Buccaneers — 2026 Draft Recap

Welcome into Muffed, draft-class edition — Tampa Bay on the clock. Seven picks across three days, and the headliner is the one the scouting staff erupted over: Rueben Bain Jr., the Miami edge, off the board at fifteen. The theme isn't subtle. The Bucs got bigger, meaner, and younger on defense — a pass-rusher and a Mike linebacker both twenty-one years old, and a nickel corner who plays like he's mad at the football. They sprinkled in two pass-catchers and a guard, but make no mistake: this was a defense-first reset. Rob McCartney said as much — he wants to dictate down-and-distance and set up more third-and-longs.

Start with the pass defense, because that's where the math screamed. In 2025, Tampa bled plus forty-one expected points added through the air — opposing passing games worth forty-one expected points ABOVE average against this group — and surrendered thirty passing touchdowns. Enter Bain at fifteen: nine and a half sacks at Miami (third in the ACC, fifteenth nationally) and fifteen and a half tackles for loss, also fifteenth in the country. McCartney was emphatic — Bain isn't a designated rusher, he's a three-down end who doesn't like coming off the field, and the run physicality against tight ends is part of the package. Then at pick one-sixteen, Keionte Scott, the Miami corner with a Relative Athletic Score of 9.78 — and quick aside, Relative Athletic Score is a zero-to-ten grade comparing a prospect's combine and pro-day testing to every player at his position since 1987. Scott is in the top three percent of corners ever tested. Thirteen tackles for loss, eighth in his conference. McCartney was crystal clear: downhill, attacking nickel — a blitzer, a run-fitter, a screen-killer — with some internal chatter about safety reps too.

Run defense got the second-round check, and it ties directly to McCartney's stop-the-run-to-rush-the-passer gospel. Pick forty-six: Josiah Trotter, the Missouri linebacker, twenty-one years old — eighty-four tackles, thirteen tackles for loss, two sacks. McCartney flat-out said pairing a young edge with a young Mike will define this defense's identity for the next five-to-ten years. That's a long-runway bet on two cornerstones at the two most important defensive positions. Then at one-fifty-five, DeMonte Capehart, the Clemson defensive tackle — and the athletic profile gets loud. Relative Athletic Score of 9.96. Top one percent of defensive tackles ever measured. Production was modest — twenty tackles, two and a half for loss, one sack — and McCartney admitted the tape hasn't caught the testing yet, but he called Capehart's pure power and knockback some of the best in the draft. Tampa's run defense was already a strength in 2025 at minus twenty-eight expected points added on the ground. They're doubling down.

Flip to the passing offense, where Tampa lived in the red — minus sixteen expected points added through the air in 2025, below-average production. The answer at pick eighty-four: Ted Hurst, the Georgia State receiver who smashed the Sun Belt. Seventy-one catches, one thousand four yards, six touchdowns, a long of seventy — fifth in the conference in yards, fourth in scores. His per-play predicted points added — the college equivalent of NFL expected points added — was plus zero point four six, totaling plus forty-nine point six eight on the season. That's elite efficiency. Pair it with a Relative Athletic Score of 9.91 — top one percent of receivers tested — and you've got a small-school producer with first-round traits. McCartney sees him outside, though he noted this offense doesn't really have a true X. Then at one-eighty-five, Tampa traded up for Bauer Sharp, the LSU tight end. A converted quarterback, only three years at the position, Relative Athletic Score of 9.12, and McCartney called his combine workout one of the best in the entire group.

Up front, Tampa surrendered thirty-eight sacks in 2025 — depth and toughness was a real need. Enter Billy Schrauth at pick one-sixty, the Notre Dame guard. McCartney leaned hard into character — Schrauth was a Notre Dame captain who played through a knee injury against USC because, in his words, there was no option. McCartney said the way he plays is what we desire to be. Guard first, with center cross-training possible down the road.

Pick of the draft. You can argue Trotter — the twenty-one-year-old Mike to pair with the edge. But the pick is Bain, and here's the angle: pass-rusher is the single hardest position in football to acquire, and Tampa got one who plays the run at a high level. The league is full of designated rushers hidden on early downs. Bain is not that. He's a complete defensive end at twenty-one on a five-year rookie deal — and McCartney's draft room erupted out of a back room and ran down the hall when the card went in. That's the tell.

The biggest thing to watch in 2026: can this defense translate the size-and-edge mandate into a top-ten unit? Tampa spent four of seven picks on that side, paired them with veteran free agents, and the front office is openly saying the goal is to set up more third-and-longs so the pass rush eats. That's the stress test. If Bain and Trotter become the identity at twenty-one, this class ages into a foundation. If Capehart's testing never meets his tape and the boundary corner room stays thin, the bet looks shakier.