Why a Running Back is just as great a need as Wide Receiver for the 2010 Buccaneers

No, Im not suffering from an over-indulgence of Lamb from my Easter Dinner yesterday, I really do feel the Tampa Bay Buccaneers need a running back as bad if not more than a Wide Receiver when they start looking at the boards on Draft Day. Thats assuming of course that a talented RB is there when Tampa Bay Picks. All you have to do is go look up a draft class from ten years ago and check out the first round picks. Every name you know is a result of a team drafting the best personnel, and the names you don’t recognize are teams saying “We need a player for this position”. Wide Receiver is no mystery to Bucs fans, we have none. We have Michael Clayton, which means repeat sentence no. 1 in this paragraph. However, do we have a running back? Consider this if you will; The longest pass play of the year was a 47 yard catch by Clayton in week 1 vs the Cowboys. That’s it, so you say “SEE the WR corps needs a major pick”! Here it is, see for yourself:

Except when you look at the longest run of the year, you find Cadillac William’s 35 yard run also in week 1.

This is from a guy with two major knee surgeries who is turning 28, and his competition on the field are two 30 year olds named Ward and Graham who may have been shelved most of their careers, but are still 30ish. Taking another look at that Cadillac run, and you can’t help but wonder what Warrick Dunn of 1997-2001 seasons would have been able to do in that situation. That is what’s missing, and you only have to look at what the Bucs were able to do when they went from Errict Rhett to Dunn after the ’97 draft. Expect the Bucs to take Old Miss RB Dexter McCluster if he is still available after the first round. Probably third because a WR could be selected in the second. We’ve assumed defense is going to be the main concern when we tune in Thursday night in Prime Time, but Morris said last year after the last game of the season, that the number one priority is arming Josh Freeman. So far, Kellen Winslow Jr is going to be a marked man when he comes off the line. A few high round draft picks in offensive skill positions should take care of that.