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RICK STROUDWith injuries and a holdout plaguing the position, rookie Michael Clayton and a group of new Bucs pick up the slack.
LAKE BUENA VISTA - Here's how wafer thin the Bucs' receiving position has become.
If the season started today, quarterback Brad Johnson would be throwing to five receivers who never have caught a pass in a Bucs uniform.
Keenan McCardell is holding out and Joe Jurevicius is sidelined indefinitely after surgery Tuesday to repair a herniated disc. It is uncertain if either will play for the Bucs this year.
So why doesn't coach Jon Gruden see the season sliding down the holes of the shower drain?
The biggest reason might be the play of rookie Michael Clayton, the first-round pick from Louisiana State.
Gruden is used to working with more aging veterans than the American Legion, so he isn't quite sure how to break in a rookie receiver.
That's good, because Clayton could be starting for McCardell at flanker in the regular-season opener at Washington in about five weeks. With all the repetitions he has been getting in training camp, he should be ready.
"I've never coached a first-rounder at a skill position since I've been a head coach or an offensive coordinator," Gruden said. "So it's a new wave I'm riding right now.
"I don't want to forget he's a rookie and sometimes I do. Because he's in a position right now to play a lot. And I've got to sometimes kick myself, but that's not my way and I don't think that's the way he wants it. He wants to be pushed to the limit, so that's what's really exciting being around him."
At 21, Clayton would be entering his senior year at LSU. But his skills and maturity made him the 15th overall pick in the draft. Even with a healthy Jurevicius or a happy McCardell, Clayton wasn't going to spend much time on the bench.
"We drafted him there, we thought he was one of the dominant players in college football," general manager Bruce Allen said. "And everything he's done in minicamps and up until now, I feel a lot of confidence. We're going to play the best guys, I don't care if he's 21 or 41. In this league right now, there's an urgency to play. If you're a young player that can take it, you want to play him. It's better for today and better for the future."
Clayton admits he gets lost in the voluminous Gruden playbook that is as thick as a Chinese phone book. But his expections always were to make an impact as a rookie.
"I got drafted, I came out of school early anticipating playing in the NFL, this is what I expected," Clayton said. "To be given the opportunity like it is coming along, it's just better for me. I'm taking it in stride, hoping those other guys will come back injury-free."
At 32, Joey Galloway assumes the leadership role on the receiving corps. He caught 34 passes for 672 yards and two touchdowns with the Cowboys last season. But he is learning a new offense and can only impart so many helpful hints to Clayton.
Charles Lee, who played well down the stretch last season after Keyshawn Johnson was made inactive for the final six games, is nursing a pulled hamstring.
Allen plucked two fairly productive receivers off the NFL scrap heap when he signed former Packers and Lions veteran Bill Schroeder and Vikings castoff D'Wayne Bates, who caught 50 passes two years ago. Schroeder, who signed two weeks ago, participated in 90 percent of the Lions' offensive plays last season.
"He's a steady guy who's picked up everything very quickly," Allen said of Schroeder. "He's made very few mental errors and considering when he was signed, that's a great compliment."
But you have to look hard to find someone who is not complimentary of Clayton. While he hasn't had the luxury of learning the flanker position from McCardell in training camp, he is getting a good baptism into the NFL by facing one of the league's top defenses.
"He's big (6-3, 197 pounds), he's deceptively fast, he's got great hands. He has a great attitude," cornerback Ronde Barber said of Clayton. "I think he's a guy who can step in to tell you the truth. He's not one of these guys you have to pull along and feel his way in. There's also times when you feel like this guy is a rookie and he's got a lot to learn. He's willing to put the work in, he just shows improvement every day. That's all you can ask for and I think he's going to be a hell of a player."
He certainly will get every chance under Gruden, who inserted Clayton at flanker, the most productive position in the Bucs' passing game. By putting Clayton in motion, he can create favorable matchups and help him get off the line of scrimmage a little quicker.
"The flanker in this system is a guy who's going to see the ball and we've tried to distribute it as evenly as we can to keep everybody happy," Gruden said. "But the flanker is at the strong side of the formation, he's in the slot most of the time and he can move around, go in motion and you can get some things done with him. That's by design sometimes.
"All the things we're doing and all the experiences he's had show me that this guy has a good chance to be a heckuva football player for a long time. "Now we've got a lot to prove and there's going to be some growing pains. There's (cornerback) Charles Woodson in Oakland, the Washington Redskins are a great football team and they're going to be great under Joe Gibbs. There's going to be some formidable objects in his path. We've got to help him get by them and help him produce."