Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL Draft WarRoom

by Jon Dove on Jun 14, 2011 10:00 AM EDT

Mocking the Draft wants to introduce you to an new article series taking a closer look at each team's draft workings. The WarRoom articles will give you a glimpse at the recent draft history and the decision-making structure of each NFL team. We will also include our thoughts about the structure and draft history.

Offensive Scheme: The Buccaneers have a very young and up and coming team. A lot of that youth and talent comes on the offensive side of the ball led by quarterback Josh Freeman. Tampa has let Freeman develop and he has shown a ton of promise. This offense will continue to grow as Freeman develops. They rely heavily on a strong running game which was much improved last season. The emergence of undrafted free agent LeGarrette Blount really helped this offense click. Going forward, Blount and Freeman will be the keys to an offense that has great potential

Defensive Scheme: Raheem Morris is the head coach and the defensive coordinator. His background is in the cover 2 scheme and that is what he employs in Tampa. This unit has a lot of promising young players that just added Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers. The majority of the talent is on the defensive line which needs to do a better job creating pressure. Morris is hoping that additions of Bowers and Clayborn coupled with the development of Gerald McCoy will improve the pass rush.

Thoughts: Tampa has made several risky draft selections that have paid off. They are not afraid to add players with some character issues. The success of the risky selections is a testament to the coaching staff and their ability to get the most out of each player. The development of Josh Freeman is what has this franchise pointed in the right direction. This team has been build through the draft with the core group including recently drafted players such has Josh Freeman, LeGarrette Blount (udfa), Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn, and Gerald McCoy.