POD Community Mock: With the 19th pick, the Buccaneers select…

With the 19th pick in the POD Community Mock Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have selected…

The Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft rolls on, and at pick 19 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the clock.

It’s been an interesting resurgence for the Bucs ever since Tom Brady took them to a Super Bowl. With the ressurection of Baker Mayfield’s career, Tampa has been relevant, but not quite good enough to be a true contender. Riding an impressive offense, the Bucs went 10-7 last year, but with a new offensive coordinator, there is some trepidation heading into 2025.

Acting as Buccaneers general manager in our Community Mock is Pride of Detroit long-time commenter Maizeandbluewahoo. Before we get into their pick, make sure you catch up on the previous 18 picks in our 2025 POD Community Mock Draft Tracker.

Now, with the 19th pick in our POD Community Mock, the Buccaneers have selected…

Jihaad Campbell, linebacker out of Alabama.

Heres’ Maizeandbluewahoo explaining the pick:

What jumps out at you when you study Tampa’s roster is a lack of things that jump out at you. Like many teams drafting in the bottom half, the Bucs don’t have a particular gaping hole that badly needs to be filled to make them a true contender. That generally means a BPA approach.

However, they also have some places where the edges are fraying. They need an upgrade on the interior o-line, and it’s fair to wonder: for how much longer can Mike Evans be boringly but immensely productive? Most mock drafters give the Bucs a defender, but there are reasons that upgrading the offense could make sense.

The biggest pain point is at ILB, though. The Bucs favor a 3-4 defense, and have targeted the OLB spots in free agency, re-signing Anthony Nelson and adding Haason Reddick. But the interior is up in the air. Tampa allowed too many passing yards last year, and that’s in large part due to weak pass coverage at ILB. A 3-4 defense must have excellent pass-covering ILBs, because the OLBs are often hands-down players, too big to cover a speedy tight end. Lavonte David has lost a step or four at age 35, and the Bucs didn’t bring back J.J. Russell (as of this writing), choosing to replace him with Anthony Walker, Jr. on a cheap one-year deal. David, too, is signed only for 2025. Walker is a Band-Aid, nothing more, and David isn’t what he used to be.

Fortunately, the draft board dropped an easy replacement in the Bucs’ laps. Jihaad Campbell is everything you could ask for in a 3-4 inside linebacker. Though he’s constantly praised for his versatility, he’s too small to line up on the edge for Tampa, but it doesn’t matter. He’s an instant upgrade for the Buccaneers’ pass coverage, and as a pass-rusher he’s best used as a gap blitzer rather than a straight-up edge rusher—exactly how Tampa would use him. Here at #19, he’s also a candidate for BPA—he’s slipped just a little from many projections, but he’s not slipping any further than this. Tampa gets the perfect alignment between need and BPA, and doesn’t need to overthink this pick.

Do you agree with this pick? Grade the selection below, and share your overall thoughts in the comment section at the bottom of the page.