With the seventh overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select…..well, this is where things get a bit tricky.
My Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-expert, James Yarcho, and I have been conducting a mock draft of our own over at the Locked on Bucs podcast and the results thus far have been interesting.
With the sixth pick set to be made this upcoming Wednesday Bradley Chubb, Quenton Nelson and Saquon Barkley are all still on the board. So unless the Colts find a way to pick all three, the Bucs are going to get one of the coveted players fans have been talking about all off-season.
But which one will it be? Well, according to NFL.com draft geeks Joe Klatt and Bucky Brooks, it’ll be neither.
On the network’s website there exists a dueling mock drafts video of sorts and there are several interesting picks from both gentlemen. Here’s the thing, while I don’t agree with each pick, I can’t argue they don’t hold a thread of logical thought in them either.
Let’s start with Klatt. First and foremost, he has Sam Darnold going to the Cleveland Browns. This isn’t a surprise obviously. No, the first surprise comes with the New York Jets.
In Klatt’s mock, gang green gets a quarterback – not a surprise – but with Josh Rosen still on the board they take Baker Mayfield out of Oklahoma.
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I’ve long identified the top three quarterbacks in the class as Darnold, Josh Allen and Rosen. In whatever order you choose, it’s those three. So, to see Mayfield just one of them is a bit of a surprise, even though it’s on the smaller side of shocking moments.
The real ‘whoa’ moment for me came at number five when the Denver Broncos pass on Rosen themselves and grab Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward.
Denver did lose Aqib Talib, but with Chris Harris and Bradley Roby still on the squad, I feel like they have the guys in place to pass on Ward and target another talented corner early in day two.
Now, on to Bucky Brooks. By far one of my favorite draft experts.
At the top of his draft he selected a quarterback for the Browns as well. But his was Josh Allen, not Darnold.
This doesn’t surprise me as much as it concerns me. Allen is not NFL ready. He’s a year or two away. Cleveland brought in Tyrod Taylor in a trade with Buffalo earlier this off-season and while I completely expect him to be the starter in 2018 no matter who the Browns pick, this is Hue Jackson we’re talking about.
The same head coach – quarterback guru – who completely wrecked Deshone Kizer by starting him too soon. And then benching him. And then starting him again. Yeah.
Allen comes across a bit tougher to me than Kizer, but still, throwing him to the NFL wolves too soon will have potentially disastrous results on the young quarterback’s confidence and development.
The next surprise came at number two. The Giants selected Bradley Chubb according to Brooks, and while there was a flare up of conversation about this possibility right after the team traded Jason Pierre-Paul to our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it’s fallen off for good reason.
The Giants have much to do and many holes to fill. Chubb is a good piece, but there are guys like Saquon Barkley out there who give the team a much bigger solution to a bigger concern.
Denver took a quarterback in Brooks’ version, and the rest of the draft went how you might expect. So what about the Bucs?
Klatt has Tampa trading out with Buffalo, and since this is just a Top-10 mock, Jason Licht doesn’t get a pick in this scenario.
Brooks gives the Buccaneers Derwin James with Chubb, Barkley, and Nelson all off the board.
Next: Is Barkley right for the Bucs?
Our mock draft has shaped up quite a bit differently than these two, and we’re getting close to what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might do!
Catch up with all of what’s been going over at the Locked on Bucs website, and come back to catch the next two picks as we continue our build-up towards the 2018 NFL Draft!