Devin’s Buccaneers Day Three Recap

I once again went a perfect 0/6 on Buccaneers draft picks. Truly remarkable how I keep getting it wrong. It wasn’t even like last year where I got the position right. Everything was wrong. But this is why I’m not a GM. The Buccaneers got some great picks in this draft. There’s a legit chance a couple of these guys will end up starting, which would be a huge get.

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Everyone has been outright euphoric about David Walker, and I would include myself in that as well. He was one of the best defenders in the FCS and now becomes the highest picked Central Arkansas alumni. Walker doesn’t have the greatest length or size for the position, but he makes up for that with his bull-rush and power. He also has the production to back up his skills. with 10.5 sacks in 2024. Well you might say to look at the competition he was facing, but even against FBS schools he made his presence known. In 2024, he had 2.5 sacks against Arkansas State. In 2023, he had .5 sacks against OSU and 1.5 against NDSU. Not the highest class teams sure, but still D1 talent. Plus, watch his reps in the Senior Bowl. Dude has got the juice. Great fit for the Buccaneers.

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Next up we have Elijah Roberts out of SMU. Guy is best known for being the QB’s worst enemy. He is constantly getting pressure along the d-line. And it’s not just the eye-test. He led the FBS in QB pressures at 161, which is more than Mike Greene, aka a guy that was consistently mocked in the first round. Roberts also has 23.5 sacks over the course of his whole career at SMU. He can line up anywhere for the Buccaneers on the d-line and I have seen some suggest he may be a Gholston replacement. The biggest question mark from him is if he can do more than just collapse the pocket. He doesn’t have great ability to change direction and has a missed tackle rate of 21%.

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The final pick from day 3 is WR Tez Johnson out of Oregon. This is a fun one for sure. He is about the same size of Bucky Irving, which isn’t great for a WR, but he is also like Bucky in a lot of better ways. He is twitchy and great at getting YAC having over 1300 yards after catch. Apparently he also has kept in contact with Bucky, so that’s really cool. At 5′ 9″ you absolutely cannot expect him to make too many contested catches, but he is used to a large workload.

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Something that I would probably be worried about if he didn’t prove it in college. But here’s the rub, he will have plenty of opportunities to be open. Tampa’s new OC John Grizzard is unproven, but if you have Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Ebuka also on the field, he might be able to slip by the defense trying to key in on one of those guys. He has a fantastic ability to get open and is near impossible to take down. I think this also means Trey Palmer’s days are numbered. At least, if Johnson works out. Just feels like the odd man out here.

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To look at this draft as a whole, the Bucs did a great job filling holes and adding talent to the roster. I know some people are concerned they didn’t add an ILB, but after Knight went off the board, the whole class fell off a cliff. There were no good ones left. I would rather pressure the QB to make our current LBs look better than reach on bad prospects. Our secondary should look a hell of a lot better and hopefully our WR core can step up if we lose our top guys for any games. On paper, this is one of the best drafts of 2025. Jason Licht continues to prove he is one of the best GMs in the league.

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Oh and if you want to watch highlights of these guys, maybe check out my YouTube channel.