![\"Buccaneers](\"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/01j9pr7ndj371p07j2pv.jpg\")
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There was news of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers signing at edge rusher ahead of the Week 11 matchup with the Buffalo Bills.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Times beat reporter\u00a0Rick Stroud reported\u00a0on the defensive flyer, informing: \u201cBucs add LB\u00a0Benton Whitley\u00a0to the practice squad.\u201d<\/p>\n
This roster move was also confirmed\u00a0by the Buccaneers\u2019 Communications department\u00a0on X.<\/p>\n
The Buccaneers currently\u00a0rank 10th\u00a0in the\u00a0NFL\u00a0in sacks, but it\u2019s not really due to any one player having a career year. More than anything else, credit goes to head coach Todd Bowles and his ability to create pressure utilizing different positions and players.<\/p>\n
Whitley adds another potential rotational cog to the mix, although he\u2019ll start out on the practice squad, as Stroud mentioned.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-4 Whitley has bounced around the league a bit after playing his college ball at Holy Cross. He\u00a0accumulated 15.5 sacks\u00a0in 43 appearances at Holy Cross.<\/p>\n
Despite this, Whitley\u2019s first career NFL sack has eluded him to this point.<\/p>\n
Whitley started out his\u00a0professional career\u00a0with the\u00a0Los Angeles Rams, but has also spent time with the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs,\u00a0Minnesota Vikings,\u00a0New York Giants, and\u00a0Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n
The edge rusher registered 2.5 preseason sacks with the\u00a0Giants\u00a0in 2024. In 6 regular season appearances with Minnesota and New York, Whitley logged 74 combined special teams snaps and 16 defensive snaps. His only recorded statistics are 1 fumble recovery and 1 pass breakup.<\/p>\n
Now, Bowles and the Buccaneers will give Whitley a look ahead of the Week 11 matchup with the Bills.<\/p>\n
As mentioned above, Bowles\u2019 scheme has generated sacks, but no one player has specifically stood out in this regard.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0current sack leader\u00a0is still\u00a0YaYa Diaby\u00a0with 4.0 sacks. That\u2019s been the case since the bye week, and sack production hasn\u2019t really moved much since then.<\/p>\n
After Diaby, fellow edge defender\u00a0Anthony Nelson\u00a0has 3.0 sacks, while both linebacker\u00a0Lavonte David\u00a0and defensive tackle\u00a0Vita Vea\u00a0have 2.5 sacks. A collection of players then has 2.0 sacks after that, including linebacker\u00a0SirVocea Dennis, safety\u00a0Tykee Smith, defensive lineman\u00a0Elijah Roberts, and cornerback\u00a0Jacob Parrish.<\/p>\n
Big-name veteran edge rusher\u00a0Haason Reddick\u00a0has missed time with injury and has only contributed 1.5 sacks. And there are also six Bucs players who have either been credited with 1.0 sack or a half-sack.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, Tampa Bay needs to get some more production from its edge rushers against the Bills and beyond. Whether that\u2019s from Diaby, Nelson, or a newcomer like Whitley getting an opportunity.<\/p>\n
During the\u00a0Week 10 loss\u00a0against the\u00a0New England Patriots, the Buccaneers only managed 1.0 sack, and that cost them as second-year quarterback\u00a0Drake Maye\u00a0threw for 270 yards and 2 touchdowns.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll face a similar quarterback against the Bills. In many ways,\u00a0Josh Allen\u00a0is the original Maye \u2014 an athletic, big-bodied QB with a strong arm who is also difficult for pass rushers to bring down.<\/p>\n
So, if the Buccaneers had trouble getting to Maye, they could easily struggle against Allen, too.<\/p>\n
Week 11 is a big outing for both franchises. Allen and Buffalo have underperformed at 6-3, trailing the Patriots for the division crown. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay leads its division at 6-3, but is coming off a loss and would like to get back on track.<\/p>\n
This was the year that\u00a0Geno Smith\u00a0was supposed to prove that his first couple of years as the starter for the\u00a0Seattle Seahawks\u00a0were not a fluke, but the opposite has been true. In nine games with the\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders, Smith has thrown 11 touchdowns to 12 interceptions and led the team to a 2-7 record.<\/p>\n
The Raiders play a really bad\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0defense on Monday Night Football in Week 11, so if Smith can\u2019t finally post some good numbers, it won\u2019t bode well for his future. At this point, it might not even matter.<\/p>\n
ESPN\u2019s Bill Barnwell\u00a0believes that it is more likely that Smith is one-and-done with the Raiders than it is that he comes back for another season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a surprise if Smith made it to a second season with the Raiders as the starting quarterback,\u201d Barnwell wrote. \u201cBut there are explanations that can be made for his struggles. Smith hasn\u2019t had a healthy Brock Bowers for most of the season, and it\u2019s no surprise that his two best games have come when the team\u2019s franchise tight end was healthy against the\u00a0Patriots\u00a0and Jaguars. The Raiders have fielded replacement-level tackles since Kolton Miller went down because of an ankle injury in Week 4. And Chip Kelly\u2019s return to the NFL as Vegas\u2019 offensive coordinator has been a major disappointment, with the Raiders struggling to run or find reliable ways to get their best players the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
An issue with moving off of Smith is that he has an $18.5 million dead cap hit next season, and the Raiders will have to pay him an additional $8 million if they keep him on the roster after the start of the league year in March.<\/p>\n
If the Raiders find a new starting quarterback, Barnwell did point out that Smith has value as a backup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question for the Raiders is whether they\u2019d want to pay an additional $8 million to keep Smith as their backup in 2026,\u201d Barnwell wrote. \u201cHe was already a well-established and respected backup before getting his opportunity to replace Russell Wilson in Seattle, and Smith could probably expect to land a contract in that price range if he hit free agency to serve as a backup or potential bridge starter to a young quarterback somewhere else. The Raiders probably would be interested in someone like Smith if they plan to draft a quarterback in 2026 anyway, so it wouldn\u2019t be too foolish to just pay the additional $8 million and hold on to the guy they already know.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an ideal world, the Raiders would be able to trade Smith and reclaim some kind of asset. While Barnwell thinks anything is possible, he doesn\u2019t believe it\u2019s likely that Las Vegas could find a suitor for the quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Raiders want to try trading Smith, they\u2019d have to get creative,\u201d Barnwell wrote. \u201cWilder things have happened, but I can\u2019t imagine any team taking on the full $26.5 million owed to Smith next season. Las Vegas could alternately eat some of the $8 million left for Smith to make his deal more palatable and recoup a late-round pick in the process. But that\u2019s never a fun conversation to have with ownership, especially about a player who was prioritized by this new regime.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There was news of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers signing at edge rusher ahead of the Week 11 matchup with the Buffalo Bills. Tampa Bay Times beat reporter\u00a0Rick Stroud reported\u00a0on the defensive flyer,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t