If the Buccaneers stick at 15:

• David Bailey - An elite speed rusher with a "ridiculous" first step and rare closing burst. He is a "designated pass rusher" specialist who struggles significantly as an anchor in the run game due to a lighter frame. 21.2% win rate
• Akheem Mesidor - A highly polished rusher with an advanced arsenal including cross-chops, club-rips, and double swipes. He lacks elite raw athleticism but wins with superior technique, hand placement, and a high motor. He is considered a "quality starter" who can contribute immediately in both run and pass situations. 21.6% win rate.

If the Buccaneers trade down or wait until the second round:

• Akheem Mesidor - A highly polished rusher with an advanced arsenal including cross-chops, club-rips, and double swipes. He lacks elite raw athleticism but wins with superior technique, hand placement, and a high motor. He is considered a "quality starter" who can contribute immediately in both run and pass situations. 21.6% win rate. I think Mesidor might fall to as low as 25.
• Zion Young - He is arguably the best edge-setter in the 2026 class, earning an elite 96.0 PFF run-defense grade in 2025. While he lacks top-tier explosive burst, he wins with a devastating bull rush and a high-motor pursuit that forces pocket collapse. He is best suited for a 4-3 front but has the mass (265 lbs) to play as a 5-technique in hybrid schemes. I would only take him in the second round, but targeting him would allow the Buccaneers to target a different position in the first round.
• T.J. Parker - Parker is a technical power-rusher known for having "hammers for hands" and an elite ability to force fumbles. He features an advanced long-arm technique and is nearly impossible to move at the point of attack in the run game. However, his stock cooled in 2025 after his sack production dropped from 11 in 2024 to just 5-6 in his junior year, leading to concerns about his limited athletic ceiling and hip stiffness. I need to look at more reports on Parker. He might be worth a first-round pick if the Buccaneers trade back to 25 through 32. I think he will be gone by the time the Buccaneers pick in the 2nd round.
• Keyron Crawford - An explosive and athletic rusher who played Auburn’s "Buck" position. A role specifically requiring him to drop into zone coverage and handle space. He is a late-bloomer with exceptional lateral agility and pursuit speed. His calling card is a high-end first step that often catches offensive tackles before they can establish their set. Despite splitting time in coverage, Crawford recorded 43 pressures and 5.0 sacks in 2025. His 18.3% pass-rush win rate ranked among the top draft-eligible SEC edge defenders. He is a prime candidate if the Buccaneers trade down from #15 into the #25 - 30. Depending on the scenario, they could trade back up to get him in the early part of the 2nd round.

I need to look at other positions, but I do believe that pass rush has to be fixed. The issue last year, IMHO, was not due to poor DB play but a lack of ability to generate pressure and finish plays. 

The Bucs will be hosting free-agent left guard Kenyon Green for a workout this Thursday, but they made a move on Monday to shore up the team’s offensive tackle depth. Swing tackle Justin Skule will be returning to Tampa Bay on a one-year deal, per Fox Sports’ Greg Auman.

I don't hate this even tho it's a giant nothing 

LOL, its a typical Licht low key move.

Last season the RB said it was a mistake to let him go and for Hecht to step in, so this is an upgrade!

If you zoom out and look at the potential path the Bucs are on since 2022

There are other ways then the way the Bucs are doing it.

The Eagles have been "contenders" through the Jalen Hurts era, so beginning roughly in 2022 when they went 14-3. It took them until the 2024 to win a Super Bowl, in part because they sort of blew up and lost to the Bucs in the 2023 playoffs. They were sort of FAUX relevant in 2025, better than the 2022 to 2024 Bucs by regular season record, but equal results bowing out in the first playoff game. Maybe that means in 2025 they were not "true" contenders?

Either way though, they are also $70-80 million in dead cap and about $400 million in void years. 

So, Maybe Eagles fans are enjoying their "true" contender status now more than the Bucs fans are enjoying their "faux" contender status post-Super Bowl, but where will both teams be in 2-3 years? The Eagles just had had to publicly shame Hurts to get him to hopefully run the called plays. The Bucs just lost Evans. The Bucs are limiting void years where they can (restructuring only if needed) and now have limited dead cap, especially relative to the Eagles.

Two different approaches. Not sure which is best for the team.

Would rather we be a true contender year over year with an amazing coaching staff.

Hopefully, most fans would have this take.

If we were trying to be objective to optimistic, isn't it possible this what the Bucs are doing?  They might not have the"amazing coaching staff" at the moment but they have been a "contender" and through a period where teams are often rebuilding.  I assume you qualified contender with "true" because you discount the playoffs because of the division and the results in the playoffs. Fair enough.  Many post-Super Bowl teams have a big drop off though, like a 5 win season.  The Bucs dont have that until arguably last season.

But the overarching point is to just zoom out.  Widen the lens.

If you zoom out and look at the potential path the Bucs are on since 2022, the period of time since 2022 has been successful IF you see the Bucs as a team rebuilding, dropping dead cap,etc.  And if you zoom out, that rebuilding period is not over yet because we are in the moving to a new era of player phase (LVD, Evans, Egbuka). It is close to over, as is the end of Bowles extended contract. Maybe that is not a coincidence?

Either way though, lets see what happens this year, sure, but this year is still just one more year in Licht's plan so IF YOU ZOOM OUT might there be an "amazing coaching staff" around in 2027 or 2028? This year, not many big coaches and the Bucs still had to deal with LVD and Evans (Vea maybe next, AWJ?). So, if Bowles continues to navigate the team through the end of this transition - now fully removed from the bad 2021 "run it back draft" and the unexpected 2022 faux "run it back" draft might that new "amazing coaching staff" find a 2027 team or 2028 team with lots of cap space, a solid O-line, a franchise QB, 3 or 4 really good WRs and good RB and a rejuvenated and young defense? Maybe even a "new" super bowl ready stadium?

That seems a fairly enticing opportunity for an  "amazing coaching staf" to pick up from there. Maybe you would be able to drop the qualifier ("true") for a while.

asshat administration of Raheehaw and Domanik traded up to draft a QB in Josh Freeman with a ton of red flags that all the reputable scouts had warned teams about allegedly (raw, inconsistent, boom or bust, poor accuracy, no leadership, etc.) to fit their narrative of a "franchise QB" in spite of those red flags.

Great take.  Agree with much of it.

I cut out the point above, which I agree with, because it could be that what we are seeing today is a version of the Glazers educated by the event above where perceived NEED drove everything. The Bucs owners believe the Bucs NEEDED a franchise QB and so just like a bad move in the draft (need over BPA) they didnt wait for the right opportunity to present itself. They impatiently made it happen with the most readily available resources, Dom and Morris, and by reactively throwing out Gruden.

I also cut out this excerpt because it parallels the current Bucs in another way.  There is always a cost to a Super Bowl.  The cost of the first Super Bowl was an empowered Gruden who took down McKay, installed his own GM, skipped Aaron Rodgers for Caddy etc.. This set al  of what followed in motion. In the current era the cost of the Super Bowl (probably worth it) was the 2021 run it back draft and contracts followed by the unexpected and dysfunctional 2022 "run it back" season. The Bucs have spent 23, 24 and 25 and maybe now 26 digging out from those moves

I don't hate this even tho it's a giant nothing