Pete Prisco: Jason Licht Did A Nice Job Finding Good Players At Need Positions
May 15th, 2024
Key to draft class success?
You know how the Bucs didn’t have a sexy draft? Look at the draft grades.
If the Bucs’ draft brought sizzle (read: hotshot quarterback, stud receiver or monster edge rusher) you’d see the Bucs having all sorts of A’s in all the draft grades, but that’s not what happened.
Well, prickly Pete Prisco of CBS gave the Bucs perhaps the highest grade that Joe has read for Tampa Bay, a B+ for their draft weekend.,
The Skinny: They did a nice job landing good players and also filling needs. It started with first-round guard-center Graham Barton, who will likely be the starting center. Braswell was picked for need and will be a rotation player early. I do like McMillan and [fourth]-round running back Bucky Irving.
In Joe’s mind, this draft and the final grade for it years from now rests with second-round pick Chris Braswell.
First, for rookie edge rushers, their rookie seasons are basically apprenticeships. For every Bosa brother Maxx Crosby or Josh Allen, there are dozens of rookie edge rushers who don’t do squat.
So Joe will give Braswell a full and complete pass this year. Jook, just in the past 13 years Joe thought the Bucs had two solid edge rushers, Adrian Clayborn and Noah Spence, based on their rookie seasons. Both flamed out largely due to injuries and never got a second contract with the Bucs.
May 15th, 2024 at 9:08 am
Good points about our poor history with edge draftees. Sobering. But I still think it was a very strong draft. Braswell looks to have great potential – at a needed position.
May 15th, 2024 at 9:08 am
Braswell is violent and I like that. I think he could have Simla or success as Yaya did given his familiarity with the defense and already having experience in coverage.
As far as Noah Spence. He had a bad shoulder but I heard he had trouble staying on task in the defense? He would free lance a lot and didn’t study film. Any truth to that?
May 15th, 2024 at 9:09 am
” If the Bucs draft brought sizzle (read: Hotshot quarterback, stud receiver or monster edge rusher) you’d see the Bucs having all sorts of A’s in all the draft grades.” Not a splashy draft for the talking heads, but a very effective one.
I wanted us to pick both Barton and Braswell, so Jason went with my guys. In my mind, Barton was the #1 IOL in the draft, and Braswell had great production in the SEC and is more NFL ready than most edges.
May 15th, 2024 at 9:21 am
I personally think we’ll hit on everyone selected in the 2024, and I think this draft is a testament to how our front office has been backloading the back end of this roster since 2022. We went from being on of the oldest teams in the league, to having less than a handful of 30yo players on the roster with a good mix of young, experienced players throughout the roster.
Also love how we’ve been bringing in rookies in that are familiar with players we have already on the roster and think that’s been an undermentioned aspect to our scouting department piecing together draft classes the last 5-6 years.
May 15th, 2024 at 9:30 am
Yes, we had a very solid but not sexy draft…..
Filled needs at C, Edge, WR3 & RB…….the 6th round G may be a keeper.
Not a bad draft at all…
May 15th, 2024 at 9:47 am
We have a TON of starters on rookie contracts, which speaks well of the Bucs drafts (JTS and Hall aside). Can’t wait until the Shaq and Jensen dead money is gone
May 15th, 2024 at 9:58 am
I feel like people keep acting like Braswell was a reach pick when you say something like “he was picked for need”… He probably was legit just the highest player on their board or at least tied with a couple other guys.
Ranked 58th on PFF’s big board
Ranked 45th on CBS’s big board (Pete Prisco’s site)
Ranked 66th on Fox
Ranked 53rd on NFL.com
Ranked 58th on Draftek
Seems like we didn’t reach whatsoever lol.
May 15th, 2024 at 10:13 am
Braswell wasn’t a reach. The only reach was Tykee Smith who was consistently ranked in the 120’s taken at 89, but the fit was great for Bowles defense and they had no 4th so it doesn’t matter. Bucs had a great draft and it will show.
May 15th, 2024 at 10:28 am
That’s the way it works if you are winning the division every year.
May 15th, 2024 at 11:06 am
If the sleeper picks can develop like we expect then the Bucs will have some solid players. McMillan, Irving and Culp and UDFA Kalen Loach could be special. This might turn out to be an A+ draft for Jason.
