The Tampa Bay Buccaneers pressured Jordan Love seven times on Sunday and never sacked him, according to PFF. They lost 17-14, fell to 0-4 for their worst start since 2013 and have six sacks in four games. All four losses have been by one score.
That’s the problem NFL Draft on SI’s Justin Melo went after in his latest 2027 mock draft, which has Tampa Bay picking third. Melo wrote that head coach Todd Bowles’ pass rush hasn’t been up to its usual standard, and he gave the Buccaneers the player he has as the top edge rusher in the class, Texas’ Colin Simmons.
Why Colin Simmons fits the Buccaneers
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Tampa Bay tried to fix this in April. The Buccaneers took Rueben Bain Jr. with the 15th pick, but he has been slowed by a sprained AC joint and a groin injury and doesn’t have a sack. David Walker leads the team with two. No one else has more than one, and Yaya Diaby managed one pressure on 20 pass-rush snaps against Green Bay, according to PFF.
Simmons has produced since he got to Austin. He had nine sacks in 2024, when he was the national freshman of the year, then led the SEC with 12 in 2025 and was a second-team All-American. He has 7.5 through four games this season, 5.5 of them against Tennessee on Sept. 26, for 28.5 in his career.
PFF’s charting is even kinder. It credited Simmons with 10 pressures against Tennessee, a career high, along with six sacks, a half-sack more than the official total. PFF has him at 18 pressures and a 90.5 pass-rush grade for the season, which ranks fifth among Power Four edge defenders. He’s also the No. 1 edge defender in Athlon Sports’ rankings.
Size is the one question. Texas lists Simmons at 6-foot-3 and 246 pounds, light for an every-down edge defender, so teams will want to see how he holds up against the run. It hasn’t affected Melo’s ranking. He has Simmons as the first edge rusher off the board, one pick ahead of South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart, who goes fourth to the Chargers.
Edge also makes sense because of what Tampa Bay doesn’t need. Baker Mayfield, who is out with a dislocated thumb, signed a three-year extension in September, so quarterback isn’t the priority. Athlon Sports’ Luke Easterling wrote this week that the Buccaneers’ problems run deeper than one position. Even so, an edge rusher with Simmons’ production next to a healthy Bain would give Bowles’ defense the pass rush it has been missing.
