The week leading up to Fourth of July and the nation's 250th anniversary is underway, and so is our annual tradition on Buccaneers.com of using the week to debate a handful of topics regarding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their upcoming season.

Today's discussion is purely fantasy. While some of our predictions in the other four debates may come true (and hopefully a couple of them will!), these will not. You see, our idea today centers around the hypothetical notion that we can just go out and swipe a player off the roster of another team in the NFC South. Who could we grab off the Falcons, Panthers or Saints that would do the most to increase the Bucs' success rate in 2026? There are a lot of exciting options. Staff Writer Reporter Brianna Dix, Buccaneers.com Contributor Gabriel Kahaian and I settled on three of them.

Since this is just a fanciful notion, we're also not going to factor in such complications as salaries or cap hits or remaining contract. Heck, one of our selections below just agreed on a new three-year, $54 million extension with his current team; that would not work if we tried to shove it into the Bucs' salary cap. With cost being no obstacle and only considering what could happen in 2026, we have made our stealthy plans of thievery. Don't tell any of your friends in Atlanta, Charlotte or New Orleans.

Here is the full schedule for this week's Point-Counterpoint series:

Monday, June 29: Which Buccaneer will make the biggest leap in 2026?

Tuesday, June 30: What player would you steal from another NFC South roster?

Wednesday, July 1: Which Buccaneer could win a major NFL award in 2026?

Thursday, July 2: What specific statistical goal would you like to see the Bucs achieve in 2025?

Friday, July 3: What is your prediction for a surprising statistical achievement for one or more Buccaneers?

To some extent, our choices were driven by the Buccaneers' current roster. Even if you're a big Bryce Young fan, there would be no reason to steal him since we aren't going to be displacing Baker Mayfield as our quarterback. Kelvin Banks had a great rookie season in New Orleans but the Bucs are pretty much set at left tackle with All-Pro Tristan Wirfs. For the most part, we're looking at players who could fit into rotations at positions where multiple players get on the field, but we admittedly had to stretch the point a bit with some of our picks.

So who are the targets of our theft? Let's get on with the confessions. Since we are not going to be duplicating answers, order matters, and today's order is Gabe going first, Bri second and me third. We'll rotate that order from one Roundtable to the next. Who are you going after, Gabe?

Gabriel Kahaian: Panthers CB Jaycee Horn

You know the saying, "you can never have too many corners?" That is an idiom I swear by and the exact thought process I had when selecting Carolina Panthers' Jaycee Horn for this prompt.

Horn filled up the stat sheet in 2025, posting eight passes defended and five interceptions for the NFC South champions. He tied for second in the NFL in interceptions and earned his second ProBowl selection in the process. Horn's 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame and wingspan allows him to suffocate in press coverage. His proficiency in one-on-one coverage stifles receivers right at the line, creating an advantage the moment the ball is snapped. Horn is also coming off his best season as a ballhawk, doubling his career interception total in just one season. Adding him to the roster would provide the Bucs with a legitimate playmaker on the outside.

It is difficult to talk about how good of a player Horn is without mentioning his injury history. He has participated in only 53 of a possible 85 regular season games in his career, missing 29 within his first three seasons. Horn has been in better form in his past two campaigns, appearing in 15 games in 2024 and 16 in 2025. However, he did have to be removed from Carolina's Wild Card game against the Los Angeles Rams after a rough collision with Puka Nacua. Even with the evidence above, I believe that Horn's talent has too much upside to overlook and you can rely on his past two seasons of healthy play to continue.

Another "downside" of adding Horn would be that you would have to essentially take away snaps from the Buccaneers' developing sophomore corners Jacob Parrish and Benjamin Morrison. I would argue that is the best possible problem to have in a secondary - too much talent. Injuries are as unpredictable as they are ruthless. Stacking the room with quality players is a great strategy and Horn profiles as far more than that. He is a difference maker.

