Reviewing the Buccaneers' draft Davin Joseph (Oklahoma) Welcome home Davin. He left the state of Florida to play his college football in Oklahoma but he’s coming back to play in the pros. He impressed at the senior bowl this year dominating the #14 pick FSU’s Brodrick Bunkley all week. Joseph is very athletic and wowed scouts at the combine in the physical tests, he has very large hands and long arms has the ability to play left tackle (where he played this season for the Sooners due to injuries) but still looks more natural inside. He is said to of interviewed very well and many teams were impressed with his football intelligence. Joseph probably grades out as the third best lineman going into the draft (behind Ferguson and Justice) whose only real issues in his game are that he sometimes bends from the waist and doesn’t quite have ideal foot speed. Conventional draft wisdom says that you don’t draft a guard in the first round but since 1992 13 guards have been selected in the 1st (Logan Mankins, Shawn Andrews, Kendall Simmons, Steve Hutchinson, Damien Woody, Matt Stinchcomb, Mo Collins, Alan Faneca, Chris Naeole, Pete Kendall, Ruben Brown, Lester Holmes and Eugene Chung) going at a ratio of about one per year indicates that if a guard grades out as a first round pick then just because of the position there is no reason to shy away from him. Joseph reminds me of the type of player that the New England Patriots have taken late in the first round in recent years (e.g. Logan Mankins) a strong solid high character prospect that a number of teams had with a first round grade. There are reason to feel confident about this pick Joseph was the best offensive lineman available without serious issues Justice (suspended in college), McNeil (Injuries) and Winston (Ego) and very few people would have second guessed the Bucs had they taken either Winston or McNeil even though Jospeh is a better lineman. It is probably true to say that the Buccaneers knew as much about Joseph as they did any prospect on the board this year, the Bucs were smitten with Joseph this time last year and were said to have targeted him with the 5th pick in the second round until he decided to remain in school for his senior season there is little doubt that the Bucs scouting staff have kept a close eye on a player they invested much time in last year as he has shown natural progression during his senior season, My guess would be that come draft time in the Bucs war room that they had a number of players with a very similar grade (Holmes, Jackson, Justice, Joseph etc) and they went with the player that they know the most about both in playing and in character for example Matt Leinart returned for his senior season dropped about 10 places in the draft in part because of the over analysis of his game over the last 12 months, Joseph returned to school was scouted for another season by the Bucs and they felt that in that time he had elevated his draft stock to late in the first round. That said I am not a massive fan of this pick and not because of the actual player but because of who was available at the time, with the #2 offensive tackle, the top two wide receivers in the draft and a consensus first round corner all available at #23 one of these needed to be the pick, for me Joseph went 8-10 places higher in the draft than his talent merits. Jeremy Trueblood (Boston College) While there is no doubt that Boston College produce offensive lineman for the NFL at a remarkable rate I just think that this one doesn’t quite make the grade. He has the mean streak that every single BC lineman has but he just isn’t NFL tackle material, physically he looks like he should be lining up the paint of BC during March Madness rather than at tackle in the [insert advert here] Bowl. Has a nice long reach and he did get the better of team make Kiwanuka at the senior bowl. He just isn’t athletic enough or strong enough to play the position in the NFL he will struggle against smaller edge rushers and at 6-8 his quickness his effected dramatically he just doesn’t appear to be a good fit for tackle at the next level. Trueblood would have been a nice project pickup early in the 4th round where he projected to go but in the second round and selected over Eric Winston this is a big reach. The pick here should have been Winston if they wanted to go OL or Aston Youboty at corner. Maurice Stovall (Notre Dame) From a value standpoint this was a good pick, Stovall graded out somewhere near the back end of the 2nd round and to get him a round later is a reasonable pick up. The reason that Stovall would be still available is because of the speed he ran a 4.58 40 at the combine this coupled with his tendency to drop easy passes lowered his stock. Stovall’s increase in production in his senior season was dramatic and his ability to create separation was vastly improved despite his lack of speed, the only question has to be was the increased performance because new Head Coach Charlie Weis got the best out of him or because Weiss is very good at creating match up problems at the college level, For this look at the increase in both Stovall and Samardzija’s numbers between the last two years both adding about 800 yards and 10 touchdowns each to the stat columns, Stovall will contribute on special teams as he did excellently at Notre Dame. Cant really fault this pick he could eventually develop in to a Jurevicius like target, one of the safeties available Ko Simpson (South Carolina) or Darnell Bing (USC) would also have been options at this point. Alan Zemaitis (Penn State) This is a pick I really like, some people think that he