The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to stack up on defense, and now, they’ve brought in a defensive lineman to add to the ranks.
The Buccaneers drafted Southern Methodist University defensive lineman Elijah Roberts with the No. 157 pick in the NFL Draft. The fifth-round pick is Tampa Bay’s fourth defensive player after selection an offensive player, wideout Emeka Egbuka, with the No. 19 pick in Round 1.
Roberts played as an edge rusher at SMU for the Mustangs, but he’s a little big at 6’4″, 278 — interestingly enough, he was listed as a defensive lineman by the Buccaneers’ Twitter account, so with that in mind, expect him to kick inside. He was very productive at SMU, netting 17.5 sacks in his last two years. He’s particularly fast for how big he is, running the 40-yard dash in 4.78 seconds.
With defensive lineman William Gholston potentially retiring, the Bucs can add a new depth piece to a defensive line rotation in an era where defensive fronts have become a point of emphasis in the modern NFL.