May 15th, 2024 at 11:24 am
Has to be better than the last Bucs Alabama edge rusher, Keith McCants or was it Broderick Thomas
May 15th, 2024 at 11:29 am
Clayborn was fighting a losing battle with only one good solid arm to play with. Why a moronic GM would pick a DE with a known physical handicap is just insanity. To think Clayborn was chosen before Cam Jordan is maddening. The same should be said of Licht picking Noah Spence. To slow to be an OLB and to small to be a DE, Spence wandered around in NFL limbo throughout his career.
May 15th, 2024 at 11:31 am
Rrsrq. It was “Sand Man”
May 15th, 2024 at 11:46 am
Argh, McCants. We drafted him 1st or 2nd, KNOWING he blew his knee out the year prior. Broderick was a beast
May 15th, 2024 at 12:47 pm
Joe: “So, Joe will give Braswell a full and complete pass this year.”
No you won’t. I’ve been on this site for long enough to know that’s BS. You mean it now but patience is astoundingly non-existing amongst the members of Joe’s Community.
I’m saving this link and this quote. Hopefully I won’t have to remind you.
Do that! It’s only one “Joe” that made that claim. Suck is suck, and if the guy sucks it will be noted here by the Joe typing here. If he can play, it won’t be a surprise, either. Expections, however, will not be overblown. Just steadily improve and grow into the position. YaYa Diaby did it well last year. Anthony Nelson came along steadily as a fourth-round pick and found his NFL ceiling as a good backup. –Joe
May 15th, 2024 at 2:12 pm
My only problem with Barton is he’s too handsome to be called Ugly. He is Big, though.
May 15th, 2024 at 3:12 pm
Nearly every team across the league has high hopes this time of the year. As they say, “Good and bad ideas both come from the same fountain of speculation and experiment.” We’ll see.
May 15th, 2024 at 4:34 pm
In my opinion we had a great draft I mean we were draft drafting 26th we definitely got what we needed as long as it all works out I mean every draft is 50/50 shot of a player doing great doesn’t matter what round he’s drafted in so on that note in my opinion I think we did very well for the positions that we were at and I’m very proud of the Buccaneers for not trading our second third round pick because we definitely needed it
May 15th, 2024 at 4:37 pm
I honestly am more worried about our quarterback then who we drafted I hope he does great I just don’t have quite enough faith yet trust me I’m rooting my ass off for him but he’s got to prove it more than one year
May 15th, 2024 at 4:51 pm
We shall see, I think Braswell is going to better than people think. Look you got YaYa and a threat opposite side, we haven’t had that in a minute man.. last year JTS got what on accident? Even Chancey showed up pretty good. If the middle can keep people occupied the edge will thrive.. I want a linebacker to follow up with the edge guys. Bring Two a one will handle the block the other gets the QB.. lol!
May 15th, 2024 at 7:29 pm
Light does a good job but does not deserve all the credit. Large team work for him.
May 15th, 2024 at 9:17 pm
Tom Slick
“Light does a good job but does not deserve all the credit. Large team work for him.
Agree Tom, we could say that about anybody including Brady since football is a TEAM sport from the front office down to the trainers.
I give Licht a ton of credit for exactly the reason you point out. It’s not all him but HE’s the guy who found most of those other guys. Spytek and others work for Licht. I’ve always been taught that the guy who can find and motivate talent is the guy who is going to win.
May 16th, 2024 at 4:34 am
Adrian Clayborne went on to have a solid career even after the Bucs.
He should have been a 3-4 DE like Gholston. He’s not a true 4-3 DE.
Daquan Bowers had major knee issues. Dumb pick.
Michael Bennet. Legend. But he questioned “General Schiano” after RGIII toasted us at the end of a game.
Michael Johnson the “ostrich” from the Bengals. Total joke.
Jacquies Smith was good. But we put him on special teams. Knee injury. Career over.
Noah Spence. Shoulder injuries were too much to overcome.
Brian Price. Good pick. But the freak accident destroyed his hips. Career over.
He used to play on no legs basically.
Haynesworth. He was a desperate signing.
Schiano hit a home runs with Gholston, Spence and Steven Means. Late round picks who had solid NFL careers.
We passed on TJ Watt by the way.
I thought about an alternate universe where we drafted JPP instead of GMC
I wish we had drafted JPP and not GMC. Our entire history would be different.