NOTE: This article was originally published in April of 2023 and has been updated to include draft results of subsequent years.<\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers began play in 1976, and a few months before their first game they took part in their first NFL Draft. They spent the first-overall pick in the 1976 draft on Oklahoma defensive end Lee Roy Selmon, who would eventually find his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was the first of 460 draft picks the Buccaneers have made in the 50 years since (not counting supplemental drafts or the USFL dispersal draft in 1984).<\/p>\n
That number is about to go up, as the 2026 NFL Draft starts on Thursday, April 23. At the moment, Tampa Bay owns seven picks in this year’s version of what is officially titled the “Player Selection Meeting,” though trades during the proceedings could push that number up or down a bit. Here is where those picks currently fall:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Round One, 15th Overall<\/p>\n
\u2022 Round Two, 46th Overall<\/p>\n
\u2022 Round Three, 77th Overall<\/p>\n
\u2022 Round Four, 116th Overall<\/p>\n
\u2022 Round Five, 155th Overall<\/p>\n
\u2022 Round Six, 195th Overall<\/p>\n
\u2022 Round Seven, 229th Overall<\/p>\n
When the Buccaneers first joined the league, the draft was 17 rounds long, but it was cut to 12the next year. It was then shortened to eight rounds in 1993 and then to its current seven-round format in 1994. As the draft nears, we are going to look at those first seven rounds, one by one, and examine the Buccaneers history of selections in each one. Below you will find the full list of Buccaneer seventh-rounders followed by some notes about that collection of players overall.<\/p>\n
(Since this format excludes players taken after the seventh round in the 1976-1993 drafts, here for posterity are some of the picks in Rounds 8-17 that worked out well: RG George Ragsdale, 12th, 1976; WR Larry Mucker, 9th, 1977; DT David Logan, 12th, 1979; LB Andy Hawkins, 10th, 1980; WR Gerald Carter, 9th, 1980; RB\/KR Michael Morton, 12th, 1982; K Donald Igwebuike, 8th, 1985; DT Reuben Davis, 9th, 1988; S Marty Carter, 8th, 1991; FB Anthony McDowell, 8th, 1992).<\/p>\n
2026 | Pick No. 235 | Tez Johnson | WR | Oregon<\/p>\n
2024 | Pick No. 246 | Devin Culp | TE | Washington<\/p>\n
2022 | Pick No. 248 | Andre Anthony | OLB | LSU<\/p>\n
2021 | Pick No. 259 | Grant Stuard | ILB | Houston<\/p>\n
2021 | Pick No. 251 | Chris Wilcox | CB | BYU<\/p>\n
2020 | Pick No. 245 | Raymond Calais | RB | Louisiana-Lafayette<\/p>\n
2020 | Pick No. 241 | Chapelle Russell | ILB | Temple<\/p>\n
2019 | Pick No. 215 | Terry Buckner | DT | Missouri<\/p>\n
2017 | Pick No. 223 | Stevie Tu’ikolovatu | DT | USC<\/p>\n
2015 | Pick No. 231 | Joey Iosefa | FB | Hawaii<\/p>\n
2012 | Pick No. 233 | Drake Dunsmore | TE | Northwestern<\/p>\n
2012 | Pick No. 212 | Michael Smith | RB | Utah State<\/p>\n
2011 | Pick No. 238 | Daniel Hardy | TE | Idaho<\/p>\n
2011 | Pick No. 222 | Anthony Gaitor | CB | Florida International<\/p>\n
2010 | Pick No. 253 | Erik Lorig | DE | Stanford<\/p>\n
2010 | Pick No. 217 | Dekoda Watson | LB | Florida State<\/p>\n
2010 | Pick No. 210 | Cody Grimm | S | Virginia Tech<\/p>\n
2009 | Pick No. 233 | Sammie Stroughter | WR | Oregon State<\/p>\n
2009 | Pick No. 217 | E.J. Biggers | CB | Western Michigan<\/p>\n
2008 | Pick No. 238 | Cory Boyd | RB | South Carolina<\/p>\n
2007 | Pick No. 246 | Kenneth Darby | RB |Alabama<\/p>\n
2007 | Pick No. 245 | Marcus Hamilton | CB | Virginia<\/p>\n
2007 | Pick No. 214 | Chris Denman | T | Fresno State<\/p>\n
