Bucs’ 3rd-round picks include prolific Michael Penix Jr. target
TAMPA — The next few autumns should determine whether the Bucs got a pair of third-round steals late Friday night.
But if 2023 was any indication, they undoubtedly found a thief.
Georgia second-team All-SEC safety Tykee Smith, who led the Bulldogs with four interceptions last season and had eight picks in a five-year college career that dawned at West Virginia, was taken by Tampa Bay with the 89th overall selection.
Three picks later, the Bucs took Washington slot receiver Jalen McMillan, one of Tampa Bay Tech alumnus (and No. 8 overall draft pick) Michael Penix’s favorite targets over the past two seasons, when he totaled more than 1,600 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns.
Toss in Alabama defensive end Chris Braswell (the team’s second-round choice), and the Bucs potentially filled three of their more glaring needs — particularly in the receiving and edge-rushing rooms — in one bustling night.
“I think we’re grateful the way it kind of shaped up,” assistant general manager John Spytek said. “I think we’ve got good players that fit our culture that are talented kids at positions that we kind of need, and you get excited about that when that happens.”
A West Virginia transfer who played five college seasons, Smith also led Georgia in tackles (70), solo tackles (46) and tackles for loss (8.5) in 2023. He played the last three years in Athens, totaling 28 tackles and two sacks for the national champions in 2022 after an injury-besieged 2021 campaign.
Before that, he was a freshman All-America safety in 2019, and third-team All-American in 2020 at West Virginia, totaling 114 tackles in two seasons. Spytek said Smith initially will get a look at nickel cornerback with the Bucs.
The skillset he’ll bring to Tampa? “Football IQ, versatility and just a dog mindset,” Smith said.
“When you sit down with those kids at Georgia, especially the defensive players, and you talk through coverages with them, blitzes, all that stuff, they’re so well drilled and schooled that you can see why they’re so good at playing defense in the SEC,” Spytek said.
“So I think from that standpoint, Tykee is way ahead of a lot of kids that would enter the NFL.”
McMillan, projected as a sleek, 6-foot-1 complement to primary targets Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, was the third Huskies receiver taken in this draft, behind first-rounder Rome Odunze (ninth overall, Bears) and second-rounder Ja’Lynn Polk (37th overall, Patriots).
“I’ve been watching (Evans and Godwin) for God knows how long,” McMillan said on a Zoom with bay area reporters. “And just to be able to be in the same offense as them and to learn from them, I’m going to take in everything I need to take in and follow in their footsteps.”
Spytek suggested McMillan might have been drafted just as high as his fellow Huskies receivers had it not been for a 2023 knee injury that limited him to 45 catches for 559 yards after a breakthrough 2022 season (79 receptions, 1,098 yards, nine touchdowns). He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds at the NFL combine.
“On a team with two really good receivers ... it was still really easy to see him,” Spytek said.
“A lot of times, I think that guy can be forgotten about. But his athleticism, the way he naturally runs routes, he plays like the game makes sense to him. There’s a smoothness and an easiness to his game that I think you really appreciate.”
Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.
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