Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Rookie Analysis: Kwon Alexander




Tampa's 4th round pick Kwon Alexander may have been the steal of the century! Coming out of LSU he was an athletic freak running a 4.5 forty at 6'1 227. Of course the knock on him was "undersized", sounds like a Buc linebacker to me.

When drafted he was supposed to fight for special teams and be backup to newly signed Bruce Carter. That wasn't in his cards though, Kwon outplayed everyone at his position and was the opening day starter at middle linebacker and never looked back. Every game Kwon kept getting better and better as a rookie should and started to gain respect from opposing offenses as they couldn't attack the middle of the field because of the ground he can cover.

Possibly his best game came against the Atlanta Falcons came no more than 2 days after finding out of the death his younger brother. He ended up with 11 tackles, 1 forced fumble and one pass defensed. He was all over the field and without question willed the bucs defense to a win. He ended his season 4 games early due to a 4 game suspension, which was from a failed drug test for PEDs.... (red bull). Those 4 games the middle of the defense crumbled and the bucs ended up losing all 4 games. No Kwon's absence wasn't the only reason the bucs lost those games but losing such a talent like him didn't help. 

He totaled 93 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 2 interceptions and 9 pass defensed in 12 games. A formidable stat line for an entire season and he missed 4 games. Lets see what he can do with another year under his belt and even more talent around him. Kwon has the makings and the talent to become a staple in the middle of this bucs defense for years to come. He and Pro Bowler (finally) Lavonte David form quite a one-two punch.

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