2011 NFL Draft Results: Tampa Bay Has a 3rd Round Pick You Forgot About

It was this week two years ago, May 2, 2009.

Tyrone McKenzie, USF's outstanding linebacker, was fresh off the elation of being selected in the third round (97th overall) by the New England Patriots.

Now keep in mind the Patriots have drafted like no other. They have a top notch player-tracking brain trust, as evidenced their continuing success.

At the first New England rookie camp, McKenzie tore his ACL. It was pretty much the end of his immediate hopes to make a mark in New England.

The 6-2, 245-pound, homegrown Tampa guy is now on the Buccaneer roster. So that makes another third-round pick for the Bucs to compete for that important MIKE linebacking spot.

Most medical experts will tell you it takes two years to FULLY recover from ACL surgery and now McKenzie has crossed that important timeline.

It will be time to see how good he really is, how good he can be and you'd have to think that if he was good enough for the Patriots to use their third-round pick on him, he's certainly good enough to help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He's been around the system just a short while, but has had time now to understand the system. He came from a 4-3 at USF, was going into a 3-4 where he was heir to an inside linebacking spot with the Patriots, now he's back to a 4-3 hybrid of sorts that has evolved from a strict Tampa-2 to a 3-4 at times.

It will be interesting to see how McKenzie and the other third-round pick, Mason Foster, work their way into the equation.

Yes, a sad anniversary this week for McKenzie, but perhaps a happy one for Buccaneer fans.