The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have officially locked down the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. The team lost to the New Orleans Saints 23-20 in the final week of the season to lock in the pick. They did carry a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter, but eventually collapsed by putting in backups and letting New Orleans to regain control. Now, with a quarterback the likely target for the team, head coach Lovie Smith is denying the idea the Buccaneers tanked the game.
The Buccaneers were well aware what was at stake with the final game of the season. They sit with two wins on the season and their strength of schedule would earn them the top pick. Tampa Bay had been denying the idea they would tank the year, but putting in backups did very little to help their argument.
"It had nothing to do with substitutions," Smith said, via ESPN.com. "You look at how we played. To me, I'm going to go back, we're moving the ball fairly well even in the second half. They played a lot better. We played a lot of guys the first half also.Vincent Jackson only played a few reps. That happened in the first half also, and the team we put on the football field had a chance to win right up until (the end). Yeah, we didn't have some of our best players there right in the end. But the guys we had in there we felt like we could move the ball and be able to win."
The Buccaneers are predicted to draft a quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick barring any trades before the draft. The Josh McCown experiment failed while Mike Glennon did little to show that he deserved the chance to be the next franchise quarterback. Now, the Buccaneers will have the chance to grab either Marcus Mariota out of Oregon or Jameis Winston out of Florida State. Both quarterbacks are reported to have high NFL upside.
However, there are a few other options the Buccaneers can consider. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport lists Tampa Bay as a team that could show interest in a Jay Cutler trade given the quarterback's history with Smith. They could also look at Robert Griffin III or Brian Hoyer in free agency. The end result is that the Buccaneers will have a new quarterback under center next season and it come could either in the draft or via a trade.
