April 28, 2025 • 16 mins
Team Reporter Casey Phillips & Senior Writer & Editor Scott Smith discuss the Buccaneers’ official 2025 NFL Draft class. They dive into each pick, sharing what makes these six rookies exciting additions to the Krewe.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into our final road to the Draft company from
Bucks Studio, presented by ticket master Casey Phillips here with
senior writer and editor Scott Smith.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I don't know, maybe we.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Should call this the road back from the drafts the
road passed it. We're just continuing on here that we did.
You know, every week leading up to the draft, we
talked about what we thought was going to happen, and
now we finally know we have the newest additions to
the crew to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
So today we thought we'd just go through the different.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Draft picks, look at kind of big picture what the
Bucks did, look at each of them individually where we
feel like they could contribute now that we know who
these guys are. So let's start with the big picture side.
As you just look at what the Bucks accomplished, what
they did, and especially maybe compared to what we thought
they were going to do, what stands out?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I guess I'll ask you, how do you feel about
reading like draft grades right after a draft? Is it
kind of similar to how you feel about draft mock
drafts before the Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I mean it's yeah, it's pretty much as useless, isn't
what the same year rule isn't that.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Typically I still do it, of course, and so what
I immediately noticed this year is that the draft grades
for the Buccaneers tend to vary between like a B
and an A plus or remember Pete Prisco's Gonna be
a Sports Game of an A plus and really gave
Jason light his flowers for once again drafting a lot
of good players. And you're seeing a lot of that
now that people are starting to realize what a great
job Jason's been doing for year of the year now,
(01:10):
and it all comes down to the variance there between
the B and the A plus. Every single time comes
down to how do you feel about the Buccaneers using
their first round pick on wide receiver?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, on a non defensive guy. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
And I'm not gonna I'm not gonna be a revisionist
historian here. I was one of those people that have
skeptical right up to the end, even though Todd Bowles
and Jason Lytt were dropping all these breadcrumbs about, hey,
we might actually do this, and then afterwards you see
the wisdom of it, and a lot of it just
has to do with value, The value of getting a
player like that in a past driven league, even if
you already have a good passing offense. That value was
(01:43):
there in the first round. And yes, the Buccaneers needed
to hit defense. And who am I, I'm the cornerback guy, right.
You tell me at the end of this draft that
we got Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish in the second
round the corner I'm ecstatic. Yep, So there was to me,
there's no flaw in this plan of using the first
pick on a player that they absolutely love and love it.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, and we hear this all time, right, the I
am that Man's strategy exactly. And we have seen in
recent years how well this has worked out when you
look at the fact of what a huge percentage of
our starters, of our stars are homegrown talent, and it
is because they have stuck to this idea. And I
think after just spending one day with a Mecca, every
single person here is like he is that man.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
You can see why he plays like a Chris Godwin,
carries himself like a Chris Godwin. We have seen that
if anyone tells a Bucks fan, hey, there's a chance
you could get another Chris Godwin.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I mean, how how would you not be excited about that.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
And the Bucks got Chris Godwin the third round, but
if they did that draft over again, he would be
a first.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
You would one hundred percent thrilled.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, if you can get another guy like that, And
you know, they you talk about things like maybe the
forty yard dash, and you can see incrementally, Okay, that
four point four is better than that four point five,
which is in four point three is better when they
talk about judging these guys character and that whole I
am that man thing. There's not really a number you
can put to that. Yet there's still say and Meca
Book is off the charts when it comes to how
(03:04):
they value him in that regard. And as you said,
I think that's the reason why so many of these
draft classes are working out over and over again, and
why this team is so incredibly home grown, particularly on offense.
So you know, after it's all said and done, I
think we love the fact that we have a Mecca
Book here. And you know, two months ago, would we
have expected a first round wide receiver. No, But I
(03:26):
when you put it all together and what the Buccaneers
were able to do on defense after that, and we'll
get to each guy. But not only did they hit
cornerback position in a way that I love, But at
the end of that night, you had Mike Beale, director
of a Vice President Player Personnel Stanther saying, yeah, I
think we can still address the pass rush, and then
to do what they did with David Walker and Elijah
Roberts on Day three, I think they did hit that.
