Unimpressed With Bucs Draft
April 30th, 2019
Bucs fans, if you are still trying to overcome your bout of depression brought on by the Bucs draft over the weekend, you are not alone in your anguish.
Members of the national media share your bewilderment.
First, Joe will point out how one national television talking head thinks of the Bucs. Joe’s good friend Jason McIntyre, founder of TheBigLead.com and a current FS1 weekday personality, had the list of his projected draft order for the 2019 season. Though he doesn’t give his prediction for the Bucs record, you can easily figure out what he thinks of their draft.
Then there is Dane Brugler of The Athletic. He’s not nearly as harsh as McIntyre, but he only sees modest improvement in the Bucs.
Helmet hair Mel Kiper of BSPN gave the Bucs a C+, but that was tied for the lowest grade he assigned across the NFL.
Former Bucs QB and current NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms was flabbergasted by Tampa Bay’s second-round pick.
So Bucs fans, you are not alone. Across the country, others were unmoved by the Bucs moves this past weekend.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:03 am
Sure there’s also a lots of guys that like to draft just depends where you wanna look
April 30th, 2019 at 8:05 am
So depressed it will have an impact on reading about the Bucs and those that make their living writing about the Bucs…this has gone past the “controversy sells”…and now it is in the denial/avoidance it is too F’n depressing to read about…the franchise has reached black hole status
April 30th, 2019 at 8:06 am
Joe, is that you in that accompanying photo? Hang in there, it’s not over yet.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:08 am
Some analysts gave us an A some gave us a C, well have to wait and see when the season starts.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:13 am
Somebody has to be the Browns
April 30th, 2019 at 8:14 am
I think the major issue with this draft, as we still don’t know how it will pan out, is that it nullifies the majority of last years draft. This is very costly for a team with so many needs and no cap room. You simply can’t afford to redraft the same positions again and again. It’s even worse when you trade down and draft 2 players at the same position and still fail. The end result is having to rebuild your DL from scratch next year while plugging big holes on the OL and paying your QB, not to mention no RB and no depth whatsoever. This year will go by somehow but the disaster hit us next year.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:15 am
Sarasota Garey I agree…
Personally I liked what we did…We’re the team that everyone loves the ride and heckle…Hopefully we can silence all of them this season…
April 30th, 2019 at 8:17 am
That line is going to be awfully hard to top today.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:18 am
So the point is, beyond not drafting the most valued players, neglecting positions and drafting a kicker – we declared our last year’s dbs haul a complete bust after one year together with some dbs selected in previous drafts. That’s the biggest tragedy in this draft imo.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:19 am
After round 1 – which is a gimme, Jason Licht always tries to prove he’s the smartest person in the room through bypassing obvious picks with natural ability for “hidden gems” with tremendous “upside”.
Sometimes the obvious pick is the best pick.
He needs to quit overthinking the draft.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:25 am
Agreed Playaction.
As a team that is constantly hovering at 5-11, we can’t afford to take such huge draft risks in early rounds. Play it safe and take the proven players. How we take a kid from C. Michigan over all American lock down corner from LSU baffles me. Hell, Bunting would have been there at 3 or 4.
Take risks in later rounds.
And don’t get me started on the kicker in the 5th.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:27 am
@Playaction i’m with you and the proof is that he drafted 3 dbs last year in rounds 2-3 which were supposedly under coached and played on a zone scheme which didn’t fit them. Only one season gone by and we redraft the same positions declaring those picks as busts even though we are changing the scheme to ask our dbs to press more.
How does that fit talent evaluation skills i have no idea.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:28 am
Payaction…
Jason just needs to QUIT period!
