Buccaneers' Clinton McDonald: Solid showing over 12 games in 2016

McDonald totaled 36 tackles (25 solo), including three for loss, along with 3.5 sacks over 12 games in the 2016 season.

Analysis:

The veteran tackle was able to play double the amount of games he had in 2015, when a pectoral injury cut short what was on pace to be a career season. He didn't exactly escape 2016 injury-free, as a hamstring injury cost him four games midway through the campaign. However, McDonald was once again productive when healthy, albeit not to the same extent as he'd been a year earlier. He posted six- and eight-tackle efforts in Weeks 3 and 4, and he was once again solid in the run game overall, posting the second-best tackle total of his seven-season career. He seemed to adapt well to the nuances of new defensive coordinator Mike Smith's scheme, which called for him to be a part of a wider variety of personnel groupings than in former head coach Lovie Smith's system. On the books for a modest $2 million cap hit in 2017, McDonald figures to once serve as a dependable presence in the middle of the Bucs' defensive line.