(03:48):
And I didn't know. I don't know if I would
have thought it was possible going into the draft to
take a receiver in the first round satisfy what I
was hoping we get in cornerback and help the front rotation. Yeah,
it looks like they I agree.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I think that would have been the concern people had
was if you take a non defensive guy in the
first round, how well can you address Yes, And now
I think, getting now the hindsight of seeing what they
did the rest of the days, I don't think you
feel that way at all, which is great. And of course,
as much as we talk about Amcca for his character,
which is phenomenal, it's not like he's a shalob on
the field like this guy.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I mean, for an Ohio state wide.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Receiver room that is consistently stacked, this is the guy
who's the all time leader in receptions for that school.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
That is wild to me.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
And it's not because he stayed around like four years
or something.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yes, yeah, it's incredible, and yeah I love he could
have come out last year even and just decided to stay.
So I am incredibly excited about him. So let's get
to the round two and three, which I imagine they
put you in charge of. That's how I felt when
we took two cornerbacks in a row. I was like,
did they just let Scott make the phone calls up there?
And that's what happened. So uh, Rich, Yeah, let's start
round two. Benjamin Morrison, Notre Dame. Tell me a little
(04:57):
bit about what stands out to you.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
About this guy.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
One thing I like about if you look back on
a Road to Draft, we are Road to the Draft series.
We did cover a lot of these guys. I mean,
we did talk about a mecha Buka and like I
think our second episode showed some nice highlights of him
catching the ball down the middle. The very first guy
that I gave the Buccaneers of my first mock draft
was Benjamin Morris. And now, as it turns out, because
of concerns about the fact that he missed all but
(05:19):
six games last year with the hip injury, although he
really didn't have a history of injuries before that. That
probably meant he didn't get taken in the first round,
But the Buccaneers felt like they got a first round
talent in Benjamin Morris, and so that worked out very
well for the Buccaneers day. I think he probably was
maybe one of the last guys in the in the
(05:39):
top tier of corners that they wanted to get. And
so this is a guy who just before he got
hurt was playing as well as any cornerback in the nation.
And he you know, I think he had what he
of nine interceptions from twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three.
The you know, Todd Bowles once more, ballhawks, ballhawks and
his secondary and then that's what this guy is. And
he can play, he can make interceptions. And Mike Bialde
(06:03):
told me, he's like, it's not just playing zone and
having your eyes on the quarterback. That the whole guy
he covers so well that he makes interceptions and passes
defense while in man demand coverage where his back is
to the ball most of the time. So the guy
has a feel for the football, and that's, you know,
obviously something we want.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, and I think we've seen that.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I mean, we always talk about the fact that Todd
Bowles values versatility, especially because when we've looked at the
ways that we've been able to deal with some injuries,
especially in the secondary, is by having these Swiss army knives,
like a Christianisy and like a Tyke Smith. So you
want guys in your secondary in particular to be able
to do multiple things, whether it's man in zone or
it's even kind of playing multiple positions. And I know
(06:41):
they feel like a guy like Benjamin Morrison can do that.
And you know a lot of people think, yeah, the
only reason he was even here is because of the
medical stuff that he had go on with his hip.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And I think it's interesting to look at the draft.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It's always sort of a gamble and a trying to
predict the future of what people are going to be
and there is no sure thing.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
But if you feel like there is.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Someone you feel good about where they're progressing health wise,
and you know that if not for that injury, they
might have been a first round pick, that's that is
the way you get a steal. That's how you take
those risks in a draft of saying we think we
can try to predict that this guy is going to
be healthy at a certain point and can then really
contribute in a way that we get a steal at
that pick.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And what else does Todd Boles love in his cornerbacks?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Speed?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Speed?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, he was asked about how important speed testing is,
like at the combine and so when you're evaluating those prospects,
and Todd Boles specifically said, well, it's important in some
positions like cornerback. You need speed at cornerback. And so
look at Jacob Parrish. You know, I think Maxwell Harrison
of Kentucky is a guy that Bucks might have been
interested in if they didn't get Abuka, And he was
the fastest guy at any position at the combine. But
(07:45):
Jacob Parrish wasn't far off. Yeah, four point three five
forty yard dash. Very feisty player they call him because
I guess he's about five to ten. So he's not
the biggest, longest cornerback in the world. As you can
see there, he's matching up against a bigger guy and
doing a good job physically there. He has a ton
of pass breakups the last couple of years. So he's productive,
he's fast, and he probably again would have gone a
(08:07):
little bit higher if he was six foot tall.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, he was a one and two hundred meter state
champ in Kansas. Not so shabby.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And and I also like, yeah, I also played basketball,
and I think Mike bial City also wrestled.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Like love this his brother did too. See you can
picture the two brothers. Yeah, absolutely was a wrestler.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, five interceptions, ninety four tackles, and twenty three passes
defensed in his last two seasons.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
And so again, yeah, both corners seem to have that versatility.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Which now you take a position that you were a
little unsure of just because of the idea of depth,
and you know what if there are injuries and now
you shored up with two guys who both bring versatility,
and now suddenly you feel so much better about where
you could move everybody in the.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Depth and what that could look like.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
All right, So now let's move to our fourth round pick,
outside linebacker David Walker out of Central Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
What did you like about this guy?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Well, so, first of all, David Walker was just productive.