April 30th, 2019 at 8:38 am
Looking forward to training camp and the pre-season so we can see action/results instead of speculation and draft bashing. Time will tell but let’s recall that some on this site wanted to draft Johnny Football. Nothing means a thing until the pads are on.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:39 am
Browns have hope bucs do not…. you people do realize the bucs are the owners of the worst winning percentage in NFL not the browns…
You do realize browns owners at least attempt to field a quality team unlike the glazers…
Bucs fans calling out the browns is like the unibomber calling out the al Qaeda bombers…. people in glass houses should not throw rocks ladies…. bucs are and always will be the laughingstock of the NFL
April 30th, 2019 at 8:40 am
Destin Johnny, right on the bucs will have been asleep for a complete decade soon and back to being in their own outhouse as Cleveland is playoff bound
April 30th, 2019 at 8:41 am
Bucs fan, if you are in anguish you aren’t alone. Joe will remind you every day, with 4 articles a day, he’s there with you. Keeping it real? Keeping it depressing.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:43 am
tmax….this franchise it at its lowest level in history….and has not hit bottom yet…ugly for those that know what is coming
April 30th, 2019 at 8:45 am
SCBucsFan Says:
April 30th, 2019 at 8:41 am
Bucs fan, if you are in anguish you aren’t alone. Joe will remind you every day, with 4 articles a day, he’s there with you. Keeping it real? Keeping it depressing.
-Keeping it depressing? Keeping it real.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:49 am
This is the kind of draft that, outside of our first pick, no popular picks were made. By popular, I mean guys the media and fans focused on.
But that doesn’t mean they were bad picks. It just means that we won’t know until later whether they were good or bad.
I would say I trust Jason Licht, but I don’t believe for a second that he had any say-so on who was picked, outside of maybe White, since his record with LBs is really good.
I also think people are writing off some of last year’s picks far too soon. Do not be surprised if a couple more step up to the plate. MJ Stewart, for example, may show up in Press coverage and blow coaches minds. Jones could show up and be the guy he was drafted to be…and might even outplay Barber to earn the starting role.
And Jack Cichy might show up fully healed and develop into a beast.
By the same token, don’t expect all of the picks this year to make the team. That’s rare.
One advantage to the ‘no name’ picks that were made is that almost any one of them could be moved to the practice squad without fear of being claimed off waivers.
This is how player development works.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:49 am
I’ve been flabbergasted since March 30, 2015
April 30th, 2019 at 8:52 am
I don’t know why we have a draft. Teams should just line up and go straight down Kiper’s list and pick the BPA every time so he gives you an A. After all, he and all the talking heads know all, don’t they?
Giving grades after a draft just shows how a team did compared to what you thought they should do.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:53 am
Rather than grade the 2019 NFL Draft, let’s take a look at the drafts from 2015 and 2016 and grade the front office’s record accordingly.
2015: B-
2016: D-
April 30th, 2019 at 8:54 am
Myself and many others thought Arians did a good job addressing many of the problems considering the Cap situation. Now a lot of coaching and attitude rebuilding and 2019 might be fun to watch. I’ll check back during the preseason because a steady stream of this crap is really growing old in a hurry.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:57 am
Having an opinion is easy, since there are no negative consequences associated with it even when one is completely wrong. But leadership necessarily requires making decisions… and being responsible for the consequences of those decisions.
It’s always amusing to see how rapidly even the most-opinionated people retreat from their opinions when they are informed that their advice will be scrupulously followed, but they will be held responsible for the consequences.
The keyboard warriors in here just have empty opinions.
BA and his staff responsibly hold the consequences.
That’s why they make the big bucks and most of you are still living in your mom’s basement.
April 30th, 2019 at 8:57 am
The management of the Bucs just sucks!!! What is the name of the Tampa XFL team? Maybe they will be more fun to watch?
April 30th, 2019 at 9:02 am
Bonzi
The outsiders year in and year out get it right, with their bucs analysis. the string of basement titles proves it. its the so called delusional insiders who live in denial and make asinine assumptions and wild excuses to justify lose after loss and failure after failure. . You sir have never been right in 7 years with your garbage…
April 30th, 2019 at 9:03 am
I bet in a few years Anthony Nelson will be considered one of this draft’s steals. Excited to see what him and Beckner can do.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:05 am
That’s it fake Bucs keep up the negativity even if we are Winn because why stop lol it’s April and already people are talking about no hope. just don’t get all the crying over 5th round picks. Because you loved Alex cappa so much you decided you needed another one like him to abuse lol someone call out 5-7 round draft picks from any team actually starting and thriving because I would love to see that list of players besides Brady. And people have nerve to call football players weak minded. We have by far the weakest fans and it’s not even close.
