{"id":393217,"date":"2026-09-07T23:43:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T23:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/393217\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T23:43:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T23:43:25","slug":"tampa-bay-buccaneers-17-million-investment-has-already-snatched-multiple-key-roles-before-the-2026-season-even-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/393217\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ $17 million investment has already snatched multiple key roles before the 2026 season even begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a><\/p>\n

The Buccaneers signed Alex Anzalone with the intention that he\u2019d take over one of the starting linebacker jobs and he\u2019s done that, plus more, before the season even begins.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Buccaneers
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLions linebacker Alex Anzalone talks with reporters after minicamp on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Allen Park. Photo By: Kirthmon F. Dozier \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost legendary linebacker Lavonte David to retirement<\/a> this offseason and while no one can replace him on a 1:1 level, free agent addition Alex Anzalone has stepped up in a major way.<\/p>\n

For starters, Alex Anzalone was named one of the Buccaneers\u2019 team captains by his peers on Monday, but that shouldn\u2019t come as much of a surprise considering his pedigree coming in plus the performances he\u2019s put together in practice and the limited time he played in the preseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnzalone came in and he kind of etched his name in stone that way, but there was a lot of guys that got votes,\u201d Bowles told reporters<\/a>. \u201cI mean, it was it was probably closer than has been in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rather impressive for a newcomer to earn that kind of accolade, even if it\u2019s well-deserved on Anzalone\u2019s end. However, it doesn\u2019t stop there when it comes to both the impact he\u2019s had and the impact he will have on the upcoming 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Alex Anzalone career stats<\/p>\n

The veteran linebacker is looking to make a splash with the Buccaneers after signing a $17 million deal in the offseason and so far, he\u2019s doing just that.<\/p>\n

Total tackles: 613<\/p>\n

Sacks: 13.0<\/p>\n

Interceptions: 4<\/p>\n

Tackles for loss: 34<\/p>\n

QB hits: 40<\/p>\n

Forced fumbles: 3<\/p>\n

Games played: 111<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he wanted the green dot, and he got that,\u201d said Bowles. \u201cAnd you know, having a green dot requires you to talk and communicate with everybody, so he\u2019s done a great job communicating, especially with the safeties. Him and (Antoine) Winfield and Tykee (Smith) are on the same page, getting along with the defense in front, lining everybody up, and then just making plays with his ability. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, everybody has a lot of respect for him, and he kind of just played his game and he worked his way into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wearing the green dot is a major responsibility and it signals Anzalone will be on the field for every single snap outside of injury or in the rare case of a breather. David only played less than 96% of defensive snaps once in his illustrious 14-year career and that occurred all the way back in 2014, when he still managed to play 93% of defensive snaps after missing two games.<\/p>\n

Personnel-wise, it makes complete sense for Anzalone to wear the green dot. He can do it all when it comes to coverage, stopping the run, and blitzing. Whomever wears the green dot has to be on the field as much as possible because they\u2019re responsible for communicating the play calls and getting everyone lined up.<\/p>\n

The fact Anzalone was able to come in and learn the defense fast enough to garner this kind of responsibility speaks to how much work he\u2019s put in and it really makes his two-year, $17 million deal seem like a bargain, right now. Obviously, football needs to be played before we can officially apply that label, but there\u2019s not doubt things are trending in that direction.<\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Todd\t\t<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Buccaneers News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTodd Bowles sends Buccaneers a key message they can\u2019t afford to ignore heading into Week 1 vs. Bengals\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

History is on Todd Bowles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers\u2019 side heading into Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals, but that doesn\u2019t mean Sunday\u2019s game will follow suit. Bowles is making sure his players know that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Buccaneers signed Alex Anzalone with the intention that he\u2019d take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,2964,137,136],"class_list":["post-393217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}