Rasul Douglas And The Bucs
February 19th, 2025
Buffalo CB Rasul Douglas.
Anyone who just casually reads this site knows Joe has one singular goal, want, desire if not demand for the Bucs when the free agency dinner bell rings in two weeks.
And that laser-focused target is for the Bucs to break down, have a come-to-Jesus moment, and go get a friggin’ edge rusher, for crying out loud! A legitimate one.
Not everyone seems to agree with Joe. Include seven-year NFL safety and current Chicagoland high school coach and BSPN contributor Matt Bowen.
Bowen instead thinks the Bucs need a cornerback (Joe doesn’t disagree but thinks this is Priority-B or Priority-C). And the man Bowen has in mind is current Buffalo corner Rusal Douglas.
Signing a cornerback should be an offseason priority for a Bucs defense that allowed 243.9 passing yards per game last season, the 29th most in the league. Douglas is a physical corner with the length to reroute underneath in zone and attack the ball from the outside third of the field. As such, Douglas fits well in Todd Bowles’ system — Tampa Bay played zone coverage on 71.7% of opponent dropbacks in 2024.
So doing simple math here, it seems Bowen is suggesting Douglas should replace Jamel Dean. Surely Bowen isn’t saying that Zyon McCollum, in his first full season as a starting cornerback and tied for third with the most passes defended, should be benched.
Douglas seems like a nice fit. Best of all, he stays on the field.
Douglas has played in 48 regular season games the past three years. He hasn’t missed more than two games in a season since he was with the Packers in 2021. Dean has played in 40 regular season games the past three years.
Dean had more picks last season (one) than Douglas (none).
Joe isn’t sure if Douglas fits what Todd Bowles wants. But gosh darn it, this Douglas answers the bell. So yeah, Joe would be OK if the Bucs sign Douglas.
But not before an edge rusher.
2022-2024 comparison.
February 19th, 2025 at 7:19 am
This team needs no less than four capable starting caliber corners. Even then, Bowles will find an excuse to run blitz and play soft zone on the back end.
He doesn’t coach to get sacks and force turnovers. He coaches to force field goal attempts. It kind of works, but it’s the most uninspiring defense to watch. If nothing else, the offense is always fresh because the defense usually spends no less than 10 plays on the field every drive.
February 19th, 2025 at 7:28 am
Had to click on the link to see where Bowen stated that this is the Bucs top priority. Agree with Joe on pecking order of importance but I do like this player. Let’s see the Bucs sign a DE and a DB in FA. ILB and secondary in the draft would be the next on the wish list.
The cool part is trusting in Jason and waiting to see how the plan unfolds. (Totally getting the anxiety of the Joes on trusting the draft for a DE)
February 19th, 2025 at 7:37 am
Would absolutely Love if we got Douglas.Its a start to fixing our secondary, we have a ton of holes to fill on one of the leagues worst Defenses. I’m still not sold on Bowles righting the ship with his scheme and his personnel. I hope he does as a Bucs fan I’m rooting for him, but what has our Defense done in the past 3 years he’s been HC ?
February 19th, 2025 at 7:38 am
We need one of them too.
February 19th, 2025 at 8:14 am
YES!! Get him!!
February 19th, 2025 at 8:30 am
Joe,
Do you know if Bowles wanted to play zone on 70% of drop backs, or was he doing it because he didn’t have ILB’s and DB’s fast enough to play man once the injuries piled up? With the long fast cornerbacks he has acquired , it looks he wants to play man a lot more if he can get some coverage linebackers and healthy DB starters.
February 19th, 2025 at 8:37 am
I agree that an edge rusher (who actually rushes the passer and doesn’t spend 50% of his time dropping into coverage) is our first priority.
But, just based on your post, this guy looks like someone we should take a look at.
Watching some tape and making an inquiry or two won’t cost us anything.
