The clock counts down as Bucs on the bubble await final roster cuts.
By JOANNE KORTH
Published August 26, 2003
TAMPA - Over the next six days, dreams will be dashed.
Players who grew up imitating their NFL heroes in the back yard and dreaming of professional football will find out they are not good enough to play for the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers.
They will get cut.
Just like that.
By Sunday, the Bucs' roster must be pared to the regular-season limit of 53 players. Between now and then, 24 players will be asked to turn in their playbooks.
"It's certainly one of the more uncomfortable parts of the job," coach Jon Gruden said. "I've been turned down for jobs before, and it's not an easy feeling in your gut when you work hard to get something and you don't get it. I'm sympathetic. It's a sensitive time, but that's just part of this league."
At first, 53 players sounds like an awful lot. In truth, there are only four or five spots unaccounted for on the roster, which is thick with returning starters, proven backups, big-name free-agent acquisitions and top draft picks.
Of those fighting for a job, many do not have a chance. But you cannot tell them that. The last player on the depth chart believes in his heart he can make this team - the best in the league last season - if he can catch the eye of an assistant coach. If he can make a play, make an impression.
"You have to think that," said Ronyell Whitaker, a free-agent rookie cornerback from Virginia Tech. "I can't let myself think I won't make it. I just can't do it."
Otherwise, Whitaker and the other hopefuls could never make it through a month of training camp and grueling two-a-days. Never learn the plays, formations and assignments. Never endure the hours of meetings and miles of videotape. Never sacrifice their bodies to make one more special-teams tackle.
Pressure is there every practice, every play - if you let it. The videocamera captures every leaping catch, every pancake block and every pass broken up. It also sees every dropped ball, every missed tackle and every bad throw.
"It's a little weird," said Fabian Davis, a rookie free-agent receiver from Wake Forest. "I'm not thinking, "I'm fighting for a job here and a job that could really help me out later on.' I kind of block that out. There are going to be tough times out there where stuff happens to you and if you dwell on it, it's going to mess up everything else."
Rookies are not the only ones fighting for jobs. Several players who have made other NFL stops or chased their dreams to NFL Europe and the Arena League are back for another shot. They know what it's like to be waived, forced to find another option.
"It's tough, but it's not the end of the world like most people make it out to be," said fifth-year receiver Jacquez Green, a former Tampa Bay draft pick who finished last season with the Lions after being released by the Redskins. "There are always other things to do as far as playing football. It's not the end of the world, but hopefully I'll still be here."
Not everyone who fails to make the 53-man roster will be out of work. Some will be placed on injured reserve; some will catch on with other NFL teams; a select few the coaches hate to lose will be signed to the Bucs' practice squad.
Two players will be released today, when rosters much reach 65, plus NFL Europe exemptions, of which the Bucs have 10. Thursday's preseason finale against the Texans is an important final chance before Sunday's deadline.
"I'll be honest, we're going to have some tough cuts to make," Gruden said. "But a lot of these guys who might not make it here are going to make it on somebody else's team."
For Whitaker, football is his first option. But, if it doesn't work out, he is prepared to return to Virginia Tech and get his degree. He likes the idea of teaching high school, maybe coaching football.
He'll know more in a week.
"I'm sure I'll be nervous, but you can't be but so nervous," he said. "If you feel you did your best and put in all the hard work you could do, hopefully good things will happen for you."