Not sure when this team ever did what you wanted them to, who was begging us to get Lavonte David or kwon or beckwith or Marpet? Stfu and deal with it whiners because the tears are pointless
April 30th, 2019 at 9:08 am
Hey Alterdego were you around any in the 80’s as a buc fan? “this franchise it at its lowest level in history” I have been a fan since I movd to St. Petersburg in November of 75. Experienced season after season after season of low level Buccaneers teams. Most of the 80’s were pure hell as a fan. The players we have now are better and the coaching is multiple levels higher than those 80’s teams. The best player from those years to me was James Wilder. He was a beast!
Yeah this draft did not go as all the JBF GM’s thought we should have drafted. But I am not excited about all of the newest Buccaneers.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:08 am
Well I’m still going to reserve my judgement… Usually this time of year the Bucs are in the media’s “look out for these guys” list and we’re filled with hope of rookie and free agent saviours. Being paper champions has gotten us nowhere so this alternative has me feeling a little bit better actually.
The Cards just drafted consecutive 1st round QBs, because of a total change in coaching and scheme. Don’t hear quite as much trash talking there. If this were the Patriots they’d be saying how wise Belichick is for cutting his losses and moving on from players that just didn’t work out. I’m going to do the very non buc fan thing and wait and see.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:12 am
I am excited*
April 30th, 2019 at 9:17 am
I’m sick and tired of being right when it comes to the Bucs and I’ve been right far more often than not when it comes to this team. I’d like to be proven wrong about their draft this year and how well the team will perform. I hope every draft pick works out and the team earns double digit wins.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:18 am
A friend of mine, feeling depressed, had salad for dinner last Saturday.
Actually, fruit salad.
Well, mostly grapes.
Ok, all grapes.
Fermented grapes.
Wine.
He had a couple of bottles of wine for dinner.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:21 am
There are also “regrades” every year! MOST OF THESE TALKING HEADS THAT ARE GIVING OUT GRADES ARE NOT SCOUTS!!!! Hell, some never even played football. Calm down! There is endless data as to how wrong these people are every year…yet yall still get caught up in the hype. Ya’ll Mel Kiper Keyboard Snipers are alive and well I see!!!
Joe, we know you didn’t like the draft…we get it. We also know which Joe this is. The biggest advocate for Johhny “The Fail” Manziel
April 30th, 2019 at 9:22 am
There are also “regrades” every year! MOST OF THESE TALKING HEADS THAT ARE GIVING OUT GRADES ARE NOT SCOUTS!!!! Hell, some never even played football. Calm down! There is endless data as to how wrong these people are every year…yet yall still get caught up in the hype. Ya’ll Mel Kiper Keyboard Snipers are alive and well I see!!!
Joe, we know you didn’t like the draft…we get it. We also know which Joe this is. The biggest advocate for Johnny “The Fail” Manziel
April 30th, 2019 at 9:37 am
Let’s hire Mel Kiper to be our gm next year. Then we’d be good lmao… these media gurus and espn lames are only there for ENTERTAINMENT…
April 30th, 2019 at 9:38 am
While the film looks pretty good on most of our draft this year I am with some of you and left scratching my head. Although it was pretty obvious last year we need help in the secondary there are 2 things that bother me most in this draft. First, that we STILL need to address the secondary is a problem and it starts with Jason’s ability to evaluate talent. He has drafted 4 CB’s and 2 S in the last 3 years, including an 11th overall pick, and doesn’t have much to show for it. I know it takes time for players to develop but speed should have probably been a factor all along. We need a veteran in the meantime but we can’t afford one because Jason has us in salary cap H3ll.
Second, a talent like Drew Lock falls to us in the 2nd round and we don’t take him. I know, most of you love JW3 and so does Jason Licht but so far he is not worth $30+ million per year no matter what you say. Not many QB’s are in the league. What makes people think he will all of a sudden start taking control of the football? He just makes bad decisions. Do you think just because Bucco Bruce is here he is going to stop throwing interceptions? Drew Lock, over the last 2 years, had 72 TD’s and ONLY threw 21 INT’s. That’s amazing! He knows how to take care of the football and his accuracy has gotten better every year. Winston has NEVER had competition for his job since he got here and maybe that’s the problem. Even if Lock doesn’t turn out to be as good as I think he will, we have wasted a lot of 2nd round picks on worse with Licht. What are we going to do if JW3 keeps costing us games because of his INT’s? It looks like we will have NO choice but to pay him a big contract he doesn’t deserve. Now the only choice we have is to trade up next year and draft Tua if we think he is worth it. I think Lock should have been a 1st round pick from stats alone.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:41 am
BucsFanFromSaintsLand
GUESS WHO JUST GRADED OUR 2018 DRAFT WHICH IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS OUR 2019 DRAFT because drafting is not about grades it’s about building a team and creating a nucleus of talented players ON CHEAP contracts on as-much-as-possible positions to have cap space for resigning and acquiring proven talent.
