The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are entering the 2026 NFL Draft with no shortage of needs on the defensive side of the ball.
Inside linebacker and edge rusher stand out as the most pressing needs, with defensive tackle not far behind.
The Bucs could certainly use some depth at cornerback, but they don’t necessarily need to invest premium draft capital to add a starting cornerback. It certainly wouldn’t make sense for them to trade up for a cornerback as NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms predicts in his recent mock draft.
Buccaneers trade up for LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane in latest NFL mock draft
Simms, the former Buccaneers quarterback, believes that not only do the Bucs need to draft a starting cornerback — they need to trade up for one.
He projects them moving from No. 15 up to No. 11 in a swap with the Miami Dolphins to select LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane.
“Tampa needs a cover corner. They lost Jamel Dean. Their [other] corners were not good last year. They were pitiful; they couldn’t cover anybody,” Simms said. “I think they got to feel the desperation here.
Desperation doesn’t quite characterize where the Bucs are at in the cornerback room. They just re-signed Zyon McCollum to a three-year extension last offseason, and they drafted both Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish on Day 2.
While McCollum did regress down the stretch last season, and Morrison dealt with nagging injuries that detailed his rookie season, it's far too early to give up on these young players. To spend a first-round pick on another cornerback would be essentially waving the white flag on either McCollum or Morrison, or both.
The Bucs can afford to be more patient with their current cornerbacks and are better served picking one later in the draft or signing a proven veteran in free agency.
Trading up is the worst part of the projection. Tampa Bay holds only seven picks this year, and it would be ideal to trade down and acquire more picks rather than trading up for a position they invested in so heavily just a year ago.
Unless the Bucs are trading up for a premium player at a position of need—cough Sonny Styles cough—the team should stick and pick at No. 15 or find a trade partner to move down the board, not up.
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