In a little over two weeks, the Buccaneers and 31 other NFL teams will set-off to bring in free-agents from around the league in hopes of triggering a Super Bowl winning formula.
For the Buccaneers specifically, there are plenty of options available, and plenty of areas they need to address.
What the team does during middle of March will dictate what they do in the 2018 NFL Draft. The path isn’t clear though, so we took to our round table format to see what the path looks like for every writer on staff here at the Pewter Plank.
So, with that, we bring you three predictions from each writer on what exactly will happen when Tampa Bay joins the free-agency feeding frenzy.
Michael Horan
1) The Buccaneers will not be deterred by past failures in free agency and will be extremely active in their pursuit of outside help. I expect the Bucs to target at least three positions of extreme need via free agency from a pool of offensive guard, defensive end, defensive tackle, cornerback, strong safety, and running back. The Bucs need to win immediately next season and can’t do that by relying solely on the draft. They have the cap space available to be aggressive while also saving enough to pay Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, Kwon Alexander, and Ali Marpet. Tampa Bay should be in the mix for big time talents such as cornerback Kyle Fuller, running back Jerrick McKinnon, guard Josh Sitton (more on him in a minute), or defensive end Ezekial Ansah.
2) Free agent guard Josh Sitton will be among the Buccaneers earliest targets when the free agency period begins. After a long career with the Green Bay Packers, Sitton was released and then signed by the Chicago Bears last season. In an effort by the team to go younger and save money, the Lions cut Sitton, but the 31 year old still has a lot of football left. Pro Football Focus declared him the best pass blocking guard in football as recently as November, and his grades on the season were high across the board. Injuries have been a problem with Sitton over the last two seasons, but in the previous four he didn’t miss a single start. The Bucs are extremely weak at offensive guard and should swoop in quickly on an established vet like Sitton. For added measure, Sitton is a Florida native, born in Jacksonville and schooled by the University of Central Florida.
3) By the time the Buccaneers are finished with free agency, they’ll be free to truly select the best player available in the NFL draft. Everybody says that you should draft for best talent instead of biggest need, but it often times doesn’t work like that. Teams naturally value the pressing issues over the less pressing issues, and when push comes to shove it generally makes more sense to focus on plugging the biggest leak. I think the Buccaneers will be aggressive enough in free agency to plug the major leaks and give them true flexibility at pick seven, including aggressively seeking a trade out.