As of yesterday, draft picks will not be worked out by teams, nor will they be visiting them. The Bucs will use the next week to fine tune their draft board and use all the information they have to prepare for the draft, but they won't be getting any new information. These visits aren't all that meaningful - some of it is misinformation and smoke screens, in other cases it's prep work in case these players drop far in the draft, and in other cases they genuinely want to know more about a prospect they're high on. But if a player hasn't visited that doesn't mean the Bucs aren't interested. It may simply mean they're confident in their evaluation of the player.
Still, it's interesting to look at the list of players who have visited the Bucs. Pewter Report has done a great job keeping track of that, hit the link to see the full list. Some notable names on that list include LB Akeem Ayers, DE Ryan Kerrigan, DE Cameron Jordan, DE Allen Bailey and DE/OLB Justin Houston. The most surprising players on that list have to be WR Leonard Hankerson, CB Prince Amukamara, RB Mark Ingram and OT Tyron Smith. Hankerson doesn't seem to fit the Bucs needs, and Amukamara, Ingram and Smith are unlikely to be on the board once the Bucs pick. Some notable absentees include CB Jimmy Smith, DE Aldon Smith, DE Da'Quan Bowers and LB Martez Wilson. Hit the jump to see a position-by-position breakdown of the visits, and my thoughts on what that means.
One quick note: I counted the hybrid linebacker/defensive end prospects as defensive ends.
DE: 7 visits, 1 workout
WR: 5 visits, 2 workouts
LB: 3 visits, 1 workouts
CB: 3 visits, 0 workouts
RB: 2 visits, 1 workout
OT: 2 visits, 0 workouts
TE: 1 visit, 0 workouts
S: 0 visits, 1 workout
Lots of Defensive Ends visiting, and that's obviously not a surprise. It's by far the biggest need for the Bucs. A fair number of linebackers visiting also makes sense. But what is a surprise is the number of wide receivers that have visited the Bucs. With Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn the Bucs have two very promising young receivers. Dezmon Briscoe showed some skils in limited time last year, and looks like a big receiver who can box out defenders in the passing game. The Bucs also have Michael Spurlock and Sammie Stroughter, so they're not lacking in contributors at the position. They could use a deep threat at wide receiver, but the Bucs have brought in a lot of different WRs. It seems the Bucs aren't lying when they say they want to build around Freeman, although when it's all said and done this may just be a smokescreen.
I'm also surprised the Bucs didn't bring in more offensive linemen. Two tackles and no guards? The offensive line wasn't horrible last year but it can certainly be upgraded, especially with Davin Joseph scheduled to be a free agent. Still, they may feel they don't really need to know much more about the prospects in the draft.