“I Thought He Was The Best Three-Technique Prospect In This Draft”
May 25th, 2022
Rookie DL Logan Hall.
This week, NFL Films analyst Greg Cosell, widely respected throughout the league as a savvy film guru, did his regular weekly spot on the “Ross Tucker Football Podcast” and had things to say about Bucs rookie defensive lineman Logan Hall.
And virtually everything Cosell said of Hall is good.
Same with Tucker. The former seven-year NFL offensive lineman has the best series of pure football podcasts each week. Cosell is one of his regular guests, and this week Cosell broke down NFC South rookies.
Ross Tucker: When you look at the Buccaneers, their first pick was the 33rd pick. And this is a favorite of mine. Logan Hall from Houston. That guy, Greg, I think he is a football player. I watched him against UConn, and I watched tape of him. He reminds me of — I will be curious to see where he fits. He kind of reminds me more of a 3-4 d-end. So I will be curious to see where he fits in. But long, strong. Really good with his hands. Takes blocking out. He destroyed UConn and some of the tape I had watched. I really thought he was a good player. I will be curious to see how he fits in to their [defense].
Greg Cosell: I loved his tape. I thought he was, to be honest with you, I thought he was the best three-technique prospect in this draft. I liked him more than Devonta Wyatt. And I guess we will see how it plays out once he starts playing in the league. But Hall can play both outside and inside. We know that [Bucs coach] Todd Bowles moves people around. We’ve seen Vita Vea and [Ndamukong] Suh, who is unsigned now, play wide-9 defensive end in Todd Bowles’ fronts. And Hall can play both inside and outside. And you are right about strong. He jars interior offensive linemen coming off the ball. He is very explosive in a short area.
Joe hopes Hall is this kind of a guy, a gamewrecker inside. That would be cool.
Joe is just worried that the Bucs are putting a whole bunch of pressure on Hall before he even has taken one snap in the NFL — while Ndamukong Suh still walks the streets unemployed.
May 25th, 2022 at 4:37 am
Best to let him learn from Suh and JPP
May 25th, 2022 at 5:25 am
They had better sign Suh!
May 25th, 2022 at 5:27 am
The Bucs cannot afford both Suh and Gronk under the salary cap. If Cosell thinks Hall was the best 3 technique in the draft, then others at One Buc Place must have too. Gholston resigned, so it isn’t hard to pencil in the starting D line including VV.
Hall is the replacement for Suh not the understudy, bc when the rubber meets the road and you have to choose one of the two, Gronk will be back for Brady instead of Suh. Enough with the woah is me attitude, it’s the harsh reality. Too much pressure? Too bad. Welcome to the NFL rook.
May 25th, 2022 at 5:42 am
Some of those old, expensive guys are gonna have to go.
NFL means not for long … Unless you are Tom Brady.
May 25th, 2022 at 5:43 am
That said, we still need depth.
May 25th, 2022 at 5:45 am
One vet DL. One vet ILB. Maybe another OLB
May 25th, 2022 at 5:48 am
I smell LVD on the IR a lot this year.
May 25th, 2022 at 6:01 am
This is reminding me of when we drafted Wirfs. All those blue chip OT’s selected ahead of him and he ended up being the most athletic and physical of the class. Let’s hope Hall is that guy this year.
May 25th, 2022 at 6:42 am
I know when I watched his tape, I was very impressed. I was pushing for him right there with Devante if we couldnt grab Olave, and of course the saints stole 3 of my picks for us, but thats why draft boards are made….plan b, plan c, plan d.
What I like most of all is his length to grab that QB. He seems to find the right angles to use it to his advantage. I’d like to have Suh back also, but he’s probably asking too much and we dont have the saints bean counters/manipulators/luck to work our cap.
He’s gonna be fun to watch.
May 25th, 2022 at 6:57 am
Stop saying we don’t have cash to sign gronk & suh . We definitely do , look at the saints rams & now the eagles signing everything. If the bucs truly want to win they have to pay . Simple
GoBucs!
