Now Here’s An Interesting Signing
July 26th, 2011
Into the wee hours of the morning Bucs rock star general manager and his minions continued to gather up undrafted free agents and another player that caught Joe’s eye was a running back from Oklahoma, Mossis Madu, per the Twitter feed of NFLDraftInsider, who was keeping a running log of undrafted free agents.
Looking at his numbers, Madu seemed to peak as an underclassman but that was partially because he switched positions in the backfield and sort of struggled. Why would he switch positions if he was any good? Well, the Sooners had some tailback named DeMarco Murray on the roster.
The NFL is littered with quality players who were buried on a college depth chart because the guy ahead of them was an All-American. In fact, Joe remembers a quarterback who won a Super Bowl for the Bucs who once was buried on the bench at Florida State.
As far as the undrafted free agents who have agreed to terms with the Bucs, Madu piques Joe’s interest the most.
July 26th, 2011 at 8:04 am
And going into this past season, madu was supposed to be moved to slot receiver to get him on the field more. He started the season off with a DUI and didn’t really produce this season either. He did run fairly effectively (475 yards) his sophomore season, getting his one and only collegiate 100 yard game against Missouri.
July 26th, 2011 at 8:14 am
“In fact, Joe remembers a quarterback who won a Super Bowl for the Bucs who once was stuck on the bench at Florida State backing up a Heisman Trophy winner.”
Who was that? Brad Johnson was never stuck on the bench behind a heisman trophy winner. Casey Weldon was who kept Brad on the bench at FSU.
This part of your history you need to brush up on Joe as this is not the first time you have repeated this error.
Brad Johnson last played football at FSU in the 1991 eason.
Charlie Ward the heisman winner of 1993 started only 92-93.
July 26th, 2011 at 8:32 am
Pete I…Big deal, you got the point.
July 26th, 2011 at 8:48 am
The other free agents the bucs signed since Joe wont mention: Derrell Smith (LB, Syracuse), Raymond Webber (WR, Arkansas Pine-Bluff), Detron Lewis (WR, Texas Tech)
July 26th, 2011 at 8:57 am
LOL!
July 26th, 2011 at 8:58 am
McBuc:
Nah, Joe’s cool with Pete I. Joe appreciates being corrected if he has misinformation.
July 26th, 2011 at 8:58 am
@McBuc Yes I got it, however, journalists should strive for accuracy in reporting, it makes their points more credible, and Joe is a journalist no matter what the medium.
July 26th, 2011 at 9:00 am
Thanks Joe! A scholar and a gentleman.
July 26th, 2011 at 9:00 am
Haha I appreciate the articles I really do Joe, but diehards like myself are interested in EVERYTHING bucs, so I figured I would throw the info out there.
The proof is in the pudding: “but ultimately Joe only fires off what he finds interesting. And that’s not every last snoozer of a transaction.” Apparently the other guys were snoozers 🙁
July 26th, 2011 at 9:02 am
Pete I:
Hey, it’s called having Joe’s back. Much appreciated.
Joe’s sure Brad Johnson would much rather be remembered for being stuck behind Charlie Ward than Casey Weldon. 🙂
July 26th, 2011 at 9:06 am
Travis:
You know how it goes man, Joe built this site nearly three years ago from nothing to upwards of 10k unique visitors a day on a given day, like of late. Part of that was writing about interesting topics.
The two undrafted free agents Joe wrote about because he found them compelling, hence the posts.
Let’s be honest, does the backup Boise State quarterback really have a prayer of making the practice squad, much less the team? Most — not all of course, but most — are camp meat.
July 26th, 2011 at 9:13 am
Your right Joe to be honest I dont think any of the undrafted free agents we have signed will make the team from what I know about them.
Something I have found interesting is that Adam Schefter tweeted: “RT Has Mark Herzlich been signed yet? … 10 am. Sounds like either Baltimore, Philadelphia or Tampa Bay.”
Id like too see Herzlich’s leadership and work ethic around One Buc, he has a good shot at making the roster.
July 26th, 2011 at 9:20 am
No worries, Pete I must be an FSU fan, so he is alright in my book. My second college team after USF. I just thought it sounded a bit harsh. Pete, did you get to see the flag football game they played against eachother? That would have been pretty cool.
July 26th, 2011 at 9:25 am
Travis:
Stroud Twittered early this morning that the Bucs were in talks with Herzlich.
Tim Ryan is very down on Herzlich — as an NFL player. Joe remembers hearing Ryan during the Senior Bowl game saying Herzlich simply doesn’t have the quickness or lateral movement any longer to make an NFL roster and that’s it is very obvious he has a rod in his leg.
GREAT story, but at the end of the day, an NFL team is about winning games, not a charity.
July 26th, 2011 at 9:27 am
I’d like to see us take a look at Mario Fannin
July 26th, 2011 at 9:40 am
Well I always enjoy his post 😉 fun to hear about newbies anyway GO BUCS!
July 26th, 2011 at 9:40 am
cspann: Fannin signed with the Broncos late last night
Amazing size – speed combo, but not a great football player.
And Joe I have to disagree about Herzlich, I watched the Senior bowl Practices and game, combine, etc and Herzlich has indeed lost a step, but whos to say he cant regain his speed and quickness with time? Hes worth the risk, what the worst case scenario? we lost a 20k signing bonus on him? best case scenario? he returns to form and we get an amazing LB for peanuts.
Another reason Herzlich looked like a bum playing for BC last year was because Luke Kuechly was a monster and tackled everything that he looked at before Herzlich had a chance to get to the ball.
July 26th, 2011 at 9:46 am
@Travis, dang didnt see that. oh well. I think we still need a some type of speed back. imo.
July 26th, 2011 at 10:02 am
Joe got the idea across. I am not from Florida and I could care less who Brad Johnson played behind. Look at Steve Young here, same thing.
The key is finding these lost gems and Mark and Raheem seem to do a great job at this. Will everyone be a winner, no, but look at the ones that are.
July 26th, 2011 at 10:16 am
Noel Devine is the best back available. They should have signed him!
July 26th, 2011 at 10:16 am
He would provide that speed that we need!
July 26th, 2011 at 10:22 am
OB:
Not sure Steve Young is remotely comparable to Brad Johnson.
Often, a talented player gets caught in a numbers game and is found on the bench because of a glut of talent at a position. Example: Brad Johnson at Florida State who was a back up but had a much more successful NFL career than the guy who started ahead of him at Florida State, Casey Weldon.
Steve Young damned near won the Heisman Trophy and threw for almost 8,000 yards and set an NCAA record for passing yards his senior season at BYU. He was a first round draft pick.
Johnson was off many scouts radars coming out of college.
Young was on everyone’s radar coming out of college.
July 26th, 2011 at 10:24 am
where do you find who signed who
July 26th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Buddhaboy:
There will be a mass transactions release later today when all this is sorted out. Probably NFL.com.
July 26th, 2011 at 10:35 am
Herzlich to the Giants.
July 26th, 2011 at 10:42 am
Saw that Joe, kinda disappointed, but ooh well. Hopefully we snatch up a few contributers in free agency.
July 26th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Joe I stand corrected, but he did sit on the bench here didn’t he?
July 26th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
We also signed another undersized RB, Armando Allen Jr from Notre Dame. National Football Post has an assessment of him:
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/scouting_department.html