By all accounts, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pretty much nailed free agency here in the first wave of the NFL offseason. They dodged the doomsayers who had them losing legendary receiver Mike Evans, they locked up quarterback Baker Mayfield on a reasonable long-term deal, they tagged Antoine Winfield to keep him around at least another year and brought back stalwart linebacker Lavonte David.
They cleared out dead weight like mercurial linebacker Devin White while bringing back safety Jordan Whitehead after his two-year stint with the Jets. USA Today graded the Bucs’ free agency an A, Pro Football Focus gave them an A- and CBS Sports had Tampa at a B+.
The Buccaneers still will need to give a big, long-term contract to star tackle Tristan Wirfs, and it’s possible a new deal could emerge for Winfield, though the state of the safety market likely will push that to next year.
Next up, though, is the NFL draft coming at the end of April, and ESPN expert Mel Kiper has the Bucs making an eye-opening pick at No. 26: Texas speedster Xavier Worthy, the wide receiver who set an NFL combine record by running a 4.21 40-yard dash, a mark that sent him soaring up draft boards everywhere.
Xavier Worthy Could ‘Take the Top Off’ Defenses
Worthy would give the Buccaneers a devastating deep threat to go with Evans and fellow star receiver Chris Godwin. He caught 75 balls for 1,014 yards last season and five touchdowns, and logged 26 touchdowns in his three-year career at Texas.
He would be a field-stretcher—though slight in size—for Mayfield, and help to create even more room for the Bucs’ underneath game.
Kiper wrote of Worthy: “The Bucs are running it back from 2023 … So how can the Bucs improve with this pick? I see room for a third wideout to take the top off the defense. And what better way to do that than with the fastest prospect in NFL combine history?
“At 5-foot-11, 165 pounds, Worthy is small, but he is electric with the ball in his hands. He’ll help Mayfield’s yards-per-attempt average just by running past corners on crossers. He had 26 touchdowns over three college seasons.”
Of course, the Buccaneers do have a developing No. 3 option on the roster, Trey Palmer, who is pretty fast himself—Palmer ran a 4.33 40-yard dash last year and was a sixth-round pick of the Bucs in that draft. He played all 17 games for the Bucs, catching 39 passes for 385 yards. Of that total, 136 yards came in Palmer’s final three games of 2023, and he caught a 56-yard touchdown in the playoff win over Philadelphia.
Buccaneers Could Land Top-10 Talent, per PFF
If you’re of the opinion that Palmer can be the Bucs’ No. 3 wideout, no matter how tempting Worthy’s speed is, then you might prefer the mock put together by PFF last week, which features the Bucs getting another potential star contributor: edge rusher Jared Verse of Florida State.
Verse has been mocked as high as the Top 10—Kiper has him going ninth—but PFF notes that the focus on edge rushers in free agency could cause a player like Verse to slide, and the Bucs would welcome him eagerly.
Wrote PFF: “There aren’t many better scenarios for the Buccaneers than somehow coming away with Jared Verse at Pick 26. The Florida State product is talented enough to go much higher than this, but after free agency, I can now see him and Laiatu Latu falling a bit. That doesn’t make them any worse as players, though. Verse would be an immediate starter in Tampa Bay.”
