INTRO: The Bucs are finishing up interviewing draft prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine and may have found the pass rusher the team needs, as well as an inside linebacker or two. Find out who the Bucs have interviewed in Indianapolis in Pewter Report Bucs Combine Interview Tracker right here. Plus, my thoughts on how the return of Larry Foote as the outside linebackers coach in Tampa Bay is huge, as well as the return of Jon Gruden in the Bucs Ring of Honor. Enjoy!
FAB 1. Bucs May Have Found Their Edge Rusher In Indy
The Bucs may have found their pass rusher in Indianapolis.
Did you see the performance that Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku put on at the NFL Scouting Combine?
Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku – Photo by: USA Today
He posted a 6.94 3-cone drill time and ran a 4.19 shuttle. Both of those times were the best among all defensive linemen at the Combine. In fact, Ezeiruaku’s times were also the best for all defenders on Thursday night, including the linebackers.
Ezeiruaku didn’t run the 40-yard dash, but that drill actually has the least amount to do with pass rushing, which happens while running a short arc rather than a long, straight-line sprint.
Ezeiruaku’s nearly flawless on-field drills in Indy solidified his status as a first-rounder to me, and probably to several NFL teams. Hopefully Tampa Bay.
That’s what Ezeiruaku wanted to accomplish in Indy.
“It would be important – obviously a dream come true,” Ezeiruaku said about possibly being drafted in the first round. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was seven years old playing this game. At the end of the day, it’s on God’s timing.”
During his Combine press conference, I asked Ezeiruaku what made him a first-round-caliber player in his mind.
“My mentality,” Ezeiruaku said. “My mental toughness as well. I’m a great person at the end of the day. I think teams want to invest in a great person as well as a great talent. My athletic ability as well. I take pride in stopping the run game and I can rush the passer for sure.”
After being thoroughly impressed with Ezeiruaku during the Senior Bowl practices, I did a Pewter Pulse video on whether or not he was a first-round fit for the Bucs. His Combine interview and his on-field performance answered that question for me.
And probably for general manager Jason Licht, head coach Todd Bowles and director of player personnel Mike Biehl, who oversees college scouting, as the team had a formal interview with Ezeiruaku at the Combine. He was one of seven formal interviews Tampa Bay had with edge rushers in Indy.
Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku – Photo by: USA Today
Ezeiruaku is certainly better than some recent edge rushers taken near the end of the first round, such as Tampa Bay’s own Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (2021), New Orleans’ Payton Turner (2021), Cincinnati’s Myles Murphy (2023) and Kansas City’s Felix Anudike-Uzomah (2023). And I believe he’s better than Green Bay’s Lukas Van Ness, who was taken No. 13 overall in 2023.
For those of you who think taking the Boston College star at No. 19 is too early, I think he can be on par as a pass rusher with – or perhaps better than – Miami’s Jaelan Phillips, who was taken at No. 18 in 2021, or Indianapolis’ Kwity Paye, who was drafted at No. 21 the same year.
Ezeiruaku recorded 30 sacks at Boston College, including 16.5 last year, which was half a sack away from tying Marshall’s Mike Green for the FBS lead. He also had 47 tackles for loss, including 21 in 2024.
And remember how Bowles has stated he wants ballhawks this offseason? Ezeiruaku forced eight fumbles over the last three years for the Eagles.
With pterodactyl-like 34-inch arms and tremendous agility and ability to bend, Ezeiruaku seems like an ideal complement to Yaya Diaby’s power rushing style in Tampa Bay the way Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul complemented each other during the team’s Super Bowl run in 2020.
I know some of you want Tampa Bay to find its pass rusher in Philadelphia (Josh Sweat) or Los Angeles (Khalil Mack). And I know some of you even want the Bucs to give up draft picks to find that pass rush in Cleveland (Myles Garrett), Cincinnati (Trey Hendrickson) or Las Vegas (Maxx Crosby).
But something tells me that the Bucs aren’t going to spend big money on an edge rusher this year. If Tampa Bay opens its checkbook up in free agency, I think it might be for a veteran cornerback to help in the secondary.
