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About the Author: Scott Reynolds
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FAB 4. My Own Dizzying Ride On Bucs’ QB Carousel
The year 2020 marks my 25th season covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for you, the loyal PewterReport.com reader. As I begin this milestone season, I’m going to spend the next 25 weeks telling some never-before-told Bucs stories and recalling some of my most memorable moments in my professional journey.
I’ve seen 24 different quarterbacks line up under center for Tampa Bay in my first 24 years of covering the Buccaneers. How fitting.
Trent Dilfer, Casey Weldon, Scott Milanovich, Steve Walsh, Shaun King, Eric Zeier, Joey Hamilton, Brad Johnson, Rob Johnson, Brian Griese, Chris Simms, Bruce Gradkowski, Tim Rattay, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Byron Leftwich, Josh Freeman, Josh Johnson, Dan Orlovsky, Mike Glennon, Josh McCown, Jameis Winston, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Ryan Griffin.
Will I see a 25th QB for the Buccaneers in my 25th year in Tampa?
That’s amazing to think about.
Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Getty Images
It depends on what happens with current starter Jameis Winston. Will he become the first quarterback in franchise history to be drafted by the team and get a second contract? Or will the Bucs go in a different direction?
Whether or not Winston stays in Tampa Bay in 2020, the Bucs will likely draft another quarterback to either challenge him for the starting job or battle to be Winston’s backup – depending on what type of deal Winston lands with the Bucs if he returns.
In over two decades of covering this team I’ve seen the Bucs draft eight quarterbacks – King (second round, 1999), Hamilton (seventh round, 2000), Simms (third round, 2003), Gradkowski (sixth round, 2006), Josh Johnson (fifth round, 2008), Freeman (first round, 2009), Glennon (third round, 2013) and Winston (first round, 2015).
If my memory serves me correctly – all of the old Buccaneer Magazines and Pewter Report magazines are in storage – I believe I accurately predicted every quarterback Tampa Bay ended up drafting except Simms, having them as a Bucs’ Best Bet in our annual draft previews. He was the only surprise selection I remember. If that’s the case, that’s pretty damn good – nailing seven of the last eight quarterbacks drafted by the Bucs!
I’ve seen a lot when it comes to the quarterback position in Tampa Bay. I witnessed Sam Wyche yo-yoing Dilfer and Weldon in and out of the lineup in my first year covering the team in 1995. I chronicled Dilfer helping the Bucs to their first playoff appearance and win in over a decade in 1997. I saw both Dilfer and Zeier suffer broken collarbones in the 1999 season, which led to King’s emergence that year as a rookie.
I was shocked to see the Bucs land Brad Johnson in free agency and to see him supplant King as the team’s starter in 2001 – despite King leading Tampa Bay to a 10-6 record the year before. Of course I was there to write about Johnson and Johnson (Rob) leading the Bucs to their first and only Super Bowl win the next season, coupled with a defensive performance for the ages from Warren Sapp and Co.
I watched former general manager Rich McKay draft Simms in the third round in 2003, much to the chagrin of Jon Gruden, who didn’t want Simms. Was that done out of spite? I think so.
Former Bucs head coach Greg Schiano and ex-QB Josh Freeman – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
I saw Gruden basically be unhappy with all of his quarterbacks at some point in time, especially since he passed over Aaron Rodgers in 2005 for running back Cadillac Williams.
I saw former general manager Mark Dominik sign Leftwich as the team’s starting QB before the 2009 NFL Draft to try to keep reporters off the trail of the Bucs secretly loving Freeman and wanting to draft him in the first round, which ultimately happened. Nice try, Mark.
I witnessed Freeman’s epic downward spiral in his contract year, which was his own fault – not Greg Schiano’s. Then it was Josh McCown’s arrival alongside Lovie Smith in the pitiful 2-14 season in 2014. McCown was one-and-done after that year, and Smith would thankfully exit a year later, too.
Like you, Bucs fans, I jumped aboard the wild ride that is Jameis Winston in 2015 and have felt both exhilarated and nauseated at the same time over the last five years. I had Winston in all five PewterReport.com mock drafts that year from start to finish – despite some in the Bucs fan base and media preferring Marcus Mariota.
But looking back on all of the QB craziness, one of the moments that really stood out to me over the past two decades was when the Bucs were attempting to trade for Brett Favre in the summer of 2008. Tampa Bay already had Garcia as its quarterback, and he was coming off a Pro Bowl season and a division title in 2007, which was his first year with the Bucs.
