April Draft Predictions (NEW UPDATE! 3/25/2010)
Compensatory picks have been set. The Bucs received one comp pick late in the 7th Round. This is actually good news. It means the team can draft best available USF Bulls player before they get snatched away by UFA signings!
UPDATED comments in Dark Gold with each Analysis.

First-Round

 3  

Needs

 DT, WR, S  

Analysis

The Bucs may look like they're sitting pretty at the 3rd overall spot on the draft, but there's complexity to the situation. The team has a dire need at three key spots - Defensive Tackle, Wide Receiver, and anything for the secondary but more likely Safety - so there's debate there on who to take. Adding to the confusion is the team drafting at the top: The St. Louis Rams have more needs than the Bucs but are in better position to take a player at the top need - DT - that could hurt the Bucs' odds of nabbing one. As it is, there's two great DT prospects in this draft: Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy. The Bucs would vastly improve with either. The Rams and the team at the second spot The Lions both would improve with them as well. The Lions are a no-brainer: their defense was hideous last season and a game-breaking DT fixes that problem. They're gonna take one of them. So it's all up to the Rams to determine where the other DT goes. If the Rams go for DT, the Bucs have to look at another spot to fill: If the Rams go for another need spot at QB, then the Bucs will have a great opening to the draft.
In case that both Suh and McCoy are gone, the Bucs have two other spots to consider: WR and Safety. Receivers are a tad prima donnish and you figure GMs will be relunctant to take one too high. There's also some bad buzz about the top talented guy - Dez Bryant - meaning the Bucs might want to wait on getting a WR. This means Safety. The Bucs will luck out in that there's a Safety with good buzz on the boards: Eric Berry. His name's getting mentioned on par to the likes of Ed Reed and Troy Polumalu. If neither Suh or McCoy are there at Three, expect Berry to go to the Bucs within 10 seconds of the clock starting.
As it is, I predict the Rams will draft a QB as 1) that's the flashy pick to take and 2) they do need a QB. That means the Lions will take a DT... buzz is currently on McCoy, but Suh had a better Combine so I figure Detroit will take Suh. That leaves McCoy.
NOTE: I post on a website called Buc'Em, and I had a Mockery draft which opened with me picking an OT to take care of protecting our rookie QB. After a healthy round of debate with the other fans, I've changed my mind about needing an OT... at least this high in the draft. A decent RT-type in the mid-rounds would be choice though.
UPDATE: More buzz about the draft is that the Rams are leaning heavily toward drafting QB Bradford. This guarantees either top-rated DT (Suh or McCoy) will slip to the Bucs now.

PICK:

 DT Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma

Second-Round

 35, 42  

Needs

 WR, S, CB  

Analysis

 The extra pick in the second round comes with a lot of tragedy to it: Bucs traded it for DE Gaines Adams to Chicago. Adams subsequently died from what seem to be heart problems. 'Tis the pity of life that tragedy can happen...
Since I had the DT need taken first, that leaves the next two needs for filling: Wide Receiver and Safety. Given the depth of the draft at these two spots, the Bucs can luck out again and get two talented guys who could slip out of the First Round. Above all the spot at Safety. The way the draft is playing out, there's a good chance the Safety from South Florida, Nate Allen, can show up at the 35th spot. Allen's not as great a tackler as the top two-three Safeties, but he's good enough and can cover the backfield well. The tricky thing is at WR: the way the Bucs are facing FA and draft markets, they need to get someone who can get downfield well and CATCH well. One possibility is Mardy Gilyard: he's sure-handed and plays for the ball.
The best news about this? By picking Allen the Bucs will resolve my "Draft USF" fix real good...
UPDATE: Originally I had the Bucs take S Nate Allen even though he's more FS than SS, but given his tackling skills I figured he could shift up front. But with the FA signing of Sean Jones to take care of the SS spot, the need isn't there now. As a result, taking care of the CB spot (or the DE spot) is more feasible. I had the CB taken in the Third Round, but we can bump up here for a better player: the OTHER Alabama corner in the draft, Kareem Jackson... WR can still go here with Gilyard, no change there.

PICK:

 CB Kareem Jackson, Alabama

PICK:

 WR Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati

Third-Round

 67  

Needs

 CB, DE, S, WR  

Analysis

 Past the top three needs - DT, WR and S - the Bucs still have some holes but the problems at those spots are not as severe. Primarily at CB and DE: the starting talent at both spots are pretty good (Barber and Talib at corner, Wilkerson and White at the line) but the bench and developmental talent are... well, lacking. DE is in slightly better shape, this means the Bucs should consider a diamond-in-the-rough corner at this spot to take care of developmental needs.
One possibility still available by the 3rd Round is Javier Arenas: he's short but plays hard and fits well into a Cover-2 scheme. Scouting compares him to Ronde Barber, which means he ought to fit into that role if/when trained up properly. The lack of height is the only factor working against him.
UPDATE: With Corner taken in the Third, the need for DE can be fixed here. Maybe even another WR to handle depth needs, given the questionable talent we have. Safety depth and development of talent is also there, although Sabby does better as a back-up and Special Teamer than a starter. But let's focus on DE. There's a list of Jermaine Cunningham (Florida), Brandon Lang (Troy), and George Selvie (USF! USF! USF!) Hmm, guess whom I'm taking. :)

