Bucs are leaving breadcrumbs that are making it more and more obvious what they'll do in the first round of the NFL Draft
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a big decision to make in the first round of the NFL Draft. Being a perennial playoff contender needing a small push to get over the hump and back to the Super Bowl, what they do in the NFL Draft in April could be the difference it making that move […]
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a big decision to make in the first round of the NFL Draft. Being a perennial playoff contender needing a small push to get over the hump and back to the Super Bowl, what they do in the NFL Draft in April could be the difference it making that move and coming up short again.
What the Bucs will do with the 19th pick has been mused about since the season ended unceremoniously on a walk-off field goal against Washington in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
If the start of the 2025 NFL Combine is any indication, there's a good chance the Bucs will be looking hard at an edge rusher at that spot. Three edge rushers – Texas A&M's Shemar Stewart, and Ole Miss's Princely Umanmielen – all said they have met with the Bucs at the Combine this week.
The strategy is hard to argue with. The Bucs need to get better at getting a pass rush from the edge position opposite Yaya Diaby. They've been good a creating pressure, but too often it comes from blitzes and aggressive calls that, when they don't hit, put the Bucs in a potential bind defensively.
With 2021 first-round pick Joe Tryon-Shoyinka now a free agent after his fifth-year option was declined by the team, there's not much on the other side beyond Chris Braswell, as Anthony Nelson and Shaq Barrett are free agents.
Green was college football's sack leader in 2024, totaling 17 sacks and generating a pressure rate of 16.7%. Stewart had a 12.3% pressure rate, but was very strong against the run in 2024, earning an 88.4 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus. Umanmielen had a 19.1% pressure rate with 11 sacks and a 91.5 pass rushing grade with a solid 78.7 run defense mark last year.
We'll see which out of that group stands out the most this week in Indianapolis during drills, as well as any other pass rushers that Jason Licht has his eye on.
Todd Bowles makes it painfully clear the type of players the Bucs will target in free agency and the draft
Up until this past season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense had finished with at least 20 combined turnovers in each season since 2019, when Todd Bowles first joined the team. The unit finished with at least 10 interceptions at 10 fumble recoveries every single year. That came to a screeching halt in 2024, however, when […]