Bucs QB Jeff Garcia – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Gruden and his ego salivated at the chance to coach Favre, a sure-fire Hall of Famer, and both he and then-general manager Bruce Allen tried to swing a trade with Green Bay, which was ready to move forward with Rodgers as its starter. Once word got out publicly that Gruden coveted Favre, Garcia was understandably miffed.
All of the Favre rumors created firestorm during Bucs training camp in Orlando during the summer of 2008. Ira Kaufman, who was the NFL writer for The Tampa Tribune at the time, actually wrote that the Bucs had traded for Favre – which almost happened.
“Not one of my better days, Scotty,” Kaufman told me, shaking his head.
Kaufman had the story right – until he didn’t. The Packers didn’t want to deal Favre to an NFC team like the Buccaneers, especially since Tampa Bay squared off against Green Bay in Week 4 of the 2008 season.
So when the New York Jets entered the bidding war at the eleventh hour, Favre was dealt to them instead of Tampa Bay during the first week of August. Gruden, Allen and the Bucs’ brass were stunned – as was Kaufman – when Favre was traded to the Jets.
The front-page news in The Tampa Tribune was wrong, and I felt bad for Kaufman because he was right as the newspaper went to press at 2:00 a.m. – until the middle of the night when Favre ultimately became a Jet.
Earlier in camp while dealing with a calf injury, a salty Garcia expressed his frustration with Gruden’s fascination and flirtation with Favre in an epic press conference on July 28, 2008.
“Jon Gruden hasn’t given you an answer yet?” Garcia said when asked whether Gruden had committed to Garcia among the Favre-to-Tampa rumors. “He loves quarterbacks. But he likes to just date. He doesn’t like to marry.”
Gruden was ticked off at all of the questions and speculation about Favre at the time.
Jon Gruden and former Bucs QB Chris Simms – Photo by: Getty Images
“We’re going to proceed with our football team,” Gruden said at the time amid the Favre rumors. “There are going to be rumors until Brett’s situation resolves itself. That’s all I have to say on that matter.”
Throughout the back-channel courting of Favre, Gruden never gave Garcia any assurances about his starting job.
“I don’t think they have to necessarily come up to me and say, ‘Hey, don’t worry about what you’re hearing out there. You’re our guy,’” Garcia said. “Whether they need to do that or not, I’m not expecting them to. I’m taking the attitude and the focus that I am the guy here.”
Garcia would remain the starting QB that year and guide Tampa Bay to a 9-3 start before a 0-4 finish that left a 9-7 Bucs squad out of the playoffs as Gruden out of a job. The Glazers fired Gruden and Allen in mid-January just months after giving both multi-year contract extensions – and the rest is history.
Between that attempted trade and the Bucs signing Johnson to supplant King as the starter in 2001 following King’s 10-6 record in 2000, I’ve seen Tampa Bay try to upgrade its QB position before. I’ve also seen this franchise hit the reset button at the position twice with first-round picks like Freeman and Winston.
The Bucs are flirting with the idea of trying to upgrade the quarterback position again if they can find someone they think is better than Winston, so this is nothing new. My hope is that Tampa Bay doesn’t hit the reset button yet again and draft a quarterback in the first round. This team needs to win now, and that won’t happen in 2020 with a rookie quarterback.
Former Bucs head coach Jon Grude and QB Brad Johnson – Photo by: Getty Images
As you can see, since Gruden left, the Bucs haven’t had much stability or good play at the quarterback position, which is why Tampa Bay hasn’t made the playoffs since Garcia and that team went 9-7 in 2007. The Bucs haven’t won a postseason game since Gruden had Johnson under center for Super Bowl XXXVII.
The Bucs have needed a QB that can go toe-to-toe and throw-for-throw against the likes of Drew Brees, Cam Newton and Matt Ryan, and they just haven’t found one yet. That’s why the Bucs have been NFC South cellar dwellers over the past decade while the Saints, Panthers and Falcons have all taken turns winning the division, qualifying for the playoffs, and some even making it to the Super Bowl.
General manager Jason Licht and head coach Bruce Arians have a huge decision coming up with Winston in the next month. Will I be covering Winston this year in Tampa Bay, or will I be on to my 25th QB in my 25 years on the Bucs beat? Stay tuned.
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