaves Bart Scott. He’s 6-2, 240, 28 years old and plays ILB in the Ravens’ 3-4. He had a great 2006 season with 9.5 sacks, but his numbers have fallen off since then. He’s an excellent blitzer and has a nose for the football (17 passes defensed in 3 years.) He also has a hell of a mouth on him and is known as kind of a loose cannon. Ruud isn’t going anywhere, so where would he fit in the 4-3? He’s too small to be a defensive end. Maybe SLB? But then what happens to Black? You don’t sign a player like Scott to compete — he’s going to start. I don’t think any of these three guys are on their way to Tampa.

Let’s just rattle off the highlights of the rest of the free agents:

Eric Barton: The Jets tried to trade him at the beginning of the season but didn’t get any takers. He’s a natural SLB who has had a lot of production. Maybe.

Michael Boley: Had a neck injury in 2008 and really dropped in production. Atlanta eventually benched him on running downs, and in a contract year. Lots of potential and he may come cheap, but he’s a big risk. Pass.

Channing Crowder: Miami seems content to let him go, but he’s going to be asking too much money. Pass.

Karlos Dansby: Arizona isn’t letting him go. He won’t hit free agency.

Leroy Hill: Seattle is considering franchising him instead of giving him a long-term contract because he’s constantly injured. Probably won’t hit free agency.

Mike Peterson: Made his biggest noise this season when Jack Del Rio suspended him for a game for being a jackass. Often injured, bad contract year, will be 33 when the season starts. Pass.

Barton is the only one I could see as a fit. He would be competing for backup SLB with whoever lost the starting job. He’s not as versatile as McCoy, but probably overall better.

The Bucs have already had interviews with some of the top linebacker prospects who were at the Senior Bowl. This is a deep, deep draft for linebackers, so if Mark Dominik is a “best player available” kind of guy, a LB in the first round is a possibility. With that in mind…

Chances are good that Rey Maualuga (Southern Cal) and James Laurinaitis (Ohio State) will both be gone before the Bucs are on the clock. Brian Cushing (Southern Cal) is the highest rated guy with any chance of being available at #19. To me, it seems like Cushing is still getting the benefit of his potential. He’s constantly injured, so what good are his great measurables? A lot of people love him, though, and he is strong and fast. If he can get in with a good trainer and medical staff, he might be very good.

If I was told I had to spend my first round pick on a linebacker, I would probably go with Clint Sintim (Virginia). Sintim has the physique to play any linebacker spot, but is probably best suited to play SLB. He is a vicious tackler, never gives up on a play, and is has a high football IQ. He did nothing but improve every year he was in school and led the nation in sacks by a linebacker last year. His only real drawback is his coverage ability, which is why I thought he’d be better off on the strongside. If Jim Bates plans on blitzing more in his scheme, this is the guy you want. Some places don’t rank him in the first round, but he’s not lasting to the Bucs’ second rounder, I guarantee. Again, he’s the one I’d pick if I was forced to take one in the first round.

But the way to go is probably to take a young guy in the draft and build more real depth like they have been for the past several years. If the top six linebackers are locked in on the roster, they could take a linebacker in the third to fifth rounds (no need to go higher) with a lot of physical skills who just needs technique coaching. A guy like that is Tyrone McKenzie (South Florida). USF is only McKenzie’s last school; he also spent time at Michigan State and Iowa State. He’s an outstanding athlete with great speed and good instincts. He had a monster senior season, but it was against some questionable competition. He’s also not very sophisticated when it comes to his technical skills and needs some coaching on when run-blitzing is appropriate and when it isn’t. He’s probably a fourth or fifth rounder and would provide some nice depth and an excellent set of physical tools to build on. Probably projects as a WLB.

A guy who I’m not sure why he’s not rated higher is Jason Phillips (TCU). For an inside linebacker, he has great timed speed (as low as a 4.5) and has had excellent production despite being in TCU’s weird 4-2-5 alignment (which was one of the nation’s top defenses last year.) He’s tough at the point of attack and a solid tackler, and he never misses a game. He’s also being projected as a ILB, but he has the speed to play outside and isn’t overly bulky at 236 lbs. They say he’ll go in the fourth round, but I wouldn’t take the chance that he’ll fall that low. If he was still available in the third, I’d snag him.

Really, this is not a position of any kind of need. Next offseason will be a huge one for the linebacking corps, and this is the season to see what Tampa Bay has in their young guys. I hope Black, Hayward and Hayes get a lot of real playing time so the coaching staff can evaluate what their future looks like and can make the necessary moves in the 2010 offseason. If the Bucs think they can upgrade McCoy with a rookie or a different veteran guy, fine. But I wouldn’t go tinkering too much with this group this year.