The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed sixth-year quarterback Baker Mayfield to set up a competition between him and third-year holdover Kyle Trask for their starting job under center. Mayfield arrives in Tampa after four seasons with the Cleveland Browns and a 2022 campaign split between the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams. He originally entered the NFL as the very first pick in the 2018 draft.
Assuming Mayfield sees the field for the Buccaneers this fall – a solid assumption – he will become the sixth player who was taken first overall in the NFL Draft to suit up for the franchise, but just the second one who was not drafted by the team. How quickly could you name all six? Here, I’ll list them in chronological order, beginning with the first college draft pick the Bucs ever made:
– 1976 – DE Lee Roy Selmon. The expansion Buccaneers started the ’76 draft with the Oklahoma star, and that remains one of the most astute selections in team history. Selmon is the team’s all-time leader in sacks and he was the first Tampa Bay player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
– 1977 – RB Ricky Bell. Selmon was a star from the get-go but the Bucs’ expansion roster as a whole was largely devoid of talent. After the ’76 squad went 0-14 it was right back in the driver’s seat for the next draft. The Bucs landed Bell, who became the first 1,000-yard rusher in team history and a star in the 1979 playoffs. His career, and life, was tragically cut short by illness.
– 1987 – QB Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time the Buccaneers invested a first-overall pick in a quarterback, and they got the Miami star who would go on to have a 21-year career in which he threw for more than 46,000 yards. The first six were in Tampa.
– 2000 – WR Keyshawn Johnson. After an incredible defensive performance in the NFC Championship Game in 1999 wasn’t enough to get the Bucs to their first Super Bowl, the team made a dramatic trade, sending a pair of first-round picks to the Jets for the receiver taken with the first pick of the 1996 draft. Johnson spent four seasons in Tampa, eclipsed 1,000 yards twice and was the leading pass-catcher for the 2002 Super Bowl team.
– 2015 – QB Jameis Winston. The Bucs took another shot at the quarterback position with a first-overall pick and got the Florida State star who would spend five seasons in Tampa and leave as the team’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdown passes. The Buccaneers turned to Tom Brady at the end of…
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