February 19th, 2025 at 8:52 am
Douglas me not have had any interceptions last year but he’s had more interceptions than Dean by far over the last three seasons. He also has better stats in every other category. Find it strange that it doesn’t show number of passes defended. These are cornerbacks and they show sacks but not passes defended?
February 19th, 2025 at 9:01 am
No this is perfect. Douglas will blitz, while Vita and Braswell drop. It’s genius, and why Simeon Rice would look like fried rice in this defense.
February 19th, 2025 at 9:08 am
Joe really isn’t sure and Bowles isn’t going to throw his players under the bus like that. So no telling the exact cause and effect.
Do know Jamel Dean would not be here if Bowles didn’t want him here.
Joe isn’t trying to make Dean out here to be a scapegoat or villain. Joe’s main issue with him is durability.
February 19th, 2025 at 9:11 am
Dean is soft.
February 19th, 2025 at 9:13 am
Don’t think it’s a matter of do we need an edge rusher before we need another quality starting CB … we need both if we expect to be competitive this year. But we don’t need to get both from free agency or both from the draft.
Getting one from each source would probably be ideal. Given a choice, I’d rather see us sign a veteran edge who’s ready to ‘break out’ much like Shaq was when he came to us (rookies seem to take too long to produce).
Douglas has an OK resume, but sports a Market Value of $11.9 mil. He’s averaged 15 games per year over his 7 seasons, and has been with 4 teams (Eagles, Packers, Panthers & Bills). He seems to be a solid, dependable CB who’s averaged 63.3% completions over his career.
There are some good CBs in this year’s draft, and we should be able to grab a starter-quality one if we draft him in Rnd 1. If money allows, I’d still keep Dean and re-sign Bryce Hall. That’d give us Dean, McCollum, Hall & a prized rookie to fight it out for 2 starting positions. Might even keep 1 more CB knowing how fast our defense burns through CBs each season.
One more consideration: Bucs MUST improve our pass defense or 2025 will look eerily like 2024. We can do that IMO in 2 ways: improve our pass rush or improve our coverage capabilities. Preferably we do BOTH. Adding a quality edge will certainly help improve the pass rush like Joe wants, but so would adding a beast of a DT to complement Vea in the middle (someone like Suh could do some real damage).
Would love to see us grab a quality beastly DT like that in Rnd 3 of this draft (Rnd 1: CB; Rnd 2: ILB). Give Todd 3 quality rookies like that and he’d be able to get this defense back into the Top-10 and possibly into the Top-5.
February 19th, 2025 at 9:27 am
Zzzzzzzzzz……..
February 19th, 2025 at 9:29 am
The Bucs need four starters via FA or draft: Edge, CB, two ILB’s. They don’t have the money to get four quality FA’s, so a couple need to be draft picks. One of the ILB’s needs to be a smart FA to call plays, and the edge needs to be a FA since the Bucs don’t have success drafting/developing one. Draft a CB at #19 to replace Dean and another ILB in rd2 to complement the FA vet.
February 19th, 2025 at 9:49 am
I think we need corners slightly more than we need a pass rush. If you remember the Cowboys game, all the passes were quick throws where a pass rush would not have helped. However, the receivers were wide open from the get go. We simply cannot cover anyone and that needs to change first.
February 19th, 2025 at 9:53 am
I am of the mindset that Bucs either cannot draft or develop an Edge, or both. Either way now we HAVE to hit on Edge this year. I think we should go after Edge in FA and go after coaching for Edge too. Bucs have drafted corner reasonably well and should keep that going in the draft. We need linebacker–wherever we can get value–both FA and draft. 1st round trade out if possible. Jason Licht likes to bargain shop. He would likely think Goodwill is too expensive. If you buy CB in FA then Licht will not likely buy a decent edge. Number one importance is Edge in FA or trade. Maxx Crosby from the Raiders would be a great Buc.
February 19th, 2025 at 10:08 am
A better pass rush would make things easier on our secondary. Better man coverage in our secondary would make things easier on our defensive front.
