![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774454237_95_Akheem-Mesidor.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMiami edge rusher Akheem Mesidor.<\/p>\n
So Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht traded down and made 23-year-old Vita Vea a first-round pick back in 2018, when it was still common for 21-year-olds to be in the draft pool.<\/p>\n
In 2023, Licht drafted edge rusher YaYa Diaby a few weeks shy of his 24th birthday and last year it was edge rusher David Walker, who was a few weeks shy of 25.<\/p>\n
NFL rookies are getting older, mostly because of COVID exemptions and players staying in college because they\u2019re getting paid.<\/p>\n
This was a subject during a Monday sitdown with Licht at the NFL owners meeting in the swanky lobby of the Arizona Biltmore resort.<\/p>\n
Licht acknowledged age isn\u2019t much of a factor in drafting a player but it can affect impact when a guy is taken entering what Licht called \u201cearly prime years.\u201d<\/p>\n
JoeBucsFan.com: Does that experience coming out of college, the 24- or 25-year-old, is that more valuable at certain positions on defense like an edge rusher? Is that more valuable to have an older guy, whereas as running back can come in at 21 and light it up?<\/p>\n
Jason Licht: Yeah. It kind of depends; it\u2019s a case-by-case basis. When we took Vita [Vea], he was a little bit older. Bottom line: we want good football players and it\u2019s hard to predict what\u2019s going to happen in three, four, five years. Everybody wants to win now. You have to ingest everything and take everything into account, and at the end of the day you want to take the best player.<\/p>\n
Lots of Bucs fans are paying close attention to University of Miami edge rusher Akheem Mesidor. He very likely will be there for Tampa Bay when their No. 15 overall pick rolls aroun.d The sixth-year senior was a beast for the Hurricanes and he turns 25 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Mesidor spent most of his youth in Canada and played high school ball in Clearwater in 2019.<\/p>\n
Licht didn\u2019t talk about Mesidor, but he did joke that older draft picks, guys that are more NFL-ready, won\u2019t scare him. \u201cIn the NFL, you\u2019re not necessarily on a 10-year plan,\u201d Licht said.<\/p>\n
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