And if you're going to play at a level like
Central Arkansas, that level you really have to dominate consistently
to be on teams radars for the draft, because you
can't just you can't play at that level and just
sometimes be dominant. You have to dominate consistently and then
still teams are gonna worry. Can they do that at
(09:14):
a higher level? Will translate And that's why it's important
that David Walker went to the Senior Bowl and just
absolutely dominated there as well. And so that answered a
lot of questions for obviously Buck Scouts and some others
around the league that this is a guy who can
produce like he did at Central Arkansas at this level
and to get that guy in the fourth round if
he can produce anywhere near that level.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Thirty nine sacks, that's an insane number.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeat.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
His stat line blew my mind off.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
The thirty nine sacks, eighty two and a half tackles
for loss, Yeah, two hundred and forty four tackles, six
force fumbles, eight passes defense.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
That is a stat line.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And so you're right, like, if you're going to be
playing at that level, that's the stat line you want
to see. But I did love that sack number because
of the finishing clearly that he has of where I mean, yeah,
there's he's clearly not only getting to the quarter of
but getting them down.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And that's what we want to see.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Is those finishes, especially off the edge, especially off the
edge like that, and Bowles has really emphasized, like, man,
we've got to be able to get that rush before
and to see a guy like this who clearly knows
how to get there and finish a play, I think
that's really exciting.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, and I don't think the Buccaneers have to rely
on hitting an absolute grand slam right off the bat
with David Walker because they are comfortable with their depth
there before and after drafting David Walker. Hassan Reddick, I
think really makes them feel a lot more comfortable. Yeah.
Yeah's going into his third year and is progressing upwards.
They think Chris Braswell can take a step forward. This time,
(10:37):
you still got Anthony Nelson. They feel like the pieces
are there to have a decent but it passed rush
edge rush, but it's always good to get more.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I wouldn't be surprised if the Hassan Reddick signing is
what allowed them to draft a mecha Abuka that like, Yeah,
I think that I can see that that would have
been the thing that makes them go, Okay, we now
don't have to do this out of a true like
kind of desperation need situation that as much as there
were things on defense we knew that they wanted to address.
I almost feel like that could have directly correlated to
(11:06):
getting to just and then you still get to address
edge later, but maybe you didn't feel that first or
second round pressure.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
It's the same thing with linebacker, with signing Anthony Walker
and getting Servasi, a dentist back from injury.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, So David Walker, I think is an exciting one.
Next up, fifth round, Elijah Roberts, defensive line out of SMU,
my dad's.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Alma mater, T guy.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
I think this was an indication of really the depth
of defensive interior defensive lineman in this draft. It may
have been the deepest position overall. You saw those guys
going in every round right off right from Kenneth Grant
and Mason Graham at the top of the draft, and
on and on. Round after round, teams getting interior defensive
linement they like, and so there was still one that
the Buccaneers liked very much. In the fifth round in
(11:49):
Elijah Roberts from SMU. And it was funny because I
talked to Mike Beial right after the pick and he
was giving me some insight on what type of player
he was, and he had just seen a tweet from
Pro Football Focus about him. And it was funny for
me the rest of that afternoon evening to see various
people in the organization here come across that tweet because
they're looking for information on this newest player, and everybody's like, wait,
(12:11):
is this true? And I kept seeing that in different
forms because it PFF said he led the entire FBS
over the last two years, combining with one hundred and
thirty one quarterback pressures. That's incredible at every position.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
One thirty college football like wild.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It's a wild stat. It's a crazy stat. And it
was just so fun seeing people come across. They wanted
for the other and you know, you're talking about a
guy that's probably gonna play, he's probably going to be
in your rotation, and get that in the fifth round.
