The NFL draft always offers a lot of storylines. There are the players that get drafted, there are players that rise or fall dramitically, there are teams that "screw up" their draft picks (even though it is terribly difficult to evaluate a draft pick or class until several years have passed), and - as always - there are struggling teams hoping to rebuild by drafting a franchise cornerstone near the top of the first round.
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This year, much of the focus ahead of the draft has fallen squarely on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team struggled mightily last year, but they appear to have some solid players and could be relevant in no time if they find a capable quarterback. And as you might have heard, there are two heavily hyped quarterback prospects available in this year's draft.
The Buccaneers have been widely liked to Florida State prospect Jameis Winston, and the team flew him in for a meeting a few weeks ago. He is considered one of the best prospects not named Andrew Luck in over a decade, although many have character concerns based on his history of off-the-field incidents.
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The Bucs did not appear concerned with Winston's past, but they may be more concerned than they are letting on publicly, particularly since the team has now scheduled Marcus Mariota for a meeting also, and they are pumping up the idea on their website in a big way.
Speaking of Marcus Mariota, he's visiting the Buccaneers today the team announced. Still count rule out possibility they take him No. 1.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) March 16, 2015
Obviously Tampa Bay will just spread the word that they are doing their due diligence to ensure that they nail the pick, and they are planning to have meetings with other top prospects.
However, the team is desperate for competent quarterback play, and it seems ludicrous that they would pass on Mariota and Winston to take a player at a different position. While a trade could be a possibility, the team is not publicly discussing trading the pick, so that seems unlikely.
Obviously all sorts of disinformation will flood the media ahead of the draft, so the Bucs could just be trying to get their headlines out of the way ahead of the frenzy that will surely take place in the days before the draft. Still, because of the team's needs, hosting Mariota is an interesting turn of events, particularly given how highly members of the organization praised Winston just a few weeks ago.
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