The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been an absolute mess this season and at 0-3, head coach Greg Schiano has decided to make some changes, starting rookie quarterback Mike Glennon over starter Josh Freeman on Sunday in Week 4 against the Cardinals.
According to ESPN.com, Schiano decided to make the move after another embarrassing loss on Sunday, as the Bucs fell 23-3 to the New England Patriots to fall to 0-3, behind the 3-0 Saints in the NFC South. The Buccaneers showed some flashes of brilliance last season while missing the playoffs, but this year has been a disaster and now Schiano is doing his best to try and save it.
The trade for Darrelle Revis has been a good one, but he can't score points or throw the ball, making the move at quarterback the next natural thing. Schiano previously said that Freeman would be the starter going forward after some bad games in the first couple weeks, but the report from ESPN says that now has changed. On top of all that, Pro Football Talk says that the team is willing to try and trade Freeman, although the ESPN report refutes that, with Ed Werder writing that the team will keep him to use as the second string player behind Glennon.
When the Bucs took Glennon in the draft, many felt that he could have the chance to start since Schiano did not draft Freeman and was reportedly not pleased with how he played last season, but that obviously didn't happen, at least not early. Now with the panic setting in for an 0-3 team, Schiano decided to make his move and put Glennon in as the starter. The team could try to del Freeman, but they likely would want some draft picks or a backup quarterback in return and on top of that, there just aren't many teams that need one.
Either way, Freeman could be gone next season if the team wants him to be, as he is a free agent, but now the future for the Kansas State star could be up in the air after Glennon takes over. Freeman has not passed for over 236 yards in any game and overall he has just a 45 percent completion rate, which is terrible for an NFL quarterback.
During his first three games this season, Freeman has not completed more than 50 percent of his passes and in the opening game against the Jets he only completed 15 of 31 passes. Freeman has thrown an interception in every game this season and has just two touchdowns and against the Saints he only had nine completions on 22 passes. Tampa is ranked 31st out of 32 teams in passing yards per game and with the Cardinals coming to town on Sunday before the team has a bye, Schiano felt he had to make his move to try and salvage something from this season.
Glennon now will be the first rookie of the group taken later in the draft to start and the third this season after Geno Smith and EJ Manuel have been starting and he will get into action before Tyler Wilson, Ryan Nassib and Matt Barkley. Freeman has shown he has a cannon for an arm, but he was drafted in the same draft as Mark Sanchez and now he could end up being a bust just like Sanchez was. Glennon will be on the field Sunday for the Bucks.
Tough thing about a trade? No one needs it. The Jaguars could, but probably won't and the Browns already made a deal to get rid of Trent Richardson.