Writing The Ship: Buccaneers Combine Losers

The NFL combine is winding down. Scouts have had a chance to talk to prospects and get eyes on what they can do athletically. Now, based on what they’ve seen and heard, they will adjust their big boards accordingly. 

This should not involve dramatic changes. Teams have a good idea of what type of athletes these guys are based on what they see on tape. I don’t expect too many dramatic changes for most teams.

However, that might not be necessarily true for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We know that they put a lot of stock into the interviews and character of prospects and that will have a significant impact on their board. It’s also important to remember that they also have athletic testing thresholds, particularly for their first pick.

It’s worth stating again that the Buccaneers haven’t drafted a player with their top pick who had a relative athletic score under a 9.0 in nearly a decade. For those who don’t know, these are athletic scores specific to a player’s position. Ones that work on a percentile scale. So for a player to score a 9.0 on this scale that means they are in the 90th percentile of athletes at their position since 1987. 

General manager Jason Licht has only twice spent his first pick on a player who wasn’t at least a 9.0 or higher. Jameis Winston in 2025 (with quarterback not necessarily needing great athletic tools to be great) and Vernon Hargreaves in 2016, who washed out of the league quickly. Since then, Licht has made this athletic threshold a part of his process for the Bucs.

So now that we have the athletic testing data, we can start to circle the names of prospects who didn’t make the cut. Here are my Buccaneers Combine losers.

Lee Hunter, DT, Texas Tech 

Hunter is a good football player. He’s a great run stuffing defensive tackle and there is reason to believe he has some pass rusher upside. On top of that, he comes off as one of the most engaging personalities we saw over the past week.

However, none of that changes his athletic testing data. He finished the week with sub 4.0 RAS, which is well below the Bucs 9.0 threshold. Lee just didn’t have a good showing in terms of his athletic abilities.

That doesn’t take him off the Buccaneers board entirely. Afterall, he is still a good player and has the makings of a leader on the field. But after being viewed as a potential first round pick and perhaps a long term replacement for Vita Vea, that just won’t be happening in the first round.

CJ Allen, LB, Georgia 

Nowadays it is more common that players skip athletic testing drills. After all, if it doesn’t go well then it negatively affects where you’re drafted and how much money you make. Better to let people question if you’re a sub par athlete than to prove it to them. 

Allen was a player who skipped all athletic testing. Many view him as an above average athlete (although I do not) and expect him to workout at his Georgia pro day. But for him to be considered a good athlete and then skip the testing made me feel like he has something to hide.

The Buccaneers desperately need linebacker help. Allen is considered one of the best linebackers in the draft, so a natural connection has been made between the two. We will see if he actually tests at his pro day and how that goes, but this comes off as a potential red flag for me in terms of him meeting the Bucs thresholds.

Ahkeem Mesidor, DE/EDGE, Miami 

Mesidor is another player who skipped athletic testing. And while I don’t view that as a great sign, I have fewer questions about his overall athletic ability than I do Allen. If he were to test then I think he would meet the Bucs requirements.

What red flags I have with Mesidor are things we already knew entering the combine. That would be his age (will be a 25 year old rookie) and his health as someone who has had several injuries over his college career. Perhaps the combine medical exams gave the Bucs clarity on his long term health, but it’s never good to be an older, more injury prone player. 

However, I will assume until I hear otherwise that no new concerns came up with Mesidor. Even still, other players were proving that they were younger, faster, quicker and more explosive while Mesidor watched from the sidelines. And for a player who I don’t know is a great fit with the Bucs anyways, staying in neutral is really moving backwards as other players improved their stock. 

Keldrick Faulk

Faulk is someone who I think really missed an opportunity last week. While I have no real questions about his athletic ability (listed as a Bruce Feldmen freak athlete before the season), I do question what type of athlete he is. In short, I don’t believe he is actually an edge rusher rather than a defensive lineman. 

But honestly, that’s totally okay. Faulk had the opportunity to take the field and show the world that he is an incredible athlete for a defensive lineman. It’s a position that the Bucs need and he could have cemented himself as an option with the 15th overall pick.

Instead, Faulk is still an edge rusher who doesn’t really move like an edge rusher. He’s a pass rusher who had just 2.0 sacks all of last season. He had a chance to provide clarity about who he is and what he can do and instead he skipped testing and left the world to draw their own conclusions.