If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a chance to re-draft the 2025 draft class, they would not be happy. Emeka Egbuka was a great selection by the team, but so good that Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report did not project him falling anywhere near his draft slot.
In the re-draft done by Bleacher Report, Egbuka went to the San Francisco 49ers with the 11th overall pick. So, the team had to go another direction at number 19. Funnily enough, the Bucs take a player who was not available in the actual NFL draft. Tampa Bay took edge rusher Jalon Walker in this re-draft. Walker started in nine games and finished his rookie season with 5.5 sacks.
“It’s a blow to the Buccaneers that Egbuka is off the board here, especially with Mike Evans gone,” wrote Davenport. “But that’s not the only fairly pressing need Tampa has in this scenario. The team has struggled to add a consistent edge-rusher for years—no one on Tampa’s roster had eight sacks in 2025.”
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Selected Jalon Walker in the 2025 Re-Draft
GettyAtlanta Falcons’ edge defender Jalon Walker
Walker went 15th overall in the actual draft. He was rumored to be an option for Tampa Bay during the draft, but because he was off the board, the team did not have to decide between Walker and Egbuka. We will never know, but there is a chance the Bucs would have taken Walker.
The Falcons did not take Walker with the 15th pick, as they did in the actual draft. However, in a funny turn, they ended up taking James Pearce, whom they traded up to the 26th overall pick to select him at the end of the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.
This is a debatable pick considering Pearce is facing legal issues, and his status with the NFL is uncertain right now. Still, on the field, he did produce more than Walker. Considering he was clearly a fit, this exercise has Pearce getting taken before Walker.
Of course, Walker did not fall far, as he ended up on the Bucs just a few picks later.
Buccaneers Re-Draft Could Have Set Off Chain Reaction
We will never know what would have happened, but the selection of Jalon Walker might have scared the Bucs off of selecting Ruben Bain the year prior. Both are edge rushers, and the team might have seen it as overkill to take edge rushers in back-to-back years. Considering they already have Yaya Diaby, there is a good chance they would have passed on Bain.
At the same time, the Bucs might have just avoided signing Al-Quadin Muhammad. Tampa Bay clearly wants three edge rushers in their rotation, and if they had Walker, they could have passed on signing Muhammad and still taken Bain.
A trio of Bain, Walker, and Diaby might look like overkill, but it also looks like one of the best edge rusher rooms in the NFL.
One player who went right after Jalon Walker is Derrick Harmon. Harmon went 21st in the actual draft and 21st in the re-draft. He had a solid rookie season. The Bucs are still thin on the defensive front. While they could not have predicted losing Calijah Kancey last year, they would have been in a better spot up front with Harmon.
Of course, the Bucs are quite alright with how things went, and Egbuka ending up on the team.
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