Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Booger traded to Colts for a 2nd round pick

The Bucs traded defensive tackle Anthony "Booger" McFarland to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2007 2nd round draft pick.
Granted, Booger never became the dominant defensive force that the Bucs envisioned when Tony Dungy & Rich McKay made him the 15th pick in the 1999 draft. He struggled against the run, was frequently injured, and could never fill the enormous shoes of the pass-rusher the Bucs needed to replace Warren Sapp; McFarland had only 20 career sacks, Sapp had 16 1/2 in one season. But to just give him away for basically nothing speaks volumes about the Bucs organization. I remember when the Bucs got him, watching him play that first year and thinking "how can a guy that big be that freakin' fast?" I mean he would blow by guys like they were, well, 300+LB offensive linemen, and he made Sapp look like Father Time in comparison.
Chucky & Bucco Brucie Allen didn't draft him, but they had to know before this season started that he wasn't working out, fitting in with their scheme, or, most importantly, not a GRUDEN PLAYER. On this team if you're not a GRUDEN PLAYER (see:Gradkowski, Bruce or Pittman, Michael or newly signed Buchanan, Phillip as examples) you're little more than a useless spare part (see:Alstott, Mike or Johnson, Brad, or Clayton, Michael.) So the question is why didn't they try to trade him in the offseason when he might have had some value, before he decided to disappear entirely this season (13 tackles in 5 games) making him virtually worthless? How much you wanna bet that he is rejuvenated with Dungy in Indy? C'mon, a hundy?

Unfortunately for Booger & the Bucs there weren't enough plays like this

On the same day Chucky & Bucco signed newly-released CB Phillip Buchanon (speaking of first round busts.) Buchanon was drafted by 17th by Bucco in 2002 when the two were with the Raiders (hmm, the Bucs picking up a former Raider? what a novel little idea. Why didn't they ever think of this before?) and was traded to the Texans before this season for a 2nd & 3rd round pick.Although he has 11 career INTs and 7 defensive TDs, to know that Houston let him go after giving up 2 picks for him says a lot about the player and the Bucs. How much you wanna bet he joins the list of Ex-Raider/Buc Busts like Doug Jolley, Rickey Dudley, Charlie Garner, and Tinman Brown? C'mon, a hundy & 1/2?

So on the same day they gave up on a disappointment on the D-line they picked up another disappointing defensive player who had high hopes on draft day that amounted to little more than unfulfilled potential. Makes sense, right? Oh yeah, one guy is a GRUDEN PLAYER.

Just another day at One Chuck(y) Place.

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