Publications React To Bucs’ Draft Picks
April 25th, 2026
Grades!
Joe was, sadly, a little disappointed. With a little aggressiveness, the Bucs could have come away from Day 2 of the draft with a haul.
Instead, right before their pick in the second round, the Bucs saw a prize player come off the board; Miami got inside linebacker Jacob Rodriguez of Texas Tech, one of the top linebackers in the nation.
The Bucs settled for a guy with shakt knees who, while he played the run fantastically, his pass defense has question marks.
Joe does like the drafting of receiver Ted Hurst. That could be a monster steal.
Here are some reviews of the Bucs’ Day 2 draft strategy. It seems, like some Bucs fans, people cannot wrap their arms around the drafting of Josiah Trotter at linebacker.
Some have made up their mind: Trotter is a run-stopping-only linebacker in a passing league with a team that was shredded by quarterbacks last year.
Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz of USA Today had a lukewarm feeling over Trotter but liked the pickup of Hurst.
46. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Josiah Trotter, LB, Missouri – Grade: C-
Todd Bowles’ defense was overdue for a linebacker who could take the mantle from Lavonte David. Trotter, however, was an odd choice to take over at the second level. He’s a force when working downhill, but the Bucs were too often burned by their coverage deficiencies at the position. That’s a big vulnerability for Trotter, and it could remain a sore spot for the defense.84. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (from Packers): Ted Hurst, WR, Georgia State – Grade: B
Tampa Bay didn’t wait long to add a tall target to take over after Mike Evans’ departure. Hurst requires more refinement, but he and Baker Mayfield could form an electric connection on vertical routes.
Carter Bahns of CBS loved how the Bucs handled Day 2, giving the Bucs an A-.
Defense is the focus of this draft for Tampa Bay, which went with an edge rusher and linebacker in consecutive picks to open the weekend. That’s not a bad move for a team that lost Lavonte David to retirement.
Arm length is the only knock against Rueben Bain Jr., but it was a big enough question mark to drop him low enough on the board for the Buccaneers to scoop him up at No. 15. While he has some of the shortest arms we’ve ever seen from a first-round edge rusher, that didn’t stop him from terrorizing offenses last year as the most disruptive defensive end in college football. He arrives in Tampa Bay as the answer to the franchise’s biggest weakness: disrupting opposing quarterbacks.
The first dose of offense came in the third round. Is Ted Hurst the next Mike Evans? He has a similar stature at 6-foot-4 and boasts 4.42 speed, so it’s not out of the question, although it’s unfair to put that lofty of a projection on the Georgia State product.
Then there was Matt Verderame of SI.com. He didn’t seem to care for the Trotter draft but he did like Hurst.
46. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Josiah Trotter, LB, Missouri
After missing all of 2023 with a leg injury with West Virginia, Trotter returned the following season to be a force with 92 tackles in the middle of the Mountaineers’ defense. After transferring to Missouri, Trotter earned first-team All-SEC honors with 84 tackles, including 13 for loss. At 237 pounds, the son of former Eagles All-Pro Jeremiah Trotter projects as an off-ball linebacker who can play on run downs.How he fits with the Buccaneers: This feels early for Trotter, who hasn’t shown the ability to drop into coverage and hold his own. General manager Jason Licht is trying to rebuild the front seven after losing Lavonte David to retirement, and Trotter is part of that idea. Still, Trotter is a situational piece at this juncture next to the newly-acquired Alex Anzalone.
Grade C-
84. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Ted Hurst, WR, Georgia State
Hurst is a small-school talent who could make the big leap to the NFL. At 6′ 4″ and 206 pounds, the Georgia native ran a 4.42 40-yard dash at the combine. Last season, he caught 71 passes for 1,004 yards and six touchdowns, earning first-team All-Sun Belt honors. He projects as a deep threat who can outleap defenders.
How he fits with the Buccaneers: Tampa Bay needed to draft a receiver after losing Mike Evans to the 49ers in free agency. While the Buccaneers still have a plethora of talent at the position, including Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan, all three dealt with injuries in 2025.
Grade: B-
Yes, Joe is super intrigued by Hurst, but is looking at perhaps the Bucs goofing up in Round 2 and what could have been.
April 25th, 2026 at 6:21 am
Never forget after selecting Sapp and Brooks in 1995, the consensus grade was a ‘C’.
April 25th, 2026 at 6:31 am
If these picks were reversed, Hurst in the 2nd and Trotter in the 3rd, I wonder how these ridiculously early draft grades would turn out? Gut feeling says both would be at least B+ grades, and we’d be talking about what a great pick Trotter was in the 3rd
The part that makes this one immediately hurt is J-Rod going to Miami right before the Bucs pick. A 4th round pick would have very likely been enough to move up and get him.
April 25th, 2026 at 6:32 am
Now get a corner, DT, and OL.
April 25th, 2026 at 6:42 am
Heck, a lot of the guys drafted probably wished they could still get the NIL coin they got from their Power 4 programs.