Answer: BA and his staff. The grade is D.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:45 am
Stonedbuc Says:
April 30th, 2019 at 9:37 am
Let’s hire Mel Kiper to be our gm next year. Then we’d be good lmao… these media gurus and espn lames are only there for ENTERTAINMENT…
Yet they are dead on with analysis and predictions year in and year out…. the only entertainment you speak of is watching this minor league franchise get blown out, embarrass itself and collect basement titles…. you guys sure like to SHOOT messengers like it’s open season year round yet give the failed organization free pass after fee pass and benefit of the doubt when they have not earned a damn thing.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:47 am
my problem is that they didnt add any depth to the trenches….yeah we got nelson, but we couldve used a G/C, DT, or T…..same with RB….we couldve grabbed one…..
meanwhile when you look within the division, falcons stacked the trenches…..panthers now has a stable of RB’s…..saints got better….
imo, we still have the same holes that we had before the draft….
but oh well….it is what it is…..
at least the next GM wont have to worry about the secondary or WR’s….hopefully we go 3 straight drafts grabbing linemen….
Go Bucs!!!!!
April 30th, 2019 at 9:48 am
Flabbergasted, just flabbergasted!
April 30th, 2019 at 9:51 am
Anyone that grades this draft now is just putting out click-bait. No one knows how this draft will turn out for at least 3 years.
April 30th, 2019 at 9:53 am
RustyRhinos Says:
April 30th, 2019 at 9:08 am
Hey Alterdego were you around any in the 80’s as a buc fan
.
.
.
Rino I walked into the very 1st preseason game was in the stands ,as an adult, for the first win at home …I’ve seen 250+ games as a ST holder…I’ve seen it ALL…
April 30th, 2019 at 9:57 am
the last few years we’ve gotten an “A” draft grade and it hasn’t done us any good…admittedly i was pretty upset at first, then I realized for the last 2 years I been saying “i just want big fast corners” and now we have them so I am actually excited for our defense.
If we could swap Gerald for an Olineman that would be ideal. Also that defenive tackle from Mizzou looks like a beast. Im going to the Seattle game. Fans will have to be road warriors this year! GO BUCS!
April 30th, 2019 at 10:00 am
I’m going to keep it plain and simple
The Bucs draft make zero sense!!!!
April 30th, 2019 at 10:10 am
All this negativity is ridiculous. I don’t remember the numbers, but it seemed like went 8 games without an interception. The current corners don’t fit the scheme and they have to fear Hargreaves getting hurt. They went after speed corners with a history of getting the ball. Then they picked up a kicker. If he kicks over 80% from beyond 40 yards, this will make a huge difference.
This doesn’t include White, who may be the best player in the draft, the 2 additions to our defensive line (that look good) and our new speed demon for a wide receiver.
With White and a new secondary, I think we are built to be a win now club. When Hardy Nickerson came to the Bucs, what a difference he made in that defense. Our offense is already strong, esp. if Arians can fix the problems inside the 20.
Cheer for our team Joe- stop the negativity!!
April 30th, 2019 at 10:13 am
Lol we loaded up on DB’s in a DL heavy draft. Still a gaping hole at RG and we’re 1 injury short of disaster on DL. Hope I’m wrong but this looks like a 6 win team at best.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:14 am
Rhino and altered
First game 78 here… the last 15 years have been far worse than 80’s….
