The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are currently slated to pick 26th overall in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stay there.
In fact, we don’t have to go back too far in history to see the Bucs trade down from that range, and out of the first round entirely.
Just two years ago, the Bucs were sitting at the No. 27 pick when the Jacksonville Jaguars came calling, offering them the first pick in the second and fourth rounds of the 2022 draft to move out of the first round.
Tampa Bay traded down and selected Houston defensive lineman Logan Hall, and turned that extra fourth-round pick into Washington tight end Cade Otton.
Depending on how the board falls in from of them across the top 25 picks in the first round, that scenario could play out again, as it does in the latest 2024 NFL mock draft from Lance Zierlein at NFL.com, who has the Bucs trading out of the first round with the Washington Commanders.
Zierlein explains the move from Washington’s side of things, but not Tampa Bay’s:
With Washington currently holding two picks in the second round and three in the third, it would make perfect sense for the Commanders to jump back into the first round and grab any offensive tackle who slips a little, bolstering the protection for the quarterback selected at No. 2 overall.
Indeed, this move would drop Tampa Bay back to the No. 36 pick in the second round, but would likely net them one of Washington’s additional Day 2 selections. If the Bucs’ top targets are all off the board in the first round, or they think one of them could slide to them in the early second, this kind of move could make plenty of sense.
Assuming they would be adding another Day 2 pick, the Bucs would then have five selections in that range, allowing them to fill all of their biggest needs on both sides of the ball with top prospects.
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