Georgia LB Jalon Walker – Photo by: USA Today
Amuni 600X200 1
Managing your family’s wealth means more to Amuni Financial than simply allocating your assets. It means legacy planning, brokerage & advisory services, retirement accounts, college savings accounts and insurance services. With 40 years of experience, let Amuni Financial help you plan ahead and stay ahead.
Call Amuni Financial at (800) 868-6864 or visit Amuni.com.
Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport X account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via X using the hashtag #PRMailbag. Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.
QUESTION: Who are the top five players you could see the Bucs draft this year?
ANSWER: I’m glad you gave me five options because picking at No. 19, the Bucs are beholden to the teams that pick ahead of them. With just six picks in this year’s draft class, general manager Jason Licht can only trade up so far – if he wants to do that at all. Licht has only traded up once, moving up just one spot in 2020 to take offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs. Of course, that was his best trade ever, but Licht prefers to trade down rather than trade up and give up draft capital – especially since the team has become proficient at drafting players not just on Day 2, but also Day 3.
Boston College Edge Rusher Donovan Ezeieruaku
Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeieruaku – Photo by: USA Today
So to answer your question, I’m going to start with the two players who might likely be there at No. 19 who I could see Tampa Bay drafting with that pick. Either Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku or Georgia safety Malaki Starks would be ideal fits with the Bucs defense.
Ezeiruaku gives the Bucs another stud pass rusher, one with tremendous bend and one that comes with a polished set of moves. In addition to being a promising prospect, he would be a safety net in case last year’s second-round pick, Chris Braswell, doesn’t pan out, or if Haason Reddick underwhelms in his first year in red and pewter. A team can never have enough good pass rushers, and if the Bucs wind up with four studs in Yaya Diaby, Reddick, Braswell and Ezeiruaku – all the better.
Starks could come in and start either at strong safety or nickelback, depending on what Tykee Smith does. Starks and Smith played in the same Georgia secondary for two years and already have some great chemistry. The Bucs have an opening in the secondary and could fill it in the first round with Starks, which is ideal.
Georgia Lb Jalon Walker And Texas Qb Quinn Ewers
Georgia LB Jalon Walker and Texas QB Quinn Ewers – Photo by: USA Today
The other three players would include Alabama inside linebacker Jihaad Campbell and Georgia’s hybrid linebacker-edge rusher Jalon Walker. I think there’s a chance that both could be gone by the time the Bucs are on the clock. I’m not as high on Campbell as some are, and the fact that he’s going to need 6-8 months to recover from torn labrum surgery means his rookie season could be a wash. The Bucs’ Super Bowl window is open and they need someone who can make more of an immediate impact in 2025.
I think Walker is more of an edge rusher than a linebacker. He’s a strong, elite athlete, but is a work in progress and does not come as equipped to start as Ezeiruaku because he split time between linebacker and edge rusher for the Bulldogs. As for the fifth option, I don’t think the Bucs are high on Georgia’s Mykel Williams, but I could be wrong.
If Michigan cornerback Will Johnson were to fall to No. 19, I think he would have to be considered, right? The wild card pick could be a wide receiver if all of the good defensive options are off the board and the Bucs are forced to stick and pick. Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan could be Mike Evans’ heir apparent, or Missouri’s Luther Burden III could be Chris Godwin’s eventual replacement.
QUESTION: You guys do a good job of listing potential draft targets that become future Buccaneers. When will you be listing the top targets for this years draft?
Bucs Hc Todd Bowles, C Graham Barton And Gm Jason Licht
Bucs HC Todd Bowles, C Graham Barton and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
ANSWER: Thank you! We’ll be doing our annual positional draft previews in mid-April and those will include our famous Bucs Best Bets within those previews. We’ve been on a roll lately with our Bucs Best Bets, hitting several of them in recent years. Dating back to 2018, Pewter Report correctly hit on defensive tackle Vita Vea and offensive lineman Alex Cappa. In 2019, we were able to forecast the selection of linebacker Devin White and cornerback Jamel Dean. In 2021, it was outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and quarterback Kyle Trask.
Over the last couple of drafts, we’ve nailed even more. In 2022, we hit on defensive tackle Logan Hall and tight end Cade Otton as Bucs Best Bets. The 2023 draft was our best yet with four correct Bucs Best Bets with guard Cody Mauch, outside linebacker Yaya Diaby, tight end Payne Durham and wide receiver Trey Palmer. Last year saw us hit on center Graham Barton and defensive back Tykee Smith. We also had Michael Pratt as the Day 3 Bucs Best Bet at quarterback, too.
