What the Buc Man?

On Wednesday, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers released 11 time Pro Bowl Linebacker Derrick Brooks and four other players from their roster. Along with Brooks, the Bucs also released; Warrick Dunn, Joey Galloway, Ike Hilliard, and Cato June. All men were first round picks with the exception of Cato June who was selected in the sixth round by the Colts. Brooks spent his entire NFL career playing for the Bucs (13 seasons) and Dunn played for the Bucs from 1997-2001, before he played for the Falcons, and then back with the team in 2008. To Brooks, his release came by surprise. “Right now, like all of you guys, I’m just trying to get a feel for it all, trying to come to grips with it,” the 11-time Pro Bowl selection said by telephone. “I don’t even know what to think.”

What the Buc? Some fans in Tampa might feel surprised by the releases. I’m not at all. I’m not saying that I saw this coming, but I’m not surprised. The players that they released are in their mid thirties, except for Cato June who is still 29, a year younger than the head coach Raheem Morris. So age is becoming a factor for these guys, but that is still not the reason why they were released. The real reason why they were booted out, is because of a new blue print. The Bucs are rebuilding developing their future talent. “You never replace a guy like Derrick Brooks. This was not a money issue or a youth movement. This is a direction change. We are moving forward, we’re going to play some people that were behind these guys and let them compete.” Have you noticed how since 2002, (when they won the Superbowl) the Bucs haven’t been making a big splash. Since the 2002 playoffs, the Bucs have not won a playoff game. They made two playoff appearances after their Superbowl win, but lost in the wildcard round to the Redskins in 2005 and then to the Superbowl winners Giants, in 2007. Also, their record in regular season games after the 2002 Superbowl win, has been 40-42. Even since the Superbowl win, the team has been playing with the same old blue print with the same players.

Gruden thought that he could win another championship with the same team like he did with his old 2002 Bucs’ team, but with a new older QB. No way, not at all. During free agency, the team got Warrick Dunn and then they got Jeff Garcia and other QB’s in their stable of QB collection. Gruden didn’t even get a big time WR for his QB’s in his time with the Bucs. Galloway who is now 37, was almost approaching his middle thirties after his Superbowl win with the Bucs. The only WR help they got Jeff Garcia was Antonio Bryant. Aside from WR, who was the real QB of the team? Was it Chris Simms, Garcia, Brian Griese, or McCown? The Bucs never had a real set QB. I believed they should’ve developed Chris Simms and built the team around him.

Now with a new head coach and Monte Kiffin gone, there are going to be some shake ups. Now they are switching defenses from the Tampa 2, to now the 4-3 under Morris’s new regime. In the Tampa 2 defense, speed was what the defense relied on along with great tackling ability where they need fast front lineman unlike the big bulky strong lineman many are accustom to in the 4-3. The LB’s on this scheme needed to quick enough to be able to cover the middle, along with the CB’s and SS and FS. Now switching to the 4-3 defense, you need top notch players on every position, but more emphasis on the DE and LB positions which need to be quick to pressure the QB. The front line has to be fast but more importantly bigger and stronger to execute this defense well. With the MLB, his job is to stop the run/blitz and drop back into his zones on pass plays. With a new coach and staff in place for the new blue print for the Bucs, changes needed to be made. That is why they made the releases that they made on Wednesday. The Bucs’ higher level people saw that the Gruden’s blue print wasn’t working and ripped that apart by firing him from his head coaching position. The Bucs saw something in Raheem Morris that many of us might not, which is why hired him to become the new head man in Tampa. His blue print can work or it can fail. We will need to wait and see in due time.