Why the Buccaneers are one of the scariest teams in the NFL
By Rob Leeds
The past few Buccaneer draft classes have been stellar
One of the most optimistic sides of this Buccaneer team, the young players, is one of the biggest reasons to fear this team. Tampa Bay may not have it all put together yet, but once it clicks, the rest of the league is in trouble.
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In just the most recent draft class alone, the Bucs have two key starters in Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield Jr. Outside of that class, Tampa Bay had two other starters from the class in 2019, not counting Jamel Dean and Scott Miller, who are both playing starting-caliber reps.
Even the players who aren’t starting or playing massive roles still have a job to do and are doing it well, and this young depth helps now, but it could provide an enormous payoff down the road.
Jason Licht has received a sizable amount of flak over the years based on his draft choices, but these past few seasons have few massive misses other than kicker Matt Gay.
If Tampa Bay can continue drafting at this elite level, their young core will only continue to grow over the years, and their ceiling could extend beyond the Tom Brady-Bruce Arians era.