Ignoring the obvious big news with CBA negotiations still going down, the NFL Draft is the talk of the league these days. The Scouting Combine is behind us, player's Pro Day workouts are starting to take place, and soon we'll hear about who each team is inviting in for private workouts and meetings. Some of these are smokescreens, some are legit meetings, and others are just to do the due diligence should a player be available. Of course, a lot of the work done on a player as far as scouting goes is done outside the public eye. Case and point, Mike Williams last year. We had all heard about him, but no one knew the extent that Mark Dominik and his team went on digging into Williams' past. He went as far as to contact middl and high school coaches to get an idea of what type of person Mike was. I'd say that type of research has panned out so far.
With that being said, all kinds of rumors and smoke screens will start to come out regarding who is scouting whom, and what player a team may or may not be drafting. Don't drive yourself crazy with all these rumors and lip service. Some websites have ties with certain agents and tend to shape their mock drafts based on those connections. Other mock drafts are made for fun and others are seemingly down with their eyes closed, a few beers and a dartboard as their selection process. These experts typically have no more insight than any other person. Sure they study film and watch practice, but they have no real inside scoop from teams or their managers. While these experts would lead you to believe they have all the information, we only need to point to JaMarcus Russell, Jimmy Clausen and Jake Locker as three highly touted players by supposed "experts" that have either taken a dump on themselves, are in the process of doing so, or were just overhyped by these experts.
Hear at BucsNation, you've seen some of the draft information we've put up, and we'll continue to do so with player profiles on some prospects we fill fit the Bucs needs, as well as any rumblings, rumors, information, or tips that are out there. But remember, as the draft approaches and you hear Player X being considered by the Bucs (or any team), just remember that misinformation is as key as real information. Making teams trade up to take players or making them wait too long to take a player is part of the game. The Bucs have seemingly done well the last two years, lets hope that this third year continues on with the same success, even if the experts call it a failure.