It’s a fun exercise that we do here at Pewter Report. It’s guess work, but educated guesswork due to our staff going to the Senior Bowl and scouting these draft prospects in person, and then traveling to the NFL Scouting Combine for player interviews. Our goal is to educate and inform you, the die-hard Bucs fans, about the top prospects the team is interested in.
Not all Bucs Best Bets are necessarily endorsements by the Pewter Report staff, however. The players we list as Bucs Best Bets are players we believe Tampa Bay is targeting, not necessarily who we like. Sometimes we do end up really liking the players who Tampa Bay selects, and that makes the draft even more fun.
Speaking of the NFL Draft, Pewter Report will be coming out with our fourth 2025 7-Round Bucs Mock Draft on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. ET on PewterReport.com. Josh Queipo and I will be hosting a LIVE Bucs Mock Draft Show podcast at 8:30 p.m. ET on our PewterReportTV YouTube channel later that night. Be sure you check out our new mock draft and bring your questions and comments to our podcast – presented by Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux.
QUESTION: What do you think is a higher priority draft-wise for the Bucs – a CB or a LB?
Bucs Cb Jamel Dean
Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
ANSWER: I think cornerback might trump inside linebacker in terms of actual need. The NFL is a passing league, and although the team added some veteran depth with the addition of Kindle Vildor and the re-signing of Bryce Hall, Tampa Bay is still seeking an upgrade over oft-injured starter Jamel Dean. It looks like the Bucs may hang on to Dean for another year due to his experience and his knowledge of Todd Bowles’ defense until he can truly be replaced.
At inside linebacker, the team is pretty confident in SirVocea Dennis’ playmaking ability, albeit in a very small sample size. Plus the return of legendary veteran Lavonte David helps the linebacker position, right? It seems like the Bucs feel better about the starting tandem of Dennis and David rather than Dean and Zyon McCollum. Tampa Bay also bolstered the depth at linebacker with the re-signing of Deion Jones and the addition of Anthony Walker Jr. in free agency.
The guess here is that the Bucs select at least one cornerback and one linebacker in this year’s draft – probably at least one of each before Day 3. But that doesn’t mean that the team should necessarily draft one in the first round. It should be best player available in round one, and that might be at edge rusher or safety, depending on who is available.
QUESTION: Have the Bucs shown any interest in Tennessee DE James Pearce Jr.?
Tennessee Edge James Pearce Jr.
Tennessee EDGE James Pearce Jr. – Photo by: USA Today
ANSWER: Tampa Bay hasn’t show much interest in Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce Jr. from what we’ve been able to ascertain. The Bucs did not meet with him formally or informally at the NFL Scouting Combine, and that’s usually an indication of some level of interest in a player. However, I have heard that when formal visits don’t go well, it can mean the downgrading of a player on their draft board or the removal of a player from the board altogether. Pewter Report reports on who the team meets with in Indianapolis and brings in for 30 visits, but obviously doesn’t know the outcome of those meetings.
And sometimes the Bucs get stealthy. In 2023, they drafted defensive tackle Calijah Kancey in the first round without interviewing him at the NFL Scouting Combine or bringing him in for a visit. So there’s that to consider as well.
Pearce has some alleged questionable character concerns, and that may be contributing to the Bucs’ lack of interest. General manager Jason Licht and head coach Todd Bowles love to draft high character, team-oriented, football-first players. He’s a good pass rusher who brings speed and athleticism to the table, but I think there are better fits out there for Tampa Bay.
QUESTION: Hey guys, I know Ben Bredeson was re-signed but what about Sua Opeta? He was actually winning the left guard spot before injury and they brought him back.
Bucs Guards Sua Opeta And Ben Bredeson
Bucs guards Sua Opeta and Ben Bredeson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
ANSWER: Actually, Sua Opeta was injured just a few days into full pads in training camp. Both Opeta and Ben Bredeson were splitting reps at left guard in OTAs and the mini-camp, as well as during the first week of camp before Opeta tore his ACL and was lost for the year. Bredeson won the starting job by default, but he very well could have earned it on the field, too.
The Bucs wisely re-signed Opeta for depth. He and Elijah Klein, who is in his second season, will battle for the right to be the next guard off the bench in case something happens to Bredeson or right guard Cody Mauch. Opeta has plenty of starting experience in the league, while Klein has plenty of upside and potential despite being last year’s sixth-round pick.
Bredeson did enough last year to earn the right to start again in 2024. Plus, he was well compensated this offseason with his three-year extension and the team would love to get a return on that investment with another good year from Bredeson. He developed quite a rapport with both center Graham Barton and left tackle Tristan Wirfs that it would really take Bredeson’s play falling off to give Opeta a chance to start in his place.