Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku – Photo by: USA Today

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

QUESTION: Malaki Starks and Donovan Ezeiruaku are on the board. Who’s the selection for the Bucs at No. 19?

Georgia S Malaki Starks – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: This is an easy one for me, and it should be for Tampa Bay, too. If it’s a choice between just two players – Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku and Georgia safety Malaki Starks – the pick should be Ezeiruaku for a couple of reasons.

First, just based on positional value, pass rushers should be prioritized over safeties. Edge rushers can impact the game more than safeties can, generally speaking. Second, Ezieruaku is simply the better player in my opinion.

I watched a lot of Georgia games over the last couple of seasons and I like Starks. He’s very good safety who is well rounded. But is he better than than his former Bulldogs teammate Tykee Smith, who was drafted in the third round last year? I’m not sure. And is Starks better than Antoine Winfield Jr., who was drafted in the second round in 2020? No, he’s not. I don’t think Starks is a first-rounder from my initial draft study on him. I would suggest he’s a second-rounder, so drafting him at No. 19 would be too high.

Also, Smith wants to play strong safety and replace Jordan Whitehead this year. He spoke with head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles and wants to be on the field 100% of the time rather than just 75% of the time as the team’s nickelback. Smith is a playmaker who forced three fumbles and recorded two interceptions last year – both of which were team highs. So drafting Starks at No. 19 wouldn’t serve the team well from that aspect.

Ezeiruaku proved that he’s an incredible athlete at the NFL Scouting Combine with the fastest three-cone drill (6.94) and short shuttle (4.19) time among edge rushers and defensive linemen. That, combined with outstanding pass rush production, evidenced by 30 sacks and eight forced fumbles in his career, makes him a first-rounder and an outside linebacker worth taking by Tampa Bay – even at No. 19. Even if the Bucs have interest in a veteran like Khalil Mack, drafting Ezeiruaku for the long haul makes a ton of sense.

QUESTION: Hi, Scott hope you are doing well. After the NFL Scouting Combine, who do you think Bucs are going to select as their first-round pick of 2025 NFL Draft?

Boston College Edge Donovan Ezeiruaku – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: Well, we have our new Pewter Report 2025 7-Round Bucs Mock Draft coming out soon, so stay tuned for that. If I had to guess right now, I’d be inclined to say Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku. He’s an absolute stud pass rusher, tough against the run and a high character guy as well. Ezeiruaku would be a great fit in the Bucs locker room and give them a dynamic quality off the edge.

I’m not sure either East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel or Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston are worth being drafted at No. 19, but I like both players. And cornerback is a big position of need. I’m not sure there will be a cornerback worth drafting at that position in the first round when the Bucs are on the clock.

I think Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell might get drafted in the first round, and I expect he’ll be there at No. 19. But I’m not sure general manager Jason Licht pulls the trigger on another off-ball linebacker with a first-round pick again. He did that in 2019 with Devin White, who helped the team win Super Bowl LV, but there are some really quality linebackers that can be had in rounds 2-4 who I think can be on par with Campbell when it’s all said and done.

A couple of dark horses at No. 19 on the offensive side of the ball are Penn State tight end Tyler Warren and North Dakota State guard Grey Zabel. Both had formal interviews with the Bucs in Indianapolis. Warren is a dynamic pass catcher and is dangerous with the ball in his hands. Zabel just screams “Buccaneers offensive lineman” and dominated at the Senior Bowl. You can find out which players interviewed with the Bucs formally and informally on Pewter Report’s Bucs Combine Interview Tracker right here.

QUESTION: Would it be cheaper just to draft a tight end instead of extending Cade Otton? Don’t get me wrong. He’s good but I don’t know if he’s worth what a lot of these projections are giving him. He’s a solid No. 2 in my opinion and that’s okay.

Bucs TE Cade Otton – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: I feel the same way. As Pewter Report has reported before, the Bucs have discussed giving Cade Otton a contract extension this offseason prior to his contract year. I don’t know if I truly see the logic in that. I’m not sure what the hurry is.

