2000 Season
Going into the Draft the question of what the Bucs would do was the talk of the league. They were fresh off their first Super Bowl win in their history and they had massive Draft Capital going into the draft. They had three first round picks plus a total of seven draft picks in the first 94 picks. One of the first round picks going into the draft was the first overall pick which they had via the Saints from the Ricky Williams trade.
Going into the draft there were only a few clear needs for the Bucs. First was at wide receiver. Even with pass draft capital spent on Reidel Anthnoy, a former first round pick in 1996, and Jacquez Green, an early second round pick in 1998 neither had worked out as hoped. Bert Emanuel who had been the Bucs number one receiver on the depth charts had left via Free Agency and had signed with New England on a two year deal. Last year’s sixth round pick Tai Streets had been second on the depth charts with Reidel being third and Jacquez being fourth when Emanuel had been on the roster. They would have to find more receiving depth.
Also on the offensive was the need to replace aging Dave Moore at tight end. Finally they lost two key members of their offensive line to retirement, Tony Mayberry C, and Paul Gruber the blind side Tackle of the line. As a rookie Todd McClure did a good job in the few games he played in and was in line for the promotion to starting center, but it still left their blind side tackle in need of replacement.
The biggest question going into the draft with the Bucs was if they would trade the first pick in the draft or draft Chris Samuels the best Tackle in the class or take one of a number of top wide receivers in this class. This class had three receivers that could go in the top ten picks. When the draft day came there still wasn’t a clear answer to what the Bucs would do. Finally when Paul Taguliabue made it to the podium and announced the Bucs had traded down it became clear that the Bucs were still building for the future.
Cincinnati traded up out of fear the Bucs would draft their man and they were willing to pay to get him. This got them the first pick in the draft in return for sending the third pick in the draft to Bucs along with their first next year and the 66th pick in the third round this year for the first. Cincinnati drafted Peter Warrick.
When the Bucs came up again for the 31st pick in the draft, they decided to make a trade. They traded the pick to San Francisco in return for Terrell Owens. Owens performance had dropped off in the 99 season after the thousand yard season he had in 98. However the Niners were in rebuilding mode and had questions if Owens would last in a rebuild give his off the field stunts. So getting the last pick in the first was a deal the Niners were willing to take to get another rookie. When the second pick in the second round came up the Bucs made a package deal with the Eagles for the 62nd and 63rd picks to ship them for their first in 2001. It wasn’t till the fourth round that they made a trade again. This time it was with Cleveland. They shipped off the Dolphins Fourth along with their own seventh round pick this year with Jacquez Green in return for the Cleveland third next year.
1/3: Chris Samuels, OT, Alabama
1/12: Bubba Franks, TE, Miami (FL)
2/55: Fred Robbins, DT, Wake Forrest
3/66: Hank Poteat, CB, Pittsburgh
3/78: Damion McIntosh, OT, Kansas State
4/125: Tutan Reyes, G, Mississippi
5/130: Shane Lechler, P, Texas A&M
5/159: Mareno Philyaw, WR, Troy
5/161: Jabari Issa, DT, Washington
6/198: Tim Rattay, QB, Louisiana Tech