Chad Lucas: Playmaker

Bruce Allen was defending the Buccaneers' current corps of wide receivers yesterday, probably after he had been asked a hundred times why oh why haven't they added a wide receiver yet?

"We do have players on our team that we are confident can fit those roles," Allen said. "First of all, there are very few wide receivers that would stack up to what Joey Galloway has done the last few years.

"And we liked what Ike Hilliard did. We like Michael Clayton, and we think Maurice Stovall is going to be fine when he regains his health. And we do have some young guys that have the speed we feel will help us."

Allen was talking in particular about Chad Lucas, who saw little action last season. Allen suggested that a better understanding of the offense could allow Lucas to become the playmaker the Bucs have failed to sign in free agency.

Well, that would be pretty sweet if that was the case. Lucas caught that 51-yard pass from Luke McCown in the last game of the season where all those backups played, so there's that. Depending on who you believe, Lucas has between 4.34 and 4.45 speed, which is somewhere between "not bad" and "great". But it wasn't enough to keep every team in the league from passing on him seven times. And it didn't keep Allen himself from waiving him last October in favor of Chas Gessner. Hey, you never know. Rod Smith from Denver was an undrafted free agent wide receiver and that turned out pretty good. I would just hate to think that Allen is letting proven free agent receivers sign with other teams because he is sinking all his hopes for improving the passing game into Chad Lucas's theoretical potential. I'm hoping Lucas is Plan B and Plan A just hasn't had time to hatch yet.