Welcome again to Saturday Scouting, the place I profile a participant, idea, or matchup that’s of curiosity to the Bucs. This week’s topic is one in every of Tampa Bay’s most fascinating undrafted free agent additions: Josiah Inexperienced.
After enjoying three years at Dartmouth, beginning two, Inexperienced performed 2025 at Duke the place he amassed 37 tackles, 7.0 TFL’s and three.5 sacks. That pop within the ACC was sufficient to place him on the Bucs’ radar.
Josiah Inexperienced’s Manufacturing And Measurable Profiles
Inexperienced completed 2025 with an 84th percentile strain price, seventieth percentile go rush win price, 84th percentile sack price, 69th percentile conversion price, fifteenth percentile cease price, Seventh percentile sort out price, and fifth percentile missed sort out price. All of those percentiles have been derived from Professional Soccer Focus knowledge.
The stark cut up between his manufacturing as a go rusher and as a run defender is nearly precisely mirrored in his bodily and testing profile the place his size and weight fall at or close to the underside of the inhabitants whereas his testing numbers are close to the highest.
Each dimension measurement is within the backside 8% of the place. Each athletic measurement apart from the 40-yard is between the seventy fifth and 94th percentile. The 94th-percentile 10-yard cut up and agility testing (86th percentile quick shuttle and seventy fifth percentile 3-cone) are a very powerful for an inside go rusher, and he has each. He’s what he’s. He can’t be coached greater. He can’t develop longer arms. The body is locked in, and so is the athletic profile.
Each pass-rush metric is on the 69th percentile or larger. Each run-defense and tackling metric is on the fifteenth percentile or decrease. The body predicts the manufacturing. The manufacturing predicts the position.
Saturday Scouting The Tape
I watched three video games: 2025 N.C. State (week 4), Georgia Tech (week eight) and Clemson (week 10). My aim was to see if the tape matched the manufacturing cut up, or if there was one thing else inflicting the stark cut up. And let me let you know, they match.
What Works
Inexperienced wins when his first step wins. He has to disrupt earlier than the offensive line can set up latch, as a result of as soon as they do, his body works in opposition to him. When his burst will get him into the backfield clear, he creates actual issues for the offense. The Clemson tape included a fast A-gap penetration that compelled the quarterback to backpedal and throw off his again foot. Towards N.C. State, he compelled a fumble on an possibility handoff, blew up a large zone idea and freed the linebacker, and a recorded second-reaction sack off a stunt.
Georgia Tech was essentially the most encouraging sport. Eight distinct pass-rush strikes or strategies throughout 15 pass-rush snaps, together with a hump transfer, a rip-through in opposition to a reaching heart, and an inside step that beat a guard for a near-sack.
When he can harness it appropriately, Josiah Inexperienced’s means to penetrate the pocket abruptly is spectacular. pic.twitter.com/3MgZ6MdQlc
He flashes processing greater than the percentile profile suggests. Towards Georgia Tech particularly, his eyes received reps that his bodily instruments alone wouldn’t have received. He acknowledged a quarterback possibility swing and labored contained in the left sort out’s shoulder to make the cease. He learn a flash pretend and labored throughout the pocket to chase a rollout for late strain. It’s a good rope for him to stroll. He has to win fast as a run fitter which implies he has much less time to attend and watch the play develop.
His go rush expanded throughout the season. At N.C. State, his pass-rush wins have been nearly solely burst-and-rip. At Georgia Tech, he confirmed rip, hump, club-and-arm-over, stab-and-cross-hand long-arm, hand slap, inside step, and a salvage-rep bend. At Clemson, one of the best inside offensive line on his schedule, he beat the middle utilizing two totally different mechanisms. An arm-over for a strain and a quick-burst penetration for a strain and QB hit. He has a good bag that he isn’t afraid to make use of.
He has a leverage anchor in opposition to single blocks. Throughout all three video games, when he might set his pad degree earlier than contact and interact head-up, he held up in opposition to single defenders.
