Welcome to Road to the Draft. Casey Phillips here was a a senior writer and editor Scott Smith, And as we do every week this time of year, we are telling you all the things the Bucks have done recently and how that might impact what they do or don't do in the draft. All of the news, all of the mocks. Everyone's favorite time of year for the prognosticating, and we know you guarantee to get it right. Isn't that right? Well, I highlight about eighteen different players. That's a good way
to do it. Well, get one of them. This is a good strategy you have here. So I know that this last week we got to see that the Bucks officially signed a new running back. So tell us what you think that could mean in terms of do they draft a running back? Still? Does that take care of that position? You know, the road to the draft is a long one and today we're going to take a
little bit of detour. If you've been following the mock drafts and there's endless number of them out there, for the first couple of months, you saw the Bucks paired with cornerbacks a lot, right, because people assume we were going to lose Jamaldine then we resigned jamaldin get him back, but crucially released i'mond Smith. So now you see a lot of the mock drafts pairing us what the tackle,
especially in less last week. The most prominent player you see is darniell Right of Tennessee, which we talked about last week. But the way mock drafts generally going, I've done them myself. As you look at a team, you see their perceived needs and you match it with the best prospect at that position. That's not really it doesn't really go as clean as that. In real life, you don't know exactly what the Buccaneers or any other team's
motivations are. So today let's talk about some guys that maybe are a little bit more of a long shot based on positional value or how deep deposition is in the draft. And I would start where you started at running back. I have seen some mock drafts that give the Bucks Bijon Robinson of Texas. I don't know if the Bucks are one of these teams that thinks, no way I'm ever spending another first round pick on a
running back or not. But we are talking about the second half of the first round, and say Quon Barkley. The Bija Robinson is considered the best running back prospects in Saquon Barkley, who went second overall in his draft. I think maybe not a greatest of an idea, but he's a great player. So if you could take a running back, have him, because you take him in the first round, you get that fifth year option, which is big, and you could even franchise them like the Giants did
with sa Quon. You could spend the first second half first round pick on a running back and lock in a really good player for six years. Now, that's not necessarily bad value, right, Yeah, I agree with that. And you brought up the idea of bringing back Jamaldine. I know that the team also is bringing back Cam Gill and Lavonte David. So those are two other positions that I think we would have said prior to that signing. In particular, Hey, the Bucks probably got a draft guys here,
how much does this change that game? What kind of a need do you think we still have. I'll start with Lavont his position an off ball linebacker. The Buccaneers have one of the best duos in the league for the last five years, and Devin White and Lavonte David However, crucially, neither of those guy who's assigned for twenty twenty four, it might be time to start looking for the transition. Is Lavonta gonna keep playing? Is Devin White and resign
here or go elsewhere? You don't really know, and it might be a long shot to get him both back, So it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to reload at that position. And a guy they could look at is Drew Sanders of Arkansas. Another guy that's kind of a sideline into silent range. Guy actually does give you a little bit of edge rush as you see right there. So I'm not saying he's Michael Parsons, but that sort of role where he's very good as off ball linebacker, but every now and then you can
rush him off the edge. Yeah, that's going to be interesting. And then how about the idea of the other position, Yeah, the outside linebacker spot. I don't think bringing Cam guildback changes how much you want at that position. And head coach Todd Bowles has said on two occasions since last season ended that the Buccaneers definitely need more production from
their edge rush. Good inside with Vida Veya, but you need that to be complimented by the edge rush guys, you know, so of course you're hoping more from Joe Try and Shanka and Anthony Nelson and so on who they also resigned. But it doesn't hurt, ever hurt to have more guys at that position. And one guy they could look at in the second half of the first round after most of the blue chip guys are gone
is Keyon White of Georgia Tech. He's kind of a tweener prospect that I've seen all over the board because he's really really talented, he measures really well, but he played a lot on the inside for Georgia Tech and really hasn't had a whole lot of experience rushing off the edge, so you're projecting a little bit there. So that's why I'm talking about these are maybe a little bit more of a long shot prospect, just because are you satisfied that you are you comfortable with that projection
that that can come true? All right? I like it? Well, that is going to do it for us on this edition of Road to the Draft again, We'll be back next week to talk about even more potential options in the draft. So we'll see then