A lot was made about how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would spend their four Top 100 picks in the NFL Draft this year, and the early returns seem to be overwhelmingly positive.
Tampa Bay addressed key areas like offensive line and edge rusher, while also adding to both the safety and wide receiver room. Those good vibes rolled into Saturday when the Bucs kicked off their last three remaining picks by drafting Oregon Ducks star Bucky Irving.
Adding a wide receiver on Friday felt like a luxury pick, which might initially seem like the case for running back. Earlier this offseason Todd Bowles said that he wanted the team to add another back, and after passing on free agent options the Bucs seem to have settled on Irving being that guy.
Outside of Bowles' request, running back wasn't an obvious position of need for the Bucs. They already have Rachaad White, who cracked the door last season and is poised to kick it off the hinges in 2024, so the Irving pick might be a head scrather to some.
White is not among those wondering why the pick was made, because he's too busy getting excited about things to come.
Rachaad White drops perfect reaction to Bucs pairing him with Bucky Irving
After the pick was announced, White reacted on social media in the sort of way that should already have Bucs fans hyped.
😁
— Rachaad White 1️⃣ (@Chaad_1) April 27, 2024
Irving and White are similar players, but that's hardly a bad thing. Jason Licht commented that having two Rachaad White's is something the team would love to have, and Irving adds plenty to the offense that should help Liam Coen use him in ways that will undoubtedly frustrate defenses.
As for White, he's still Tampa Bay's clear-cut RB1, despite some trying to argue that he might not be the guy for the job. He's already drawn comparrisons to Christian McCaffrey, and we've yet to see what he can do behing an offensive line that can actually block for him.
Pairing Irving and White together could be dangerous in all the right ways for the Bucs, and it's clear that the work horse in that relationship is ready to see what happens.