2006 | Pick No. 244 | Tim Massaquoi | TE | Michigan<\/p>\n
2006 | Pick No. 241 | Charles Bennett | DE | Clemson<\/p>\n
2006 | Pick No. 235 | Justin Phinisee | CB | Oregon<\/p>\n
2005 | Pick No. 253 | J.R. Russell | WR | Louisville<\/p>\n
2005 | Pick No. 231 | Hamza Abdullah | S | Washington State<\/p>\n
2005 | Pick No. 225 | Paris Warren | WR | Utah<\/p>\n
2005 | Pick No. 221 | Rick Razzano | FB | Mississippi<\/p>\n
2004 | Pick No. 252 | Lenny Williams | CB | Southern<\/p>\n
2004 | Pick No. 228 | Casey Cramer | FB | Dartmouth<\/p>\n
2004 | Pick No. 206 | Mark Jones | WR | Tennessee<\/p>\n
2002 | Pick No. 255 | Zack Quaccia | C | Stanford<\/p>\n
2002 | Pick No. 254 | Aaron Lockett | WR | Kansas State<\/p>\n
2002 | Pick No. 251 | Tracey Wistrom | TE | Nebraska<\/p>\n
2002 | Pick No. 233 | Tim Wansley | CB | Georgia<\/p>\n
2001 | Pick No. 234 | Joe Tafoya | DE | Arizona<\/p>\n
2001 | Pick No. 223 | Than Merrill | S | Yale<\/p>\n
2001 | Pick No. 205 | Daunta\u00e9 Finger | TE | North Carolina<\/p>\n
2000 | Pick No. 234 | Joe Hamilton | QB | Georgia Tech<\/p>\n
1999 | Pick No. 240 | Darnell McDonald | WR | Kansas State<\/p>\n
1999 | Pick No. 233 | Autry Denson | RB | Notre Dame<\/p>\n
1999 | Pick No. 226 | Robert Hunt | G | Virginia<\/p>\n
1998 | Pick No. 212 | Chance McCarty | DE | TCU<\/p>\n
1997 | Pick No. 209 | Anthony DeGrate | DT | Stephen F. Austin<\/p>\n
1996 | Pick No. 221 | Reggie Rusk | CB | Kentucky<\/p>\n
1995 | Pick No. 227 | Jeffrey Rodgers | DE | Texas A&M-Kingsville<\/p>\n
1995 | Pick No. 215 | Steve Ingram | G | Maryland<\/p>\n
1994 | Pick No. 200 | Jim Pyne | C | Virginia Tech<\/p>\n
1993 | Pick No. 176 | Tyree Davis | WR | Central Arkansas<\/p>\n
1992 | Pick No. 184 | Ken Swilling | S | Georgia Tech<\/p>\n
1991 | Pick No. 174 | Calvin Tiggle | LB | Georgia Tech<\/p>\n
1990 | Pick No. 171 | Donnie Gardner | DE | Kentucky<\/p>\n
1988 | Pick No. 167 | Kerry Goode | RB | Alabama<\/p>\n
1987 | Pick No. 190 | Harry Swayne | T | Rutgers<\/p>\n
1987 | Pick No. 169 | Curt Jarvis | DT | Alabama<\/p>\n
1985 | Pick No. 176 | Mike Prior | S | Illinois State<\/p>\n
1984 | Pick No. 169 | Jay Carroll | TE | Minnesota<\/p>\n
1983 | Pick No. 185 | Weldon Ledbetter | RB | Oklahoma<\/p>\n
1982 | Pick No. 185 | Tom Morris | S | Michigan State<\/p>\n
1980 | Pick No. 186 | Jim Leonard | C | Santa Clara<\/p>\n
1976 | Pick No. 183 | Parnell Dickinson | QB | Mississippi Valley State<\/p>\n
– Of the 63 players the Buccaneers have drafted with a seventh-round pick so far, 33 went on to play at least one regular-season game with the team. Of those 33, 16 also started at least one game. The Bucs’ seventh-round pick in 2025, wide receiver Tez Johnson, played in 16 games and made eight starts as a rookie and was a legitimately significant part of the offense for much of the season, finishing with 28 receptions for 322 yards and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n
– Florida State LB Dekoda Watson has tallied the most games played for the Buccaneers among the team’s all-time seventh-round picks, with 60. Watson played four seasons with the team (and another six with six other clubs) and was a core special teams player during his tenure. Stanford’s Erik Lorig, who was Watson’s draft mate in 2010, is next on the list with 56 games played for Tampa Bay, which is tied with Santa Clara center Jim Leonard from the 1980 draft for second.<\/p>\n
– Virginia Tech C Jim Pyne, a 1994 seventh-rounder, leads this group of 63 with 38 starts as a Buccaneer. Alabama DT Curt Jarvis is just behind with 36 starts after he was taken in the seventh round in 1987. Lorig is third with 25.<\/p>\n
