LSU CB Mansoor Delane.

If a player can handle himself in the SEC trenches or succeed as a top SEC skill position player, then Joe is interested in the guy.

A lot of folks think the Bucs will go corner at No. 15 if Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht doesn’t trade back. Joe doesn’t know if this says a lot about Zyon McCollum or Benjamin Morrison, but if you are trying to win games in the NFL, you can’t quibble.

(If the Bucs draft a corner in the first round, it makes Joe wonder whose Wheaties at One Buc Palace did Jamel Dean do a No. 1 in?)

Some plugged in folks in league circles think the Bucs will go after University of Tennessee corner Jermod McCoy. The thing about McCoy that fully spooks Joe is he missed all of last year with a blown knee.

So the Bucs are supposed to use a first round pick on a dude who is already damaged goods? Nah, man.

Joe read a roundup of cornerbacks from Joe’s good friend and NFL humorist/columnist Mike Tanier on his Substack page, “Too Deep Zone.”

Tanier seems to think Mansoor Delane of LSU is a better corner. Why? He produced in the SEC. Tanier’s description is compelling.

Delane was so good in 2025 that he was invisible.

Clemson decided to challenge Delane in the 2025 season opener. Cade Klubnik targeted Delane’s receivers ten times. The results: one 19-yard catch, one interception, another pass broken up, lots of hopeless throws to utterly blanketed receivers.

That was that. Delane was targeted just 23 times the rest of the season. He allowed a total of eight catches for 95 yards, with two interceptions and 10 passes defensed. Alabama targeted Delane twice, Vanderbilt once. Florida targeted Delane four times; he allowed zero receptions. Opponents simply avoided Delane’s side of the field.

Tanier thinks Delane compares favorably with former LSU corner and current Houston Texans star Derek Stingley.

Delane ran a 4.38-second forty at his Pro Day. He has all the athletic tools a team could ask for in a shutdown cornerback. His weaknesses are mostly quibbles. Delane was good-not-outstanding for three years at Virginia Tech before portalling to LSU in 2025, which may be why Clemson chose to challenge him. But Delane turned 22 in December: he’s not some overaged prospect or system product. He appears to be a defender who blossomed while climbing up a level.

Delane is the #1 prospect in the 2026 Too Deep 96. He’d be a Top Ten prospect in most drafts. I will admit that I may be evaluating him on the negative space on his stat lines and tape: in other words, all the plays he did not have to make. But it means something when SEC coaches and quarterbacks go out of their way to avoid a defender.

Delane may be a notch below former LSU standout Derek Stingley as a prospect, but it’s a tiny notch.

Joe checked Daniel Jeremiah’s latest mock and he has Delane going to Miami at No. 11, four slots above the Bucs. So it’s not like he’s expected to be a top-five pick.

Hey, stranger things have happened in the draft. If Delane slips to the Bucs, should Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager pull the trigger?

Mansoor Delane (5’11 191) LSU

+ Has played over 2,400 career snaps
+ Physical in run support
+ Just a 38.2% completion rate allowed against in 2025
+ 91.0 coverage grade
+ Competitive at the catch point
+ 8 career interceptions
+ Coverage instincts
+ 74.4 run defense grade

-… pic.twitter.com/ANWc0JSQ0b

— Bengals & Brews (@BengalsBrews) February 15, 2026