We've reached the finish line for NFL Draft speculation. Months of trying to figure out which prospect will land on which team will either get proven right or wrong when the first round gets underway on Thursday night.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans still have no idea what the team is going to do, even though we have a mildly decent idea of what the landscape looks like. Jason Licht isn't known to show his cards too early, which is why the Bucs are always ripe for some surprising predictions.
Something along those lines is happening in the final hours before the draft starts, with the Bucs all of a sudden getting linked to a player who could end up being a mistake.
Buccaneers taking star WR in Round 1 would be a pretty big mistake
In his one and only NFL Mock Draft, ESPN's Peter Schrager (which still feels weird to say) has the Buccaneers taking Arizona star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan with the No. 19 pick. This is a bit stunning for a few reasons, not the least of which being that this would mean the first true wide receiver isn't taken until the Bucs are on the clock near the back-half of the first round.
McMillan isn't a bad player, and Tampa Bay's roster will no doubt be better than it is now with him on it. The question is whether adding him creates the best possible version of the roster and it's hard to make that argument given what else is on the board in this scenario.
Schrager still has Shemar Stewart and James Pearce Jr., two players at positions of need, still available for the Bucs to take. Pearce, specifically, is a name to watch as he goes to the Chiefs in this mock draft along the same reasoning that led the team to land George Karlaftis a few years ago.
Tampa Bay had the chance to take Karlaftis back in 2022 but opted to trade down and draft Logan Hall instead. It feels like a pass rush-needy team wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
Then again, drafting a flashy offensive weapon is a move that would no doubt make some fans happy. It would also be a move that invests in first-year offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard as well, so there's definitely upside to the move.
This isn't the first time the idea of the Bucs taking a wide receiver in the first round has been floated, and it's never been that great of an idea. Again, it's not inherently disastrous, since McMillan would add some firepower to the offense. But it would signal a fundamental change in philosophy toward being a more offensively-focused team over the defensive monster we've seen work in years past.
One bad year for the defense shouldn't signal a wholesale shift in how the team tries to win. The Bucs are built to smother teams while being able to win shootouts when neccessary. Taking a skill position player over someone like Pearce or Sherman suggests that sort of mindset.
Perhaps the best news here is this: there's really no going wrong for the Bucs in the first round. If their biggest mistake is taking the best pure-wideout in the draft, then things are going pretty great.
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