Free agency and salary cap were designed and implemented to improve parity and to distribute talent equally therefore allowing teams to be competitive faster and to recover from bad decisions and severely injured stars faster yet the bucs have not won a single meaningful game in nearly two decades…. inability to turn things around 4 regimes in is inexcusable and proves the level of incompetence from top to bottom of this minor league franchise
April 30th, 2019 at 10:23 am
@Lakeland
Weren’t you the one begging for speed in the secondary? All of the DB’s we picked in this draft are on the elite end of the athletic spectrum and have tape and numbers that show them to be playmakers. Bunting and Edward’s are especially adept at tracking the ball in the air and taking it away from the other team.
Devin White is the Alpha dog presence needed to change the culture on that’s plagued this team for too long. In addition to possessing good instincts on the field for a 3 year LB and his combination of size, speed and athleticism at the position are 2nd to none.
Anthony Nelson has a tremendous amount of upside in addition to having the tools necessary to beat out Will Gholston immediately. Tremendous value in the 4th round.
Hope the kicker works out but I hate the pick. I kind of like Scotty Millers potential but jesus the guy is 166 pounds. And the Dt we got was meh with bad injury history.
Time will tell but I feel better about our defense going into this season than I ever have. My biggest worry right now is the right side of the Oline and lack of depth at Rb and Pass rusher.. At the very least well be much, much more competitive than we have been the past 2 years.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:43 am
Time will tell who’s right & who’s wrong…But if the Bucs are picking in the top10 in 2020….Jason Licht will not be the guy making the picks.
TB fans are loyal & have been for decades… Deserve much better than what this ORG has done. New shiny scoreboards & improved game day atmosphere are great – if your WINNING…But no one wants to come out & spend their entertainment $$ on NFL tickets/travel – when Bucs are losing 65-70% of the time!
I’ve been at this for 40+yrs…From Steve Spurrier to Ricky Bell to Bo doesn’t know Tampa… The Fans have dumped heart soul & TONS of money into a LOSING ORGANIZATION & a set of owners that care more about Soccer/Man U., than the Bucs/NFL… (& have run both teams into the ground since purchase!)
April 30th, 2019 at 10:56 am
Jason McIntire’s 2020 mock draft also let’s us know what he feels about #3.
April 30th, 2019 at 10:58 am
Chris Simms would be a terrible GM imo not sure why there is support for that.
Go look at his rankings for the 2018 draft… His QB ranks were like the inverse order of how guys actually ended up doing
His best WR in the entire draft was that DJ SHark guy or whoever that did basically nothing and he had obvious guys like Ridley ranked lower
Please god hell no to Chris Simms as GM in 2020. I’d much rather let Joe Bucs Fans polls determine our draft picks or just hire LUVMYBUCS
April 30th, 2019 at 10:59 am
Reduced expectations from this franchise do wonders to my well-being. I’ve accepted this franchise has turned into a dumpster fire.
April 30th, 2019 at 11:00 am
Also Tmax is right – in that they nail predictions of the Bucs sucking every year – but that’s like saying the sun will rise tomorrow lol. It is the safest prediction in sports right now statistically
They absolutely fail at most their predictions every year tho. He is absolutely wrong if he thinks that these experts are right about much of anything beyond the obvious things like – patriots will be good bucs will be bad. They are all wrong about the draft every year. They are all wrong about 1/2 the teams of the league every year.
April 30th, 2019 at 11:01 am
It is doubly painful watching the other NFC South teams get stronger and they were already better than the Bucs…..not to mention the other 2 Florida franchises
the benefit of the doubt done run out on Licht and the Glazers …BA is just a ticket punching conductor on this runaway locomotive…
1- There ain’t NO hope in football
2- Talent > coaching
April 30th, 2019 at 11:14 am
We will be lucky to win 5 games this season. One of the worst drafts ever, that actually made us even weaker. I can’t wait for the excuses out of OBP once we start getting our asses whipped ever week.
April 30th, 2019 at 11:41 am
Hey if fans want to be depressed because the Bucs didn’t draft “player X” or “position Y”, that’s on them. I dare say there isn’t a single “expert” typing on these here pages that can say with 100% accuracy who and what will be successful year to year. You’re full of it if you think so!
No matter what, fans are never going to 100% satisfied with anything this team does. That comes from a history of losing.
Regardless, none of these draftees, ANY OF THEM, have played a down in the NFL. I would feel worse if it was still Koetter at the helm, but it’s not. We have competent coaching in place. Therefore, only time can judge this draft class. Don’t like it? Too bad. Those guys are Bucs now.
