Tampa Bay Buccaneers draft speaks to Bruce Arians’ confidence
The 2019 NFL Draft for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers speaks volumes about Bruce Arians’ self-confidence as a head coach and offensive guru.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Bruce Arians for his ability to coach an explosive offense.
We’ve seen him do it for many years in the NFL, and most recently with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, and Arizona Cardinals.
Arians has twice been named AP Coach of the Year. In 2012, he was named coach of the year after taking over for Chuck Pagano, who was battling leukemia. In 2014, he was named coach of the year after leading the Arizona Cardinals to a playoff appearance.
After the 2017 season, Arians retired and joined CBS as an analyst on Sundays during games. After one year away from the game as a coach, his desire to return to the sideline intensified and he signed on to be the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Arians’ confidence in his ability to coach up the Buccaneers’ offense, led by Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, OJ Howard, and hopefully Ronald Jones, is unmatched.
Why are we saying Arians is confident?
Well, not only did he let DeSean Jackson go to the Philadelphia Eagles like he wanted, the Buccaneers used one of their eight draft choices on the offensive side of the ball.
Every other pick besides kicker Matt Gay was a defensive pick for the Buccaneers.
Why was this the case?
The Bucs had more passing yards than any other team in the NFL last year. How about that? They also had the fourth-worst rushing attack and a higher turnover percentage than any team in the NFL.
Though the passing attack was racking up yards, the Bucs had no balance offensively and they were turning the ball over at a 19 percent rate (1 out of every 5 drives roughly ended in a turnover).
The defense wasn’t good at all, either.
They gave up the third-most passing touchdowns last season (34) and allowed more points in general than all but one team.
There’s a reason this team fired its coaching staff and started fresh, but it’s the front office’s confidence in Arians and Arians’ confidence in himself that allowed general manager Jason Licht to attack the 2019 NFL Draft with such a deliberate defensive focus.
Here’s a recap of their class.
1 (5): Devin White, LB, LSU
2 (39): Sean Bunting, CB, Central Michigan
3 (94): Jamel Dean, CB, Auburn
4 (99): Mike Edwards, S, Kentucky
5 (107): Anthony Nelson, DE, Iowa
6 (145): Matt Gay, K, Utah
7 (208): Scott Miller, WR, Bowling Green State
8 (215): Terry Beckner Jr., DL, Missouri
I like what the Buccaneers did with this class, adding a ton of significant depth to the secondary while also getting a prime-time coverage linebacker in Devin White out of LSU with that fifth overall pick.
Their only offensive selection was Scott Miller, a relatively unknown receiver out of Bowling Green. He will be the team’s answer for losing Adam Humphries in free agency.
Other than Miller, the only guy who is going to be able to consistently impact the offense (or more appropriately stated, scoreboard) is Matt Gay out of Utah.
Next. 2019 NFL Draft Grades. dark
The Bucs showed prime confidence in their new head coach’s ability to elevate their talent offensively. We’ll see how it works out.