The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a plethora of positions to look at throughout this upcoming draft, and safety is likely to be a big one as they lack a whole lot of depth at the position behind Antoine Winfield, Jr. and Tykee Smith.
They could address the position at any level of the draft and could even use multiple picks on it as they decide how best to allocate their roster spots.
So here are 3 safeties the Bucs should take a deeper look at, starting with the most obvious choice in the 1st round and ending with a potential day 3 selection.
Malaki Starks, UGA
Starks is one of the more confusing prospects in this draft class.
Is he going to be the 1st safety taken off the board?
His production would suggest so; he has a long resume of success as a key cog in an elite Georgia Bulldog defense, using his ballhawking skills to rack up interceptions and his solid tackling form to be a decent run support player.
Unfortunately his ceiling might be a bit limited, as he only scored a 5.5 in RAS, not great especially for a safety.
He’s only 21, but he developed so much at UGA there might be questions about how much better he can truly get at the NFL level, especially with his somewhat limited athletic profile.
So if the Buccaneers want a plug and play safety, Starks is their man, it’s just tough to project Licht to pick a guy whose measurables have graded out as poorly as Starks’.
Billy Bowman, Jr., OU
Somewhat more athletically gifted than Starks, Bowman, Jr. comes in with a 7.53 RAS score, but his time in college wasn’t nearly as productive as Starks, hence the 4th round grade most outlets have on the former Sooner.
Bowman, Jr. is very undersized for the position and lacks the physicality sometimes needed at safety.
Thus, he struggles quite a bit as a tackler and is certainly more known for his ball tracking as well as zone coverage ability.
But, where Bowman, Jr. can set himself apart is his value on special teams, despite missing that status as a thumper.
He can use his solid straight line speed to contribute in that area, especially as he continues to develop as an NFL safety, giving himself a very rosterable floor to be selected in the mid rounds.
Malachi Moore, Bama
Like Bowman, Jr.. Moore is very undersized for the safety position.
Unlike Bowman, Jr., Moore’s value doesn’t lie in what he can do athletically, as he falls short in explosiveness and speed for the position, but Moore makes up for a lot of it with his feel for the fundamentals.
His tackling form and footwork are both quite good, and he played the mentally demanding STAR position at Bama under Nick Saban, something that could translate well to the next level as Moore can make up for what he doesn’t have physically with his mental acumen.
A much more heady player than physically gifted, Moore also can provide value in special teams, making him comfortably draftable in the Day 3 portion of the draft.
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