April 30th, 2019 at 11:46 am
isrBuc
This is normal when you bring in a new coaching staff and new defensive scheme. Looks like they wanted more speed on the back end also.
April 30th, 2019 at 12:38 pm
LC
LUV has my vote…..
Go Bucs….
April 30th, 2019 at 1:16 pm
Devin White seems like a cant miss…..If the kicker and at least one CB turn into starters….If we pull three legit starters from this draft, with one being a pro bowl type player, that’s acceptable.
April 30th, 2019 at 1:38 pm
813
I’d give luvmybucs my support he cant be any worse than every gm in bucs history… hell he only needs 3 good seasons to out rank them all plus the deals he’d pull hell yeah
April 30th, 2019 at 2:36 pm
Too bad our owners are like teenage age girls at a boy band concert when it comes to selecting GM’s and making football decisions in general…they were infatuated with Gruden ( seen teen girl reference)…and allowed him to run off McKay ,who the first weekend after firing was back in the RayJay in Authur Blanks box watching the Falcons kick the Bucs/Grudens ass ….now McKay had his head scratcher drafts and roster moves but he was head and shoulders above Peter Principle Jason Licht….
April 30th, 2019 at 3:05 pm
Altered
Dont try rewriting history pal… McKay was horrible…. McKay coupled with the ignorant one dimensional dungy the clown failed miserably and were unable to field a high school level offensive unit…. McKay is as equally responsible for wasting sapp as dungy the clown…..
Highly ranked defense on a horrible team is what Dungy the clown and McKay built.
April 30th, 2019 at 4:37 pm
I admit I was flat wrong about what I thought was going to happen in the draft in general and with the Bucs specifically. Really really wrong. So I have no credibility when it comes to figuring all this out.
BUT, like everyone else I do have an opinion.
I do think that this is going to be a coaching staff that will be accountable and make players accountable and will upgrade the quality of play that we see, week in and week out. That is going to be the difference-maker for us. Not necessarily in terms of a playoff season, but at least in terms of being satisfied with what we’re cheering for out there: a team that is well-coached, cares deeply and is going to fight until the last second for each other and for us.
I’ve been watching this franchise play since their very first preseason game, and there’s been way more downs than ups – no doubt about it. But we as a fanbase have got to be more positive and get behind the guys we’ve got and the coaches we’ve got and the general manager we’ve got; because that’s our team and that’s who we’ve got to pull for. We need to stop whining and start acting like fans instead of constant critics.
I simply do not understand this constantly negative mindset, what good can it possibly bring?
April 30th, 2019 at 4:38 pm
tmaxon,
The Bucs recently rehired one of the architects of Dungy bad offenses
QB Coach Clyde Christensen
Tony Dingy even took him to the Colts with him
April 30th, 2019 at 4:39 pm
**Dungy**
April 30th, 2019 at 4:43 pm
What fans weren’t prepared for is this. For as long as I can remember the Bucs have always run a 4-3 defense. Todd Bowles does not. It’s not that previous years draft picks are Busts. It’s simply a fact that some of the players on this roster just don’t fit in this Hybrid system that Bowles operates.
Breathe! As bad as the Bucs are they aren’t the new Browns or at least I hope not.
May 1st, 2019 at 6:21 am
I quit drinking and all sources of recreational pleasure because Jason Licht keeps killing my buzz. Just the thought of Licht after a beer sends me to this site to scream Fireeeee Licht! Fire Licht soon. I like beer! But as long as Licht is around, can’t even join a beer without traumatic thoughts about how bad things have been, arguments started with friends, and a potential visit to a shrink! Fireeeee Licht!
May 2nd, 2019 at 7:59 pm
First, to me it is clear that the number one goal in the draft each year is to Maximize Value. It is not to get the one or two players that you have allowed yourself to fall in love with the most (i.e. Devin White and Sean Bunting this year). Maximizing value in my opinion means drafting the most high-quality players as possible, at positions of need, assuming the grades are comparable to non-need positions.
