The Tampa Bay Buccaneers run ended after losing in heartbreaking fashion to the Washington Commanders. One reason that could be attributed to losing that home playoff game is the inability to consistently pressure quarterback Jayden Daniels, who managed to give the Bucs’ defense issues over their two encounters with the dynamic dual threat signal caller over his rookie campaign.

In a recent 2025 NFL Mock Draft, the Bucs invest the No. 19 overall pick in addressing a position of need with an ascending prospect coming off of an impressive Senior Bowl performance.

Bucs Select Marshall EDGE Mike Green at No. 19 Overall

The future of Chris Godwin with the Bucs is a bit unclear at the moment with his contract expiring, which does potentially create a need at the WR position for an offense that was forced to move Jalen McMillan into an expanded role his rookie year. Yet, the Tampa Bay offense still managed to produce a top 10 offense across the board despite not having the services of Godwin for over half of the season.

This has Luke Easterling of Athlon Sports seeing the Buccaneers wanting to address the defensive side of the football by selecting Marshall EDGE defender Mike Green with the No. 19 overall pick in his latest 2025 NFL Mock Draft.

Easterling said, “Todd Bowles’ defense is a shell of its lofty potential when it doesn’t have the ability to create consistent pressure on the quarterback, and the Bucs clearly lack the kind of edge-rushing presence who can take over a game like Shaq Barrett used to in Tampa Bay. Green has rare explosiveness and put up huge numbers last season, and played well against top non-conference competition before shining at the Senior Bowl.”

The Bucs defense did manage to generate a fair amount of pressure throughout the 2024 NFL season, but came in large part due to their 34.2% blitz rate – which was the third highest mark in the league behind only the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions.