The Buccaneers will rely on the draft more than ever as they try to keep the ship afloat after the departure of Tom Brady.
The sting of Tom Brady leaving the Buccaneers still hasn’t worn off. The GOAT leaving and taking most of Tampa’s relevance with him is difficult to stomach, but this was always going to come someday.
Now, the Bucs need to do everything in their power in free agency and the draft to keep this team as viable as possible, which means handling this class with a better hand than 2021.
Last year’s draft class for the Buccaneers was far from bad, but the focus on special teams hurt when injuries occurred at nearly every position.
Rather than searching for depth guys that will never make it on the field on offense or defense, the Buccaneers will need to find cheap starters that can limit the salary cap in year one, and that requires a different level of foresight.
For the sake of this mock draft, the Buccaneers need to do everything in their power to keep the defense intact for one more season, and they need to find ways to keep the price tag low on offense.
The Bucs could accomplish this by moving on from Alex Cappa, Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones, O.J. Howard, and Giovanni Bernard. This would be a lot of veterans on their way out, but it might be the only way to keep the unit intact for longer than one more season.
Here are the picks: