The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have no shortage of defensive needs to address during the 2026 NFL Draft. While edge rusher and inside linebacker remain the most pressing needs, momentum has been building for the Buccaneers to draft a cornerback with their first-round draft pick.
ESPN's Peter Schrager is regarded as one of the most accurate forecasters in the business when it comes to the NFL Draft. Rather than making picks based off of best team fits or the consensus draft board, he makes his mock drafts solely based on the intel he has gathered from his many sources around the NFL.
In Schrager’s first official mock draft, he projects that Tampa Bay will in fact draft a cornerback in one of the biggest steals of the first round, but it frankly doesn’t make any sense for the Buccaneers
Jermod McCoy is a draft-day steal that still makes no sense for Buccaneers
Jermod McCoy was an elite cover cornerback back in 2024, with a top-ten coverage grade via Pro Football Focus.
He’d be a lock for a top-ten draft pick, if not for a torn ACL last January that kept him out for the entire 2025 season. Sure, he’s fully healed now and his stock is on the rise after running a 4.38 40-yard dash, but the Buccaneers are in no place to invest a first-rounder in a player coming off an injury.
Tampa Bay spent both of their Day 2 picks at the cornerback position last year, drafting Benjamin Morrison in the second round and Jacob Parrish in the third round.
Morrison, like McCoy, went later than expected due to his injury history. Morrison’s injury concerns wasted no time rearing their ugly head during his rookie campaign. He dealt with a nagging hamstring injury that kept him out for much of the team’s offseason work and preseason before missing seven regular season games.
The team also signed Zyon McCollum to a significant three-year, $48 million deal with the expectation he’ll be the team’s No. 1 cornerback of the future.
There’s not an immediate starting cornerback spot available, so investing a first-rounder at the position is essentially waving the white flag on one of the cornerbacks the team invested heavily in just a year ago.
It absolutely makes sense for the Buccaneers to draft a cornerback and bolster the depth at some point, but they’d be better served doing it later in the draft or better yet, signing an experienced veteran cornerback if they’re not confident in their existing group.
The first round should be reserved to an immediate impact player at a position of need, and right now, the Bucs’ first-round selection would be better utilized on a pass rusher or inside linebacker than a cornerback coming off an injury.