Buccaneers: New Orleans Saints players to watch in week 17

One team playing for a playoff game home-field advantage the other playing for a potential top-five pick this game might be pretty one-sided early. Which Saints players to the Buccaneers have to focus on to prevent that from happening?

With another division game coming down to the final minutes the Buccaneers are firmly sitting at a top ten pick in this year’s upcoming draft, for the fourth time in five years. With a loss and some help, the Buccaneers could get the fourth pick or at worst the ninth pick. New Orleans needs a win or a Panthers loss to lock in home field advantage for the Wild Card round. The game was flexed to 4:25 so both teams won’t know the final outcome until the final buzzer sounds on the 2017 NFL regular season. The Buccaneers coaching staff might already know their fate but they are going to try and make a statement in the final game of the season.

The Saints cannot get a bye but they are not going to want to travel to Los Angeles or Carolina when they could take on a Wild Card team in the Superdome. Jameis Winston is 2-3 against the Saints, with him leaving the game early this season, playing pretty average in all of them. If the Bucs are going to win this game they are going to need a big performance from him. If Winston can limit the turnovers he’s been playing lights out so anything is possible. While a win now means a worse pick later it could send the Bucs on a high note to next season.