The Tampa Bay Buccaneers run ended after losing in heartbreaking fashion to the Washington Commanders. One reason that could be attributed to losing that home playoff game is the inability to consistently pressure quarterback Jayden Daniels, who managed to give the Bucs’ defense issues over their two encounters with the dynamic dual threat signal caller over his rookie campaign.
In a recent 2025 NFL Mock Draft, the Bucs invest the No. 19 overall pick in addressing a position of need with an ascending prospect coming off of an impressive Senior Bowl performance.
Bucs Select Marshall EDGE Mike Green at No. 19 Overall
The future of Chris Godwin with the Bucs is a bit unclear at the moment with his contract expiring, which does potentially create a need at the WR position for an offense that was forced to move Jalen McMillan into an expanded role his rookie year. Yet, the Tampa Bay offense still managed to produce a top 10 offense across the board despite not having the services of Godwin for over half of the season.
This has Luke Easterling of Athlon Sports seeing the Buccaneers wanting to address the defensive side of the football by selecting Marshall EDGE defender Mike Green with the No. 19 overall pick in his latest 2025 NFL Mock Draft.
Easterling said, “Todd Bowles’ defense is a shell of its lofty potential when it doesn’t have the ability to create consistent pressure on the quarterback, and the Bucs clearly lack the kind of edge-rushing presence who can take over a game like Shaq Barrett used to in Tampa Bay. Green has rare explosiveness and put up huge numbers last season, and played well against top non-conference competition before shining at the Senior Bowl.”
The Bucs defense did manage to generate a fair amount of pressure throughout the 2024 NFL season, but came in large part due to their 34.2% blitz rate – which was the third highest mark in the league behind only the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions.
The Bucs Have 2 Pass Rushers Set to Become Free Agents
Tampa Bay registered 46 sacks on the season, but saw a pair of defensive tackles – Calijah Kancey and Vita Vea – lead the team with 7.5 and 7 sacks each respectively.
YaYa Diaby is widely regarded as an ascending edge defender, but still managed just 4.5 sacks in a full 17 games played last season.
Outside of Diaby, the team doesn’t exactly have a ton of pass rushing juice coming off of the edge with players like Anthony Nelson and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka set to become free agents this offseason.
Despite the aggressiveness we saw from the Tampa Bay defense this year, the Bucs’ defensive unit still gave up the fourth most passing yards in the league – ranking just behind Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens and the aforementioned Lions.
Green’s great reps against Ohio State (tremendous bend running the arc and a disgusting spin move for a sack) gave us a glimpse of the potential his 6’4″, 248-pound frame possesses. He has an explosive first step, uncommon lateral agility, and physics-defying bend for an edge rusher, which gives him some real double-digit-sack upside at the NFL level.
If Green’s dominance at the Senior Bowl foreshadows what he is capable of doing at the NFL level, then landing him at 19th overall could prove to be a steal for this unit in desperate need of a consistent pass rushing presence on the edge opposite of Diaby.
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