After a brutal loss in Week 9 — the fourth in a row for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — it might be time to start thinking about the future.
The season is far from over, and the Bucs are just a couple of wins away from getting right back into the playoff race. New Orleans has a two game lead, but Tampa Bay owns one half of a critical tiebreaker over the Saints. Atlanta lost on Sunday and is trending down, and it’s not as though the Bucs have been getting blown out in any of their recent losses.
Still, the Bucs are down bad after the way they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on Sunday. It’s the type of loss that teams don’t really come back from, and in the wake of what happened fans are starting to think more about the NFL Draft and less about the playoff picture.
Tampa Bay’s loss dropped the team to 3-5, which right now would have them picking No. 8 overall in the draft. It’s one of the best quarterback classes in recent memory, but the Bucs would be in a prime position to add a number of top prospects across the depth chart.
Here’s a look at what the Top 10 looks like now that Week 9 is officially in the books.
2024 NFL Mock Draft after Week 9
There are two teams in the Top 5 that already have young quarterbacks but could look to hit the reset button with this year’s class. For Arizona, it would be the second time in four years that the team used the No. 1 pick on a quarterback but Caleb Williams is a hard prospect to pass on.
While it’s been a down year for USC, and Williams has struggled with fumbles, we’ve seen what the best he has to offer looks like. His Heisman season last year felt like a glimpse into the future, and while the comparisons to Patrick Mahomes are a bit lofty, that’s exactly the kind of upside you want to buy with the No. 1 overall pick.
Especially since Arizona can’t afford to go 0-for-2 with No. 1 picks spent on quarterbacks.