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When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted Mike Glennon in the 2013 NFL draft, people were confused. Josh Freeman was still the Bucs quarterback, and he was coming off a career year in some respects -- though there were plenty of "yeah buts" to go with his 4,065 passing yards, like the 54.8% completion rate, 17 interceptions and 10 fumbles. At the time, I expected him to be an insurance policy. Glennon ended up taking over for Freeman after three miserable games, and Freeman and the Bucs experienced a bitter and ugly divorce over the subsequent few weeks. But we still didn't quite know why the Bucs drafted Mike Glennon until now.
Former general manager Mark Dominik took to Twitter to explain, after he also told the world that it wasn't his fault the Bucs let Michael Bennett walk.
@kenboehlke @JennaLaineBucs we were worried about Freeman and Glennon was my highest rated QB in that draft class.
— Mark Dominik (@MarkdominikESPN) January 10, 2016
That concern for Freeman was certainly justified, as the quarterback has started just five games since the Bucs drafted Glennon and was out of football for all of 2014, and the first 16 weeks of the 2015 season. What drove Freeman's collapse still isn't clear, but I know he had privately expressed doubts about his desire to be an NFL quarterback as far back as 2011.
Regardless, though, Glennon's developed into a relatively high-quality backup and could be a low-tier starter for someone down the road. It's likely the Bucs try to get some value for him, given that they've kept third-string quarterback Ryan Griffin on the roster for all seventeen games just to have him stick around and develop as Jameis Winston's backup.
Incidentally, the Bucs appear to have been correct about Glennon being the best quarterback in that class. It was not a good group of players, with Geno Smith being the best player not named Glennon and E.J. Manuel coming in third.