[287] BUCCANEERS DRAFT PREVIEW

Buccaneers Observer

Jason Licht and Co. have done a phenomenal job in years past of building a team and acquiring depth that we are now, for the second year in a row, drafting the best available player rather than drafting for need. As you know, we do not follow college and therefore are ill equipped to evaluate players coming into the draft.

However, we can look at the Buccaneers roster and tell you where we are due for an upgrade. The most obvious place, in our opinion, is at the tight end position. We *hope* Rob Gronkowski has a gentleman's agreement with Jason Licht that he is coming back but will only sign after OTAs, etc. BUT in the event that's not the case, we have a serious dearth of talent at the tight end position. Cam Brate and Codey McElroy are the only tight ends on the roster. Any tight end the Buccaneers draft would have to be a blocker first. If we don't draft a tight end, it would indicate to us that the front office has a high degree of confidence that Gronk is coming back.

The next position where we could potentially spend a draft pick is at running back. The Buccaneers secured Leonard Fournette this off-season and he is set to be the starter. However, he's benefitted the last two seasons from the one-two punch of Ronald Jones. Rojo became a free agent this offseason and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. This year, Fournette has Giovanni Bernard, Ke'Shawn Johnson and Kenyon Barner. Despite Barner being a three-time Super Bowl champ, the talent drop off after Fournette is steep. What do we do if Fournette gets hurt? Spending draft capital at the position makes sense.

This draft is stacked in the trenches, and the Bucs could use some depth at defensive line. We are still unsure if Ndamukong Suh will be back, but in any event another stud defensive lineman can't hurt. We have Vita Vea, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Will Gholston and Pat O'Connor. But one injury to any of those and we're in trouble. In the event Suh doesn't come back, we need to replace his talent stack. Defensive line is a position where an upgrade would be useful.

In this draft's installment of Know Your Enemy:

- The Carolina Panthers are expected to draft Kenny Pickett at quarterback with the sixth overall pick.

- The Atlanta Falcons are expected to go with a wide receiver at the eighth pick.

- The New Orleans Saints are expected to draft either a tackle or defensive lineman with the 16th pick.

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