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About the Author: Scott Reynolds
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FAB 4. Inside The Bucs’ Drafting Of Freeman
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.
It was 2009 and the Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris regime had just begun in Tampa Bay. Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen had been fired after going 9-7 and missing the playoffs thanks to a four-game losing streak to end the season after a promising 9-3 start.
The Bucs had transitioned to a much-needed youth movement and purged the roster of virtually every player over the age of 30, including legendary linebacker Derrick Brooks, linebacker Cato June, wide receivers Joey Galloway and Ike Hilliard and running back Warrick Dunn. There was speculation that Dominik and Morris were going to draft a quarterback in 2009, possibly as high as the first round, although Dominik tried to bluff everyone in the media and the NFL by signing veteran signal caller Byron Leftwich in free agency a month before the draft and anointing him the starter.
Scott Reynolds and KSU QB Josh Freeman – Photo courtesy of SR
Since the day Morris was hired in January of 2009 I knew whom the Bucs were going to draft in April – Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman. Morris had spent one year at K-State, my alma mater, as Ron Prince’s defensive coordinator and saw Freeman emerge as a true freshman star in leading the Wildcats to a winning record, and a berth in the Texas Bowl thanks to a 45-42 win over No. 4 Texas. I was at that game visiting Morris and met the 6-foot-6, 245-pound 18-year old QB for the first time.
Little did I know in 2006 that I would be covering Morris as the head coach of the Bucs and Freeman as the team’s first-round draft pick just three years later, but that’s exactly what happened.
The vast majority of Bucs fans living in Florida, which is SEC and ACC territory, had no exposure to Freeman and the Wildcats.
Dominik had denied Morris the defensive coordinator he wanted, Dan Quinn, who coached the defensive lines in San Francisco (2003-04), Miami (2005-06) and the New York Jets (2007-08) before taking over Seattle’s defensive line in 2009. Morris and Quinn have the same agent in Brian Levy, but Dominik was concerned about pairing a young head coach like Morris, who no experience, with Quinn, who had never been a defensive coordinator before, so Dominik paired Morris with Jim Bates, who was in his 60s and had experience – but mainly in a 3-4 defensive scheme.
Hiring Bates was a disaster because the Bucs didn’t have the personnel to run a 3-4 defense and Morris’ defensive background was in Monte Kiffin’s Tampa 2 scheme. Bates didn’t make it to the midway point of the season before he was fired. The 32-year old Morris then took on the double duty of being a head coach and defensive coordinator.
And you wonder why the Bucs struggled for two of the three years that Morris was at the helm?
Former Bucs GM Mark Dominik and head coach Raheem Morris – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers
But before Tampa Bay went 3-13 in 2009 and saw Bates get fired, Dominik did make up for forcing Bates on Morris by letting the rookie head coach draft the rookie quarterback he wanted, which was Freeman. With wide receiver Jordy Nelson to throw to at K-State, Freeman had emerged as a legit NFL prospect with a big arm and ideal pocket presence due to his massive frame.
Drafting Freeman was a bit of a tough personal decision for Dominik, who graduated from the University of Kansas, which is the archenemy of Kansas State. I had known Dominik since before he joined the Bucs, meeting him during my senior year in Manhattan when he was in the press box at a Wildcats game as an entry-level college scout for the Chiefs.
I was a sports information intern at the time and I went up and introduced myself to him, as it was odd to see a young NFL scout in the press box. Most NFL scouts back in 1994 were old former coaches. I told Dominik that I had interned with Buccaneer Magazine the previous summer and that I was going to move to Tampa to cover the Bucs in 1995 after graduation. I gave him one of my business cards and to let me know if he ever came to town when the Bucs played the Chiefs and that I would take him out to Ybor City to party.
I had no idea that Dominik would call me up the next summer after he landed an entry-level pro personnel scouting job, and was looking for a roommate. Dominik and I – a Jayhawk and Wildcat from the state of Kansas – shared an apartment for a year-and-a-half as we began our careers in Tampa in our mid-20s.
Fast forward to April 2009, and Dominik was on the verge of making his first NFL Draft pick as a general manager at the age of 38. On Friday, April 25 of that year, Dominik called me that night after 9:00 p.m. He had gone radio silent the week of the draft, not returning any of my texts and probably did the same with other members of the media. So it was a surprise when I saw his number flash on my caller I.D.
I could sense Dominik was nervous. I would be too. NFL Drafts make or break general managers. I pretty much knew why he was calling me.
“You’re going to draft Josh Freeman,” I remember blurting out.
