NFL analyst projects edge to Buccaneers with 19th pick in 2023 NFL Draft
You always have to be willing to address one of the most important positions on the field.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers failed in numerous respects during the 2022 season. The offense was terrible, and while the defense did have its moments, there were others that left many fans scratching their heads.
To be fair to the Bucs, part of these failures stemmed from rampant injuries, and one of the biggest injuries was to outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett.
Barrett has been a fringe top-ten pass rusher during his time with the Bucs, and losing an impact player at one of the two most important defensive positions (the other being corner) is going to hurt any team defensively.
This injury thrust still-growing Joe Tryon-Shoyinka into the spotlight, and the results of a very green pass-rusher room showed clearly in the final team stat line.
The season ended with no players on the Buccaneers earning double-digit sacks, Vita Vea as the sack leader, Anthony Nelson leading the true pass rushers, and JTS falling to Antoine Winfield Jr. and Devin White in the same category.
This isn't exactly a massive vote of confidence in what this unit can do without Barrett on the field.
There is an obvious lack of depth at the outside linebacker position for the Bucs, and one way to address this is via the draft.
Dane Brugler, an NFL Draft analyst for the Athletic, addressed this with the 19th-overall pick.
In this mock draft, Brugler decided to select Myles Murphy out of Clemson to put the Buccaneers in a familiar position.
Something similar happened to the Bucs two years ago when they drafted Joe Tryon-Shoyinka at the end of the first round on the heels of winning the Super Bowl.
JTS joined an established room of Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul, a duo that was able to dominate Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. There was nothing guaranteed for the rookie, yet he was able to carve out a role for himself as a rotational piece (and even outperformed JPP towards the end of the season).
That same thing could happen this season with Murphy.
Murphy would've definitely been a bigger name today had he tested further at the combine this past weekend, but his film and college production speak for themselves.
With 36 career tackles for loss, 18.5 sacks, and six forced fumbles, it doesn't take long to see why people love the overall production that Murphy was able to put together with such a big-name team.
The physical traits are also there, though not in the same way as JTS, but this could work to the benefit of the Bucs.
While Murphy will certainly sacrifice some of Tryon-Shoyinka's speed, he has the weight, strength, and power to get past tackles in a different way than the current OLB2, giving the Bucs another option to get after the quarterback.
There will still be some growing pains that inevitably come from such a transition from college to the NFL, but there is a lot to like in Murphy's game, especially his ceiling under Todd Bowles.
However, this move will put some heat on JTS. We have some good and some bad through two seasons, but nothing definite about where his current projections are at. The Bucs may seem to love everything he does, but JPP was arguably playing better when his replacement was drafted, so it is fair to say that Joe Tryon-Shoyinka would need to step his game up if this pick was made.
