The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need help in quite a few places, but could they add to their secondary in the first round of the NFL draft?
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar put out his latest Round 1 mock draft, and he has the Bucs doing just that. The mock has Tampa Bay taking Alabama cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry with the No. 26 pick. That potential pick would put him in the same secondary with cornerbacks Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean.
And while Dean and Davis have been excellent players in the past, both have suffered injuries. Their 2023 in particular was rough — one of the two corners was injured at various times of the season, giving CB Zyon McCollum more playing time than he was expecting. McKinstry could not only alleviate that burden, but could also open up the opportunity to trade one of those corners away to free up cap space.
McKinstry is an athletic corner who has some good ball-playing skills and can play both man and zone. While he’s been scouted as competitive at the catch point, he’s also been noted to struggle with bigger wide receivers and often chases the football instead of positioning himself to meet it.
While corner is a need, the interior offensive line and edge rusher are more pressing as it stands before free agency. Regardless, Jason Licht could go with who he believes is the best player available, and there’s a chance he thinks it’s McKinstry.
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