passed on Cook for OJ Howard, come on man!
Tampa Bay's Huge mistake in the Draft
- Thread starter oldno7
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so huge.....classic case of Combine Fever mixed in with one of a couple of big games where OJ had highlight plays....toxic combo for GMs.
Cook has dramatically changed the way teams approach the Vikings offense, even Case Keenum looks good.
I have them as my dark horse for NFC champs
Cook has dramatically changed the way teams approach the Vikings offense, even Case Keenum looks good.
I have them as my dark horse for NFC champs
All I hear every time someone tries to justify the OJ Howard selection is, "He'll come around eventually and he's a great blocker."
You don't waste your 1st round pick on a project TE that can block well - and by the way, most NFL TEs can block well. It was a dumb move by Licht. It's not his first and it won't be his last. Some Bucs fans think Licht is a draft guru simply because the GMs before him were clueless. The Bucs throwing the ball nearly 40 times compared to only 9 runs in their loss to the Vikings screams that they don't have anyone in the backfield that the defense has to respect. It was a bad pick, plain and simple. OJ Howard will be a decent player but he's not 1st round value. They had huge RB concerns going into the off season and they pass on Dalvin and take the kid out of Boise that didn't even make it through preseason. Need I say more?
Hey good job man you got a chance to bash a nole. Congrats to you.
They have a very good running back... he is suspended. And the 2nd string back was injured. So they were down to #3. That is why they did not run as much as usual. That being said... I sure ws hoping to see Jaboo and Cook together again.
Didn't realize stating facts was considered bashingHey good job man you got a chance to bash a nole. Congrats to you.
Was thinking the exact same thing the other day. Cook having much more of an impact than OJ. Bucs could have used him, especially with the DM suspension
I don't really watch Pro ball any more. Used too. Watched OJ in college and pro's. Watched Jim Brown, Mercury Morris among many others. I've watching college ball for over 50 years and Cook is one of the most electric runners I've ever seen. Every time he touched the ball at FSU I held my breath because he could be gone in the blink of an eye. Like Fisher said he can change the scoreboard any time he touched the ball. In my opinion you just don't pass on someone like that. Especially someone who takes pride and enjoy's doing the little things.
4 years whatever
LOl IJS
3. He didn't do much his rookie year... He wasn't top 5 until after his 2nd yr.
He's a 3 down back and TB's RB situation is dicey...Bad move passing on him. Classic GM paralysis by analysis
I disagree.
OJ Howard has a very good chance of developing into a top tier TE, dominant in both the blocking and receiving aspects of the game. This is after several years of almost no quality TE's being in the draft. In a very real way Howard can be as productive as Gronk or Kelce, while being better than either of them at blocking. Even better, TB has Cameron Brate, so they can afford to being Howard along slowly.
Compare that to Cook. He was a very good get, definitely worth a first round grade, but lets look at his peers: Cook, Fournette, McCaffrey, Mixon, Tarik Cohen, and especially Kareem Hunt. Thats 6 deep that could be ok in the first or second round. I would say there were 3 as good in 2016 and 5 in 2015.
What im getting at is you can get a very good RB any year, Cook is great but not a extremely rare commodity. The best part is if you just draft an RB in the 2nd-3rd round for 2 years, you stand a pretty good chance of getting a Cook level running back (seriously, this has happened in as many years as i looked back, 2016 being the shallowest). On the other hand if you need a good TE, there is usually only 1 or two at most available, usually they are just developmental prospects that top out at MAYBE Jimmy Graham level in the right system, and even then they are usually great at blocking or receiving but not both.
So just saying, they had a chance to get a commodity they can get next year easily, but instead they took the highest ceiling prospect at a position that was richer than it had been in a decade, and the only TE in that class great at both parts of being a TE. Not only that, but he was a sure lock to be picked in the top 8, much less having a chance to fall to the bucs.
It was simply put a must make decision especially considering it could be another 5 years before there is more than 1 or two tight ends worthy of a rd. 1 or two grade.
I would agree with this if they only drafted for this year. THey had Brate and another promising TE on the roster, and cook would have probably pushed "the muscle hamster" out of the starting slot already since he has been suspended.
However, their starting RB comes back in week 5 (or 6?). They can get a starting RB in free agency or the draft easy. 2018 will be another RB rich draft, and the free agent market will only get more crowded this year and next year as players angle to stash away money before the possible player strike in 2020.
On the other hand there might not be another 1st round quality TE that falls to TB until after 2020. Easy choice looking at it like a GM. Especially since Koetter has been adamant that this is not probably a year the bucs are ready to challenge for a deep playoff run.
This is how I would've approached it, but it does look like Cook might be a special player in the NFL.
He's not a project. He's very much a first round value. Look at the history of tight ends. They don't hit the league like running backs. It's a good pick.
