Tampa Bay Buccaneers Wide Receiver Michael Clayton Interview

(Photo by: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Thursday May 28, I was at Buccaneers camp to get some audio for ESPN1040 and got the opportunity to interview Michael Clayton. Below is a transcript of my questions and his answers. Check out the audio.

Did John Gruden’s firing have anything to do with you re-signing with the Bucs?

Yeah it had a little bit to do with it. You know it was just a situation where I didn’t feel comfortable after the things I was told year after year after year and the situations I was being faced with, it wasn’t all truth.

So going back getting an opportunity to have a second part of my career, I wasn’t really gonna risk it, you know I wanted to be with a team who really understood me as a player and wanted to utilize my talents and there was a lot of teams out there that wanted me and would have made me feel a better feeling uhh

Make you feel welcome?

Yeah exactly, so I probably wouldn’t have been here and it’s no disrespect to Coach Gruden but it’s a business and we all have to be men and make decisions but it was the hiring of Raheem that was a situation that I really wanted to be a part of, a young team giving me the opportunity to be a leader.

Raheem knows me, we’ve talked for the past five years, we’ve had great conversations, me and Mark Domenik have had great conversations, so I knew that I had a great chance of staying, getting a contract that I wanted that I can support my family and be happy.

I just knew that the pieces would fall together because of the relationship I had with Mark and Raheem.

With the offseason purge of veterans like Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn, do you feel a leadership role falling on your shoulders, having been with the team this long?

Definitely, you know I think more so it’s out in the open now, behind closed doors those guys are leaders in the locker room, they lead by example. I’ve been a leader to young guys coming in, been their voice, been a guy who invites them to my house and kinda show them the ropes and hang out and teach them things about Tampa, what to do and what not to do and interact more so with them.

So I’ve been that guy behind the scenes ever since I’ve gotten here. It’s been no different since Lac (Cadillac Williams) got here and I let him live with me, you know it hasn’t changed its only grown.

Now that all of the older guys who have had great success are gone, I’ve been here I’m one of the oldest guys in the locker room that’s been here for five years, I mean Jermaine Phillips and Ronde Barber and then I think it might be me third so I'm one of the older guys whose been here for a while so it kinda puts me in that position out in the open because of the years I have spent with the younger guys that they’ve grown and had success and the respect that I have in the locker room you know its kinda out in the open now, and it’s a good feeling, it feels good to be that guy.

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