3 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
With Josh Freeman out front, the Baby Bucs are in it for the long haul
When Tampa Bay free safety Cody Grimm goes golfing with quarterback Josh Freeman, they put a little money on a hole or three. Grimm's a five handicap, he says, Freeman about a 15, but the safety also says of the quarterback, "He'll never take a stroke. Most guys, they're happy to take one. They want to win the money. Josh wants to win, but he doesn't want to be handed anything."
"He told you that?!'' Freeman said. "He's not better than me! And he is not a five."
Further investigative reporting by SI did reveal that Grimm is about a five handicap and Freeman shoots in the 80s. But if you'd seen the look on Freeman's face, you'd know something about him. It was a combination of disgust and Wait till I get my hands on Grimm. This is one competitive fellow.
The Bucs need a quarterback who is this fired-up, this young (23) and this good (his touchdown-to-interception ratio, 25 to 6, was second-best in the NFL last year) to compete in the NFC South. Tampa Bay has to face 32-year-old Drew Brees and the Saints, and 26-year-old Matt Ryan and the Falcons, twice a year for the foreseeable future. If Cam Newton is the answer in Carolina, this will be the NFL's power division for quarterbacks. It already might be. Point is, it looks like Tampa Bay has the caliber of quarterback to stay competitive for the next decade—and to contend for the division title with a very young team in 2011.
"I do love competition," says Freeman, who's an imposing 6'6" and 248 pounds, "and I just love football—that's a huge part of it. It's not like work when you love something. I want to be great. I want to master my craft. And every day I want to push myself to get better."
To that end, Freeman helped pay the way for nearly two dozen teammates to attend a minicamp in Bradenton, Fla., during the lockout. In all, 53 Bucs showed up. "It was good to focus on football and not really anything else for a week," Freeman says. "We tried to do as much as we'd do during a normal minicamp."
When Freeman was drafted out of Kansas State in the first round in 2009, his dad, Ron, called former Bucs coach Tony Dungy, who lives in Tampa, and asked if he'd check in on Josh a few times a year to be sure he was staying focused. Dungy and Josh talked by phone and met a couple of times in person. Eventually Dungy concluded, "You don't need me." On Feb. 8, 2010, one day after the Super Bowl following his rookie season, Freeman was on the Bucs' practice field at 8 a.m., throwing to equipment guys. He just gets it.
As Bucs G.M. Mark Dominik builds for the future, with the youngest talent core in the league, he's thrilled to have someone so mature as the team's unquestioned leader. "After all the quarterbacks we considered, his time with us stood out," says Dominik. "He retained information and could regurgitate our offense well, but more than that, he just fit. To see how he's developed at 23 gives this whole building a level of confidence it hasn't had in a while."
There aren't many teams in recent NFL history with the kind of prominent youth the Bucs have, which makes them potentially so dangerous this season. Look at the defensive line. Dominik has taken linemen in both the first and the second rounds of the last two drafts—tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price in 2010, ends Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers in '11. With those four, plus tackle Roy Miller and end Michael Bennett, Tampa Bay should have a strong six-man rotation, all of whom are 25 or under. (Bowers is 21, Price 22, McCoy and Clayborn 23, Miller 24 and Bennett 25.) Similarly, the two offensive weapons most important to Freeman's success, wideout Mike Williams and running back LeGarrette Blount, are both 24.
Freeman knows part of his job will be to lead the young Bucs to the playoffs—they just missed at 10--6 last season—and he's comfortable with the task. "He's the kind of guy everyone looks at, and it's a positive for the team," says Grimm. "I asked him to go to dinner the other day after practice, and he said, 'Just give me a few minutes. I need to look at this goal line tape.' Like, yeah, the same tape you're going to see tomorrow morning. But that's just him. When that's important to him, you know your team's in pretty good hands."
"We've laid the foundation," says Freeman, "but we haven't done anything yet. I think we're going to be a better team this year, with a better record. But you know the NFL. It's constantly changing."
In this division, with this team, in this year, you truly don't know. But with a quarterback who won't stop working, the Bucs have a real chance.
