While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers addressed a lot of concerns on defense this offseason, one notable omission was seeking help at linebacker.
The Bucs doubled up on cornerbacks and edge rushers in the draft, and gave Haason Reddick $14 million in free agency. Only one of those players, rookie David Walker, is even remotely close to being a linebacker, which seems to suggest Tampa Bay has a sizable hole on the roster.
It's not entirely untrue -- the Bucs still need to address linebacker depth -- but it might not be that complicated of a problem to solve.
ESPN's Benjamin Solak said as much in his most recent rundown. Among other things, he noted that SirVocea Dennis returning from IR should provide a boost the Bucs have needed at linebacker ever since they lost him early last season.
SirVocea Dennis could prove to be a massive missing piece for the Bucs in 2025
Tampa Bay lost Dennis to what ended up being a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4, and his loss was immediately felt. Depth issues were one thing, but the Bucs were eaten alive by quarterbacks in ways that weren't happening when Dennis was on the field.
61 seconds left in the game in hostile territory with a 4-point lead. SirVocea Dennis has like 160 career snaps and triggers before the ball is released. Big play in a big moment from a young player. pic.twitter.com/CFU0FrrkQH
— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) September 16, 2024
Notably, the first game after he was placed on IR was the Thursday Night Football loss in Atlanta which saw the Falcons beat the Bucs thanks to two huge throws over the middle. Perhaps Tampa Bay still loses that game, but not having Dennis on the field was a much bigger factor than it was given credit at the time.
He's set to return to action this offseason, with training camp being the first real look we'll get of him since mid-October of last year. Getting Dennis back doesn't totally solve the Bucs' depth issue, as we're just another injury away from being back in a similar situation, but he's a massive piece of the puzzle that is getting underrated more than he should.
Tampa Bay also signed Anthony Walker Jr. to take K.J. Britt's role, a player Dennis was beating out for a full-time starting role last year. He was on track to become an important piece of Todd Bowles' defense and getting him back should be something that helps negate the Bucs not going out and more seriously addressing linebacker this offseason.
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