Buccaneers’ ProblemsBy Andy Benoit SI.comApril 7th, 2015
Drafting Jameis Winston would make perfect sense considering not only the Bucs’ dire need at quarterback, but also the type of system they want to run. With wideouts Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans outside, and Dirk Koetter now the coordinator, this offense is tailored for a drop-back passing game. Winston is a true pocket passer.But Winston’s arrival won’t solve everything. The Bucs still have a horrible—even pathetic—front five. Upgrades at any of the five positions would not be hard to stumble upon. Improvements up front, along with a healthy Doug Martin, should boost a running game that ranked 29th overall and 24th in yards per attempt last season.Going back to the passing attack, Jackson and Evans can win jump balls on the perimeter, but neither has great quickness as a route runner. There’s a general lack of speed in this passing attack, which makes it easier to prepare for. Getting a true burner in the middle or even early in the later rounds would be huge.Huger still would be finding an edge rusher to give Lovie Smith’s vanilla zone scheme some teeth. Jacquies Smith was a very pleasant surprise last year, but he’s not a cornerstone piece. The Bucs have good gap penetrators inside with free agent pickup Henry Melton, last year’s free agent pickup Clinton McDonald and, of course, Gerald McCoy, the league-wide bar-setter in this department. But these guys can only do so much without more talent lining up outside them.Buccaneers’ SolutionsBy Andy StaplesFor the first time since we started this exercise, I feel confident that I will correctly predict a pick. The Buccaneers will take Florida State’s Jameis Winston with the No. 1 pick. Wow. That was easy. See you next week.OK, I suppose we can discuss the rest of Tampa Bay’s draft. At No. 34, the Bucs can take the best offensive lineman left on the board. If that’s Florida State’s Cam Erving, great. He can play all five positions. But he’ll probably be gone because he can play all five positions. So maybe Tampa Bay goes with Pittsburgh tackle T.J. Clemmings or South Carolina guard A.J. Cann.If the Bucs want blistering speed at receiver, they’ll be too late here to take Miami’s Phillip Dorsett. That’s OK. They should be able to select Kansas State’s Tyler Lockett. He wouldn’t beat Dorsett in a race, but Lockett is better at getting open and grabbing a thrown football from the air—which is kind of the job description.Later, the Bucs might be able to take Hillsborough County’s own Anthony Chickillo, who was miscast as a 3-4 defensive end at Miami. Put him in a 4-3 like the one the Bucs run and he’ll prosper.
