adding edgy dudes in free agency<\/a>. <\/p>\nLicht wasn\u2019t singing the ancient rock song, No More Mr. Nice Guy, but he did want to upgrade the team\u2019s nasty meter.<\/p>\n
So Joe assumes Licht will have the same mindset preparing for the draft.<\/p>\n
The Bucs still have their \u201cI Am That Man\u201d philosophy of drafting team-first, football-loving dudes, but they want to be mindful of making sure that\u2019s inclusive of players who might not win sweetheart awards.<\/p>\n
That brings Joe to inside linebacker Bryce Boettcher, a prospect out of Oregon.<\/p>\n
Former Eagles, Ravens and Browns scout Daniel Jeremiah is arguably the top year-round draft guru at NFL Network. Jeremiah pores over film and has the respect of executives around the league. So it intrigued Joe to hear Boettcher make Jeremiah\u2019s list of top-10 \u201cdawgs\u201d in the draft, as he explained on The Rich Eisen Show.<\/p>\n
Boettcher will be a mid-round draft pick, but he sounds and plays like a Baker Mayfield type in how he approaches the game: relentless, aggressive and with a huge chip on his shoulder.<\/p>\n
Boetcher is a two-sport college star who was drafted in 2024 by the Houston Astros.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe plays just with such an energy and physicality,\u201d Jeremiah said. \u201cHe\u2019s got the baseball background, but I\u2019ve never seen anybody decleat his teammate in warmup for a Senior Bowl game. But that\u2019s how juiced up he was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are some things film guru Lance Zierlein of NFL.com had to say about Boettcher.<\/p>\n
Strengths<\/p>\n
Fearless mindset to race downhill and attack blockers.
\nStrikes and separates from climbing blocks to stay play-ready.
\nHad a solid week of practice at the Senior Bowl.
\nUses slow-and-go speed alterations to mirror runner\u2019s movements.
\nPresses deep before hitting blocker with side-step on blitzes.
\nWill be an instant five-phase special teams option.<\/p>\n
Weaknesses<\/p>\n
Average size with below-average reactive athleticism.
\nMore \u201csee it\u201d than \u201canticipate it\u201d in responding to the run.
\nSteep downhill flow causes him to lose ability to contain.
\nLacks pursuit burst to keep runners from turning the corner.
\nTakes big, hard bites on play-action and loses positioning.
\nSlow to recognize receivers in his vicinity from zone.<\/p>\n
Joe loves the idea of a guy like Boettcher on Day 3 of the draft. Round 5? Round 4?<\/p>\n
Obviously, the Bucs need inside linebacker and special teams help. And it appears Boettcher can tackle (136 combined tackles last year).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bryce Boettcher & The Bucs March 22nd, 2026 So Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht acknowledged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,2599,2598,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-827468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-buccaneers","9":"tag-bucs-message-boards","10":"tag-bucs-news","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-tampa-bay","14":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","15":"tag-tampabay","16":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116273969229665976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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