– Lorig is one of two Buccaneers seventh-rounders who eventually switched positions while playing in Tampa. Lorig was drafted as a defensive end and played that position as a rookie but switched to fullback the next season and ended up making 23 starts over the 2011-13 campaigns. Harry Swayne, who the Bucs nabbed out of Rutgers in the seventh round in 1987, played two seasons as a defensive end before switching to offensive tackle. Though he remained in a reserve role for the Bucs for the next two seasons, he would go on to a 15-year NFL career that included 110 starts on the offensive line for four other teams.<\/p>\n
– Houston ILB Grant Stuard was “Mr. Irrelevant” in the 2021 draft as the 259th and final player selected. He played for one season for the Buccaneers on special teams before being traded to Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
– The Buccaneers made five seventh-round selections over the 2009-10 drafts combined \u2013 Lorig, Watson, S Cody Grimm, CB E.J. Biggers and WR Sammie Stroughter \u2013 and all five of them not only made the active roster but spent multiple seasons with the team, saw action in at least 23 games and made at least four starts. Those five combined to play in 217 games and make 71starts as Buccaneers.<\/p>\n
– In stark contrast, the Buccaneers made a whopping 20 seventh-round picks from 2001 through 2007 and only seven of them played even a single game for Tampa Bay. Only one of those 20 \u2013 Georgia CB Tim Wansley, taken in the 2002 draft \u2013 started a single game for the Bucs, as he opened six of the 13 games in which he appeared. Only two of those 20, Wansley and Tennessee WR\/KR Mark Jones (2004 draft) played 10 or more games for Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
– Cody Grimm, the Virginia Tech safety drafted in the seventh round in 2010, is the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Russ Grimm, who played on Washington’s vaunted offensive line for 12 years. Grimm, who notched a pick-six in a narrow Bucs win in Cincinnati during his rookie season, was also on the Buccaneers’ coaching staff from 2019-21.<\/p>\n
– The only quarterback ever drafted by the Buccaneers in the seventh round to make a start for the team was Mississippi Valley State’s Parnell Dickinson, drafted in 1976. Dickinson appeared in eight total games and became just the second quarterback ever to make a start for Tampa Bay after veteran Steve Spurrier opened the first five contests of the 1976 season. Georgia Tech QB Joe Hamilton, drafted in 2000, played in just one game and didn’t throw a pass, but he was on the Buccaneers’ 2002 Super Bowl-winning roster, on injured reserve.<\/p>\n
– The most common positions at which the Buccaneers have used a seventh-round pick arecornerback and wide receiver, with eight selections each. Running back, tight end and defensive end have all had seven each. The Bucs have yet to take either a punter or a kicker in the seventh round.<\/p>\n
– Alabama and Georgia Tech have tied for the most players selected by Tampa Bay in the seventh round, producing three each. Kansas State, Kentucky, Oregon, Stanford, Virginia and Virginia Tech have produced two each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NOTE: This article was originally published in April of 2023 and has been updated to include draft results…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[54521,589,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-232641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-featured","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}