Grading Bucs Drafts
April 28th, 2014
Many Bucs fans may hate him, but the stat nerds of Pro Football Focus have always supported former Bucs CB E.J. Biggers.
No, the Bucs have not had much luck with drafts of late. Brian Price suffered a weird injury and was never the same. Arrelious Benn could not stay healthy. Sleepy, leaky Rip Van Freeman couldn’t tell time and went mental.
And when a team has bad luck with its draft picks, it often spells doom for the general manager, which is just what happened to former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
The nerds over at Pro Football Focus have decided to break down each team’s recent drafts and, naturally, they were not raving about the draft results of the Bucs. But one player Khaled Elsayed types Dominik should be lauded for drafting was fan favorite cornerback E.J. Biggers.
Never hurts to find a solid contributor
E.J. Biggers, DB (217th overall pick in 2009): Biggers was at times a liability, but with 2,184 defensive snaps and 13 special teams tackles he’s proved he’s been worth the seventh-round pick. With 29 combined interceptions and pass break ups, he’s worth the positive grade.
Joe knows the Pro Football Focus crowd has always been in the corner of Biggers, which made many Bucs fans want to throw their laptops out their windows.
Besides, it could have been worse. It’s not like the same outfit thought Myron Lewis was some kind of a player. (Oh, he was some kind of player all right.)
April 28th, 2014 at 12:23 pm
They said he performed well for a 7th round pick. Considering most 7th rounders do not last on active rosters the same season they are picked, they do make a good point here.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:24 pm
What kind of mo-ron criticizes Biggers? The guy was money for a 7th rd pick! I tell ya Joe, some of your readers are plum tarded. No joke. Some of the things you say these readers tell you blows my mind. Biggers was a pretty decent backup corner. And we got him for a draft pick that usually doesn’t even make the team. We also got Dakota Watson in the 7th. Do people hate on that pick too? Jeeeeeeze. Fools.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
What sucks is that Biggers and Watson are not starters.
They were great for us, for being 7th rounders
Kalind- fans are pissed because the rock star cut Derrick Brooks for Quincy Black and Geno Hayes.
Biggers had to start because Myron Lewis was a horrendous 3rd round pick.
There are reasons, and they were Dominck.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:28 pm
How ’bout Myron, Najee & Luke????
April 28th, 2014 at 12:30 pm
when a team has “bad luck” with its draft picks……”luck” was not the issue, Dominik was awful.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:35 pm
You can’t miss on so many top picks. Everybody finds the occasional acorn in the later rounds, remember the blind squirrel stories. But a team can’t consistently waste top picks like the Bucs.
Freeman is exhibit #1 but Gaines Adams, Brian Price, D Bowers.
This is what scares me about #7. This pick has to be a can’t miss. This is why I’m a BPA guy at #7. We can always gamble on a QB in a later round.
BTW if we pick a QB, especially a colorful, famous, infamous? character like Johnny Football we’d better be prepared for a QB controversy from day one.
Do L&L and Tedford really want to go through a season of fans clamoring for Johnny Football? Unless they’re ready to play him from day one why bring on the aggravation of a QB controversy before camp even opens?
April 28th, 2014 at 12:39 pm
“Not raving about the draft results of the Bucs” ….and they overlooked David, Dougy, Wright, James, Rainey, Glennon, Gholston…and thats just a quick off the top of my head. Banks and Spence are still works in progress and may work out….we’ll see.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:40 pm
being wrong a few times can be considered bad luck, but when you’re wrong over 80% of the time…well that’s just plain incompetence.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:41 pm
This was commenting on 2009-2011 drafts–FYI for everyone. They didn’t ignore David, Martin, etc.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:44 pm
The worst part is that on average, Dominick had higher draft selection picks than alot of other teams. I think in his Reign of Futility he average #8 in the draft, meaning he drafted in front of 24 other NFL GM’s. Also for any CB that played during the last 5 years with no pass rush, ( and last year’s pass rush was actually the best in the last 5 years, tells you how bad things were!!! ) I felt sorry for any CB that took the field.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:44 pm
I agree with St Pete, sorry Joe. No go on Johnny. Either best available at #7 or trade down for more picks.
I do not see the logic of lauding the QB they just brought in and named the starter only to create havoc picking a QB @ #7 would create. If you pick a QB in the 1st round you HAVE to start them. So we would be installing a new offense with rookie at the helm. As opposed to installing a new offense with a seasoned veteran behind center.