No inside information, just my gut feeling having covered this team for 30 years.
I think the Bucs found their first-round pick in Indy in Ezeiruaku.
FAB 2. Donovan Ezeiruaku Is “That Man” For The Bucs
Accountable.
Competitive.
Confident.
Passionate.
Resilient.
Those are the five traits that make up “I Am That Man” blueprint for what the Tampa Bay scouting department looks for in new Buccaneers that the team signs in free agency and selects in the draft.
Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku has all five of those traits, along with being the elite, nuanced pass rusher the Bucs desperately need on the edge opposite Yaya Diaby.
“I’m a dynamic pass rusher,” Ezeiruaku told me at the Senior Bowl. “So I have a deep bag of pass rush moves. I can ghost rush. I can cross chop. I can swipe. I can counter inside and I’m working on the power aspect, but I think I could bring some power in my rushes as well. So I think that separates me. I’m not like a one-trick pony, or I’m not somebody who doesn’t rush with a plan or rush with some type of knowledge.”
Ezeiruaku went to the Senior Bowl to compete and put on a show in one-on-one pass rush drills as well as going to the NFL Scouting Combine to compete and put up the top numbers in the three-cone drill and shuttle.
Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeieruaku – Photo by: USA Today
When I asked Ezeiruaku what type of person an NFL team is going to get if it drafts him the first thing he mentioned was being a competitor.
“You’ll get a great person first and foremost, but somebody who loves to compete, somebody who loves to win,” Ezeiruaku told me at the Senior Bowl. “Obviously you’re going to get an athlete off the edge, but you’re going to get a defensive end/outside linebacker/edge rusher that can be on the field all four downs.
“I pride myself on stopping the run game and I know I can pass rush. That’s why I came [to Mobile, Ala.] this week – to put a little more emphasis on stopping the run. Just so scouts, GMs and coaches can see it live in the flesh. I think I did a pretty good job of that this past year and in the years building up to this year, but just so they can see that live.”
His performance at the Senior Bowl against the run where he smashed into offensive tackles, who were far bigger than his 6-foot-2, 248-pound frame, to effectively set the edge in the running game reminded me a lot of how ferocious Shaq Barrett played run defense at 6-foot-1, 250 pounds.
Ezeiruaku oozed confidence when talking about his background, growing up playing football in New Jersey.
“If you know anything about Jersey guys or South Jersey or Philly, we carry a chip on our shoulder at all times,” Ezeiruaku said. “That’s just who we are. If you know anything about Jersey football, or if you’re not from Jersey, lot of people are like ‘Okay, what’s going on down there?’ That’s the chip. You know people typically count us out. But it’s definitely a badge of honor. Where are you from? Man, I’m from Williamstown, New Jersey.”
I had the chance to speak with Ezeiruaku briefly off the podium in Indianapolis on Wednesday and I asked him how his formal interview with the Bucs went and he told me how he immediately connected with Todd Bowles. Ezeiruaku knew that Bowles hails from Elizabeth, New Jersey and played football at Temple.
I told him that he’s the kind of pass rusher Tampa Bay needs and he said, “I would love it. Let’s make it happen.”
Ezeiruaku is not a one-year wonder like Marshall’s Mike Green might be. Green had 17 sacks in his second season for the Thundering Herd, but had just 4.5 in 2023. Ezeiruaku had an 8.5-sack season with 15 tackles for loss at Boston College in 2022, which shows that his 2024 season wasn’t a fluke.
But Ezeiruaku did have a down year in 2023 with just seven tackles for loss and two sacks. When asked why he had such an off year that season, Ezeiruaku showed accountability during the Senior Bowl media session.
Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku – Photo by: USA Today
“Just remembering to go have some fun playing football,” Ezeiruaku said. “I feel like I got away from that my junior year, but definitely had a lot more fun this past year. It was a hard offseason and I did some self-reflecting. Obviously, I put a lot of work into it. With the help of Coach Bill O’Brien and Coach Tim Lewis I got everything done.”
