NFL overreaction season is here, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are no different. One Buccaneers rookie already has a Hall of Fame endorsement.
This time of year, it’s incredibly easy to overreact and overanalyze every little report and tweet that comes out of minicamps and OTA’s. We’re so starved for anything football related during the dog days of summer we’ll take anything and run with it, and that’s just what we’re about to do.
Excitement was already palpable when the Bucs drafted defensive lineman Logan Hall out of the University of Houston with the first pick in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, especially when they traded back to do so, securing a little somethin’ somethin’ on the side as a result.
Hall was seen as the replacement for Ndamukong Suh on the defensive line, but with the recent signing of Akiem Hicks, Hall has the luxury of learning from Hicks, William Gholston and Vita Vea and others before stepping into his future starting role, so it takes off a lot of the pressure for the rookie.
However, one Buccaneers legend already sees great things in the Buccaneers rookie.
Warren Sapp is arguably the greatest defensive lineman the Bucs have ever had, and a lot of people would say he is the greatest period. This writer is personally partial to Lee Roy Selmon, but that’s an issue that can be tackled another day. Last week, Sapp spent time in Bucs OTA’s working with the defensive line, and had nothing short of a glowing review for Hall.
When speaking with the Pewter Report, the legend Sapp had this to say when asked to describe the rookie:
"“Long, hostile, mobile, agile, and eager to learn. I haven’t seen one of those in a long time in the National Football League. It was a pleasant surprise, it absolutely was.”"
Sapp was just as surprised as a lot of draft pundits were when Hall fell to the second round, adding:
"“They got this right, they got this one right. Holy s***, they got this one right! You know there are some guys you meet who are too nice to rush the passer? Not him. Who are these NFL scout people that tell me they know about defensive linemen and then this kid falls through the cracks? Wow.”"
Sapp also compared Hall to fellow Buccaneers great defensive lineman Gerald McCoy, who Sapp also spent a lot of time with. He said how they are very similar physically, but Hall is nastier than McCoy personality-wise, noting the “dawg” in Hall that he didn’t quite see in McCoy, which should be nothing but music to Bucs fans ears.
At the end of the day, it’s way too early to get all worked up over anything that comes out of OTA’s. That said, the absolutely GLOWING endorsement that Logan Hall received from Warren Sapp could cause people associated with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fans, staff, players or otherwise, to get all hot and bothered, if only for a bit, and that is perfectly justified all things considered.