Bucs’ Dominik Scouting Senior Bowl
By Patrik Nohe
It’s been good to see the amount of attention being paid to Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik as he scouts the prospects at the Senior Bowl. It took a while for the rest of the world to notice, but Dominik seems to have a pretty good idea of how to evaluate young talent. The Buccaneers saw contributions from 25 first-year players this season and boasted the youngest team in the NFL, but still finished 10-6 and seem to be poised for even bigger things next season.
Dominik has already appeared on NFL Network and ESPN giving interviews about his evaluation process and his experience with the event. In case you’ve been living under a rock (or are just joining the bandwagon, which, welcome) the early returns on the Buccaneers draft last season was impressive. In one fell swoop the Bucs grabbed promising young defensive linemen Gerald McCoy and Brian Price, exciting receivers Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams and a slew of other talent like Myron Lewis, Cody Grimm and Dekoda Watson, even 7th rounder Erik Lorig was transitioned to offense and made a good contribution in Earnest Graham‘s absence.
Then add in good waiver-wire work, like picking up LeGarrette Blount and Ted Larsen and it’s not hard to see why Dominik is earning respect for his work last year. The only player that didn’t work out was a punter. Not much too apologize for if you’re Dominik.
This year at the senior bowl Dominik is going to need to have more of a mind for defense. So far his success with youth seems to be predominantly offensive. Gerald McCoy struggled in year one, though he did really explode for two huge games before being lost for the season. McCoy is going to be a stud, you shouldn’t worry about him. Brian Price never showed much last season, he was injured to early. There are questions about Roy Miller long-term and the Bucs lack anything substantial beyond Stylez G. White at end.
It’s obvious the Bucs need to focus on finding a pure pass-rusher to come off the edge of their line, that’s been obvious since week three. But there are questions throughout the rest of the defensive unit. Is the team satisfied to wait on Tanard Jackson to get his head straight or do the Bucs need to look at a safety?
Also, Mark Dominik purportedly wants to open up negotiations with Barrett Ruud on an extension, but is that really the answer or could the Buccaneers be better served finding another young middle linebacker to toss into the middle of the defense?
In the coming weeks we’ll have breakdowns on prospects and suggestions and speculation on where the Bucs will go with their first pick as well as who they may target later in the draft. But this week, culminating with the Senior Bowl this weekend, marks the official turn of Mark Dominik’s attention to all things draft.
If the Bucs can capitalize on next year with another quality draft and a veteran or two in free agency they will be poised to have a huge 2011 (or 2012, more on that later too).