Commentary | Bucs hoping baseball distracts fans from team's recent gaffes
TAMPA
While the nation gets ready for the start of another baseball season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are busy doing some house cleaning.
Call it embarrassment unloading.
Maybe they hope no one is looking.
But the Bucs should know you can run, but you can't hide.
So it doesn't matter if you are a guy named Lovie or a Napoleon Greg Schiano Bonaparte. There is only so much egg you can wipe off your face.
The Bucs sent Dashon Goldson packing last week, getting rid of a player who is one of many mistakes Mark Dominik made before he was fired as Bucs general manager.
Just like in the case of cornerback Eric Wright, Dominik's evaluation of Goldson was overblown and he threw too much money at the former San Francisco 49ers safety, signing him to a six-year, $41.24 million contract.
Goldson was the benefactor of playing with three All-Pro linebackers in San Francisco. They made him look a lot better than he was. Most people saw it, but unfortunately the Bucs didn't.
Just like they couldn't see Wright's character issues and mediocre skills as a cornerback.
Those were two Domink mistakes to go along with the other of his first-round draft gaffes, though some of the blame has to be on Schiano, who took his tough-guy image to another level by using it to overlook quality talent.
Dominik and Schiano selected safety Mark Barron with the seventh overall pick in 2012 despite cries about his coverage skills and how the safety position these days does not warrant that high a pick. In the first round, they also drafted running back Doug Martin, whose value has plummeted. In 20ll, their first selection was defensive end Adrian Clayborn, who is now with Atlanta.
Whoever is sitting in that top seat at One Buc Place during free agency and the draft has gagged on mistakes.
They are constant reminders of why this franchise hasn't been to the playoffs since 2007 and has had only one winning season in the past six years.
None of these early mistakes belong to the Lovie Smith-Jason Licht regime, but in their one-season rein of power, they made their fair share of blunders.
When he arrived prior to the 2014 season, Smith's plan was to turn Luke McCown from a career backup to a savior at quarterback in a move that crumbled quickly behind the Bucs' porous offensive line.
Talk about embarrassments.
They brought in offensive tackle Anthony Collins and defensive end Michael Johnson for top dollar and recently let them go. The Bucs paid out $83 million for that trio and let them go for the price of a taxi ride from Raymond James Stadium to the Tampa airport.
Even another Lovie high-priced free agent, cornerback Alterraun Verner, had a sub-par year.
Lovie was out of football during the 2013 season, sitting in his basement in Chicago evaluating talent, so maybe he could be excused. He said he didn't know the Bucs roster very well and how its players fit into his Tampa 2 defense. Gerald McCoy is the Bucs' only successful first-round pick in the last five years, and he has no problem playing the Tampa 2.
It makes you wonder how the vetting process is going for FSU quarterback Jameis Winston, whom the Bucs plan to select with the first pick in the April 30 NFL Draft.
It has recently come out that the Bucs haven't uncovered all possible sources in vetting Winston.
The attorney for women who has accused Winston of raping her has said no one from the Bucs or the NFL has contacted him to get her side of the story.
Of course, that shouldn't be surprising for the Bucs, but you wonder if the NFL will get involved after Winston is drafted. You would hope the Bucs talk to more than the FSU coaching staff and Winston's friends.
FSU head football coach Jimbo Fisher has said nothing but good things about Winston. The problem is that Fisher said the same things about JaMarcus Russell when Fisher was the offensive coordinator at LSU and Russell was his quarterback.
The first overall pick in the 2007 draft, Russell is arguably the biggest bust in NFL history, and pro scouts haven't forgotten Fisher's words.
After Russell bombed out of the league, Fisher told ESPN Radio: "I never knew that guy (talking about his laziness). Everything I asked him to do he did. He was smart. He carried three- and four-play packages at the line of scrimmage."
In his senior year, Russell threw for 3,129 yards with 28 TDs and eight interceptions, completing 68 percent of his passes.
He looked like a sure thing, but he wasn't.
Alan Dell, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter @ADellSports.
This story was originally published April 4, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Commentary | Bucs hoping baseball distracts fans from team's recent gaffes."