Ezeiruaku has always had dreams of playing in the NFL and he knew he needed to have a bounce-back senior season. So he trained even harder and studied even harder and became the best version of himself in the 2024 offseason.
He even went so far as to get help from Boston College’s offensive line coach, Doug Marrone, who taught him what to look for when studying offensive tackles and looking for tendencies. That’s how Ezeiruaku showed the resiliency to rebound from two sacks in 2023 to 16.5 sacks last year.
“Myself and Coach Marrone would watch film together during the week,” Ezeiruaku said during his Senior Bowl media session. “And then as the season went on, he had made a cut-up for me with his notes and I would watch that, and he and myself would talk about it. So that’s kind of how I grew in that aspect. I definitely got a better eye offensive linemen.”
Ezeiruaku elaborated on those film sessions with Marrone from the podium at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“You know with film you’re able to see – you can’t hide obviously, so we pick up on things like whether tackles are giving away run-pass keys,” Ezeiruaku said. “That helps you, obviously, pre-snap. Whether or not they’re waist-benders or they kick [slide] and they you know keep their chests tall or whatever the case may be. I think when you take those things and you’re studying those things it’s easy to have a plan in-game. So I definitely used that to my advantage.”
Ezeiruaku has a wide array of pass rush moves in his arsenal from watching countless hours of film on similar-sized NFL pass rushers.
“I just watch a lot of people,” Ezeiruaku said. “I watch a lot of pass rushers Von Miller, Maxx Crosby, Nick Bosa, Yannick Ngakoue, DeMarcus Ware, Khalil Mack. I watch a lot of pass rushers and I’m the type of person when I see it, I’m like, ‘Okay that was effective. What did he do for that to work?’ And then I’ll just go out and try it. I’ll go out and work on it and try stuff.
Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku – Photo by: USA Today
“Like against the University of Virginia I was doing the outside spin a couple times. I saw it and I just worked on it a few times in practice and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to try and bring it out and show it.’”
Ezeiruaku is passionate about the game of football. Not just being a pass rusher, but for effecting the game with forced fumbles and being able to be a complete football player who is capable of stopping the run. Ezeiruaku had a career-high 80 tackles last year.
“I think I have a knack for the football,” Ezeiruaku said. “In my career at Boston College, I always took pride in the run game. I understand that you can’t pass rush on third down until you win on first and second down. I take a lot of pride in that. There are areas to improve all parts of our games, but I think I played the run pretty darn well.”
The way Ezeiruaku speaks and confidently carries himself is super impressive. I’ve been around him for two media sessions now this offseason and he reminds me of Lavonte David, Tristan Wirfs, Yaya Diaby and Antoine Winfield Jr. in terms of his persona. I think Bowles and Licht definitely see him being a perfect fit in Tampa Bay’s locker room.
He screams “Buccaneer” to me. I think he is very well could be that man in Tampa Bay.
FAB 3. Larry Foote’s Return To Coaching OLBs Is Huge
Bucs general manager Jason Licht knows that he has yet to hit on a home run edge rusher in the draft. He doesn’t need you posting about it on X or me writing about it on PewterReport.com.
Licht knows the names – Noah Spence, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Yaya Diaby, Jose Ramirez and Chris Braswell.
None of them have become a double-digit sacker in Tampa Bay.
Bucs Co-DC and OLBs coach Larry Foote – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Spence, a second-rounder in 2016, was a bust and is out of the league. Tryon-Shoyinka, a first-rounder in 2021, underwhelmed and won’t be re-signed by Tampa Bay.
The jury is still out on Diaby, Ramirez and Braswell. Diaby, a third-round pick in 2023, made great strides in all areas except the sack column last year, finishing the season with 4.5. Ramirez, a sixth-round pick in 2023, has spent more time on the practice squad and being inactive than in games. Braswell, a second-rounder last year, succumbed to George Edwards’ infatuation with Tryon-Shoyinka – a player he believed too much in. As a result, Braswell didn’t play as much as he should have and that stunted his growth.
