Bucs Could Be In Play For Adrian Clayborn
January 25th, 2011
There is no question in anyone’s mind who watched the Bucs at all this year that the team is more in need of a defensive end than Joe needs quality time with Rachel Watson.
Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn has been on Joe’s radar since he single-handedly destroyed Penn State in Happy Valley on a Saturday night in 2009, and later that season wreaked holy havoc upon Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
For whatever reasons, Clayborn did not have a spectacular senior season, though that’s not to say Clayborn was not effective. He was, just not the superstar as some expected.
As a result, he may slip to the Bucs at No. 20 so claims draftnik Todd McShay of BSPN, via Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.
So what does McShay believe the Bucs will do? Well he has them taking a defensive end just like Kiper, but with Kerrigan gone he sees them filling the need for a dominant pass rusher by claiming Adrian Clayborn of Iowa.
“Tampa Bay has a lot of needs along the defensive front seven but there’s not a traditional 4-3 linebacker worth taking here, so Clayborn makes sense with his strength,’’ McShay wrote. “He would team with DTs Gerald McCoy and Brian Price to form one of the best young defensive lines in the league.’’
One of the reasons some believe Clayborn will slide down the draft ranks, outside of his less than Superman-like play this past fall, is because Clayborn had a run-in with the law.
Whst makes Clayborn attractive to Joe is his hands. Full disclosure: Joe enjoys watching Big Ten games in the afternoon (especially if Courtney the Bartender is pouring drinks) and getting lubricated for an SEC game later in the day.
Joe can’t remember the opponent — it was either Wisconsin or Ohio State — but Clayborn had beaten his man to the right, to the quarterback’s blind side. The left tackle recovered nicely and shoved Clayborn past the quarterback. As Clayborn was a step past the quarterback, Clayborn reached behind his own shoulder with his left hand and flicked the ball out of the quarterback’s hand.
That was what you call not just quick hands, but fantastic hand-to-eye coordination and that cannot be coached.
Good, quick hands are invaluable for a defensive end.
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January 25th, 2011 at 9:40 am
That would be my bet for the Bucs. He’s had a few “off the field issues “also, and a so-so senior season. But he also displays the “cat quickness” that reminds you of Simeon Rice. I also hope we risk a later pick on Greg Romeus. Hurt his senior season, but displayed great motor with good size(6’6″) riot to that. I think LB is as big if a need. Hopefully we get Clayborn/ Romeus in 1st/4th, and sam/Wil Lbs in 2nd/3rd.
January 25th, 2011 at 9:58 am
Joe,
With this info I hope to never hear about Talib and his cab driver incident again if you are hoping we draft this guy ..
I do agree Talib was dumb for doing it .. but this guy has done the same thing to a cab driver none the less …
But I hope we get better talent than Clayborn in which we will just continue to add to our collection of Left DE
Just for the Heck of it .. lets look at his Sack numbers year by year
2, 2, 11.5, 3.5 .. Something things kinda strange to me .. They are calling this years 3.5 sacks an off season .. To me 3.5 Sacks looks like an improvement upon 2 previous seasons with last year a fluke.
Anyone remember Mitch King who was a monster at Iowa ??
What has he done so far ?? I think about 3 tackles
Pass on Clayborn if you want to be out of the gutter in Sacks
January 25th, 2011 at 10:02 am
Clayborn just withdrew from all participation in the Senior Bowl. If this is not injury related, it raises red flags for me.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:10 am
At this point I don’t think anyone should question what Rah and Mark do on draft day. He has had off the field issues but what better team for him to go to.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:14 am
The article proves his cabbie incident wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Atleast he was provoked.
If Dom thinks he should be our pick, I’m all for it!
I am concerned about his nerve damage though. Not being able to lift weights in certain exercises means his transition to NFL quality strength might be harder than normal.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:22 am
After seeing that Mayock left Ryan Kerrigan out of his top 5 for DE’s I have hope that he falls to us instead of this guy.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:22 am
Joe, I suggest you watch some highlights of Ryan Kerrigan out of Purdue. I believe he has the most forced fumbles in Big Ten history and has a non-stop motor, more than I can say for Clayborn who seems to come to hit a wall at the point of contact more than you’d like.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:40 am
Pulling out of the senior bowl is surprising since a solid performance there would alleviate the concerns about his last year being a down year.
Wonder why he did that. He will probably blow up at the combine and shoot up draft boards, lol.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Chris:
You are assuming Kerrigan falls to the Bucs. Joe’s not as confident.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Gary:
Or, he could have had a lousy performance and/or get hurt and his stock plummets costing him millions.
