![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263350287_8f6179-e1776353452557.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 24: General manager Jason Licht of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers speaks to the media during the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 24, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> have some pretty clear needs ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft next week. Despite being heavy favorites in the NFC South division last year, the Bucs came up just short, losing a three-way tiebreaker with the Falcons<\/a> and Panthers that sent Carolina to the playoffs instead of Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n To get back on track and win their division for the fifth time in the last six years, the Buccaneers need to get better on the defensive side of the ball. Specifically, at linebacker and at edge rusher. Pass rush has been a consistent issue for Tampa Bay in recent years, despite multiple attempts to address the position with premium draft assets. And the Buccaneers\u2019 linebackers got torched in coverage last season.<\/p>\n Still, Buccaneers GM Jason Licht doesn\u2019t see himself as boxed in with his draft options.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Jason Licht on His Team\u2019s Draft Needs GettyINGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA \u2013 NOVEMBER 23: Emeka Egbuka #2 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers carries the ball against Darious Williams #31 of the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> during the fourth quarter in the game at SoFi Stadium on November 23, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cWe do see that there is a need for help there on the defensive side, for sure,\u201d Licht said<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve had conversations with [Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles] a lot about this over the years, the last couple of years. He hates the word \u2018defensive-minded\u2019 head coach. He proved to me last year where he wasn\u2019t upset with taking [WR Emeka Egbuka<\/a>] where he says you have to take the best player that helps you win games, period. So, I\u2019m very fortunate to have a head coach that feels that way when we work together to make these decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve said this every year, you can never go wrong with taking the best player. You\u2019re going to be happy at some point that you did instead of trying to force a pick.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, we can all say and write down and we have numbers that we look for the ideal [edge rusher], but those are also hard to [come by],\u201d Licht said when asked if there was a specific type of edge rusher ideal for Bowles\u2019 system. \u201cThe [Jason Pierre-Pauls], God only made a few of them. Yes, you would like to have big, long guys, but sometimes power comes in different packages. A guy can have great quickness and speed, but he\u2019s just going to get washed off of the corner because of his lack of base and lack of strength. At the end of the day, you\u2019re just looking for a very good football player that can do all of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n Buccaneers GM Jason Licht on Evaluating Draft Prospects<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s really changed that much in how we evaluate players,\u201d Licht continued. \u201cWe know that last year we wish we would have had more production from that aspect, from the edge. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s changed. You\u2019ve got to be careful not to just feel like it\u2019s a must and force yourself to like more players than you normally would and push players up the board just to take an edge rusher to get that short-term good feeling of we drafted him and later on, you feel like maybe we shouldn\u2019t have drafted him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know how much has changed. We\u2019ve put a lot of energy into it, though. I feel like we\u2019ve gone back and studied a lot of rushers that didn\u2019t make it or didn\u2019t work out to kind of see what we can do better, where we can focus our attention on a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEthan Woodie<\/a> is an accomplished sports writer specializing in the NFL and college football for Heavy.com. He’s written for Heavy since 2025 and has years of experience writing for NFL Trade Rumors and Pro Football Focus (PFF). Woodie is an expert in draft scouting and his Big Board was included in Arif Hasan’s media consensus board for Wide Left in both 2025 and 2026. More about Ethan Woodie<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Buccaneers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 24: General manager Jason Licht of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers speaks to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867779,"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-867778","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\/116415134179108133","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867778","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=867778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Emeka](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2248142645-e1776353364162.jpg\")
<\/p>\n