NOTE: This article was originally published in April of 2023 and has been updated to include last year's draft results.
Fifty-eight games. Forty-one starts.
Based on the historical output of all the second-round picks in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history, at least in the simplest terms of being on the field, that's what the team should expect to get out of whatever player it nabs in Round Two of the 2024 draft.
The Buccaneers have previously made 56 second-round selections over the course of 48 college drafts. There is, of course, the usual mix of hits and misses in that group. Mike Alstott and Lavonte David are two of the greatest players in franchise history. Antoine Winfield Jr. just earned first-team Associated Press All-Pro honors and was given the Bucs' franchise tag. James Wilder is still the team's all-time leading rusher. Donovan Smith was an iron man at one of the game's most important positions for nearly a decade. Brian Kelly and Ricky Reynolds were very good cornerbacks for a very long time.
On the flip side, a second-round flyer on Appalachian State's Dexter Jackson (not to be confused with Super Bowl MVP Dexter Jackson) as a return man did not work out at all. Defensive end Booker Reese was the unfortunate outcome of a very bad draft process in 1982. Neither tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins (2014) nor kicker Roberto Aguayo (2016) stuck around long.
Still, the baseline for the average second round pick is that he's going to play at least four or five seasons for your team and he's probably going to be a starter for a good portion of that time. The Bucs' two second-rounders from the 2022 draft, defensive lineman Logan Hall and guard Luke Goedeke, both emergee as full-season starters in 2023, as did last year's second-rounder, guard Cody Mauch. Time will tell, but history suggests they will continue to be starters in the years ahead.
Here are the picks the Bucs currently own in the 2024 NFL Draft:
- Round One, 26th Overall
- Round Two, 57th Overall
- Round Three, 89th Overall
- Round Three, 92nd Overall
- Round Four, 125th Overall
- Round Six, 220th Overall
- Round Seven, 246th Overall
When the Buccaneers first joined the league, the draft was 17 rounds long, but it was cut to 12 the next When the Buccaneers first joined the league, the draft was 17 rounds long, but it was cut to 12 the next year. It was then shortened to eight rounds in 1993 and then to its current seven-round format in 1994. Below, you will find the full list of every player the Buccaneers have taken in the fifth round in their drafts from 1976 through 2023, followed by some notes about that collection of players.
2023 | Pick No. 48 | Cody Mauch | G | North Dakota State
2022 | Pick No. 57 | Luke Goedeke | G | Central Michigan
2022 | Pick No. 33 | Logan Hall | DL | Houston
2021 | Pick No. 64 | Kyle Trask | QB | Florida
2020 | Pick No. 45 | Antoine Winfield Jr. | S | Minnesota
2019 | Pick No. 39 | Sean Murphy-Bunting | CB | Central Michigan
2018 | Pick No. 63 | Carlton Davis | CB | Auburn
2018 | Pick No. 53 | M.J. Stewart | CB | North Carolina
2018 | Pick No. 38 | Ronald Jones | RB | USC
2017 | Pick No. 50 | Justin Evans | S | Texas A&M
2016 | Pick No. 59 | Roberto Aguayo | K | Florida State
2016 | Pick No. 39 | Noah Spence | DE | Eastern Kentucky
2015 | Pick No. 61 | Ali Marpet | G | Hobart
2015 | Pick No. 34 | Donovan Smith | T | Penn State
2014 | Pick No. 38 | Austin Seferian-Jenkins | TE | Washington
2013 | Pick No. 43 | Johnthan Banks | CB | Mississippi State
2012 | Pick No. 58 | Lavonte David | LB | Nebraska
2011 | Pick No. 51 | Da'Quan Bowers | DE | Clemson
2010 | Pick No. 39 | Arrelious Benn | WR | Illinois
2010 | Pick No. 35 | Brian Price | DT | UCLA
2008 | Pick No. 58 | Dexter Jackson | WR | Appalachian State
2007 | Pick No. 64 | Sabby Piscitelli | S | Oregon State
2007 | Pick No. 35 | Arron Sears | G | Tennessee
2006 | Pick No. 59 | Jeremy Trueblood | T | Boston College
2005 | Pick No. 36 | Barrett Ruud | LB | Nebraska
2003 | Pick No. 64 | Dewayne White | DE | Louisville
2000 | Pick No. 51 | Cosey Coleman | G | Tennessee
1999 | Pick No. 50 | Shaun King | QB | Tulane
1998 | Pick No. 45 | Brian Kelly | CB | USC
1998 | Pick No. 34 | Jacquez Green | WR | Florida
1997 | Pick No. 37 | Jerry Wunsch | T | Wisconsin
1996 | Pick No. 35 | Mike Alstott | FB | Purdue
1995 | Pick No. 43 | Melvin Johnson | S | Kentucky
1994 | Pick No. 34 | Errict Rhett | RB | Florida
1993 | Pick No. 34 | Demetrius DuBose | LB | Notre Dame
1992 | Pick No. 44 | Courtney Hawkins | WR | Michigan State
1990 | Pick No. 30 | Reggie Cobb | RB | Tennessee
1989 | Pick No. 33 | Danny Peebles | WR | North Carolina State
1988 | Pick No. 53 | Lars Tate | RB | Georgia
1987 | Pick No. 51 | Don Smith | RB | Mississippi State
1987 | Pick No. 50 | Winston Moss | LB | Miami (FL)
1987 | Pick No. 36 | Ricky Reynolds | CB | Washington State
1986 | Pick No. 40 | Kevin Murphy | LB | Oklahoma
1986 | Pick No. 28 | Jackie Walker | LB | Jackson State
1984 | Pick No. 30 | Keith Browner | LB | USC
1983 | Pick No. 45 | Randy Grimes | C | Baylor
1982 | Pick No. 32 | Booker Reese | DE | Bethune-Cookman
1981 | Pick No. 34 | James Wilder | RB | Missouri
1980 | Pick No. 49 | Kevin House | WR | Southern Illinois
1979 | Pick No. 34 | Gordon Jones | WR | Pittsburgh
1979 | Pick No. 33 | Greg Roberts | G | Oklahoma
1978 | Pick No. 44 | Brett Moritz | G | Nebraska
1978 | Pick No. 30 | Johnny Davis | RB | Alabama
1977 | Pick No. 29 | David Lewis | LB | USC
1976 | Pick No. 60 | Dewey Selmon | LB | Oklahoma
1976 | Pick No. 30 | Jimmy DuBose | RB | Florida
Notes:
- FB Mike Alstott, selected early in Round Two in 1996, is the only player on this list who is in the Buccaneers' Ring of Honor at Raymond James Stadium. He played in 158 games and made 137 starts, ranking ninth and seventh in those categories, respectively, in team history. Alstott is all over the Bucs' all-time charts, ranking second in touchdowns (71), fifth in points scored (432), second in rushing yards (5,088) and sixth in receptions (305).
