The Buccaneers may love their 2021 rookie class, but very few have any chance of starting outside of special teams any time soon.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been dedicated over the past few years to building their roster on young depth. Rookies and other young players from the last few seasons were pivotal leading up to and in winning the Super Bowl, but 2021 could see a change on this front.
While Tampa loved to lean on reliable talent like Tristan Wirfs, Antoine Winfield Jr., Devin White, and Sean Murphy-Bunting when it mattered most, the Bucs have to hope that their rookies see the field very little this season.
With all of the starters returning from last season, the youngest players on the field for the majority of the snaps should be the ones entering their sophomore seasons rather than rookies, even if this counters recent thinking by the front office.
The Bucs made a conscious effort to make their special teams unit better in the draft, but this doesn’t mean that these players will ever see the field on offense or defense, which will be interesting to watch as they grow in the NFL.
Some of these rookies could expand their roles and move into starting positions as early as next season, but the ones that follow have the toughest challenge ahead to start.