Dominik didn’t say yes, instead suggesting that the Bucs might not be in position to draft him at No. 19. But Dominik did call me to get my opinion on Freeman, knowing I watched all of his games in his three years at K-State.
Former Bucs GM Mark Dominik – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Dominik didn’t need my opinion. He already had the opinion of Morris, who spent a year with Freeman in Manhattan, and the opinions of director of college scouting Dennis Hickey and the team’s area scout. But he wanted it anyways because he knew I would shoot him straight.
I told Dominik the truth. I loved Freeman’s physical tools – his rocket arm, his NFL size and his mobility. But I didn’t like the fact that he was 0-9 in his career against K-State’s three biggest rivals – KU, Missouri and Nebraska – or that he was aloof about it. I had heard from my sources at K-State that Freeman wasn’t a great leader and had a quirky personality, which concerned me. He marched to the beat of his own drum, and in some respect that would play a part in Freeman’s undoing in Tampa Bay years later.
Dominik listened and chimed in a bit as we spoke for about 20 minutes. We talked about the gravity of this decision, and I kidded Dominik that his first draft pick, as a Jayhawk alum, would always be to select a Kansas State Wildcat, and that he would never be able to live that down.
As the call wrapped up, Dominik said to me, “If you were in my shoes would you draft Josh Freeman?”
I said, “Yes, but there are some big ifs.”
I would draft Freeman if the Bucs had a great quarterback coach and offensive coordinator because he didn’t get great coaching during his sophomore and junior season at K-State after offensive coordinator James Franklin left for Maryland.
I would draft Freeman if Dominik could ensure he had a solid running game to take some of the load off Freeman’s shoulders. K-State’s run game was so bad during Freeman’s junior year that he nearly led the Wildcats in rushing off scrambling with 404 yards behind Lamark Brown’s 412 yards rushing.
I would draft Freeman if he had some really good receivers to throw to. Freeman’s completion percentage dropped from 63.3 percent in 2007 to 58.6 percent once Nelson graduated. Freeman was not the kind of quarterback where he could make receivers look good because he wasn’t terribly accurate. Instead, Freeman needed quality receivers to help him look good.
And finally, I said I would draft Freeman if Tampa Bay could protect him better than he was protected at K-State. The Wildcats had a porous offensive line and Freeman often didn’t have the time to go through his progressions as he was forced from the pocket due to pressure, which stunted his growth as a pocket passer.
Former Bucs QB Josh Freeman – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
That was a lot of big ifs, and Dominik knew I didn’t have my purple-colored glasses on when I was scouting Freeman from my couch from 2006-08. Freeman couldn’t carry a football team. I made that clear. But given time to develop and if he had a great supporting cast, Freeman and his physical tools could flourish in the NFL with some maturation.
Dominik let out a sigh and thanked me for my time, and told me not to report anything from this phone call on PewterReport.com. We had already had Freeman on the cover of our pre-draft issue, and had him as a Bucs’ Best Bet at QB, so Dominik’s interest in Freeman on the call didn’t give away any Bucs’ secrets.
The rest is history. Freeman replaced Leftwich as the starter during his rookie year and then led the Bucs to a 10-6 record – albeit a little fluky – the next season while throwing for 25 touchdowns and six interceptions. Freeman and the Bucs regressed the next year, going 4-12 after a 4-1 start, due in part to throwing 22 INTs and just 16 TDs.
Morris would get fired and Greg Schiano was hired as a result. Schiano and Freeman didn’t mesh, but he became Tampa Bay’s first 4,000-yard passer with a franchise-record 27 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Freeman’s personal demons would consume him in his contract year in 2013, and Schiano, sensing trouble in Freeman’s personal life, drafted Mike Glennon in the third round that year.
Glennon would take over as the starter after Freeman’s 0-4 start in 2013, in which he completed just 42.9 percent of his passes. He was released shortly thereafter and his NFL career would soon be over after very brief stints in Minnesota, the New York Giants, Miami and Indianapolis. Freeman had all the physical tools, but lacked the work ethic and the football I.Q. to truly have a long, successful NFL career.
Ex-Bucs QB Josh Freeman – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
But that’s a different Freeman story for another day.
Did I play any real role in the Bucs drafting Freeman in 2009? Not really. Those wheels were in motion the minute Morris was hired as the head coach months earlier.
But I was flattered that my opinion mattered enough to Dominik the night before the draft, and that was one of the more unique experiences I’ve ever had in my 24 years of covering the Buccaneers.
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Stay tuned for another Bucs story from yesteryear in next week’s SR’s Fab 5. And if you missed my previous Bucs memories from the past 24 years of covering the team, click on the links below.