- Alstott was named to six Pro Bowls during his career, the most by any offensive player in franchise history. The second round has produced a total of five Pro Bowlers for the Buccaneers. The first was RB James Wilder, who was drafted in 1981 and made the Pro Bowl in 1984. Alstott came next on a run from 1997-2002. LB Lavonte David, drafted in 2012, made the Pro Bowl in 2015. More recently, G Ali Marpet (a 2015 pick) and S Antoine Winfield Jr. (a 2020 selection) were named all-stars together in 2021.
- Alstott was an Associated Press All-Pro selection four times, three times on the first team. David landed first-team honors in 2013 and later added second-team selections in 2016 and 2020. Wilder was a second-team AP All-Pro in 1984. As noted above, Winfield joined the ranks of Buccaneer All-Pros last year, getting a first-team nod.
- As noted, Wilder is the franchise's all-time leader in rushing yards, with 5,957. He also ranks third in team history with 430 receptions and third in touchdowns with 46. Wilder's 1,544 rushing yards in 1984 remains the team's single-season record, as well, and his 1,300 yards in 1985 ranks fourth.
- Every single player the Bucs have drafted with a second-round pick went on to play at least one game for the team. At the moment, the player on the list with the fewest game regular-season appearances is 2021 selection QB Kyle Trask, with one. Of those who have completed their careers in Tampa, the second-round pick with the fewest games played is G Brett Moritz, a 1978 addition who only got into six games for the Bucs. Next is WR Dexter Jackson, a 2008 selection with a total of seven games played.
- Fifty-two of the 56 players above started at least one game for Tampa Bay. One of the four who did not was a kicker, Roberto Aguayo, so he's on the list as a technicality. The other four are Moritz, Jackson and Trask. Trask, who is heading into his fourth season with the Bucs, still has a chance to get off that list.
- Of the 56 players on the second-round list, 30 of them appeared in 50 or more games for the Buccaneers. David has the most games played with 181, which already ranks fifth in team history and his career in Tampa is not over. Alstott is next at 158, followed by CB Brian Kelly (1998 draft) at 130 and T Donovan Smith (2015) at 124. Five other players also topped 100 games played for Tampa Bay: C Randy Grimes (1983 draft, 118 games), Wilder (1981, 113), CB Ricky Reynolds (1987, 105), LB Barrett Ruud (2005, 101) and Marpet (2015, 101).
- David also has the most starts in the group, with 181, ranking fourth in team history, and Alstott is once again second at 137. The other five to top 100 starts in a Bucs uniform were Smith (124), Grimes (104), Reynolds (103), Wilder (102) and Marpet (101).
- The Bucs have drafted a linebacker in the second round eight different times, though none since David in 2012. Of those eight, six went on to become multi-season starters, with David joined by Ruud, Winston Moss (1987), Kevin Murphy (1986), Keith Browner (1984) and David Lewis (1977). The two exceptions were Demetrius DuBose (1993), who made only five starts, and Jackie Walker (1986), who made only nine starts. Walker did log 57 games played and saw some action on offense as a tight end.
- Until the defending champions took Trask with the last pick of the second round in 2021, the only quarterback the Buccaneers had ever selected in that stanza was Tulane's Shaun King in 1999. King was thrust into the starting lineup late in his rookie season due to injuries to Trent Dilfer and Eric Zeier and he helped the Bucs win four of their last five regular season games plus a Divisional Round playoff game to advance to the NFC Championship Game in St. Louis. King then started every game in the 2000 season before the Buccaneers signed Brad Johnson to take over the offense the following year. King's career winning percentage as a starter of .636 is second among all quarterbacks in team history, behind only Tom Brady.
- The Buccaneers took receivers in the second round in back-to-back drafts in 1979 and 1980, first landing Pittsburgh's Gordon Jones and then adding Southern Illinois' Kevin House. Both picks worked out, to varying degrees. Jones started 26 of the 49 games in which he played and accumulated 86 catches for 1,230 yards and eight touchdowns. House was a much bigger hit, as he played in 94 games with 81 starts and finished with 286 receptions for 4,928 yards and 31 touchdowns while averaging 17.2 yards per catch. On the Bucs' career lists, House ranks eighth in receptions, fourth in receiving yards and seventh in total touchdowns. However, the Bucs have not drafted a receiver in the second round since 2010 and haven't landed one in that frame who recorded a single 50-catch season since Jacquez Green in 1998.
