2021 Buccaneers draft

[Snake]

OLB Joe Tryon, Washington
QB Kyle Trask, Florida
OL Robert Hainsey, Notre Dame
WR Jaelon Darden, North Texas
LB KJ Britt, Auburn
CB CJ Wilcox, BYU
LB Grant Stuard, Houston

Going into year three for this draft. In theory, these guys should be peaking. in terms of their contributions in relation to their contract value.

Three of these players (bolded) are no longer on the team. Standard, given how the NFL works. Lots of turnover.

What about the remaining players?

The quarterback couldn’t beat out Blaine Gabbert for a backup position. and then after spending a year rebuilding his mechanics, couldn’t beat out one of the three worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL. It’s hard to call any quarterback drafted after the first round a “bust“ but I don’t know how else to put it. he’s never been on the field. Maybe he catches on somewhere else. Has a 10 year career as a clipboard holder. But for all intents and purposes, he’s been a bust for Tampa. The part that confuses me is that he was supposed to be groomed as the quarterback of the future, according to some people here. For Bruce Arians. Am I really supposed to believe the beacon of health known as Bruce Arians was going to be coaching for another 7 years and that his presence should dictate who they take in the draft? Just seems like a huge whiff.

One is the starting center and should be a good fit for this new scheme. But is really a commodity that needs to be proven at this point.

The first round pick is a hyper-athletic edge player whose thus far played for perhaps the most aggressive DC in the league. A lot of potential were told. But ultimately a jag until proven otherwise.

KJ Britt is a special teamer. Apparently NOT the heir apparent at ILB. The team just drafted another ILB using a decent pick.

It’s entirely possible that we’re one season away from this draft being complete trash. Realistically. It already is….

[Bootz]

This draft is trash. No bones about it. JTS should be behind Anthony Nelson on the depth chart.

Hainsey is only starting now because Jensen is done. When he's played he hasnt exactly proven himself to be productive.

The Trask stuff has been beat to death.

Britt is definitely a special teamer, although I wouldn't say it's because we used the 153rd pick on another ILB. That's far from a "decent" pick.

[kaimaru]

KJ Britt is a special teamer. Apparently NOT the heir apparent at ILB. The team just drafted another ILB using a decent pick.

KJ Britt directly backs up Devin White, SirVocea Dennis directly backs up LVD. If we suck, LVD will definitely be gone. If Devin White wants to be paid, I can't see us not tagging Winfield and instead tagging White unless White is a pro bowl caliber this year. Why does Britt only play STs then you ask? LVD and White is on 100% of every defense snaps every game of every year. How can you play if they never take the starters out? That's the only one I don't agree with

[Snake]

The point remains. He’s only a special team guy. It’s better than Kyle Trask I guess.

[MJW]

OLB Joe Tryon, Washington
QB Kyle Trask, Florida
OL Robert Hainsey, Notre Dame
WR Jaelon Darden, North Texas
LB KJ Britt, Auburn
CB CJ Wilcox, BYU
LB Grant Stuard, Houston

It's both better and worse than I thought. Better because 4 of these guys are still on the roster and we flipped Mr. Irrelevant for a slight value. Worse because because to this point we have two borderline starter caliber players on a bad roster along with 2 backups.

Either way it's not good enough. That's the reality. We need a lot more from the guys who are still here to redeem it. I'm not at all confident any of them are capable of much more. Tryon doesn't have the athleticism to finish plays. Trask, it is what it is. Britt is too limited athletically to be more than a special teamer and emergency option.

The one guy I have some faith in is Hainsey, who seemed to be developing into a quality starter as last year developed. To my eyes, anyway. But it's still not enough.

[Jonny]

This draft and the draft following it are both trash. I don't need to wait for another year to certify 2022 draft as dogshit draft. Rachaad White becoming a top 10 RB stat wise may change that.

[MJW]

This draft and the draft following it are both trash. I don't need to wait for another year to certify 2022 draft as dogshit draft. Rachaad White becoming a top 10 RB stat wise may change that.

IMHO Sean Tucker is already the superior player and I expect that to be reflected in the depth chart before the dust settles on this season.

[MJW]

2022 Bright Side Arguments:

- It would be foolish to give up on Logan Hall after his rookie year. DL have a huge learning curve, especially in a two-gap scheme.
- Goedeke is fucking trash, but to my knowledge he's ever murdered and eaten a child.
- White, we'll see. He has a golden opportunity right now. But I'm not as confident in him as OBP at this point in time.
- Otton, same as White. But I think Payne Durham is a better prospect head to head.
- Camarda was a home run.
- McCollum was garbage last year, but he was also making a huge leap in levels at a difficult position. Jury is out for me.
- Ko Kieft is my favorite Buccaneer.
- Andre Anthony washed out, as most 7th rounders do.

