What will the role of Justin Evans be for the Buccaneers in 2017?
We are officially in the time period when Buccaneers football seems a long way away. Yes, we are under 100 days away from kickoff. On the other hand, there is no activity going on. OTAs are coming to an end, and we are hitting that dead time where nothing is going on. We look toward training camp with great anticipation, but we sit and we wait. The closer football gets, the further away it seems.
So we do our favorite thing, speculate. This is the time of year to look ahead and give our best guesses as to how things will go in the upcoming season. There is a whole new group of Bucs. How are they going to fit in with this up and coming team? Now is as good a time as any to speculate.
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With that, we have started to look at the role of our newest Bucs, the draft class. The other day, we looked at our first round surprise, O.J. Howard. Well it’s about time we move onto the second round and that means we look at safety Justin Evans.
How is he going to fit in 2017? Let’s talk about it.
The secondary had to improve. Despite the selection of Vernon Hargreaves and the solid season of Brent Grimes, the defense went from 16 against the pass in 2015 down to 22. If there is any Achilles Heal with the group, keeping the team from taking the next step, it’s the pass defense.
So, the Bucs signed J.J. Wilcox and drafted our subject, Justin Evans. It also seems that Evans is competing for just one spot. As reported by our good buddy James Yarcho right here, Keith Tandy has a starting position all but locked up. According to Ira Kaufman in Yarcho’s post, Evans and Wilcox will have to have huge camps to unseat Tandy. The Bucs are happy with him and we should see him in a starting position when week one comes around.
Let’s see how Evans performed in college (via Sports Reference):
Evans has some ball skills, to the tune of four interceptions last season. His best work, however, is done close to the line of scrimmage. 87 tackles is a big number. If Evans had put up 87 tackles for the Bucs last year, he would have tied Lavonte David for third on the team. Justin Evans has a nose for the football and can go find it.
This comes from Lance Zierlein’s draft profile of Evans, and says a lot about what Evans role might look like:
"Instincts dwindle the further away from line of scrimmage he goes. Inconsistent seeing and breaking on throws from high safety. Needs to come to balance in tackle-ready position more quickly on third-level stops."
This becomes clear when you watch him on video:
The deeper he plays, the tougher of a time that Evans has reading the play. Those skills needing to improve, combined with the fact that he must learn a professional system, leads one to believe that he will at least begin his career up close to the line of scrimmage.
That’s not to say he won’t drop back into coverage as well. Not only can he cover some, he has great hands. But his primary job will be to sneak up close and stop the run.
Now Chris Conte did sign a two-year contract during the off-season (per Spotrac). But you know Dirk Koetter and Jason Licht. The money means nothing. Just because Conte was re-signed doesn’t mean that he is guaranteed playing time. Conte is going to have to earn it. Assuming Kauffman is right about Tandy, there will definitely be a three-way competition for the second safety spot.
But, it does take time to learn Mike Smith‘s system. You saw it last year. The defense didn’t really come together until the second half of the season when they finally “got it”. That was an entire group that included veterans. It’s going to take time for Evans to know what is going on. There are going to be growing pains. Playing in the secondary is about communication, and that will be a work in progress.
With that, here is a prediction for his basic stats line:
- 70 tackles, one interception, one forced fumble
Next: Looking back 25 years at quarterback
How do you think Evans will do? How will he fit in 2017? Sound off in the comments…