When discussing the potential draft strategies and possible prospect targets for an NFL team, we often refer to the team's "draft board." That would be a comprehensive display in the draft room of hundreds of potential draftees, arranged in some way to display which prospects the team likes the most.
The reality is, it's more than one "draft board." For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (and probably all the other NFL teams), there are multiple arrangements of prospects on the walls of the draft room, serving different purposes. As explained by General Manager Jason Licht at his annual pre-draft press conference on Wednesday, the Buccaneers' main point of concentration during the draft is what he calls the "front board."
Each year, there are between 256 and 260 selections made in the NFL Draft, depending upon how many compensation picks are awarded and if any team has forfeited picks. This year, for the third spring in a row, there will be 257 players chosen. And for Licht and the Buccaneers, whose current selections range from number 15 to number 229, they hope they can make all of their picks from the front board.
What makes that interesting is that the Bucs front board won't have anywhere near 257 names on it. This underscores the differences in evaluations that exist from one team's draft room to the next. The existence of that front board doesn't mean that the Buccaneers will be right about every single evaluation and nail every draft pick, but it does mean they are very clear about the prospects they want to get.
"We narrow it down to about 150," Licht explained. "That's what we go off of and every year we always have players left. In fact, we have players left – and not very many, but two or three or four – and those are the ones we go hard after as undrafted free agents."
Licht noted that last year, two of the names that were still left on their front board at the end of the picks were Georgia State offensive tackle Benjamin Chukwuma and Marshall safety J.J. Roberts. The Bucs did indeed go hard after those two in what is often referred to as the "eighth round" of the draft, giving both undrafted players contracts with $300,000 guaranteed. That was as big of a guarantee as any team gave any undrafted free agent last year.
Chukwuma made the active roster and became the team's primary swing tackle, eventually making starts at both left and right tackle and more than holding his own. Roberts had essentially locked up a roster spot, as well, with a strong offseason and start to training camp, but ended up on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury in a joint practice in Pittsburgh. Licht referred to Roberts as "one to watch" this offseason.
That doesn't mean there are only 150 prospects this year the Bucs would be interested in getting on the roster. To fill out the rest of the undrafted rookie class, and maybe even find someone to take at number 229 if the front board is raided early, Licht and company can turn to their back board if necessary. Licht knows his ranked list will differ from that of his fellow GMs, and that's actually a source of joking between those decision-makers around the league.
"That's kind of the process that we work at," he said. "We call them back board guys, guys that didn't make the 150, and my peers and I – after we select picks – I like to shoot a text to some of them saying, 'Hey, you're killing our backboard.' That's a joke.
"We hope that we can get everybody – most of the players that we either sign or draft – from our front board."
The opportunity for the Bucs to land all their newcomers from their front list, as was essentially the case last year, lends credence to the comments general managers often make about their confidence that good players will be available in every round. Licht essentially said that again this year; the question was specifically about off-ball linebackers but it likely applies to the draft class as whole.
"There are some interesting players throughout the whole draft," said Licht. "We've looked at all of them and we're still doing some work."
With the draft now just one week away, there isn't too much work left to be done, but every team wants to be as thorough as possible. Licht and Head Coach Todd Bowles will put their heads together a few more times before next Thursday, but those draft boards (plural) are just about complete. That includes the all-important front board.
"I'd say it's about 95% set right now," said Licht. I think Coach and I will have a few more conversations at the end of this week and early next week, but I think we pretty much have it. There [are] just a few more things to talk about. We have a few visits today too. I mean, not that that really sets the board based on [if] you've visited with the guy, but sometimes it does. It's just a matter of rearranging a little bit here and there, putting one guy over another when we had some ties or we had some debates over it. It's pretty much set."
