Looking Back At The 2021 Draft
June 5th, 2025
Best of 2021 draft?
No one is perfect. And given what transpired in the early months of 2021, there isn’t one Bucs fan who wouldn’t take this deal:
Would you prefer the Bucs win a Super Bowl and blow chunks in the draft two months later or would you prefer a Super Bowl loss and a strong draft two months later?
So that is why you will never hear or see Joe whine about the Bucs’ draft of 2021. In fact, but for one backup, there is no evidence on the Bucs roster that the 2021 draft took place.
Jason Kanno of USA Today’s Bucs Wire did a look back at what may have been for the Bucs in a draft in which the Tampa Bay community was still on a high from Tom Brady leading the Bucs to their second Super Bowl victory.
As the reigning Super Bowl XL champions, the Bucs had fewer resources than most teams in the 2021 draft and failed to capitalize on what little value they had. Taking the swing on Joe Tryon-Shoyinka was understandable, but the Trask pick in the second round remains a major blemish. Targeting special teams contributors over more conventional depth proved to be a wasted opportunity to carry the roster past the Tom Brady era. The 2021 class will be remembered as one of Jason Licht’s worst as Bucs general manager, second only to the disastrous 2016 draft class.
Overall, Kanno gave that draft class a D+ grade.
The best of that class? Probably the hated Robert Hainsey. What he couldn’t accomplish on the field he sure did off the field. He was what former Bucs coach Dirk Koetter would have called a “glue guy.”
Tristan Wirfs raved about how much Hainsey helped him and others, as if he were a third offensive line coach. Former Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen sort of said the same thing, adding it was not unusual for him to call Hainsey late at night and bounce ideas off his head when crafting a game plan.
So it is no surprise that when Coen left for Jacksonville, he took free agent Hainsey with him.
To his credit, Kyle Trask is the lone member of the 2021 draft class to get a second contract with the Bucs. But let’s be real, unless Baker Mayfield gets hurt, Trask isn’t going to start any time soon.
Was that a whiff of a draft class? Absolutely. But the still-fresh memories of that Super Bowl win and subsequent boat parade two months before that draft make it all worthwhile.