Part-Time Perfect For Henry Melton
July 4th, 2015
Joe sure thinks there’s a lot of overselling when it comes to new Bucs defensive tackle Henry Melton.
Melton turns 29 in October and was a hell of a depth signing, a one-year, free-agent deal to give Gerald McCoy a true backup, and add another body that legitimately has done it before. Melton was a Bears Pro Bowler in 2012, when a knee injury derailed his career in September 2013. In Dallas last year, Melton’s body appeared to break down and his season ended on injured reserve. He finished with five sacks but none after November 2.
Many think Melton will take a mound of snaps from Bucs starting nose tackle Clinton McDonald, who had five sacks in his first NFL season as a starter in 2014.
Former Bucs Super Bowl nose tackle Booger McFarland said yesterday that Melton will get a load of action.
“The thinking is, ‘I can put Melton in in passing situations,’ which in the NFL these days is about are about 50 percent of the time,” McFarland said. “And now I have two of the better pass rushing inside guys in football, and if I can get the edge guys in [Jacquies] Smith and George [Johnson] to make the quarterback step up, we’ll be able to get him on the ground more.
“Henry Melton, at this stage in his career, it will benefit him to not play every down. He’s probably going to play 50 to 60 percent of the plays in Tampa. He’s not a starter.”
Frankly, Joe thinks Melton is going to have a hard time getting on the field.
Yes, the Bucs have high hopes of getting Gerald McCoy more rest, but Joe doubts that will represent more than five snaps a game. Also, if the Bucs offense comes off life support, McCoy should save some wear on his body.
As for McDonald, Joe thinks he very well might be better than Melton at rushing the passer.
Melton impressed Bucs coaches during spring underwear football, but it’s a big leap to earning a lot of minutes among Bucs defensive tackles, a real strength of the team.
July 4th, 2015 at 9:15 am
We are desperate at aquiring depth….and Melton is a great depth signing….as the season wears on and injuries occur, Melton will get his snaps. Adding him to the rotation will help our Dline late in games. Love this signing!!!
July 4th, 2015 at 9:19 am
Im looking forward to seeing William Gholdston coming on this season. Hopefully our d line has enough depth to have a solid rotation for 4 quarters. I dont think our pass rush will be spectacular but I think it will be improved. One of the big keys is going to be our offense being able to sustain drives. I cant blame Geeald Mccoy for being gased in 4th quarters. The man never comes off the field. He is human. Offense will improve our defense
July 4th, 2015 at 9:20 am
GMC can barely stay healthy 16 games. Imagine if we were a good team and had to play more than 16 games a year.
July 4th, 2015 at 9:35 am
The problem is not “depth”! The problem with the Bucs is that most of the depth is starting!!! We need to find ” starters ” !!!!
July 4th, 2015 at 9:42 am
Get your head in that playbook Jameis Defense is crap these days
July 4th, 2015 at 11:06 am
Joe I believe you are off base on this one. Having a guy with excellent proven pass rush ability come in to spell McCoy could be huge for this defense. Instead of a out of shape low effort player coming in to give the oline a mini vacation we have a professional to make the, tired from blocking McCoy all day, line pay. I actually think this formula could be a boon for the pass rush and actually make McCoy more effective. Supplement your star players to improve their play don’t just throw money at guys you hope will succeed, ie Michael Johnson.
July 4th, 2015 at 1:52 pm
@Joe
As someone whose majority of family still live in the Chitown burbs, trust me Joe, if Melton really is back to 100% health, there’s no overselling going on.
July 4th, 2015 at 2:00 pm
Agreed ndog,thanks for the insight Buc4life1979..
July 4th, 2015 at 5:57 pm
Henry Melton was a beast in 2012 in Chicago before injuring his knee in 2013. Melton came back with Dallas last year however he was still recovering from the ACL along with a groin strain and a bone bruise in his right knee. With all the injuries and playing only 433 snaps he was ranked 8th in PRP by Pro Football Focus with 6 sacs, 5 QB hits and 19 QB hurries. Melton also recorded 4 batted passes and 6 stuffs. This is the first time he is playing healthy since his knee injury in 2013. More important is he is a former All Pro and is Gerold McCoy’s friend. He is hungry to rebound from last year.
July 4th, 2015 at 7:17 pm
These downers gone see bucsbedabest.
July 4th, 2015 at 7:37 pm
ALL of the players signed before the draft this year would benefit from part time play…and I bet they’ll still get injured.
Those signings set the team up for an injury-plagued season.
July 5th, 2015 at 5:46 am
Joe Cullen will rotate his D-Linemen, Melton may get some snaps at DE also.
July 6th, 2015 at 10:10 am
Have you ever wondered if there are players who convert more of their pressure into sacks or not? Pro Football Focus did. PFF decided to take a look at the entire PFF-era (2007-) adding up every sack, hit and hurry a player recorded over that span and looking at the percentage of those total pressures that became sacks on the play. I set a cutoff of 100 total pressures over the period to qualify for the list. In the list for DT guess who was ranked #2? Not Gerold McCoy, Henry Melton.
As PFF saw before Marcel Dareus tops the list, but there are two other players who also post a better conversion rate than J.J. Watt; Henry Melton and Tommie Harris. This is not to say that they are better players, Watt has more total pressures than both players combined, and almost as much as the pair combined with Dareus, but they have each converted a greater percentage of their pressure into sacks. No, Henry Melton is no JJ Watt, but combined with Gerold McCoy you could have the making of something very “special”.