Prince Amukamara is a player the Bucs might jump at.

The class of corners in this year’s draft is a bit thin, there’s a few very good ones and then things drop off considerably. If the Bucs are looking for someone that can play their rookie year and swim instead of sink, the pickings are thin. That’s why I’m skeptical of Rick Stroud‘s report the Bucs plan to cut Aqib Talib. Without free agency, with Ronde Barber aging and with a thin class of NFL-ready corners, whose going to replace him?

The Bucs aren’t going to have a shot at Patrick Peterson, the price is just too high to move into the top 3-5 picks and grab him. If he fell to the bottom half of the top ten the conversation would probably come up in the Bucs’ war room but that’s still a pretty high price. We can talk about that later. Going on the understanding Peterson is out of the picture though, there are two options, we looked at Jimmy Smith over the weekend, the other is Prince Amukamara.

Now, the Buccaneers aren’t going to have a shot at Amukamara at 20 unless the stars align. They won’t. But if Prince falls to 15, which still isn’t likely (though Pat Kirwan has the Dolphins selecting Amukamara at 15, trust me they won’t), things could get interesting. If Prince makes it to Miami at 15 the Dolphins are a team desperately looking to move down. The Brandon Marshall trade cost the Dolphins two second round picks, they pick 15th and then not again until round three. If the Bucs really are serious about moving on from Aqib Talib, Amukamara is a the kind of high-character, Ronde Barber-like replacement they would dream about. If that’s the Bucs’ plan they’d jump at the chance for an alpha corner like Prince Amukamara.

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Patrick Peterson is the best player in the 2011 NFL Draft.

The Bucs enter 2011 with a bit of uncertainty at corner. Ronde Barber is getting a little long in the tooth and Aqib Talib can’t keep out of trouble. The Bucs seemed pretty set at the position just a couple of months ago, but today things don’t look so clear. If the Bucs weren’t considering drafting a corner this year before, they almost have to now. Regardless of what determination the team comes to on Aqib Talib this year, I don’t see them wanting to invest a lot in him long-term. Either this year or next the Bucs are going to need to target a top-tier corner.

This isn’t a bad class for corners, but in truth there are really only two or three clear-cut studs in the class and a lot of prospects with questions facing them. The Bucs, at 20, likely won’t get the top two corners in the class and will have to decide whether or not they want to roll the dice on another DB with potential character issues. Chances are Tampa will look front seven in round one, spend a mid-round pick on a corner and then revisit the position in free agency or again next year.

Here are the top corners in the 2011 NFL Draft:

1.) Patrick Peterson, LSU – Peterson is the unquestioned best player in the 2011 NFL Draft. How dominant was Peterson last year in college? He won the Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defender, the Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back and was named the SEC’s Defensive and Special Teams MVP’s. And he did it as a junior. Peterson is just 20 but he has the kind of athleticism and instincts that rarely come in one package, he combines ideal size for a corner with 4.31 speed and freakish athletic ability. There are little things here and there that Peterson can address to improve his game, but he is the most complete player with arguably the highest ceiling of anyone in the 2011 draft class. Peterson will be out-of-the-box ready for the NFL, he’ll contribute immediately on defense and special teams (he is an elite return-man) and should develop into an upper-echelon cover corner.

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