The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Will Pick 9th in the 2016 NFL Draft

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have their 6th top-10 draft pick in the last ten years.

Entering Week 17, the Buccaneers were seeded 9^th in the upcoming NFL Draft.  Following a loss to those same Panthers, the Buccaneers finished the season with a 6-10 record and maintained that position.

With a ten loss record the Buccaneers finish tied with the Miami Dolphins, New York Giants and Chicago Bears.  When determining tie breakers for draft positions, the league uses strength of schedules.  This means the league calculates the win/loss records of each teams’ opponents and combines them all into one win/loss record and winning percentage; this then is assigned as the teams’ strength of schedule.

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Ahead of the ten loss teams will be the following seven teams:

1. Tennessee Titans (3-13)
2. Cleveland Browns (3-13)
3. San Diego Chargers (4-12)
4. Dallas Cowboys (4-12)
5. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-11)
6. Baltimore Ravens (5-11)
7. San Francisco 49ers (5-11)

Following pick 7 is where our four teams fill in, from lowest strength of schedule to highest:

1. Miami Dolphins
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
3. New York Giants
4. Chicago Bears

One singular player can make or break a team’s entire draft strategy, and it is not unusual for a team to package multiple picks and/or players in a trade attempt to move ahead of other teams looking to draft players in the same positions of need.

Looking at the current roster, and without predicting any free agent or trade acquisitions, the Buccaneers’ biggest needs are at cornerback, defensive end, and offensive line.  Of the teams ahead of them in the draft order the Jaguars and Dolphins seem to be the most similar to the Buccaneers in terms of needs.

Following close behind them, the Giants, Bears, and Saints are all teams within striking distance of trading ahead of the Buccaneers in order to take a player the Buccaneers may be targeting.

With so many teams needing similar type players, it’ll be interesting to see the wheeling and dealing known to occur before the clock starts and in between picks.

The last cornerback taken at #9 overall was Alabama’s Dee Milliner, by the New York Jets in 2013.

This will be the 19^th time the Buccaneers will have a top-10 draft pick in what will be their 41^st season in the NFL.  If the Buccaneers do not trade out of the 9^th overall selection, this would be the first time in team history they select in this position.

Some notable players selected 9^th overall in the past are the Carolina Panthers’ Luke Keuchly, Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr, and former Bears great Brian Urlacher.  The last cornerback taken at #9 overall was Alabama’s Dee Milliner by the New York Jets in 2013.