Buccaneers Seven Round Mock Draft: Special Edition

I have to admit, the first time I saw Alabama’s O.J. Howard mocked to the Bucs I dismissed it rather quickly.

However, after re-looking at it, the Bucs do need to draft a tight end.

Howard will be gone before Tampa gets to sniff him, so Tampa will have to look at later rounds for their next tight end addition.

Enter Michael Roberts from Toledo, and enter Jason Licht’s fifth pick of the draft.

If you fell in love with Peyton Barber’s back story of struggle, take a look at Roberts’ sometime.

Roberts is all potential with very limited polish, which is just fine as the Bucs look to get a tight end in with passion who will mold his own game to what the team is trying to do.

He’s not the blocker the team would have gotten with Howard, but in the fifth-round, he represents an offensive weapon who could easily be used in two tight-end sets and force defenses to pick between he and Cameron Brate for coverage options.

These coaches have gotten some impressive play out of the undrafted Brate, and should be able to do so again with this day three selection as well.

The end result is a Bucs passing attack with dual tight ends, big play receivers at each level and a quarterback gutsy enough to throw to all of them.