For any Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans that has watched the team the last two seasons, there has been one consistent plague on the team’s success that has turned would-be blowouts into nail-biters and close wins into losses, and that is the defensive secondary.
While Tampa’s rushing defense has been one of the best in the league, their ability to prevent the pass has been terrible and nearly non-existent at times.
Regardless of if the team was defending against Aaron Rodgers or rookie QBs, it was never a shock to any fans when opposing QBs put up season-high numbers when playing the Buccaneers.
That is why the news that safety coach Nick Rapone isn’t sold on making Edwards the full-time starter just yet is definitely not the news Bucs fans should want to hear.
With far less reps than Tampa’s other safeties last season, Edwards was still able to produce with four interceptions. Edwards has shown a knack for playing the ball and not allowing the easy throws through, a skill that is needed in a much larger quantity on defense.
That type of pressure on opposing quarterbacks is exactly what the Bucs need in their secondary to keep opposing quarterbacks from moving the ball down the field with ease.
Rapone did say that he is far more confident in Edwards abilities, but he just wants to see him earn the position over the other guys fighting for a spot. He would like to see Edwards get a little better at open-field tackling as well before they fully make a decision.
The thing is, the Bucs don’t need better tacklers; they need a secondary that won’t give up easy passes up and down the field forcing the offense to put up 28+ points every single game to win.
Starting Edwards can absolutely improve the Buccaneers in that regard, and Rapone and the rest of the coaching staff need to recongize that keeping Mike Edwards off the field is a mistake.
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