I think, again, this is just showing how this you know,
you take the receiver at you take that premium position
and player you love in the first round and you
still hit the needs you wanted.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
It's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And still I mean seventeen and a half sacks over
the last two seasons too, so it's not like he's
only pressure and like he was, he was getting there
and finishing that as well.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And I thought it was interesting that might be also.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Said that he played a little bit on the edge
he did in college, and he was like, you know,
maybe there's a chance he can play out there a
little bit too. But again going back to how much
Bulls loves that versatility. If you're seeing b to a
occasionally drop like you know, I just know that no
matter where on that defense, he loves guys that he
can figure out ways to surprise the offense with stuff.
So a guy like this where yeah, like Beale said, like, yeah,
(13:22):
he's gonna be in the defensive line room, he's not
an edge, But how cool that he has done a
little bit of both.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
When they talk about doing that, I think they mostly
talked about third downs. So you still you probably want
as much as possible at Vdavey and college CANCI in
there when your even fronts, when you have just four
guys rushing the passer, and again you have your edge
rush rotation, but you could always use more. And if
some of those stats are snaps are occasionally taken up
by a guy like Elijah Roberts maybe playing a little
(13:47):
bit on the edge in those obvious passing situations, you
know you can get more pass rushers on the field.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And then finally, seventh round, we did not have a
sixth rounder because that was part of the trade with
Carlton Davis with the Lions. So seventh rounder tes Johnson
Tesmanian devil, which I love. Course he talked about that
of that that's why he's got that thing that says
to the Tasmanian Devil around his neck. And he's wide
receiver slash punt returner out of.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Oregon, slash Bucky.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Slash Bucky Irving's best round. I'm like, that's reason alone
to draft him. You know, give give Bucky his best
round up here. So yeah, I mean, one hundred and
sixty nine catches twenty touchdowns in this Oregon offense these
last two seasons. This is another guy that we think
is available maybe later than you would have thought because
of just his size, and man, I will take a
guy that is smaller with that chip on his shoulder
(14:36):
any day. I mean, I feel like I've heard so
many guys on our team, if they.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Are undersized, talk about what a motivating factor that is.
But yeah, I mean this, this guy.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Seems like a playmaker that We've got to set of
reactions in the media afterwards, and they did feel like
it was a steal, and you know, some of them
were as high as I would have taken this guy
in the third round because of production. Now, obviously you
said it. The reason is he's five to four. I mean, sorry,
he's not. I was like, whoa, and fifty f four
pounds is what I meant to say.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
He's like, okay, now I might understand.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah, fifty four pounds and his forty His official forty
yard tash time was four point five one, which is,
you know, pretty good. I wish I could run a
four or five one, but it's not that absolute off
the chart speed that would go. Okay, he's maybe only
on fifty four pounds, but he runs a four point
two eight. No, he runs a nice four point five one.
But everybody says he plays a lot faster than that
(15:24):
forty time, and you see it. I think the tape
is the best thing to go to with him because there's.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Always what matters more.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
There's tons of people who can run fast, but it
doesn't show up in the game, and the game is.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Where it matters.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Is you see him turning cornerbacks.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Forty yard dashes are not deciding an overtime game for us.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
You see him getting separation really quickly. You see him
turning cornerbacks around. So he's a really good route runner.
He's a very sudden player. He might help in the
in the punt return. He said that punk return game
is mine.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Oh, I love it. Yeah, he seems fun. I'm exciting,
a lot of fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Rob McCartney, assistant general manager, said he doesn't play four
or five plays a lot faster, And then I love this.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He said.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
There are a lot of instances when he's the fastest
player on the field, and there's multiple games when he
was the best player on the field too, And I'm like,
and we got him.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
In the seventh round, So all right, that's gonna do
it for us.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
On this draft recap show, and again, we were just
so fired up to see all of these newest members
of the crew. Make sure you're stay in tune for
all the coverage of them as they head into Rookie
Mini Camp and OTAs We'll see you next time.