Joe’s surprised so many guys compete in these all-star games.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Justin:
Which is why Joe has a hunch he will still be around in the second round. 🙂
January 25th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Obviously id love to have me some Clayborn on the Buccs. He had so much attention on him all year, thats part for the down numbers. Dudes a beast tho. Im sure they can work on it, but the only thing that scares me is his conditioning. When we played at Northwestern he was on the sideline a few times cuz they run that hurry up O. He’ll be fine tho. Wouldnt mind us grabbin Sash or DJK (since he somehow got off damn near all his charges). But yeah dont really see us takin a S or WR, but hey. Wishful thinkin Go Buccs, Go Hawks :o)
January 25th, 2011 at 10:47 am
Clayborn is an average fat run stopping LDE with a disorder that effects the nerves in his neck and right arm. He had one good year and went back to being average. Total waste of a 1st round pick. We can play Magee or Price at LDE. Plus we have Doug Worthington and George Johnson waiting to get a shot. Clayborn offers nothing that we don’t already have.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:48 am
If we have to take a LDE in the 1st round, I’d hope it would be JJ Watt.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:49 am
I like JJ WATT the more I look into him.
He takes nothing for granted (because of his path to the present).
He gives 120% constantly
He is excellent against the run
He is big so he is not thought of as a 4-3 guy.. so what. He can get to the QB and does it better and better every year.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:53 am
no thanks on clayborn. did anyone watch him in iowa’s bowl game or all season for that matter? he looked extremely slow off the edge and was truly dominated all game by MIZZ’s LT. I was looking forward to seeing him in the senior bowl but learning he won’t play only makes the case for drafting him even more sketchy…i think jvato24 hit it on the head. the guy had an extreme outlier of a year in 09 and regressed back to the mean in 10. I would be shocked and a bit disappointed if Dom went with this guy in the first round
January 25th, 2011 at 10:54 am
As a life-long Iowa Hawkeye fan who watches nearly every game and follows the Hawks nearly as closely as I follow the Bucs, I’m not disturbed by Clayborn’s arrest at all. He was clearly provoked by a racial epithet, and reacted in a way that I think many of us may have reacted in the same manner. I have NO concerns about this guy’s character at all.
That being said, I don’t think Clayborn will be all that good of a pro. He’ll be a serviceable guy, and one that would fit well on the strong side of a 4-3 line, but he’s not going to remind us of Simeon Rice. I personally would prefer to see Kerrigan or J.J. Watt as our first-rounder, or wait until later and grab Stefen Wisniewski to strengthen the inside of our OL instead.
Joe, I don’t agree with your contention that Clayborn will fall to the 2nd round. I don’t see any way he’s still there past pick #32. I just don’t think he’s a good fit for the Bucs defense.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:54 am
Mark will trade up for Kerrigan or Quinn.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:57 am
We need playmakers on the defensive side of the ball. What’s the use in drafting a average De in the first round out of need and only to find out we could have have had a game changing LB. I say draft the best defensive player available at pick 20.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:57 am
Oh, and one more thing. I really don’t think Clayborn played any worse this year than he did in ’09. Teams just started scheming for him, which opened things up for the other guys on the line like Broderick Binns, Karl Klug and Christian Ballard.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:59 am
Take the best available player unless it’s a WR. We’re stacked there. The Bucs have plenty of needs for upgrades. The first round is no place for a reach.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Good point Teddy. Clayborn was a marked man this year.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:12 am
I read up to the point where you said Todd Mcshay and then I stopped.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:28 am
If we are going to want someone, I want a “Deacon Jones” type of DE, if they counted sacks for his entire career, he would probably be the all time leader, but they did not count sacks for most of his career.
January 25th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
With the lesser talent pool in this draft, I could easily see the Bucs using picks to trade up and get the “guy they want”. That could be Kerrigan or Watt. I’ve also seen mocks having them stay put and drafting Allen Bailey of Miami. I don’t see Clayborn being the guy.
The team is getting closer and has fewer positions of great need than they had last year (WR AND DT, plus others). This year, we have GREAT need at DE, plus needs at LB and OL. Of course we could use depth at other positions as well, but none are urgent like DE. Where before we would more likely trade down to get more picks to fill more needs, I think they’re more likely to move up and get the guy they want.
January 25th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Marked in the NFL yes sort of, but theoretically if they double him that opens up Gerald McCoy in the middle. If they double McCoy that opens up our defensive ends. Its the conundrum offensive coordinators had when facing the duo of Simeon Rice and Warren Sapp
Hopefully we can draft a DE that will beat a tackle more times than not and force them to double
January 25th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
This years DE class doesn’t seem to match up to years past. How come noone is considering us trading our pick for a DE or trading down for more picks?
January 25th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
I love how people are already saying that there’s no talent in this draft, when this draft has already set a record for number of underclassmen declaring eligible.
Isn’t it fair to say that we don’t know how much talent is in this draft??
@espo,
DE’s is about the strongest position in this draft. That and QB.
January 25th, 2011 at 3:16 pm
how many of the people on here sh!tting on clayborn have even seen iowa play? he’ll be a beast. iowa’s lb’s sucked this year so he was required to play close to the line of scrimmage.
January 25th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Hire,
I find it odd that all these underclassmen are declaring eligible, with the CBA still up in the air, or the fact that rookie pay is to be scaled way back.
I’m not a huge college fan, so I’m not sure. Is it talented? Maybe, but how many non-seniors really pan out? That extra year(sometimes two) makes a difference, besides the education and degree!
