Bucs take DT, WR, CB on second day of NFL Draft

Bucs general manager Mark Dominik stood behind a lectern at One Buc Place late Friday and pointed out a stark reality about his fledgling football team.

"We have not had a very good pass rush here," said Dominik, who took a rather bold step toward fixing that problem during the second round of the NFL draft.

Less than 24 hours after spending the third pick in the draft on defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, Dominik spent the 35th on fellow defensive tackle Brian Price.

"Some people have been known as quarterback collectors," Dominik said. "I guess I'm a defensive tackle collector."

Dominik didn't just collect defensive tackles Friday. After moving up two spots to 39th overall he also added a receiver - Arrelious Benn of Illinois - to replace Antonio Bryant as the Bucs' starting split end.

And in the third round he collected a cornerback - Myron Lewis of Vanderbilt - who is expected to get regular playing time as the right cornerback on the passing downs when Ronde Barber moves to the slot.

The prized piece in Dominik's new collection of talent, though, is clearly Price, a UCLA product who some analysts rated as the third-best defensive tackle in the draft after McCoy and Ndamukong Suh.

"We thought he'd be one of those late first-round guys, so when you're able to get him with a second-round pick, it's awesome," Bucs coach Raheem Morris said. "We're very excited to get another disruptive pass rusher."

They certainly needed one. The Bucs tied for 26th in the league with 28 sacks last year, and the absence of a truly disruptive force in the middle of the line, Dominik said, was one reason for that.

The Bucs took a seemingly significant step toward solving that problem when they drafted McCoy, and they believe they further improve their ability to create pressure up the middle by adding Price.

Along with Roy Miller - a third-round pick (81st overall) a year ago out of Texas - the Bucs have three young defensive tackles capable of creating havoc in an opposing backfield, and they plan to use all three of them.

"We do live in Tampa," Morris said. "We play in the heat, and so we have to keep those guys fresh. If we do that, these three young men together should create a lot of disruption, a lot of problems in protection."

Price doesn't seem to mind the plan. He said he played all across the line while at UCLA and he will gladly do the same if it means bringing a championship trophy back to Tampa.

"I was a little surprised (that they took me after drafting McCoy)," Price said, "but the coaches there told me after my visit a couple weeks ago that they'd see me again real soon."

Dominik said the idea of drafting both McCoy and Price and teaming them with Miller in a three-man rotation was something he envisioned while preparing for the draft.

"We want to get back to what we did in the past," he said. "We've had a lot of success here over the years rotating our defensive lineman and (beating) the heat that way."

The Bucs haven't had much success drafting receivers over the years, but they took another stab at it by trading up to get Benn, who was also given a first-round grade.

"There was apprehension there, sure," Dominik said of the trade, in which Tampa Bay gave the 42nd overall pick and a fifth-round pick to Oakland to move up two spots.

"But I don't think it's any secret that Tampa Bay is looking for wide receivers, and I think it was worthwhile for us to secure the guy with a fifth-round pick."

The Bucs didn't have to move up to get Lewis, a 6-foot-2, 203-pound defensive back who can also play safety. The Bucs' plan, though, is to work him at cornerback, where he could eventually replace Barber as the starter.

"He's a big, tall, athletic corner," Dominik said, "and that's part of what we want to do here. We want to build a bigger, more physical football team, and I think we took some strides in that direction tonight."