The Bucs will stop at Calvin Johnson

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, February 22, 2007  |  Comments( 5 )

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers might as well start cranking out those Calvin Johnson jerseys. All logic says that the big, athletic, sticky-fingered receiver out of Georgia Tech will wind up playing catch with Chris Simms next fall, no matter the result of this weekend's coin toss with Cleveland.

The Bucs will either pick third or fourth, depending on the flip. In a worst-case scenario, that would put them behind Oakland, Detroit and Cleveland.

So let's consider...

Oakland already has Randy Moss and Jerry Porter, and no one to throw to them. Pencil in former LSU QB JaMarcus Russell for No. 1

Detroit needs a lot of things, but a wide receiver isn't one of them. Before breaking the string last year, the Lions made wideouts Charles Rogers, Roy Williams and Mike Williams their top choice in successive drafts. General Manager Matt Millen doesn't dare do that again, lest he be lynched by the paying customers.

Cleveland took Braylon Edwards No. 3 at wide receiver in 2005, and he's just now coming into his own. Don't be surprised if the Browns choose Oklahoma RB Adrian Peterson, provided Detroit doesn't take him first. Or Wisconsin's man mountain OT Joe Thomas, to help with another nagging problem.

Which will leave Johnson, arguably the best player in the draft. He's 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, he runs solid routes, he has good hands, and he reeled off a 4.33 in the 40 in a workout preparing him for this week's NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

Meet Randy Moss without the attitude. And minus a few years.

Indeed, given all the hype surrounding Johnson's potential (a satirical Tampa Bay Web site has him rescuing people from burning houses and developing a cure for Third World diseases in his spare time), it would be hard for the Bucs not to draft him. A defensive lineman might be nice, but players like Johnson don't come along very often.

"I'm fine with that," Johnson said of the possibility of a Florida address.

This past season, the Tyrone, Ga., product caught 76 passes for 1,202 yards and 15 touchdowns. Given the notoriously erratic arm of starting quarterback Reggie Ball, he sometimes seemed like a dog chasing a Frisbee. On other occasions, though, Johnson would leap and snag touchdown passes in the red zone with defenders draped all over him.

Joey Galloway can't do that. The 11-year veteran had a solid 2006 season, with 62 catches for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns, but the rest of the receiving corps was unproductive (partly, in all fairness, because Bruce Gradkowski and Tim Rattay were throwing to them after Simms went down with an injury). Michael Clayton was the other main target, catching 33 passes for 358 yards and a touchdown.

Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, they weren't. Second-year man Maurice Stovall from Notre Dame appears to have potential, but Johnson shows every indication of starring from Day One.

That is, unless the Bucs trade down to some other team that covets Johnson, picking up a defensive lineman and hoping to snag a solid WR in the second round.

Nah.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Calvin Johnson. It already has a nice ring to it.

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CommentsComments: 5  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
8485		07:01 PM
02/23/2007
Fist of all you have no idea what your talking about! The raiders dont have Moss. Wacth for Moss to be let go,they are keeping ...
No.2
fr8ttrain		09:57 AM
02/27/2007
I agree, nobody knows anything until it is all said and done, especially when we are talking about Al Davis and the Raiders. I ...
No.3
Earvin Smiley		11:32 PM
03/21/2007
I will love if the bucs can draft Calvin Johnson at the 4th pick of the first round. This is a T.O. without the attitude. If you ...
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