NOTE: This article was originally published in April of 2023 and has been updated to the results of subsequent drafts.

Tony Mayberry, Kwon Alexander and Dexter Jackson could soon have some company in Tampa Bay Buccaneers lore.

Mayberry and Alexander are the two players the team has acquired with fourth-round draft pick who went on to make at least one Pro Bowl (three for Mayberry). Jackson was the MVP of the Buccaneers' Super Bowl XXXVII win over the Oakland Raiders at the end of the 2002 season. Those represent some of the best values Tampa Bay has uncovered in the fourth round through 49 NFL drafts, but they are far from the only players with that specific background to leave a lasting mark on the franchise.

Ron Heller, Ron Hall and Bruce Hill were all fourth-round hits in the franchise's first decade-plus. Craig Erickson, Horace Copeland, Alshermond Singleton and Jason Odom came along as valuable fourth-rounders in the 90s. The Aughts and early 2010s gave us Tanard Jackson, Mike Williams and Will Gholston. Even since Jason Licht took over as general manager in 2014, the fourth-round hits have kept coming, with the likes of Alexander, Jordan Whitehead, Anthony Nelson and Cade Otton.

And that brings us to last year's fourth-rounder, Oregon running back Bucky Irving. Irving's 2024 campaign was pretty easily the best one ever by a Buccaneers' fourth-round pick. He led the team and all NFL rookie backs with 1,122 rushing yards and 1,514 yards from scrimmage while averaging a franchise record 5.4 yards per carry. He was one of the best in the entire NFL in gaining yards after contact, and even the Buccaneers were surprised by how well he fared running between the tackles. In fact, Licht made it clear at his annual pre-draft press conference that Irving wasn't your typical fourth-rounder.

"I'll say this, if I would've known what Bucky was capable of, I probably would've taken him in the second round or first round," said Licht. "We knew that we had a special group of guys – the individuals, but you still never know until you get out there and they start playing. To say that we knew that it was going to be what it was, no, but just like the last two drafts previous to that, we came out and were giving high fives saying, 'We've got great guys, if anything, that work hard, that are team guys, all those things.' So you knew you had a chance, and we thought at the time that they were good players, but you still never know until you actually get out there. You feel confident about it but you never know."

The Buccaneers would love to find another first or second-round value in the fourth round later this week, but even landing a player who makes a positive multi-season contribution – such as Nelson and Otton – would be a win at that part of the draft. It happens pretty frequently, as the list below of all the team's previous fourth-round picks are listed below, followed by a round of notes.

Here are the picks the Bucs currently own in the 2025 NFL Draft:

• Round One, 19th Overall
• Round Two, 53rd Overall
• Round Three, 84th Overall
• Round Four, 121st Overall
• Round Five, 157th Overall
• Round Seven, 235th Overall

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 fourth round in their drafts from 1976 through 2023, followed by some notes about that collection of players.

