Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Reviewing the Drafts of the Mark Dominik Era
Since his hiring as general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009, Mark Dominik has overseen five drafts. These drafts, as you will see in the article, have varied greatly in terms of success.
Draft success is defined as finding prospects who contribute to the team in a positive way. A successful draft should uncover late-round gems. An unsuccessful draft will add players who do not help the team, when prospects who would have aided the team more could have been found within the same round as the less helpful selection.
There will nothing as reductive as a draft grade within the slideshow. This slideshow will simply look at the reasonings behind why the club made certain picks and the postmortem results of each draft, basing conclusions off how much the prospects added to the team and if other selections would have helped the Bucs more.
When the article looks at other possible draft picks, it will only consider players selected in the same round as the Buccaneer prospect in question.
Please read with a mind willing to accept that there is no completely objective way to review drafts. A lot of it is speculation. So please realize that some subjectivity is inevitable.
All stats via NFL.com
Draft results table via Wikipedia.com
Depth chart/roster information via Ourlads.com
2009 Draft
1 of 5Draft order | Player name | Position | College | |
Round | Choice | |||
1 | 17 | |||
3 | 81 | |||
4 | 117 | |||
5 | 155 | |||
7 | 217 | |||
7 | 233 |
The most important pick of this draft and possibly in the Mark Dominik-era happened to also be the GM’s first selection: quarterback Josh Freeman.
Freeman has had enough rough patches in his young career to make it easy for people to criticize his being selected at No. 17 overall. But in context, there were few better options for Dominik at the time. The most notable QB taken after Freeman ended up being Curtis Painter, a seventh-rounder.
Painter’s only notable because of the games he lost starting for the 2012 Indianapolis Colts, as Peyton Manning had suffered that season-ending neck injury. There was no better QB available than Freeman, and the Bucs had a gaping hole at the position (see: Byron Leftwich).
Tampa might have been better served, at least in the long run, by adding wide receivers Jeremy Maclin, Percy Harvin or Hakeem Nicks, or even linebacker Clay Matthews (in a 4-3 he could potentially take on a Von Miller-type role).
By drafting Josh Freeman, Mark Dominik took a swing on a quarterback who had—and still has—fantastic potential and has won quite a few games for the Bucs. Out of any selection Tampa could have made, Freeman provided the most upside.
Roy Miller played decently in Tampa, but a superior defensive tackle went after him (Harry Melton, fourth round). Also, receiver Mike Wallace was grabbed just three spots after Miller. Wallace would have unquestionably added more to the team than did Miller.
Kyle Moore and Xavier Fulton never really panned out. Moore lasted 15 games over two seasons on the Bucs, while Fulton managed just one season before his release.
E.J. Biggers stands out as a very, very good pick for a seventh-rounder, making significant contributions to the defense 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Sammie Stroughter was a solid player in his first two seasons as a receiver and returner, but in 2011 and 2012, he appeared in just eight games.
2010 Draft
2 of 5After a dismal first season as GM (three wins, 13 losses), Dominik wound up with the third overall pick. With it, he added defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.
In the first two years of his career, McCoy was barely on the field because of injuries. In 2012, he started all 16 games and made the Pro Bowl. If the DT can build off last season, he will prove that his talent merited being drafting above guys like Joe Haden, Eric Berry, Earl Thomas, Jason Pierre-Paul, Anthony Davis, and, of course, Tim Tebow.
Dominik decided to double up on the defensive line by using his second selection on Brian Price, another defensive tackle. Price was anything but a success as a Buc, barely playing, not playing well when he had the chance and finally being traded for a seventh-round pick.
The second round of this draft, though, was not a strong one for defensive tackles, so it’s hard to criticize the pick too much. Nevertheless, a linebacker like Daryl Washington or Brandon Spikes would have helped the team much more.
Tampa also doubled up on wide receivers (which made sense, seeing as the team's top two receivers from 2009 were Antonio Bryant and Kellen Winslow), adding Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams. Williams was a steal in the fourth round. Benn in the second...not so much, especially considering how Rob Gronkowski (a tight end, yes, but a very good receiver) went three picks later.
The team found solid depth in late-round selections Cody Grimm, Erik Lorig and Dekoda Watson. Grimm has filled in at times as a defensive back, Lorig has been the team's starting fullback and Watson has been a very good special teams player.
2011 Draft
3 of 5Round | Selection | Player | Position | College |
1 | 20 | |||
2 | 51 | |||
3 | 84 | |||
4 | 116 | |||
5 | 151 | |||
6 | 187 | |||
7 | 222 | |||
7 | 238 |
Ah, the 2011 draft. The Bucs were fresh off a 10-6 season. The offense was young and hot, and the defense was...adequate.
