Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 7-Round mock draft following Tom Brady signing

After bolstering one side of the line of scrimmage, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers get to work on the other in the second round of this mock draft. Last season, they had hoped to feature a dominant front seven with nose tackle Vita Vea in the middle of their 3-4 defense and Ndamukong Suh lined up next to him. In addition to those two big men, the Bucs had Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaquil Barrett, who came out of nowhere to rack up 19.5 sacks.

This season, they could see some change with Suh entering free agency. And it wouldn’t be a shock to see him allowed to leave after he had one of his least effective seasons in his career. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Suh earned a grade of just 69.7 which made him the 41st ranked at his position.

That wasn’t what the team expected and because of that, they turn to the draft and end up with Justin Madubuike out of Texas A&M. Madubuike entered the Combine measuring in at 6-foot-3 and 293-pounds and showed off a great blend of strength and speed as he had 31 bench press reps and a 4.83 in the 40-yard dash.

He isn’t just someone who turned heads at his workouts though as he recorded 85 tackles, 22 for a loss, and 11 sacks in his final two seasons with the Aggies. With Tampa Bay, he can line up as an end in their 3-4 front and can also shift inside when they go to a four-man line in the nickel. In short, this is a player who can really help their defense take the next step, which will only help Tom Brady and the offense as they won’t have to win every game in a shootout fashion.