PROJECTED LINEUP
WITH 2010 STATS
OFFENSE
2010 Rank: 19
QB JOSH FREEMAN
ATT 474
COMP 291
PCT 61.4
YARDS 3,451
YD/ATT 7.28
TD 25
INT 6
RATING 95.9
RB LEGARRETTE BLOUNT
ATT 201
YARDS 1,007
REC 5
TTD 6
FB EARNEST GRAHAM
ATT 20
YARDS 99
REC 16
TTD 2
WR MIKE WILLIAMS
REC 65
YARDS 964
AVG 14.8
TTD 11
WR ARRELIOUS BENN
REC 25
YARDS 395
AVG 15.8
TTD 2
TE KELLEN WINSLOW
REC 66
YARDS 730
AVG 11.1
TTD 5
LT DONALD PENN
G 16
SACKS 5½
HOLD 1
FALSE 1
LG TED LARSEN
G 12
SACKS 2
HOLD 3
FALSE 4
C JEFF FAINE
G 8
SACKS 0
HOLD 1
FALSE 0
RG DAVIN JOSEPH
G 11
SACKS 1½
HOLD 4
FALSE 2
RT JEREMY TRUEBLOOD
G 14
SACKS 3½
HOLD 0
FALSE 2
WR SAMMIE STROUGHTER
REC 24
YARDS 239
AVG 10.0
TTD 0
WR DEZMON BRISCOE
REC 6
YARDS 93
AVG 15.5
TTD 1
DEFENSE
2010 Rank: 17
DE ADRIAN CLAYBORN
TACKLES 52
SACKS 3½
INT 0
DT GERALD MCCOY
TACKLES 28
SACKS 3
INT 0
DT ROY MILLER
TACKLES 47
SACKS 1
INT 0
DE DA'QUAN BOWERS (R)
TACKLES 73
SACKS 15½
INT 1
LB GENO HAYES
TACKLES 82
SACKS 4
INT 1
LB MASON FOSTER (R)
TACKLES 163
SACKS 6½
INT 0
LB QUINCY BLACK
TACKLES 58
SACKS 2
INT 1
CB AQIB TALIB
TACKLES 40
SACKS 0
INT 6
SS SEAN JONES
TACKLES 74
SACKS 1
INT 1
FS CODY GRIMM
TACKLES 51
SACKS 0
INT 2
CB RONDE BARBER
TACKLES 82
SACKS 1
INT 3
DB E.J. BIGGERS
TACKLES 50
SACKS 0
INT 1
SPECIALISTS
K CONNOR BARTH
FG 23
FGA 28
XP 36
PTS 105
P MICHAEL KOENEN
PUNTS 74
GROSS 40.7
NET 35.6
BOLD: Projected starter
Italic: New acquisition
(R) Rookie: College stats
TTD: Total touchdowns
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
SACKS: Sacks allowed
HOLD: Holding penalties
FALSE: False starts
2011 SCHEDULE
2010 RECORD: 10--6
September
11 Detroit
18 at Minnesota
25 Atlanta
October
3 Indianapolis (Mon)
9 at San Francisco
16 New Orleans
23 Chicago*
30 BYE
November
6 at New Orleans
13 Houston
20 at Green Bay
27 at Tennessee
December
4 Carolina
11 at Jacksonville
17 Dallas (Sat)
24 at Carolina (Sat)
January
1 at Atlanta
* in London
COACH: RAHEEM MORRIS
AGE: 34
THIRD SEASON WITH THE BUCS (13--19)
One of the new breed of coaches who are younger than some of their players (he turns 35 on Sept. 3; cornerback Ronde Barber is 36), Morris is a big fan of chip-on-the-shoulder motivation. It works: Players love his moxie and the fact that he's more Rex Ryan than Tony Dungy. Last year he said his team was the best in the NFC—and don't expect him to change that view.
SPOTLIGHT
GERALD MCCOY, Defensive tackle
The 2010 season was a curse and a blessing for McCoy, brought in to be the disruptive three-technique tackle in the Baby Bucs' defense. The blessing: being drafted third overall. The curse: being drafted third overall at the same position as Ndamukong Suh, who went one spot earlier. Working with better outside rushers and a better noseman beside him in Detroit, Suh was a dominating inside presence and had 10 sacks. McCoy never got his pass rush working, producing just three sacks.
In came defensive ends with the Bucs' first two picks this year, and a new pass-rush coach, Keith Millard, who's simplified McCoy's role so that he can exploit his athleticism. "It's simple," says McCoy, a two-time All-America at Oklahoma. "I'm playing football, not thinking as much. I'm an instinctive player, and this system helps me." The only time McCoy gets a little testy—and just a little; he's a polite sort—is when the Suh comparison comes up. "He's in Detroit, I'm in Tampa, and that's about it," he says. "He played great last year. He was put in a different situation than me, and I would say the cast around us was a bit different." With the edge rush strengthened (and, the Bucs hope, noseman Brian Price back to full strength from a hip injury), McCoy's rush skills will have a better chance to surface this year.
PHOTO
JOHN PYLE/CAL SPORT MEDIA (MORRIS)
PHOTO
SIMON BRUTY (FREEMAN)
FOLLOW ME At 23, Freeman already is the poised leader of a team bursting with youth and potential, and he fits in perfectly in a division stacked at quarterback.
PHOTO
TOM DIPACE (MCCOY)