Otton had a good year last season and improved his production as a receiver, as well as improved his blocking ability. But I don’t get the rush to sign him to a deal worth around $12 million per year right away. Is it worth saving a few million dollars over the course of three or four years to do a deal now? Otton is more of a Cam Brate-type tight end than a Rob Gronkowski-type tight end in my mind. Brate was a fine player in Tampa Bay during his career, but he never sniffed a Pro Bowl, and I’m not sure if Otton ever will, either.

I agree that Otton is more of a No. 2 tight end ideally. He’s steady and reliable and that certainly counts for something, but I don’t think he’s that dynamic of a player. Otton is good, but what if the Bucs were able to draft a more dynamic tight end like Penn State’s Tyler Warren, who’s regarded as a Top 15 pick? Otton would be TE2 in Tampa Bay, wouldn’t he?

What if Warren is the best player available at No. 19 when the team is on the clock? He’s an absolute weapon in the passing game and gives me Dallas Clark-type vibes. If the Bucs are going to extend Otton, I would wait until after the draft to do so for sure.

QUESTION: Is Elijah Klein ready to be the starting left guard? Also out of linebacker, cornerback and edge rusher, what position do you think we would spend decent money in free agency on a starter?

Bucs G Elijah Klein – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: No, Elijah Klein is not ready to be a starting guard for the Bucs right now. But will he be at the end of training camp and the preseason? Possibly, but Tampa Bay can’t bank on that happening.

Klein is hitting the weight room hard and transforming his college physique into a pro physique. The good news is that the offensive line weight room culture is for real with Tristan Wirfs and Luke “The Lifter” Goedeke leading the way.

Klein needs to add some strength and then get some experience in camp and in the preseason games. He spent his career at UTEP and didn’t play against top college competition on a regular basis. I think Klein has starter traits, but it may not happen in 2025.

The team needs to attempt to re-sign Ben Bredeson to a reasonable, one-year deal with a slight raise – perhaps $4 million in 2025. Then let Bredeson and Klein duke it out in August and may the best man win.

QUESTION: Has anything surprised you so far this Bucs offseason?

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Matt Matera/PR

ANSWER: Yes, I was pleasantly surprised that Bucs head coach Todd Bowles shook up his staff, especially moving Larry Foote from inside linebackers coach and putting him back as outside linebackers coach. That was his original role in Tampa Bay from 2019-2021 and he had a ton of success with Shaq Barrett, turning him into a record-setting two-time Pro Bowler. He also coached Jason Pierre-Paul to the Pro Bowl in 2020, the year the Bucs won the Super Bowl.

I think that’s a masterful move by Bowles, who removed George Edwards as a position coach, but put him in charge of the Bucs’ back seven (secondary and linebackers) in pass defense as the pass defense coordinator. That was a role that Foote had over the past three seasons and there seemed to be more miscommunication issues and coverage busts than the team had from 2019-2021. So perhaps Edwards can help in that area, as Foote maybe more in-tune with the front seven (defensive line and linebackers) as the run defense coordinator.

I didn’t expect Bowles to make these moves, especially since they came so late in the offseason near the end of February. But he deserves a ton of credit for shaking things in an effort to improve the play of his defense, which was a big letdown last year.

Outside of that, I wasn’t too surprised by anything else. I did a Pewter Pulse video back in early January about how the Bucs could lose assistant general managers John Spytek and Mike Greenberg and offensive coordinator Liam Coen this offseason, and two out of three of those things happened. Spytek is now the Las Vegas general manager and Coen is Jacksonville’s head coach.

I also wasn’t surprised by Josh Grizzard’s promotion as offensive coordinator. I wrote about him being a strong candidate to replace Coen if he left back in a December SR’s Fab 5 column. I’m glad I was right about that as I think Grizzard is up to the task.