Buccaneers Leveraged 'Discounting of Lower-Division Talent' by Other Teams in NFL Draft

Getting an offensive lineman from a source most don't look to isn't a new practice for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. North Dakota State's Cody Mauch is just the latest to join the team from one of those spots.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers struck gold when they got Hobart offensive lineman Ali Marpet in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

For seven years after that Marpet helped anchor the Buccaneers' offensive line before retiring after the 2021 NFL season.

His departure from Tampa Bay along with the injury suffered by center Ryan Jensen in training camp contributed to the derailment of the unit and set the team on course to find a way to get better this offseason.

And that's where North Dakota State University's Cody Mauch comes in.

"The Buccaneers have taken advantage of other teams' discounting of lower-division talent in the past," Chad Reuter of NFL.com wrote recently when identifying the selection as one of his favorites in this year's NFL Draft. "Mauch can start at guard or tackle during his NFL career because of his balance, strength, tenacity and intelligence."

While Mauch will appreciate Reuter's confidence in his abilities at tackle, it appears the Bucs are planning for their rookie to step into a guard spot on the offensive line.

They'll also be hoping to get more than seven years out of him while looking to replace the Pro Bowl-caliber play Marpet provided for the better part of the last decade.

But if the Buccaneers can get even seven years of top-shelf interior line play out of another Day 2 offensive lineman from a school nobody usually considers a pipeline of positional talent, they'll gladly take it.

Find David Harrison on Twitter @DHarrison82

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