2021 NFL Draft: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7-round mock

What should the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers do in this year’s NFL Draft?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are riding high after Tom Brady came on his horse and delivered the franchise’s second Super Bowl Championship. They took down the mighty Kansas City Chiefs in their home stadium, and now they are looking for a repeat. No team has repeated as Super Bowl champs since Brady did it way back in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Now, the real work begins. The Bucs have an insane amount of free agents this offseason. Some of the stars that could leave include Chris Godwin, Shaq Barrett, Ndamukong Suh, Lavonte David, Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, and Antonio Brown among others. That’s a ton of talent that is up in the air right now. Bucs head coach Bruce Arians says his main priority is to bring everyone back, but it seems inevitable that someone is going to price themselves out. That is where the NFL Draft comes in.

The Buccaneers currently have their first five picks and then two seventh-round picks. That’s more draft assets than most Super Bowl winners usually have in the offseason. Anything can happen for the Bucs, and they can go in a lot of different directions. They will be picking at the end of most rounds, but they will be worth the wait.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7 Round 2021 Mock Draft

Round 1

Shaq Barrett didn’t have the monster sack numbers during the season like he did in 2019, but four sacks in the playoffs will definitely help his case to get a monster contract in the offseason from someone. Still, his eight sacks were disruptive and he’s still a great edge player. If the Bucs lose him, they have to replace him in the draft and likely with this first-round pick.

Joseph Ossai would be a great pick for the Buccaneers if he falls to 32nd. It’s hard to tell where the pass rushers are going because the class lacks a top-flight star. Ossai has a really good skill set, and he has awesome stats during his time with Texas. He had 15.5 tackles for loss last season to go with 5.5 sacks. His sophomore season, he produced 90 total tackles to show his versatility on the field.

Ossai is a true pass rusher, but he’s a little undersized. He only weights roughly 253 pounds. This would be hard to put at defensive end at the NFL level. He’s likely exclusively an outside linebacker, but if he gains some weight he could be a little more versatile. This will be a really good piece in Todd Bowles defense, and it could even work if the Bucs bring Barrett back.