Watching teams like the Pats and Ravens masterfully move around the draft, moving backwards, and only moving forwards to get guys they targeted pains me as I watch my team unnecesarily trade up to get a guy in two different rounds.  I don’t think that moving that 7th rounder or that 6th rounder (6th in the Freeman deal, 7th in the Kyle Moore deal) will hurt us, because I don’t feel like we have that many open roster spots, but I also don’t feel like either of those trades were neccesary.  The Pats m0ved back numerous times and got a guy who I thought would have looked great in a Bucs uni in Ron Brace, and than proceeded to get another guy who would have been great in a Bucs uni in Darius Butler, and they got them both in the 2nd round.  Watching our new regime throw picks away to move up  2 spots in the 1st and 4 spots in the 4th, was a smidge confusing to me.  

Onto the players drafted.  

Josh Freeman – Obviously the main prize for the Bucs front office this weekend was the player they consider to be their QB of the future.  Raheem has a lot exeprience with Freeman after he was the defensive coordinator with the Wildcats in Freeman’s 2006 sophomore season.  I am concerned about Freeman’s subpar performances against the Big 12′s better teams.   Against the 5 best teams in the Big 12 (Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska) Freeman was 89 for 170 for 218 yards a game with 5 TD’s and 6 INT’s and a combined 0-6 record.  Now I’m fully aware of the sucktitue of the Kansas State team, but those are not numbers that scream NFL Qb to me.  

Roy Miller – Miller seems to be a perfect fit for what Jim Bates is looking for in a DT.  A big 300+ guy that can clog the middle and stop the run is an integral part of Bates scheme.  The guy is a freak in the weight room bench pressing 500+ and 700lb squats.  This is not going to be a guy who comes in and gets sacks, but is in more of the Casey Hampton mold.  These kinds of players are not exciting on the stats sheet, but are an important part of a defensive scheme such as ours.  I think he will immediately be in the roation at the DT spot and might even end up competing with Chris Hovan for a starting position.  

Kyle Moore – Moore, like Miller is a guy who fits Jim Bates scheme to a T.  6’5″, 270 lb ends are right up Bates alley.  Seems like a solid to above average end at both rushing the passer and stopping the run.  I think he has the potential to be a Greg Spires like player in our new system.  Never will eye popping numbers but will have the chance to be extremely consistent.  Should compete for snaps at the LDE position with Greg White and Jimmy Wilkerson. 

Xavier Fulton – I can’t pretend to know much about this other than what I have read since yesterday.  I think that the Bucs are looking for a more agile player at the RT position where Jeremy Trueblood currently starts.  If Jeremy Zuttah were moved to RT, a real possibility, Fulton seems like a poor man’s Zuttah in his ability to be a swing offensive lineman.  He was formerly a defensive tackle, so he has experience moving roles and changing positions.  In my mind I thought the Bucs would go after a combo Olineman like this in the hopes of Zuttah starting at RT.  This will most likely move Trueblood to a backup LT and RT role if this were to happen.  

Mel Kiper has the Bucs 15th in his draft grades on ESPN.com.  

The Bucs could’ve stayed where they were and still gotten Josh Freeman, so I don’t understand the decision to trade up for him. He has a lot of upside, but he’s a risk/reward type of player because he isn’t as polished as some of the other top quarterbacks in this draft. The Bucs made some very solid picks throughout the draft, including defensive endKyle Moore in the fourth round and wide receiver Sammie Stroughter in the final round.

Today’s piece on the Bucs though is quite different, “Tampa Bay Buccaneers have bigger needs than at quarterback.”  Stroud is spot on in this short piece.  The Bucs have much bigger needs, especially on the defensive side of the ball than the QB position.  I understand, and Stroud obviously does too, that without a permanent fixture at QB, that a bad cycle develops in that regard.  My thinking though is that the Bucs have to see what Luke McCown is capable of.  We traded a pick for the guy, invested a lot of time into his development, and resigned him this offseason.  He is a QB who has all the physical tools to get the job done (arm, legs, size) and if we draft a QB in round 1 and Luke McCown does perform, than we have a predicament.  We don’t want to be forced to play a guy because of a contract, and disregard the skills of the guy who previously played in front of him.  

As I just mentioned, besides lettting Luke play, we need defensive help.  DT’s and DE’s that fit Jim Bates scheme do not currently exist on our roster.  

“We’ve got obvious needs,” Raheem Morris said. “We want some defensive tackles. We addressed a lot of our needs, obviously, in (free agency) on offense. We feel good about some of those positions. But in the draft, you’re thinking D-tackles, you want to add corners, you want to add some players at those positions.

I like Raheem’s thinking.  I’ve always been of the mindset that DT’s, OLineman, DE’s, CB’s are the most valuable players to draft at an early time.  They are the scarcest in the league as far as quality is concerned so high picks should generally be spent on those positions.  

Stroud bring up a point that I talked to a friend about this morning, trading down.  I know this is the craze for all teams right now, and most of the time the rumors are about trades in the top 10, but generally trading out of the top 10 is impossible.  Trading out of the 18-32 area though is something that happens every draft day.  If Peria Jerry from Ole Miss is too small to fit our scheme, than trading back into round 2 and drafting a Ron Brace type might be the better option for the Bucs.  

Regardless of what position defensively we draft, drafting a QB is something I don’t want to see the Bucs do.