NFL Draft 2024: Quarterbacks the Bucs could be tempted to draft

Spencer Rattler, QB/South Carolina

PFF QB Rank: 7th
Projected Pick: Round 3-4

There's already been some smoke about Rattler manybe ending up with the Bucs, but he's also a name that could see a last-minute stock surge ahead of the draft. He finished last season with 3,186 passing yards and 19 touchdown passes and a ton of experience playing in two big time systems.

Rattler came from Oklahoma and Lincoln Riley to finish his college career at South Carolina better than it looked like it might initially. That's the sort of grit that someone like Baker Mayfield can appreciate -- not to mention the Sooners ties they both have. Taking Rattler under his wing, a quaterback with similar traits, seems like a pretty decent succesison plan for the Bucs.

The question is his stock and whether it rises out of the price range of Tampa Bay. The Bucs shouldn't spent a pick higher than the third round on a quarterback, and it's starting to look like Rattler might not be around in the fourth round.

Sam Hartman, QB/Notre Dame

PFF QB Rank: 14th
Projected Pick: Round 7

If the Bucs wait until the last day of the draft to take a quarterback, Sam Hartman could be a perfect target. He's gone through the entire hype cycle of a draft prospect, once being talked about as a late-first round pick before settling in as a seventh rounder.

There's a chance that someone takes him a few rounds sooner, like what we saw with Stetson Bennett IV last year. If he's around in the sixth or seventh round, taking a flier on him as a lottery ticket pick could have some long term upside for the Bucs.

Hartman projects more as a career backup than a successor to Mayfield, but there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it might fit the Bucs timeline even better to turn him into a Ryan Griffin type guy who hangs around but knows what hes doing and talking about in the quarterback room.

He's a seasoned veteran at this point, having spent five years in college at Wake Forest and Notre Dame, which shows longevity that the Bucs could benefit from. It's not a pick that would provide the Bucs with a clear succession plan to Baker, but it could correct what the team did wrong in drafting Trask and then not figuring out how he fit into the future.

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