With the firing of Raheem Morris, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are back in a similar situation as they were three years ago after the firing of Jon Gruden. Similar yes, but identical? No. In 2009, the Bucs were coming off of an epic collapse much like this year. The coach was fired and the roster looked ready for an overhaul. It happened. Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik cut all the veterans including Derrick Brooks and Ike Hilliard. Kellen Winslow and Derrick Ward were brought in as prized off-season pickups. Finally, Josh Freeman from Kansas State was brought in to be the face of the franchise.
Well, three years later, one great and two horrible seasons by Freeman, the Buccaneers stand at 17-31 and without a head coach or coaching staff. There is plenty of blame to go around. The defense couldn't stop anyone, the offensive game plans were so simple, my Madden play calling has more depth. The receivers dropped passes and the quarterback stared down targets like a heavy weight fighter at a weigh in.
To me, however, the biggest issue was not talent or coaching. The Bucs lacked severely in both areas, but something greater was missing, and that's heart. Tim Tebow is not the most talented quarterback (although a freak athlete) in the world but he has won games and put his team in a position to make the playoffs because of one thing, heart. Ben Roethlisberger has made a career off of toughness and heart. Willis Reed inspired his teammates to an NBA championship because of the heart he showed with a broken leg.
What has made Kobe Bryant a great player? When he thinks his team is losing, he will go out guns a blazing. Michael Jordan did the same thing. They refuse to lose. They will loose every once in a while. It's sports; no one has their best day every day. However, the greats of all time are not greats because they lost a lot and had "talent". The greats are the greats because they won championships, because they were great teammates, leaders, and winners. Bill Russell, Joe Namath, Wayne Gretzky. Winners win and losers lose.
This has been the biggest issue with the Buccaneers lately and to me the biggest reason for their failures. They draft losers. No one likes to lose but not everyone is capable of feeling the disgust, the anguish, the hatred that a Jordan or Tebow or Roethlisberger or Kobe or Ray Lewis or Tom Brady feel when they lose. There are people who may not become content with losing, but there are those who it becomes almost second nature to. The Buccaneers have too many of these guys. Now let me preface this by saying that collegiate or former success does not guarantee future success. However, failing at one level does not usually lend towards success at a higher one.
The Buccaneers have made a habit of drafting "captains" of collegiate teams. Never mind the success that these "captains" lead their team to, the distinction is all that has mattered. In 2011, the Buccaneers drafted Adrian Clayborn, Da'Quan Bowers, and Mason Foster with their first three picks. This, in my opinion was the best draft of the Dominik era. They selected two defensive ends who had double-digit sack seasons in premiere conferences and a guy in Clayborn who had tasted success as the MVP of the Orange Bowl while at Iowa.
Foster came from a "losing program" at Washington and was one of the players who seemed to give up at the end of the year during the collapse. Clayborn and Bowers, two guys who had preformed the best at the best level, are unanimously looked at as bright spots on the team. In Bowers first career start, he had two sacks of Cam Newton and more than five tackles for loss.
Now, looking at the roster, there is a re-occurring theme of players not having success and not being "winners". Cody Grimm, who played under Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, was a blossoming star and a fan-favorite because of his effort. Clayborn is praised heavily for his effort. Davin Joseph, Tampa's lone pro-bowler, played at super power Oklahoma and played in three BCS bowls including two national championships. Although his attitude was sometimes frowned upon, his competitiveness and drive never was; Kellen Winslow won a National Championship at the University of Miami and got himself run out of Cleveland for his vocal displeasure of the culture there. Ronde Barber, a Super Bowl champion as a member of the Buccaneers in 2003, also maintained a high level of intensity and effort. Aside from that small group, a sense of pride did not belong to this team.
The Buccaneers have four players on their roster who have played on a national championship team. Only one of those players (Winslow) starts. Frank Okam, Roy Miller, and Ahmad Black are the other three. They have one player who has played on a Super Bowl Champion and that is Barber. The Green Bay Packers have six national champions and well, Super Bowl players are in abundance. The New England Patriots also have six, and once again, Super Bowl winners are plenty.
And winning in college does not exactly translate, but I like to think that it certainly doesn't hurt. However, the Buccaneers are not drafting players from schools that are playing in big time bowls. They have starters from Syracuse, Stanford (pre Luck), Boston College (pre Matty Ice), UCLA, Washington, New Mexico, and the big one, Kansas State (post/pre Snyder). There are too many people on this team who have losing bread into them. My best example is the quarterback, and the "franchise", Josh Freeman.
Freeman was 7-4 as a senior in High School. That's not horrible, I guess. However, when compared to the State Championship resumes of fellow first rounders in the 2009 draft, Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford, a giant "bleh" comes to you. At Kansas State, Freeman never once lead the Wildcats to an above .500 record. During his freshman season, he did back his way into a bowl game after Dylan Meier lead the team to a 3-1 record out of the gates. Freeman would go 4-5 the rest of the way. He would go 5-7 as both a sophomore and a junior. If you've followed his career as a pro, Freeman has gone 3-6, 10-6, and 4-11 as a starter. That's a 14-19 record in college and a 17-23 record in the pros bringing his career total to 31-42 as a starter. This is a dude that has done a lot of losing in his career and not the John Elway style of losing where you're putting up Heisman numbers and the team is letting you down. He never threw for more than 20 touchdowns in a single season at KSU. In his three years in the NFL, he has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns twice.
Freeman has talent. Tanard Jackson and Mike Williams and Arrellious Benn and Mason Foster all have talent. But do they have the drive to win? How do guys who have been a part of losing teams for the majority of their careers switch the gear and become winners? It's time for a culture change here in Tampa Bay. Winners win and losers lose.
My Mock Draft: I'll list the Buc pick and then who I'd like in brackets.
Round 1: Mo Claiborne (Robert Griffin) - Claiborne fills the need at corner created by E.J. Biggers' poor play, Ronde Barber's age, and Aqib Talib's off-field conduct. He's a stud corner who forces teams to throw at a Heisman trophy finalist. That's how good he is. I would like Griffin because I think he's an unreal talent who would at the very worst push Freeman to become a better player.
Round 2: Jayron Hosley (Kendall Wright) - The Bucs have shown the pattern of doing things by two. In 2010 they drafted two defensive tackles and two wide receivers. In 2011 they drafted two defensive ends. In 2012, I think they take two corners. I'm not huge on Hosley and would much rather they trade up to take Janoris Jenkins who I feel will be the best corner in this draft. I like Wright's speed and big-play ability. The Bucs have a lot of possession receivers and he would be a nice change.
Round 3: Nate Potter (Coby Fleener) - The Bucs need OLINE help and depth. Trueblood eats a lot of money to play poorly. Donald Penn seemed to quit and gain weight at the end of the year. I think Fleener is the next Gronkowski. I love his size and athleticism.
Round 5: Kellen Moore (Tank Carder) - Josh Johnson is a free agent and Rudy Carpenter is terrible. Moore is someone to generate camp buzz and someone the fans will like. I really like Carder even though he was more of a 3-4 player. I think his size fits the 4-3 better and his toughness is something the Buccaneers need.
Round 6: Miles Burris (Miles Burris) - Effort player that has pursuit skills you can use on special teams.
Round 7: Chris Rainey (Jeff Demps) - I think this is where the Florida fans get their obligatory bone thrown their way to stop crying. I think the Bucs will prefer Rainey's running back ability. I like Demps because he's a better kick returner. Rainey has also shown special teams ability.