After a lot of smokescreens and will they or won't they, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers passed on Johnny Manziel with the No. 7 pick came up. It was heavily speculated that head coach Lovie Smith wanted nothing more than to get the former Texas A&M star down to Florida to begin developing him for the future. Instead the team took Mike Evans and now Smith is calling Mike Glennon the future in Tampa.
Over the past few weeks, Glennon has been the subject of numerous trade rumors. The Buccaneers hired Smith and his first move was signing Josh McCown in free agency. Smith then referred to McCown as the future starter in Tampa Bay despite having current starter, Glennon, still on the roster. As reports began to surface that the Buccaneers were serious candidates to draft Manziel, Glennon's future appeared to be on ice. However, the Buccaneers went with the guarantee in Evans, hoping Glennon is the next star.
"It's what's best for us," Smith said, via Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com. "Just talking about our quarterback position, our quarterback position is as strong as any quarterback position I've had when I've been a head coach. You know how much I like Josh McCown as our starter. I love Mike Glennon. Mike Glennon is our quarterback of the future here. So why would you want to add a third quarterback to the mix? We needed other positions. Forget just the quarterback position, we thought this was the best available player for us. It was an easy decision for us."
Smith is right to call Glennon the future. Last year when he stepped up in place of Josh Freeman he put up 2,608 yards and 19 touchdowns with just nine interceptions. He was viewed as one of the best arms in his draft class and could develop into a top quarterback for the Buccaneers over the next few seasons. Having a wide receiver like Evans to throw to certainly helps.
The Buccaneers could still take a quarterback. The team spent a lot of time with both Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo during the pre-draft visits. Behind McCown and Glennon is not much talent for the Buccaneers so they could easily opt to bring in one more rookie. There is still a chance that Smith changes his mind with Glennon so having one more option is not a bad choice.
Glennon views himself as the future starter in Tampa Bay. When offseason workouts began, the second-year pro said he fully plans on competing for the starting job, noting that Smith says the best man will get the Week 1 start.