Buccaneers Release First Official Depth Chart

The Bucs were required to submit an official depth chart to the league by midnight last night, so today is when we get to see the first sign of how the coaches feel camp has gone. Now this is only the first depth chart and things will definitely change throughout training camp, but there are some interesting developments on the first depth chart. The most interesting thing to me on the depth chart was that Chris Simms is listed as the third quarterback and Bruce Gradkowski has fallen to the fourth spot. While Simms is the three starter now it will be hard to justify paying a quarterback that much money to be the third guy on the roster. I hope that Simms stays and gets his turns during camp and the preseason, but I still think he will be cut at the end of the preseason. The full depth chart is as follows:

OFFENSE

QB: Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Chris Simms, Bruce Gradkowski

RB: Carnell Williams, Michael Pittman, Earnest Graham, Kenneth Darby, Lionel Gates

FB: Mike Alstott, BJ Askew, Byron Storer

WR: Joey Galloway, Maurice Stovall, Michael Clayton, David Boston, Ike Hilliard, Mark Jones, Paris Warren, Chas Gesner, Chad Owens

LT: Luke Petigout, Donald Penn, Jabari Levey

LG: Aaron Sears, Anthony Davis, Jonathan Clinkscale

C: John Wade, Matt Lehr, Dan Buenning, Nick Mihlhauser

RG: Davin Joseph, Jeb Terry, Enoka Lucas

RT: Jeremy Trueblood, Chris Denman, Dennis Roland

TE: Alex Smith, Anthony Becht, Jeremy Stevens, Keith Heinrich, CJ Leak

Defense

LE: Greg Spires, Kevin Carter, Julian Jenkins, Jeremy Pittman

DT: Chris Hovan, Ryan Sims, Darrell Campbell

DT: Jovan Haye, Ellis Wyms, Greg Peterson, Tim Jones

RE: Patrick Chukwurah, Gaines Adams, Greg White

SLB: Cato June, Quincy Black, Sam Olajubutu

MLB: Barrett Ruud, Ryan Nece, Antoine Cash

WLB: Derrick Brooks, Jamie Winborn, Adam Hayward

LCB: Brian Kelly, Phillip Buchanon, Marcus Hamilton, Carlos Hendricks

RCB: Ronde Barber, Alan Zemaitis, Sammy Davis, Torrie Cox

SS: Jermaine Phillips, Sabby Piscitelli, Donte Nicholson

FS: Will Allen, Tanard Jackson, Kalvin Pearson

Stovall has overtaken Clayton for the number two wideout on the team, but there is a lot of camp left and we will see if he can keep the job going into the season. While Carter is slotted as the backup LE, he will move around and play almost every position on the line giving the Bucs the much needed depth and experience on the defensive line. The RE spot does not look great at the moment and again begs the question why was Simeon Rice let go. Chukwurah was a great special teams contributor and situational guy for the Broncos, but was not the starter. He has looked OK in camp, but not great. Zemaitis has quietly had a nice camp and has moved up to the fourth CB on the roster after coming off of a rookie season in which he did not see much time and said after the season that he was fighting an injury.

Sears is listed as the starter at LG, but that is mainly because Davis has had to switch back and forth between tackle and guard so much in camp. Right now if the season were to start Davis would most likely be the starter at LT and Sears the starter at LG. If those guys were starting on the line it begs the question, did the Bucs really upgrade the line that was so bad last year? The right side is solid with Joseph and Trueblood being in their second year, but the left side is the same except that we added a rookie starter at LG. Sears has talent, but if the Bucs do not get Petigout on the line and healthy it may be a long year for Garcia.