The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are among several teams attending Josh Allen’s Pro Day in Kentucky.

Allen is an elite talent. He is a hybrid linebacker capable of moving from cover to pass rush with ease. He has elite size, speed, and explosiveness, and has the ability to get even better with training. He is a tough, strong tackler who has the ability to bring down any would-be challenger.

His agility is impressive, and his high-end speed is admirable. He has a quick first step and can maintain that quickness throughout his rush. He is quick with his timing and is good at targeting the football in runners and QB’s hands for a strip. He has an outstanding ability to break through blocks when coming in from the outside.

He needs work on recognition of misdirection, but is very good at stopping inside rushers. He is also very good with keeping up with tight ends in coverage and has great tackling ability in space.

Allen would be a great pick up for any defense, and it’s no different for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He would be an instant impact on our defense and fit perfectly into Todd Bowles scheme.

Here are some stats that I’m taking directly from UK Athletics:

• Did not miss a game in his four-year career, playing in all 51 games with 35 starts
• Totaled 224 tackles, 41.0 TFL, 31.5 sacks, 15 quarterback hurries, 11 forced fumbles, eight PBUs, two fumble recoveries, one blocked kick and one interception in his four-year career
• Helped lead UK to three straight bowl games for the first time since going to five in a row from 2006-2010
• Helped lead UK to a 10-win season, which included a win over Penn State in the 2018 VRBO Citrus Bowl … Marked the most wins in 41 years
• Broke UK’s career sacks record with 31.5
• Broke UK’s single-season sacks record in ’18 with 17
• Moved up to No. 9 on the SEC’s career sacks list
• Had 41 tackles for loss which ranks second all-time at UK, behind Oliver Barnett’s 43
• Forced 11 fumbles, tying Danny Trevathan for the UK career record (forced fumble stats available since 1988)
• Named a consensus First-Team All-American in 2018, UK’s first consensus All-American since wide receiver/kick returner Derek Abney in 2002 and the first unanimous selection since defensive lineman Art Still in 197
• Swept the national defensive player of the year awards in 2018 as he was honored with the Bronko Nagurski Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Ronnie Lott IMPACT Trophy and the Jack Lambert Award … UK’s first winner in every category
• SEC Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-SEC selection in 2018

WESH-Channel 2 is an affiliate of NBC and the station is owned by Hearst Television. Based in Orlando will give fans in central Florida the opportunity to catch all of the Buccaneers preseason games for the foreseeable future.

WFLA is the official Buccaneers station in Tampa Bay and has the distribution rights and allowing for this is a huge opportunity for fans in Central Florida.

WESH president and General Manager John R. Soapes is excited to partner with the premiere NFL organization, and considers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be a first-class team with one of Florida’s most powerful brands.

WESH has an exclusive multi-year partnership now with the Buccaneers and will begin airing Buc related programming in August of this year. they will also air the Ali and Donovan show, which will feature Buccaneers offensive Lineman Ali Marpet and Donovan Smith along with Bucs All Access.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a brand new coaching staff and now, thanks to Bruce Arians the team has hired for first time in franchise history full-time female assistant coaches, Lori Locust and Maral Javadifar.

Locust’s official title will be an assistant defensive line coach, and Javadifar’s title will be an assistant strength and conditioning coach. They follow in the footsteps of the first female coach in NFL history, Jennifer Welter, who in 2015 interned for the Arizona Cardinals, working six weeks over the summer as an assistant linebackers coach under Bob Sanders.

Welter was the first woman to ever be in a coaching position in the NFL, and the head coach that hired her was, of course, Bruce Arians.

Lori Locust seemingly came out of nowhere, but Locust has known Arians since her ex-husband, Andrew Locust, played for him at Temple University where she also went to college. Locust, from Harrisburg, PA. decided to join a women’s team in Harrisburg, though she was almost 40-years old. She played four seasons before suffering a career-ending injury that forced her to the sidelines. Locust began coaching over ten years ago at the high school, semi-pro, and arena-league levels.

