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The third day of the draft is in the books, which means we can start grading again. That's always fun. As a quick reminder, here are the day three draft picks:
Player | Round | Pick | Overall |
LB Najee Goode, West Virginia | 5 |
5 |
140 |
CB Keith Tandy, West Virginia | 6 | 4 | 174 |
RB Michael Smith, Utah State | 7 | 5 | 212 |
TE Drake Dunsmore, Northwestern | 7 | 26 | 233 |
My Grade: C
To be honest, it's very hard to evaluate late-round players like this. For most of them, this was the first time I had heard of them. But I've done a little research on each draft pick and tried to watch some footage on each of them, to get at least a little bit of a feel for them. Overall, I'm not overly impressed with the Bucs got. Najee Goode looks like a very limited two-down thumper to me, while Keith Tandy is a physical cornerback who doesn't look good in coverage. I do like both Michael Smith and Drake Dunsmore, though, and I think Smith is very likely to at least make the roster.
Overall, this is just a C for me. It's okay, but the Bucs didn't get anyone who is likely to play a big role on the team. We never know about these late-round players, and the team knows a lot more about these players than I or anyone else does. The fact that they took two players from West Virginia counts against them: it feels like Greg Schiano fell in love with those players because they kept beating him in college (he is 0-11 against West Virginia), and that's not a great way to evaluate talent. Pete Carroll in Seattle has a tendency to do the same thing with players who played well against USC when he was the head coach there.
So, what grade do you give the third round? Let us know in the comments and through the poll.