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With 21 of 22 starters returning from a team that won eleven games and made the playoffs for the first time in three years, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers don't feel they have any glaring weaknesses to address in the NFL draft.
Instead, the NFC South champions are interested in bolstering depth, especially for an aging defense that eventually will need replacements for high-salaried players like Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber and Simeon Rice.
The Bucs have the 23rd pick in the first round. And the deep pool of cornerbacks and linebackers available might make it difficult to pass up an opportunity to reinforce one of those positions.
Florida State cornerback Antonio Cromartie could be among the cornerbacks available for Tampa Bay's turn. Finding a linebacker to groom to some day take over for Brooks could require moving up to land Florida State's Ernie Sims or Iowa's Chad Greenway, while Alabama's DeMeco Ryans and Ohio State's Bobby Carpenter could be possibilities at No. 23.
On Monday the Bucs signed free-agent linebacker Jamie Winborn, whose experience at the weakside position gives the team a veteran backup for nine-time Pro Bowl player Derrick Brooks.
The deal is for two years, though Winborn can terminate after the first. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Winborn, a 5-foot-11, 242-pound former second-round pick of the 49ers in 2001, has been a solid performer at weakside when healthy. A starter for San Francisco in 2004, he was a good run-stopper and effective blitzer.
But Winborn did not fit into the 3-4 system installed in 2005 by first-year coach Mike Nolan, who criticized Winborn for freelancing too much. Winborn was traded early in the season to the Jaguars for a seventh-round pick.
In Jacksonville, Winborn played mostly special teams before finishing the season on injured reserve with a knee injury. He also has missed time because of neck and shoulder injuries in his career.
In 48 games, Winborn has 19 starts, 194 tackles, nine sacks, four forced fumbles and three interceptions.
The Bucs started Brooks, Shelton Quarles in the middle and Ryan Nece at strongside in 2005, backed up by promising young draft picks Barrett Ruud and Marquis Cooper. Winborn likely will also compete at strongside.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have hired North Dakota State defensive coordinator Casey Bradley as their new defensive quality control coach. Bradley was a free safety for the Bisons before joining them as an assistant coach for the past nine seasons.
North Dakota State led the Great West Conference scoring defense and pass defense in 2005. The Bisons ran a similar defense to Tampa Bay's Cover Two scheme.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, represented by a raft of about 40 coaches, scouts and medical professionals, will head to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis next Tuesday. When they come back six days later, they’ll have a fully-nuanced draft board bearing the names of approximately 300 prospects.
Of course, that’s only because they have the draft board in good shape heading into the Combine.
This is how you avoid the curse of the “workout warrior.”
The workout warrior is always the most interesting figure at the Combine. He is, in most cases, a solid talent projected to be a late first-round pick, or maybe a second or third-rounder. Then he arrives in Indianapolis, blows the ceilings off his “measurables” and is suddenly a draft-board “mover.” That is, strong performances in tests such as the 40-yard dash and the 225-pound bench press repetitions suddenly make this once solid prospect into a potential star.
The danger here, for a team that might suddenly consider using a high first-round pick on this newly-created star, is that the player’s strong workouts become a bigger factor than his demonstrated ability to play football. It’s the “potential” trap. Upside.
And that’s why you don’t create your draft board at the Combine, or in its immediate afterglow. The Bucs are surely not alone around the NFL in arranging their draft board in mid-February then using the Combine to confirm opinions, settle debates or uncover potential problem areas.
“We just got through with our draft meetings – the preliminary, pre-combine meetings – in which we just basically line the board up,” said Buccaneers Director of College Scouting Dennis Hickey. “We get an idea and target some guys, which gives our coaches a feel of how to narrow down the list a little bit. There are over 300 players (on the board) and it’s hard for them to focus on every one, so we kind of target some guys in that way.”
The Bucs have spent the last few months not just targeting certain players but also specific areas of concern with those players. While the 40-yard dashes and the shuttle runs will draw the most media attention at the combine – and create the numbers that produce these workout warriors – there are two non-performance issues that are at the top of the Bucs’ list of concerns next week in Indianapolis: Health and head.
“Before the combine, we identify some concerns that we need to check out, medically,” Hickey explained. “It’s a good chance for us to alert our trainers and our medical staff as to what to look for with certain players, to make sure we check them out, whether it be an ankle or a shoulder problem or whatever. That way our medical staff knows what they’re getting into going into the combine.”
Confirming a player’s health is as important as determining his talents, if not more so. After all, as Hickey put it, a player who’s talented but can’t play “really does you no good.” And if he costs you a high draft pick without returning much in the long run, then he in fact can do you harm. This area of evaluation is also as tricky as pure talent scouting, but the Combine gives teams their best opportunity to erase as many doubts as possible.
“It’s a great chance for our doctors and [Head Trainer] Todd Toriscelli and our training staff to get to break these guys down,” said Hickey. “You identify future concerns and possibilities and help us try to predict which guys will be a medical issue. You can never completely predict that, but you can get a much better idea. And without their medical expertise, that is something we [as scouts] could never get close to predicting. They have all the equipment and people on hand there that they need for whatever examination they need to do, so it’s a great opportunity, very valuable.”
