It is officially mock draft season, and with the NFL Draft beginning in Pittsburgh on Thursday the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have some decisions to make. The experts cannot quite come to a consensus on who the Bucs will select with the 15th overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Defense Is The Way To Go
It seems likeassumption will be that the Buccaneers go after a defensive player in the first round.
Peter Schrager of ESPN predicts Tampa will take Akheem Mesidor. Mesidor is an edge rusher from Miami who had 12.5 sacks last season with the Hurricanes. While Mesidor has injury history and is older for a rookie, Schrager is still all in, “Yes, he’s 25 years old. Yes, he has an injury history. But Mesidor produces in a massive way and is at his best in the biggest games. I loved watching him in the College Football Playoff. Mesidor would immediately upgrade Tampa Bay’s defense after that unit allowed 5.7 yards per play in 2025 (25th).”
Ari Meirov of “My Sports Update” feels the same way as Schrager projecting the Bucs to select Mesidor.
Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com sees Tampa Bay selecting a different edge rusher, Cashius Howell, writing this about the Texas A&M star, “Howell is one of my favorite players to study, Howell plays 100 mph at all times and has the production to back it up. Howell finished his college career with 27 sacks and 35.5 tackles for loss.
Pro Football Network did a deep dive into the Kansas City native, “Howell’s build and lacking power element relegates him to wide-alignment, odd-front rush LB roles, but in that role, he can thrive. He’s a smooth and savvy pass-rush presence, whose upside as a designated pressure generator is astronomical, and his motor gives him value in pursuit.”
Offense Would Be Surprising
While the consensus among NFL Insiders is that the Buccaneers would draft a defensive player, but if Tampa does go offense there are plenty of options.
Long time NFL Draft insider, Mel Kiper Jr., has the Bucs selecting Kenyon Sadiq, “There’s a chance we see more two-tight-end sets in Tampa Bay with coordinator Zac Robinson’s offense coming to town and the loss of receiver Mike Evans in free agency”, wrote Kiper, “So, I’m not sweating the Cade Otton re-signing as a major deterrent to the Bucs looking at Sadiq as an option in the middle of Round 1. Sadiq is the clear top tight end in the draft class, and he was one of the biggest winners of the combine, running a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash at 241 pounds and leaping 43½ inches in the vertical. That explosion is obvious on the tape, too. He had 560 receiving yards last season, and a lot of that came after the catch.”
CBS Sports’ Mike Renner has the Bucs selecting interior offensive lineman, Olaivavega Ioane, at pick 15. The Penn State product played 613 snaps in the 2025 season and allowed zero sacks, zero quarterback hits and just four QB hurries. The 6’4, 320-pound lineman seems to be as NFL-ready as a prospect can be.
The 2026 NFL Draft begins on Thursday at 8 p.m. eastern time and will be completed on Saturday.
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