The Buccaneers have lost 22-year old WR Arrelious Benn for the rest of the season due to a serious knee injury.  He has been placed on the Injured Reserve List.  Benn played in 15 games for the Buccaneers this year and the rookie caught 25 passes for 395 yards (15.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Benn was a 2nd round pick (#39 overall) last April out of Illinois and he was playing his best football of the year when he got hurt.  Benn has a nice upside and his role will likely expand next season for the Bucs.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have lost 22-year old DT Gerald McCoy for the rest of the season due to a torn right triceps.  McCoy played in 12 games for the Bucs this year and he had 28 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 tackles for a loss, 4 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles.  The Bucs will look to 23-year old rookie Al Woods or 25-year old Frank Okam to replace McCoy in the starting lineup.  Woods has played in 6 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has 10 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  Okam has yet to play in a game for the Bucs.  This is really going to hurt the Bucs’ run defense as McCoy was really starting to play well.

The Buccaneers have cut 23-year old rookie Brent Bowden and they have signed 28-year old rookie punter Chris Bryan.  Bowden was a sixth round pick out of Virginia Tech last April by the Bucs.  Bowden played in all 4 pre-season games for the Bucs and he didn’t look too good.  Bowden punted the ball 20 times for 729 yards (36.5 avg) during the pre-season for the Bucs.  Chris Bryan will be the new starting punter for the Bucs despite never playing football in college.  He played in all 4 pre-season games for the Packers this year and he punted the ball 8 times for 336 yards (42.0 avg).  This will be interesting to see how well Bryan punts when the real bullets fly this weekend against the Cleveland Browns.

The Buccaneers have picked DE Erik Lorig with the 253rd overall pick (7th round) of the NFL Draft.  Lorig is 6’3″, 265 pounds and he runs a 4.9 40.  Lorig plays all out all of the time and that is the reason he likely got picked by the Bucs.  He played in 5 games (all starts) at Stanford last season in which he had 13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss, he had 1 sack, batted down one pass and he forced 1 fumble.  Lorig played in 41 games (25 starts) in his four years at Stanford in which he had 89 tackles, 17 tackles for a loss, he had 8.5 sacks, batted down 4 passes and he forced 2 fumbles.  This was another solid pick for the Bucs.

The Buccaneers have picked OLB Dekoda Watson with the 217th overall pick (7th round) of the NFL Draft.  Watson is 6’1″, 232 pounds and he runs a 4.65 40.  He is a outstanding athlete and he could very well be a steal for the Bucs.  He played in 13 games (12 starts) for Florida State last season in which he finished up with 65 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, he had 6.5 sacks and he broke up 1 pass.  Watson played in 45 games (32 starts) in his four years with the Seminoles in which he had 184 tackles, 32.5 tackles for a loss, he had 11.5 sacks, broke up 8 passes and he had 2 interceptions.  Watson was another good value pick for the Bucs in the 7th round.

The Buccaneers have picked CB Cody Grimm with the 210th overall pick (7th round) of the NFL Draft.  Grimm is 5’10′, 203 pounds and he runs a 4.59 40.  Grimm is a super aggressive safety who is a special teams dynamo.  Grimm had 106 tackles, he broke up 5 passes, had 12.5 tackles for a loss, has 4 sacks and he forced 7 fumbles.  Grimm finished up his 4 years with the Hokies with 214 tackles, 26.5 tackles for a loss, 11.5 sacks, he forced 9 fumbles, broke up 7 passes and he had 2 interceptions.  Look for Grimm to be a core special teams player and maybe more for the Bucs down the road.

The Buccaneers have picked punter Brent Bowden out of Virginia Tech with the 172nd overall pick (6th round) of the NFL Draft.  Bowden played in 13 games for the Hokies last season and he punted the ball 57 times for 2,495 yards (43.8 avg) and he placed the opposition inside their own 20-yard line 20 times (35.1%).  He played in 41 games in his time at Virginia Tech in which he punted the ball 214 times for 9,022 yards (42.2 avg) and he placed 72 punts (33.6%) inside the opposing 20-yard line.  Bowden will likely be the starting from day #1 for the Bucs and he has experience as a holder also.

The Buccaneers have picked WR Mike Williams out of Syracuse with the 101st overall pick (4th round) of the NFL Draft.  Williams is a big guy at 6’2″, 205 pounds and he runs a 4.55 40.  While Williams is not the fastest receiver around he still finds ways to get open.  He is also a tenacious blocker on running plays.  He only dropped in the draft because of off-field issues but the Bucs’ brass seemed o.k. with it after they did their research on him.  Williams played in 7 games (all starts) for the Orangemen last season and he caught 49 passes for 746 yards (15.2 avg) with 6 TD grabs.  Williams played in 29 games (22 starts) at Syracuse in which he caught 133 passes for 2,044 yards (15.4 avg) with 20 TD grabs.  Williams might step right into the starting lineup for the Bucs as they have a huge need at WR.

The Buccaneers have selected CB Myron Lewis out of Vanderbilt with the 67th pick (3rd round) of the NFL Draft.  Lewis is 6’1″, 204 pounds but he’s not a physical player.  He also runs a 4.5 40 which makes him a tad slow.  But, Lewis fits the cover 2 zone defense that the Bucs play which gives him more value to them.  Lewis played in 11 games (all starts) for Vandy last season and he had 41 tackles, broke up 8 passes and he intercepted 4 passes.  Lewis played in 46 games (36 starts) in his four years at Vanderbilt in which he had 170 tackles, broke up 26 passes, he had 10 interceptions, forced 4 fumbles and he recovered 2 fumbles.  The Buccaneers probably overdrafted Lewis by a round or two but he does fit their defensive scheme so he might surprise.

The Buccaneers selected WR Arrelious Benn with the 39th overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  Benn is a 6’1″, 220 pound receiver who is very physical.  He doesn’t have burner speed (4.5 40) but he gets open and he catches the ball almost every time it’s near his hands.  He is a good blocked in the running game as he reminds me quite a bit of Hines Ward of the Steelers in his playing style.  Benn played in 12 games (11 starts) for Illinois last season and he caught 38 passes for 490 yards (12.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  In three years at Illinois, Benn played in 37 games (35 starts) in which he caught 159 passes for 2,221 yards (14.0 avg) with 7 TD grabs.  With the state of the Buccaneers’ receiving corps don’t be surprised if Benn isn’t the #1 WR from day #1 for the Bucs.