Kudos to Todd Bowles for recognizing that 12 collective sacks from Tampa Bay’s outside linebackers was unacceptable and replacing Edwards with Larry Foote, who is back to coaching the Bucs edge rushers after coaching inside linebackers from 2022-24.
I think this is an absolutely huge move for the Bucs. Foote has the energetic, hands-on approach necessary to get the most out of Tampa Bay’s young pass rushers, who have yet to be fully developed. Bowles’ re-hiring of Mike Caldwell to coach inside linebackers, which is something he did in Tampa Bay from 2019-21, was also a brilliant move and allowed Bowles to move Foote back to the edge rusher room.
“Mike Caldwell’s a great coach,” Bucs general manager Jason Licht said, praising Bowles’ coaching moves. “He did great things for us coaching Lavonte and Devin in the past. Larry Foote has done a great job coaching linebackers in the past for us. George Edwards is a fantastic coach, and Todd relies on him for a lot of things. It was like getting the best of all worlds and we’re very excited.”
The cerebral Edwards, who has a great football I.Q., is no longer coaching a position, but instead will focus on helping to improve the communication between the secondary and the linebacking corps, which definitely needs improving, evidenced by Tampa Bay ranking 31st in pass defense last year.
Bucs OLBs coach Larry Foote – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
“Larry has a different teaching angle,” Bowles said. “He was there when we won the Super Bowl. Obviously he had JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul) and Shaq [Barrett], but just getting a fresh perspective on things. We’ve got to help them more as a coaching staff. Instead of playing run-heavy type of things and then converting to the pass, we need to just set those guys free a little bit more as well. As a staff standpoint, that was one of the things we can do well and I think Larry can help out with that.”
Foote helped develop Barrett into a two-time Pro Bowler in Tampa Bay, including his 19.5-sack season, which set a new franchise record in 2019. And Pierre-Paul also had a Pro Bowl season in 2020 with a team-high 9.5 sacks, helping the Bucs win Super Bowl LV.
Not only can Foote help take the games of Diaby, Braswell, Jose Ramirez and Markees Watts to new heights, but one has to think that his return to coaching outside linebackers gives Licht more confidence in spending another premium pick – perhaps a first-rounder – on another edge rusher.
That position has been kryptonite for Licht so far in the 11 Tampa Bay drafts he’s presided over.
But you know what? So was the running back position for years.
Yet Licht kept taking swings at it, despite misses like Charles Sims, Jeremy McNichols, Ronald Jones II and Ke’Shawn Vaughn through the years.
Then he finally hit on Rachaad White in the third round in 2022 and nailed a home run with Bucky Irving in the fourth round last year – in addition to finding a gem in Sean Tucker in undrafted free agency in 2023.
Maybe this year, Licht finally drafts a double-digit sacker, and then Foote develops Diaby into a double-digit sacker, too.
Then the Bucs might just have an updated version of Barrett and JPP in 2025. Wouldn’t that be nice?
FAB 4. Bucs Are Targeting The Right Linebackers In The Draft
Whether or not 35-year old Lavonte David decides to return to Tampa Bay for one more season or not, the Bucs definitely need more inside linebackers this offseason. The team is expected to move on from K.J. Britt, who started most of the games last year at middle linebacker, but wasn’t fast enough or athletic enough to cover or be effective.
The Bucs remain high on SirVocea Dennis, who is penciled in as one of the starters, but with injury concerns surrounding the former Pittsburgh star, the team needs to find at least three more fast, athletic linebackers to compete for the starting roles and provide developmental depth.
Oklahoma State ILB Nickolas Martin – Photo by: USA Today
Todd Bowles and Jason Licht had formal interviews with six inside linebackers at the NFL Scouting Combine, all of which are very fast and athletic. Alabama’s Jihaad Campbell ran a 4.52, Oklahoma State’s Nickolas Martin ran a 4.53, Georgia’s Smael Mondon Jr. ran a 4.58 and Oregon’s Jeffrey Bassa ran a 4.63 – all very fast times for linebackers in the 40-yard dash.
