View pictures of the Buccaneers' fourth-round pick, Pitt S Jordan Whitehead. Photos by AP Images.
The Buccaneers took Jordan Whitehead out of the University of Pittsburgh with their 117th overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. Tampa Bay continues its efforts to fortify their secondary after taking two defensive backs in the second round, as well.
Whitehead was a two-way player at Pitt, starting nine games at safety and also taking snaps at running back for the Panthers. In his nine starts at the safety position in 2017, he recorded five pass breakups, a fumble recovery and 60 total tackles. As a running back, he totaled 142 yards on 9 attempts with two touchdowns.
During his Panther career, Whitehead totaled 234 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 15 passes defensed, two fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and three interceptions over 31 games at the safety position. At running back, the Aliquippa, Pennsylvania native rushed for 362 yards and five touchdowns with an 11.7 yards per carry average in 31 games played.
"I definitely think I'm a versatile safety," Whitehead said in a conference call on Saturday. "I can play free safety, can play the strong safety, can really play even in the nickel. I think I've got a lot of speed, I'm strong and [my] closing speed definitely helps."
The Bucs have had luck with safeties selected in the fourth round before, namely in Dexter Jackson. Jackson was selected in the fourth round of the 1999 NFL Draft out of Florida State University. He went on to have an illustrious six-year career with the Buccaneers, including a Super Bowl MVP nod in Tampa Bay's victory over Oakland in Super Bowl XXXVI.
Football runs in Whitehead's family. He is cousins with famed NFL corner back Darrelle Revis, who also played his collegiate years at Pitt.
"Growing up, I was at his draft party, so I got to experience that," Whitehead said about Revis. "And his mom was here today and she was excited. He gave me a lot of advice going through this process – stay humble, anything can happen throughout this weekend. He had a lot of camps I used to go to with him. He's definitely taught me a lot of different things. Actually, just watching him play I learned a lot. I really like to learn from him because he's my cousin and [I can] learn from the best."
The Bucs have now acquired DB M.J. Stewart, CB Carlton Davis and S Jordan Whitehead to address their secondary and have picks 144 and 202 remaining in the draft.
