The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are entering the offseason with one positional need that stands out among the rest: inside linebacker.
Lavonte David is widely expected to retire, but even if he stays for one more season, the team still desperately needs to upgrade the position.
Tampa Bay is expected to have interest in Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles, who is regarded as one of, if not the best inside linebackers in the draft. Styles boasts impressive size at 6-foot-5, 243 pounds, along with high-end speed and athleticism, while also offering elite coverage ability as a former safety.
Styles checks all the boxes as the perfect fit for the Buccaneers in the first round, but the Dallas Cowboys are the most likely team to prevent it from coming to fruition.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers could miss out on Sonny Styles after Dallas Cowboys release Logan Wilson
The Dallas Cowboys released Logan Wilson after acquiring him in a midseason trade from the Cincinnati Bengals.
Dallas now has a major need at inside linebacker, and they hold the 12th overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, ahead of the Buccaneers who pick at No. 15.
That could derail the Bucs’ draft plans if Styles is really their guy. Jason Licht has only traded up in the first round once during his tenure as Buccaneers general manager that dates back to 2014. But his one time trading up proved to pay dividends as the move landed the team Tristan Wirfs, who is on a Hall of Fame trajectory early in his career.
The front office will need to decide if they want Styles badly enough to break from their status quo and trade up ahead of Dallas — and potentially another linebacker-needy team in the Bengals who pick 10th — or if they’re willing to stay put and risk missing out on a perfect fit.
Luckily, this is a notably strong linebacker class. If Tampa Bay does miss out on Styles, there are plenty of strong options later in the draft, headlined by Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez, who is coming off one of the most impressive collegiate linebacker seasons of all time.
However they ultimately go about addressing it, the inside linebacker position needs to be the biggest priority in Tampa Bay this offseason.
Styles falling to the Bucs at No. 15 overall would be a gift from the football gods to immediately upgrade the position, but the Cowboys could now throw a major wrench in the Bucs’ plans.