Buccaneers: Mike Edwards loss could hint towards draft plan
The Buccaneers could be showing their hand.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were always going to lose one of their promising young players in this free agency period.
While it looked like that player would be Jamel Dean at first, the Bucs finding a way to lock him down for the future meant that someone else was going to get more on the open market than they would get in Tampa.
It's all just the business of the game.
In a move that doesn't really come as a surprise to anyone that watched the team through the season, the Bucs decided that letting Mike Edwards walk after a shaky 2022 was better than throwing money at a guy that works best as a rotational piece.
The Kansas City Chiefs didn't waste a whole lot of time.
With Edwards out, Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers will have to find a way to replace his 12 starts and quality production during that time.
The good news for Bowles and company is that this move finally frees them up to do what they have wanted to do for a year; spending a first-round draft pick on a safety.
Last year, it looked like the Buccaneers were a sure thing to take Lewis Cine to become the first piece added to the team under Todd Bowles.
Tampa rolled the dice and missed on the young safety a few picks later, and it sure looks like they won't make that mistake again this season.
While there are a few other positions of need across the field, a starting safety to pair with Antoine Winfield Jr. has just become one of the top priorities for a team that prides itself on its defense.
Mike Edwards will be missed, but Bucs fans can rest assured that Todd Bowles and Jason Licht are about as good at finding safety talent in the draft as any duo can be.
Based on the fact that Todd Bowles is coaching for his job and the available options on the free agent market won't be cheap, Buccaneers fans should start planning for the very real possibility that their team is going to take a safety in the middle of the first round.