Welcome into our final road to the Draft company from
Bucks Studio, presented by ticket master Casey Phillips here with
senior writer and editor Scott Smith.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I don't know, maybe we.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Should call this the road back from the drafts the
road passed it. We're just continuing on here that we did.
You know, every week leading up to the draft, we
talked about what we thought was going to happen, and
now we finally know we have the newest additions to
the crew to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
So today we thought we'd just go through the different.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Draft picks, look at kind of big picture what the
Bucks did, look at each of them individually where we
feel like they could contribute now that we know who
these guys are. So let's start with the big picture side.
As you just look at what the Bucks accomplished, what
they did, and especially maybe compared to what we thought
they were going to do, what stands out?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I guess I'll ask you, how do you feel about
reading like draft grades right after a draft? Is it
kind of similar to how you feel about draft mock
drafts before the Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I mean it's yeah, it's pretty much as useless, isn't
what the same year rule isn't that.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Typically I still do it, of course, and so what
I immediately noticed this year is that the draft grades
for the Buccaneers tend to vary between like a B
and an A plus or remember Pete Prisco's Gonna be
a Sports Game of an A plus and really gave
Jason light his flowers for once again drafting a lot
of good players. And you're seeing a lot of that
now that people are starting to realize what a great
job Jason's been doing for year of the year now,
(01:10):
and it all comes down to the variance there between
the B and the A plus. Every single time comes
down to how do you feel about the Buccaneers using
their first round pick on wide receiver?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, on a non defensive guy. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
And I'm not gonna I'm not gonna be a revisionist
historian here. I was one of those people that have
skeptical right up to the end, even though Todd Bowles
and Jason Lytt were dropping all these breadcrumbs about, hey,
we might actually do this, and then afterwards you see
the wisdom of it, and a lot of it just
has to do with value, The value of getting a
player like that in a past driven league, even if
you already have a good passing offense. That value was
(01:43):
there in the first round. And yes, the Buccaneers needed
to hit defense. And who am I, I'm the cornerback guy, right.
You tell me at the end of this draft that
we got Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish in the second
round the corner I'm ecstatic. Yep, So there was to me,
there's no flaw in this plan of using the first
pick on a player that they absolutely love and love it.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, and we hear this all time, right, the I
am that Man's strategy exactly. And we have seen in
recent years how well this has worked out when you
look at the fact of what a huge percentage of
our starters, of our stars are homegrown talent, and it
is because they have stuck to this idea. And I
think after just spending one day with a Mecca, every
single person here is like he is that man.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
You can see why he plays like a Chris Godwin,
carries himself like a Chris Godwin. We have seen that
if anyone tells a Bucks fan, hey, there's a chance
you could get another Chris Godwin.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I mean, how how would you not be excited about that.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
And the Bucks got Chris Godwin the third round, but
if they did that draft over again, he would be
a first.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
You would one hundred percent thrilled.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, if you can get another guy like that, And
you know, they you talk about things like maybe the
forty yard dash, and you can see incrementally, Okay, that
four point four is better than that four point five,
which is in four point three is better when they
talk about judging these guys character and that whole I
am that man thing. There's not really a number you
can put to that. Yet there's still say and Meca
Book is off the charts when it comes to how
(03:04):
they value him in that regard. And as you said,
I think that's the reason why so many of these
draft classes are working out over and over again, and
why this team is so incredibly home grown, particularly on offense.
So you know, after it's all said and done, I
think we love the fact that we have a Mecca
Book here. And you know, two months ago, would we
have expected a first round wide receiver. No, But I
(03:26):
when you put it all together and what the Buccaneers
were able to do on defense after that, and we'll
get to each guy. But not only did they hit
cornerback position in a way that I love, But at
the end of that night, you had Mike Beale, director
of a Vice President Player Personnel Stanther saying, yeah, I
think we can still address the pass rush, and then
to do what they did with David Walker and Elijah
Roberts on Day three, I think they did hit that.
