Kwon Alexander Becoming the Jameis Winston of the Buccaneers’ Defense

As the Buccaneers prepare for the 2016 season, Kwon Alexander is becoming the definitive leader of this defense.

The Buccaneers are preparing to improve upon their 6-10 campaign in 2015.  With a young core of players, all of the tools are in place for this team to grow and get better together.  Bucs’ fans have been waiting a long time for a group of exciting players like Jameis Winston and Mike Evans, among others.  Dirk Koetter has a lot to work with as he begins his first season as an NFL head coach.

After a core of young players, the next most important thing needed to develop a young team is leaders.

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As a team learns and grows, players have to emerge from the group to lead.  Any successful franchise can point to the specific players that others follow, that command respect in the locker room, and act as coaches on the football field.

So who are those players on the Bucs?

On offense, it is Jameis Winston.  It typically falls on the quarterback, as they are the ones that see everything and serves as the on-field coach.  He’s the one voice in the huddle so it’s his responsibility to lead.  On defense, it often falls onto the middle linebacker to be the quarterback of the defense, and that means Kwon Alexander.

If you ask coach Koetter, Kwon is adapting to the role just fine:

"“I love how Kwon’s working with ‘Smitty’ [Mike Smith]. It’s great to see when I’m going down the hallway every morning at seven o’clock in the morning and Kwon and Smitty are in there on the chalkboard having a 45 minute 1-on-1. It’s awesome to see Smitty sitting at a desk and Kwon standing at the board with a grease pen in his hand – it’s awesome. As a guy that’s a quarterback coach to see ‘Smitty’ and Kwon in there in the mornings does my heart good."

Dirk understands the importance of the role:

"“It’s real important. You’d like to have even more than one guy, but the middle linebacker is the quarterback of the defense. I love Kwon’s attitude that he wants to be the Jameis Winston of the defense, for him to embrace it – not all guys want that on them but Kwon does. It’s awesome. He’s got to back it up.”"

He wants to be the Jameis on defense.  Your leader has to be willing to take the job, otherwise it won’t work out.  Players won’t listen and won’t respect the player.  The leaders have to be the hardest workers, and Kwon is clearly one of those.

According to Winston, Kwon got by with a little help from his friends in Dallas to learn about how to work and study:

"“One person I met was [Dallas Cowboys linebacker] Sean Lee at the Pro Bowl. And I was like, ‘Sean, how can I get Kwon to get like you?’ From the study points because Kwon always asks me like, ‘How do you study?,’ and I was like, ‘Man, I’m not a middle linebacker, you’ve got to ask [Carolina Panthers linebacker] Luke Kuechly, or one of the main guys.’ So he reached out to Sean Lee, got some information from him. And ever since then, he’s been willing to just want to be the quarterback for that defense and he’s been doing a great job.”"

Winston loves how Kwon is stepping up:

"“He knows his job, he knows his worth to this team and it’s very high. He knows that we’ve got to get better every day and the only way that we’re going to be better [is] if everyone individually is trying to better themselves every single day. So he took that and ran with it. He’s trying to be a great linebacker and to me he is. I’m always going to support him – he’s an Alabama boy – so you know you love his heart. I’m glad that he’s making that transition.”"

Everyone must try to better themselves every single day.  It’s a great theory for all of us, and it is an excellent way for a football team to get better.

Next: Adam Humphries Earns 3rd Wide Receiver Job

It might even be a way for a team to finally end a playoff drought.  Wouldn’t that be nice?