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Bucs need to be bold

Posted Feb 16, 2010 by Ira Kaufman

Updated Feb 16, 2010 at 11:13 AM

By IRA KAUFMAN
TAMPA—Suffering Buc fans can see where this is going.

GM Mark Dominik has already indicated Tampa Bay won’t be a major player in a diluted free-agent market, preferring to rely on a bounty of premium picks in April’s draft. Despite a pressing need for a dominating interior defensive lineman, there are no indications the Bucs are willing to put together a package and move up from No. 3 to draft one of the two best players on the board—DTs Ndamulong Suh of Nebraska or Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma.

Instead, there is speculation the Bucs will look to trade down, pocket even more picks and perhaps draft Tennessee safety Eric Berry.

Berry is a very good prospect, but he won’t have the potential impact of Mr. Suh and that’s what the Bucs should be thinking about—impact.

Suh is regarded as a rare talent, a disruptive player who will make everyone around him more effective. And in case Dominik hasn’t noticed, his roster is not exactly brimming with dominant players.

During last year’s 3-13 debacle, the Bucs failed to place a player on the NFC Pro Bowl team for the first time since 1995, the season before Tony Dungy arrived and turned the franchise around.

The Rams don’t want the No. 1 pick and Suh isn’t getting past the Lions at No. 2, so if the Bucs want him, there’s an opportunity to vault over Detroit and make the biggest splash in the draft. St. Louis will ask for a lot and the Bucs need to relax and reach a compromise with the Rams, who could easily slide back to No. 3 and take a quarterback.

The Bucs don’t need additional picks. They have plenty of ammunition to make this a dynamic draft harvest and a deal to secure Suh’s services would be a heck of a start.

Tampa Bay’s fan base needs a reason to believe in the direction of this franchise. Moving back in the first round and choosing a safety won’t have anybody in this town overly excited about the 2010 season.

Selling season tickets is quite a challenge at the moment and pairing Suh with QB Josh Freeman would give the Bucs two cornestones to build an aggressive marketing campaign around.

Picking first overall comes with a significant up-front cost, another reason the Rams are willing to entertain offers. It’s absurd at this point to compare Suh with Warren Sapp, but this kid is special.

And special is exactly what the Bucs need to be on draft weekend.