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So the draft is almost upon us and it appears the my Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t want to make a free agency impact with that whopping 40 million dollars in salary cap space.

I love the addition of Jeff Faine at Center. This guy should round out an offensive line that is getting increasingly better. I have concerns with Pettitgout and, though Donald Penn filled in admirably, I still think we can improve here. But the nucleus is there. What THIS off-season should have been about was adding one impact Wide Receiver. The options were there: Bernard Berrian and Bryant Johnson. They failed. And, though I agree with a philosophy of not overpaying for players, enough is enough. We had a need. We had the cap space. And we got……drum roll, please………Antonio Bryant? Eh? Intriguing addition, for sure, but is a guy who sat out all of 2007 because of attitude problems really going to be the guy to take over for our aging tandem of Joey Galloway and Ike Hilliard? Seriously. I hope it works out. I really do. But I have my doubts.

I also thought an effort at Defensive End was in order. My drool pick here was franchised (Jared Allen), so we cut a little bit of slack, but I still think at least some effort to take a look at the End from Cincinnati would have been nice. Here again, I don’t work in the big office, so what do I know? But from a fan perspective, this looks a lot like the same old tired crap from Gruden and Allen. I’d like to see something new and different for once.

So, we turn to the draft. Having our first pick coming down the line at number 20 overall limits what we can do in the first round, but I think the strength of this particular draft lies in later rounds. Two later-round Wide Receivers who have captured my attention are Dexter Jackson and Andre Caldwell. Yeah, I know….Caldwell is a Gator Receiver and if we know Graham at all we know he does NOT condone drafting Gator Receivers (shout-out to Ike: you are the exception to the rule, bro. It’s all good!!!). But in watching some of the commentary and listening to dialog on this guy, Caldwell has the potential and the upside to be a REAL NFL threat. He’s also a Tampa guy. There’s something about Dexter Jackson that’s quite intriguing as well. He has good speed and I’m not sure why he’s not rated higher than he is. Then again, the “draft experts” are rarely accurate in their assessments, so we take all of this with a grain of salt. I will say this: it was nice being able to actually watch the Scouting Combine this year….yeah, as much as I complain about it, having the NFL Network is pretty nice.

The experts have us going with Desean Jackson or various shut-down corners with our first-rounder. I don’t necessarily agree with this. I REALLY don’t agree with this. Particularly the bit about drafting a corner in the first round. Do these guys not realize that Cornerbacks in the Tampa 2 system can be had for less money in later rounds? Why do they think we didn’t make a GREATER effort to snag Asante Samuel? TOO…..MUCH……MONEY. Not one of our great Corners was drafted in the first round….Abraham and Barber were drafted in round 3 and Brian Kelly was drafted in round 2. What makes them think Kiffen is going to change this formula? Look for a corner to come in Round 2 or 3 and a Receiver or Defensive End to come in Round 1, depending on availability and what’s left.

The other late round pick I like still (I mentioned this in my earlier free agency blog) is Matt Flynn out of LSU. I think it’s time for the Buccaneers to commit to a long-term option at Quarterback and this kid can be had well down the draft line. He has the tools to work in this system and would have the advantage of learning under Jeff Garcia for a year or two. But, again, I don’t work in the nice big office, so what do I know?

More to come. I will likely be posting Sunday night on draft weekend.