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It’s that time of year when teams begin meeting with and studying players at their pro days. It’s basically Version 2 of the combine.
Earlier this week, the Bucs were at N.C. State’s Pro Day for Bradley Chubb. In a video of Patriot’s head coach Bill Belichick instructing Chubb during a drill, general manager Jason Licht can be seen in the background observing.
At Florida State’s Pro Day, Licht was doing much of the same. And in the Twitter video below, you can see him closely watching safety Derwin James.
Derwin James crushing it right in front of #Bucs GM Jason Licht at #FSU Pro Day @SpecSports360 @BN9 @MyNews13 #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/BGzLY2EfKn
— Rishi Barran (@RishiBarran) March 20, 2018
This kind of stuff happens every year. So that’s not really news.
What is news is the scoop that FSU women’s basketball play-by-play broadcaster Ariya Massoudi got from Tuesday’s Pro Day.
Derwin James told me NFL teams have been telling him anywhere from No. 5 to No. 15. The Buccaneers were giving him some extra attention today. May have a real shot at going to them with the 7th overall pick. #FSU
— Ariya Massoudi (@AriyaMassoudi) March 20, 2018
Who the Bucs select at No. 7 obviously depends on the draft grades they have on each player. Drafting James seventh overall would not be a bad pick. But after this past weekend’s Colts-Jets trade, Tampa Bay will have much higher odds at selecting someone ranked a bit higher — like Bradley Chubb or Quenton Nelson.
Granted, we don’t know where the Bucs are going to go. We don’t know what grades they have on players. So if they were paying special attention to James during his Pro Day, are they strongly considering drafting him, seeing if he grades out high enough? Or are they considering trading down a few spots and drafting him a bit later?
We still have a bit over a month left before we find out.