The Tampa Bay Buccaneers desperately need to address their pass rush prior to the 2026 season. The Bucs averaged just 2.2 sacks per game last season, which ranked 19th in the NFL. However, many of those sacks were the result of exotic blitzes; Tampa Bay had the sixth-highest blitz rate in the league (30.7%) as LB Lavonte David, LB SirVocea Dennis, CB Jacob Parrish, and S Tykee Smith combined for 10.5 sacks.
YaYa Diaby led the team with 7 sacks, but he was Tampa Bay’s only EDGE to top 3.0 sacks on the year. The Bucs’ biggest weakness is their pass rush, and it’s looking like they’ll try to address this glaring hole in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Buccaneers Must Address Pass Rush in 2026 NFL Draft
Many Bucs fans wanted the team to make a splashy acquisition this offseason such as trading for Maxx Crosby or signing Trey Hendrickson, but that didn’t happen. Crosby is staying with the Las Vegas Raiders (for now) and Hendrickson inked a deal with the Baltimore Ravens.
The Bucs signed EDGE Al-Quadin Muhammad away from the Detroit Lions on a one-year deal worth up to $6 million. The 30-year-old is coming off of an 11-sack season, but he totaled 15 sacks over the previous seven seasons, so there’s some concern that his career-year was a fluke and largely the result of playing alongside game-wrecker Aidan Hutchinson.
Regardless, Muhammad isn’t a long-term solution across from Diaby, so many expect the Bucs to address their biggest weakness early in the 2026 NFL Draft. In PFSN’s latest three-round 2026 NFL mock draft, Jacob Infante has the Bucs selecting Auburn EDGE Keldric Faulk in the first round.
“As of this writing, Haason Reddick is still a free agent. Even if they bring him back, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a lack of long-term answers along their defensive line, especially in their current group of edge rushers,” Infante wrote. “Keldric Faulk is a physical anomaly, standing 6’6″ and weighing 288 pounds, with long arms and a frame that carries his weight well.
“His size and length help him set the edge in run support, and his anchor is strong enough to stand his ground and plug up gaps up the middle. Faulk’s pass-rushing production dropped in 2025, but he still brings a high motor and impressive size-adjusted quickness to the table.”
Faulk is a bit of a polarizing pick among Bucs fans. On one hand, he has a ton of upside and all of the physical tools to develop into the team’s long-term answer at EDGE. On the other hand, he’s a project and Tampa Bay fans have a bit of PTSD when it comes to selecting boom-or-bust pass-rushers since EDGEs like Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Logan Hall, Chris Braswell, and Noah Spence didn’t pan out.
Faulk flashed exciting growth as a pass-rusher in 2024 en route to 7 sacks and 11 TFLs, but then that production stagnated in 2025 when he recorded just 2 sacks. Faulk’s run defense remained near-elite in 2025, and he’s shown he can reset the line, stack-and-shed blocks, and set a firm edge with his raw explosion, length, and size-defying leverage acquisition skills. However, his pass-rush plan and counters remain inconsistent, as does his lower-body power application and pad level farther into pass-rush reps.
Keldric Faulk’s NFL Scouting Report and Projection
NFL Draft analyst Ian Cummings is a fan of Faulk, but pointed out some of his flaws in his scouting report from PFSN’s NFL Mock Draft Simulator.
“Faulk possesses top-flight lean mass, length, and reach, and explosive, energized athleticism. His hyper-elite power profile, rare raw strength, and fast-striding pursuit speed make him a multiphase nightmare in theory, but his pass-rush projection has caused debate in the lead-up to the 2026 NFL Draft cycle.
“Faulk possesses astronomical two-phase upside and inbuilt alignment versatility, but in the pass-rush phase, he’s still a long way from realizing that potential. Purely from an archetypal standpoint, he’s not dissimilar from Mykel Williams, who went 11th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft.
“With Faulk, you’re gambling on the unrealized pass-rush upside, but can take comfort in his ready-made run defense profile.”
Faulk may be Tampa Bay’s best option if Jason Licht and Co. want to select an EDGE in the first round, although trading back and acquiring additional picks may be the best move if the front office isn’t sold on Faulk.