Florida’s Shemar James was a bit on the slower side at 4.69, and Penn State’s Kobe King elected to skip the 40-yard dash in Indianapolis.
Campbell is considered to be a first-round option for Tampa Bay. But with the depth at inside linebacker this year, I can’t see Licht spending another first-round pick on an off-ball linebacker like he did with Devin White, the fifth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Not when drafting edge rushers and cornerbacks in the first round typically prove to be more valuable.
Instead, I look for the Bucs to draft a linebacker in the middle rounds – perhaps rounds 3 or 4. San Francisco’s Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw were drafted in the third and fifth rounds, respectively. Philadelphia’s Zack Baun, this year’s top linebacker in free agency after an All-Pro season, was a former third-round pick in New Orleans.
Martin is a sleeper who I have had my eyes on for a while. Being a Kansas State alum, I watch a lot of Big XII football and he had an amazing junior year with 140 tackles (83 solo), 16 tackles for loss, six sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. A torn MCL shortened his senior season to just five games where he posted 47 tackles, eight tackles for loss, two passes defensed, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Oregon ILB Jeffrey Bassa – Photo by: USA Today
Martin had a terrific Senior Bowl, especially in coverage drills, and running a 4.58 in Indy shows that he’s fully recovered from his knee injury.
Bassa also shined in Mobile. Don’t be scared by his 4.63 time in the 40. Lavonte David ran a 4.65 coming out of Nebraska in 2012. Bassa also excels in coverage and is a smart, cerebral player. Both he and Martin seem like Bucs fits in the middle rounds.
I’ve got to do some more digging on King, but I like what I’ve seen from him so far on tape. I’ll be curious to see his 40-time at his pro day, but I’m guessing he’ll run between 4.55-4.65.
Mondon, who played at Georgia with Tykee Smith, is a pretty good athlete. But Mondon failed to truly put it all together with the Bulldogs to truly become a star. He was more of a role player as a three-year starter.
All in all, the Bucs are targeting the right guys in this year’s draft and it will be fascinating to see which ones get selected in April.
FAB 5. Thrilled That Jon Gruden Is Back In The Bucs Ring Of Honor
Former Bucs head coach Jon Gruden – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
I have to admit that I was very disappointed when the Glazers removed Jon Gruden from the Bucs Ring of Honor in 2021 when offensive e-mails from Gruden to former Washington general manager Bruce Allen were made public as part of an NFL investigation into the Redskins organization. I understood the decision, considering that Gruden had some disparaging things about Bucs owner Bryan Glazer in one of those e-mails, but I didn’t like the decision to remove him.
Yet the Glazers kept Gruden’s Super Bowl statute in the lobby at One Buccaneer Place, so the team didn’t entirely erase him or his contribution to winning the first championship in franchise history. Gruden, who has more wins in team history than any other coach with 57, was obviously hurt by the decision. And as someone who covered every minute of his Bucs tenure from 2002-08, I was hurt, too. I learned more football from Gruden and his assistants than I did from any other coaching staff, and I remain friends with Gruden to this day.
So when news broke that the Bucs were reinstating Gruden to the Bucs Ring of Honor, I was absolutely elated. Forgiveness is a powerful thing and I’m glad the Glazers forgave Gruden after all these years. He’s too important to the Bucs legacy, and celebrating 50 years of NFL football in Tampa Bay this year without him being a part of it wouldn’t have felt right.
I was glad to see Gruden on the sidelines during pregame at the Bucs vs. 49ers game and in the owners luxury box as a guest of the Glazers. The Glazer family deserves a lot of credit for reconciling things with Gruden. They apparently were moved by Monte Kiffin’s celebration of life ceremony, where forgiveness was a topic.
I can’t wait to see Gruden’s name back where it belongs on the wall of Raymond James Stadium again this fall. And to see Gruden standing alongside the Glazers in celebrating 50 years of the Buccaneers this year.
