The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and general manager Jason Licht completed another impressive NFL Draft earlier this month, and came away with what could be some valuable pieces after in the form of undrafted free agents.
Names like Shilo Sanders, John Bullock, Ben Scott and Jake Majors certainly garner some attention. But the name Desmond Watson might be the most intriguing.
Watson is known for his size at 6-6 and his college playing weight of 464 pounds - an absolute monster.
While the hefty defensive lineman has already slimmed down to a reported 437 pounds this offseason, the head coach, Todd Bowles, says they have a clear vision of a role for him in the offense.
“To judge him right now is very early, and we didn’t get him for the tush push -- we got him because we really thought he could play,” Bowles said. “It’s just a matter of getting him to the point where he can play more than two or three plays [per drive]. Right now, we just have to see how long he can stay on the field, and [we] put him on a program where we think he can make some progress.
“We didn’t get him to say, ‘Hey, we have to put you on the field right now.’ It’s, ‘Hey, we can try to put you on this program and see what we can come up with and see if we can get our endurance better,’ and have him become a better player that way, then kind of see where he is.”
The NFL held a vote on whether or not to ban the famous quarterback sneak play known as the "tush push," and it fell two votes short of being outlawed. But as Bowles points out, they didn't sign Watson to stop that. In fact, Bowles was against a ban altogether as he discussed at the NFL Scouting Combine earlier this offseason.
But the Glazer family, which owns the Bucs, voted in favor of the ban. But we now know it's here to stay for at least one more season.
While Watson's role in the defense right now isn't laid out, it sounds like the team at least has an idea of what they want out of him. It's up to him to get there.