Louisville football: Three enticing landing spots for Mekhi Becton

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Pick no. 14

As if the Buccaneers weren’t already having a dream off-season, imagine a player like Becton falling all the way into their laps.

Yet, that’s exactly what could happen should teams still have doubts in him entering Thursday night.

The likelihood of Becton falling out of the top ten is still probably slim, especially considering how much teams value tackles, and how rare Becton’s talent-level is.

Still, there are questions surrounding Becton like how raw his game is, what level of competition he has faced, and, most importantly, exactly what a flagged drug test does to his stock when there are a number of left tackles who are first round material in this draft.

Tampa Bay made the biggest acquisition of this offseason and perhaps any offseason in the last decade, when they landed the services of Tom Brady.

The Bucs, much like the Browns, have a wealth of talent, and now they want to protect it. It starts, obviously, with Brady behind center, but they also have emerging star Chris Godwin and top-five receiver Mike Evans in the fold. Oh yeah, and in the most predictable move since the Brady trade, New England tight end Rob Gronkowski is coming out of quasi-retirement and being traded from the Patriots to the Bucs to pair up with his old buddy Tampa Tom.

So, what’s missing for the Bucs? More than likely a running back if the dominos fall the way most expect them to on Thursday. But if they don’t, and Becton is still sitting there at No. 14, Tampa would almost have to take the guy who would immediately shore up its line.

With the addition of Brady, the Bucs are already a contender right away. However, Brady isn’t getting any younger, and he is the least mobile quarterback in the league. Every immobile quarterback needs a left tackle he can trust, and a Becton would be a gift that late in the draft.