Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Who is the pick at seven?

James Yarcho

It pains me to do this. Truly, it does. My big takeaway from this upcoming draft is I want to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers walk away with a new feature/primary running back. Knowing that Saquon Barkley will be gone puts the Bucs in a precarious position. Can they justify drafting Derrius Guice at seven? They could if he turns out to be as good as some – myself included – believe he will be. Could they trade back? Possibly, but they would need a partner and an impressive return.

At the end of the day, I believe the Buccaneers stay at seven and take the best player on their board – safety Derwin James.

I did the draft profile on James nearly a month ago and came away impressed with what I saw. It wasn’t without flaws or question marks, but James is a freak athlete that can impact the pass defense in a big way.

I’m not in love with the idea of a safety at number seven, but given the impact James could *potentially* have, I understand the infatuation the Buccaneers apparently have in James. I just hope that if he is indeed the pick, Mike Smith uses him appropriately and allows him to take on some of these big targets within the NFC South man-on-man and doesn’t handicap his raw talent by keeping him in zone all the time.

Safety, cornerback, and running back are the three most glaring needs on this roster right now, so getting an impact guy that can flourish at the NFL level is key with the number seven pick. If they miss on this one, it could spell the beginning of the end for quite a few people inside One Buc Place.