B-
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Golday should have been long gone. The Buccaneers pounced, and earned a B-.
by stestansfield ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 2 steals
· 2 reaches
The board owed the Buccaneers one, and it paid up: Jake Golday, the No. 58 name on the board, sitting there at slot 116 like a gift left on the doorstep.
A whole weekend of picks and interior defensive lineman is somehow still a want. If Fa'amoe pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about.
Spending an early pick on linebacker with interior defensive lineman, tight end and other spots open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
A market-rate linebacker, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Sonny Styles. A minor itch, scratched.
They liked Derrick Moore enough to skip the value, taking him in pick No. 46. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A curious use of slot 77. Interior defensive lineman, tight end and other spots needed the pick; a linebacker in Jacob Rodriguez did not.
A top-tier edge rusher at a bargain, Jake Golday in the 116th pick, plain and simple. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They let Hezekiah Masses come to them and pounced at the Round 5 slot. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Beau Stephens in Round 5, Pick 23. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Pat Coogan in pick 195 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They paid a round early for Fa'alili Fa'amoe in the 229th overall pick, more than the board wanted. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.