Where Pitt LB SirVocea Dennis Fits with Bucs

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking to get faster and younger, which is where Pitt Panthers linebacker SirVocea Dennis comes in.

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers SirVocea Dennis completed the unlikely climb from two-star recruit to the NFL when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers chose him with the 153rd overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. 

When the Buccaneers took Dennis, the Panthers' leading tackler for the past two seasons, they acknowledged an organization-wide need to get younger and look toward the future. Tom Brady was the first domino to fall and Dennis is part of a growing youth movement in Tampa Bay. 

The Buccaneers are remarkably thin at inside linebacker, which makes the Dennis pick in the fifth round look like a smart move. The group is top-heavy with Devin White and LaVonte David manning the top spots of their 3-4 defense, but their relationship with White is unstable. He requested a trade earlier this month but Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said the team has no intentions of dealing the former No. 5 overall pick and Pro Bowler.

So this is technically not a linebackers room in flux just yet but they are in need of help at that position. At the beginning of the draft process, Dennis did not seem like a player ready to make an impact on defense at this point in his career. There were concerns about his below-average size and athleticism that his above-average football IQ couldn't make up for. 

But Dennis alleviated a lot of those concerns by checking in at 6'0.5 and 226 pounds, then recording a 4.63-second 40-yard dash and 41.5" vertical leap. That, combined with stellar intangibles, is why Dennis was drafted in the fifth round as opposed to falling into the sixth or seventh rounds or going undrafted. 

The Buccaneers have put a lot of faith in Dennis by taking him with that pick, which reflects both the quality player they believe Dennis is and the desperate need for linebackers on their roster. 

As a result, Dennis' path to playing time in the NFL looks much clearer than it did before he was drafted. David and White each ate up 95% of the snaps last season and figure to do so again in 2023. But with White's eyes drifting elsewhere, it would behoove the Buccaneers to look towards the future. 

While Dennis figures to contribute primarily on special teams this season - like 2021 fifth-rounder K.J. Britt has done during his first two seasons in Tampa - there will no doubt be room for him to move up in the coming years. There is no obvious succession plan at inside linebacker for when White and the aging veteran, David, transition out, but it is clear the Bucs are hell-bent on getting younger and faster. Dennis fits both those criteria and will have a chance to grow up before he is tasked with playing meaningful snaps on defense. 

The leap from college football to the NFL is considerably harder than the leap from high school to college, but if there is one thing Dennis has proved during his journey from two-star recruit to NFL Draft pick is that it's dangerous to underrate him. A year of NFL training and mentorship from those veterans ahead of him will allow Dennis to find a winning style of play in the league and make the most of his strengths before he's thrown into the fire.  

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