(03:48):
And I didn't know. I don't know if I would
have thought it was possible going into the draft to
take a receiver in the first round satisfy what I
was hoping we get in cornerback and help the front rotation. Yeah,
it looks like they I agree.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I think that would have been the concern people had
was if you take a non defensive guy in the
first round, how well can you address Yes, And now
I think, getting now the hindsight of seeing what they
did the rest of the days, I don't think you
feel that way at all, which is great. And of course,
as much as we talk about Amcca for his character,
which is phenomenal, it's not like he's a shalob on
the field like this guy.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I mean, for an Ohio state wide.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Receiver room that is consistently stacked, this is the guy
who's the all time leader in receptions for that school.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
That is wild to me.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
And it's not because he stayed around like four years
or something.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yes, yeah, it's incredible, and yeah I love he could
have come out last year even and just decided to stay.
So I am incredibly excited about him. So let's get
to the round two and three, which I imagine they
put you in charge of. That's how I felt when
we took two cornerbacks in a row. I was like,
did they just let Scott make the phone calls up there?
And that's what happened. So uh, Rich, Yeah, let's start
round two. Benjamin Morrison, Notre Dame. Tell me a little
(04:57):
bit about what stands out to you.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
About this guy.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
One thing I like about if you look back on
a Road to Draft, we are Road to the Draft series.
We did cover a lot of these guys. I mean,
we did talk about a mecha Buka and like I
think our second episode showed some nice highlights of him
catching the ball down the middle. The very first guy
that I gave the Buccaneers of my first mock draft
was Benjamin Morris. And now, as it turns out, because
of concerns about the fact that he missed all but
(05:19):
six games last year with the hip injury, although he
really didn't have a history of injuries before that. That
probably meant he didn't get taken in the first round,
But the Buccaneers felt like they got a first round
talent in Benjamin Morris, and so that worked out very
well for the Buccaneers day. I think he probably was
maybe one of the last guys in the in the
(05:39):
top tier of corners that they wanted to get. And
so this is a guy who just before he got
hurt was playing as well as any cornerback in the nation.
And he you know, I think he had what he
of nine interceptions from twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three.
The you know, Todd Bowles once more, ballhawks, ballhawks and
his secondary and then that's what this guy is. And
he can play, he can make interceptions. And Mike Bialde
(06:03):
told me, he's like, it's not just playing zone and
having your eyes on the quarterback. That the whole guy
he covers so well that he makes interceptions and passes
defense while in man demand coverage where his back is
to the ball most of the time. So the guy
has a feel for the football, and that's, you know,
obviously something we want.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, and I think we've seen that.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I mean, we always talk about the fact that Todd
Bowles values versatility, especially because when we've looked at the
ways that we've been able to deal with some injuries,
especially in the secondary, is by having these Swiss army knives,
like a Christianisy and like a Tyke Smith. So you
want guys in your secondary in particular to be able
to do multiple things, whether it's man in zone or
it's even kind of playing multiple positions. And I know
(06:41):
they feel like a guy like Benjamin Morrison can do that.
And you know a lot of people think, yeah, the
only reason he was even here is because of the
medical stuff that he had go on with his hip.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And I think it's interesting to look at the draft.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It's always sort of a gamble and a trying to
predict the future of what people are going to be
and there is no sure thing.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
But if you feel like there is.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Someone you feel good about where they're progressing health wise,
and you know that if not for that injury, they
might have been a first round pick, that's that is
the way you get a steal. That's how you take
those risks in a draft of saying we think we
can try to predict that this guy is going to
be healthy at a certain point and can then really
contribute in a way that we get a steal at
that pick.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And what else does Todd Boles love in his cornerbacks?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Speed?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Speed?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, he was asked about how important speed testing is,
like at the combine and so when you're evaluating those prospects,
and Todd Boles specifically said, well, it's important in some
positions like cornerback. You need speed at cornerback. And so
look at Jacob Parrish. You know, I think Maxwell Harrison
of Kentucky is a guy that Bucks might have been
interested in if they didn't get Abuka, And he was
the fastest guy at any position at the combine. But
(07:45):
Jacob Parrish wasn't far off. Yeah, four point three five
forty yard dash. Very feisty player they call him because
I guess he's about five to ten. So he's not
the biggest, longest cornerback in the world. As you can
see there, he's matching up against a bigger guy and
doing a good job physically there. He has a ton
of pass breakups the last couple of years. So he's productive,
he's fast, and he probably again would have gone a
(08:07):
little bit higher if he was six foot tall.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, he was a one and two hundred meter state
champ in Kansas. Not so shabby.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And and I also like, yeah, I also played basketball,
and I think Mike bial City also wrestled.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Like love this his brother did too. See you can
picture the two brothers. Yeah, absolutely was a wrestler.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, five interceptions, ninety four tackles, and twenty three passes
defensed in his last two seasons.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
And so again, yeah, both corners seem to have that versatility.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Which now you take a position that you were a
little unsure of just because of the idea of depth,
and you know what if there are injuries and now
you shored up with two guys who both bring versatility,
and now suddenly you feel so much better about where
you could move everybody in the.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Depth and what that could look like.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
All right, So now let's move to our fourth round pick,
outside linebacker David Walker out of Central Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
What did you like about this guy?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Well, so, first of all, David Walker was just productive.