May 25th, 2022 at 7:22 am
No one else seems to want Suh, and even less JPP. It really is as simple as Tryon is JPP’s replacement, and Hall is Suh’s. Niether vet is coming in to back them up. Fans need to let go of the past, and embrace the future. I believe both Hall, and Tryon are major upgrades to both Suh, and certainly JPP who’s completely shot.
May 25th, 2022 at 7:26 am
Also stop with they need to learn from Suh, and JPP. There’s other vets on the team, and that’s what the coaches get paid to do. Best thing they can learn from JPP is not to play with fireworks, and how to skip OTA’s while crashing your car, and breaking your neck.
May 25th, 2022 at 8:09 am
Suh and Gronk are coming back. Neither wants to go through the rigors of off-season training. In another month, you’ll see them both signed.
May 25th, 2022 at 8:33 am
Alabama, I agree with you. I definitely think Gronk
Is back but i dont know about Suh. It makes me nervous to have basically almost four rookies, with no experience in a championship season. A lot can go wrong. (punter, 2 defensive ends and a new guard).
May 25th, 2022 at 8:34 am
Suh.
May 25th, 2022 at 8:43 am
Tucker: ‘He kind of reminds me more of a 3-4 d-end’.
Cosell: ‘thought he was the best three-technique prospect in this draft. But Hall can play both outside and inside’.
Hmmm, seems like a little difference of opinion there. The 2 best 3-techniques IMO have been Warren Sapp & Aaron Donald (both #99 BTW). Neither was particularly tall (6’2″ & 6’1″) but they were both quick; real quick. Haven’t heard anyone describe Hall that way (most describe him as strong, but so were Sapp & Donald). And at 6’6″ Hall’s height MAY actually act against him when he lines up as a 3-technique. Only time will tell I guess.
I tend to think that he’ll obviously get a lot of playing time, both inside AND outside, but that more of it will be as a DE/OLB in our various defensive fronts. With his height & wingspan, Hall’s much closer in size to JPP (Hall’s 6’6″ & 283 lbs vs JPP’s 6’5″ & 275 lbs) than he is to Suh (6’4″ & 313 lbs). Bucs still need someone like Suh this year, and I prefer it be Suh himself to teach these ‘youngsters’. We can make the money available. Sign Suh.
May 25th, 2022 at 9:18 am
If Suh and Gronk can realize the size of this situation, another SB run, you’re millionaires already….then maybe we’ll get lucky.
This is probably their last year along with TB12’s last year. Come back guys…help us out. Make Mr. Licht push the absolute end of that cap and show you….then do the deal.
May 25th, 2022 at 9:40 am
Don’t worry that there’s a lack of money, the money can become available from a contract restructuring (Donovan Smith is the obvious candidate). It comes down to the willingness of ownership and the GM as to whether they wish to do that though.
The salary cap is a kick the can game, you just pay more for players now which results in having less money to pay players later. I’m not the owner or GM, but from my vantage point, the future is now: Tom Brady will probably retire at the end of this season. After he retires, money for free agents becomes unimportant as the Bucs will structure themselves around younger talent (rookie deals) during a rebuild… at least until a quality QB comes to town. Realistically, it isn’t Trask, though I don’t begrudge the optimism of other fans.
Licht won’t restructure just yet, there’s no need to. But let’s hope he has the numbers in front of him, ready to move on a DE, OLB, and preferably a cheap vet CB.
May 25th, 2022 at 9:47 am
^ QB Will Levis next year will be a nice start.
May 25th, 2022 at 9:50 am
Hodad … ‘No one else seems to want Suh, and even less JPP. It really is as simple as Tryon is JPP’s replacement, and Hall is Suh’s. I believe both Hall, and Tryon are major upgrades to both Suh and certainly JPP’.
Respect your opinion Hodad, but differ on a couple of points. I’ve read that several teams have in fact expressed interest in Suh (most notably the Browns BTW). Still don’t think that Hall is ‘Suh’s replacement’; MAYBE Gholston’s replacement (next year), but not Suh’s.
No question in my mind that Hall will get SOME of the snaps that went to Suh, but there’ll be a bunch left over that still need to be filled. Suh & JPP together had 1,318 def snaps last year; add in McLendon’s 253 snaps & that’s 1,571 def snaps that have been ‘lost’ from last year & have to be filled (that’s TWO max-performing DLinemen worth of snaps, at least).
