{"id":41017,"date":"2016-04-30T13:37:57","date_gmt":"2016-04-30T18:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=41017"},"modified":"2016-04-30T21:32:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T02:32:07","slug":"bay-watch-norwesterns-vitale-heads-to-bucs-lowry-to-packers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/bay-watch-norwesterns-vitale-heads-to-bucs-lowry-to-packers\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Watch: Northwestern\u2019s Vitale heads to Bucs, Lowry to Packers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tolly Taylor<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn\u2019t just draft Danny Vitale in the sixth round Saturday.<\/p>\n

They drafted Danny Vitale, Superback.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like they want to play me as their fullback and as a second tight end as well,\u201d said Vitale, a hybrid \u201csuperback\u201d at Northwestern. \u201cThat\u2019s what I did in college, so I think they\u2019ll utilize my skill set the way that\u2019ll be a big advantage to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had their sites set on Danny Vitale and drafted him in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft Saturday. (NUSports.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two rounds earlier, the Green Bay Packers drafted Dean Lowry \u2026 but not before calling him about it, according to the Northwestern defensive end.<\/p>\n

Thompson: \u201cTell me why we should draft you right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry: \u201cI\u2019m a workhorse. I have a winner\u2019s mentality. And I want to play for the Packers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson: \u201cGood enough. We\u2019re going to draft you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former NFL safety Matt Bowen, now an analyst for ESPN and Bleacher Report, liked where both Northwestern players landed.<\/p>\n

Lowry?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is going to a great franchise, so he\u2019ll be very well coached,\u201d Bowen said. \u201c(Thompson) is looking for really stout, solid football players. They\u2019re a 3-4 base defense, so he\u2019ll be a rotational guy as a rookie. But they\u2019ll do different things with
\nhim because he does have some upside, some athletic ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitale?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he contributes on special teams, and I think he will, that\u2019ll be the thing that impresses coaches the most,\u201d Bowen said. \u201cAnd if he impresses them, they\u2019ll find more ways to get him in the football game. \u2026 My biggest thing with him is the versatility he brings. He can play H-back, he can play fullback, he\u2019s nasty at the point of attack, he\u2019s physical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry\u2019s versatility also helped. Packers director of player personnel Eliot Wolf told the Packers\u2019 website the team liked that the defensive end could line up inside, too, or even stand up as a rusher.<\/p>\n

Lowry was named second-team All-Big Ten as a senior, finishing with 52 tackles, 13 for loss, and three sacks. The 6-foot-6, 296-pounder set a school record with six tackles for loss against Nebraska last season.<\/p>\n

The Rockford native said he\u2019s happy to go to Green Bay and that his friends and fellow Bears fans will support him \u2014 for two games every year.<\/p>\n

\"Dean
Dean Lowry told Packers general manager Ted Thompson he would be “a work horse.” (Northwestern Athletic Department)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Still, he hadn\u2019t seen the Packers coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hadn\u2019t talked to them during the process,\u201d Lowry said, \u201cso I was a little surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Lowry, who had heard he might go as early as the third round, the waiting to be drafted was tense until he went in the fourth.<\/p>\n

Vitale knows the feeling, which lasted until Round 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was starting to get nervous, but in the end I\u2019m really happy with the selection,\u201d said Vitale, who also was second-team All-Big Ten, with 33 catches for 355 yards and four touchdowns last season. \u201cEvery time they (the Bucs) popped up on the bottom of
\nthe screen, my heart started to race. I had a feeling I\u2019d end up there, so I\u2019m really happy they decided to pick me.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason Vitale thought he would land in Tampa Bay. After a private workout in March, he said, Bucs running backs coach Jim Spencer told him he wanted the team to \u201ccome and get me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Danny Vitale cheers on Dean Lowry during a workout at TCBOOST Sports Performance in Northbrook, Ill. prior to the 2016 NFL Draft. (Tolly Taylor\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tolly Taylor The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn\u2019t just draft Danny Vitale in the sixth round Saturday. They drafted Danny Vitale, Superback. \u201cIt sounds like they want to play me as their fullback and as a second tight end as well,\u201d said Vitale, a hybrid \u201csuperback\u201d at Northwestern. \u201cThat\u2019s what I did in college, so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":41115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2677,492,31,2582],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-41017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-nfl-draft","category-nfl-draft","category-sports","category-spring-2016","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nBay Watch: Northwestern\u2019s Vitale heads to Bucs, Lowry to Packers - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/bay-watch-norwesterns-vitale-heads-to-bucs-lowry-to-packers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bay Watch: Northwestern\u2019s Vitale heads to Bucs, Lowry to Packers - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Tolly Taylor The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn\u2019t just draft Danny Vitale in the sixth round Saturday. They drafted Danny Vitale, Superback. \u201cIt sounds like they want to play me as their fullback and as a second tight end as well,\u201d said Vitale, a hybrid \u201csuperback\u201d at Northwestern. \u201cThat\u2019s what I did in college, so […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/bay-watch-norwesterns-vitale-heads-to-bucs-lowry-to-packers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-30T18:37:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-01T02:32:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/VitaleLowry-e1462060535316.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"618\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"talbottaylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"talbottaylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/bay-watch-norwesterns-vitale-heads-to-bucs-lowry-to-packers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/bay-watch-norwesterns-vitale-heads-to-bucs-lowry-to-packers\/\",\"name\":\"Bay Watch: Northwestern\u2019s Vitale heads to Bucs, Lowry to Packers - 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