Mel Kiper Thinks Tampa Bay Should Look for a Quarterback

The signing of Luke McCown earlier this week likely signaled the end of the Jeff Garcia era in Tampa Bay, leaving the team's quarterback situation in the hands of McCown, Brian Griese and Josh Johnson. Not exactly an ideal situation for rookie head coach Raheem Morris.

McCown and Johnson are relatively unknown, while Griese isn't likely to lead his team to the promised land. How should the Bucs address this in the offseason? If you ask Mel Kiper, by taking a quarterback in the first round of the draft.

"The biggest thing Tampa Bay has to do is figure out who is going to be their quarterback," Kiper said. "This may be the time to get somebody in the first round and commit to that guy, look forward. And if Josh Freeman turns out to be that guy worthy to be the 19th pick, it would be somebody you'd have to consider."

What Kiper didn't mention is the possibility of Tampa Bay trading for New England Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, seeing as how he favors Cassel over every quarterback in the draft.

The problem for the Buccaneers is this: by the time their pick comes up at No. 19, the two "elite" quarterbacks in this year's class, Georgia's Matthew Stafford and USC's Mark Sanchez, are likely to be long gone, leaving the Buccaneers to select between Kansas State's Josh Freeman and Ball State's Nate Davis.

In related news, St. Louis Rams beat writer Jim Thomas dropped a bomb in a live chat on Wednesday afternoon when he claimed that Freeman reminds some people (he doesn't specify who these people are) of Akili Smith. Why the Smith comparison? Mainly because Freeman is "someone who has all the physical tools, but makes bad decisions and doesn't win."

Outside of Ryan Leaf, there might not be a worse comparison for an incoming rookie quarterback. That's not to say there are any real similarities between Freeman and Smith. Of course, on Thursday, we go to the opposite end of the spectrum as Rich Cimini of the Daily News mentions that some scouts see Freeman as a comparison to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.

Couple of options for Tampa Bay at this point:

1) Stay at No. 19 and take a chance on Freeman or Davis, hoping you don't get burned by reaching for a quarterback that may not be the best pick at this point in the draft.

2) If Sanchez begins an Aaron Rodgers-like slide on draft day, attempt to put together a package of picks and try to move up ahead of the Jets at No. 17 to take him.

3) Stay at No. 19, help address the defense that collapsed in the second half of the season, and give McCown an opportunity to take the job. At 27, he's still young enough to be a long-term solution, and if Tampa Bay is willing to give him a contract that could pay him as much as $14 million over the next two seasons, it obviously sees something in him.

My opinion? Option No. 3 seems like the way to go this year, with some consideration to scenario No. 2 if it plays out that way.