Lovie Smith proclaimed Josh McCown the starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Mike Glennon the quarterback of the future. And Smith backed up his statement over the weekend.
The Bucs received and declined trade requests for Glennon from at least half a dozen teams during the NFL draft, according to the Tampa Bay Times, which reported the teams interested regarded Glennon as a better quarterback than most of the prospects in this year’s draft class.
“There’s a lot of interest and we want to keep Mike,” Bucs general manager Jason Licht told the Tampa Bay Times. “(They were) just feeling it out. I know that Mike has a very good reputation throughout the league as far as his developmental future.”
Glennon was drafted in the third round of last year’s draft under former head coach Greg Schiano. He supplanted Josh Freeman as the Bucs’ starter as a rookie, starting 13 games and going 4-9 with 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
But Glennon’s rookie campaign did not stop Smith from hand-selecting a new quarterback in free agency. The Buccaneers signed Josh McCown, who is coming off a career year with the Chicago Bears, to a two-year, $10 million contract. Soon after, Smith named his the starter.
Tampa had its chances to draft a quarterback. Johnny Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater were both available for picking with the seventh overall selection, but instead the team nabbed Texas A&M wide receiver Mike Evans to team up with Vincent Jackson.
Of the Bucs’ six total draft picks, none were a quarterback, which backs up Smith’s sentiment that the team views Glennon as the starter of the future.
Two teams that may have been interested in Glennon are the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers.
The Cardinals had a “decent grade” on Glennon in last year’s draft, according to AZ Central, and considered drafting him. The team may have been willing to give up a fourth or fifth-round pick in order to acquire Glennon.
Instead, the team wound up selecting Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas in the fourth round.
