Bucs felt Bowers definitely work the risk

by TigerNet Staff - Sat Apr 30 11:26:02 GMT-04:00 2011

“He’s a player that has obviously been extremely productive,” said General Manager Mark Dominik. “He’s a guy that’s going to line up and play our left end position. We feel like he’s got a lot of production in him. Obviously, we did a lot of research. I think every club in the National Football League has put a lot of time into this selection, into this type of pick. For me, the value for this pick was too strong. I feel like we’re at a spot on the defensive line, as an organization and how we’re building this thing, that it was worth this selection.

“I think you’ll see that here’s a young man that’s going to work his tail off to be the best he can be, no matter if he was drafted number one overall or 51 overall. He was going to provide the same effort into becoming the greatest football player he can be.”

After grabbing Clayborn in the first round, Dominik decided before going to bed on Thursday night that if Bowers was still available at pick #51 the Buccaneers would make the pick. Head Coach Raheem Morris calls it a ‘risk-reward’ selection.

“We felt good taking him,” said Morris. “He’s a left end, which is a great fit right now, especially with what we did yesterday. He’ll come in here and provide that power and that strength from the left side, and also that pass rush. He’ll give you that upstanding quality that a Kevin Carter gave people in St. Louis, that Michael Strahan gave the Giants for years, that Randy White was able to do when he was out there for a little bit – that big, physical presence. It’s obviously risk-reward, and we were willing to take that risk.”

Dominik said the Buccaneers do not expect Bowers to need any additional surgery on his right knee. The team will now move forward with the process of helping the rookie return from his previous surgery, which addressed a torn meniscus, and it definitely expects Bowers to play in 2011.

“We’re going to do everything we can to get him on the field when it’s appropriate to get him on the football field. Obviously, our intentions are to provide the package for him in terms of medical to get him back on the football field. But I’m not going to rush putting him back on the football field, either. We want to get him as healthy as we can and then we want to play him as long as we can. That’s our mindset. There’s nothing degenerative in his knee as we sit here today. Obviously his knee has taken some pounding, which is part of the problem, but at the same point rest and rehab are the best things he can do right now so we’re going to continue to monitor that until we get to training camp.”