All we’ve added is the rookie Hall to take up all that slack (NT, DT & DE/OLB positions). Throw in the fact that Shaq’s def snaps have been decreasing every year he’s been here, and that exacerbates the situation, not to mention that Vea hasn’t exactly been on the field for 80%-90% of the snaps in any year he’s been with us. Sorry, but we NEED Suh this year.
May 25th, 2022 at 10:15 am
Gotta wonder how the Saints massage the cap so well and we can’t seem to fit two more guys on the team.
May 25th, 2022 at 10:21 am
Tucker said, “I think he is a football player.” “I really thought he was a good player.” No shi! Sherlock. We definitely know he’s a football player, and if he wasn’t any good, we wouldn’t have taken him with our first pick. Now there’s some analysis that’s persuasive.
May 25th, 2022 at 10:51 am
Lt Dan … ‘Gotta wonder how the Saints massage the cap so well’.
No magic to ‘massaging’ the salary CAP Dan, you just have to be willing to continually ‘kick the can down the street’ for multiple years. And you have to be willing to accept high amounts of risk (in terms of restructuring players that you’ll have to end up keeping for years). EVENTUALLY though I’m convinced that it comes back to bite you in the ass, but it can take several years for that to happen.
If you look at the Saints 2022 salary CAP, they only have TWO players with over a $10 mil CAP Hit this year (Thomas at $13.0 mil & Jordan at $12.4 mil). But then take a look at the Dead CAP associated with each of their players this year and it’s off the charts (Lattimore for instance has a $9 mil CAP hit this year but a dead CAP of $52 mil … Saints have obviously slid a bunch of his salary for this year to follow-on years). EVENTUALLY it all gets accounted for.
Saints (and Bucs) will have a lot of ‘accounting for’ to do starting next year. New Orleans projected adjusted CAP for 2023 is $218.2 mil. They’ve ALREADY got contract commitments for $286.7 mil (OVER by $68.5 mil already). Bucs are in almost as bad shape (OVER by $61.5 mil already). Fun times ahead for BOTH teams.
May 25th, 2022 at 11:25 am
Worry about tomorrow when it comes. When in a superbowl window nothing matters but the present and yes they can definitely sign both Suh and gronk if they so choose. Bucs will have to make some tough decisions in the future but with the increasing cap it won’t be as bad as some may think.
May 25th, 2022 at 11:49 am
@DR
Greg Cosell is saying what I said all along since he was drafted. He is not replacing JPP position. He is the best 3 technique guy in the draft. He will be more like a Calais Campbell defensive lineman than a JPP defensive lineman. He will most likely continue to be a 3 tech guy for Todd Bowles and that worked for Bowles in the past when he played Calais Campbell that way.
In your mention of guys who played a lot of 3 technique in the past, you forget to mention Calais Campbell who according to Pro Football Focus numbers has had plenty of years where he has played more 3 tech than any other.
May 25th, 2022 at 11:55 am
LFG!!
May 25th, 2022 at 12:13 pm
I don’t hear many people mention Gholston or Nelson. I think those 2 guys are starters this year. I would make JTS beat out Nelson this year. Nelson is better against the run and has the experience so let’s see what he’s got. And Gholston lead this team in pressures not long ago. So you’ve got Hall and Gholston as your starting ends and Nelson and Barrett at OLB with VV in the middle.
May 25th, 2022 at 1:03 pm
When Greg Cosell says something, I tend to listen. One of the best and most consistent evaluators of the last couple decades.
May 25th, 2022 at 3:00 pm
Ooooh! Played well against powerhouse UConn! Based on that we should go ahead and size him up for his gold jacket. My concerns about the level of competition he faced are all gone now. Not!!!!!
May 25th, 2022 at 6:09 pm
Suh.
May 25th, 2022 at 10:03 pm
Cue the mindless BETTER SIGN SUH robots. You guys ever think that maybe it’s Gholston and Vea’s time to mentor and show young players the way AND be productive? Suh is done. Thanks for your contribution but bye.