Herm Edwards Gives Thumbs Up To Mark Dominik
June 7th, 2010
Joe has written several times how it’s dangerous to count on — prospectively — four rookies to be solid contributors, hence this is among the reasons why Joe believes the Bucs may struggle this year.
Bucs general manager Mark Dominik loaded up on significant areas of need with his first four picks trying to shore up massive holes at defensive tackle and wide receiver, drafting Gerald McCoy, Brian Price, Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams.
Since, Dominik has all but said he expects the quartet to start.
Rarely do rookie defensive tackles shine, and banking on rookie wide receivers is dicey at best. But this move by Dominik has won over former Bucs secondary coach and current BSPN contributor Herm Edwards.
Edwards, since joining the world of Twitter in recent weeks, has been a Twittering fiend, answering scores of NFL questions from fans each and every day, often at the break of dawn. Today, he wrote about the Bucs dependence this season on the rookie fab four.
@Professor_Joe: How do the Bucs fair starting a pair of rookie WO & DTs?
@HermEdwardsESPN: Their [sic] will be some growing pains. It’s the right thing to do.
Wow, even Herm agrees the Bucs were devoid of talent at wide receiver and defensive tackle, that the Bucs needed to go young. That tells Joe all he needs about how vapid those positions were for the pewter pirates last year.
Still, for the Bucs to have a successful season this year, it doesn’t mean Dominik hit a home run in this spring’s draft, he would have have hit a grand slam. For the Bucs to sniff a playoff berth, all four rookies have to contribute in Joe’s eyes.
And no, Joe has no clue who “Professor_Joe” is on Twitter.
June 7th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Its the right thing to do because its presumed a high draft pick SHOULD be better than the starters we had at those 4 positions last year. Simple as that. Give the team credit for not leaving some of the vets in there simply because they are vets.
These 4 rookies should and will start. We will take some lumps, but lets hope they can gel and start rolling by midseason.
June 7th, 2010 at 10:16 am
One more thing. IF these rooks do contribute this year, that is definitive proof that Dominick is a legit NFL GM.
But now I’m scared some of these rooks wont sign quickly given that we have proof that the Glazers are cheap (check my link in the last post). Williams’ deal was pretty damn cheap to me, we got lucky there.
Haters rejoice! We finally have proof the Glazers are cheap! Maybe now all of you can throw a party and tell each other how smart you were to state the obvious!
June 7th, 2010 at 10:26 am
I wouldn’t say Herm’s statement is exactly a “thumb-up” to Dominik. It’s pretty bad when you draft 4 guys who can immediately replace the guys you had (or let go). This year is shaping up to be very painful.
June 7th, 2010 at 10:32 am
@Gary, signing/not signing your rookies has nothing to do with being cheap or not. They pretty much HAVE to sign their draft picks and the money spent is pretty much based on the slot they were drafted. The cheapness comes into play when it comes to re-signing your existing players (Penn, Ruud, etc.) and free agents. I find it ironic that they were able to sign Williams to a 4-year deal, but everyone else (non-draft picks) can’t get anything but a 1-year tender.
June 7th, 2010 at 10:34 am
This year was Always shaping up to be painful. Rebuilding always is. The hope is that painful progress this year leads to a good team next year! A first year QB on a really young team is never the receipe for success.
Sad, but true