Making a deep playoff run is always high on the wish list for any NFL team, but it comes with the challenge of pushing your top draft pick down the board.
After coming up short in the divisional playoff round last season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are currently sitting at the No. 26 overall pick in the first round, which brings with it some challenges.
“I would say that the biggest challenge, at least for me, is you’re trying to target who might be there,” Bucs general manager Jason Licht said earlier this week. “We say this all the time – we say it to all the prospects that are coming in and visiting – no one knows how this is going to go. If somebody is telling you they know where you’re going, they’re lying. Only one team, right now, knows who they’re taking, probably – and maybe they don’t.”
Licht and his team has a handful of names that could be available when they go on the clock in a couple of weeks, and the hope is always that one of those players from the short list is still on the board.
“Right now, we have five to seven guys we think might be there,” Licht said. “Then you start kind of falling in love with them and you’re like, ‘Okay, one of these guys is going to be there, and we’re going to be so happy.’ Then, there’s the chance that none of them are. I think that’s the hardest part about picking down there late.”
History hasn’t been too kind to the Bucs when it comes to making late first-round picks, but they’ve been able to find some gems in the teens over the years, as well as some solid Day 2 selections.
This year, Licht and the Bucs will be hoping to land another impact player, regardless of when they make that first selection.
