The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are still reeling from a gut-wrenching, 23-20 loss to the Washington Commanders in the NFC Wild Card Round — a game in which the Buccaneers’ mistakes put the Commanders in a position to kick a game-winning, 37-yard field goal as time expired.

It’s going to sting for a minute, but eventually Tampa Bay is going to have to start looking to the future. ESPN’s Jenna Laine broke some news — good news — that pertains to a big part of the Buccaneers’ plans for 2025.

“The Bucs will officially pick 19th in the 2025 NFL draft,” Laine wrote on her official X account on January 13. “This is information directly from the team, as there has been some confusion: Denver, Pittsburgh, and Tampa Bay have the same record and strength-of-schedule.  To break a three-team interconference tie, divisional or conference tie breakers are first applied, whichever is applicable. Since Denver lost to Pittsburgh, the Broncos will select ahead of the Steelers based on the head-to-head tie breaker.  Next, interconference tie breakers are applied. Since Tampa Bay lost to Denver; the Buccaneers will select ahead of the Broncos based on head-to-head tie breaker.”

The Buccaneers have one of the hottest hands when it comes to the NFL draft, bringing in 3 big-time contributors in 2024 with starting center Graham Barton, starting running back Bucky Irving and starting wide receiver Jalen McMillan.