With the NFL Draft finally here, just about everyone has an opinion on what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should do.
Mock Draft SZN is reaching its crescendo, but it's not just folks behind keyboards who are trying to weigh in on what might happen. Former players are getting in on the fun too, including Bucs legend Derrick Brooks.
His word carries a ton of weight given how well-respected he is, but he's just as close to the War Room as everyone else is. Brooks, however, has a much firmer grasp not only on the game itself but how the Bucs tend to think and approach these situations.
That's why his prediction for what the team might do in the draft could be as close as we get to figuring out what Jason Licht is thinking before he turns a card in on Thursday night.
Derrick Brooks thinks he knows what the Buccaneers will do in NFL Draft
On the latest episode of the Brooks and Beckles podcast, the Buccaneers Hall of Famer explained what he thinks the team should do this weekend at the draft. He's firmly in the camp that believes the Bucs will use most of their picks rebuilding the trenches on both sides of the ball.
“I think they need center, guard, you know, perhaps some defensive depth on the other side. But I really think they’re focusing in on the big guys," Brooks said, via JoeBucsFan. “I would be surprised if this is not all about getting depth up front on both sides of the ball."
A defensive guy going to bat for more defensive picks? No way.
What Brooks is suggesting isn't far off from where most other experts see the Bucs going not only in the first round but throughout the draft. Whether they actually make a pick at No. 26 or move around the board, the general consensus seems to be that Tampa Bay will end up with a bunch of new linemen when the draft is all said and done.
The question is who will that be and where will those picks be spent?
Brooks mentions a center, which fits the hype around Jackson Powers-Johnson landing in Tampa Bay. The Bucs have also been linked to edge rushers all over the board, from Jared Verse and Chop Robinson to Marshawn Kneeland and Mohamed Kamara in the later rounds.
Regardless of who the picks are, it seems that everyone is agreed on where the Bucs need to focus their attention. Whether Jason Licht agrees or not is what we will have to wait to find out.