Buccaneers put their money up front

General Manager Mark Dominik has made one thing clear since taking the reins of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009: if you can protect the quarterback, you'll get a top flight salary.

The 2012 offseason has only solidified how much value Dominik puts on the offensive line. Even with the free agent contracts for WR Vincent Jackson and CB Eric Wright landing in the Top 5 of the current team payroll, the entire starting offensive still occupies half of the Top 10 slots:

#2 G Davin Joseph $9,500,000
#6 G Carl Nicks $6,500,000
#8 T Donald Penn $5,100,000
#9 T Jeremy Trueblood $5,000,000
#10 C Jeremy Zuttah $3,375,000

This is not something new this offseason. Center Jeff Faine, who was recently released, spent his entire Buccaneers career in the Top 5 of the team payroll, and Davin Joeseph has been a fixture there as well. How much Dominik valued Faine also shows in his buyout: $2.4 million for this year.

There are young players up and coming in the persons of Ted Larson and Derek Hardman (as was Zuttah until this offseason). Thus far, Dominik has been fortunate to not need to spend a significnat amount of draft capital on the offensive line. Except for recently signed Carl Nicks the starting squad is made of players remaining from the old regime.

At some point the defense-heavy drafting by Dominik will have to give way; one would think OL will be where picks will need to be spent. But there is another angle which is in play: If Tampa Bay becomes known for spending big bucks in the trenches, the best young linemen may beat a path to the door of One Buccaneer Place (like Carl Nicks). With the salary structure of the team already built to pay big along the line, Tampa Bay is well positioned to take advantage of anyone who comes knocking.

This could allow the drafting of young talent into the defensive unit to continue for a couple more seasons, resulting in a very talented young defense which can grow together for years to come. In essence, spending along the offensive front may allow for more opportunities on both sides of the ball in the near future.

And that is exactly where this team needs to be.

Fake Draft 2010

Using the NFLDraftScout overall player rankings I assumed that all players prior to the overall position of the Buccaneers pick were already selected.  For example, when it was time to make the second pick of the second round, I could only pick from the players listed from Position 42 on (i.e. 1-41 were already off the board).  I tried to find good value at each pick (talent on par with the selection) as well as meet the prioritized needs I have laid out in prior posts this week.

Here is how my Fake Draft played out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Round 1, #3 (3rd overall) - Gerald McCoy, DL (6'4", 295lbs), Oklahoma (#3 player overall by NFLDraftScout)
Round 2, #3 (35th overall) - Patrick Robinson, CB (5'11", 190 lbs), Florida State (#37)
Round 2, #10 (42nd overall) - Nate Allen, FS (6'1", 207 lbs), South Florida (#48)
Round 3, #3 (67th overall) - Brandon LaFell, WR (6'3", 211 lbs), LSU (#76)
Round 4, #3 (101st overall) - Darrell Stucky, SS (6'0", 205 lbs), Kansas (#104)
Round 5, #22 (153rd overall) - Phillip Dillard, ILB (6'0", 245 lbs), Nebraska (#155)
Round 6, #3 (172nd overall) - Ted Larson, C (6'3", 304 lbs), North Carolina State (#177)
Round 7, #3 (210th overall) - David Reed, WR (6'0", 191 lbs), Utah (#212)
Round 7, #10 (217th overall) - Adrian Tracy, OLB (6'3", 248 lbs), William & Mary (#220)
Round 7, #25 (232nd overall) - Colin Peek, TE (6'5", 252 lbs), Alabama (#232)
Round 7, #46 (253rd overall) - Keith Toston, RB (6'0", 213 lbs), Oklahoma State (#256)

There is a very important element here which cannot be factored in: face to face knowledge of the players.  And there is no guarantee that the Buccaneers rate these players in anywhere near the same overall order.

But, on the whole, it's a very interesting exercise.  There are players available at or near what I consider the top positional needs for the Buccaneers going into the 2010 season.  The first four selections dropped into place very nicely and I will be bouncing off the walls if the first part of the draft plays out this way for Tampa Bay.

Then things got horribly tricky.

Starting with the #5 pick the overall talent board was filled with players at positions the Buccaneers do not have a pressing need for (running backs, defensive ends, offensive linemen, quarterbacks, etc).  While I would rather have had a wide receiver I opted for another safety with the 4th round pick.  I did not find a value pick for another wide receiver until the 7th round.  And at all points a value pick for a tight end or a center is hard to find.

But man was that fun!

So I make the following offer:  If anyone else would like to go through the same process and then write a short paragraph about why you made the selections you made (and you aren't silly, like picking eight wide receivers because you're really worried about replacing Antonio Bryant), I'll post as many as I get all the way until the start of the draft on April 22nd!  Interested?  Open your favorite word processor, notepad, or text program, grab the draft order and check out the NFLDraftScout rankings and have at it.

PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME/NICKNAME AND YOUR CITY and STATE (or country if you're outside the US).   Put your draft in the comments with this information and submit it.

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If you're a real diehard, give yourself 10 minutes to make your first round pick, seven minutes to make each of your second round picks, and just five minutes to make each pick after that.

Best of Luck!!

Update:  Another Fake Draft using Scout.com player rankings