These areas are complimentary and we need to stock up in both areas. Where we’re picking in the draft, it’s very unlikely there will be a Week 1 starting edge, so the front office would be better off finding a corner in the draft. While adding Douglas would also help, I don’t think the cost fits well with our cap situation.
February 19th, 2025 at 10:32 am
Does a better pass rush help the secondary? Of course
There is no pass rush that is going to help DBs playing 7-10 yards off and letting QBs throw to wide open receivers..
February 19th, 2025 at 11:38 am
Matt Bowen’s a fool if he sees a low-ranked pass defense and his immediate thought to fix it is a new CB. Pass defense starts up front. Every moderately-informed fan knows this.
The fix the Bucs need for their pass defense is OLB, not anywhere in the secondary. What a maroon.
February 19th, 2025 at 12:34 pm
Unless the coverage scheme changes the defense will still struggle with Todd Blows in charge
The scheme is so predictable and challenges no one
February 19th, 2025 at 12:48 pm
Michael Straban would have trouble getting 5 sacks in this defense, between dropping 15 yards deep and guys being so wide open that the qb hits dudes in a second the rare time he actually does rush.
February 19th, 2025 at 12:48 pm
Last name worst where did you coach?
February 19th, 2025 at 12:50 pm
Does Buffalo run a super soft garbage zone defense where they have the corners standing around and waiting for things to happen?
February 19th, 2025 at 12:55 pm
*Strahan
February 19th, 2025 at 12:56 pm
Jalon Walker in the 1st. Deone Walker in the 2nd. Prob have to trade-up to get both, but oh well, we shall see. Trade our 2026 1st to the JETS (top 10 ‘protected’ – the NBA does it, so why not?) for Sauce Gardner (still ‘two years’ remaining on his rookie deal), & the JETS can use it to possibly, ‘trade-up’ for Manning… Those ‘2026-Picks’ will be VERY valuable (especially 2027 with Jeremiah Smith & a LOADED WR-class – we gotta keep that one). Then, sign an EDGE-Rusher in free agency, who is just entering his ‘prime. No ‘old’ guys! Continue to BUILD this Defense.
February 19th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
@melvinjunior…love how you thinking
February 19th, 2025 at 1:44 pm
Unsure about Rasul. I think he will be 31 in August.
Damar Hamlin is a free agent too. I think the Bills will keep him.
February 19th, 2025 at 2:29 pm
While I don’t profess to be a defensive genius. I am a fairly decent observer. The Bucs have the the talent to run a 4-3 defense not the 3-4 TB is currently trying to run. No more of this dropping linemen into coverage. The average LB can cover a RB or TE but these guys are typically football fast not speedsters. Stop making them cover WR’s. It goes without saying DL’ & DE’s shouln’t be covering anyone. Give LVD the option to send one of the 2 LB’s or himself if the front four aren’t getting the job done. If TB is feeling froggy he can send 2 or some other combo and rotate the DB’s & Safeties accordingly. If you want max coverage send the front four and everyone elsse stays home. Vita Vea in coverage is like asking a T-Rex to cover a Raptor and please O please play some physical football and don’t let anyone cross the line of scrimage without being hit within the first 5 yards!!!
Just my 2 cents.
P.S. TB hire a DC and be a full time HC!!!
February 19th, 2025 at 2:45 pm
Get him for the right price. Last year showed us you can never have to many quality DBs. It is high priority I would say 2nd to edge rush and maybe tied with inside LB and if LVD retires then inside becomes more of a priority over DB
February 19th, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Defense starts up front. Except when it doesn’t. The Seahawks Legion of Boom was one of the greatest defenses in history – built back to front.
February 20th, 2025 at 12:02 am
They’re fine with Dean and McCollum – probably don’t need to draft either, just need to coach it better and play it better. Adding Rasul is about as useful as a timeout in the last 2 minutes when it comes to Bowles