Sammie The Sleeper
July 30th, 2009
When Joe learned the Bucs drafted Oregon State wide receiver Sammie Stroughter, Joe just could not believe the guy slipped all the way to the seventh round. Joe thought at the time Stroughter could be the surprise of the draft and little in the OTAs changed Joe’s mind.
It seems as if SI.com columnist John P. Lopez is of a similar mind. He picks a sleeper in this past spring’s draft who will surprise fans, teammates and coaches this season. Stroughter is his pick to do that with the Bucs.
Perhaps the longest of shots to make it big, don’t bet against Stroughter. Already in drills and minicamp, Stroughter has showed polished pass-catching ability.
He has hands, speed, instincts and the ability to make plays. If it translates when the pads come on and the games are real, Stroughter could be the perfect slot complement to Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton.
The only thing he does not have is size (5-9, 189 pounds), but he has long arms for his height, and with a pair of 1,000-yard seasons at Oregon State, he proved he’s unafraid to over the middle.
One of the knocks on Chucky was that the Bucs didn’t draft all that well in the latter rounds. If Stroughter can make the team, one could guess those days are over.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Sammie was so impressive during OTA’s that the Bucs felt compelled to seek NRA member’s Plexico Burris and Marvin Harrison?
I HOPE that Sammie gets the reps and looks he derserves. On the Spike TV show, 4th and Long there was a WR – Hawkins – who was 5’9″ and good speed who SHOULD have won the competition. The guy was a scrapper.
HOWEVER, the producers went with the 6’2″ WR instead.
At this point I wouldn’t expect too many changes until the first cut.
While I wasn’t a fan of Chucky’s draft picks – I do give Jon credit for searching thru the scrap heap and picking the best of the left overs. Heck Jon’s best reclaimation project was/is Antonio Bryant.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Pending what you consider latter rounds? The Bucs defense is full of them: Geno Hayes(6th), Tanard Jackson(4th), Adam Heyward(5th), Greg Petersen(5th), Donte Nicholson(5th), Torrie Cox(6th), Jermaine Phillips(5th), Will Allen(4th), Julian Jenkins(5th), and Sean Mahan(off but was a 5th rndr).
Also all of Grudens first and second rounders are still on the team.
July 30th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
stroughter is going to be the best reciever on this team dispite the lack of talk about stroughter which maybe the idea to take pressure and eyes off of this reciever