This year was unique in its depth of quality defensive line players, which is a huge need of the Bucs since Mccoy will either be cut or has to be replaced in a year or two at most, and since we are still weak at DE. CB is another position of need, but probably less so than the incredible need for quality and depth of the OL. Yes, LB is also a significant need, but is always less valuable than a quality DL. Always. This year’s crop also had about 5 premium players at the top, but very good to excellent players from 6 to into the 3rd round.
As a lay person, the game tape and inside information (regarding desire, work ethic and character) is not available, but I studied and compared all of the various draft grade and ranking information available (NFL.com, Walter football, Bleacher report, USA Today-Draftwire, CBS, Chris Landry, and others) from many different sources, which wound up being pretty consistent and accurate except for a few players who had wildly different grades, such as Chauncey Gardner and several others. From this it was possible to create a “board” for the first three rounds or so. The actual draft confirmed the accuracy of these sources and the resulting board, especially for players who had consistent rankings from the various sources. The highest rating for Bunting, by the way, was as the 75th best player by NFL.com, but all other sources had him considerably lower.
Given that Josh Allen, Ed Oliver, and Devin White were all available at number 5, I would doubt very, very much that the Bucs didn’t receive any offers to move down in the draft. Before the draft, I estimated that moving to the number 11 spot would be as far down as we could risk going in order to get the number 1 target in a move down situation, Christian Wilkins. The Bucs should have been willing to accept compensation as low as a fairly high 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick to make this happen, rather than demanding much more than this for this particular draft due to the talent at the 9 to 15 spots, and fairly high in the second round. With 2 fourth round picks as well as their 3rd rounder, the Bucs then could have moved into the latter 1/3 of the 2nd round from their 3rd round pick and probably still kept one of the 4th round picks. Assuming this could have been done, and I’m pretty sure that it could, the haul could have been the following for the Bucs:
Pick, say, 11 – Christian Wilkins
Pick 39 – G/T/C Dalton Risner
Pick, say 42-49 – S Adderley/CB Justin Layne
Move up pick to, say 55 – DE Zach Allen
Pick 105 – Best LB, CB Love, S Edwards, who would have both been there, as well as chance Bunting would have been there as well
If no deal could have been made to move down, then yes, White was the best pick. Allen scares me a bit as a possible bust, but Oliver is going to be a star, so there’s that. But, Risner HAD to be the pick at 39, and then Bunting would have almost certainly been there at 70, and Edwards at 105 since they liked them both so much. Dean was a wasted pick based on his injury history. Not only do the above picks include high quality players, which is critical, but also address known certain near future departures at OL and DT, both helping now as well as later. A quality LB then could have been a priority for next year’s draft.
By the way these were my picks prior to the draft based on careful analysis of who was likely to be available at the spots, though I wasn’t sure at all if Risner would fall to us at 39, and was only about 85% to 90% certain that Wilkins would be there no later than 11. Of course, Bunting was not on my radar as Adderly and Layne were rated by everyone to be much better players. I liked Love an awful lot too.
I am writing this to you in hopes that you happen to have some rapport with the Glazers, or with someone who is close to the Glazers. Licht has done a very poor job drafting, and a very poor job managing the salary cap and with free agents. We had plenty of money in the past two off-seasons, and he should have resigned Kwan Alexander and made sure there was room to pay McCoy the money that he was promised, as he is still a productive and solid player. Not taking Risner and drafting Bunting as high as they did were simply mind-boggling mistakes this year, not even mentioning the kicker or the selection of the injury waiting to happen Dean. The fact that we still have so many holes to fill, as well as the impending hole at DT when they cut Mccoy, provides ample evidence as to the primary weaknesses of Licht.
Looking at what should have or could have been changes nothing now, but it does provide additional confirmation as to the ineptitude of Licht. In finding a new GM, I believe that talking to the commissioner’s office for recommendations and hiring a consultant – Jimmy Johnson would be excellent if he were willing since he is an excellent decision maker and judge of talent and no doubt has lots of contacts, or some recently retired excellent GM, would be the best way to identify an excellent candidate. This new GM should override Arians and Bowles, who I believe showed that they are not good decision makers by insisting on White (I heard Arians tell him in the draft call “I told you we were going to pick you”) rather than moving down, and Bunting, over Risner. By the way, Bowles’ defenses were not good in New York.