PICK:

 DE George Selvie, South Florida

Fourth-Round

 101  

Needs

 DE, WR, OT  

Analysis

 At this point, the Bucs can really go in any real direction they feel: everyone at this point is going to be developmental talents and there's a lot of spots where they need to train up. Except for one thing.
The team's current Right Tackle. Trueblood. He may be an intense blocker, but he's also penalty-prone and has worse anger management skills than I do. He was the primary reason I was plotting on the Bucs using their top pick at Numero Tres to snag best available OT. My fellow fans on Buc'Em however pointed out that Right Tackles are at better value in the later rounds. Well, here we are in the later rounds and now is a good time to get an RT.
Scouting has a good one that can be had in the Fourth: Kyle Calloway, senior player with size and strength. "Football smart" and "Plays with awareness" are mentioned. Good enough for me.

PICK:

 OT Kyle Calloway, Iowa

Fifth-Round

 153  

Needs

 DE, WR, FB, CB, S  

Analysis

 This is really the point the Bucs need to get serious about getting good long-term developmental talent, dammit! Ahem.
From this point the Bucs can take anyone: as long as the four rounds go the way I hope they go, I'm calling this a good draft. From here on, we're looking at serious developmental and special teamer players.
As mentione, our starting DEs are good. The bench does need some evaluation, though, and anything to help with the D-line this season is a plus. Interestingly, I mentioned earlier about my "Draft USF" urges getting fulfilled with S Allen: there's a DE that the scouts think will be sitting here in George Selvie, who I think is better than the scouts are viewing him and could well be a steal here.
But let's be fair: ought to mix up the draft a bit. I'd be perfectly content if someone like Oregon's Tukuafu goes here: he's someone with good speed off the edge. But I'd be thinking of Selvie... Not that there's anything wrong with that!
UPDATE: Having taken care of my USF fix and the need for DE with drafting Selvie in the Third, one thing to look for here is taking care of Safety depth. There's a decent list of SS types between Barry Church (Toledo), Darrin Stewart (S Carolina), Harry Coleman (LSU), and Jon Amaya (Nevada). Thinking we could get Church (and if not work the list down from there).

PICK:

 S Barry Church, Toledo

Sixth-Round

 172  

Needs

 FB, CB, S, WR  

Analysis

 Part of me is wondering if we need a low-end Safety added to the roster, or a raw unheralded WR instead. But by this point in the draft you can't consider either of them as a starter, unless you get someone who really fits whatever system you're plugging into the team. Still, not a good option by this point. One other thing to consider is the rushing offense: while the RBs we have are borderline-great/very good, they still need decent blockers to open up the lanes. While FBs aren't as valuable as they used to be, there's still a need for one, and this is a good spot in the draft to find one.
NOTE: I need to double-check, but there might be an extra pick this round... if so, I'll take care of it once the Compensatory picks are announced.
UPDATE: Nope no extra picks here in the Sixth. We got 4 (!!!) in the Seventh though. I do figure on 1-3 of those 7th Rounders to be used as Trade Bait some point this draft.

PICK:

 FB Jack Corcoran, Rutgers

Seventh-Round

 210, 217, 232, 253  

Needs

 Any except QB  

Analysis

 I'm leaving a lot of empty tab rows here on the off-chance of how our Compensatory picks get played out. If the team gets any. See where it goes from there.
As mentioned so many other times before, anyone drafted at this point is pretty much training camp / Practice Squad fodder. And I'm still miffed the Bucs didn't use a pick on WR Taurus Johnson last year. Or even snag him in UFA period right after the draft. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
UPDATE: We had three already, two via trades and one extra as Compensatory (253). We have to use the 253rd, so that does free up those other 7th Rounders to be useful as Trade Bait (a team running out of drafts but seeing a must-want guy on the boards would be interested in these). As mentioned for the most part anything except QB can go here in this round: I won't set aside any "traded" picks as they are improbable to determine at this time. By this point I'll be too busy typing up my review anyhow. :)

PICK:

 S David Bryant, Northern Illinois

PICK:

 WR Juamorris Stewart, Southern A&M

PICK:

 ILB Josh Hull, Penn State

PICK:

 C Kyle Mutcher, Weber State

This will be Raheem Morris' second draft. There's no longer the distraction of wasting the First Rounder on a Quarterback, meaning that this year he and GM Dominick better focus on filling a position of ACTUAL NEED (Grrrrrrrrrr!). Good news is, the Bucs can take care of all three needs (DT, WR, and S) with key players within the first three picks. The trick is, doing it in the proper order, and with picks that make sense...

Past this there's not much else to say except SEE YA AT THE DRAFT PARTY.

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