ST. LOUIS — Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht didn’t quite know what to make of his team’s rush defense early on in training camp this past summer.
As he watched it struggle to stop running back Doug Martin each day, he couldn’t help but wonder if it might struggle to stop the run all year.
Given that Martin was coming off consecutive unproductive, injury-plagued seasons, that seemed like a distinct possibility, so Licht quickly took steps to correct what he feared might be a festering problem.
Just days after the Seahawks let veteran run-stuffer Tony McDaniel go in a cost-cutting move in early August, Licht pounced on McDaniel and signed him to a one-year deal.