Filling the Void (Philip Buchanon)

Apr/01/07 12:20 PM Filed in: Phillip Buchanon
CB Phillip Buchanon fit into the Bucs' defensive scheme well after signing just prior to midseason last year

In the last six months, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have added two veteran cornerbacks who could fill potential gaps in their secondary, this season and in the future. Interestingly, those two defenders – Phillip Buchanon and Sammy Davis – might also erase another type of void that has been five years in the making.

The 2002 and 2003 NFL Drafts passed without the Bucs executing either of their original first-round picks . Those two selections (plus second-rounders in 2002 and 2004) were shipped to the Oakland Raiders in February of ’02 as part of the deal that freed up Head Coach Jon Gruden to make his bay-to-bay switch.

Obviously, the Bucs knew well in advance of draft weekend during those two offseasons that they would be idle in the first round. Presumably the team could have lopped a few days off their scouting timeline in the springs of 2002 and 2003. They could have sent their scouts and personnel folks home early a few days a week, told them not to bother scouting, say, Dwight Freeney or Jordan Gross. Barring the most unusual of draft-day trades, the Bucs weren’t going to be anywhere near the clock when such highly-regarded prospects had their names called those two April afternoons.
|