Peter King> MONDAY MORNING QB
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Gerald McCoy, the No. 3 overall draft pick, could start from day one in Tampa.
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The kids are all right, they hope.
TAMPA -- I always got the impression that the Jon Gruden Bucs were trying to scrub clean all Tony Dungy influences on the organization. Now Raheem Morris is trying to embrace what Dungy brought here.
When Dungy took the Bucs' coaching job in 1996, he and GM Rich McKay and personnel czar Jerry Angelo decided to eschew free-agency and build almost exclusively through the draft. Already in-house were linebacker Derrick Brooks, defensive tackle Warren Sapp and quarterback Trent Dilfer. They added Regan Upshaw, Mike Alstott and Donnie Abraham that year, Reidel Anthony, Warrick Dunn and Ronde Barber the next year, and the base of a very good Bucs team was built.
Morris and GM Mark Dominik are trying the same thing. Tampa Bay had a decent base on the offensive line when Dominik and Morris took over for Gruden and Bruce Allen. They got the presumptive quarterback of the future last year in Josh Freeman, and they could play as many as five rookies from this year's draft class in starting or prominent roles, and not just special-team roles.
Six hundred pounds of defensive linemen -- Gerald McCoy and Brian Price -- could start opening day on the line. Fourth-round pick Mike Williams, barring injury, is favored to start at one receiver (last year's surprising seventh-round pick, Sammie Stroughter, could start alongside him), with this year's second-rounder, Arrelious Benn, possibly starting or playing 35 snaps a game as the third receiver. Rookie cornerback Myron Lewis eventually could start alongside third-year corner Aqib Talib, and next year might push Barber to safety if Barber still is able and willing to make play and make that move. The punting job is rookie Brent Bowden's to lose.
The Tampa Bay management is getting creamed locally for not spending money -- the prevailing theory is that the massive financial problem of the Glazers, who own the Bucs, with British football power Manchester United is siphoning money from the operation of the Bucs -- but I get the strong impression Tampa Bay wouldn't have spent in free agency this year anyway. "We want to build a team through the draft and keep it intact,'' Dominik said. "Like Tony said when he coached: 'I don't want a revolving door. I want to show loyalty to the guys we brought in and build a team the right way.' That's the way Raheem and I are operating now. Now, with two draft classes, I think we're on our way.''
I asked Dungy if he thought the two situations --Tampa in 1996 and Tampa in 2010 -- were comparable.
"I do,'' he said. "We got a lot of criticism back then with our plan at first, because we lost five in a row at the start, and eight of our first nine. They wanted us to bench the quarterback and make all kinds of changes. I read some of the same criticisms now -- the fans want to win now, which all fans do. If they're patient, I think it's going to pay off. I like the guys they've drafted.''
Dungy learned this from Bill Walsh (he was on Walsh's first 49er staff, when San Francisco went 2-14) and from playing under Chuck Noll. "Chuck always said stubbornness is a virtue -- if you are right. Fortunately for us, most of the guys we played early played well, and they became the base of a very good team.''
The first Dungy team went 6-10, the second 10-6. A period of good football was born. These Bucs have to be patient, the way I see it. There's no guarantee this rebuilding job with work, but there's no other way for them to win, at least right now.
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