One of the fascinating things, to me, about the NFL is that football teams' oft-overstereotyped "personalities" tend to outlive the personnel, on and off the field, that set them into motion. It's been a long time since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were first envisioned as a defense-first squad, and most of that vaunted defense and the people who instituted it are long gone. And here we are, assuming anyway that they'll select Morris Claiborne with the No. 5 pick in our 2012 NFL Mock Draft.
It makes perfect sense, even outside the stereotypical Buccaneers game plan: Ronde Barber is old, and Aqib Talib is in some very significant legal hot water. And with the Cleveland Browns more likely to go on the offensive—with Trent Richardson or Ryan Tannehill or some other reach—Claiborne is likely to be on the board. And lord knows no team is going to care particularly about his excruciatingly low Wonderlic score.
SB Nation St. Louis's 2012 NFL Mock Draft will roll on from No. 1 to No. 32 in the days leading up the real draft. You can follow along pick-by-pick at our draft storystream below, or read more mock draft recaps in our mock draft analysis storystream.
Last: No. 4 overall, Cleveland Browns
SB Nation St. Louis 2012 NFL Mock Draft
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