As the Bucs look to potentially add to a young tight end room through the NFL Draft later this month, they are set to host one on a pre-draft visit. Tampa Bay is on the list of visits for Michigan’s Luke Schoonmaker, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Monday night.

The 6-foot-5, 251-pound Schoonmaker is Pro Football Focus’ No. 7 tight end in this year’s class, with an overall big board ranking of No. 96. That places him in the late third-round to early fourth-round conversation. The Draft Network’s Damian Parson gives him a third-round grade.

Schoonmaker posted 35 catches for 418 yards and three touchdowns for the Wolverines in 2022 after totaling 17 catches for 165 yards and three scores in 2021. He has functional quickness and solid hands, and he’s a plus blocker. There’s room for him to grow in both phases of his game, but he turned some heads at the NFL Scouting Combine by outperforming expectations athletically.

His 4.63-second 40-yard dash was fifth-best among tight ends, while his 10-foot-7-inch broad jump was second-best at the position. He also had the fourth-best 20-yard shuttle at 4.27 seconds.

Bucs Add Another Tight End To Growing List Of Potential Targets

Michigan TE Luke Schoonmaker Photo By: USA Today

The Bucs certainly have the tight end position on their radar, and rightfully so, given how deep the 2023 class is. A starting-caliber tight end can likely be had as late as the second half of day three, though Schoonmaker is likely to be long gone by then.

Tampa Bay has a big need at tight end, as it parted ways with veteran mainstay Cameron Brate in a cap-cutting move last month. Kyle Rudolph, another veteran, won’t return after spending most of 2022 as a gameday inactive.

As a result, the Bucs have a thin (and young) tight end room at the moment. The group includes 2022 fourth-round pick Cade Otton and 2022 sixth-rounder Ko Kieft, as well as Dominique Dafney – who signed a futures contract with the team back in January – and David Wells – who was on the practice squad last year.

Dafney and Wells are obviously unknowns, while Kieft is more of a blocker than he is a pass-catching threat. That leaves only Otton, who posted 42 catches for 391 yards and two big touchdowns in his debut season, as a bonafide tight end weapon for the Bucs’ new quarterback, whether that’s Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask.

Adding another tight end could be a Day 2 need for the Bucs. They didn’t speak with Schoonmaker at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, but they did have formal interviews with Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer, South Dakota State’s Tucker Kraft, Oregon State’s Luke Musgrave, Iowa’s Sam LaPorta, Utah’s Dalton Kincaid, Purdue’s Payne Durham, and Cincinnati’s Josh Whyle.

Tampa Bay also held informal interviews with Cincinnati’s Leonard Taylor, Alabama’s Cameron Latu, North Dakota State’s Noah Gindorff, Old Dominion’s Zack Kuntz, Nebraska’s Travis Vokolek, Air Force’s Kyle Patterson and Oklahoma’s Brayden Willis.

While the Bucs may have bigger needs at offensive tackle, edge rusher, and safety, it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see them come away with at least one of these tight ends during the final weekend of April.