While he had to wait most of the night for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to make their first selection of the NFL Draft this year, nobody was complaining when the pick was announced.
Perhaps nobody was more excited than Baker Mayfield, who has been waiting around a lot longer than Thursday night for some offensive line help. The Bucs selected Duke's Graham Barton with the No. 26 pick, landing a guy who is projected to fill the massive shoes left by Ryan Jensen.
That's no easy task, but everything that scouts have said about Barton suggests he's up to the task.
Charlie Davis gushed about Barton on the NFL Network broadcast and everyone who has talked about him since has mentioned how intelligent of a player he is. Mel Kiper called him 'a potential steal' and Barton is expected to not only help protect Baker but improve things in the run game as well.
Those are all great selling points, but it didn't take much for Baker to get excited about the guy who is going to make sure he stays upright on Sundays.
Baker Mayfield's reaction to Buccaneers drafting Graham Barton is perfection
After making the pick, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht spoke about the decision to draft Barton and why he's a fit. Among the reasons he mentioned was how excited Baker already was to have him in the building.
Licht said that Baker reached out as soon as the pick was made to let his feelings be known.
" contacted me after we selected him," Licht said. "Quarterbacks get excited when you put big guys in front of them to keep them upright. He was excited."
Following the selection of OL Graham Barton, #Bucs GM Jason Licht shared that QB Baker Mayfield reached out to him to share his excitement about the pick. pic.twitter.com/CFVw611XYT
— PewterReport 🏴☠️ (@PewterReport) April 26, 2024
Barton graded out as the top center prospect in the draft class, even though he primarily played tackle at Duke. Kiper had him ranked near the top of his list, and so did almost every other draft expert out there.
He wasn't supposed to be on the board when the Bucs went on the clock, which is why so many mock drafts seemingly had Jackson Powers-Johnson locked in at No. 26. Landing Barton is a gamechanger for Tampa Bay's offensive line, and is going to help improve not only pass protection but help get the run game going -- finally.
It doesn't hurt that Baker is hyped about the move.