April 25th, 2026 at 6:43 am
Jackson, Jr from FSU is still there at DT and the CB from UF also
April 25th, 2026 at 6:43 am
Draft grades are not worth much and the real evaluation can be made in 3 or 4 years minimum when it is time to extend certain players or cut bait and run. Comment above was for the “big loser” post Joe has.
April 25th, 2026 at 6:51 am
GM Licht has a good eye for drafting wide receivers, so I trust his judgment on this pick. Welcome to the Bucs, Mr. Hurst!
April 25th, 2026 at 6:54 am
So today: We get 16th pick of the 4th, 15th and 20th of the 5th. I expect 1 of the 5th’s will be a guard/center, 1 of the other 2 might be McCoy
April 25th, 2026 at 6:57 am
joe i’m liking the ted hurst pick now too…
the trotter over jrod thing irked me…i really thought if we can move into the 30’s we can get our guy (jrod)…so pick 2 irks, but hopefully it won’t lurk…
i really liked the hurst interview with jenna and your buddies…he grew on me in the interview big time…hopefully he works out…
love the bain pick…!
hopefully they knew what they’re doing with trotter, because they left a batch of backers on the board who all got snatched up from picks 50 thru 60
April 25th, 2026 at 6:58 am
Interesting to me is the number of positive reviews that I saw on Trotter. I guess those don’t count. Anyways, I still remember the grade I got on a paper for a financing class from a professor who drove a piece of crap car. I did pretty well with my investment and no one has ever asked me about the grade I got on that paper. It will be interesting to see the players picked today that you all were so willing to part with yesterday to get the player you wanted. You know the player that you so could have easily gotten from unsaid team that was just waiting for a fourth round pick to allow you to move up.
April 25th, 2026 at 6:59 am
trotter probably could have possibly even been had on day 3 early in the 4th…if he fell a bit…
he was supposedly a top 100 talent…
46 was crazy early for him
April 25th, 2026 at 7:11 am
I think we all expected Rodriguez to be gone before we were up, but Trotter wasn’t who I expected. Do we have any linebackers who can cover? Oh, I forgot. That’s what they drafted Bain to do. Never heard of the receiver they took. Didn’t he play for Sisters of the Blind Bible College or something?
April 25th, 2026 at 7:12 am
The Bucs got three good new football players but still need to do something about the gaping hole in the middle besides try to teach Trotter to do a bunch of things he clearly can’t. Bowles is going to have to use another draft pick on a moneybacker and burn a bunch of timeouts tokeepthis kid from getting smoked week in week out. Anzalone is an excellent player and pick-up but he can’t cover the entire middle of the field and mind both flats himself. As soon as Bowles shows his face can someone ask him what is wrong with three-down ILBs? Somebody’s gotta build the confidence of rookie QBs and keep Kirk Cousins employed, I guess?
Kyle Luis is still available but not for long. Landing him or Harold Perkins Jr. as the Bucs new slot would make me feel a whole lot better about Trotter. Jalon Kilgore is another long, stong, ball-hawking option. Justin Jefferson is another undersized lightning bolt ILB that could be had later than than the fourth.
April 25th, 2026 at 7:13 am
TBBF – excellent points all around.
April 25th, 2026 at 7:15 am
Pundits are consistent in assessing Trotter as weak in coverage. You should be drafting players you expect to be full time starters in round two, not situational players. How can one defend such a fundamental miscue?
April 25th, 2026 at 7:16 am
“Never forget after selecting Sapp and Brooks in 1995, the consensus grade was a ‘C’.”
Speaking of this, it reminds me of something I’m pretty sure I typed here last year. It would be fun if Joe maintained an archive of draft grades from years past, and then each year had a follow up article to see how those grades measured up to reality. Maybe 3 years back would be a good reference point. Anyway, I can keep hoping.
April 25th, 2026 at 7:20 am
Steve Smith just called Ted Hurst a “faster Larry Fitzgerald”. Wow! I hope that he’s right.
April 25th, 2026 at 7:32 am
At CB, Andre Fuller would be an excellent Dean replacement and Duke’s Chandler Rivers is another solid CB who only had 3 penalties and zero missed games in 4 seasons of action. A durable, disciplined, versatile CB like that is rare.
Brian Parker Jr and Beau Stephens are the premium back-up OL I’d be targeting in round 4 if the Bucs drafted a three-down ILB on day 2 but as things stand I’d be targeting a big slot or “star” as Nick Saban calls the position from the names mentioned in my above comment.
As a round 4 consolation prize I could also feel pretty good about DTs Jordan van den Berg, Rayshawn Benny, Demonte Capeheart or Gracen Halton or one of the CBs mentioned at the top of this comment. Watch Bowles go and take LT Overton though.
April 25th, 2026 at 7:42 am
In round 5 ILBs Eric Gentry and Justin Jefferson enter consideration as does CB Charles Demmings III and DTs Darrell Jackson Jr and Caleb Proctor.
Round 5 is my sweet spot for OL depth though so I’m hoping that can be addressed with Ar-Maj Reed-Adams or Jalen Farmer.
If the Bucs could use their two round 5 picks on trench depth that would suit me right down to the ground.