April 28th, 2014 at 12:54 pm
Kalind..Biggers sucked arse.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:00 pm
@TheShaz
It makes sense if they are doing it so everyone would think they want a QB in the draft. Which is exactly what everyone thinks. Lol, The smoke screen is working perfectly.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:03 pm
The last two drafts, I think, were great.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:03 pm
You have to give Dom that. He was pretty darn good at 6th and 7th rd picks and undrafted FAs. It was those 1st and 2nd rd picks that really killed his drafts.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:06 pm
Kalind Says
“What kind of mo-ron criticizes Biggers?”
Biggers quit on too many plays. THAT’s what his fault was. I can’t tell you how many times the guy he was covering caught the ball and Biggers let him run away without even trying to chase him down until his teammates yelled at him.
Biggers sucks. Period. And if you had actually paid attention to him on the field, you would agree.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:10 pm
StPeteBucsFan Says
“BTW if we pick a QB, especially a colorful, famous, infamous? character like Johnny Football we’d better be prepared for a QB controversy from day one.”
There won’t be one unless Josh McCown is doing really, really bad. The plan is to sit the drafted QB and make him earn the starting role.
And Lovie is a strong-willed coach. He won’t bow to pressure by the fans or media. Not in the first year.
He’s got a plan, and you can bet the condition of him taking hte job was that he gets to do things his way.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
I agree with Harry, Dom had some great finds in late rounds and in FA. It seems that most of the later round picks have out shined 1st and 2nd rounders. Hopefully , the trend ends now.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:38 pm
@Bonzai- If they draft a QB I hope you’re right. The tendency of this fanbase is to clamor for the “next guy”. There will be enormous pressure if pick #7 is a QB. If they don’t pick one and Josh poops himself, you will still have a decent back-up in Glennon.
For a 7th round pick, Biggers was serviceable. I don’t know if he “quit on plays”. I think he was just outmatched by just about everybody. He had no business starting. He should’ve been a dime corner and nothing more.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:54 pm
You have to admit that schianos drafts were pretty good though.
April 28th, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Schiano has an eye for talent, I’ll def give him that.
April 28th, 2014 at 2:04 pm
Capital LOL.
April 28th, 2014 at 2:08 pm
Burnt toast Biggers was good value in the 7th round, but that’s about all he was.
On a completely random and unrelated note I had a dream last night where we traded our 1st round pick straight up for Adrian Peterson. Weird as hell.
April 28th, 2014 at 2:29 pm
lol @dreams…and I wanted Peterson that year he came out too.
April 28th, 2014 at 3:03 pm
Biggers benefited from a lack of depth and talent at the CB position. Most of the late round picks under Dominik saw more playing time than the typical late round draft pick. Dominik didn’t address the depth issues and swung and missed at key positions, like pass rushers. The past two years with Schiano is when the drafts got better. Free agency wasn’t Dominik’s forte either.
It will be interesting to see how the new regime evaluates players and how successful they are in the draft. Consistently missing on picks in the early rounds really sets a team back.
April 28th, 2014 at 3:03 pm
Bad luck ?? Try incompetence
April 28th, 2014 at 3:31 pm
good article
April 28th, 2014 at 4:57 pm
“Not raving about the draft results of the Bucs” ….and they overlooked David, Dougy, Wright, James, Rainey, Glennon, Gholston…and thats just a quick off the top of my head. Banks and Spence are still works in progress and may work out….we’ll see.” Dude….we DID NOT draft Rainey.
April 28th, 2014 at 6:44 pm
I always thought that Dominik’s best finds were Lorig and Dakota Watson. Late round people with low expectations who found spots on the roster. Watson was a special teams BEAST and Lorig morphed into a serviceable, solid fullback who paved the way for Doug Martin’s awesome rookie season.
April 28th, 2014 at 9:49 pm
Better be ready for a quarterback controversy if we pick Johnny football? Name me a time when we didnt have a QB controversy. Even in the super bowl year a large contingent of bucs “fans” didnt like Brad Johnson. An even larger group of fans didnt like Doug Williams. Steve Young was ran out of town. Vinny Testiverdi? Give me a break. A lot of Bucs fans arent happy unless they are complaining about who ever is QB. It doesnt matter if the teams problems is due to the QB or not.
April 28th, 2014 at 10:04 pm
Its funny… We all want to blame the Dom but how much influence did he have on players once camp started. That’s the coaching staffs job. And lets face it, many of these young and inexperienced players were coming to camp under terribly disconnected coaching staffs to look to for guidance.I blame Morris and Schiano for not prepping these dudes to be pro football players.
April 30th, 2014 at 10:27 am
ForgotAboutDre Said:
“On a completely random and unrelated note I had a dream last night where we traded our 1st round pick straight up for Adrian Peterson. Weird as hell.”
You dream about football? You need a life my friend.