January 25th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
gotbbucs:
Please re-read my original post. You will see Joe has seen Clayborn play several times.
January 25th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Justin:
Good point. Can’t use the excuse that Clayborn wasn’t getting any help because Purdue flat out blows. Kerricgan surely never got any help either.
January 25th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Justin:
I really believe Clayborn will be there in the second round and maybe even the third.
Look at the quality players the Bucs got in the past draft who slipped as far as they did (Brian Price, Arrelious Benn, Mike Williams… even LeGarrette Blount).
January 25th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
@ Hire,
I’ve heard a lot of people bad mouthing DEs in this years draft. I admit that’s what I’m basing my statement on. I still have my same question though. Does anyone think a trade might be in the works to get an established end? Or trade down for more picks?
January 25th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
The argument that this years draft is limited in talent is due to the number of underclassmen that came out last year (although not as many as this year), due to the potential rookie salary cap this year. That leaves fewer quality seniors this year in the draft. Also, the number of underclassmen coming out this year is a direct result of the # that came out last year. A depleted senior class leaves the first round open for underclassmen.
That said, there are two positions of potential strength in this year’s draft, and that is DE and LB. There are potentially 5 or more DE’s slated to go in the first round. QBs are depleted with Bradford/Clausen/McCoy/etc coming out last year and Luck staying in school. Just watching college football this past year it was obvious the level of play was down. So called “superstars” fell off, and there were more teams “in the mix” due to the mediocre play. Sure, there are still some great players to get in the draft, but you won’t find nearly as many standout “undrafted” players this year, and it’ll be harder to find late round steals as well.
January 25th, 2011 at 5:54 pm
This is why the bucs are going to go with a hybrid 3-4 rush linebacker\defensive end in the first round to help their pass rush, because the best true 4-3 defensive end available is likely to be Clayborn and from what im hearing of him he just has too much bust potential. Whatever first round caliber “tweeners” are still available when the Bucs pick should all be safer bets than Clayborn.
January 25th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
A lot of the talk about Clayborn on here scares me. I would hate for the Bucs to spend a first round pick on a guy that ends up being the next Greg Spires and not the next Simeon Rice.
January 25th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
joe, i realize you’ve seen him play, but i was talking to the people that think he’s going to be a bust.
January 25th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
DE and LB or this drafts deepest positions. Should be able to draft some young guys to help. Joe, you really think that Clayborn could fall to us in the second round? That would be great, but I can’t imagine that ! I sure hope you are right! Still have hopes for the recovery of Greg Romeus. While a risk due to injury, he is first round talent, and should be there in the fouth round
January 25th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
This could actually play into our hands very well. With DE and LB being two of the deepest positions in the draft (DT and DB are two of the weakest), other teams may find it more prudent to take the best available at other positions.. knowing there will still be a DE or LB there later in the draft. That could open the draft up for a guy like Kerrigan to fall to the Bucs, or Akeem Ayers.
When there are only two good CBs on the board, they’ll both have to be picked up quickly. Really only one or two top RBs as well. Even OL has only a few top guys (nothing like Okung or Oher over the past years) and teams may be looking to get the BEST LT or RG or whatever.
By sheer numbers, the Bucs may luck into their choice of several DEs, and I think Clayborn is not the top choice.
January 25th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
I don’t know much about Clayborn, and have only seen him once, but I’m not buying all that “Scheming” talk. If college teams were able to slow him down with “Scheming” then NFL OT’s should bully him around without much trouble. How many years did it take for James Harrison to develop a pass rush? He is a very strong man, but what I really like is that he is short. I still feel that height appears to be a bit of a hindrance to many DE’s, where as the the 6′-2″ and shorter ones seem to get better leverage against the predominantly 6″-5″ and above Offensive tackles. Just thinking outside the box and taking a slightly different perspective here. I would consider using the #20 pick on a MLB if there haven’t been any taken yet and the best on the board is available, maybe even trade up if necessary. I agree we need a DE badly, but I think we need a MLB worse. I still like Jon Beason with Carolina and would like to see Dom try and trade for him. I know Ron Rivera is a Defensive coach but he definitely is in rebuilding mode and trading a couple good players could help them.
January 25th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
bigmac, i havent seen a mlb this yeas that should be selected any higher than halfway through the 2nd round. this isnt the year i dont think to try and find a star at that position through the draft.
January 25th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Thx gb, I was afraid that may be the case. I haven’t heard a whole lot about any players this year, especially compared to last year. They talked about Dent from Georgia in the Shrine game but I don’t know how good he really is. Bama has had a good team and I really liked Rolando McClain last year. I would like to see more of Tyrone McKenzie and what he can do. Maybe this is a good draft to trade away picks for good players already in the league.
January 25th, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Gitarlvr, blasphemy! Greg spires helped us win a super bowl!
January 25th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Yeah but Spires was a left end with little pass rushing ability. Good against the run but you certainly don’t draft a guy like that in the first round.