And if you're going to play at a level like
Central Arkansas, that level you really have to dominate consistently
to be on teams radars for the draft, because you
can't just you can't play at that level and just
sometimes be dominant. You have to dominate consistently and then
still teams are gonna worry. Can they do that at
(09:14):
a higher level? Will translate And that's why it's important
that David Walker went to the Senior Bowl and just
absolutely dominated there as well. And so that answered a
lot of questions for obviously Buck Scouts and some others
around the league that this is a guy who can
produce like he did at Central Arkansas at this level
and to get that guy in the fourth round if
he can produce anywhere near that level.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Thirty nine sacks, that's an insane number.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeat.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
His stat line blew my mind off.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
The thirty nine sacks, eighty two and a half tackles
for loss, Yeah, two hundred and forty four tackles, six
force fumbles, eight passes defense.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
That is a stat line.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And so you're right, like, if you're going to be
playing at that level, that's the stat line you want
to see. But I did love that sack number because
of the finishing clearly that he has of where I mean, yeah,
there's he's clearly not only getting to the quarter of
but getting them down.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And that's what we want to see.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Is those finishes, especially off the edge, especially off the
edge like that, and Bowles has really emphasized, like, man,
we've got to be able to get that rush before
and to see a guy like this who clearly knows
how to get there and finish a play, I think
that's really exciting.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, and I don't think the Buccaneers have to rely
on hitting an absolute grand slam right off the bat
with David Walker because they are comfortable with their depth
there before and after drafting David Walker. Hassan Reddick, I
think really makes them feel a lot more comfortable. Yeah.
Yeah's going into his third year and is progressing upwards.
They think Chris Braswell can take a step forward. This time,
(10:37):
you still got Anthony Nelson. They feel like the pieces
are there to have a decent but it passed rush
edge rush, but it's always good to get more.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I wouldn't be surprised if the Hassan Reddick signing is
what allowed them to draft a mecha Abuka that like, Yeah,
I think that I can see that that would have
been the thing that makes them go, Okay, we now
don't have to do this out of a true like
kind of desperation need situation that as much as there
were things on defense we knew that they wanted to address.
I almost feel like that could have directly correlated to
(11:06):
getting to just and then you still get to address
edge later, but maybe you didn't feel that first or
second round pressure.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
It's the same thing with linebacker, with signing Anthony Walker
and getting Servasi, a dentist back from injury.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, So David Walker, I think is an exciting one.
Next up, fifth round, Elijah Roberts, defensive line out of SMU,
my dad's.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Alma mater, T guy.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
I think this was an indication of really the depth
of defensive interior defensive lineman in this draft. It may
have been the deepest position overall. You saw those guys
going in every round right off right from Kenneth Grant
and Mason Graham at the top of the draft, and
on and on. Round after round, teams getting interior defensive
linement they like, and so there was still one that
the Buccaneers liked very much. In the fifth round in
(11:49):
Elijah Roberts from SMU. And it was funny because I
talked to Mike Beial right after the pick and he
was giving me some insight on what type of player
he was, and he had just seen a tweet from
Pro Football Focus about him. And it was funny for
me the rest of that afternoon evening to see various
people in the organization here come across that tweet because
they're looking for information on this newest player, and everybody's like, wait,
(12:11):
is this true? And I kept seeing that in different
forms because it PFF said he led the entire FBS
over the last two years, combining with one hundred and
thirty one quarterback pressures. That's incredible at every position.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
One thirty college football like wild.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It's a wild stat. It's a crazy stat. And it
was just so fun seeing people come across. They wanted
for the other and you know, you're talking about a
guy that's probably gonna play, he's probably going to be
in your rotation, and get that in the fifth round.