I'm not as down on this draft as some. Hall is the key for me. If he justifies OBP's faith - and their decision to pass on guys like Lewis Cine, Devin Lloyd, etc - this is a pretty good class honestly.

[Bootz]

Rachaad White is next in a very very long line of young Buccaneers this board is WAAAAYY to high on. And it's usually always the same formula: A. He was pegged by many pre-draft and B. He outperformed the incumbent starter at his position.

In reality we handed the starting position to a guy who ran for 3.7 ypc, had less than 500 yards on the ground and 3 total TDs. 3 years ago, Ronald Jones ran for 5.1/carry, was 22 yards from breaking 1000 yards, and that wasn't good enough to keep him in the starting spot.

White is in the lower 4th of starting NFL RBs. Around here "mediocre enough" is the standard for the time being.

[Cheb]

Rachaad White is next in a very very long line of young Buccaneers this board is WAAAAYY to high on. And it's usually always the same formula: A. He was pegged by many pre-draft and B. He outperformed the incumbent starter at his position.

In reality we handed the starting position to a guy who ran for 3.7 ypc, had less than 500 yards on the ground and 3 total TDs. 3 years ago, Ronald Jones ran for 5.1/carry, was 22 yards from breaking 1000 yards, and that wasn't good enough to keep him in the starting spot.

White is in the lower 4th of starting NFL RBs. Around here "mediocre enough" is the standard for the time being.

I wish I could argue against this but I can't.

Rachaad White has one career game where he ran for more than 64 rushing yards, and had a solitary and borderline pathetic one rushing touchdown in his rookie season, which was a one-yard plunge in a losing effort.

I'm all for optimism, but hoping that White leads a resurgent renaissance rushing attack is/was a sad and unlikely proposition. If any other team hitched their horse to such a cart, we'd rightly be mocking them.

[BucsNBills]

Ah yes, the 2021 draft, my favorite. This is the one where nothing would change about our team had the Bucs simply skipped the draft altogether.

The year we drafted a 12th string QB in the 2nd round when we're trying to repeat as champs.

Hell, had we just got a single impact player at nearly any position on the field, and our fate could've been very different vs the Rams.

Oh well, it's spilt milk, water under the bridge. Not like being the first repeat champs since the early 2000s patriots means anything, right? Or having a mini dynasty?

[Grahamburn]

Would love to see some of you call these guys “trash” to their faces.

It’s a blessing to have had the opportunity to pick last. Although I know the majority of itsabucslife posters prefer to pick first.

[Grahamburn]

I would also say if you can tell a GM that they can get two starters and two backups from every draft they’d take it every single time. Especially picking in the late 20’s and 30’s.

[Snake]

I would also say if you can tell a GM that they can get two starters and two backups from every draft they’d take it every single time. Especially picking in the late 20’s and 30’s.

Baker Mayfield is a starter. Drafting him was far from an accomplishment.

[Jonny]

This draft and the draft following it are both trash. I don't need to wait for another year to certify 2022 draft as dogshit draft. Rachaad White becoming a top 10 RB stat wise may change that.

IMHO Sean Tucker is already the superior player and I expect that to be reflected in the depth chart before the dust settles on this season.

I don't know much about Sean Tucker except for the fact that he was deemed a talented RB pegged to go between 2-4 Rd and went undrafted because of his health. Watching him play, it feels like he's got more short area agility and evasiveness that White does not possess. Behind a horrible run blocking O-line, Sean Tucker might be the better option.

White has some strengths, main one being his straight line speed that can turn into power. He's more like RoJo without the bulk. He would be amazing with the 49ers imo. I've seen enough from him to not be disappointed the way I was with Keyshaun Vaughn.

[mdb1958]

IMHO Sean Tucker is already the superior player and I expect that to be reflected in the depth chart before the dust settles on this season.

I don't know much about Sean Tucker except for the fact that he was deemed a talented RB pegged to go between 2-4 Rd and went undrafted because of his health. Watching him play, it feels like he's got more short area agility and evasiveness that White does not possess. Behind a horrible run blocking O-line, Sean Tucker might be the better option.

White has some strengths, main one being his straight line speed that can turn into power. He's more like RoJo without the bulk. He would be amazing with the 49ers imo. I've seen enough from him to not be disappointed the way I was with Keyshaun Vaughn.

