The Tampa Bay Buccaneers enter the 2026 NFL Draft focused on the defensive side of the ball, where their need at edge rusher remains paramount, but won’t force it if their board doesn’t line up at the No. 15 pick.
"We do see that there is a need for help there on the defensive side, for sure,” general manager Jason Licht said Wednesday. “I've had conversations with (coach) Todd (Bowles) a lot about this over the years, the last couple of years. He hates the word ‘defensive-minded’ head coach. He proved to me last year where he wasn't upset with taking where he says you have to take the best player that helps you win games, period. So, I'm very fortunate to have a head coach that feels that way when we work together to make these decisions.
"I feel like I've said this every year, you can never go wrong with taking the best player. You're going to be happy at some point that you did instead of trying to force a pick."
The Bucs have swung and missed on veteran edge rushers the past several offseasons. In 2025, YaYa Diaby led the club with seven sacks -- no other edge rusher netted more than three. Tampa added 31-year-old Al-Quadin Muhammad, who had 11 sacks in Detroit last year, on a one-year contract in free agency, but a long-term impact player off the edge remains a need.
"I mean, we can all say and write down and we have numbers that we look for the ideal [edge rusher], but those are also hard to [come by]," Licht said when asked if there was a specific type of edge rusher ideal for Bowles’ system. "The 'J.P.P's' (Jason Pierre-Paul), God only made a few of them. Yes, you would like to have big, long guys, but sometimes power comes in different packages. A guy can have great quickness and speed, but he's just going to get washed off of the corner because of his lack of base and lack of strength. At the end of the day, you're just looking for a very good football player that can do all of those things."
Licht noted “it’s tough” to find a dominant edge rusher, particularly where Tampa Bay has drafted the past handful of seasons. The Bucs, despite the misses, haven’t completely changed how they evaluate the position.
"I don't know if it's really changed that much in how we evaluate players. We know that last year we wish we would have had more production from that aspect, from the edge,” the GM said. “I don't know if it's changed. You've got to be careful not to just feel like it's a must and force yourself to like more players than you normally would and push players up the board just to take an edge rusher to get that short-term good feeling of we drafted him and later on, you feel like maybe we shouldn't have drafted him. I don't know how much has changed. We've put a lot of energy into it, though. I feel like we've gone back and studied a lot of rushers that didn't make it or didn't work out to kind of see what we can do better, where we can focus our attention on a little bit more."
Beyond the edge rushers, the Bucs could target an upgrade at linebacker and more depth in the secondary, despite the additions at cornerback in recent drafts. Tampa could also look to add to the tight end room on offense.
The Bucs enter the 2026 NFL Draft with seven selections, one in each round.