Buccaneers doing homework on edge rushers at NFL Combine

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are doing their due diligence on edge rushers — a big position of need.

The NFL Combine has been underway in Indianapolis this week, and Wednesday marked the first batch of player interviews — including edge rushers. The Buccaneers have been confirmed to have met with a few of them, per the players themselves. So far, the Bucs have met with Marshall's Mike Green, Ole Miss' Princely Umanmielen, Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku and Texas A&M's Shemar James, among some likely others.

Green told reporters Wednesday that he would love to live in Florida and also identified Tampa Bay's weakness at the position.

"It's great. I know they got room for edge rushers right now, I'm aware of the pit they have," Green said. "It'd just be a blessing to play anywhere, man. Florida's definitely a state that I kinda dream of living in, so I guess it would be great to go down there and play."

Green was an incredible producer at Marshall, netting 17 sacks last year for the Thundering Herd, but character issues could put his draft stock in jeopardy. Green has been accused of sexual assault twice, the latter accusation leading him to leave the University of Virginia in 2022. Tampa Bay met with Green formally, so it's clearly doing its homework on the highly-touted edge rushing prospect.

Umanmielen was another player who spoke about his meeting with the Buccaneers. He met with the Bucs formally, and the Florida and Ole Miss product discussed playing for a defensive head coach and potentially returning to the state to play for the Bucs.

Here he is on what it would mean to play for Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers: pic.twitter.com/QXkaSDazg5
— River Wells (@riverhwells) February 26, 2025

"It would be pretty cool, you know," Umanmielen said. "I love a defensive coach. Going back to Florida would be pretty nice. No state taxes, so that's nice."

The Buccaneers have a number of needs, and Todd Bowles told reporters Tuesday he wants ballhawks — players of any position who can get to the football and cause turnovers. Edge rushers who can generate strip sacks are a huge part of that, and the Buccaneers may have their eye on a few of them.

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