TAMPA, Fla. — The 2020 NFL draft is now less than a week away, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ biggest priorities revolve around what they can do to help quarterback Tom Brady.
The Bucs need a Day 1 starter at right tackle to protect him and a sure-handed, pass-catching running back to open things up with the screen game. After that, they really need a third wide receiver to fill the void left by Breshad Perriman (36 catches, 645 yards, 6 TDs in 2019), who signed with the New York Jets in free agency. If the Bucs can address those key areas, they will walk away from the draft in good shape.
Offensive tackle
The Bucs did not sign a true replacement for starting right tackle Demar Dotson in free agency. They did sign Joe Haeg — who has started 35 games in four seasons, with 23 of those games at tackle — but ideally, Haeg is more of a depth signing. They need a player who not only can step into the right tackle role but also serve as a potential replacement for left tackle Donovan Smith, who has been durable (he has missed just one game in five seasons) but also has been inconsistent.
The general consensus among talent evaluators leaguewide is that there are four top-tier tackles in the draft — Alabama’s Jedrick Wills, Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs, Georgia’s Andrew Thomas and Louisville’s Mekhi Becton — and after that, there’s a drop-off. There’s also a feeling that all four of them could be gone by the time the Bucs select at No. 14.
Sources have told ESPN that the Bucs have explored trading up in this draft, and there could be a run on tackles. But will a willing trade partner emerge, such as the Arizona Cardinals at No. 8, the Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 9 or the Cleveland Browns at No. 10? Or do the Bucs just stay put and hope one of the four falls to them at No. 14?
“It takes two teams to get together and have a marriage to do the deal. It’s not as simple as just saying, ‘OK, we want to move up to the eighth pick,’” Bucs general manager Jason Licht said when asked last week about his philosophy on trading up. “I guess it is if you’re going to give up a bounty of picks, but you just want to make sure you’re not stressing your team and harming your team for the future by giving away too much.”
Wills is a solid run- and pass-blocker, but he spent his career at right tackle for the Crimson Tide, which would be fine for the Bucs if they plan to keep him there. Several mock drafts have pegged Thomas to the Bucs. He’s the only player in that group who was an All-American at both right and left tackle, with his only real weakness being the need for more explosiveness in his hands. Becton still has some rawness to his game, but his colossal size (6-foot-5, 364 pounds) and quick feet are intriguing.
Wirfs saw his stock rise after a very athletic performance at the NFL combine and could wind up being the first offensive tackle off the board — maybe even in the top five.
If all four of those players are gone, the Bucs could then consider Austin Jackson, who started two years at left tackle at USC.
Running back
The need for a pass-catching running back to help in the screen game has only intensified with Brady’s arrival. No one relies more on the use of the running back in the passing game than Brady does. At No. 45 in the second round, keep an eye on Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor and LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire, if they’re available — the Bucs have done a lot of work on both. Taylor told ESPN that he reached out to New England Patriots running back James White, who also went to Wisconsin, about playing with Brady.
“One of the biggest things was just know — know what’s going on,” Taylor said. “Tom asks for a lot from his guys. One of the biggest things is, before you can even do anything, is you gotta know what’s going on. You’ve gotta know what you’re supposed to do. So the more you know the playbook inside and out, the better you’ll be.”
Taylor clocked a 4.39-second 40-yard dash in Indianapolis, but if there are concerns about his high number of touches (968 in three years) and fumbles (18 in 41 career games), he could fall to the second round. There also has been some concern about blitz pickup, and in one of the Bucs’ Zoom interview sessions with Taylor, they actually went through some blitz packages to see where he is in that department.
Edwards-Helaire also would be a terrific option. His 4.6 40-yard dash at the combine is a concern, but Licht tends to rely more on tape than testing and believes the pre-draft process can actually lead teams to overanalyze.
“The tape is about 90% of what the player is,” Licht said. “We can tell how hard a player plays. We can tell how smart sometimes [that] a player is just by the way he plays.”
Licht has yet to hit on a running back in the draft. Jeremy McNichols, the Bucs’ fifth-round draft pick in 2017, didn’t make the 53-man roster. Ronald Jones, the Bucs’ second-round pick in 2018, made a significant year-over-year improvement and can certainly do a lot of damage on first and second down, but he’s not yet a complete back and his hands are still a work in progress.
“We do think Ronald still hasn’t even scratched the surface of what he can be,” Licht said. “We think he still has a tremendous amount of upside. That doesn’t stop us from wanting to add to that group, which may be something we do depending on who’s there, where they’re at and what other positions we’re looking at.”
Third receiver
How big of a need is wide receiver when the Bucs already have two 1,100-yard receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin? Justin Watson had a 7.7% drop rate on 13 targets in the final two games of the season, without both Evans and Godwin. Scotty Miller, whose season also ended because of a hamstring injury, has elite speed, but he struggled after seeing more action last season and managed to catch just 50% of the balls thrown his way (13 of 26). This group needs competition.
Thankfully, it’s arguably one of the deepest draft classes at wide receiver in years, so even if the Bucs address offensive tackle and running back in the first two rounds, they’ll still have plenty of receiving options in Round 3. Notre Dame’s Chase Claypool (6-foot-4, 238 pounds) posted a 4.42 40 with a 40.5-inch vertical at the combine, while Michael Pittman Jr. (6-foot-4, 223 pounds) ran a 4.52 and had a 100-catch, 1,275-yard season last season at USC. If they want more speed, Penn State’s KJ Hamler is an option, although he didn’t run the 40 at the NFL combine due to a hamstring injury (he did tell reporters he ran a 4.27 in training, though). Devin Duvernay clocked a 4.39 at the combine and excelled in the slot at Texas, averaging 6.9 yards after the catch last season, and that’s something the Bucs simply haven’t had.
Source : ESPN
