The Bucs draft center Graham Barton in the first round

The Bucs could’ve taken a corner in last night's NFL Draft. They could’ve taken a receiver. They could’ve taken a pass rusher. There were quite a few of each of those positions available.

Instead, they went with a center, Graham Barton out of Duke.

Barton is probably fine. He mostly played left tackle during his time as a Blue Devil (although he started a few games at the center spot), so the transition to the full-time center role is going to be something to watch.

Is it risky to be drafting a player making a move to another position in the first round? Especially with another quality player established at that position in Jackson Powers-Johnson available, as well as corners and receivers abound?

Yeah, maybe a bit, but let’s take a deep breath. This isn’t the end of the world; Jayson Licht has proven to at the very least be a competent general manager. If he’s sold on Barton being a stalwart at the center position, then that’s enough for me.

Plus, Barton was graded out by Dane Brugler of The Athletic as the best interior offensive lineman in this draft.

But if the Bucs have a downer of a year, and Powers-Johnson turns out to be what they think Barton is, or they end up having missed out on any of the solid corners and receivers that were still available?

Yeesh. This won’t be Aguayo bad, or even Trask bad, but it certainly is close to Vernon Hargreaves or OJ Howard bad.

We have to hope that the Bucs’ running game takes a huge leap forward, Barton stays healthy and is successful in his move to the interior, and that they didn’t miss out on a whole lot of talent.

But hey, the Bucs made a pick, and at least it wasn’t a kicker or a quarterback.

Speaking of taking a quarterback at an ill-advised time, the Falcons took Tampa Bay Tech alum Michael Penix, Jr. out of Washington at No. 8 overall despite their recent signing of Kirk Cousins to a 4-year, $180 million deal, with rumors of Cousins’ feelings about the pick already being made known.

As much as Bucs fans might be mum about his selection, we can at least take solace in the fact that the Bucs are not in that situation, paying a quarterback an exuberant amount of money and immediately turning around and spending a top-10 pick on that position.

Nasty stuff from a nasty franchise.

The Saints took a tackle out of Oregon State, Taliese Fuaga, to try to make up for the Trevor Penning failed experiment at left tackle.

The Panthers jumped back into the very end of the first round, trading with the Bills to move up one pick and get a fifth-year option on Xavier Leggete, a receiver out of South Carolina.

So, Barton might not have been your favorite selection (it certainly wasn’t mine), but it’s early, there’s more picks to be made, and the Bucs have a lot of action going on over the 2nd and 3rd round.

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