Note: Vaughn has a higher yards per carry than Rashaad White or Playoff Lenny with less chances to make it higher. Please do continue your media education.

I do hope Tucker's increases more than 3.5 a carry.

[mdb1958]

I find this odd, if you go to ESPN 2022 individual rushing yards and scroll down to the 172nd ranked player you will come to Vaughn.

Now for the oddity click game logs and you will get "no available info"
According to ESPN Vaughn has no game logs.

Could it just be a worker not wanting to do his job?

[Grahamburn]

I would also say if you can tell a GM that they can get two starters and two backups from every draft they’d take it every single time. Especially picking in the late 20’s and 30’s.

Baker Mayfield is a starter. Drafting him was far from an accomplishment.

I’m talking in generalities of course. An accomplished draft pick can come in many forms. Mayfield energized the Browns and their fan base. They sold a ton of tickets, jerseys, merchandise, etc. because of him.

It could have been worse.

[Nobody]

We need to pump the brakes on the Rachaad White skepticism:

* Last year we had one of the worst Bucs OL I can recall. If Brady wouldn’t have saved us from a deluge of Sacks, they would have been historically bad. The tape was an absolute avalanche of plain getting whipped + assignment errors. In terms of FBO’s run blocking metrics, they put our OL dead last. PFF has them in a heap of awful run blocking OLs bunched at the bottom.

* Then you have to imprint “The Leftwich Factor” onto things. When you’re situationally and “look+ tendency” predictable, Safeties activate, backside ends gamble without risk, and run fits become generally much easier for the defense. This is a significant factor to the huge number of D.O.A. run plays from last year that went for -2 to +2 yards on 1st down and “and short” situations.

* The overwhelming % of play losses in the run game on 1st and 10 and “& short” last year were some combination of OC and OL signal rather than RB signal.

* White’s rookie rushing numbers (all of them including advanced metrics like Forced Missed Tackles) mirror McCafrey’s year 1 numbers (which features an average Run Blocking unit). White isn’t near that ceiling, but McCaf turned out ok (save for all the injuries…one of the primary reasons to not draft a RB…and especially high).

* I hate drafting RBs, but bottom of the 3rd is where you draft passing game amplifying RBs who can decisively win on Angle/Pivot/Option routes, are natural pass-catchers, and force missed tackles in the open field through burst, wiggle, balance-through-contact, stiffarm. That is who he was coming in and he absolutely showed that last year.

* He’s got the toolkit to be a productive Outside Zone runner (patience to press the edge, vision to find the crease or cutback, enough one-cut burst and contact balance to get through wash to the second level). Whether he will be or not is TBD, but the tools are there and end of round 3 is not the worst for these guys. You could waste a high 2 on RoJo who has no prayer at being a passing
game amplifier!

* Don’t have enough on Sean Tucker to have an opinion. But what he showed in the preseason in terms of feel in the Screen game and patience + vision + one-cut burst + balance through contact is promising. This is exactly what I desire with RB pick-ups; UDFA with that exact toolset. I don’t yet see saavy/feel in route-running + explosiveness in and out of breaks to be sold on him being a passing game amplifier via the RB route tree, but TBD on that.

But I could easily see these two guys being discount Kamara/Ingram circa 2017 NO in this particular scheme.

[Cheb]

We need to pump the brakes...

*Hops onto the hypebus and revs the engine for a few paragraphs*

..I could easily see these two guys being discount Kamara/Ingram circa 2017 NO in this particular scheme.

The irony.

[Nobody]

I didn’t hop on any hype bus. The above are just the empirical facts on the ground.

And when I say “discount,” I mean exactly that; discount. If Kamara and Ingram were top tier, I’d put the ceiling of White/Tucker wellllllll south of that (both Kamara and Ingram were world class tackle-breakers and Kamara at his best is Thomas/Sproles/Faulk/McCaffrey class of winning in the RB route tree…these two aren’t close to that…they’re that template but not close to that ability). And a fair amount if that is because White’s rushing skillset is made for an Outside Zone scheme (contra the Duo/Inside Zone/Power O scheme of last year).

[MJW]

With the possible exception of his hands as a pass receiver, I have yet to see any evidence White has the chops to be more than a replacement level back in this league. I am 100% aware of the small sample size and am not married to that take. It's just where I am right now.

I do not think it'll take long for OBP to realize we're a much more explosive and dangerous offense with Tucker in. The nice thing is, when that happens White can easily fill in elsewhere on the field, or as a complimentary back.