The Bucs had a fine draft despite the weird start

The Buccaneers had everything lined up last Thursday night in the first round of the NFL Draft.

All of everyone’s favorite defensive targets for Tampa Bay were there, and all the team had to do was pick from the plethora of options. And then they picked wide receiver Emeka Egbuka out of Ohio State.

Now, was this what I would’ve done? Was this a move the pundits and experts had them making? No, and for the most part, also no.

Bucs fans probably saw that and grew frustrated, because it was the defense that was one of the worst groups in football, while the offense was quite good in its 2024 season.

So why in the world would General Manager Jason Licht pick a wide receiver, and one that lines up in the slot so often, much like the guy they just gave a three-year, expensive contract to, Chris Godwin?

I don’t have a great answer for you, but I can say with full confidence that Licht knows what he’s doing when it comes to receivers, as he’s hit absolute home runs with the picks of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and last year’s third-rounder Jalen McMillan who seems to be off to an excellent start.

So let’s hold off on the panic, let’s not go right to Facebook to bitch and moan (although I’m guessing most people have already done that), let’s wait to see how Egbuka works out. Because not only was he quite good at Ohio State, setting school records for career receptions (not a minor thing at a historic school), he also has enough athletic ability to warrant being viewed as a promising young player.

Egbuka’s 40-yard dash time wasn’t mind-blowing, but it was a robust 4.48 seconds, combining with a 38-inch vertical and 4.12-second shuttle mark to show that he has enough athletic ability to make up for his slight size at six-feet and 202 pounds.

As for the rest of the draft, the Bucs made selections that probably eased a lot of fans’ minds, as they went defense with the remainder of their picks except for in round seven (but the margins between a seventh round pick and undrafted free agents are so thin it’s hard to get too critical of those picks).

The selections included:
Cornerbacks Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish being selected with the Bucs’ second and third round picks
Edge rushers David Walker and Elijah Roberts being picked in the fourth and fifth rounds
Receiver Tez Johnson out of Oregon in round seven getting the call

Assuming the hip injury he suffered to end his 2024 season with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish isn’t a lingering thing, Morrison should be a very good backup outside corner, with the potential to eventually start (maybe even sooner than we think, especially with veteran Jamel Dean’s injury concerns always hanging over everyone’s heads).

Parrish was one of the fastest corners in this draft class, but his five-foot-nine-inch height dropped his value a bit despite being a very good player in both the slot and on the outside at Kansas State. The back-to-back corner selections might have come off as a bit odd, but the thinking could be that Parrish ends up as the starting slot corner.

Walker was an FCS guy at Arkansas State, so there’s concern about his ability to keep up with high-level competition, but his numbers were so gaudy and his athletic score solid enough to mitigate those concerns.

The other edge rusher out of SMU, Elijah Roberts, is probably my favorite pick of the draft, as he can immediately give Logan Hall some competition for that starting defensive end role.

The Bucs had a fine draft despite the weird start, and fans should feel good about their standing in the NFC South.

Plus, at least they’re not the Browns!

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky

This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2025.