With a 3rd NFC South basement finish in a row on the horizon and the playoffs (view NFL futures odds here) all but out of the picture the under performing Tampa Bay Buccaneers biggest impact won’t come until the off-season.
Will the Bucs move forward with rookie QB Mike Glennon, who is coming off of his worst loss all season or will they take a stab at one of the top QB prospects in the upcoming 2014 NFL draft class? Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and Fresno State’s Derek Carr are just a few of the top prospects that are expected to declare in the upcoming weeks.
The growing pains of Mike Glennon are being magnified as of late with the whole offense running in neutral. The losses of RBs Doug Martin and Mike James to season ending injuries are only putting more attention on Glennon as Bob Rainey has courageously taken over the ball carrying duties but doesn’t have the talent to put up 100 yards every week.
“It’s the NFL, we’ve got to find a way to score points and move the ball against whatever defence we’re playing,” head coach Greg Schiano said. “We need to find better ways to help these guys, and then we need to execute better.”
The rookie QB has thrown for a Bucs rookie-record 1,962 yards and 13 touchdowns. He’s thrown just five interceptions in 290 passing attempts and his coach has gone to bat for him.
“I’m really encouraged with Mike’s development even though yesterday wasn’t one of his finest performances,” Schiano said. “I think he’s a guy who will rebound.”
If the crop of talent coming out of college in the next few months is as good as the analysts are saying then the Bucs management has a lot of numbers to crunch starting today. Should the team trade their expected high level draft pick for a veteran player, a group of draft picks or should they draft a franchise QB who can come in on opening day in September 2014 and start for this team?
All of this will first depend on if Greg Schiano can keep his head coaching job after the season is over.
“I think it’s tremendous,” team co-chairman Joel Glazer told the Tampa Tribune. “The guys are hanging in there and fighting to the end. I think that speaks volumes about Greg. [These are] tough times, but the team has never doubted him in the locker room.”
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