Reveals Bucs secret.
This could be a good sign to take Haason Reddick and his over-number of season total of sacks, provided you can find a sportsbook that offers such a wager.
The reason why Joe is bullish on Reddick is twofold. The first is, Joe is this-close to being convinced Bucs coach and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles cannot draft and develop a top-shelf edge rusher. There’s no evidence he can when you look at his last 12 seasons as either a defensive coordinator or head coach at various stops, including Arizona, New York and Tampa Bay.
Bringing in veterans and getting them to affect the passer, that is a different story. Proven veterans have done well with Bowles at edge rush.
Part of the problem with Bowles trying to develop an edge rusher is, as he likes to say, outside linebackers have to do a lot more than just rush the passer. This screws up young guys’ heads. They made their bones in college sacking quarterbacks and they sure as hell weren’t drafted because they reminded scouts of Darrelle Revis in coverage.
It would be like a baseball manager having Albert Pujols bunt three times a game.
So let’s take a guy who is great at something and instead, have him do something else he’s never done before, and when he struggles, bench him even though you desperately need him on the field to produce what he was drafted for in the first place. Brilliant!
(This past training camp, Bowles acknowledged he knew Jose Ramirez was “good” rushing the passer. So what does Bowles do with him? He got cut.)
The second reason Joe doesn’t believe Bowles will ever develop a young edge rusher is that Bowles simply doesn’t care about sacks from the edge. It’s very much a back-burner issue for him. How can anyone expect any team to develop a youngster to be successful at a position the coach doesn’t value?
But veterans? That’s a different story. And Joe thinks he has found a pattern. Former Bucs great Ndamukong Suh was on “Up and Adams” this week, hosted by the seductive Kay Adams, when he filled Adams in on a secret.
When Suh had a sack of Pat Mahomes in the Super Bowl where the Bucs won their second Vince Lombardi Trophy, Suh admitted he freelanced on the play with Cam Gill.
Suh said then Bucs defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers gave Suh the freedom to freelance on pass plays.
“It’s funny, it’s a very interesting to play,” Suh began. “Cam [Gill], one of our young guys, I told him that we’re going to switch positions. … I told him, just run around and we’re going to run a special stunt, and we’ll meet at the quarterback and it all came to fruition.
“So it was one of those things that I was, with coaches on that team, I got to be able to kind of make my own rules as a true vet. as long as I made plays I didn’t get in trouble. …
“We got to make our own plays and we made a lot of hay with it.”
Well, if Suh had a green light from Rodgers, you sure as heck know that came with Bowles’ blessing. Joe surely doesn’t think Rodgers would be on board with Suh freelancing if Bowles didn’t want that.
And if Suh, a veteran, was freelancing, it’s not a stretch to think so too did Jason Pierre-Paul and Bucs sack king Shaq Barrett, both seasoned veterans who had rings to their names.
Do any of us expect Chris Braswell to freelance on a pass play if he sees a path to the quarterback? Or Chris Braswell? Probably, YaYa Diaby doesn’t yet have the freedom to freelance.
So yeah, Joe would not be shocked if Reddick flirts with 10 sacks this fall.
Ndamukong Suh says THIS Super Bowl LV sack of Patrick Mahomes was totally freelanced 🤯 @heykayadams | @NdamukongSuh | #WeAreTheKrewe pic.twitter.com/2JnmXiKuTz
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) August 27, 2025