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When the draft got to the Middle rounds and the Tampa Bay Bucs were looking for an outside pass rush presence they took Steven Means from the Buffalo Bulls.
Means end in a 4-3 defense. In the 4-3 means was a terror in the backfield but when the Bulls made a change to the 3-4 under Coach Jeff Quinn there was a drop off in his numbers. The job of occupying linemen to free things up for Khalil Mack and the other linebackers might have hurt Means on the stat sheet but it gave him a great chance to round out his game.
A pure pass rusher in 2009 means evolved into an end that was effective against the run and aware enough to defend the pass in zone blitz situations. Still coming out of his senior year most believed means was, at best as a preferred free agent.
It was not until Means had a chance to show scouts from 20 teams what he could do at UB's pro day that the buzz around the Grover Cleveland product picked up. When means dropped a 4.6 40 the idea of him as an NFL linebacker took hold.
Not only have his pass rushing skills been proven in the 4-3 and the 3-4 but he rounded up more than 30 career tackles for loss, a couple of picks, and a handfull of blocked kicks.
Means would best work out as an elephant back or pass rushing linebacker. It was a role that many talented college pass rushing ends find themselves asked to fill in the NFL. Fast but light college ends have often worked in this role.
Tampa is using the middle rounds to stock up in the defensive Box, one round before Means they took William Gholston out of Michigan State.