Drafting offensive linemen in the first round is seldom sexy, but as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers know, if you draft the right one it can produce some backend sexiness in the form of wins — lots of them.
Buccaneers left tackle Tristan Wirfs has never missed the postseason in his three NFL seasons, and he's a Super Bowl champion thanks to his and his teammates' efforts under the leadership of quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bruce Arians in his rookie year.
Wirfs also has three Pro Bowl trips and has been named to the First-Team All-Pro Roster once as well. To say he's had a Hall of Fame start to his career is reasonable, but it won't get Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht any grace when drafting another lineman in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
"The first-round selection of Graham Barton could have been sponsored by OSHA, seeing how universally it was lauded for safeness," wrote NFL.com's Gennaro Filice while ranking the Bucs' draft class 27th in the league this year. "Truthfully, the Duke left tackle does appear to have a versatile skill set that could fit in any environment. In Tampa, he’ll probably man the pivot, where he played as a true freshman in Durham. Unfortunately, he can’t simultaneously play left guard, which remains a soft spot on the depth chart. But that high-floor pick kind of set the tone for the rest of the draft, as the Bucs continually hit singles with exceedingly solid picks."
As bored as Filice seems to be with Licht's first-round selection, it's a pick he never made that seems to have doomed the Buccaneers' draft ranking in this case.
"Jason Licht placed a substantial bet on 2022 fifth-round pick Zyon McCollum by trading Carlton Davis III to Detroit in March. Then the Tampa Bay GM doubled down by avoiding the position altogether in the draft," Filice says. "Bold strategy, Jason — we’ll see if it pays off."
For only the second time in franchise history, Tampa Bay has strung together four straight postseason appearances. In each stretch, the franchise also won a Super Bowl.
Still, it appears all that winning falls short of earning him any credit, at least not in these rankings.
Perhaps a fifth-straight postseason appearance will change things? Maybe not. Still, it would be fun to find out.
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