Once again, Dominik used his first two picks on the same position, apparently unsatisfied with starting Kyle Moore and Michael Bennett at defensive end.
Adrian Clayborn showed a whole lot of potential in his rookie year, but was injured early in 2012. Da’Quan Bowers hasn’t been on the field a whole lot, and even when he has, it hasn’t set the world on fire. He has four-and-a-half sacks over two seasons. We can say Clayborn was the best 4-3 DE available, so his selection will not be questioned.
Bowers was a decent selection, considering that of this draft's second-rounders selected after Bowers, only a few wide receivers (Torrey Smith, Randall Cobb) would have really had more of a positive impact.
Considering that the Bucs didn't seem to have a need at WR at this time, with Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn appearing to be a potentially great tandem, the Bowers pick was probably the best choice for the Bucs.
The Bucs had a glaring hole at middle linebacker and filled it with Mason Foster. Foster was unimpressive as a rookie, but in 2012, he improved exponentially. He was the best pick Dominik could have made.
As Kellen Winslow was still on the team, perhaps a guy like linebacker Colin McCarthy would have been able to contribute more to the Bucs than Luke Stocker. Stocker has good size and is a good blocker, though.
Ahmad Black seems to be a very good third safety, and Anthony Gaitor seems like a potentially solid depth cornerback. Then again, Richard Sherman, the Seattle Seahawks' superstar cornerback, went only a few picks after Black.
Neither Allen Bradford nor Daniel Hardy are still on the roster.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
2012 Draft
4 of 5The Bucs regressed once again in 2011, to the tune of a 4-12 season. That led to then-head coach Raheem Morris being fired and replaced with Greg Schiano
Dominik's draft strategy did not change much, if at all, even with a new head coach. Tampa addressed needs early and added depth late.
Because we have only had one season to evaluate the class of 2012, we will not compare the Bucs draft picks to other prospects. There's not enough tape on any of these guys to say any of them are busts yet.
We can, however, say that Lavonte David was a steal in the second round. The linebacker led the team in tackles with 112 and was a key component in the success of the run defense, which was the best in the league. The club had a huge hole at linebacker and addressed superbly by drafting David.
Mark Barron has shown that he is one of the the best run defenders in the NFL, though his coverage needs some work. The hard-hitting safety filled another of the team's gaping-roster holes.
As for Doug Martin...All hail the Muscle Hamster! Martin nearly racked up 2,000 offensive yards, with 1,454 on the ground and 472 receiving. He was so good that the former starting running back, LeGarrette Blount, had his number of carries reduced to a measly 41. Undoubtedly, Martin will be the centerpiece of the offense for years to come.
The Day 3 selections have not had the same impact as the Bucs' early-round picks, which was not unexpected. Keith Tandy looked alright off the bench, as did Najee Goode.
Michael Smith is crazy fast, but that hasn't gotten him any carries, yet.
Drake Dunsmore retired this offseason.
Conclusions
5 of 5| Draft Round | Positions of Players Selected |
| 1 | QB, DT, DE, S, RB |
| 2 | DT, WR, DE, LB |
| 3 | DT, CB, LB |
| 4 | DE, WR, TE |
| 5 | OL, S, LB |
| 6 | P, RB, CB |
| 7 | CB, WR, S, LB, DE, CB, TE, RB, TE |
Mark Dominik is a sneaky-good drafter, able to create a talented, young core for a team that was riddled with roster holes when he inherited it.
His drafting style is to go for need in the early rounds, then try to add depth with his Day 3 picks. Defensive players, especially defensive linemen, are a priority, and offensive linemen can be found as undrafted free agents (Dominik has drafted only one offensive lineman as GM).
Until 2013, when the Bucs selected Johnthan Banks in the second round, Dominik had never picked a cornerback any earlier than Round 3. That may have contributed to the struggles of the secondary in recent years.
Dominik seems adverse to drafting wide receivers very high. That might be because the highest pick he ever used on one was a second-rounder who landed the team Arrelious Benn, who never lived up to his the early-round billing.
If the GM is "good" at finding talent in any one position, it has to be at linebacker. He found four solid LBs in Mason Foster, Lavonte David, Dekoda Watson and Najee Goode.
If the GM struggles to find talent at any one position, we can name two: defensive tackle and defensive end. Dominik has had bad luck with defensive linemen, as so many of his selections end up missing significant amounts of time due to injury.
What should be our biggest takeaway from this review is that Dominik had done a nice job at reshaping the team's roster through the draft. Sure, big-name free agents like Vincent Jackson help, but the club's heart is in its drafting.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
