Getty Ladarius Hamilton celebrates with a teammate in 2019.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers edge rusher LaDarius Hamilton sees things trending in the right direction for himself upon recently signing with the team.
Dallas waived the outside linebacker on May 6 after a season on the practice squad. The Cowboys picked up Hamilton as an undrafted free agent from North Texas in 2020. Hamilton, posted 16 sacks, 122 tackles, an interception, and a forced fumble in his career at North Texas.
His arrival makes it three former North Texas players on the Bucs roster. Hamilton reacted to a tweet by professional development coach Johnnie Mack on the Bucs claiming three former Mean Green players. The Bucs took speedy wide receiver Jaelon Darden in the NFL Draft and signed cornerback Nate Brooks on May 6 per Buccaneers.com’s Scott Smith.
“Denton to Tampa. That makes three of y’all,” Mack exclaimed. “Congrats to Hamilton.”
“It’s up now,” Hamilton replied, adding a trending chart emoji.
Hamilton made it two linebackers picked up by the Bucs since the draft. The team signed former Denver Broncos linebacker Joseph Jones on Wednesday. Greg Auman of The Athletic noted that such additions give the Bucs players competition for final roster spots come training camp. Auman wittingly added that North Texas is becoming a “pipeline” for the Bucs as of late.
Mean in Green
Hamilton, who mostly played defensive end in college, finished his North Texas days strong with 15 sacks in his final two seasons. The 6-3, 260-pound edge rusher played linebacker his first season with the Mean Green and then switched to defensive end.
He impressed scouts with his NFL Scouting Combine performance per North Texas sports information. His bench press of 27 reps tied him for 10th among 38 defensive linemen participants. Hamilton’s 20-yard shuttle time of 4.49 seconds put him at 11th among 26 participants. He also finished in the top 17 of all other areas: the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, broad jump, and the three-cone drill.
Nate Brooks Adds to Bucs Defensive Back Competition
Brooks played nine or more games every season in college at North Texas from 2015 through 2018 and tallied 193 tackles, 19 pass deflections, and 10 interceptions in his career. He ranked third nationally in 2018 for interceptions and made the Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist list per Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times.
Brooks’ impact also helped the Mean Green win nine regular season games in each of his final two seasons.
He began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent with the Arizona Cardinals in 2019. The Cardinals waived him, and the New England Patriots picked him up for their practice squad per Pro Football Talk’s Myles Simmons.
Brooks finally got his shot on the field with Miami in two games during the 2019 season where he made 11 tackles and two pass deflections. He played in one game for the Baltimore Ravens during the 2020 season, also spending time on the practice squad.
Tampa had Brooks on its radar, having worked out for the team twice in 2020 according to Knight. The Bucs increased their competition for defensive back and special teams spots with the additions of Brooks, Raven Greene earlier in the week and former BYU cornerback Chris Wilcox via the draft per Knight.
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