Ahmad Black was taken in the fifth round.

Gator fans rejoice, the Bucs have just grabbed safety Ahmad Black in the fifth round of 2011 NFL Draft. The Bucs spent the 151st pick on the young safety from UF and he looks to come in and contribute on special teams immediately as he develops and eventually challenges for time at safety. I have no idea what, if anything, this says about Tanard Jackson’s future with the Bucs but Black is an interesting prospect.

The knock on Black is and has always been that he’s too small and slow. He stands at just 5’9 and runs a 4.7. But the kid is also a gamer and a born leader and could always surprise teams as well. Here’s the scouting report on Black.

Black’s an undersized safety prospect who should be able to contribute immediately in sub-packages and as a special teams cover guy even if he never becomes a starter. Has excellent instincts. Plays tough and is durable despite lack of size. Very capable in deep cover-2 or lining up over slots but doesn’t have the size or length against physical receivers. Flies to the ball, is a sure tackler when coming up to support the run, and will make plays in the backfield when asked to blitz. Black overcame his lack of size in college and may get the chance to do so again as a mid-round pick.

I had Black pegged as the 6th best safety in the class and the 98th rated player in the class. Grabbing him at 151 is a little lower than I expected him to go but he’s the type of player the Bucs seem to be hell-bent on building their team around. Black is smart, high-effort, a former team captain and a highly productive player on the field in college. Welcome to Tampa, Ahmad.

Prince Amukamara is a player the Bucs might jump at.

The class of corners in this year’s draft is a bit thin, there’s a few very good ones and then things drop off considerably. If the Bucs are looking for someone that can play their rookie year and swim instead of sink, the pickings are thin. That’s why I’m skeptical of Rick Stroud‘s report the Bucs plan to cut Aqib Talib. Without free agency, with Ronde Barber aging and with a thin class of NFL-ready corners, whose going to replace him?

The Bucs aren’t going to have a shot at Patrick Peterson, the price is just too high to move into the top 3-5 picks and grab him. If he fell to the bottom half of the top ten the conversation would probably come up in the Bucs’ war room but that’s still a pretty high price. We can talk about that later. Going on the understanding Peterson is out of the picture though, there are two options, we looked at Jimmy Smith over the weekend, the other is Prince Amukamara.

Now, the Buccaneers aren’t going to have a shot at Amukamara at 20 unless the stars align. They won’t. But if Prince falls to 15, which still isn’t likely (though Pat Kirwan has the Dolphins selecting Amukamara at 15, trust me they won’t), things could get interesting. If Prince makes it to Miami at 15 the Dolphins are a team desperately looking to move down. The Brandon Marshall trade cost the Dolphins two second round picks, they pick 15th and then not again until round three. If the Bucs really are serious about moving on from Aqib Talib, Amukamara is a the kind of high-character, Ronde Barber-like replacement they would dream about. If that’s the Bucs’ plan they’d jump at the chance for an alpha corner like Prince Amukamara.

(more…)

Jimmy Smith is a big, talented corner.

With all the recent issues surrounding the Buccaneers and their secondary, it’s looking more and more like the Bucs will spend one of their top picks on a defensive back, and odds are they will be doing the same again next year as well. In the first round this year, consensus pretty much has the Bucs selecting a defensive end or possibly an outside linebacker to help with the pass-rush. This is a deep class for pass-rushers and the Bucs should have their pick of several at 20th overall.

They could take another tact though, whereas there are a good group of pass-rushing ends and linebackers to pick from, after the first two or three corners the quality of the prospects drops off quite a bit. If the Bucs are really serious about improving their secondary at corner, they may need to do it in round one. Chances are they can still find a solid pass-rusher in round two.

The Bucs will not have a chance at Patrick Peterson, that’s a foregone conclusion. Barring something unforeseen, Prince Amukamara will not be available either, though if he is there at 20 the Bucs should take him without question. The player whose name keeps coming up with regard to Tampa is Jimmy Smith of Colorado. Smith is a big, athletic corner that comes with plenty of upside but a few recurring questions about his character as well. On paper, he would actually fit into the Buccaneers defensive scheme extremely well but after the off-the-field issues with the last corner the Bucs took out of the Big 12, you can understand the hesitation.

(more…)