15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - James Pearce Jr, EDGE, Tennessee
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may truly be a couple of defensive starters away from being a contending team. The Bucs are 4-4 on the season, but their QB, Baker Mayfield, leads the NFL with 21 touchdown passes, which would put him on pace for over 40 in the 2024 NFL Season.
The Bucs defense can’t stop a nosebleed, and they have needs all across the unit. This team is obviously capable of winning the NFC South, as they did it last year, but with the Atlanta Falcons now being a legitimate team with Kirk Cousins under center, Tampa is going to have to take more step to get on the Falcons level.
So at pick 15 in this NFL mock draft, I went with one of the best pass rushers in the country, James Pearce Jr from Tennessee. This could be what the Buccaneers are missing on defense.
One huge thing to note though is that Chris Godwin is out for the rest of the season and is a free agent in 2025. Mike Evans is also out for a couple more weeks and is starting to get up there in age. The Buccaneers do have needs on offense as well, but defense is a more urgent area of need.
16. Seattle Seahawks - Mykel Williams, EDGE, Georgia
I would not be shocked to see the Seattle Seahawks beef up their defense yet again in the 2025 NFL Draft. They took defensive tackle Byron Murphy in the 2024 NFL Draft. Their head coach is Mike Macdonald, one of the top defensive minds in football. The main issue for Seattle, though, is their QB situation, as Geno Smith isn’t going to lead them to much of anything.
Seattle does need to do a tone of homework on the QB spot this coming offseason, but if they end up winning eight or nine games, they may not be in range to take a QB they have their eyes on. And with this QB class not projected to be all that good, Seattle could again punt on the QB spot and continue bolstering their defense. Having a stout defense is still a huge part of developing a QB in the NFL.
I went with Mykel Williams from Georgia in this NFL mock draft.