A Call To Study Marcus Lattimore
February 22nd, 2013
The Bucs seem to embrace guys with knee injuries. As rockstar general manager Mark Dominik told us, the Bucs know knees and are confident in their medical staff.
The scariest and most heinous knee entering the 2012 NFL Draft belongs to former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore, who was considered a sure first-round pick before one of the ugliest knee injuries ever recorded on film this past season.
Lattimore, however, is at the NFL Scouting Combine being interviewed by teams and analyzed by teams’ doctors. He’s supposedly healthy and ready to run, jump and cut through various combine drills Sunday.
Draft guru Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski, of 98.7 FM, writes that the Bucs should be a team paying very close attention and potentially considering Lattimore in the fourth round.
4. Marcus Lattimore – RB – South Carolina – Lattimore suffered a horrific knee injury to end his 2012 season and essentially his collegiate career. The doctor who performed his surgery, Dr. James Andrews, has since said that Lattimore will shock people by his progress at the combine. With Legarrette Blount potentially gone, I’m going to look long and hard at those medical records to see if Lattimore is worth a day 3 pick.
First, let Joe say that if the Bucs have no legitimate plans to use running backs other than Doug Martin, then drafting Lattimore would be foolish.
There’s no reason to believe Lattimore would be durable enough to carry the load as the No. 1 back if Martin went down (like LeGarrette Blount can) so the Bucs would have to change their offensive approach in order to make drafting Lattimore sensible.
Joe knows the Bucs yearn to run the ball like a throwback 1970’s powerhouse but couldn’t do it last season after major injuries on the offensive line. With Davin Joseph and Carl Nicks returning, and if the Bucs invest at right tackle in free agency, Joe could then envision snatching a running back in the draft.
February 22nd, 2013 at 11:27 am
I love that kid to death. Ive watched him since he played at Byrnes High, down the road from me. I really wish he could have sat out 1 more year to give that knee more time. But he deserves to get paid what he can while he can. He wouldve been a 1st rounder if not for the injury.
Being a Gamecock, of course I would love to see us get him and he turns into a beast. But Im just too concerned about his durability, especially using a draft pick on him this year. I hope Im wrong for his sake. I WANT to see him tear it up on the field. I just dont know if we’ll go for him though. If he worked out, that would be one hell of a 4th round pick up though.
February 22nd, 2013 at 11:45 am
Commish needs to lay off the inhalants.
February 22nd, 2013 at 12:00 pm
We need a top tier offensive tackle. Be it FA or early pick, we need it badly. Fluker might be there at 13 and they said he lost about 20 lbs for the Combine. Might want to keep our eye on this guy. No early first round CB’s but someone will take one, probably before we pick.
February 22nd, 2013 at 12:02 pm
Joe can you get an interview with Fluker, please.
February 22nd, 2013 at 12:08 pm
I like Fluker on the run game but unless his pass game can make a big turnaround, I dont know. I was high on him too until I watched some tape of his pass blocking skills. With losing weight and the right coaching, he could improve in that dept.
February 22nd, 2013 at 12:57 pm
I think they would pay attention to Ray Graham with Dave Wannstedt onboard
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:05 pm
That is a horrific injury.. wow. Almost wish I hadn’t seen that video, how is that kid ever going to play again?
I severely doubt we use a pick on him though… lest we forget Mr Smith the speedster
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:09 pm
Are we ever going to see if Michael Smith was worth a late draft pick or just let him rust away on the not active list?
February 22nd, 2013 at 6:04 pm
If he still there, in the 4th round,
we MUST take him.
He is DYNASTY security. Give him the year to rehab and let him watch Dougie pund the rock.
Then by Dougie’s 3rd season, Lattimore will have returned to full health.
4th round picks hardly ever pan out anyway, so it would be a WISE investment to get him on our roster.
Blount is just not committed. Lattimore is the ULTIMATE Buccaneer man!
My bet? Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, The Giants, the Colts, and Green Bay will ALL consider drafting him.
Why? Because they are SMART.
February 22nd, 2013 at 7:39 pm
I say we get a RT from free agency before we use any of our high picks on one.
It’s not Dom’s style
February 22nd, 2013 at 8:46 pm
We spent a lot of money in FA on our offense last year though. Not saying he shouldnt do it, but maybe its time to spend money on the D, and draft high for the O line. We still have to consider cap space for next year too. Thats why I wont be surprised if we went OT in the 1st or 2nd.
February 23rd, 2013 at 3:28 am
Latvius Murray >