Football Outsiders: Bucs Steal Andrew Booth
April 15th, 2022
Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth.
Joe knows a lot of thought and research went into this.
Joe’s good friend Mike Tanier of Football Outsiders takes his job seriously, even though you may not get that from his fun columns. But when it comes to trying to place prospects with teams, Joe knows Tanier puts on his game face.
Joe knows Tanier always goes to the Senior Bowl practices to study players and get an idea from scouts and NFL suits who to look out for, where they may go, what teams are monitoring what players, etc. And Joe sees Tanier every year at the combine talking to as many prospects as he can. Joe wishes half the mockers took their gigs this seriously.
So Tanier put together a three-round mock draft. He readily admitted he doesn’t know who to mock to the Bucs in the third round until he gets a better handle on what the Bucs will do with Ndamukong Suh and Jason Pierre-Paul. That’s being honest with readers.
But in the first round? Tanier sees the Bucs getting a “steal” with cornerback Andrew Booth of Clemson.
Booth could be a steal for the Buccaneers. He’s dripping with talent, coverage skills, and big-program experience. His flaws—dive-stick tackling, a habit of peeking into the backfield too long—are easily fixable. Booth gives the depth in the secondary the Buccaneers will need to compete with the Rams and whomever they might face from the AFC in the Super Bowl.
Why is Joe so enamored with this Booth? Well, the Bucs were terribly paper-thin at corner last year. Remember how this Bucs defense turned soft when just one starting corner got hurt (much less three)?
Joe loves how Booth tackles. Joe thinks he can speak for all Bucs fans saying the tackling in the loss to the Rams in the playoffs, specifically by the corners, was downright poor and very frustrating. Joe isn’t going to say the Bucs lost because of sloppy tackling but it sure was a factor. Tackling will is not an issue for Booth.
Besides, Joe is not convinced both Jamel Dean and Sean Murphy-Bunting, each in the final year of is contract, will both return in 2023. Drafting Booth could allow him to get his feet wet this fall and then Booth could slide seemlessly into a starting role in 2023.
April 15th, 2022 at 9:09 am
I would prefer either a CB or IDL in round 1…
April 15th, 2022 at 9:18 am
And I would prefer the real draft. These mocks are exhausting.
April 15th, 2022 at 9:38 am
omg…at this rate we’ll have 17 DB’s!
DL, DE, OL then, maybe CB.
why does everyone discount the experience our secondary gained last year?
April 15th, 2022 at 9:44 am
Tackling has diminished across the league….but probably the most disappointing on our team is White not the CBs. Some of the greatest CBs of all time were pretty well known for poor tackling and that was during a much more aggressive era. I’d like to see us wrap up better but the secondary isn’t getting gashed due to bad tackling…..its poor schemes and coverage skills.
April 15th, 2022 at 10:01 am
This would be a great pick if he’s there for us at 27.
April 15th, 2022 at 10:02 am
I think if we just scheme to have anyone run with Kupp that will be 100% improvement. The let him run free defense didn’t work last year.
Go Bucs!
April 15th, 2022 at 10:02 am
This or we trade back and pick up a DB/Edge/DT in the 2nd.
April 15th, 2022 at 10:24 am
Fun guessing game, but it’ll all come down to who’s available for them to choose from when pick #27 rolls around. If I had to put money on it, I’d say JL will go with BPA among DT, DE/OLB or CB.
April 15th, 2022 at 10:35 am
With the GREAT tackling from Booth, what is his injury history, and is he going to be on the sidelines more times than not with concussion or other good tackling-related injury issues?
April 15th, 2022 at 10:47 am
I’m not sure Booth can’t beat out Jamel Dean and Sean Murphy-Bunting for significant playing time as a rookie.
I agree with Defense; “Jason Licht will probably pick BPA among DT, DE/OLB or CB.”
My favorite pick in this draft for someone who could possibly fall to us is Devin Loyd linebacker.
April 15th, 2022 at 11:01 am
What is a “dive-stick” tackle?
April 15th, 2022 at 11:27 am
It’s from Madden. When you use the dive stick you’re basically trying to make a big hit instead of wrapping up. Big risk, big reward if you make the hit.
April 15th, 2022 at 11:34 am
No
Olave!
April 15th, 2022 at 11:37 am
This guy looks good. Aggressive and athletic.
April 15th, 2022 at 11:49 am
Not a bad choice. Lots of moves on the back end in the offseason, and its likely to give Bowles more flexibility. I thought the pass defense over the middle of the field was not good. Ryan and Neal should help. SMB and Dean are only liabilities when they cannot adjust, and Cockrell and Co. are the only other options.
April 15th, 2022 at 12:13 pm
Yes we need cb!!! Grab him…we need to fix our secondary!! UNFINISHED BUISSNESS LFGO!!! THE RAMS AINT PLAYING, BUT NIETHER ARE WE ITS PAYBACK
April 15th, 2022 at 1:10 pm
Booth Jr will likely be gone without a trade up. Go get him licht!! I’ve mentioned him multiple times. I actually looked at his tape the other day. He’s billed as having equal Man and zone skills. That’s a bit deceiving. In my opinion he’s much better in zone. Hopefully we’ll all find out, he’s quite polished
April 15th, 2022 at 1:25 pm
As bee mentioned, his tackling technique is an easy fix. But, I wouldn’t coach it out of him too much. Sometimes those big hits cause turnovers. Maybe Bill belichick and his Danny ainge like trade partner licht will get something done. Bill seldom falls in love so much with a player, that an extra third round pick can’t fix.
April 15th, 2022 at 1:40 pm
DT.
April 15th, 2022 at 3:29 pm
He’d be good depth, but we need our first rounder to replace, Suh, McClendon, JPP, and perhaps Gronk. This kid won’t be able to start with all our DBs, but the TE room has 2 empty chairs, and the D line room needs to fill 3 seats. Corner doesn’t fill those spots.
April 15th, 2022 at 5:10 pm
Dean isn’t going anywhere. He is way better than most fans realize. SMB has a lot more to prove. Delaney showed a lot of promise. I do think they draft a DB in the first three rounds
April 15th, 2022 at 6:17 pm
We have no depth at DT, are missing a starter on the DL, have a raw 2nd year DE/OLB as a starter, missing a starter at LG and TE and we go CB round 1?
Fake news….
April 15th, 2022 at 11:41 pm
There is nothing wrong with a physical corner, and Booth is not afraid to pursue.
Looks like he plays larger than he is, and will have to at the next level. Is he a 1st rounder? Dicey decision