How A Draft Can Work For You
April 29th, 2021
Changing a franchise.
Now if a team ever drafts a Hall of Fame player, that draft, even if all the other drafted players stink out loud, would be considered damn good.
Hall of Fame players are hard to come by. But it happens. And if a team is lucky enough to get multiple Hall of Famers in a draft, the impact is significant.
Joe thinks every Bucs fan would agree that last year AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht hit two home runs in drafting right tackle Tristan Wirfs and safety Antoine Winfield. Now it is way premature to suggest those two will be Hall of Fame players. But do the Bucs win the Super Bowl without them? Unlikely.
Some 26 years ago, then general manager Rich McKay had one of the greatest drafts in NFL history which turned around a rudderless franchise into a Super Bowl champion. With his first two picks, McKay and Sam Wyche drafted cornerstones Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks.
Can Licht pull off a feat like last year or like McKay/Wyche did? That’s a high ceiling. Licht doesn’t have a high-end first-round draft pick (unless he trades for one).
But if Licht can draft two Pro Bowl-level players like he did last year, this Bucs team might have to be broken up by the league it will be so filthy-stacked.
Enjoy these days, Bucs fans. They don’t last and we probably won’t see this ever again.
From high school teammates to Super Bowl champions 🏆@WarrenSapp and @DBrooks55 turned the @Buccaneers defense into a turnover machine. pic.twitter.com/rRprGJTdCR
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) April 28, 2021
April 29th, 2021 at 2:24 pm
Just think of this: Our first pick this year won’t start. How ’bout that Buc fans?
April 29th, 2021 at 2:27 pm
He!! Yeah, it definitely changes things. FSU and Miami, rivals, state powerhouse programs, what the he!! happened. Let’s do it again with Jaelan Phillips and Marvin Wilson (not sleeping on this guy because he was surrounded by inept talent and poor coaching)
April 29th, 2021 at 2:39 pm
“Enjoy these days, Bucs fans. They don’t last and we probably won’t see this ever again.”
Not without a franchise QB. That’s why it’s so important to draft a QB to be groomed under Brady and the Buc’s outstanding coaches. If we develop a QB capable of taking over after TB, there’s no reason why this franchise can’t be the next Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburg Steelers, or New England Patriots. Each went on long, multi-SB runs.
April 29th, 2021 at 2:45 pm
They weren’t high school teammates.
April 29th, 2021 at 3:03 pm
That was a good clip. Dang I love seeing that lateral from Sapp to Brooks. Love it every time!!
April 29th, 2021 at 3:10 pm
Tbbf
Dont be so sure. They’re not drafting a guy just be a backup. The best players will start.
April 29th, 2021 at 3:21 pm
The Bucs have 3 expensive OLinemen under contract now. Wyatt Davis, G- Ohio St, is a player who could earn a starting job as a rookie and bolster the run game .
April 29th, 2021 at 3:21 pm
Brooks and Sapp were Bucs because Sam Wyche wanted to draft them. Rich McKay was too busy trying to look like a corporate suit and do corporate NFL things. He is such a douche.
April 29th, 2021 at 3:42 pm
You should never expect rookies to play at pro-bowl levels. Just look at Sapp and Brooks. Sapp his rookie year had 3 sacks. He looks good for a rookie, but there was no hint he was a 1st ballot HOFer. Brooks meanwhile was better as a rookie, but again, he was solid but you wouldn’t have picked him to be a 1st ballot HOFer either. Look at other players from that team. John Lynch for example, he was literally a bad player early in his career, but through pure hardwork and willpower he made himself into a pro-bowler, then an all-pro and earned his way to the HOF, but early in his career you would said he’s like to be out of the league in a couple of years. Then Ronde Barber, he didn’t even play his rookie year outside of a few snaps at the end of the year on special teams — if Twitter and this site was around back then, people would have been labelling him a bust.
Good teams often don’t need a lot from rookies — and you shouldn’t be saying players are busts or HOFers based off rookie years. Most of the time it takes players a year or sometimes more to adjust to the NFL. Drafting for starters is dangerous since more times than not it doesn’t work out, which is why this year is great for the Bucs, they can draft for guys who they think will be the best players down the road, not guys who need to play right this moment.
April 29th, 2021 at 3:44 pm
Swampbuc – That’s some really idiotic revisionist history there. McKay firmly ran the team and the player personnel until Gruden threw a fit after McKay refused to sign a washed up Andre Rison who couldn’t break a 5.0 40 when they brought him in. Wyche wasn’t picking players, he was literally in his last year as coach and on the hot seat. Why exactly would Rich McKay let Wyche pick his guys, and why would Wyche, was an offensive coach with his job on the line, pick two defensive guys not weapons for his offense? Your entire story is fake news.
April 29th, 2021 at 4:11 pm
It’s beyond awesome to be a Bucs fan now. It truly is. Especially those of us who survived the rat infested old sombrero and were there for the Chicago game when RayJay was born.
April 29th, 2021 at 6:46 pm
Yeah Ace, Brooks is from Pensacola, Sapp from Apopka. Bout 800 miles apart. GO BUCS!!
April 29th, 2021 at 6:48 pm
No, only 450 miles!
April 29th, 2021 at 7:04 pm
To say we may never see it again is wrong. Eventually a new Bucs team will rise and be dominate again. It has happened twice why not more?
April 29th, 2021 at 10:23 pm
Rod, i agree with you about McKay and the 95 draft. I disagree a bit about your assessment of the early Lynch tho. He was never bad, just raw. He was never in danger of getting cut.