Ideal team-prospect fits for the 2021 NFL Draft

NFL Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Levi Onwuzurike, IDL, Washington

Levi Onwuzurike

It’s the same story every year for the Super Bowl champions – other teams want a piece of that puzzle and the players are looking to sign big contracts.

The challenge now would be to bring the most crucial pieces back, and at the same time, be smart with their financial resources. According to overthecap.com, the Bucs have an effective cap space of just under $10 million. That calculation is based on the total cap being set at $180.5 million, which according to reports, could be five to ten million too low.

Still, with star players like Shaq Barrett, Lavonte David, Chris Godwin and others, it’s tough to imagine them being able to bring everybody back. But one of the names I could definitely see leaving in free agency is Ndamukong Suh.

He is really the wild-card here, as he could also easily sign a one-year minimal deal, if he envisions himself retiring soon and wants to earn another ring. But he is somebody they might need to replace. And when I look ahead to the NFL Draft, there’s a player I believe could fit perfectly in his spot.

Washington’s Levi Onwuzurike opted out of the 2020 season and played somewhat out of position the year before, as a shade nose mostly, where he actually more than held his own. Projecting him to the next level, I think, with probably the best get-off in this class to shoot upfield and be disruptive, he could be an excellent three-technique next to Vita Vea, who can deal with those double-teams inside.

He could help keep Tampa Bay the number one run defense. Maybe he could offer more of a dynamic skill-set on passing downs than Suh if he works with the rest of that D-line down in Tampa, as he is still a little raw in that department. Put him in Todd Bowles’ system and just let him attack, and he could become a problem, since they have the speed at the second level to clean up what he creates.