Arrelious Benn's Buccaneer Future

This may be sacrilegious here but I think Benn is probably going to turn out to be the best of the Bucs current group of receivers. I watched him coming out of Illinois and aside from some injuries have seen the same steady progress as he slowly improves his route running. This upcoming season though will be a make or break one for Benn he needs to show more consistency in his route running and really push to explode more out of breaks…he has the body control he just needs to dedicate himself to using it. Coming out of Illinois I felt Benn was a solid #2 WR, I still believe thats the case. Now though its up to him. WR’s generally hit their stride their third year in the NFL (aside from the physical freaks who can just out talent everyone ) …this will be Benn’s third and last best chance to be a starter.

Mike Williams currently concerns me, well truthfully he always has…the talent is awesome and I still applaud Dom for picking him up in round 4. What he lacks is character, not of a criminal variety, I’m not saying that at all, his past shows that when things get too difficult..he quits, not just on teams but on routes and games, he looses focus when challenged. How will he react to his diminished results, does he work harder this off-season or does he pout? Thats my concern….having been in the military and mentored young men and women for a long time I can say that some people do almost “spontaneously” start to develop character and work harder, somewhere between 23-27 some(but not all) suddenly go “hey I’m not a kid anymore” the light goes on and they start developing some internal character by looking for ways to challenge themselves. If he does this he’s a #1 WR and a pro bowl contender, if not he’ll wash out of the league.

Dezmon Briscoe, great FA pickup by DOM in terms of an undrafted rookie. He has some height and the ability to use his size in matchups. I don’t think he’s starter material or even a good slot #3, but should be retained as a red zone weapon/fill in starter type player. He can contribute as a #4 and won’t kill you if he needs to be a starter eventually.

Plenty of Free Agent WR’s abound this off-season, however the two who fit the “go deep” requirement the best are Desean Jackson and Stevie Johnson. However both have huge maturity issues, Jackson to be blunt is a THUG character and maturity concerns, Stevie Johnson is a GOOFBALL less dangerous of the two in terms of your locker room. I might sign Johnson if he’s willing to pay a 500,000 fine for each post TD unsportsmanlike conduct he scores. Dwayne Bowe is a physical true #1 option, but you have to say he has major off the field issues, not Talib territory but pretty close. Laurent Robinson looks like a #2 option to me as does Reggie Wayne at this point in his career. Robert Meechum could be a good diamond in the rough after having been behind so many other quality targets in New Orleans.

Vincent Jackson is probably the “best fit” since I consider him a true #1 WR though is not a true “burner” but has far less baggage than any of the other top line WR free agents.

This all assumes Tampa Bay does not fall in love with Justin Blackmon and take him if available (true #1 – only sure fire one in this draft) and plays through pain.

Michael Floyd is a burner and likely a late first/early second round selection, his work ethic and route running are terrible though so your looking pretty deep to see if you can make contact with him on a maturity level.

Alshon Jeffery and Mohammad Sanu are interesting options in the mid-late first round/early second round territory as well, I wouldn’t be calling them sure fire #1 options, but they could both develop into that with time…that said both are big physical targets not speed-merchants.

Later Round deep options to consider are Jarius Wright of Arkansas, T.Y. Hilton of Florida International, Marvin Jones of Cal, Marvin McNutt of Iowa, and Tommy Streeter of Miami.

The question is ‘will he?’. Benn needs to ‘get it done’ this year too. Hopefully Sullivan can jump-start all of our receivers.