The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost more than a football game Sunday. A 23-16 loss to the Minnesota Vikings dropped them to 0-3, and Baker Mayfield dislocated his right thumb in the fourth quarter, knocking him out for at least three weeks.
If the 2027 NFL draft were held today, Tampa Bay would pick first overall, according to Tankathon’s current draft order. The Bucs are one of five 0-3 teams, and strength of schedule breaks the tie, with the easier slate picking first. Tampa Bay’s .460 mark is the lowest of the group, putting it ahead of Houston, Tennessee, the Los Angeles Chargers and Miami.
How the Buccaneers got to No. 1
It started with a 33-27 loss at Cincinnati in which the Bucs fumbled three times in the first half. A week later, Cleveland won 23-19 in Tampa after a 132-minute lightning delay.
Sunday might have been the most frustrating of the three. Minnesota got an 86-yard punt return touchdown from Myles Price in the first quarter, penalties wiped out plays including an 85-yard Chris Godwin touchdown, and Mayfield was sacked six times before he got hurt.
“It was a little bit of everything,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “We’ve got to see what the penalty situation looks like. We’ve got to see whether it was play-calling, quarterback, offensive line…it’s everybody included in that.”
Now undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels makes his first start Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.
What’s left on the Buccaneers’ schedule
Here’s the catch. Tampa Bay’s remaining opponents have a combined .405 winning percentage, the second-easiest remaining schedule in the NFL (and the easiest in the NFC). Only Jacksonville’s is softer.
All six NFC South games are still ahead, and Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans are each 1-2. The Bucs sit one game out of first place in the division despite being winless. Green Bay, Dallas and the Los Angeles Rams are 1-2 as well, and the Chargers are 0-3. Only Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore have winning records.
That makes the No. 1 spot a shaky one to hold. Luke Easterling’s latest 2027 mock draft for Athlon Sports, published when Tampa Bay was 0-2, had the Bucs at No. 10 taking Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons. Easterling suggested Simmons could eventually replace Yaya Diaby as a long-term pass rusher next to Rueben Bain Jr. Tankathon’s mock sends Simmons to Tampa Bay too, just nine picks earlier.
Safe to say, the next three games without Mayfield will decide whether the Bucs stay near the top of this list. His earliest possible return is Week 7 at Carolina.
Green Bay visits Raymond James Stadium at 1 p.m. ET Sunday.
