Monday, May 7, 2007

Meet The Newest Bucs -- Gaines Adams



The Buccaneers finally addressed the defensive side of the ball in the draft. For the first time since drafting Booger McFarland in 1999, the Bucs used a first round draft pick on a defender. Adams was the consensus best defensive player in this years draft and it just so happens the Bucs needed help at that position as well. Adams is very similar to another DE that the Bucs may be familiar with, Simeon Rice. Like Rice, Adams accelerates off the ball very well and gets up the field fast putting a lot of pressure on the Quarterback. Unfortunately, also like Rice, Adams struggles against the run as he is on the small side. The good thing about the Tampa 2 though is that the DE are not supposed to be that big in the run stopping game. Adams job will be to do what Simeon has done since being here and what the Bucs severely lacked last year, get to the Quarterback and create havoc in the backfield. Adams actually graded out higher than former teammate and last years #1 overall pick Mario Williams. Adams played 8 man football in High School, so he has only played 11 man football for 5 years, which means he has room to get better than he is right now. Monty Kiffen was excited to get this guy and was jumping up and down describing what this guy can do on the football field; when Monte gets that excited about a player, you know you have something special.

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