The Tampa Bay Buccaneers currently own the 19th pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, just as they did two years ago. In the 2023 draft, the Buccaneers stayed put in that spot and selected Pitt defensive lineman Calijah Kancey, an explosive pass rusher who has since established himself as a budding star at his position.
The Buccaneers could do the same thing in this year's draft if one or more of the prospects they have targeted make it to the 19th pick. If now, however, General Manager Jason Licht is more than comfortable trading backwards in the first round to pick up a little extra capital in the middle rounds. In fact, Licht sounds like he'd be quite happy with that potential outcome.
"It depends who's there and how many players we still like in that next tier," said Licht. "But, no, I've done it before. I always enjoy doing that because I like the picks. But recently it just has worked out that there's just been a player that we really liked, like Graham [Barton] last year. But no, it's always going to be an opportunity and something that we think about, to do that."
Indeed, the Buccaneers also stood pat at pick number 26 a year ago to select Barton, the highly-regarded center prospect out of Duke. Barton won the Bucs' center job as a rookie and started 16 games on a line that was one of the best in the league by many measures. However, Licht does have a history of trading back from the Bucs' original first-round spot, something he did as recently as 2022.
In that draft, the Bucs originally owned the 27th-overall pick before Licht traded out of the first round entirely, picking up extra fourth and sixth-round picks from the Jacksonville Jaguars to move to the 33rd spot, which was the first pick of the second round. The Buccaneers eventually selected Houston defensive lineman Logan Hall while the Jaguars used the 27th pick to nab linebacker Devin Lloyd. The Bucs used the extra fourth-round pick to snag Washington tight end Cade Otton, who quickly developed into a very useful every-down starter. The extra sixth-rounder was later used in a deal to trade up to grab offensive lineman Luke Goedeke, now the team's entrenched starter at right tackle.
Licht also made small trades backward in 2018 and 2016 before drafting defensive lineman Vita Vea and cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, respectively. In contrast, Licht has only traded up in the first round once in his first 11 drafts as the Bucs' general manager, and that was just one spot from 14th to 13th in 2020 to make sure nobody beat his team to tackle Tristan Wirfs.
Licht said he believed the Buccaneers made the right moves in free agency to allow them to head into the draft with their eyes on the proverbial "best player available." If the Buccaneers' most coveted BPAs come off the board before pick 19, Licht will have no problem trading back to increase his arsenal of draft picks
