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. 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.

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. 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 Rueben Bain Jr., a linebacker from the University of Miami.

Key +Table key^ Indicates the player was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. * Selected number one overall † Indicates the player was selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career.— The Buccaneers did not draft a player in the first round that year.Year Each year links to an article about that particular NFL Draft.Pick Indicates the number of the pick within the first roundPosition Indicates the position of the player in the NFLCollege The player's college football team

Player selections +Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round draft picksYearPickPlayer namePositionCollegeNotes 1976 1 *^ DE Oklahoma 1977 1 * RB USC 1978 17 QB Grambling 1979— No pick 1980 22 G Wisconsin 1981 7 † LB Pittsburgh 1982 18 G Penn State 1983— No pick 1984— No pick 1985 8 DE Washington 1986 1 †* RB Auburn 25 DB SMU 1987 1 * QB Miami (FL) 1988 4 OT Wisconsin 1989 6 LB Nebraska 1990 4 LB Alabama 1991 7 OT Tennessee 1992— No pick 1993 6 DE Alabama 1994 6 QB Fresno State 1995 12 ^ DT Miami (FL) 28 ^ LB Florida State 1996 12 DE California 22 DT North Carolina 1997 12 † RB Florida State 16 WR Florida 1998— No pick 1999 15 DT LSU 2000— No pick 2001 14 OT Florida 2002— No pick 2003 2004 15 WR LSU 2005 5 RB Auburn 2006 23 † G Oklahoma 2007 4 DE Clemson 2008 20 † CB Kansas 2009 17 QB Kansas State 2010 3 † DT Oklahoma 2011 20 DE Iowa 2012 7 S Alabama 31 † RB Boise State 2013— No pick 2014 7 † WR Texas A&M 2015 1 †* QB Florida State 2016 11 CB Florida 2017 19 TE Alabama 2018 12 † DT Washington 2019 5 † LB LSU 2020 13 † OT Iowa 2021 32 OLB Washington 2022— No pick 2023 19 DTPittsburgh 2024 26 CDuke 2025 19 WROhio State 2026 15 LB Miami (FL)

Footnotes

The Buccaneers traded their first overall pick to the Houston Oilers for Jimmie Giles, this pick and a second-round pick in this draft and the Oilers third and fifth-round picks in the 1979 draft. The Buccaneers traded the 4th overall selection to Chicago for Wally Chambers. The Buccaneers traded their first-round pick to the Chicago Bears for their 1982 second-round pick. The Buccaneers traded their first-round pick to the Cincinnati Bengals in 1983 for Jack Thompson. Jackson refused to play for the Buccaneers, and instead played baseball for the Kansas City Royals. In 1987, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Raiders and played both professional sports to an All-Pro level. The Buccaneers traded away their second overall pick to the Indianapolis Colts for Chris Chandler. The Buccaneers traded their seventh overall pick to the Eagles for this pick and two second-round picks. The Buccaneers acquired this pick from the Dallas Cowboys for two second-round picks. The additional first-round pick was acquired from the Indianapolis Colts for Craig Erickson.

The Buccaneers originally traded their 8th overall pick to the Jets to move up two picks. They then traded that pick to the Seattle Seahawks for this pick and a third-round pick. This pick was acquired from the San Diego Chargers in return for a second-round pick the previous year. The Buccaneers traded their first-round pick to Raiders for two second-round picks. The Buccaneers gained an additional first-round pick from the San Diego Chargers as a result of a draft-day deal in 1998. The Buccaneers traded their first-pick and one they acquired from the Chargers in 1998, to the New York Jets for Keyshawn Johnson. The Buccaneers had the 21st overall selection but made a draft-day deal with the Buffalo Bills to move up seven picks. The Buccaneers traded linebacker Hugh Green to the Miami Dolphins for the first (#25 overall pick) and second-round picks. The Buccaneers traded their 2002 and 2003 first-round picks to the Oakland Raiders as part of a trade for Jon Gruden.

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