The Tampa Bay Buccaneers do not need a defensive end, not really, and yet we’re seeing that choice pop up all over mock drafts and lists of top needs. Perhaps mostly because the Bucs still haven’t had a player with more than 10 sacks in a single season since Simeon Rice left.
Player needs are determined by a lot more than production, especially production of the sort that consists of a single, highly variable statistic. The Bucs did not have many sacks — in part because Robert Ayers missed four games, Jacquies Smith missed 15, and Noah Spence played with a shoulder injury for most of the season.