What Doesn’t Work
Inexperienced struggles to carry up in opposition to double groups. And it’s not a way concern. His smaller body will get overwhelmed regardless of his explosive decrease half. His Seventh-percentile weight and Eighth-percentile arm size make him uniquely weak to coordinated double groups, and in opposition to P4-caliber inside offensive linemen, he received moved off his spot or pushed vertically backward at a price that will be disqualifying for an every-down physique. Now think about that in opposition to NFL degree expertise.
Most worrisome is his missed sort out price. 22.0% in 2023, 17.6% in 2024 and 25.0% in 2025. These reps are actual and a sustainable concern. He creates disruption that places his physique in awkward positions the place his shorter arms can’t compensate. Throughout three video games, I logged seven performs the place he beat his man, arrived within the backfield with the ball-carrier in his sights, and didn’t make the sort out. Three of these misses have been attributed on to his quick arms. Essentially the most painful was a Clemson rep the place he looped across the line, knocked the best sort out again with a powerful punch, stopped and redirected upfield because the quarterback scrambled, and couldn’t corral the QB as a result of his arms couldn’t attain.
This helps clarify why he’s a high-pressure participant with simply 3.5 sacks final yr.
He can’t defeat wall-off blocks. When an offensive lineman will get to his entrance shoulder earlier than he can set up his personal leverage, he’s carried out. And whereas he has entry to an explosive first step that belies his 10-yard cut up pace, he can’t constantly discover it. Inexperienced struggles to time up snaps and win along with his burst on the common. He has nearly no margin if his get-off doesn’t beat the offensive line’s fingers. The Pistol extensive zone rep at N.C. State the place he vacated his hole and gave up a near-touchdown, the slow-snap reps the place he was taking a look at a false-start flag, and the late-flow reps on extensive zone away from him. All of those are reps the place he misplaced earlier than contact, and there was no path to restoration.
Josiah Inexperienced’s Path To Playtime
There’s a motive why Inexperienced wasn’t picked within the draft. He’s not an each down participant and he in all probability by no means might be. His run becoming is based on him penetrating gaps, however his inconsistency places his impression removed from Calijah Kancey. However his athleticism and go rush arsenal put him into an archetype the Bucs don’t have a lot of.
The sincere learn is that this: he’s a sub-package inside go rusher whose ceiling is “useful rotational piece on the right roster” and whose flooring is “developmental practice squad body whose traits are worth keeping in the building.” The Bucs being excessive on him is comprehensible. They don’t have a certified fill-in who can do the issues Kancey can as a go rusher. However Inexperienced may be capable of present that particular skillset in a restricted trend.
The Bucs inside defensive position carries six our bodies most years. The highest of that depth chart is well-defined. Vita Vea as the first nostril sort out. Kancey because the gap-penetrating 3-technique. A’Shawn Robinson supplies a backup nostril who can permit Vea to flex as want be. Elijah Roberts is a 5-technique who can moonlight as a 3t with some go rush prowess as a result of his spectacular hand combating. However his athleticism is proscribed which makes fast wins a rarity for him.
DeMonte Capehart is the wild card to the 2 deep. Usually there isn’t a lot in the best way of expectations for a fifth-round choose, however the Bucs assume they will unlock one thing in him. And in the event that they do, they might have a uncommon go speeding nostril sort out.
There’s 5. That final spot might be a free-for-all between Inexperienced, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Jayson Jones and Elijah Simmons. Inexperienced is totally totally different from the opposite three, who’re all sub-package nostril tackles. Inexperienced has the juice. He’s the one participant on the depth chart who actually profiles as a Kancey-light. And that provides him a novel alternative to seize the 53rd spot on the depth chart or grow to be a key follow squad elevation all year long.
The athleticism is actual. The archetype and go speeding traits are simply as actual. Josiah Inexperienced’s path to playtime is perhaps actual as effectively.
