The Buccaneers’ needs are obvious: Defense! Defense! Defense!
They have only six picks, including the 19th overall, and they return their entire offense. Thus, it would not be a surprise if most of their selections were spent on defensive players.
The Bucs, of course, aren’t ruling out anything, even a receiver in the first round.
Tampa Bay re-signed Chris Godwin and has Mike Evans returning, but coach Todd Bowles said at the NFL owners meetings last week a receiver with the 19th pick wasn’t out of the question. General Manager Jason Licht agreed Thursday.
“Yeah, we could always use receivers,” Licht said, via joebucsfan.com. “I think Todd even said you’ve got to score points to win. So we’re fortunate to have those two [Evans and Godwin], and who knows how long they’ll play? Could be longer than what people are saying.”
Godwin is 29 and coming off an injury that ended his 2024 season. Evans turns 32 in August. So, sometime soon, the Bucs will have to consider replacements.
“We always want to try to keep that group fresh, and, you know, look for the next J-Mac [Jalen McMillan],” Licht said. “We’re not going to overlook that position at all, if everything falls that way for us.”
The Patriots have announced this year’s finalists for election into their Hall of Fame.
Patriots fans can choose between kicker Adam Vinatieri, wide receiver Julian Edelman, and guard Logan Mankins through April 30. Vinatieri and Edelman are first-time nominees while Mankins is a finalist for the third time.
Vinatieri spent the first 10 years of his career in New England and kicked the game-winning field goal in a pair of Super Bowls during his time with the team. He won a third Super Bowl title and also hit the game-tying and game-winning field goals in a memorable win over the Raiders in the snow that propelled the Patriots to their first title.
Edelman also won three Super Bowls for the Patriots and was the MVP of their Super Bowl LIII win over the Rams. He spent his entire 12-year career in New England and is second in team history with 620 receptions, fourth with 6,822 receiving yards and ninth with 36 receiving touchdowns.
Mankins spent nine seasons with the Patriots and was named a first-team All-Pro for the 2010 season. He was a second-team All-Pro five other times while with the team and was named to the franchise’s 50th Anniversary Team.
The winner of the vote will be inducted along with former head coach Bill Parcells, who was selected for induction as a contributor by Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Former Texas A&M defensive lineman Shemar Turner’s pre-draft process has been hindered by an injury, but he’s still generating interest around the league.
Turner had surgery to repair a stress fracture before his final season with the Aggies and had to pull out of the Senior Bowl because of issues related to that operation. He did not participate in the Scouting Combine either, but Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports he got a positive report at a medical recheck in Indianapolis.
Per the report, Turner has lined up visits with the Colts, Buccaneers, and Dolphins in the coming days. He has already met with the Cowboys, Cardinals, and Eagles.
Turner had 115 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and three forced fumbles in 43 college games.
The fastest wideout at this year’s Scouting Combine is in Tampa on Tuesday.
Matthew Golden posted on social media that he’s in town to visit with the Buccaneers. Golden ran a 4.29 40 in Indianapolis earlier this year.
Golden played two years at Houston before transferring to Texas for the 2024 season. He had 58 catches for 987 yards and nine touchdowns. Golden also saw time as a kickoff returner and had a pair of kick return touchdowns while playing for Houston.
The picture Golden posted showed longtime Bucs receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin celebrating. Godwin re-signed with the team in March, so the veterans remain in place but Bucs head coach Todd Bowles made clear last week that he’s a believer in adding to strengths on offense because it helps his team score points.
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles said he’d never bypass a good offensive player in the draft in order to bolster his defense, but there is one area where he’s looking to make an addition in the draft.
During last week’s league meetings, Bowles said it is “crystal clear” that the team needs more depth in their cornerback group and he indicated that any addition to the group will have a path to playing right away. The Bucs have Zyon McCollum, Jamel Dean, and Tykee Smith back from last year, but Bowles said that no one’s role is set in stone as they head into the offseason program.
“Like I said, everybody’s position is up for grabs,” Bowles said, via a transcript from the team. “I think Zyon is probably 1A, 1B because Zyon stayed healthier during the year. Dean has to get healthy. He comes in and he plays – he can’t play half a year, every couple of years. He understands he has to stay healthy and he’s doing everything he can to be healthy, but we have to have some depth there just in case. If somebody comes in and competes with him, he’s going to have to compete.”
The Bucs signed Kindle Vildor as a free agent, but it seems likely that there will be other new faces in the secondary before the month is out.
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles was a safety during his playing days and he made his bones as a coach as a defensive coordinator, but that doesn’t mean he’s looking at building up the defense in Tampa as the team’s top draft priority.
During his media session at last week’s team meetings, Bowles was asked about his preferred strategy for the team’s six picks in the draft later this month. Bowles said his experience as a coach has shown him that adding players who score points takes precedence over bolstering his side of the ball.
“Being a defensive coach, I learn that you win by scoring points,” Bowles said, via a transcript from the team. “I don’t ever want to bypass a very good offensive player. I can figure things out enough on defense to keep us competitive. I would like to have some defensive players if that presented itself, but by no means will I bypass a very good offensive player just to satisfy my needs on defense. We can figure out how to keep the score down, but you can’t figure out a way to keep scoring points, especially if your horses go down. You can never have enough horses on offense. But, yes, I’d like to add some pieces [on defense] if that’s what you’re asking me, but whether they come in the first or whether they come in the middle, remains to be seen.”
