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Jenna LaineApr 13, 2026, 08:00 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Jenna Laine covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for ESPN. She started covering the Bucs for ESPN in 2016, but she has covered the team since 2009. Jenna is a former cheerleader at the University of South Florida and speaks to the consistency of the program as being one of the top best in the nation.<\/p>\n Multiple Authors<\/p>\n TAMPA BAY, Fla. — The 2026 NFL draft<\/a> (8 p.m. ET on ESPN, ABC, ESPN App) will start on April 23 in Pittsburgh. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> are scheduled to make seven of the draft’s 257 picks<\/a> starting with the No. 15 overall pick in the first round on Thursday.<\/p>\n During the three-day event (Rounds 2-3 on April 24 and Rounds 4-7 on April 25), we will update this page with analysis on every pick.<\/p>\n A full list of Buccaneers’ selections are below, in addition to positional needs.<\/p>\n NFL draft coverage: Round 1: No. 15 overall<\/p>\n Round 2: No. 46<\/p>\n Round 3: No. 77<\/p>\n Round 4: No. 116<\/p>\n Round 5: No. 155<\/p>\n Round 6: No. 195<\/p>\n Round 7: No. 229<\/p>\n Top three needs<\/a>: edge, LB, TE<\/p>\n Signing Al-Quadin Muhammad<\/a> to a one-year, $4 million deal doesn’t preclude the Bucs from drafting an edge rusher, even with his production (11 sacks) last season. The Bucs did sign both Alex Anzalone<\/a> and Christian Rozeboom<\/a> at inside linebacker ahead of Lavonte David<\/a>‘s retirement, so there’s some wiggle room there. And with coordinator Zac Robinson’s frequent use of 12 personnel, they need to add another tight end who can serve as a big-play threat.<\/p>\n Call your shot: How many defensive players will the Buccaneers draft in April?<\/p>\n Edge rusher, inside linebacker and cornerback are needed, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them doubling up at corner again. But the Buccaneers are also doing a lot of work on this year’s tight end class, have looked at a lot of interior offensive linemen for depth and would not pass up a best-player-available situation at a non-need position. So, I’d say as many as five defensive players will be selected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jenna LaineApr 13, 2026, 08:00 PM CloseJenna Laine covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for ESPN. She started covering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-865475","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-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","13":"tag-tampabay","14":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116396927691029215","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865475","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=865475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Latest expert mock drafts<\/a>
Kiper’s Big Board<\/a> | Team needs<\/a>
Consensus rankings<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/_end_rule.png\")
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