2024 | Pick No. 125 | Bucky Irving | RB | Oregon

2022 | Pick No. 133 | Jake Camarda | P | Georgia

2022 | Pick No. 106 | Cade Otton | TE | Washington

2021 | Pick No. 129 | Jaelon Darden | WR | North Texas

2019 | Pick No. 107 | Anthony Nelson | EDGE | Iowa

2018 | Pick No. 117 | Jordan Whitehead | S | Pittsburgh

2016 | Pick No. 108 | Ryan Smith | CB | North Carolina Central

2015 | Pick No. 124 | Kwon Alexander | LB | LSU

2013 | Pick No. 126 | Will Gholston | DE | Michigan State

2013 | Pick No. 100 | Akeem Spence | DT | Illinois

2011 | Pick No. 104 | Luke Stocker | TE | Tennessee

2010 | Pick No. 101 | Mike Williams | WR | Syracuse

2009 | Pick No. 117 | Kyle Moore | DE | USC

2008 | Pick No. 115 | Dre Moore | DT | Maryland

2007 | Pick No. 106 | Tanard Jackson | S | Syracuse

2006 | Pick No. 122 | Alan Zemaitis | CB | Penn State

2005 | Pick No. 107 | Dan Buenning | G | Wisconsin

2004 | Pick No. 111 | Will Allen | S | Ohio State

2003 | Pick No. 133 | Austin King | C | Northwestern

2003 | Pick No. 130 | Lance Nimmo | T | West Virginia

2002 | Pick No. 119 | Travis Stephens | RB | Tennessee

2001 | Pick No. 117 | John Howell | S | Colorado State

1999 | Pick No. 113 | Dexter Jackson | S | Florida State

1998 | Pick No. 104 | Todd Washington | C | Virginia Tech

1997 | Pick No. 128 | Alshermond Singleton | LB | Temple

1996 | Pick No. 104 | Eric Austin | S | Jackson State

1996 | Pick No. 96 | Jason Odom | T | Florida

1995 | Pick No. 105 | Jerry Wilson | CB | Southern

1993 | Pick No. 104 | Horace Copeland | WR | Miami (FL)

1993 | Pick No. 91 | Rudy Harris | FB | Clemson

1992 | Pick No. 86 | QB | Craig Erickson | Miami (FL)

1991 | Pick No. 93 | Tony Covington | S | Virginia

1990 | Pick No. 108 | Tony Mayberry | C | Wake Forest

1990 | Pick No. 87 | Jesse Anderson | TE | Mississippi State

1989 | Pick No. 90 | Anthony Florence | CB | Bethune-Cookman

1988 | Pick No. 107 | Monte Robbins | P | Michigan

1988 | Pick No. 86 | John Bruhin | G | Tennessee

1988 | Pick No. 83 | Robert Goff | DT | Auburn

1987 | Pick No. 106 | Bruce Hill | WR | Arizona State

1987 | Pick No. 87 | Ron Hall | TE | Hawaii

1987 | Pick No. 85 | Don Graham | LB | Penn State

1986 | Pick No. 83 | Craig Swoope | S | Illinois

1985 | Pick No. 92 | Mike Heaven | S | Illinois

1984 | Pick No. 112 | Ron Heller | T | Penn State

1984 | Pick No. 107 | Mishael Gunter | RB | Tulsa

1983 | Pick No. 99 | Kelly Thomas | T | USC

1982 | Pick No. 103 | Dave Barrett | RB | Houston

1981 | Pick No. 89 | John Holt | CB | West Texas State

1980 | Pick No. 102 | Larry Flowers | CB | Texas Tech

1976 | Pick No. 124 | Everett Little | G | Houston

1976 | Pick No. 121 | Richard Appleby | WR | Georgia

Notes:

- Of the Buccaneers' 51 previous fourth-round picks, 42 played in at least one game for the team. Of those 42, 34 made at least one start. Ten of those 34 started 50 or more games. Several of the nine players who never saw regular-season action for the Buccaneers were with the team for at least one season, either on the 53-man roster but inactive for every game or on injured reserve. The most recent examples of this were CB Alan Zemaitis in 2006 and C Austin King in 2003.

- Two players picked by the Buccaneers in the fourth round made the Pro Bowl while with the team. C Tony Mayberry (1990) earned three straight selections from 1997-99. That stands as the most Pro Bowl selections by a center in franchise history. LB Kwon Alexander, a fourth-round pick in 2015, made the Pro Bowl in 2017.

- Mayberry easily ranks as the most successful fourth-round selection in Buccaneers history so far. In addition to his Pro Bowl nods, he also ranks second in that group in games played (160) and first in games started (145). He played in every game during his 10-year NFL tenure, all with Tampa Bay, and started every game over the last nine seasons of that span. Mayberry ranks ninth in team annals among all players in games played and sixth in starts.