Locust coached at her alma mater Susquehanna Township High School and also coached semi-pro football as an assistant coach with the Central Penn Piranha for three years and two years with the DMV Elite.

Locust, also coached two seasons with the Keystone Assault of the Women’s Football Alliance. She was a defensive assistant, defensive lineman/linebackers coach and co-special teams coordinator. Arians while back home in York, PA. heard Locust earned a Bill Walsh internship with the Baltimore Ravens as a defensive assistant. Locust, before joining the Tampa Bay staff served as the defensive line coach for Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football.

Javadifar was a physical therapist at Avant Physical Therapy in Seattle, after finishing her Sports Physical Therapy Residency at Virginia Commonwealth in August 2018. Javadifar also worked as a physical therapist and performance trainer in Virginia, while being a guest lecturer at George Mason University. A native of Queens, New York, Javadifar has a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology from Pace and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree from New York Medical College.

Now you know their backgrounds, but the big question is the NFL it’s fans and it’s players ready for women forging deeper into the league, this time not as cheerleaders but in the locker rooms and sidelines as assistants and coaches. The NFL hasn’t had such a huge change since 2002 and the Rooney Rule that brought about the overall percentage had jumped in 2006 of African-American coaches jump from 22%, up from 6% prior to the Rooney Rule last.

The arguments will be they never played in high school or college against men or got hit by a 300-pound tackle or run a route over the middle knowing a safety or linebacker is waiting to take their helmet off. The argument will be it’s 2019 women can do anything a man can do and should be treated as equal.

Sources: Wikipedia Rooney Rule – Scott Reynolds of Pewter Report/ Bucs Hire Two Female Coaches – Buccaneers.com / Buccaneers Add Maral Javadifar and Lori Locust as Full-Time Assistant Coaches

We already know that signing big name free agents are a risky business. Players that performed elsewhere normally come with a high price tag and, as Bucs fans have seen, no guarantee of success. Splash signings have arrived in Tampa and have been at best disappointing.

Equally, we all know the NFL draft is a crapshoot. Players bust all the time, not just in pewter, but around the league.

A further gamble is not something that the team or fans have had a reason to pay attention to. These are the NFL compensatory draft picks. The formula for how these are handed out and exactly what pick is assigned is kept under wraps by the NFL. Many online contributors have sought to outline the process and have been fairly accurate.

In the briefest of overviews, I will attempt to explain it. A team must lose higher value players in FA than they gain. These players must be fully eligible and actual UFAs. Contract value and playing time are calculated as well as postseason appearances and any awards received.

So whilst losing Kwon Alexander and Adam Humphries hurt, and hurt bad, the fact that they got a huge payday elsewhere is a good thing. It put the Bucs in a position to be in consideration for these comp picks. Previously only 18 free agent departures were valued highly enough since this came into effect in 1993. The highest value of these picks is at the end of the 3rd round with the lowest at the end of the 7th.

So, more draft picks are potentially good, right?

Whilst Licht and Co. are signing new free agents for 1-year prove it deals, they are still in contention for a comp pick. The loss of Alexander, Humphries, and Fitzpatrick to Free Agency has given the Bucs three players who have the potential to turn into comp picks.

But this is the gamble. Do fans want to see proven veteran players replace lost free agents or would they rather take the chance with comp picks in the draft?

Tune in today on #BucsLifeNews at 4.00pm EST to The BritBuc Invasion for more in-depth on this topic and share your opinion live.

The draft is about a month away, and we can only guess as to what will happen. Let’s face it, we all have zero clue what’s going to happen until the actual draft starts. With every pick, there are always two choices, need or BPA. Now with either one, you can’t go wrong if you are in the top 10-15 picks in the draft. Let’s take the Bucs for example. Which route should they go with the fifth pick? I will give you the best option for each route.

If the Bucs go need at #5, then the surefire pick is Devin White. I know we signed Deone Bucannon and Shaq Barrett, and we still have Lavonte David, but the uncertainty with Kendell Beckwith’s injury and the lack of experience with our backups makes the LB position the biggest need we have. Devin White is a stud LB from LBU aka LSU. He crushed the combine and solidified his position as a top 5 pick in this Draft. He would solidify the LB core with new and young talent as we go into a new era of defense under the watch of Todd Bowles.

