Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Two interesting defenders put on injured reserve
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers placed two defensive players, Davonte Lambert and Stevie Tu’ikolovatu, on injured reserve Friday.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a slew of roster moves on Friday. The team placed defensive lineman Davonte Lambert and rookie defensive tackle Stevie Tu’ikolovatu on injured reserve. Although they may not be necessarily earth-shattering moves, they are significant in the sense that a permanent roster is beginning to take shape.
Lambert, who currently has a wrist injury, was the starter in five of the 11 games he appeared in last season. Tu’ikolovatu is currently sidelined with a knee injury. A product of USC, Tu’ikolovatu was a seventh-round draft pick of the team this year.
These moves caught my attention for a couple of reasons. The team is losing a guy in Lambert who was on the rise in 2016. He really began to establish himself as a guy the Buccaneers could count on. The fact that he was a rookie last year and started that many games showed that he could be a valuable piece for the Bucs’ line in the near future.
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Tu’ikolovatu is a guy that can be viewed as both a project and a building block. Those terms do not necessarily mean positive things most times, but in this case they are. He will definitely be a project now as he tries to recover from his injury.
The building part comes in due to the fact that the team’s star defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is 29 years old. The nature of the position means that the wear and tear of the game will eventually catch up to him. He can only be consistently productive for so long.
In the meantime, this will give Tu’ikolovatu time to develop as a player and hone his skills. This developmental period will be key as guys like McCoy get older. Hopefully by the time McCoy retires, Tu’ikolovatu will have developed to become a productive player in the NFL. If that happens, the Buccaneers will probably be very pleased.
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It will be interesting to see who else will be looking for a new team come Saturday as roster cuts continue to occur.