Fight the Fade: Bruce Gradkowski

by Sanchez, Shot to Nothing...

Can Bruce Gradkowski really be done already?

So yeah, if you count Jake Plummer (and do you? Really??) then the Bucs have five QB's on their roster and Jeff Garcia aside (perhaps), we're talking quantity here, not quality. Rumors have been circulating that, of the QBs Tampa have, they may be ready to drop Gradkowski, but am I the only one who thinks that may be a tad pre-mature?

It can't have been easy for Bruce last season, thrown into the deep-end on the fifth week of his rookie year with a screaming Chucky on one side and a highly complex offense on the other. And yet Gradkowski had the best debut of all of the 2006 QB draft class; Young, Cutler, Leinart, none of them could match his 20 completions out of 31 attempts for 225 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Admitedly it was largely down hill from there, but if it's potential your looking for (and if your not, then what exactly are you looking for in a sixth round pick?) then Gradkowski's got it in spades. Apart from that debut, he is also the only quarterback in NCAA history to complete 70 percent of his passes in back-to-back seasons. And accuracy is still important ain't it?

But if the Buc's do let him go what sort of team would be looking for a young guy like him? Well, Detroit would be a good fit IMO, what with their current choices being John Kitna, the 51.8 rated third year Dan Orlovksky or the one game in five years journeyman J.T. O'Sullivan. Other then that I'm not sure, but I like the kid and I hope he's still got a future in the NFL.

Sources: Gradkowski stats, Gradkowski Wiki