Tampa Bay Buccaneers: NFL War Room makes three picks for Tampa
There are plenty of theories floating around about who the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will nab in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks weighed in as part of their “Path To The Draft” series, and even took a look into the second round.
Both men had the same thought process in mind when selecting the first pick for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Get better on offense. Specifically, get better in the running game.
Bucky kicked off the mock drafting by sending Penn State running back Saquon Barkley to the Bucs at number seven.
By calling Barkley a, “dynamic running back”, the theory here is adding the versatility of a guy who can run inside or out and make plays in the passing game will open up the Tampa offense a little more.
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In theory, if successful it would certainly force linebackers and safety to play a little closer to the line of scrimmage and afford guys like DeSean Jackson even more opportunities to sneak in behind the defense.
In the same vein, but at a different level of the running game, DJ went with Notre Dame’s Quenton Nelson for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Perhaps more likely to fall to seven, nobody who’s been following the draft build-up is unaware of the reputation Nelson has built up for himself.
Bottom line up front. He makes whatever offensive line he joins better in both performance and temperament.
When the duo got into the second round speculation though, a name which hasn’t been tied to the Bucs as much came up.
Both men agreed Jessie Bates III out of Wake Forest would be a solid grab for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second round.
Brooks credited Bates’ baseball background as contributing to his ability to play the ball. He’s much more of a cover safety than a run support guy, but then the knock on Justin Evans coming out of the 2017 NFL Draft was that he was too run focused and not good enough in coverage.
Evans proved those detractors wrong and showed great strides in pass coverage. Adding a player like Bates to the Tamps defensive backfield allows the duo to play with flexibility, and if Bates can become as good a tackler as he is pass defender, then they could turn into quite the pairing back there.
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Interesting picks coming out of the NFL Network studios. What do you think about the idea of pairing Barkley/Nelson with a safety like Bates?
Sound off in the comments or on social media with your thoughts.