A lot of things happened over the course of the NFL Draft that left more than a few pundits scratching their heads. The drama with Shedeur Sanders ended up dominating most of the talking points, which takes some attention away from what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did in the first round.
Tampa Bay took Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka with the No. 19 overall pick, despite that being one of the few spots on the roster that didn't actively need attention.
Buccaneers GM Jason Licht explained in the immediate aftermath of the pick why he made the decision, but he dove even deeper a few days later.
Licht was on The Pat McAfee Show and pulled back the curtain on what went into the decision to draft Egbuka with the No. 19 pick. It turns out that one of the loudest voices not only on draft night but over the last two months about taking him was head coach Todd Bowles.
Todd Bowles was a driving force behind the Buccaneers drafting Emeka Egbuka
It was the fact that he was so excited about Egbuka that led Licht to not overthink the pick, even if it involved passing on players at greater positions of need.
"When you have a defensive head coach like Todd [Bowles], and he's raving about this guy and excited throughout the whole draft process hoping that he's going to be there for us, then that's a great tell," Licht said. "There were multiple defensive players we could have taken there and felt good about it, but [Egbuka] was the unanimous 'we need this guy, we can't let his guy slip us' ... let's just take him and be happy."
That's pretty big to have a coach like Bowles pass on adding talent to his side of the ball in order to draft Egbuka. It says a lot about the type of talent he brings to the team, and how the Bucs are approaching next season.
For most of this decade the Bucs have won with defense, holding teams down and letting a functional offense take it the rest of the way. With a stacked wide receiver room, in addition to having guys like Bucky Irving, Rachaad White, and Cade Otton on the field, Tampa Bay is now built to also win by blowing team away.
It's something made even more notable by the defense's struggles over the last few seasons. Last year was particularly tough, as Bowles' usually reliable defense failed to hold up its end of the bargain. That thankfully didn't result in a completely lost season -- even if losing in the Wild Card isn't necessarily a successful season -- but it raised some concern about how the team is constructed.
Drafting Egbuka is also an investment in Baker Mayfield and first-year offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard. The fact that this all came from Bowles raving about a guy on the other side of the ball is yet another feather in his leadership cap.
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