Bowles added that he doesn’t believe in passing on good players because the team already has good players at the same spot. Bowles said he thinks you “keep loading up and you kind of go from there.” We’ll find out in a couple of weeks what route the Bucs wind up taking.
Two-time Super Bowl champion Shaq Barrett retired before 2024 training camp. He unretired late in the season.
He apparently doesn’t intend to retire again in 2025.
Via JoeBucsFan.com, agent Drew Rosenhaus recently made it clear that Barrett isn’t walking away.
“He’s definitely going to play this year,” Rosenhaus said.
Undrafted in 2014, Barrett spent four years with the Broncos and five with the Buccaneers. He signed with the Dolphins last year; he decided in mid-July to not play.
Barrett emerged from retirement during the season. The Dolphins eventually released him. After clearing waivers, he returned to the Bucs. He appeared in the regular-season finale, taking 12 defensive snaps. He also participated in five snaps in the playoff loss to the Commanders.
Rosenhaus told Joe BucsFan.com that Barrett will consider all opportunities as he looks for the best fit. The best fit could still be Tampa Bay.
During the Scouting Combine, Buccaneers G.M. Jason Licht said this: “We’ll never close the door on Shaq. We’ll see where that goes. We never close the door on Shaq.”
Only 32, Barrett has 59.0 career sacks. He won Super Bowl 50 with the Broncos and Super Bowl LV with the Buccaneers.
Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David has signed for Year 14 with the only team he has ever played for, and his head coach says he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
In fact, Todd Bowles said at the league meeting that after talking to David after the season he thinks they’re in an even better place than they were a year ago. Bowles said that after thinking last year that 2024 might be the end for David, he now thinks David seems energized enough to keep playing even beyond age 35.
“At the exit meeting, I felt better this year than I felt last year,” Bowles said. “He was in a much better place leaving, even though he said he had to think about it and didn’t tell me anything, he was more upbeat this year than he was last year. Last year, it sounded like he was at the end. This year, it sounded like he could go some more. So in my head, I said, he’s coming back, but I didn’t know that. And when he finally came back and we texted each other, you know, it was outstanding because that takes a lot of weight off your shoulders and you need one backer instead of two. If you’ve got to bring two of them in there, it’s going to be a problem.”
David was the Bucaneers’ second-round draft pick in 2012, he’s won a Super Bowl with them and been a first-team All-Pro, and although he’s only on a one-year contract, he may have more to accomplish in Tampa Bay, in 2025 and beyond.
Buccaneers linebacker Yaya Diaby totaled 7.5 sacks as a rookie in 2023, finishing fifth in defensive rookie of the year voting. He became a full-time starter in 2024 and played 270 more snaps than as a rookie but made only 4.5 sacks.
Diaby said sack stats aren’t everything.
“Besides the sack numbers, I feel like I made major growth in every other category,” Diaby told the Pewter Report podcast. “I just want to thank myself and congratulate myself on that part, you know? I know for sure the sack part is going to come.”
Diaby was around the quarterback all season with 20 quarterback hits and, per Pro Football Focus, 65 pressures.
“I feel like it gets overlooked because when people search up your name, they go straight to sacks because you’re an edge rusher,” Diaby said. “All of the other statistics really don’t show unless you actually search for it. I feel like I improved a lot in everything, run defense and my pass rush ability improved drastically.
“Sometimes the game is a game of inches, you can get there but if you don’t take the quarterback down, you don’t get the sack. I’m proud of myself, that’s what I told myself toward the last couple of weeks. I was just saying how proud I am of myself. The sack number wasn’t where [I wanted it] at but I just let go, let loose, and it helped me out a lot.”
The team’s outside linebackers combined for only 12 sacks last season, prompting them to sign Haason Reddick in free agency. They expect more this season, led by Diaby, who said “the sack part is going to come.”
The NFL made one change to overtime but did not make another change: The league’s 32 owners voted to require both teams to get a possession in overtime, but it voted down a proposal to extend regular-season overtime to 15 minutes, as it is in the playoffs. That could create some interesting scenarios and unintended consequences.
If the team that receives the overtime kickoff runs down the clock and scores on a long, slow drive, the 10-minute overtime period won’t give the team that gets the ball second much time for a score of its own.
Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said he likes the concept of guaranteeing each team an opportunity to possess the ball, but he acknowledged that there’s an element of clock management at play, where the team that gets the ball first may try to run out the clock on the opening possession of overtime.
“I’m all for both teams getting the football. At least it gives you a chance. It gives you a fair chance,” Bowles said. “Now, if one team holds the ball long and you’re in the two-minute mode, we’ll see.”
The proposal to extend regular-season overtime to a 15-minute period didn’t pass at this league meeting, but it seems likely that it will come up again. A full 15-minute overtime period with both teams getting a possession seems like a fairer way to determine a winner than a shortened 10-minute overtime that leaves one team in hurry-up mode.
