TAMPA, Fla. — The 2025 NFL Draft kicks off tonight from Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Buccaneers currently hold the 19th pick of the first round.
The vast majority of media predictions have the Bucs picking a defensive player with that selection. Former NFL veteran, scout, executive, and current ESPN analyst Louis Riddick agrees.
"I would think [Bucs head coach Todd Bowles] wants somebody—either at linebacker or at safety—to really be able to help them with their turnover differential, be an impact player, be an explosive playmaker," he said during a video chat.
Riddick, who knows Coach Bowles pretty well, thinks Tampa Bay will also keep the door open for a potential wide receiver. Although that pick probably won't be in the first round, Riddick thinks that idea is definitely on the table.
"Getting some more speed, getting some more juice on the perimeter and making sure that you have some youth and some depth that is youthful on the perimeter—and healthy," he added. "That may be another area that they look to add to, too."
The Bucs could trade their first-round pick and move up or down on the draft board, but general manager Jason Licht doesn't predict too much movement in this year's first round.
"I do think this year is going to be—I could be wrong—you’re going to see maybe a little less people maybe wanting to move up and offering enough to make it worth your while just because the draft is pretty leveled out at a certain point," Licht said at his pre-draft news conference.
The knock on this year's draft class is that it isn't full of franchise players and future Hall of Famers, but don't say that too loudly around Riddick.
"It’s easy to say what a guy can’t do," he said frankly. "It’s really hard to project player performance, future player performance. There are some really, really good players in this draft."
No matter who the Bucs draft, Licht said they're looking at more than just football when it comes to the players they'll ultimately bring to Tampa Bay.
"How they treat everybody around the building, whether it’s the interns or the people working in the kitchen, and the janitors or whoever it is. We try to get a report from everybody that touched them during the day," he explained. "I don’t know if they realize this. Some of them probably wish they would’ve known that [laughs]. I like hearing them talk about their teammates and what players they went against this year and in past years that gave them troubles, and hear their confidence and their humility, too."
The first round kicks off tonight at 8 p.m. The second and third rounds get underway Friday at 7 p.m. Rounds four through seven wrap things up on Saturday, starting at noon. You can catch all the action on ABC.
