William Gholston needs some redemption.

[zhangzk]

Bucs Nation’s Evan Winter touched briefly on a topic that seems to have escaped the frontline for most Bucs fans in his Training Camp Pressure Points piece in which he brings up William Gholston potentially being a casualty with another down year in Tampa Bay. Gholston hasn’t ever developed into a pass rush threat despite playing alongside one of the premier tackles in the league in Gerald McCoy. The size and length Gholston came into the league with was thought to lead to some potential advances in his pass rush ability once he got into the league and it just hasn’t fabricated. Five seasons into his career , Gholston has amassed only 10 total sacks, including zero a season ago for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What’s the deal? Can it be fixed and where should fans expect to see Gholston as the season progresses. Currently Gholston is somewhat of the odd man out with the team’s newest additions of Vinny Curry and Jason Pierre-Paul. Noah Spence being healthy and hopefully ready to put together a full season’s worth of work in also doesn’t bode particularly well for Gholston having a turnaround year. In seasons past, Gholston’s ability to move inside helped get and keep him on the field but new additions of Beau Allen and Vita Vea should see a decline in those snaps as well for Gholston. The defensive staff has stated that they would like to see a healthy rotation given the new additions to the defensive front and while this may help in keeping guys fresh, for a run stuffer like Gholston it could prove detrimental to his overall purpose and place on this football team. Productivity wise, the last two years haven’t been what the Buccaneers wanted out of Gholston. After a below average rookie season, Gholston put together two well rounded seasons in his sophomore and junior campaigns in the league. Finding a niche as a run stuffer , Gholston proved to be worthy of a spot and played well enough to get him a second contract. The team took a gamble that Gholston’s final year on his rookie deal, a season that saw him struggle to produce consistently and earned him a poor (48.6) rating per Pro Football Focus, was an aberration. As 2017 showed, it may be the overall norm to an extent as Gholston produced a worse season both statistically and rating wise (47.5) from Pro Football Focus. Of qualified edge defenders, Gholston’s ranking earned him 101st overall. What has caused Gholston’s decline? On the surface it would seem that the Buccaneers are contempt with moving to a 3-4 scheme after the additions of Curry.

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]