Who Will Be The Bucs’ Breakout Star Of 2023?
That last question has a lot of potential answers, including second-year players like running back Rachaad White, tight end Cade Otton and defensive lineman Logan Hall, as well as any of the team’s rookies. Calijah Kancey, YaYa Diaby and Trey Palmer stand out from that group. Even Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, a hot breakout player pick ahead of the 2022 season, could warrant consideration. Trask, should he win the quarterback job over Mayfield, would be another interesting twist.
What brings this topic up? A recent Pro Football Focus article from Zoltán Buday took a stab at deciding on one breakout player from each team in the NFC. For the Bucs, it was none of the aforementioned players. Rather, it was new free agent signee Ryan Neal. Here’s what Buday had to say about the 27-year-old safety:
“Neal started the 2022 season as a backup for the Seahawks but became a starter due to Jamal Adams’s injury and poor performances from Josh Jones. He was PFF’s highest-graded safety (91.1) between Week 7 and 15, and he finished as the seventh highest-graded safety in the league over the whole campaign.
“Projected to start from Week 1 in the Bucs’ defense, Neal has a chance to be among the league’s top safeties by the end of the season.”
Given the season he just had in Seattle and the role he’ll get to play in Todd Bowles’ defense, Neal may very well be a great pick when it comes to the topic of Tampa Bay’s breakout candidates in 2023. There’s a reason why he’s so excited to play for Bowles, who likes to creatively deploy his safeties in addition to being a former safety himself.
“One thing about [Todd Bowles] is he’s a mastermind,” Neal said in his introductory press conference in April. “He never ran the same thing so it was kind of hard trying to figure out what was going on. It was like, who’s doing what? You don’t know who’s doing what, who’s going where. I think it’ll be really cool for me.
“I’ve done a lot of different things in our defense for the past four years – been in multiple positions. It’ll be cool to see how [versatile] I can be. I’m looking forward to the challenge, man. I’m always looking to see if I can affect the game anywhere – that’s always been a goal of mine. I’m excited to play for Coach [Bowles] – it’ll definitely be exciting.”