Now let’s say the Bucs go Best Player Available. The pick should be Devin White. As funny as that sounds it’s true. Barring any trades Devin White at #5 is the BPA. The Bucs first pick will most likely be a defensive player if we stay at 5.

Let’s address the uncertainty of the Draft. At #5 the Bucs are sitting pretty with a QB needy team like the Dolphins wanting to jump the Giants at #6 to make sure they get one of the top 2 QBs in the Draft. The Bucs could trade down to 13 with the Dolphins and still nab an Ed Oliver, Brian Burns, Devin Bush, or Rashan Gary. The Bucs could easily grab another 1st round pick if they trade with the Packers, who could want to grab Devin White since Clay Matthews signed with the Rams on Tuesday, March 19th. Another trade partner could be Cincinnati, who released Vontaze Burfict and could also try to grab Devin White at #5. The uncertainty of the Draft is what makes the Draft so much fun to watch.

Keep it locked to ATB and Bucs Life News for all of your Bucs coverage. Go Bucs!!!!!!

Well, first of all, hello to all of the Bucs Life Fans and the community. I am very excited to write for this site as I have been living the Bucs Life since 1975 when my dad introduced me to Bucs Life before the site at the old Tampa Stadium. Well, I will write some memory articles for you another time. Now we have to MBGA. !!!!

We are in the free agency period of the new league year or the middle of the offseason, and it will soon be the NFL Draft which is next month. Now is the time when teams lose commodities, much like Tampa has been losing year in and year out for over 10-seasons, and not able to make the playoffs. As I browse social media I can see every move that our team makes or another team makes and seems to set off a certain group of Bucs Fans. I want to say to those fans, “take a deep breath and say like Captain Conrad Howard in Bad Boys 2 ‘WOOSAH’.” We can’t sign everyone, and we have to re-sign the foundation of our team. That’s why some players got long-term deals, and we didn’t cut them in an attempt to go after some bigger-named, higher-priced free agents.

I always have to tell those around me that winning cures all and it’s true. I have rarely heard of a team that wins a lot having unhappy fans or a locker room that’s fractured. We have a Bucs’ Fan Base that wants to win so bad that it hurts. I get. We all live the Bucs Life, so I ask you this, “no matter what, stay united as a fan base, and never let anyone divide us! It’s ok to have a difference of opinion, but don’t let them divide us; Bucs Fans! No matter what media outlet you want to read, listen to or follow just know that we are all Bucs Fans like yourself and we all want to see the team that we die with every season, win. We want to see wins! We want an R.O.I. on the time we put in.

Now that we have the Bucs fan issue under control, we need the Bucs Organization to help us. I think getting Bruce Arians, and his staff is one of the best things to happen in Tampa in over 10-years. I also think that we do, in fact, have a franchise QB and I will argue with anyone who has seen how awful the Bucs QBs have been over that last 40-years. (Aside from Doug Williams). Jameis Winston is a Franchise QB. We all know how talented this team is, and yes, we lost some great players during this Free Agency, but we still have a very talented roster. I think that this staff has the right coaches to develop the players that we have. So Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you have what you need, so let’s see some W’s and meaningful games in December.

The one last thing to MBGA is that some way, somehow, and this is on the Owners, we need to get at least a minimum of one week per season to be allowed to wear our throwback orange jerseys. I know that the way the league is now, we can’t have the white helmets because they must use the same one all year. I don’t really understand why that’s the case as in college most teams have 4-5 different helmets. So this one is on the Glazers to find a way to change the color scheme of our helmets or a way to make the old logo look good on the new helmet because I need some throwback orange again in my life! Give me my Creamsicle uniforms, please !!

I have now laid out a small part of my plan to MBGA – Make the Bucs Great Again. So, please join me in my venture, Bucs Life, in restoring the roar at RJS!