After months of trying to figure out what will happen, the NFL Draft is finally here and will tell us all how right or wrong we all were.
Hopefully, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, at least one mock draft that's floating around out there ends up being true. The Bucs are heading into the weekend with a few key areas on the roster that still need some attention, but four picks in the Top 100 to address them.
Offensive line is a clear and obvious need for the Bucs, both with how things have gone the last few years and after not having done much to add top-level talent in free agency. The Bucs simply got priced out of the market, but added some depth and will likely turn to the draft to try and find some young players to help rebuild thing in front of Baker Mayfield with.
Edge rusher is another position of need the Bucs will need to address in the draft after missing out in free agency. Tampa Bay added Randy Gregory, but lost Shaq Barrett and Devin White on the outside of the linebacker corps, plus Todd Bowles has established a desire to load up on pass rushers as a general principle.
Picking No. 26 overall, it might seem that the Bucs are once again edged out of being in a spot to land top players at either position. If the board falls like how Daniel Jeremiah thinks it will, then Jason Licht might be about to throw another boat parade to celebrate.
Buccaneers could land two top targets if final NFL Network mock draft plays out
In his final NFL Mock Draft, NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah has the Buccaneers taking Florida State pass rusher Jared Verse with the No. 26 pick. He notes that it wouldn't be surprising to see the Bucs trade out of this spot, which is something to remember, but if Verse is there it's going to be a no-brainer pick.
"I could see a team like Tampa Bay making a trade to go get Verse if he starts to slide. In this exercise, he's available at No. 26 and would be one of the best value picks of the first round," Jeremiah wrote.
Not only is Verse a steal at this spot, but it sets up a scenario where the Bucs land another top target on Day 2.
One nightmare scenario mock draft had the Bucs taking Chop Robinson here despite the fact that Verse and Jackson Powers-Johnson were both still on the board. This is the total opposite of that, where the Bucs land Verse for the defensive trenches but are in a position to potentially trade up on Friday to land Powers-Johnson to anchor the offensive line.
That would be a dream scenario, as the Bucs are armed with three more Top 100 picks after the first round and absoutely can move up if they want to.
Landing both Verse and Powers-Johnson, in addition to another offensive lineman later on Day 2, would be an absolute heist for Tampa Bay. They’d get a top edge rusher to fill a need there while also getting a center to build around and hopefully secure as a key piece of the future. alongside Tristan Wirfs.
There are so many ways the draft can shake out, and we won’t know until it happens, but it would be hard to see this scenario from Daniel Jeremiah playing out and not feel like the Bucs had a Top 5 draft in the entire league.