The Buccaneers love their fast, athletic linebackers

What do the additions of Bruce Carter and Kwon Alexander have in common?  Being fast and athletic.

From Pewter Report Chat with Mark Cook:

[Alexander] will be the SAM this year, which means he will be limited on the field as the Bucs will be in nickel often. But as we have reported often, the Bucs want 3 WILL linebackers on the field if that makes sense. Fast athletic guys who can run.

They will sacrifice some toughness and meat at the position for athleticism. That is something we gathered in Mobile at the Senior Bowl year. And it was a high up team source.

The ultimate plan is hoping Carter does well at MIKE then at some point down the road Alexander may develop into a player that can move to the middle.

If you compare Kwon Alexander's draft profile with Bruce Carter's draft profile from NFL.com, you'll see that both fit the prototype of a fast, athletic linebacker. In fact, the profiles are extremely similar with comparisons to former Buccaneers. Mark Cook identified the type of linebackers that Lovie Smith and the Tampa-2 needs, which is basically having 3 weak side linebackers.

It is safe to say that the Bucs are set with Danny Lansanah, Bruce Carter, and Lavonte David as their starting core. Alexander will need at least a year to adjust playing within the Tampa-2 defense. Yet, he can become a great substitute because the NFL is never without injury. The addition of Alexander adds great depth to the linebacker positions, plural.

In a more recent observation Pewter Report says that Lavonte David, Bruce Carter, Danny Lansanah and Kwon Alexander all played in the nickel defense with the first and second team respectively, and all of them have the coverage ability to do so.