Monte Kiffin My favourite part of the draft weekend wasn’t the 4th overall selection, wasn’t indulging in the vast amount of trade rumours, but listening to Monte Kiffin’s press conference following the selection of Gaines Adams. This covered issues such as Calvin Johnson, the lack of draft picks in recent years, the lack of defensive picks in recent years, the drafting of Maurice Stovall, Jon Gruden's plan for a rocket backfield, a big thank you to his son Lane Kiffin and friend Rod Marinelli for getting two offensive players off the board and a little bit about Gaines Adams. Gaines Adams This pick made a lot of sense he was possibly the top rated defensive prospect in this year draft (although some liked LaRon Landry and others thought that Anderson was not far behind him either) and if the Lions were going to trade away Calvin Johnson, Adams would have been an integral part of the deal. Adams is a very athletic man for his size (6-4, 258) never was this better displayed than when on special teams he stripped the ball and ran 66 yards for a touchdown against Wake Forrest. Gaines is smaller than most of the premier pass rushers in the NFL (he’s actually smaller than the number one overall pick) but he has a nice sized frame and looks like under an NFL strength and conditioning programme some additional bulk could be added. In regards to his play it has to be his inability to play the run that is great concern. A bit like this guy coming out of college “Fine athlete with great workout numbers…Best pass rusher in college football in ’01. Has superior quickness off the edge and an explosive closing burst to the quarterback. …Will run right around or by a lot of offensive linemen before they can react …Lacks size… Much more of a pass rusher than a run-down player” Dwight Freeney didn’t turn out too bad, this is very similar to they types of evaluation that has followed Gaines Adams around. He has a natural ability to get after the quarterback just as Ted Ginn Jr got drafted in the top 10 because you can’t teach speed. Gaines Adams was an elite prospect because you can’t teach the instinctual ability to pressure the quarterback. Some have questioned his motivation and that he takes plays off and this is definitely an issue to be watched. While he is not quite the prospect that Mario Williams was a year ago he has many similar traits, following that draft one GM who was at the back end of the first round said that if you get a chance to pick an elite pass rusher you should never pass it up because they are so rare, maybe the Buccaneers subscribe to this belief or maybe they just couldn’t get a deal done with Detroit. Arron Sears I had Sears pegged as a middle of the first day pick but a significant step bellow Ben Grubbs and Justin Blaylock. So I was surprised that Sears was selected with Blaylock (and center Ryan Kalil) still on the board. I would imagine that the fact that Sears has played four positions (although Blaylock also played tackle in college) on the line at Tennessee during in his career helped following the injuries that were sustained on the line during the last campaign. Whilst he has spent time at tackle it is evident that his future is on the interior of the offensive line, he is a big body (6-3, 319) and has faced some criticism with his inability to control his weight. He doesn’t have the athletic ability to play tackle at the NFL level and I can’t imagine him as a great pulling guard. But when it comes to run blocking Sears excels, on tape he looks very strong and has the ability to physically dominate on the inside Draws lots of comparisons to the Eagles' Shawn Alexander, while there are definitely shortcomings to his game a number of these can be overcome by making him play inside. Like Davin Joseph last year he was a prospect that could have gone anywhere from 25 to 60. Despite some obvious issue he does have one argument in his favour and that is production. He has produced at a high level at all position on the offensive line in the toughest division in college football. One of the bigger stories of the first round was the domination of the SEC (home of the national champions) with six SEC defensemen going in the first round, week in week out Sears has gone up against this level of competition and performed well. When the Buccaneers were on the clock there were other potential draftees I would have preferred to see picked but this is far from a bad pick and has tremendous potential if is senior season is an indication of what he will do in the future. Sabby Piscitelli In truth I’m not in favour of drafting any defenseman from the PAC-10 that doesn’t play in The Coliseum more than once a year. He is probably best described as a ball hawking safety that needs to improve his open field tackling. Has the size and conditioning of a body builder rather than a strong safety and his play isn’t as physical as you would expect but is very opportunistic in pass coverage and has gained a reputation for coming up with interceptions at important times in the game. While he has had some success in the passing game this is probably where his biggest challenges will come in the NFL, he is a good match up on most tight ends but he isn’t the most fluid of safeties when changing direction and could have significant trouble with slot receivers at the NFL level. It's not the best draft for strong safeties and he could be one of the top three in this draft, but that probably speaks more to the draft depth than Sabby’s skill level. Has been compared to Adam Archuleta in the build up to the draft. I’m not sure he has the top end speed needed to play safety this is evident with some teams looking at him as a linebacker. Quincy Black I quite like this pick. Yes, Black lacks the ideal size to play linebacker in the NFL but he is a natural athlete with quite amazing combine numbers except for his strength which is obviously going to need to improve. He is a good blitzer, has a motor that keeps on going and should fit in nicely at Tampa where they can make use of his sideline-to-sideline speed. The issue apart from the lack of strength is how he will adapt to the schemes