A lot of buzz is surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers going into the 2011 season. With players like Josh Freeman, Kellen Winslow, Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn, and Legarrette Blount headlining the team, its easy to get excited.
How great and exciting those players are becoming, there are 6 other players that could be making a significant impact on the 2011 season and beyond and 4 out of the 6 were waiver wire pick-ups by Dominik.
I will list 3 today and 3 tomorrow to save you all time and to save space.
1) Myron Lewis, CB
If Talib’s recent mishap leads to him being suspended by either the NFL or Tampa, the corner back position will all of a sudden be a position of need, or will it? We all know that E.J Biggers had a surprise season and Ronde Barber is Ronde Barber, but the player that will really need to step up his game is Myron Lewis. Lewis, who was drafted in the 3rd round of last years draft, is physically gifted at 6’0” 203 lbs and Barber has even come out and said that Lewis has a skill set that even Talib doesn’t have, that being said, hes still raw and has much room for improvement. I am a big fan of Lewis and feel like if Talib does not return, that both Biggers and Lewis could become the next big duo of corner backs in the NFL. Time will tell, but if Talib is gone, that time will have to come fast.
2) Larry Asante, Safety
I believe that the safety position is pretty strong in Tampa Land. Cody Grimm is just a football player and Sean Jones is a solid SS. As good as both Grimm and Jones are, they could be fighting for there starting jobs in the up-coming season. Jones being the one most likely to get de-throwned. Larry Asante, who was picked up off the waiver wire last year, is a very intriguing player. At Nebraska, Asante was known as a hard hitting, play making safety. The problem though was that he gave up just as many plays as he made and often looked lost in coverage. All is good though, he did show that he’s capable of making plays on the ball, as he was able to pick off a Drew Brees pass in the finale last year. His coverage mistakes can be coached up and Raheem Morris’ specialty is defensive backs while at the same time, as a defensive coordinator, putting Asante’s 6’0” 210 lb frame on the line of scrimage and help in run support which tampa needs to improve on if they want to get into the play-offs and make a super bowl run. Larry is physically talented and could easily win either safety spot next year. I think he will most likely play SS and Grimm FS. Either way, Asante is a player that definitely has a shot to make a huge impact this season.
3) Dezmon Briscoe, WR
Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn are very talented players. Everyone knew that going into the draft and when they delivered on the field, it just showed that tampa is on the verge of having one of the best set of duo receivers in the NFL. Two very good wide outs are great, but how about three? Would that be asking too much? I don’t think so, because the forgotten man out of Williams and Benn is Dezmon Briscoe. The 6’2” 210 lb wide out plays a lot like Benn; he does most of his damage after the catch and is an imposing presence on corner backs. Briscoe originally was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2010 draft, but he didn’t make their team because of Bat-Man and Robin and was signed to their practice squad. Mark Dominik then signed Briscoe off the Bengals practice squad to the veterans minimum showing how much he wanted Dezmon, which lead the way to Marvin Lewis saying that it was pretty much against the “unwritten code” to do such a thing. If Lewis really wanted to keep Briscoe, he would of had him on the roster instead of the practice squad. Briscoe has already shown play making ability, playing a big time role in the season finale victory over the Saints as he caught a beautiful touchdown pass thrown by Freeman. Williams, Benn, and Briscoe have all the potential in the world to become the next big thing in terms of wide receiver corps, they just have to want to be that good.
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