B
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers fleeced the room on the phones and earned a B.
by [email protected] ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 2 steals
· 2 reaches
The Buccaneers ran the phones like sharks, prying loose value on deal after deal until the ledger was lopsided. They moved the roster forward and banked a B for it.
Caldwell has a lot of ground to make up just to look fairly priced. On value alone, Stukes makes the weekend a net positive. A whole weekend of picks and edge rusher is somehow still a want.
The Rodriguez pick reads as want over need, and the roster will feel it at edge rusher, quarterback and other spots.
Good work on the whole, with edge rusher the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 26 they get a downhill thumper at linebacker. Need was not the driver here.
They zigged when the board said zag, taking Jacob Rodriguez at linebacker with edge rusher, quarterback and other spots open.
Bryce Lance at the 82nd overall pick jumps the queue by a touch more than is comfortable. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A top-tier cornerback at a bargain, Treydan Stukes in the Round 4 slot, plain and simple. A need, and now a little less of one.
Jack Endries at the 126th pick nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A clean, defensible pick in pick 155 with a little surplus value in Jaeden Roberts. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A big swing on Jeff Caldwell at Round 5, Pick 28, well ahead of any board in the building. The roster fit checks out.
They let Zane Durant come to them and pounced at pick No. 195. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Ephesians Prysock at Round 6, Pick 15 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.