/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/44372830/usa-today-7757907.0.jpg)
My #GMCPlaybook question for @SBNation: Does your GM have vision? Grade your front office’s performance this season. http://t.co/kfiJU12YwC
— Marshall Faulk (@marshallfaulk) December 18, 2014
Give the Bucs' front office a grade? That's easy: F.
When you're 2-11 after re-building half the roster, you suck. You did not do a good job. In fact, you did a terrible job. Anthony Collins is a bust. Michael Johnson certainly looks like a bust. Alterraun Verner has been okay but far from the impact player the team expected. Logan Mankins has been a bust given his salary and the pick and player given up for him. Evan Dietrich-Smith has been disappointing, if not an outright terrible acquisition.
That doesn't mean the Bucs haven't made some successful moves. Finding Jacquies Smith was outstanding. Danny Lansanah has been a revelation. Orie Lemon has played well, as have a few other under-the-radar pickups. And Clinton McDonald has been a terrific addition to the interior defensive line -- when he's been healthy anyway.
And then there's Mike Evans, who's played better football than any of us had any right to expect. Historically, rookie receivers struggle. Especially the ones coming out of simplistic offenses where they're asked to only run a few routes. But Evans has been outstanding this season, even with Josh McCown and Mike Glennon throwing him the ball. For that pick, the front office gets an A.
But the rest of the draft has been disappointing. Austin Seferian-Jenkins has been hampered by injuries throughout, as has Charles Sims, so that's more bad luck than anything else. But Kadeem Edwards and Kevin Pamphile haven't been able to get on the field much, despite playing behind some of the worst offensive linemen I've seen in Tampa, ever. And that's saying something!
This doesn't mean all hope is lost, though. Thanks to the Bucs' quality structuring of their contracts, they can get rid of basically every mistake this offseason with minimal financial penalties. While Seferian-Jenkins and Sims have been limited in their impact, they certainly flashed talent and there's a good chance they'll develop into impact players. And Edwards and Pamphile were raw coming into the league -- their taking a while to get into the lineup doesn't mean they'll be stuck as backups forever.
Join the #GMCPlaybook discussion at sbnation.com/sponsored-gmc-playbook and on Twitter by following @thisisgmc & @marshallfaulk.