Texas Football: Bucs a possible draft landing spot for Samuel Cosmi

It is officially the time of year where mock drafts are running rampant around the football landscape. With the festivities surrounding the 2021 NFL Draft now less than three months away, the topic of the draft is taking center stage. And there’s a plethora of former players out of the Texas football program that are included in the 2021 NFL Draft pool.

One of those former Longhorns that is certainly worth watching that will likely be a first day pick in the 2021 draft is former All-American offensive tackle Samuel Cosmi. As one of two or three potential first round picks out of the Texas program in the 2021 draft, Cosmi could break the drought for the Longhorns this year.

In the latest 2021 NFL Mock Draft that was dropped by Austin Gayle of Pro Football Focus actually had Cosmi falling in an interesting spot. The latest mock up from PFF had Cosmi falling with the final pick in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft to the reigning Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

What PFF had to say on the former Texas football OT

Here’s more on what the latest mock up from PFF had to say on Cosmi falling to the Buccaneers at No. 32.

"While Donovan Smith did turn in the highest single-season PFF grade of his career in 2020 (72.8), he could be a cap casualty considering that Tampa will likely get aggressive with re-signing Lavonte David, Chris Godwin and/or Shaq Barrett this offseason. Releasing Smith would save the Bucs more than $14M in cap space. But even if Smith is retained for the final year of his contract, the Bucs will likely lose a lot of their depth along the offensive line to free agency (Joel Haeg, AQ Shipley, Josh Wells) and would be smart to continue to invest in the position."

Since Cosmi is widely regarded as a first round-caliber talent in this draft class, him falling in the late first round wouldn’t be surprising to many on the Forty Acres. The talented and sizable 6-foot-7 and 305 pound offensive lineman was a stud in three years playing for Texas.

He was one of the more stable parts of the Texas offensive line over the course of the past two or three years. Cosmi and former senior center/offensive guard Derek Kerstetter are the two biggest losses in the trenches on the offensive side of the ball for the Longhorns this offseason to date.

During the 2020 season, Cosmi was consistently regarded as one of the most consistent Texas offensive linemen. He only allowed five quarterback hurries on senior star signal caller Sam Ehlinger last fall, just three of which resulted in sacks or a quarterback hit.

Last year, the Buccaneers did take a former Texas offensive lineman in the undrafted free agent market in center Zach Shackelford. But they didn’t keep Shackelford around long enough for him to see any regular season action last year.

With Cosmi in the mix for most, but not all, of the 2020 season, the Longhorns finished up with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12). That came under the direction of now former fourth-year head coach Tom Herman, with their last game resulting in a 55-23 drubbing against the Colorado Buffaloes in the Alamo Bowl back on Dec. 29.