grades out as a 2nd round corner, he is an athletic ball hawk who lacks top end speed. Very disciplined and a hard worker, has caught more interceptions than any one else in the draft and has shown an ability to take them back towards the end zone. Played almost exclusively as a zone defender and isn’t really a lock down corner he has often been described a larger version of Ronde Barber and perfectly suited for a Tampa Bay style defense. He could be a very solid corner in the cover-2 or move to safety. Zemaitis is like Joseph a high character individual but his speed the only aspect of game that stopped him been projected as a first round corner, he would have been solid value in the second round in the fourth there isn’t much to dislike about this pick (unless your Torrie Cox that is). Julian Jenkins (Stanford) Jenkins was forced to move inside when Stanford changed from a 4-3 to a 3-4, Jenkins was much more productive on the outside, while he can operate inside he hasshown he much better when he has space because he has good lateral movement for a guy of his size, it was believed that his best chance to make would be with a team playing the 3-4 because its difficult to find a big physical lineman to play in the 3-4, maybe the Bucs will keep him inside and develop him as a tackle, his lack of any pass rushing ability has to be the concern. There is a undoubted need for young linemen in Tampa but not sure Jenkins quite fits at defensive end will be interesting to see where he plays in training camp. Bruce Gradkowski (Toledo) What a surprise Gruden could not resist taking a signal caller and this is a pick I quite like as well. Any QB drafted this late is a gamble. Of any of the QB’s available late he fits the mould of a Gruden QB he his mobile able to avoid the rush and is perfectly suited for a west coast type offense. His arm strength is the major issue here, he was not asked to go down the field much for Toledo and his accuracy on the long ball is lacking. If Gradkowski sticks I could see Gruden making use of him if nothing else he would provide depth. My concerns about him would be his arm strength and the fact most of the time Gradkowski played out of the shotgun and questions over his (or any shotgun QB) to adapt to a more pro style offense exist T.J Williams (N.C State) I really feel that we are set at Tight End and this pick (and the one at the end) are not really needed and other positions could have been improved, Williams is physically very gifted and if it wasn’t for the fact that he appears to have problem with understanding playbooks then he would have been a first day selection, with his intelligence allegedly below par lets hope this isn’t another Marquise Walker on our hands. He needs to get stronger and work on this blocking. Disappointing pick, he was the top tight end left but I don’t see that as a need. Justin Phinisee (Oregon) I’m know I’m biased but Dee Webb (Florida) was the pick here. Phinisee and Webb when in consecutive picks and I feel that Jacksonville got the best DB out of the two. Phinisee will be an excellent addition to the special teams unit he is physical and if he is going to succeed in any defense it will be Tampa, his lack of speed had him graded as an un-drafted free agent and a strong safety. He might be covering kick offs in Tampa for some time if he makes it through training camp. Charles Bennett (Clemson) I find this pick a hard one to figure out, he just doesn’t quite have the pure speed needed to be a specialist edge rusher and yet he doesn’t have the size to effect the running game. A draft pick with NFL Europe written all over him at best he might get a place on the practice squad. His performance against FSU will be quoted as evidence of his improvement as the season went on and that he can earn a roster spot. The FSU line was terrible last year so a great performance against that team is not as big of a recommendation as it usually is. Tim Massaquoi (Michigan) Michigan don’t use tight ends a lot and historically they are usually part of the running game, which makes Massaquoi different to the other tight ends at Michigan because he is a large receiver who has switched and is still learning the position. He has however shown promise in both the passing and running game along with a good work ethic he has to be an interesting pick up. I’m just not sure that another tight end is what was needed at this point in the draft Andre Hall or Martin Nance would have been options at this point, then again this late in the day everyone’s a project. Overall this is a solid draft, the only criticism is not the players that they drafted because if they have them at the top of the draft board then you should draft them, but not at the position they drafted if they had Joseph rated over Justice then yes you draft Joseph but trade down a few places, I have no doubt if they had traded down 5-10 places that Joseph would have still been available. Its has to be all about knowing not only your draft board but the landscape of the draft in general, two examples of this are the Buffalo and New England, The Bills just didn’t know the landscape of the draft taking Whitner and McCargo far too high and trading up to take McCargo who would have still been there in the second round while the Patriots allowed the draft to come to them and reloading at a couple of key positions. I think the Bucs landed somewhere between these two they looked to on average pick a player about ¼ of a round early while finding a couple of value picks but as with every draft we wont know how good these choices are for at least 3 years. Wayne Maw, May 2006