Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Do you remember the 2007 NFL Draft?
Here’s a refresher. Not Brady Quinn, but Jamarcus Russell, went first overall. Quinn sat awkwardly at his table, and then in the green room, and fell all the way to 22 until finally the Cleveland Browns traded up with Dallas to stop the bleeding. Normally falling to 22 wouldn’t be so bad, but the ’07 draft had the longest first round in history at 6 hours and 8 minutes. This was also the first draft for Roger Goodell since being elected just before the 2006 season. The selections made changed the NFL forever, as there were record-breaking players like Megatron, AP, and Jacoby Jones taken. Some of the notable players that went undrafted are Nick Roach, Matt Moore, Eric Weems and even Pierre Thomas.
As for the Buccaneers, they were coming off of a 4-12 season that was nothing like the 11-5 campaign a year previous. The good news was things were already looking up. There was help signed to positions of need through free agency, acquiring Luke Petigout, B.J. Askew (fast forward to A-Train’s career ending injury), Jerramy Stevens and a pair of quarterbacks to fill the most important need. Jeff Garcia and Jake Plummer were to battle it out in camp for both the starting spot, and a chance to bring veteran leadership and guidance, to a position plagued by youthful inexperience. Plummer had “better” ideas however, and instead of battling, he didn’t report to camp, had to re-pay his $3.5 million bonus, and retired. He has since joined the handball circuit. (?!?!?!)
Anyway, prior to drafting, the team looked strong offensively. QB, RB, and TE were solid. WR, had talent, but was nothing special. Aside from a still speedy Joey Galloway, and Ike Hilliard’s veteran experience, the rest of the receiving group were young players that were destined to breakout, but still unproven. On the offensive line, Tampa needed playmakers. They had lots of serviceable linemen, but nobody they were committed to pairing with young guard Davin Joseph. Defensively, after the departure of DE’s Simeon Rice and Dewayne White, the Bucs were starving for a flashy, hungry end to boost the line and take some pressure off the rest of the front four. The linebacking corps was a little shallow, lacking big playmakers, and Tampa had to realize that Derrick Brooks wasn’t going to around a whole lot longer. This theme was prevalent in the secondary as well. It was time to continue re-vamping the defense in search of those pieces that will get us back to a time when we struck fear into opposing offenses.
Tampa was going to be picking third or fourth overall. That would be finalized by the results of a coin toss between them and the Browns. There seems to be terrible luck in these situations, and again it was a 4th overall pick received.
Now, I will not be talking theoretically or re-working Tampa Bay’s picks, merely stating who was selected behind them at the SAME position. Also I am talking about where the 2007 Tampa Bay Draft Class is now. So, I will not mention players from this draft that played for the Bucs past, present or future, such as Amobi Okoye, Tim Crowder, Brian Leonard, Steve Smith or Darrelle Revis. (Hey, I did say future.)
Click the “Next” button to see the Buccaneers’ 2007 NFL Draft selections.