Daniel Jeremiah released his first NFL Mock Draft for 2020 and had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selecting a quarterback in the first round.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be tasked with a plethora of options when the franchise is one the clock with the No. 14 overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The Buccaneers have several areas on their roster to address, including the lines of scrimmage and defensive backfield. Much of the positions and needs in the draft will become clearer once we see what the Buccaneers elect to do in free agency with several unrestricted free-agents potentially hitting the open-market.
NFL Media Analyst Daniel Jeremiah released his first mock draft Tuesday and had four quarterbacks going in the first 15 picks, one of which was headed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Jeremiah projected that the Buccaneers select Oregon QB Justin Herbert with the No. 14 overall pick, making him the fourth quarterback taken off the board.
As rumors and speculation continues to swirl, it’s becoming a little more likely that the Bucs will, indeed, elect to look elsewhere for their quarterback than to re-sign Jameis Winston for the position.
Several analysts speculated that the Buccaneers could be interested in signing veteran QB Philip Rivers as a ‘bridge QB’ to a younger rookie, most likely Jacob Eason in the second-round.
However, Justin Herbert is a much more intriguing selection for the Bucs when you think about Bruce Arians’ system.
Herbert is a stout QB with a strong arm. He was overlooked for some individual awards at the collegiate level, but the truth is that he was one of the better quarterbacks in the country, especially as the season progressed.
Out of all the quarterbacks not named Joe Burrow or Tua Tagovailoa, Herbert has potentially the highest-upside and is the most-ready to come in and compete immediately. He’s had his fair share of bad outings- as has every other QB in this draft- but his arm talent is off-the-charts and a selection here would make sense if the Buccaneers do elect to go away from Winston.
At this point, I still think conventional wisdom has Tampa Bay re-signing Winston (potentially using a franchise tag) and looking at addressing the lines of scrimmage in the first-round, but we’re still a few months out from the draft and it will be interesting to see how things unfold in free agency.