Fix the franchise: Tampa Bay Buccaneers edition

I really want to say that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the right track, but that might be a hard argument to make considering they just finished the 2009 season with a 3-13 record. During last off season they fired their head coach, Jon Gruden, who just happened to be their all time wins leader, and who led them to a Super Bowl not that long ago. Apparently the ownership felt that Gruden had the team on the wrong path and Raheem Morris is the guy to lead them to glory in the future.

Maybe just maybe Owner Malcolm Glazer is the problem. He has repeatedly threatened to sell of the team or relocate it, and one really has to wonder if that distraction is why the Bucs have not performed well in recent seasons. I won’t go that far yet, but it seems this is a team that has not been able to rebuild on the fly, as their Super Bowl winning team aged they were unable to re-find the magic. Sure that is a tough task, but these guys get paid to do just that.

It seems that last season they made a few questionable personnel decisions. After drafting QB Josh Freeman in the 2009 draft they signed Byron Leftwich to be their stopgap or to be Freeman’s mentor. Needless to say that move did not exactly work out. The only option left to this team is to rebuild itself through the draft.

Since DT Ndamukong Suh is the player which this team covets in the 2010 NFL Draft, the team should do whatever it has to secure him. They have three picks within the top 42 of next year’s draft, and a QB prospect that may not need in Josh Johnson. Suh is a player they can build their defense around, and is one of the finest prospects to come out of college in quite some time. Securing him in this year’s draft is the best way to continue their rebuilding process.

Related Links:

•Tampa Bay Buccaneers news and notes
•How to fix NFL Franchises
•NFL Complete.com