BUCCANEER BIRTHDAYS Lots of ex-Buc players are celebrating on March 18th including former QBs Brian Griese (44) and Rob “The Human Sack Machine” Johnson who is two years older. RB Vince Kendrick (67) had the first carry in franchise history against the Oilers in 1976, DE Jacquies Smith (29) had some moments during his four seasons from 2014 and TE Todd Yoder (41) was part of the Super Bowl winning team.   S Beasley Reece (65) had two solid seasons under John McKay and went on to become a local broadcaster. Current Buc Jordan Whitehead is 22 today and will be looking to build on an excellent rookie season having been a 4th round pick.

2019 OPPONENTS HOME:  Arizona, Houston, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Atlanta, New Orleans and NY Giants. LONDON:  Carolina. AWAY: Jacksonville, LA Rams, Seattle, Tennessee, Carolina, Atlanta, New Orleans and Detroit.

REVIEWING THE 2018 SEASON 66  RYAN JENSEN Games 16 Starts 16 Came to Tampa Bay after spending his first five seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. Started every game in 2018 with a particular attitude that saw him incur several personal foul penalties for late hits. Was originally a sixth-round pick (203rd overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft and played in 35 regular season games for the Ravens with 25 starts, including starting all 16 games for Baltimore in 2017. Click here for his profile page

NO MOCK DRAFTS HERE Or at least not until the week before the actual draft itself.  Until then, they can be left to the ridiculous Mel Kiper and the becoming more ridiculous Todd McShay.  Kiper is already up to his usual tricks of making stupid predictions to gain himself publicity in all markets.  Until a team has completed free agency, then trying to predict who will take who is a complete waste of time.  Even the best mocks cannot even get the first five picks right so doing one in February?  No.

DRAFT COUNTDOWN THE 1984 BUCCANEER DRAFT As part of a series that will run until the 2019 NFL draft in April, we will look back each day at a Tampa Bay draft class and review the best and worst of the Buc selections.  Each draft screen on BUCPOWER.COM has details of every selection as well as all the picks made that year so you can see who the Bucs passed on to make their choices.   And it will not get much worse than the 1984 draft.  The Bucs would have had the first overall pick but had traded it to the Bengals for QB Jack Thompson. The Bengals wound up with three No.1s in dealing that to the Patriots who took Irving Fryar.  Then came the likes of Keith Browner, Fred Acorn and Micheal Gunter.    A couple of decent picks in Chris Washington and Ron Heller and the trade for Steve DeBerg cannot detract from the terrible job John McKay and Jim Gruden did in this whole process. Click here for the 1984 season

LOSING ADAM HUMPHRIES IN FREE AGENCY He signed a 4 year, $36M contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $10M signing bonus, $19M guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $9M.    He had worked his way up from an off-season tryout as an undrafted free agent to the practice squad and then eventually the main roster in 2015. He ended his Tampa career with 219 receptions for 2,329 yards, 14th all-time in terms of catches.   But that kind of money for a slot receiver?  Welcome to NFL free agency where sense goes out of the window. Exhibit No.2 Kwon Alexander signed a 4 year, $54M contract with the San Francisco 49ers, including a $4M signing bonus, $25,5M guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $13,5M.  Unfortunately I do not keep stats on missed tackles or being out of position on run assignments otherwise I am pretty sure he would have led the franchise lists. P Bryan Anger was released in favour of a cheaper alternative in the form of ex-49er Bradley Pinion.  A $3M cap charge for a punter is a lot hence the understandable roster move.   And WR DeSean Jackson is now back with the Eagles saving the Bucs $10M for 2019 with a swop of late round picks being the additional bonus to the Buccaneers.   The Bucs did re-sign QB Ryan Griffin, K Cairo Santos and LB Kevin Minter, all of whom I expect to play decent roles in the 2019 season.