{"id":865247,"date":"2026-04-13T04:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865247\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T04:00:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:00:28","slug":"a-trade-back-lands-an-nfl-ready-impact-candidate-along-with-a-pair-of-texas-longhorns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865247\/","title":{"rendered":"A trade back lands an NFL-ready impact candidate along with a pair of Texas Longhorns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in a spot to land a difference maker in the first round, but they could still potentially find a way to move down and land him. In this three-round draft, I landed an NFL-ready player at a dire position of need. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJan 19, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor (3) celebrates after a sack against the Indiana Hoosiers in the third quarter during the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The 2026 NFL Draft is just a week and a half away now, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the final stages of getting their draft board ready. <\/p>\n

At pick No. 15 in the first round, the Bucs won\u2019t have a shot to land one of the draft\u2019s premier defenders at a crucial position of need, such as LB Sonny Styles or EDGE David Bailey. <\/p>\n

However, there are potential answers for the Bucs\u2019 roster questions throughout at least the draft\u2019s first two days. I took a swing at the first three rounds for Tampa Bay using A to Z Sports\u2019 mock draft simulator<\/a>, and the results landed Tampa Bay one of the most dominant defenders from the 2025 college football season. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Round 1, pick No. 25: Miami EDGE Akheem Mesidor (TRADE with Chicago for pick No. 15; Tampa Bay adds pick No. 89)<\/p>\n

Mesidor might not have gotten the love that teammate Rueben Bain, Jr. has gotten since the start of 2025, but his season was still an elite one. He led the team with 12.5 sacks on the season and posted 17.5 tackles for loss. <\/p>\n

While Bain has the edge in physicality and power, Mesidor has the greater pass rushing tool kit right now. Although he\u2019s 25, he\u2019s one of the most NFL-ready defenders in the draft. A readymade contributor is something that Todd Bowles, who\u2019s under fire after a dreadful finish to 2025, desperately needs. <\/p>\n

Round 2, pick No. 46 \u2014 Texas LB Anthony Hill, Jr.<\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s athleticism was too much to pass up here. The Texas linebacker is a sideline-to-sideline terror in run support and he has the coverage skills to be a difference maker on passing downs. He also can get after the quarterback with 17 career sacks over three years, something that Bowles certainly values significantly in his defense. <\/p>\n

The Bucs secure their linebacker of the future with Lavonte David having hung up his cleats. <\/p>\n

Round 3, pick No. 77 \u2014 Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers<\/p>\n

Quite the find here still in the third round. A bit of a tweener, Stowers is going to be a problem for defenses in the years to come \u2014 in the right situation and system. Bucs OC Zac Robinson greatly increased his 12 personnel usage from 2024 to 2025 and got a lot out of Kyle Pitts last year (88 catches, 928 yards, 5 touchdowns). <\/p>\n

The Bucs extended Cade Otton<\/a> and brought back Ko Kieft, but Stowers could be a mismatch nightmare and a big weapon in the middle of the field and in the red zone for Baker Mayfield. With Mike Evans in San Francisco, Mayfield needs all the help he can get right now. Finding a playmaker in the tight end room would be just that. <\/p>\n

Round 3, pick No. 89 \u2014 Texas CB Malik Muhammad<\/p>\n

I turned the pick I got from the Bears into another Texas Longhorn, and it was a chance to give the Bucs some starting-level competition in their secondary. <\/p>\n

Muhammad checked the boxes athletically at the combine with a 4.42 40, 39-inch vertical jump, and 10 foot, 10 inch broad jump. He\u2019s particularly adept in zone coverage, with impressive instincts. Last year at Texas, he allowed a completion percentage of 60% and an opposing passer rating of 57.8. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Buccaneers\t\t<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Buccaneers News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tESPN adds gas to the fire when it comes to the Buccaneers shaking up first round of the NFL Draft\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Trading back in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft is the best-case scenario for the Buccaneers and there\u2019s one team that\u2019s making more and more sense as we approach April 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in a spot to land a difference maker in the first round, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[4955,211,7,6,15,30,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-865247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-buccaneers","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-draft","13":"tag-nfl-mock-draft","14":"tag-tampa-bay","15":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","16":"tag-tampabay","17":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116395406335571642","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865247","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=865247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}