Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht is very good at his job. Let’s get that out of the way right now. He’s one of the best GMs in the league, as proven by a Super Bowl championship and the Bucs being built to take over the NFC South for the last four years.

However, nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes, April 2021 qualifies there for Licht, when he filled the Bucs’ 2021 draft class.

Normally, you would hope that you would at least still have one or two solid players on your roster from that group as you enter 2025. But the last remnant of the Bucs’ 2021 class was swept away on Monday when the team announced that it was releasing second-round pick Kyle Trask as it works to get down to 53 players by Tuesday’s 4:00 pm ET deadline.

As a refresher, here is the Bucs’ 2021 class:

Rd. 1, pick 32: Washington ED Joe Tryon-Shoyinka
Rd. 2, pick 64: Florida QB Kyle Trask
Rd. 3, pick 95: Notre Dame OT Robert Hainsey
Rd. 4, pick 129: North Texas WR Jaelon Darden
Rd. 5, pick 176: Auburn LB K.J. Britt
Rd. 7, pick 251: BYU CB Chris Wilcox
Rd. 7, pick 259: Houston LB Grant Stuard

All but Wilcox made the 53-man roster in August 2021, which was a good start. But the impact was never felt from anyone in this group, most disappointingly Tryon-Shoyinka, whose fifth-year option the team declined in May 2024. His best season statistically came in 2023, where he played in 17 games (12 starts) with 45 tackles, 5 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, and one forced fumble. That was the only year he reached 5 sacks. Just not nearly good enough for a first-round pass rusher.

Trask never gave the impression he was capable of succeeding Tom Brady in Tampa, which is a reasonable hope when you spend a second-round draft pick on someone to learn behind the greatest player to ever play the game. Instead of turning to Trask after Brady’s retirement, the Bucs went out and brought in former first overall pick turned journeyman Baker Mayfield and – to their credit – have certainly gotten that first overall potential out of him in Tampa. But even so, Trask’s time in Tampa was summed up this preseason when Teddy Bridgewater came from coaching high school football and had a first quarter of football against Pittsburgh early this month that looked better than pretty much anything Trask has done in a game situation in his career.

Hainsey was perhaps the most productive player of that group, as he started at center for all games from 2022-23 for a Bucs offensive line that struggled to run the football. Licht spent his 2024 first round pick to on Duke’s Graham Barton, who won the battle with Hainsey for the starting center spot last preseason. Hainsey signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason.

Darden had 6 catches for 69 yards in two years, and his punt and kick return averages were modest in his two seasons. He was waived in December 2022.

Britt finally found some substantial playing time last year in place of an injured SirVocea Dennis, but he was exposed as a liability in coverage. He’s likely to land a roster spot in Miami after signing there in free agency this year. Grant Stuard was cut in August 2022 and is currently a member of the Detroit Lions.

All in all, it was a forgettable April 2021 for Licht and the Bucs. Fortunately, they’ve appeared to have built a terrific foundation through most other drafts outside of it.