Daniel Te’o-Nesheim: A Buccaneer Unheralded Hero

This mind-boggling three-week span by the Buccaneers that has them sniffing a .500 record going to Oakland on Sunday comes to us from the efforts of the team’s given stars but more important, there are a lot of unheralded heroes emerging from One Buccaneer Place.

One of them is defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, No. 50 on your scorecard.

He was a force against the Minnesota Vikings. He had a sack and nearly two more, big pressures on quarterback Christian Ponder. He was stout against the run, call it his breakout game.

His task of replacing Adrian Clayborn was a tough one but if he continues in the direction he’s headed, the Bucs may have found a hidden gem.

The Philadelphia Eagles brought him into the NFL. They thought highly of him, taking him with the 86th overall selection in the 2010 draft. An injury set him back, relegated him to practice squad duty where the Bucs claimed him last year. That move by Mark Dominik is paying off.

Te’o-Nesheim is a long way from Pago Pago in American Samoa, where he was born. He lost his father at an early age. He was born Daniel Nesheim but later his mother suggested the change to reflect his Samoan heritage. He’s a former University of Washington Husky, now he’s every bit a “Buccaneer Man.”

His emergence has provided depth to the d-line, a unit that looked devoid of depth. And with the return of Da’Quan Bowers, things are looking so much better than they did a few weeks ago when Clayborn went down.

Unheralded? Perhaps. Overachieving? Perhaps. Or maybe all Te’o-Nesheim needed as the opportunity he now has in front of him.