Steven Means is trying to become the first Tampa Bay Buccaneer ever from the University at Buffalo. Suddenly, he has some competition for that honor.
On Tuesday, the Buccaneers announced the signing of sixth-year defensive end Trevor Scott, who played the 2012 season in New England after four years with the Oakland Raiders. Scott has appeared in 72 NFL games with 18 starts and has recorded 111 tackles, 16.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and one pass defensed.
Scott's senior season at Buffalo was 2007, one year before Means arrived. The Raiders drafted Scott in the sixth round in 2008, with the 169th overall pick; the Buccaneers selected Means in the fifth round in 2013, with the 147th overall pick. Scott was one of only four UB alumni playing in the NFL in 2012, and the only defensive end in that group.
Scott (6-5, 255) made the Raiders' regular-season roster as a rookie and played in all 16 games, recording five sacks, including his first two against Green Bay's Brett Favre on October 18. The following season, Scott recorded a career-best seven sacks while making six starts in 16 appearances. He cracked the starting lineup on a regular basis in 2010 but lost the last six games of the season to an ACL tear. Scott returned to play one more season in Oakland before signing with the Patriots as an unrestricted free agent in the spring of 2012. He started two of the 14 games in which he played for New England and contributed three sacks before once again becoming an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Of course, the "race" to become the first University at Buffalo product to make the Bucs' regular-season roster could end in a tie if both Means and Scott survive the upcoming cuts. Head Coach Greg Schiano made it clear last week, while the team was holding a series of joint practices with the Patriots, that the Buccaneers' defensive line picture has yet to be fully resolved.
"There are no starting jobs right now," said Schiano. "Guys are competing on the defensive front. You've got Gerald McCoy – that's a guy who is definitely starting. If AC [defensive end Adrian Clayborn] can come back healthy, then he's definitely starting. After that it's wide open."
