The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a problem on offense, and it goes beyond pass protection. Tampa Bay needs more playmakers, and the 2027 NFL Draft could be the place to find them.

With wide receiver Jalen McMillan banged up again, the Buccaneers are leaning on a receiving corps that lacks a true No. 1 boundary weapon. Emeka Egbuka is clearly most ideal as a No. 2 receiver.

Ted Hurst, who scored his first touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings, probably isn’t someone you want functioning as your primary target. And Chris Godwin, while he has maintained some level of consistency, is aging and dealing with frequent injuries. The fall-off everyone has been waiting for feels closer than ever.

The result is a passing attack built around separators and middle-of-the-field players without a legitimate presence on the boundary. Tampa Bay doesn’t have a guy who can win one-on-one on the outside against a team’s most physical cornerback.

Maybe Hurst develops into something from a vertical standpoint, but right now, that player simply isn’t on the roster.

Wide receiver options in the first round

Depending on where the Buccaneers end up picking, there are several receiver options worth targeting.

Charlie Becker (Indiana) makes a lot of sense as a fit. Tight end Trey’Dez Green from LSU, Jamari Johnson from Oregon, and Mario Craver (Texas A&M) as a speedier option all deserve consideration.

Tez Johnson has been fine, but you’d love some real juice in that receiver room if you had the chance to add it. With receiver being a premium position in this class, that feels like the most natural direction for Tampa Bay.

And if pass protection remains an issue, the simple solution is to get the ball out quicker. To do that, you need receivers who can uncover quickly or make contested catches. The Buccaneers don’t have enough of those players right now.

If Tampa Bay somehow lands in the top five, the conversation gets even simpler. The Buccaneers would be one of the easiest teams in the draft, alongside the Las Vegas Raiders, to justify taking Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) without a second thought. The need is that obvious.

Cam Coleman (Texas) is another name worth monitoring. If he finally starts living up to the hype, he could end up being that boundary guy Tampa Bay needs. But I’m just not there with Coleman yet.

Tight end could be the play

The other direction worth exploring is tight end. Cade Otten is a fine tight end, and in a good offense he would be a fantastic one. But even with Green dealing with injury right now, the Buccaneers could be looking at the back end of the top 10 or somewhere in the 10-to-15 range.

This might be the team that has always made the most sense for Green as that first true difference-making mismatch tight end. Jamari Johnson from Oregon belongs in this conversation too after putting up seven catches for over 100 yards in his last game. Tampa Bay could very well end up in the bucket of first-tight-end-off-the-board teams.

The Reed Harris push

There’s one prospect who keeps getting projected to the Buccaneers in the mid-teens range, and I’m going to keep pushing him: Reed Harris from Arizona State.

Those who have been paying attention to college football understand why there’s so much excitement surrounding Harris. If you’re newer to the draft process this year, you might not be as familiar with him because Arizona State hasn’t had many marquee games and sits as a slightly above-average team outside the scope of the Big 12 championship race.

I think Reed Harris, by the end of the year, will be the guy everyone gives a Drake London type of push for. My one true preseason hot take was that Harris would end up being wide receiver two in this class, and it’s starting to come to fruition. He was a top-five wide receiver for me heading into the season. Harris profiles as a potential Mike Evans replacement, which is exactly what the Buccaneers need on the boundary.

The bigger picture in Tampa Bay

If the Buccaneers don’t make the playoffs this year and coach Todd Bowles is fired, this becomes a failure of a season. Tampa Bay is paying its quarterback $55 million. The roster is supposed to be pretty good.

If you can’t win the NFC South, where it feels like a group of four teams hitting themselves over the head with shovels every single week because nobody wants to separate, something has gone seriously wrong. The playmaker void is the most fixable problem on this roster, and the 2027 NFL Draft class has the goods to address it.