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Pewter Report’s Josh Queipo answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account each week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: At this point in time, who do you think the Bucs are likely to pick at No. 19? Is there a sleeper pick that you aren’t seeing mentioned anywhere?

ANSWER: Most mock drafts have the Bucs taking an offensive tackle with pick No. 19 at this point in the offseason, Pewter Report included. We have mocked an offensive tackle to the Bucs in our most recent 7-round mock draft. The reason why this is such a popular position is that there is a glaring hole on the Bucs’ roster at the tackle position and there are several possible first-round options who may be available when the team picks in the middle of the first round.

Oklahoma OT Anton Harrison – Photo by: USA Today

Oklahoma’s Anton Harrison, Tennessee’s Darnell Wright and Ohio State’s Dawand Jones are all getting consistently mentioned as legitimate possibilities in the first round. I personally have both Harrison and Wright in the Top 25 on my big board. Harrison would be able to step into the starting left tackle position that was vacated when the Bucs released Donovan Smith earlier this offseason. That would allow current right tackle Tristan Wirfs to remain where he is and create certainty at three of the five positions along the offensive line.

Wright and Jones have both spent more time on the right side of their respective lines, and if they were drafted, the Bucs would most likely move Wirfs to the left side. The team seems very comfortable with the idea of Wirfs still being able to be dominant even with the switch, so a lot of it would come down to where they feel most comfortable with whomever will be lining up opposite of him.

As for a sleeper pick, for my money I would say keep an eye on Northwestern defensive lineman Adetomiwa Adebawore. The Bucs met with Adebawore at the Senior Bowl and then brought him back for a top 30 visit recently. There is a long-term need for more interior defenders on the roster to complement nose tackle Vita Vea. Last year’s second-round pick Logan Hall had a disappointing season. While the team looked at him as a multi-year project, and he should see a jump in play in year two, it remains to be seen if he can become a quality starter.

The team signed Greg Gaines for one year to check the box for a quality, if unspectacular, pairing, but long-term, the team should keep investing in the room until they feel good about the position much like they did between 2017 and 2020 in the secondary.

Adebawore brings a rare athleticism to the position on a smaller frame. Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus summed it up best with Adebawore’s potential.

I’d imagine Northwestern DL Adetomiwa Adebawore is a prospect who’ll go a lot higher than where he’s been consistently mocked

Had a better:
40 (4.49)
10-split (1.61)
vertical (37″)
broad (10-5)
shuttle (4.26)

than last year’s #1 overall pick…and he’s 10 pounds heavier

— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) April 8, 2023

QUESTION: Is there a sense the Bucs don’t draft an OT in Round 1 because they are going to try Luke Goedeke out at RT and move Tristan Wirfs to LT?

Bucs LG Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Let’s say the Bucs take Adetomiwa Adebawore, Alabama safety Brian Branch or some other option at No. 19 who isn’t an offensive tackle. Is Luke Goedeke an option at right tackle? I think the Bucs believe he could be.

If the season started right now, the Bucs best six offensive linemen would be Tristan Wirfs, Ryan Jensen, Robert Hainsey, Nick Leverett, Aaron Stinnie and Goedeke. Of those six, only Goedeke and Wirfs are reasonable options for tackle. Goedeke played right tackle at Central Michigan just over a year ago. His play was good enough to get the Bucs to trade back up into the second round to select him.

Even though Goedeke had a disastrous rookie season that saw him lose his starting left guard spot to Leverett, a former undrafted free agent, he ended the year on a high note with solid play at right tackle against Atlanta in Week 18. The fact is, the Bucs sank significant draft capital in Goedeke and there are scant few reasons why a team would abandon a second-round pick after just one season. Those reasons are A) a regime change and B) the prospect has developed serious character issues.

Neither of those things are true with the Bucs and Goedeke. So, the odds are the team is going to still try and find a way to extract a return on their investment in him.

If the team decides against filling in their glaring tackle hole with their first-round pick, the odds are they are going to at least give Goedeke a shot at filling the right tackle spot in training camp with Wirfs moving to the left side.

QUESTION: Logan Ryan is still a free agent. Do you see him returning? If not, how do you think the Bucs fill that void?