There were some other quality players at other positions that I passed over for this Roundtable. I wanted to make sure the Buccaneers were as well-rounded as possible heading into 2026. Tampa Bay addressed their front seven mightily this offseason and I think the offense is already well-constructed. I wanted to give a boost to the secondary and I think Horn more than accomplishes just that.

Brianna Dix: Falcons RB Bijan Robinson

If I had the chance to steal a player from an NFC South roster, I would snag Falcons' running back Bijan Robinson to create an embarrassment of riches in Tampa Bay's running back room with Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell. As offensive coordinator for the Falcons the previous two seasons, Zac Robinson maximized Robinson's ability in Atlanta and the dynamic star would help fortify the Bucs' offense with his versatility.

Robinson coached the talented running back to consecutive Pro Bowl seasons in 2024-25 and over the course of those two campaigns, his units finished in the top-10 in rushing yards per game (128.1, eighth) and yards per rush (4.5, ninth). Robinson, who is the Falcons' offensive prized possession, has agile feet, the ability to stack moves and alter his rush track, along with a low center of gravity. Robinson pairs lethal jump cuts with elite contact balance to bounce off tackles and has top-end speed. He finishes runs with power and has an upside as a pass-catcher, effective on screens and wheel routes. Robinson would add another dimension to the Bucs' ground attack and would be a weapon that defensive coordinators have to account for.

Plus, having such a stacked running back room would allow the Bucs' offense to continue to run on all cylinders if any of those backs had to miss time, as Irving did for a big chunk of 2025.

Scott Smith: Falcons TE Kyle Pitts

For the record, my pick was going to be Horn before Gabe snagged him. And I don't just know that idiom, it has become my personal mantra. But with that option off the board, and not wanting to duplicate the cornerback heist with somebody like A.J. Terrell or Kool-Aid McKinstry, I'll pivot to offense and go with Kyle Pitts.

I will, however, parrot one of Bri's thoughts and note that my player thrived under Zac Robinson's direction last year and I would expect Robinson to get the most out of him in Tampa, too. After a phenomenal 2021 rookie season in which he cracked the 1,000-yard barrier, Pitts was seen as a mild disappointment when he failed to hit 700 yards in any of his next three campaigns. However, he found his stride again in 2025 and caught 88 passes for 928 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. He was second in the NFL among tight end in both receptions and receiving yards and he was a big-time chain-mover, as his catches produced 51 first downs, also second among tight ends.

I know the Buccaneers already like their tight end room, but I don't think they would have trouble fitting Pitts in. I'm sure in this scenario that Cade Otton would still see a huge amount of playing time because the coaches trust him so implicitly to do every part of his job well, and he did have 59 catches in each of the last two seasons. I suspect we're going to see more multiple-TE packages under Robinson's direction, and there are plenty of intriguing options to pair with Otton, including Payne Durham, Ko Kieft, Devin Culp and rookie Bauer Sharp. Kieft is likely to continue to be primarily a blocker, a roll at which he excels and is a tone-setter, but any of the others could emerge as productive pass-catcher. That said, those four players have a combined 31 NFL receptions so far, so we are dealing with a little projection there. Pitts, obviously, has already proven he can produce at a high level. Putting him and Otton on the field together would create serious problems for opposing defenses.

Also, there is addition (for the Bucs) by subtraction (for the Falcons) here. Not only does Atlanta lose one of its trio of top-level weapons, all picked in the top 10 of a draft, in Pitts, Robinson and wide receiver Drake London, but they also lose a certified Buc-killer. I'm sure none of us has been able to erase from our memories the 11-catch, 166-yard, three-touchdown performance he cranked out in a win at Raymond James Stadium last December. It was literally one of the best statistical outings ever by an NFL tight end. In his young career, Pitts has averaged 78.6 yards per game against the Buccaneers and has scored six times in eight outings. I'm honestly making this pick as much for the relief of getting him off Tampa Bay's schedule twice a year as for what he can do for the Bucs' offense.