The Bucs And Jamaal Charles
October 3rd, 2012
Joe’s not sure there’s an expiration date on information provided to a reporter off the record, but Tampa Bay Times columnist Gary Shelton had different ideas when he shared an intriguing story yesterday that he said was off-the-record information he’d been sitting on for years.
Speaking on his Gary and The Commish show on 98.7 FM, Shelton said he was told in confidence that there were loud voices in the Bucs’ 2008 draft war room screaming for Tampa Bay to take running back Jamaal Charles with their second-round pick, No. 58 overall.
Of course, in one of the worst draft-day moves in Bucs history, the Bucs instead chose wide receiver scaredy cat Dexter Jackson, the guy who never caught a regular-season pass and looked terrified returning punts and kicks.
Charles was taken 73rd overall that season by the Chiefs and has racked up superstar numbers. He leads the AFC in rushing this season and the Bucs will see him in Tampa after the bye week. Bucs personnel man Shelton Quarles called Charles the fastest running back he’s scouted this season during a radio interview yesterday.
Imagine if the Bucs had drafted Charles?
Assuming he stayed healthy, that would have changed the course of the franchise. Derrick Ward never would have been signed and that money could have gone elsewhere, plus LeGarrette Blount likely would be on another team along with Doug Martin.
Hell, Chucky might still be coaching for Team Glazer if Charles could have helped the Bucs win one more game in 2008.
October 3rd, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Wow…..we has some bad picks during the mid 2000’s!! Hind sight or not, Dexter Jackson was a head scratcher!!
This years draft class seems to be top notch, and hopefully we will continue that trend to build a winning product year in and year out!
October 3rd, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Yeah I agree JBuc. This years class looks good and we have made some drafting mistakes but there are a lot of teams that have done worse. Stories like this don’t bother me much because every year we will miss a good player, it’s something that can’t be avoided really. I think overall I can’t knock Tampa’s drafts over the past few years. They have been decent.
October 3rd, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Ill do you one better, Joe. The Bucs PASS on Michael Clayton in 2006 and pick Stephen Jackson… He’s STILL the Bucs running back today. I was screaming at the tv when the Bucs made that pick.
October 3rd, 2012 at 1:26 pm
I mean if we are looking back on bad second round picks, why is there no article on how none of Dominick’s second round picks have worked out, thank goodness schiano is pulling the strings now.
October 3rd, 2012 at 1:34 pm
We can play this game all day.
Imagine our “team” if we could do what we need to do on draft day.
We Should have:
WR Mike Wallace
RB Jamaal Charles
TE Gronkowski
With the names mentioned above, Freeman couldn’t miss these guys.
We need to pull the trigger properly on draft day moving forward.
Too many swings and misses in our draft. We strike out just as much or more than Karlos Pena.
October 3rd, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Adam L.
Great point!
In that same draft, Oakland had our 2nd rounder (so thankfully we couldn’t screw it up).
We took Marquis Cooper LB in round 3, passing on the likes of:
Washington TE Chris Cooley- 81st overall
Atlanta QB Matt Schaub- 90th overall
San Diego LB Shaun Phillips- 98th overall
In 2004 we also passed on the likes of: Jared Allen and Michael Turner.
When is it our turn to not suck again?
October 3rd, 2012 at 1:41 pm
@the bu realist
I agree maybe if joe can write an article about all the failures Dominick has drafted. It’s no coincidence that when schiano comes in we have what looks like an excellent draft roster.
October 3rd, 2012 at 2:30 pm
LOL So did 30 other teams pass on all those draft picks. There is not just Bucs, and one other team who picked that player. All franchises can do the shoulda coulda.
October 3rd, 2012 at 2:50 pm
If only Miguel have accumulated massive silver futures contracts in the late 1970’s and then sold them in the beginning of 1980 and then shorted the crap out of the futures market.
Grande would have been the owner of Los Bucaneros de Tampa Bay.
Could have, should have, would have, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to revise history.
October 3rd, 2012 at 3:13 pm
@pierat40,
True, but Dom’s 2nd round picks take the cake.
Thank goodness for LaVonte David. Finally a 2nd round pick playing up to draft status.
October 3rd, 2012 at 3:20 pm
With the way Freeman is playing, the whole 2009 draft looks like a failure for Dominick.
The 2010 draft looks horrible too, with the exception of McCoy and Mike Williams. Benn and Lewis (high picks) haven’t contributed.
Jury is still out on the 2011 draft.
October 3rd, 2012 at 3:22 pm
Back during the Gruden era they were mainly drafting for need and not the best player. Clayton was only drafted to replace Keyshawn Johnson as a big position receiver, Dexter Jackson was drafted because Joey Galloway was getting too old to last much longer in the NFL, and Gaines Adams was supposed replaced Simeon Rice.
Can’t fully blame Dominick on fail attempts to help out the coaches. As you can tell from this years draft that Dominick wasn’t the only reason they were drafting bad. He might be the GM, but the coaches inform them what they want from the bad scouting reports that Hickey was giving them. They needed the players for that position that they drafted for so they reached on most.
Now they are drafting the best player available and it working out a lot better. That’s the same formula that the Giants do.
October 3rd, 2012 at 3:38 pm
i never thought i’d actually say this, but i agree with Miguel….revisionist history is a real MFer. Jamaal Charles went in the 3rd round, which means that (barring trades, etc) each team had at least one chance to draft him, some teams probably had as many as 3 or 4 picks by then. and i can guarantee not a single one of them would be upset if they had him on their roster right now. that’s just part of the game. of course Dexter Jackson being a MASSIVE bust makes it that much worse, but every single team has had these moments where they can look back and wish they didn’t let a player slip through the cracks.
@SteveK
Clayton and Steven Jackson were drafted in 04. the only reason i remember that is because i went to the 05 draft where they picked Cadillac…and there would be no point taking a 1st round RB the year after spending a #5 overall pick on one. Davin Joseph was the 1st rounder in 06.
October 3rd, 2012 at 6:34 pm
If it was off the record…why did he share it?
October 3rd, 2012 at 7:02 pm
it’s still early but lavonte david is possibly the only quality player (benn could redeem himself) the bucs have selected in round 2 in about a decade….i think we forgot how to draft in the 2nd round after giving up a couple years’ worth of #2s for gruden
October 3rd, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Sometimes these regional scouts fall in love with players and keep pushing them to the GM. Gruden probably knew nothing about Dexter Jackson (who did) but the scout probably said he would be the next Devin Hester.
With Barron and David’s play they already have drafted better than the last couple of years. I believe they should play Tandy more, he’ll be more physical than our current corners.
Charles will tough to slow down. Hope the bye week gets everyone healed and rested. Must must win game!!
October 3rd, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Take Jamaal Charles out of the game by throwing deep early and often. Go up at least three scores (at least 2 td’s & a field goal). THEN squat on the clock with your running game. If they revert back to playing consistently against the run, then burn them deep again!
Schiano, WHY YOU NO SEE THIS???
October 4th, 2012 at 3:35 am
what if what if what if
never a good article, slow day eh?