Bucs Find A “Football Player” With Elijah Roberts

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The 2025 NFL Draft was billed as deep at defensive tackle. And while the Bucs didn’t technically take a defensive tackle, they addressed the position in a very Tampa Bay way.

Elijah Roberts was Dane Brugler’s 23rd-ranked edge defender in his annual “The Beast” writeup. In his summary of what Roberts delivers at the NFL level, Brugler wrote, “His uniqueness might scare of some teams, but he has the goods to be a rotational edge with upside on the interior.”

But there is ample evidence that he isn’t going to be an edge going forward. And that changes the evaluation a bit.

Measurables

The comparisons above present Elijah Roberts as a defensive lineman. Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Score system scored him a 6.82 out of 10.00 when evaluating him as a defensive end. But when looking at him as a defensive tackle we get the picture of a much more athletic player.

And all of this is before Roberts bulked up to 292 pounds at his Pro-Day, clearly signaling he will be a defensive tackle at the NFL level. The Bucs agreed with that signal as they described him in their post-draft comments. Vice president of player personnel Mike Biehl told media, “He actually has played on the edge in college a little bit, so I think he has the versatility to potentially play out there a little bit, maybe on run downs. But he’s definitely going to be in the D-Line room.”

Advanced Stats

As has been widely reported, Roberts has led college football in total pressures generated over the past two seasons.

He generated a 16.1% pressure rate in 2024 and maintained a 15.6% rate for his college career. He had an 8.5% run stop rate in 2024, ranking 12th among qualifying edge rushers in this draft class. That’s a 2.5% increase from 2023 showing an arrow in the right direction for him.

When Elijah Roberts Wins

Leveraging his size and weight as an edge defender, Roberts predicates his game off of his power.

Given a runway, Roberts builds incredible power and leverages it with his long arms as he gets into tackles’ chests and drive them back. He also uses his hands well.

Taking advantage of tackles preparing for those two base traits, Roberts then crosses face like Cyndi Lauper…time after time.

He uses his frame well in the run game and successfully sets the edge and takes on pullers.

When Elijah Roberts Struggles

Bucs DL Elijah Roberts – Photo courtesy of SMU

Two major obstacles stand between Elijah Roberts and becoming a successful starter in the NFL. While he won with power as an edge in college, transitioning to an interior position with less runway and facing NFL guards will test that power. He will have to improve his play strength to make that transition successful.

Roberts’ pad level will also become a much more important part of the equation. His strength won’t make up for leverage losses. Roberts has enviable length, but his height isn’t such an outlier that it will naturally work against him.

What’s The Vision

New Bucs Dl Elijah Roberts

Bucs DL Elijah Roberts – Photo by: USA Today

Will Gholston will be 34 years old when the 2025 season opens and is currently unsigned. Logan Hall is in the last year of his rookie contract and is nowhere near a guarantee to be on the roster in 2026. Elijah Roberts provides a possibility to fill in for the roles that both of those players have provided in recent years.

He can play the 4i/5t that Gholston has served as. And at his current 292 pounds and background as an upfield penetrator, Roberts should be able to kick into the three technique as Hall has done. He doesn’t have much experience rushing inside, but the few reps he has have looked positive.

Bucs assistant general manager Rob McCartney spoke about where the team got the best look of Roberts working inside.

“Then, Elijah, we were down at the East-West [Shrine Game] and seeing him rush over the guard, which he didn’t do too, too much at SMU – he was mostly off of the edge – and realizing he is 285 with the quickness and then the length, plus the power,” McCartney said. “I think that they can win from different spots, but I think that they have both [Roberts and fourth-round pick David Walker] been really productive which for us is a big indicator, and they both play really, really hard.”

In the short-term, Roberts should be able to get on the field in pass-obvious situations. He can split snaps with Hall and Greg Gaines as part of the second-team defensive line and possibly a few sub packages where he kicks out to the edge as part of a Hulk or inverted package.

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