The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be relying on second-year players to fulfill key roles this season. Most of the team’s edge rush will have to come from former second-rounder Noah Spence, while Vernon Hargreaves will start at cornerback. And then there’s Roberto Aguayo, who may or may not hold on to his kicking job this year.
That reliance on second-year playersmakes one think of a very specific NFL story: the dreaded sophomore slump, the bane of all hyped-up second-year players. Be afraid, the myth says.
But SB Nation’s Jeanna Thomas notes that second-year performance depends on so many things that speaking of a generic second-year slump based on a few dubious, prominent examples is silly.