Bucs S Logan Ryan – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: At 32 years old and coming off of a season in which he could only play in nine regular season games due to injury, Ryan was never going to have a strong market. The Bucs liked what Ryan brought to the secondary last year with his consistent play and superior communication skills. Over his injury-shortened season, Ryan supplied the Bucs with 37 combined tackles, three passes defensed, one forced fumble and one fumble recovered.

Since the beginning of the offseason, the Bucs let Mike Edwards sign with the Chiefs and Keanu Neal sign with the Steelers. The team did address the safety position recently by signing Ryan Neal to a one-year deal. Neal had a productive 2022 season in Seattle and can compete for the starting role opposite Antoine Winfield Jr., but the depth at the position is thin with just Nolan Turner penciled in currently.

There is still an outside chance the Bucs and Logan Ryan could reunite. A lot comes down to how the 2023 NFL Draft plays out. If the team selects a player like Alabama’s Brian Branch or Illinois’ Sydney Brown or Jartavius Martin to fill in the depth chart and knocks Turner down to the fourth spot, they may elect to not bring Ryan back. But if the board falls in a way where they can’t get a safety that they reasonably feel good about playing significant snaps, then the relationship between the team and Ryan is strong enough that you could see him in pewter and red (and creamsicle!) in 2023.

QUESTION: Have the Bucs shown any interest in Arkansas LB Drew Sanders?

ANSWER: Drew Sanders is an interesting prospect who is currently seen as positionally diverse. At 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, he is very tall for inside linebacker, where he lined up at Arkansas. But at 235 pounds, he would be very light as an edge rusher, which is where he played at Alabama and in nickel rush situations at Arkansas. Sanders ran a 4.59 40-yard dash and recorded a 37-inch vertical at his pro day.

Drew Sanders is a LB prospect in the 2023 draft class. He scored an unofficial 9.28 RAS out of a possible 10.00 at his pro day. This ranked 188 out of 2597 LB from 1987 to 2023. https://t.co/fwppGQ86DB #RAS pic.twitter.com/JYWNw7uHIs

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 2, 2023

Arkansas LB-OLB Drew Sanders – Photo by: USA Today

Sanders uses his tall frame to block passing lanes and has a superior feel for pass rushing, similar to that of Bucs linebacker Devin White. His lateral movement skills show better on tape than in testing and he can pursue ball carriers with his fantastic speed. There are conversations among draft analysts that Sanders may have the best version of his career by putting on 10 pounds and moving to edge defender permanently.

If the Bucs were to select him, he could provide a hybrid player that helps both linebacker rooms. The team has shown some interest in the tall linebacker. They met with him formally at the 2023 NFL Combine, however they have not followed that up by hosting him on a Top 30 visit.

It could be that the team got all they needed during their time with him in Indianapolis and did not need to do a follow-up. Depending on how they view him, there is a need on their roster for Sanders. This could be the last season in Tampa Bay for one or both of Lavonte David and Shaq Barrett, so finding a player who could slot into their shoes in 2024 while getting acclimated this year makes sense.

QUESTION: Any word on who the Bucs will replace Gene Deckerhoff with on the radio broadcast?

Dave Moore and Gene Deckerhoff – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers

ANSWER: At this point, Gene Deckerhoff should be synonymous with the team for almost every Bucs fan. His “Touchdown Tampa Bay!” call is a singular staple of his due to the unique hint of lisp combined with the unbridled enthusiasm and ramped up pace he injected into every positive call he made. Deckerhoff started calling play-by-play for the team in 1989, meaning he has called games for the Bucs for 34 years.

That’s longer than Scott Reynolds has been covering the team for Buccaneer Magazine/Pewter Report. Deckerhoff was also the voice for Florida State after beginning his career as an announcer in Florida there in 1974 calling men’s basketball games. What you may not know about Deckerhoff is that despite calling games for the Seminoles for over 45 years, he was actually a graduate of the University of Florida.

All-told, the now 77-year-old Deckerhoff has established himself as a Florida sports legend in his own right and will surely go down in some sort of broadcasting Hall of Fame at some point. As a matter of fact, it will not surprise me one bit if the Bucs make him an inductee into their Ring of Honor at some point in the near future. With that said, the team has not announced who will follow in his legendary footsteps to call games alongside color commentator and former Bucs tight end Dave Moore.