TAMPA, Fla. -- The 2026 NFL draft, which kicks off Thursday, may be one of the most important in recent memory for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
They missed out on the 2025 playoffs for the first time since winning the Super Bowl in 2020. There were also the departures of two cornerstone and Hall of Fame-caliber players with a combined 26 years of experience and 21 years of captaincy in wide receiver Mike Evans, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers in free agency, and inside linebacker Lavonte David, who recently retired after 14 seasons.
But don't expect quarterback to be a high priority among their seven picks, as the team remains very high on quarterback Baker Mayfield despite a down year in 2025, and as he enters the final year of his deal, they're working to solidify his status in Tampa long-term.
General manager Jason Licht feels there are players who are ready to step up and become great leaders, though, and he "feels strongly" about the composition of their current roster. But no doubt about it, as he put it, "This draft is important." And he acknowledged that it is tilting towards being a defensive-heavy one after going offense in Round 1 the past two years.
"We do see that there is a need for help there on the defensive side, for sure," Licht said in his annual pre-draft news conference last week, pointing to input he and ownership received from Bowles, who also serves as the playcaller on defense.
Arguably their two biggest needs right now are edge rusher and inside linebacker, with edge rusher a position that continues to elude the Bucs. That's especially true when you compare it to the high degree of success they have had at other positions, such as interior offensive linemen (Ali Marpet, Alex Cappa, Graham Barton, Cody Mauch), offensive tackle (Tristan Wirfs, Luke Goedeke, Donovan Smith) and wide receiver (Evans, Godwin, Jalen McMillan, Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson).
It's also a position that often commands top dollar in free agency or in trades (the Baltimore Ravens originally agreed to give up two first-round draft picks in exchange for Maxx Crosby prior to the trade being nullified because of a failed physical). That means they need to hit on picks and develop while benefiting from the salary restrictions of the rookie wage scale. Plus, their philosophy is to draft, develop and prioritize re-signing those players as it mitigates risk and bolsters morale.
"We've had more success trading for or signing them than we have drafting, and I'll be the first to admit that," Licht said, adding, "we know that last year we wish we would have had more production from that aspect, from the edge."
The Bucs haven't seen a player reach double-digit sacks since Shaquil Barrett's 10 in 2021. They signed Al-Quadin Muhammad in free agency, but he will have to prove that he doesn't need the Aidan Hutchinson on the other side to create havoc and that his 11 sacks last season with the Lions were no fluke.
In the 2025 NFL draft, they bypassed the position the first two days and selected David Walker out of Central Arkansas in the fourth round, but he suffered a torn ACL in training camp. They've also invested high capital in the position but have not experienced the desired results in players like 2024 second-round draft pick Chris Braswell, who has accumulated only 2.5 sacks in two seasons with no starts. And then in 2021, they used their first-round pick (32nd overall) on Joe Tryon-Shoyinka out of Washington, whose career high was 5 sacks in 2023 despite starting 45 games.
When asked if their evaluation process at the position has changed, Licht said, "I don't know how much has changed. We've put a lot of energy into it, though. I feel like we've gone back and studied a lot of rushers that didn't make it or didn't work out to kind of see what we can do better, where we can focus our attention on a little bit more."
The need is certainly there. The Bucs' 37 sacks in 2025 were the fewest in Todd Bowles' tenure running the defense since joining the team in 2019. It should also be noted though, that seven teams -- the Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers and 49ers -- all made the playoffs last season with fewer sacks from their defenses. But with a "high risk, high reward" defense like Bowles', and for a team that had a -1.82 points margin this past season, one sack can make all the difference in a win versus a loss.
There is no shortage of edge rushers this year either. According to ESPN's Big Board, it starts with Arvell Reese out of Ohio State. From there, you have the likes of Texas Tech's David Bailey (No. 3), who led the FCS with 14.5 sacks last season, and Miami's Rueben Bain Jr. (No. 9).
To get players like that, the Bucs would probably have to trade up from their original spot (No. 15), but players like Miami's Akheem Mesidor, Texas A&M's Cashius Howell, Clemson's T.J. Parker and Oklahoma's R Mason Thomas could be in play.
"I mean, we can all say and write down and we have numbers that we look for the ideal [edge rusher], but those are also hard to [come by]," Licht said. "The 'J.P.P's' (Jason Pierre-Paul) -- God only made a few of them. Yes, you would like to have big, long guys, but sometimes power comes in different packages. A guy can have great quickness and speed, but he's just going to get washed off of the corner because of his lack of base and lack of strength. At the end of the day, you're just looking for a very good football player that can do all of those things."
There's also inside linebacker. The team signed veteran Alex Anzalone, 31 and regarded as one of the best coverage linebackers in the league, to a two-year deal this offseason. And while they signed Christian Rozeboom to compete with SirVocea Dennis for a starting role next to Anzalone, these are vitally important positions in Bowles' defense.
The Bucs could get a premier one in Ohio State's Sonny Styles, who turned in a 4.46 40-yard dash at the NFL combine and posted a 43.5-inch vertical, but they likely would have to trade up for someone like him too. There's also Georgia's CJ Allen or Texas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez, as well as Cincinnati's Jake Golday.
The Bucs had success when selecting Devin White fifth overall in 2019, with the former LSU inside linebacker being a key piece to their Super Bowl LV victory, but his impact faded -- as he was not re-signed after five seasons.
"I feel like there's some guys in this draft that can really play," Bowles said when asked about the position at annual NFL meeting last month. "There's quite a few of them, at least 10 or 12 of them for sure. And the trait we look for the most is probably instinctiveness. You look for instincts right there and how they read and how they scrape and how they go. And I think there's a bunch of those in that draft."
