B-
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers cashed the board's mistake on Stowers: B-.
by alexokf ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 4 steals
· 2 reaches
Somebody in the Round 4 slot was going to get robbed, and it turned out to be the rest of the league. The Buccaneers sat still while Eli Stowers, the No. 53 name on the board, slid all the way to them, then sprinted to the podium. A dependable weekend that grades out a B-.
They will need Rodriguez to outplay his draft slot in a hurry to justify it. They punted on interior defensive lineman, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
On the needs board they went 5 of 8, with offensive lineman the one that mattered most. Nearly every premium pick went to that side of the ball.
Good work on the whole, with interior defensive lineman the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 15 they get a bendy edge with upside, though the board says they badly overpaid. A clean fit for the roster.
Jacob Rodriguez at No. 46 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Blake Miller at Round 3, Pick 13 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Taking Eli Stowers in pick No. 116 is close to grand larceny; a tight end that good had no business lasting this long. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Hezekiah Masses in the 155th pick is a gift, value that borders on unfair. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
A tidy little value on Jeff Caldwell in the 195th overall pick, a step better than break-even. It fills a real need, too.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Keyshaun Elliott at pick 229. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.