Devante Bond Out; Beckwith Will Move Outside
August 12th, 2017
Change arrives for Mike Smith’s defense
Change is coming to the Buccaneers’ linebackers unit, Dirk Koetter announced this afternoon.
The bad luck for second-year linebacker Devante Bond continues.
Bond, the 2016 sixth-round pick who was hurt nearly all of last season, was looking sharp in training camp and appeared to the Bucs’ go-to guy at strongside linebacker. But Bond did what he seems to do best last night against the Bengals: get hurt.
Bond had an MRI after the game, Koetter said, (Joe is unclear on the body part) and he’ll be out “a while.” Rookie third-round pick Kendall Beckwith will move the strongside.
Beckwith has shined in camp, and it’s a brighter shine than just his play, since Beckwith had ACL knee surgery in November. Koetter was excited that Beckwith played about 30 snaps last night and was feeling good.
The Bucs still have Adarius Glanton in the mix at linebacker, as well. It’s easy to forget he was active for every game last season and is on his third year with the team.
August 12th, 2017 at 5:30 pm
Linebacker depth and OT depth are the two biggest worries, imo. The backup OTs didn’t look too sharp last night either. I think they will closely watch the releases over the next few weeks to add some folks at these 2 positions.
August 12th, 2017 at 5:35 pm
Joe Dirt moving up the list by default. That makes Bullough the #2 MLB now and greatly increases his chances of making this team.
Thought Beckwith made some good plays last night – but I had my eye on Joe Dirt pretty much the whole 4th Quarter when he was in there – and was impressed. Bullough was in on damn near every play
August 12th, 2017 at 5:36 pm
Beckwith played a bunch last night but mostly (and maybe only) at MLB. He didn’t look sharp at all IMO; saw some huge holes in the middle as he got blocked out of position. Wasn’t impressed, but … it was his first NFL game and he did miss some of the early workouts because of his injury. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see us pick up another LB if Bond is out for any significant period of time.
August 12th, 2017 at 5:40 pm
Bond looked good last night, flying around.
August 12th, 2017 at 6:02 pm
Cobraboy, I thought Bond looked good too, especially considering that he’s essentially a rookie after missing all last year. Hoping that his injury doesn’t knock him out for an extended period.
August 12th, 2017 at 6:03 pm
I wasn’t impressed with our defense….still getting beat by the ol slant route
August 12th, 2017 at 6:08 pm
That is to bad about Bond but like Pickgrin I like Joe Dirt. I’m hoping he lands as a backup linebacker. They guy is a Stick Carrier. I don’t see him get offended by the referees.
Keep bringing them Licht!!!
August 12th, 2017 at 6:38 pm
I hope this means Mr. F U moves up to 2nd team Mike spot. He dam sure looked better then Beckwith did last night.
August 12th, 2017 at 6:48 pm
Beckwith looked good , for a Rookie.
Hes only gonna get better..
Got my fingers crossed for Rielly, too.
Hope Devante recovers quickly- thats a lousy break
August 12th, 2017 at 7:06 pm
Beckwith 3 solo 2 asst 1 sack
Bond 2 solo 3 asst
Bullough 1 solo
For whatever that is worth.
August 12th, 2017 at 8:19 pm
That LB depth is scary thin.
The starters, with the rookie, are great though
August 12th, 2017 at 9:21 pm
Our depth is young and inexperienced but it’s not that bad guys. We can’t have future HoFers starting and Probowlers as backups.
August 12th, 2017 at 9:44 pm
I think Beckworth would move to MLB if god forbid Kwon goes down and they’d slide Knox to SAM. I did however like bullough energy last night.
August 12th, 2017 at 9:47 pm
Bond didn’t look all that great last night, he wasn’t bad but he kept looking like he was letting up on plays before they ended. Not sure if it was related to the injury or not. Beckwith to me didn’t look all that great either, but if Smith says he did, then I’m wrong. Joe Dirt actually stood out playing late in the game – will be good to see him get more playing time early and see if he can produce or not.
August 12th, 2017 at 10:43 pm
A real bummer. Hope Beckwith is as advertised
August 12th, 2017 at 10:55 pm
If Beckwith was playing mostly MLB that’s a much tougher position than the SAM.
The SAM is going to come off the field most times for the nickel and is not nearly as tough to master as the Mike. Let’s hope he picks it up quickly.
August 12th, 2017 at 11:11 pm
we need to sign another linebacker and soon!
August 12th, 2017 at 11:42 pm
Can someone explain a rule change to me? I thought I read that the teams get to keep their big rosters until just prior to the start of the regular season…as opposed to several mandated roster cuts along the way.
Why did the Bucs let three go in the last HK? Just curious as to how many will get cut before the 3rd and 4th preseason games?
Whatever I think we’re all getting the sense that Joe Dirt is going to be a guy we’re all cheering. Did anybody watch his work on ST’s last night?
August 13th, 2017 at 12:21 am
I SAID BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED THIS TEAMS WEAK AREAS WERE RUNNING BACK , DEFENSIVE END LINE BACKER AND CORNER. WE DO NOT HAVE A BREAK AWAY RUNNING BACK , ONE DEFENSIVE END IS ON THE PUP LIST WE ARE WITHOUT A CORNER. ARE WE NOW TO SIGN SOME ONE OFF WAIVER WIRE ? WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF OTA. MINI CAMP , AND TRAINING CAMP. I KNOW THESE REPLACEMENTS ARE BACKUPS BUT WE SEE BACKUPS PLAY ALSO . LICHT SHOULD HAVE DRAFTED THESE PLAYERS. OUR LADS DID NOT LOOK SHARP NOR EFFICENT WITH ALL THESE DAYS AND WEEKS OF PRACTICE. MY HOPE IS THAT OUR COACHES WILL COACH THESE PLAYERS AND THE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH WILL INSURE THE PLAYERS ARE IN SHAPE FOR A 16 GAME SEASON.
August 13th, 2017 at 1:50 am
^^^ why you yelling?
August 13th, 2017 at 3:09 am
All cuts are due Sept 3, 4pm after the final preseason game roster from 90 to 53. Any cuts the Bucs do prior to that are just to bring in other players to evaluate.
August 13th, 2017 at 8:38 am
Yes, why are you yelling. Also, why are you putting spaces in between the the last letter of words and commas and periods. You did this on another post as well.
August 14th, 2017 at 5:14 am
Thanks stanglassman – I missed that there is only one round of cuts anymore.