The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 2022 offseason has seen its fair share of peaks and valleys. Whether it was the retirement, and then unretirement, of the GOAT Tom Brady, or the stepping down of former head coach Bruce Arians, there has been no shortage of newsworthy items coming out of northwest Florida. Luckily for Bucs fans, a majority of the news has been positive. Some would say even exciting. That leaves the NFL Draft as the icing on the cake to help round out what many pundits are calling a positive offseason for the Buccaneers.
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The Buccaneers did their best work of the offseason in March, bringing back a litany of talent that most had written off due to the prior departure of Tom Brady. They franchise tagged wide receiver Chris Godwin for the 2022 season and brought back key players on both sides of the ball in cornerback Carlton Davis III, center Ryan Jensen, and running back Leonard Fournette. They would also go on to sign wide receiver Russell Gage away from their division rival the Atlanta Falcons, and brought in veteran defensive back Logan Ryan to add some depth to the secondary.
All of those additions are well and good, but the Buccaneers have a legitimate opportunity to fill the remaining holes on the roster through the NFL Draft if they manage the weekend properly. Should the Buccaneers do just that, they could solidify the team's chances of making it back to the Super Bowl, and bringing home another Lombardi Trophy.
Here are three bold predictions for the Buccaneers during the 2022 NFL Draft.
Buccaneers Predictions for the 2022 NFL Draft
3. Strategically trade up for a falling interior offensive lineman
The Buccaneers nearly lost all three of their interior lineman heading into the 2022 season. Guard Ali Marpet has retired, guard Alex Cappa signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, and center Ryan Jensen was heavily rumored to be making his departure in free agency. Luckily for Buccaneers fans, they were able to retain one out of the three with the re-signing of Ryan Jensen.
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One thing the Buccaneers could do is mortgage some late-round or future picks to move up and take one of the better interior offensive linemen that could fall in the first round. Not to say that they should overpay to get a guard, but if the opportunity arose to move up without sacrificing any precious draft capital, the Buccaneers could certainly use someone to anchor at least one flank of Ryan Jensen. Think Zion Johnson or Kenyon Green, both being the top interior linemen prospects according to multiple sources.
2. Trade down to gather more draft capital
Should all of the top-tier interior offensive and defensive linemen be off the board, the Buccaneers could do the exact opposite of what we mentioned in our first prediction, and that is trade down to the top half of the second round. The talent that will be floating around at the tail end of the first round is not all too dissimilar from what would be available in the top half of the second round. If the Buccaneers' first-round targets are all gone, there is a lot to be gained by entertaining the thought of moving down and not reaching on a player.
Couple this with the fact that the Buccaneers do not have their picks in both the fifth and sixth rounds, and it begins to make more sense why they could use their first to move back and reload with extra selections on days two and three.
1. Draft a quarterback, sooner rather than later
To be fair, Tom Brady did retire once this offseason. Jason Licht and Todd Bowles have not forgotten that.
Rather than be stuck holding the bag for Tom Brady again (whenever that may come), the Buccaneers would be wise to start looking towards the future at the quarterback position, especially while they have a young roster and the GOAT there to show how it's done.
Don't be surprised if the Buccaneers carry out our second prediction, and take a quarterback like Matt Corral or Sam Howell with one of two second-round picks.
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