- The other two fourth-round picks to make it to 100 games played for Tampa Bay are DL Will Gholston (2013) and TE Ron Hall (1987). Over the past 12 seasons, Gholston has appeared in 186 games for the Bucs – ranking fifth in that category – and has made 91 starts. His career totals include 432 tackles, 20.5 sacks and 81 QB hits. He has played in more games for the Bucs than any other defensive lineman in team history. Hall saw action in 101 games for Tampa Bay, with 90 starts, recording 209 catches for 2,422 yards and 10 touchdowns. He ranks fourth on the team's all-time receptions list among tight ends.

- The Bucs have been on a bit of a roll in the fourth round since 2011. Of the 11 players they've selected in the fourth round in that span, seven have played at least four seasons for the team, finishing out their rookie contracts at a minimum. One of the other four – TE Cade Otton from the 2022 draft – looks likely to do the same in 2025. One exception is WR Jaelon Darden from the 2021 draft; Darden spent parts of two seasons as the team's primary return man but was eventually released in December of 2022.

- That run comes in stark contrast to the team's fourth-round efforts from 2002 through 2009. The Bucs made nine fourth-round picks in that span and only two of them lasted at least four years in Tampa. Three of those nine – T Lance Nimmo (2003), C Austin King (2003) and CB Alan Zemaitis (2006) – never played a game for the Buccaneers. Another, RB Travis Stephens (2002), saw action in just one contest. The two exceptions were both safeties – Will Allen in 2004 and Tanard Jackson in 2007. Allen played 84 games for the Bucs with 26 starts while Jackson got into 56 games, starting them all.

- When the Buccaneers selected Miami QB Craig Erickson in the fourth round in 1992 it was the second time he had heard his name called on draft weekend. The Philadelphia Eagles used a fifth-round selection on Erickson in the 1991 draft but the two sides failed to reach agreement on a contract while Erickson was recovering from a knee injury suffered in his last college game. The Eagles lost their rights to the Hurricane passer when the next year's draft arrived, and the Bucs eventually took him 45 spots higher than he had gone the year before. Erickson started 30 games for the Bucs over the 1993 and 1994 seasons but was eventually traded to the Indianapolis Colts for a first-round pick after Tampa Bay had transitioned to 1994 first-round pick Trent Dilfer. Erickson threw for over 6,000 yards during his Bucs tenure, tossing 34 touchdowns and 31 interceptions.

- The Bucs drafted safeties from the University of Illinois in consecutive fourth rounds in 1985 and 1986, though neither worked out particularly well. Mike Heaven (1985) never played a game in the NFL and Craig Swoope (1986) lasted just a little over one season in Tampa, though he did start 11 games.

- Three of the top 22 pass-catchers in franchise history were fourth-round picks by the team. In addition to Ron Hall, noted above, 2010 fourth-round WR Mike Williams ranks 18th with 215 receptions for 2,947 yards and 25 touchdowns. WR Bruce Hill, a 1987 fourth-round pick, is 22nd on the list with 190 grabs for 2,942 yards and 23 touchdowns.

- LB Alshermond Singleton is the most productive player the Bucs have ever landed with a compensatory draft pick. Taken with an extra selection awarded at the end of the fourth round in 1997, Singleton played in 87 games for the Bucs with 15 starts. He was the starting strongside linebacker on the legendary 2002 defense that led the franchise to its first Super Bowl championship.

- S Dexter Jackson, a fourth-rounder in 1999, earned NFL immortality when he was named the MVP of Super Bowl XXXVII. Jackson's two first-half interceptions helped start a run of 34 unanswered points for the Buccaneers, who would go on to beat the Oakland Raiders, 48-21.

- The most common position the Buccaneers have targeted in the fourth round is safety, with nine picks at that position. Cornerback is next with a total of six draftees.

- Three colleges have produced a trio of Buccaneer fourth-round draft picks: Illinois, Penn State and Tennessee. Five others have two players on the list: Georgia, Houston, Miami (FL), Syracuse and USC.