They haven't worked on the position through the draft in years.
By RICK STROUD
Published April 21, 2004
TAMPA - Bucs linebackers coach Joe Barry goes into every training camp ready for his guys to start cracking heads. But lately he has been counting heads.
"You go to camp with nine linebackers, and we only have four guys returning," Barry said. "I do the math and that's five guys left."
When it comes to this weekend's NFL draft, Barry breaks out in a grin like a kid who knows what he is getting for Christmas.
This year's draft is unusually overflowing with linebacker talent. What's even more exciting for the Bucs is that when they pick 15th overall, they could have their choice of the best player at that position.
Considering Tampa Bay has drafted just three linebackers since taking perennial All-Pro Derrick Brooks in '95 (and none in the past three years), it's a perfect scenario.
The best linebackers in the draft - Miami's Jonathan Vilma or D.J. Williams - could be available to fill Tampa Bay's biggest void. For the Bucs it's like finding money in your pocket.
But remember that coach Jon Gruden also is the offensive coordinator. You can bet general manager Bruce Allen does.
"We don't feel the urgency that we have to (take a linebacker in the first round)" Allen said. "Jeff Gooch looks very good out there working. We did try and fill this roster as quickly as we could with players we felt could make this team and help us. We don't feel the pressure of having to take one particular position."
But there's no denying the beards on the Bucs linebacking corps are turning gray. Shelton Quarles will be 33 in September. Brooks recently turned 31. One of the heirs, Nate Webster, signed with the Bengals as a free agent.
"We've got veteran guys in our group, and let's be realistic, those guys aren't going to play for 10 more years," Barry said. "It'd be nice to get a younger guy in here and have him learn the system and groom him."
The Bucs have a player like that in starting strongside linebacker Ryan Nece, who signed as an undrafted free agent in 2002 and won the job over veteran Dwayne Rudd last season.
But Barry says the Bucs "dummied into" Nece, not expecting him to become a starter so soon.
"You can say I'm greedy or selfish. But as a position coach, you want a first-round draft pick every year," Barry said. "That's not always necessarily true because there's 10 other positions on the team. We might need an offensive lineman, or we might need a quarterback or we might need a defensive back. But selfishly, of course, as a position coach you always want to get a great player, no doubt about it."
Considering the lineage of linebackers from Miami - Ray Lewis, Micheal Barrow and Dan Morgan come to mind - any team would do well to draft Vilma or Williams.
Vilma, a middle linebacker since high school, could have an immediate impact. Although considered small by some NFL teams at 6 feet, 233 pounds, he is about the same size as Lewis when he came out.
"I'm not concerned. I've been playing middle since high school," Vilma said. "Too small in college, it's no different."
At Miami he was one of the most vocal leaders on defense. And he's smart, an Academic All-American in 2003 with a 3.5 grade point average.
"He has great instincts," Williams said of Vilma. "The coach will put something on the board, and by the time we get out there he'll never make a mistake. So I just watch him work, how he studies film. Mental reps." At the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Vilma was asked to list his strengths. "My intelligence. My instinctiveness," he said. "From there, I know I'm going to hustle all the time. That's not an issue. Tackling, I'm going to be there, and if I'm going to be there I'm going to make the tackle."
And his weaknesses? "I don't have any," he said.
Williams, a fullback converted to outside linebacker, is the only player who appeared physically prepared to enter the NFL out of high school, according to former Raiders coach John Madden, who spoke at his prep banquet.
"I took it as a great compliment, but never in my dreams did I think I could skip college and go to the pros," Williams said. "The size of these guys at the next level is a lot bigger." But other than Brooks, the Bucs have not used a pick higher than the third round to select a linebacker since '95.
"Linebackers tend to slip because many don't play every down," former Cowboys general manager Gil Brandt told ESPN.com. "Teams tend to take players who are specialists and put them in there."
In Vilma or Williams the Bucs would have a player who never would have to come off the field.
"I think there's three or four legitimate first-round players," Barry said. "I'm not going to name any names, but I think they're all worthy of being first-round picks and can all play in the system we use."
A linebacker in the first round? You get the feeling Barry is counting on it.