They threw 40 times and ran 9 because they got behing 14 - 3, then Jameis threw a pick leading to 21 - 3. Further, it was obvious they couldn't slow Minnesota, meaning Minnesota could name their score. It had nothing to do with who they had in the backfield.
Nice rant though.
Nonsense. The are terrible at both corner and defensive end. Terrible. And now both Levonte David and Kwon Alexander are out, perhaps for an extended period.
Doug Martin will be back week 4. If you want to argue the pick, they should have gone DE or CB.
They're getting better though.
So far OJ has not made one play that I said, OK this guy has it, Cook so far has made like 10 of those.
Clearly we are early on, but early data points to this being a big mistake.
As far as the RB on suspension, well have you head of trade for a 5th rounder, I have
Clearly we are early on, but early data points to this being a big mistake.
As far as the RB on suspension, well have you head of trade for a 5th rounder, I have
Why do people keep saying he's a dominant pass catching TE? He had barely any catches in college, save a few high profile games, and hasn't demonstrated much pass catching ability as a pro during the pre or regular season (I know it's a very small sample size). Is it just assumed because he's extremely athletic?
I've been saying that since the draft. My Bucs could have drafted Cook and got rid of Martin. More money to get a better OL. But Noooooo!!!! Dalvin has off the field issues. Too many red flags. B.S.
It was a terrible pick; nothing to do with him being a nole. That is a second round pick that is out of the league year 2Hey good job man you got a chance to bash a nole. Congrats to you.
I don't think he'll ever be an all pro necessarily but he was productive for a college TE playing his entire Bama career (outside of his FR year) with subpar passing QBs. Blake Sims, Coker, and Hurts
Sup?
He said 5 years ago. It is 2017. In 2012 Freeman was a Sophmore at FSU.
4 years whatever
4 years ago he was a junior at FSU.
3 years ago he was on the bench.
He didn't become a Top back until 2 years ago.
Glad he got paid, becuase his running style will keep him elite for maybe another 2 years.
This is just not accurate, passing on Hunt goes down as a miss sure but there was no one pounding the pavement for this guy, he was just another very productive group of 5 runner, a bit better than the SDSU guy becasue he bigger faster etc..
Passing on cook, is like passing on Marino/Moss and or Sapp. Its the same because the media and some GMs passed on these guys because of unproven and/or irrelevant reasons to pass. Moss because of 420 and a high school fight-stupid, Sapp for weed-really? Marino-what he liked to have a little fun on his off time? Cook-people he hung out with?
Hunt is great, might actually be better than Cook by a hair but he was an unknown quantity, Cook was known and should of gone top ten. Way ahead of Mcaffrey, no problem him going behind Fournette, Coke or Pepsi there.
As a Bucs fan, I was hoping for Cook. However it is very premature to say it was a bad pick.
It depends on how Martin does this year. If Doug Martin comes back next week and runs like a top 10 back again, then it wasn't a bad pick. Anyone that follows the Bucs was expecting a subpar rushing attack these first few weeks while Martin serves his suspension.
It depends on how Martin does this year. If Doug Martin comes back next week and runs like a top 10 back again, then it wasn't a bad pick. Anyone that follows the Bucs was expecting a subpar rushing attack these first few weeks while Martin serves his suspension.
Dalvin would have been a better impact pick but OJ was a great pick at that spot. TE's typically take longer to develop but Howard has the tools to be elite, and elite TE's are harder to come by than RB's. Both have the potential to be among the top guys at their position in the next few years, and DC's have scheme around elite TE's every bit as much as they do elite RB's.
Where the Bucs clearly went wrong was not moving up in round 2 to grab Cook. Even if it took a 3rd round pick to move up, and it likely could have been done for a 4th or 5th, I'd be shocked to see Justin Evans, Chris Godwin or any of the guys they drafted after the second round have anything close to the career that Dalvin will. The off season was clearly about adding weapons for Jameis, signing Desean Jackson, drafting Howard in the first, then Godwin in the 3rd. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't go ahead and round out the offensive skill guys when a gift was there for the taking. They'd have been in good position skill wise for years to come. They've proven they don't know what to do in round 2 in recent years for sure.
Where the Bucs clearly went wrong was not moving up in round 2 to grab Cook. Even if it took a 3rd round pick to move up, and it likely could have been done for a 4th or 5th, I'd be shocked to see Justin Evans, Chris Godwin or any of the guys they drafted after the second round have anything close to the career that Dalvin will. The off season was clearly about adding weapons for Jameis, signing Desean Jackson, drafting Howard in the first, then Godwin in the 3rd. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't go ahead and round out the offensive skill guys when a gift was there for the taking. They'd have been in good position skill wise for years to come. They've proven they don't know what to do in round 2 in recent years for sure.