in Tampa, he played what is often called the Urlacher position at New Mexico, where he plays the middle but deeper than a standard linebacker but shallower than a safety. Urlacher didn’t have any trouble adapting but that’s not to say that Black won't. The Buccaneers don’t have many athletes like Black on the roster and I’m sure that they would love to get him on the field as either a special team contributor or on passing downs in the near future. The choice at the end of day one would have been to give up probably all these picks for Calvin Johnson… it still sounds like a lot, only time will tell if it would have been too much. Tanard Jackson A true value pick, only a matter of weeks ago following a strong all-star performance he was under consideration for a first round pick and almost certainly a second round pick. There are some character issues that have been reported and he could easily have dropped following the recent hard line on such incidents. The highest profile incident was when he was stabbed during an incident at a party (it is however believed he was trying to break up a fight). Away from the off field stuff he is a heck of a talent. Primarily played corner in his four years for Syracuse, in college he was a very fluid, physical and solid tackling zone corner, his biggest issue is that he doesn’t really have top end speed and could get beat by receivers with elite speed, some like him better as a free safety where he played at the Senior Bowl and impressed a number of onlookers. He is a solid all round prospect and at this point of the draft he is a good pickup, as long as his character issues have been looked into. Greg Peterson Not a big fan of this pick I felt there were better linemen available at the time, but as with any prospect like Peterson its difficult to gauge his level of talent. Physically he looks the part…. or looks like he spends all his time in the weight room anyway. Has limited technique of which can be improved on by the coaching staff he doesn’t appear to have a natural ability to rush the passer despite spending much of his time at defensive end. Is viewed as a bit of a ‘tweener’ and may be more of DT in Tampa, he played against a low level of competition and didn’t dominate this competition as you would hope from a NFL draft pick. That said he surprised many at the all-star game and obviously left a lasting impression on someone in the Buccaneers war room. Adam Hayward This is what I call going off the draft board… okay I’m going to be biased for it second why not Brandon Siler?… Former Colorado State and more recently Portland State footballer (I use this term because of the number of positions he has played), he is said to be a high character prospect. Because he has been moved around so much in college he has not developed as much as he could. He is pretty athletic prospect and continues to add speed to the linebackers. His size is his main issue and while listed as an inside linebacker he may be better suited to the outside, he could be an aid on special teams and once he has a position may develop into a decent outside linebacker. Hayward has the same issues as Peterson in that his levels of competition have been limited, he is probably the top linebacker in division two. I feel sure you could have signed him as a free agent. Chris Denman At this time in a draft some teams like to pick a prospect who currently excel at one attribute and build upon it and that’s what I see with offensive tackle. Denman has a big frame and good quickness for a guy of his size but he still has to develop his blocking technique after starting his career out as a defensive end. His strength levels are way below what is needed but that should be corrected by some time in the weight room. At this time in the draft he is of course a developmental prospect. With this pick I would like to welcome the Buccaneers war room back to the realm of division one prospects. Marcus Hamilton A zone cover corner who doesn’t have top end speed. He needs to be in the right system to have a chance to succeed and the ways in which the Buccaneers have used their corner could give Hamilton a chance. He is very aggressive and could develop into a ball hawking nickel back. Has good size and earned 2nd team ACC last year. I had thought that Kenny Scott looked like a good option at this point in the draft but Hamilton adds some potential help to special teams as he is a very sure tackler. I think he is very under-rated. Kenneth Darby The last Buccaneers selection and I really like this one, I would have preferred DeShawn Wynn who went a few picks earlier or Darrius Walker may have been an option here but Darby is a very nice addition this late in the draft. Last season was a big disappointment after a wonderful junior season but for some reason regressed and appeared to be very tentative hitting the hole. If the staff can get him back to the runner that scared many defences in the SEC this could turn out to be a very nice pick. He has been very durable, has good balance and is just a natural runner. Overall this draft is quite good, nothing really exciting, nothing that makes you think that the Buccaneers are now going to be a dominant force once again but they got the drafts elite pass rusher, a guard who graded out at about the same level as Joseph last year, a bunch of speedy linebackers and some depth a safety. Sounds like someone was drafting for need. Undrafted free agents Following the draft a few names were reported as being signed by the Buccaneer as un-drafted free agents. Justin Frick – One of the top division two defensive tackles was expected to be going to the CFL but he gets a try out in Tampa Zac Taylor – Nebraska’s QB is a good manager of the game. A very smart quarterback. Would be best suited to a west coast offense. Matt Herian – Nebraska TE, more of a H-Back, is quite athletic but lack the strength needed, suffered a badly broken leg which forced him to miss all of 2005. Sam Olajubutu – Arkansas Linebacker who lacks most of the required measurables but has been very productive in the SEC and has a lot of good habits and linebacking instincts.