Jordan Whitehead: Let It Show
Getting to the NFL is hard.
Proving yourself in the NFL is even harder.
Proving people wrong while in the NFL? Well, that’s just motivation and sometimes sweet revenge. And One Buccaneer Place is housing some of the most motivated young guys in the League. It’s one thing to be doubted before the work is actually put in. But to still be counted out or dismissed after there’s been substantial evidence is blasphemous to hard working players.
The offense is stacked with more than few guys that are carrying chips on their shoulders. And most of those guys are veteran players. On the other side of the ball, the vast majority are younger players with 3yrs or fewer in the League looking to make a name for themselves. And they, too, are looking to play pissed off. Ready to prove naysayers and overlookers wrong.
Jordan Whitehead is entering his 3rd season eager to leave no doubt about what he brings to the table.
As a 4th Round selection in the 2018 draft, not a lot of fans had Whitehead on their radar. So it was a pleasant surprise for many to have the former Pittsburgh Panther step in and start so early into his career. By Week 6 of his rookie season, he became a regular starter after Isaiah Johnson went down to injury. Whitehead was playing next to Justin Evans, another young standout at the safety position who was trying to make his name known early into his career. Both guys had similar traits and characteristics. Relatively smaller safeties that were aggressive playing the ball on passes and love to come down to hit on run plays.
Unfortunately, they only got to play together for 4 weeks before a foot injury sidelined Evans for the rest of the season. He’s still battling a similar injury today after missing the entire 2019 campaign. Jordan went on to complete his rookie season looking like a pretty solid contributor. There was definitely enough to say he was a damn good pick up. But there was room for improvement . And that was to be expected.
Whitehead’s 2nd season saw him with a slight uptick in production.
He started every game he played in.
He played at least 90% of the defensive snaps in 12 of the 14 games he appeared in.
He doubled his passes defensed from 4 to 9.
He ranked among the highest of DBs for pressures on the QB.
Ranked #4 among Safeties in TFLs with 4
57% Pass Completion vs 69% Pass Completion in 2018*
The 2019 season got cut short due to a hamstring injury in week 15. But Whitehead made his presence known and showed marked improvement.
Jordan Whitehead went from being what lots of fans consider a throwaway draft pick to being a key contributor to the defense. Yet, he’s still written off or ignored by too many. He especially took issue with PFF not mentioning his name when addressing the BUCS secondary as being the 16th best in the NFL.
Played damn near every snap for the defense last year . Y’all gone stop acting like I don’t make plays https://t.co/fyETE35NjA
— jordan whitehead (@jwhite_333) July 29, 2020
Whitehead vs More recognized safety
For the past couple seasons, there’s grown an affinity for a star safety among some BUCS fans. There’s been a desire to see a guy that can cover a WR or TE and also be fearless to take on any RB. Justin Evans was one of those types before the injury. And Whitehead is someone in the same mold that shouldn’t be slept on.
And he’s out to leave no doubt that this upcoming season.