Getting a read on what’s inside a player’s head is even less exact, but the Bucs do their best each year by holding an endless string of face-to-face meetings with potential draftees. They’ve already knocked out 200 of these interviews and will get in another 60 at the Combine, which in recent years has regimented the evening meeting process more regularly than in the past, when it was something of a free-for-all. Many of the earlier interviews have been conducted by scouts, but the sit-downs in Indianapolis will involve members of the coaching staff, as well. That makes them particularly useful.
“It’s a chance to give our coaches a comfort level with the player, so they know his personality, his issues, his possible issues, whether he’s going to fit into their room with the other players, and so on. They’re just getting a feel for him. Sometimes they hear our character information, but that’s not the same as meeting them in person and getting their own ideas firsthand.”
In other words, if you want to move up the Buccaneers’ draft board at the combine, you’ll probably do it in the presence of doctors or coaches-turned-interviewers, not in front of stopwatches. The Bucs believe a young man’s football playing ability is best represented by the collection of videotape that his college career produced. While Hickey concedes that an out-of-the-ordinary 40-yard-dash time, good or bad, can significantly alter a player’s draft status, he insists that it’s rare for a single sprint to dramatically change the Bucs’ draft board.
“To me, the face-to-face interaction for the coaches and the medical staff is the primary benefit of [the combine],” said Hickey. “From our perspective, the number-one thing is their play from the season. The 40-time, while it’s nice and it’s a part of the evaluation, it’s confirmation, not the primary concern. We don’t start our evaluations with their 40-time and then see how they played.
“That’s the nice thing about having the meetings before the combine. We know what they are as a player. We want football players, not workout warriors. Hopefully, we can eliminate that by going over the meetings and lining up our board now, so it’s difficult for a guy who wasn’t a good football player and didn’t have upside to all of a sudden jump over other guys. You measure it, but it’s not reactionary. That’s not what the Combine is for.”
While all of the attention in the NFL is on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks, the other 30 teams are going about their business of evaluating college talent, filling coaching positions and figuring out ways to get themselves under the NFL's salary cap by March 3.
For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, that means there's plenty of work to do.
The Bucs entered the offseason $19 million over the cap and may face some tough roster decisions in the next four or five weeks.
General manager Bruce Allen said two weeks ago that the top 15 salarycap players will all be approached to restructure their contracts.
The Bucs currently have 16 players whose cap numbers are higher than $2 million. Those 16 count $73.2 million against next year's cap. By March 3, that sum must be significantly lower.
It's likely not all 16 will stay with the team. Don't expect players such as guard Matt Stinchcomb ($2.1 million) and linebacker Jeff Gooch ($2.05 million) back next year. Running back Mike Pittman ($2.12 million) may also be a cap casualty.
Who goes, who stays and who restructures is all part of a complex process that doesn't specifically center on one or two people.
"I know it's fun to try to pick one person and say, `Can he fit into our salary cap or not?' " Allen said two weeks ago. "That's always dictated by the other 52 players on the team because it's all interchangeable. There's only one salary cap for one team and you've got to fit them all in."
And as Allen pointed out, there are only two ways to reduce the salary cap -- by releasing some player or restructuring contracts. Allen will use both.
Some cap issues rate a higher priority than others. Getting linebacker Derrick Brooks ($11.75 million) and defensive end Simeon Rice ($9.2 million) to restructure will be one.
Rice, in the past, has refused to restructure his contract. If he does again, he could be released.
Brooks, after the Bucs' 17-10 playoff loss to Washington, gave an indication of what he might do when quizzed about his status for next year.
"I plan on being back," he said. "There's no place I'd rather play than Raymond James Stadium."
Settling the current quarterback situation may be the highest priority of all.
Brian Griese, who started the first six games before injuring his knee, has a cap figure of $7.1 million, which includes $3.5 million in salary and $2.85 million in bonuses. Complicating the issue is that Chris Simms, who replaced Griese, is a restricted free agent. That means the Bucs will have to give him a significant raise to keep him. Simms made $380,000 this past year with a cap hit of around $500,000.
Allen has already started contract talks with Simms' agent. The Bucs don't want other teams setting the price on what it would take to keep Simms.
Simms, however, looks content to see whether a new collective bargaining agreement is reached by next month. That will have an impact on all free agents.
In Simms' case, if 2007 is an uncapped year, it would mean under the current rules that it would be another three years before he could become an unrestricted free agent. If it isn't, he could play next year under a oneyear tender offer then become a free agent in 2007.
Allen said emphatically that he wants to keep both quarterbacks.
"That's our goal," he said. "I don't need to talk about how important the quarterback position is and how quickly it can change.
"If Brian doesn't start us out 51, we're not going to win the (NFC South) division," Allen said. "And if Chris doesn't finish the season so well, we wouldn't win the division."
That said, with cap decisions on specific players being part of a larger process, the negotiations with the quarterbacks could have a big impact on other players.
The Bucs actually need to clear more than $19 million because they also have some unrestricted free agents of their own they'd like to re-sign. Tops on that list is defensive tackle Chris Hovan, who counted the NFL veteran minimum of $480,000 in 2005. Other unrestricted free agents include tackle Kenyatta Walker, safety Dexter Jackson, wide receiver Ike Hilliard and kicker Matt Bryant.
No matter how Allen and Gruden put the pieces together, some of this year's pieces will not be part of 2006. That's just a part of life in the salary-cap-ruled NFL.
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