Bucs GM Jason Licht.

Joe gets why, before the dust is even settling on the draft each spring, why half the media outlets in the western world are already pumping out draft grades.

It’s kind of irresponsible. We really cannot get a decent gauge on a draft class until after three seasons. By then, you have a good idea if a guy has panned out or not.

But Joe understands we live in a microwave, artificial intelligence, instant pudding, DoorDash society. We want our information now and by God, we’ll get it.

So Joe applauds Gennaro Filice of NFL.com, who decided to wait until at least after the Super Bowl to figure out how to grade each team’s draft class from this past spring.

Filice seems to have a bit higher grade on the Bucs draft class than Joe would have thrown out. Filice gave the Bucs a B+ grade.

Modern offenses want receivers who can move all over the formation, like Emeka Egbuka. Modern defenses want cornerbacks who can play inside and outside, like Jacob Parrish. Nice to check two trend boxes in one draft.

As a prospect, Egbuka was actually viewed by many as a slot-only receiver, but he took two-thirds of his snaps on the perimeter in Year 1. The production waned in the second half of the season, as Tampa Bay’s receiving corps returned to health, but Egbuka still finished with the second-most receiving yards (938) and the highest yards-per-catch figure (14.9) in this rookie class, proving he can win in all areas at the NFL level. Parrish was a Day 1 starter at nickelback, and he excelled as a physical presence on the inside all season long. At times, though, injuries forced him outside, and the 5-10, 198-pounder acquitted himself quite well. Todd Bowles, a former NFL defensive back and longtime secondary coach, absolutely loves Parrish, recently calling him Tampa Bay’s best corner in 2025.

Joe is pretty sure he’s going to anger some at One Buc Palace for the following, and Joe’s not trying to provoke outrage in any way.

Joe thinks — just judging on their rookie seasons in totality — that the Bucs’ best rookie was cornerback Jacob Parrish. He was good from Week 1 and improved as the season transpired.

Now Joe loves Emeka Egbuka, but… what happened? He truly had a bipolar season. The first half of the season Egbuka was absolutely on fire. He seemed like Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht’s biggest steal since Tristan Wirfs.

Then, after the loss to New England in the first game after the bye, Egbuka vanished. He ended up in the federal witness protection program when the team needed him the most, something that never happened when Egbuka was at Ohio State.

What happened? Did Baker Mayfield’s nosedive drag Egbuka down? Did defenses figure him out? Was Egbuka hiding an injury? Did the rookie wall nuke Egbuka of all his gas?

It’s a question that Joe is going to carry into training camp, wondering which Egbuka will show up (hopefully, it was the first half stud).

Benjamin Morrison was drafted, Joe is pretty sure, to replace Jamel Dean. Well, Morrison missed enough games to mimic Dean, so Joe guesses the succession plan is working.

Tez Johnson was a very, very nice find in the seventh round. And if we are being honest with ourselves, Parrish and Johnson, based on their entire rookie seasons, were the two best players selected by the Bucs in 2025.

So far.