2011 NFL Draft: Greg Romeus Could Be Buried Treasure for the Buccaneers

Allow me to introduce Greg Romeus.

You won't find his name among the top-rated defensive ends for this upcoming NFL draft.

Had this mighty defensive star from the University of Pittsburgh's 2009 season come out after his junior year, he might have been one of the first five players taken last April.

Today, Romeus is an unknown entity.

Romeus is a man-beast. At 6-7, 285 pounds, he was impressive enough to be named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 2009.

He had all the tools. He had the quick feet of a basketball player, and he did play the game well. He had size, quickness, strength, agility.

Then he had some unfortunate things happen last year.

He underwent back surgery to repair a disc in his lower back after sitting out most of last fall and playing ineffectively in Pitt's opener.

When came back late in the season, he suffered a torn ACL in the second half of his team's loss to UConn in mid-November.  That was the end of the line for Romeus.

He's still in the rehabbing stage, which is the reason he's not on anyone's radar, seemingly.

Now with Mark Dominik's savvy, perhaps, just perhaps Romeus' name is written on a board somewhere inside of One Buccaneer Place. The Bucs were very high on Romeus last year and if he had come out, he might be a Buccaneer today.

He's not and there's no telling who will roll the dice on this talented guy.

It's a matter of where he might fall.

This is one of those instances where a team has to do its research and due diligence. That's something the Bucs were good at last year when they determined there was nothing wrong with Mike Williams.

They got a first-round talent in the fourth round.

Romeus is worth checking out.

If his rehab is going well and he gets overlooked, who knows?

He could be yet another "steal."