Buccaneers news: Bruce Arians says if you 'draft for need, you get fired'

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians says if you "draft for need, you get fired" in the business that is the NFL.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is against the idea of drafting for need.

Instead, Arians told The Tampa Bay Times (via Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith) on April 25 he'd rather “take the best player” available.

“You can't draft for need. If you draft for need, you get fired. You take the best player. If you got two players, now you've got three of them.

Just take the best player available. Now if you've got four players right there together and one of them is a need? That's a home run.”

"You draft for need, you get fired. Draft the best player, and if you've got two of them now you've got three of them. Just take the best players available for you. Now, if you've got four players right there together and one of them is a need, that's the home run." Bruce Arians. pic.twitter.com/mak2lQamrP

— The Nat Coombs Show (@thencshow) April 25, 2019

Arians also gushed about the draft. He said there are six “once-in-a-generation type players” from the group, per The Tampa Bay Times' Rick Stroud.

“There would have to be some hellacious picks. There's five guys on the board I love. You'd have to throw the bank and open the vault for (general manager) Jason (Licht) to move down.

I'm not saying that we wouldn't. Just looking at the guys that are there, there's really six guys that are once-in-a-generation type players. I'm feeling great about this draft.”

Stroud says it's “not hard to speculate” which players Arians was talking about. The Tampa Bay times writer says Arians could have referred to players such as Nick Bosa, Quinnen Williams, Ed Oliver, Josh Allen, Devin White, Devin Bush, Kyler Murray, and Montez Sweat.

One team. One cause. 🏆💍 pic.twitter.com/xP3Ec48sbU

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) March 26, 2019

The Bucs will select fifth overall on Thursday. If Arians follows through on his draft principle, then expect Tampa Bay to beef up an already strong position. More specifically, these are tight end and wide receiver.

Despite losing DeSean Jackson to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Buccaneers have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. They could also pick up another tight end to complement O.J. Howard.

One of the Bucs' glaring needs is linebacker. The two Devin's (Devin White and Devin Bush) come to mind. Will Arians pass up on them and take the best player available?

It should be interesting to find out.