Can Jon Gruden develop ANY offensive talent?

[bucjoe]

Alex Smith seems to be coming on.

You may very well see Caddy as an elite back again, now that we actually have an oline for him to run behind.

[jerseybucsfan]

Are we? I thought we were 3-6? Or maybe I gave up when we got to 1-7. I saw that thread and thought it HAD to be true. My bad.

[olafberserker]

6-3

[jerseybucsfan]

Mr. Goodwrench meet tool.

[BuccanAy]

Very insightful!

[jerseybucsfan]

Indeed. So define ''develop young talent?'' I would assume for whatever reason you're not going to count Earnest Graham. In terms of QBs, we've only tried a few ''young'' ones (Gradkowski a low pick; Johnson, who hasn't played yet; Simms is probably the best example and injuries and multiple roster cuts have proven it's more about him than anything else). WRs? OK, get on him for that. But it's interesting you limit it to ''skill players'' since the best part of the offense is our offensive line.

[BuccanAy]

I'm beginning to think that Gruden has very limited ability to assemble an offense with players he's drafted.  He may be a good coach, as far as X's and O's, but his inability to evaluate talent and more importantly how to develop and teach young players is severely lacking, IMO.  In 6 years Gruden has not developed a single skill player.  Not a QB, WR or a RB or even a TE.  It's as if players need to be developed and "coached up" before coming here to have any success with Gruden.  This has to be a concern if the Bucs are ever going to build a truly dominant team.  The defense has much better success at "coachin up" young talent, as we have a number of young stars on the rise.
What's the problem on offense?

[Boid Fink]

Green Bay SUCKS!

Heck Askew has become the premiere fullback in the league under Gruden.

Huh? Askew is the premiere FB in the league? When did that happen?

[Uncle Stan]

The original post is too all encompassing and not necessarily a statement of fact.

[sammy8887]

Yes...

[bradentonian]

Heck Askew has become the premiere fullback in the league under Gruden.

Huh? Askew is the premiere FB in the league? When did that happen?

Somewhere during the 2 games he hasn't been injured?

How about Sears, Trueblood, Joseph and Penn? Seems like they were forced to rebuild oline first. Finding dominant young offensive weapons is not easy and not all on Gruden's shoulders. The beloved Rich McKay had something to do with poor picks and drafting defensive players did also. Not having a first or a second pick early in his career didn't help either. Caddy's injury, Claytons injury also didn't help matters.

[jerseybucsfan]

He said ''skill players'' and ''drafted.'' He did it deliberately to exclude the offensive linemen. Catch the setup?
Clayton's been a disappointment, but Caddy was pretty good before he got hurt. BuccinAy conveniently forgets how Caddy looked in the Carolina game in which Caddy caught a bad piece of turf and blew out his knee. That's Gruden's fault too. Among other things, he's supposed to be head groundskeeper.

[sammy8887]

He said ''skill players'' and ''drafted.'' He did it deliberately to exclude the offensive linemen. Catch the setup?
Clayton's been a disappointment, but Caddy was pretty good before he got hurt. BuccinAy conveniently forgets how Caddy looked in the Carolina game in which Caddy caught a bad piece of turf and blew out his knee. That's Gruden's fault too. Among other things, he's supposed to be head groundskeeper.

Agreed Jersey...it appears his topic heading needed to be, "Can Jon Gruden keep his first-round picks from getting injured?"