The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1976 with the Seattle Seahawks.
Every April, each NFL franchise adds new players to its roster through a collegiate draft at the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", more commonly known as the NFL Draft.[1] Teams are ranked in reverse order based on the previous season's record, with the team with the worst record having the first selection. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous season's Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion is the last team to select and the Super Bowl runner up selects right before them. This order is subject to teams trading away selections to other teams for different selections, players, cash or a combination thereof. Thus, it is common for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have multiple or no draft picks the first round due to trades.[2]
The Buccaneers have had the first overall pick on six occasions. Twice in 1978 and 1984, they traded it away. Three eventual Hall of Famers were selected by the Buccaneers.[3] The Buccaneers' first selection as an NFL team was Lee Roy Selmon, a defensive lineman from Oklahoma. The team's most-recent first-round selection was Graham Barton, a center from Duke University.[3]
- ^ Branch, John (2000-04-09). "The 2000 Liars Club/ Draft makes Broncos coach cloak intentions". Colorado Springs Gazette. findarticles.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- ^ Alder, James. "NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection". About.com. Archived from the original on January 10, 2007. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
- ^ a b "Draft History – Tampa Bay Buccaneers". National Football League official Web site. Retrieved 2007-04-27.