Buccaneers: Five players to watch Friday night against the Bengals
2. Kendell Beckwith
Beckwith was chosen in the third round of this year’s NFL draft. He was a solid college player, take a look:
Defense & Fumbles
| Tackles | Def Int | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Solo | Ast | Tot | Loss | Sk | Int | Yds | Avg | TD | PD | FR | Yds | TD | FF |
| *2013 | LSU | SEC | FR | LB | 9 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
| *2014 | LSU | SEC | SO | LB | 13 | 36 | 41 | 77 | 7.5 | 2.0 | 1 | 29 | 29.0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | ||
| *2015 | LSU | SEC | JR | LB | 12 | 50 | 34 | 84 | 10.0 | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 2016 | LSU | SEC | SR | LB | 10 | 33 | 58 | 91 | 6.0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Career | LSU | 124 | 139 | 263 | 24.5 | 7.5 | 1 | 29 | 29.0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
No surprise that he can play, coming from LSU. That’s the same school that some guy named Kwon Alexander came from. Ever heard of him? Actually, Beckwith went just 17 picks earlier (107) in his draft than Alexander did in his (124). He is moving up the charts in the eyes of the coaches, and that really is surprising nobody.
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The LSU connection makes Beckwith interesting. How does his game compare with Alexander’s? Is it similar? Watch and see how they work together as well. They may have more of an innate sense of each other despite the fact that Beckwith is a rookie. Coming from similar backgrounds in college may do a lot to shorten that learning curve.
Now that the lights are on, where does Beckwith fit on this defense? Does he actually have a shot at starting? With Alexander and Lavonte David, it’s not as if the Bucs were weak at the linebacker position. Does he start out coming in sub packages or does he get a decent amount of playing time right away? Keep an eye out for him.