1. Xavien Howard is the perfect fit with the Buccaneers
Todd Bowles’ man defense has helped revolutionize a terrible secondary in Tampa. Opposing teams carved up the Bucs for years through the air, but the group has started to take several much-needed steps towards being one of the better units in the league as the system has begun to take shape.
Despite the many improvements and the stellar performance against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, this secondary is still far from perfect.
Mediocre to subpar quarterbacks such as Daniel Jones, Derek Carr, and Teddy Bridgewater looked far too comfortable throwing the ball at times, and Xavien Howard would change this immediately.
As arguably the best man corner in the NFL right now, there aren’t many players in the league that would fit with the Buccaneers as well as Howard.
Howard can line up at the line of scrimmage or off with ease. Regardless of the defensive direction of the Buccaneer defense on any given play, Howard has the skillset to fit the need of the Bucs perfectly.
In addition to comfort at the line of scrimmage, Howard has the ability to keep his positioning and play underneath opposing receivers as well as any other player. Some of the balls in Howard’s highlights aren’t thrown well, but he still does a great job of keeping himself positioned to make plays, which would lead to even more turnovers on a defense that already set itself apart in that category in 2020.