I think, again, this is just showing how this you know,
you take the receiver at you take that premium position
and player you love in the first round and you
still hit the needs you wanted.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
It's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And still I mean seventeen and a half sacks over
the last two seasons too, so it's not like he's
only pressure and like he was, he was getting there
and finishing that as well.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And I thought it was interesting that might be also.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Said that he played a little bit on the edge
he did in college, and he was like, you know,
maybe there's a chance he can play out there a
little bit too. But again going back to how much
Bulls loves that versatility. If you're seeing b to a
occasionally drop like you know, I just know that no
matter where on that defense, he loves guys that he
can figure out ways to surprise the offense with stuff.
So a guy like this where yeah, like Beale said, like, yeah,
(13:22):
he's gonna be in the defensive line room, he's not
an edge, But how cool that he has done a
little bit of both.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
When they talk about doing that, I think they mostly
talked about third downs. So you still you probably want
as much as possible at Vdavey and college CANCI in
there when your even fronts, when you have just four
guys rushing the passer, and again you have your edge
rush rotation, but you could always use more. And if
some of those stats are snaps are occasionally taken up
by a guy like Elijah Roberts maybe playing a little
(13:47):
bit on the edge in those obvious passing situations, you
know you can get more pass rushers on the field.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And then finally, seventh round, we did not have a
sixth rounder because that was part of the trade with
Carlton Davis with the Lions. So seventh rounder tes Johnson
Tesmanian devil, which I love. Course he talked about that
of that that's why he's got that thing that says
to the Tasmanian Devil around his neck. And he's wide
receiver slash punt returner out of.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Oregon, slash Bucky.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Slash Bucky Irving's best round. I'm like, that's reason alone
to draft him. You know, give give Bucky his best
round up here. So yeah, I mean, one hundred and
sixty nine catches twenty touchdowns in this Oregon offense these
last two seasons. This is another guy that we think
is available maybe later than you would have thought because
of just his size, and man, I will take a
guy that is smaller with that chip on his shoulder
(14:36):
any day. I mean, I feel like I've heard so
many guys on our team, if they.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Are undersized, talk about what a motivating factor that is.
But yeah, I mean this, this guy.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Seems like a playmaker that We've got to set of
reactions in the media afterwards, and they did feel like
it was a steal, and you know, some of them
were as high as I would have taken this guy
in the third round because of production. Now, obviously you
said it. The reason is he's five to four. I mean, sorry,
he's not. I was like, whoa, and fifty f four
pounds is what I meant to say.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
He's like, okay, now I might understand.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah, fifty four pounds and his forty His official forty
yard tash time was four point five one, which is,
you know, pretty good. I wish I could run a
four or five one, but it's not that absolute off
the chart speed that would go. Okay, he's maybe only
on fifty four pounds, but he runs a four point
two eight. No, he runs a nice four point five one.
But everybody says he plays a lot faster than that
(15:24):
forty time, and you see it. I think the tape
is the best thing to go to with him because there's.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Always what matters more.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
There's tons of people who can run fast, but it
doesn't show up in the game, and the game is.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Where it matters.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Is you see him turning cornerbacks.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Forty yard dashes are not deciding an overtime game for us.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
You see him getting separation really quickly. You see him
turning cornerbacks around. So he's a really good route runner.
He's a very sudden player. He might help in the
in the punt return. He said that punk return game
is mine.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Oh, I love it. Yeah, he seems fun. I'm exciting,
a lot of fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Rob McCartney, assistant general manager, said he doesn't play four
or five plays a lot faster, And then I love this.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He said.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
There are a lot of instances when he's the fastest
player on the field, and there's multiple games when he
was the best player on the field too, And I'm like,
and we got him.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
In the seventh round, So all right, that's gonna do
it for us.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
On this draft recap show, and again, we were just
so fired up to see all of these newest members
of the crew. Make sure you're stay in tune for
all the coverage of them as they head into Rookie
Mini Camp and OTAs We'll see you next time.
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