Buccaneers: Five defensive players to look forward to watching

Number Four – LB  Kwon Alexander

Only two years in the league, Kwon Alexander has already established that he’s a tackling machine. 238 tackles in 28 games clearly shows the man loves hitting the opposition. Alexander took such a step forward last year that he was arguably the NFL’s most improved defensive player. At the age of 22, he’s already the centerpiece of the Buccaneers defense. Alexander has come a long way since being drafted as a fourth round pick out of LSU.

He has also come a long way since his rookie year, when he basically got thrown out there as a first year starter calling the plays for the defense right away. Even with the 93 tackles through 12 games, Alexander struggled in coverage and missed just as much tackles as he made. He improved in those areas to become a more reliable well rounded player across the board in year two. It’s clear that Alexander works hard at his craft and wants to become one of the best linebackers football.

As a 4-3 linebacker, your put in a perfect position to make a lot of tackles and not as much splashy plays. That explains why Alexander has only sacked the quarterback six times and picked the ball off three times in his two years. Finding a way to make an impact in those areas on top of making play after play would make him an even more scary player. The sky is the limit for this kid and I’m looking forward to watching him improve.