As we steamroll toward the 2012 NFL draft, we take a brief look back into the annals of Buccaneer history to provide you the best and worst of the previous Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafts. These opinions are of the article's author and not intended to represent the consensus of all the staff of Buc Nation.
Throughout the history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there have been just some terrible misses in the NFL draft. Many of these occurred between 1980-94 when the franchise was mired in one of the worst runs in sports history. A lot of them occurred in the 2nd or 3rd round - which is as far back in the draft as we wanted to go to consider a bust (after all, if a 5th round pick doesn't amount to much, it's not really a bust - just a waste).
Of all of these bad apples, these are the ten I feel have been the worst picks in Franchise history.
List: 10 Worst Draft picks in Buccaneers History
Previously Listed:
10. Kenyatta Walker, 1st round, pick 14, 2001
9. Dexter Jackson, WR, 2nd round, pick 27, 2008
8. Dan Sileo, DT, 3rd Round, Supplemental, 1987
7. Charles McRae, T, 1st round, pick 7, 1991
6. Rod Jones, CB, 1st Round, pick 25, 1986
5. Gaines Adams, 1st round, pick 4, 2007
4. Bo Jackson, RB, 1st Round, 1st Overall, 1986
Player: Eric Curry
Position: DE
Ranking: 3rd
Draft: 1st Round, pick 6, 1993
As the sixth overall pick of the 1993 draft, Eric Curry was the speed rusher that was supposed to solve the Bucs pass rushing woes. Undersized, he would have to bulk up for the riggers of the NFL game. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, as Curry's body changed, so did his effectiveness.
Curry played five seasons in Tampa Bay and managed 12.5 sacks - not in a season - but for his career.
His final season in Tampa Bay was in 1997, playing for the team that final ended the Bucs losing run.
He struggled to make that team, often playing behind Chidi Ahanotu and Tyoka Jackson. The Bucs tried to save face with Curry by moving him to the left side.
''He played under different defensive coordinators and in different schemes, and he just hasn't been very productive,'' Bucs GM Rich McKay had said. ''I think moving him to the left side has been a big benefit to him because of the way he plays.
''On the right side, it's made more for a speed rusher. Plus every game you're going against the best left tackles in the game. It's guys like (Jacksonville's) Tony Boselli and (Tampa Bay's) Paul Gruber every week.''
Monte Kiffin didn't agree.
''I think Eric Curry is playing OK,'' Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said during that camp. ''But I think Tyoka is playing better. A lot of times a guy can lose his starting spot, but it's not so much him as it is the other guy.''
Unfortunately for Curry, that move didn't help either as he road the pine most of that magical season and ended up in Green Bay as a free agent the next off-season, where he would be cut. He signed as a backup for the Jacksonville Jaguars, playing there two seasons before being released for the final time.