When Josh Freeman was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft, Bucs fans were hopeful that the franchise had found the quarterback of the future. But questions lingered about whether Freeman could harness his undeniably impressive physical tools and learn the myriad nuances required of NFL quarterbacks. Two short years later, Freeman has more to put to rest any doubts about whether he's the right guy to lead the charge in Tampa Bay.
No need to rehash Freeman's solid sophomore season in 2010. That's old news. What's important is that the former Kansas State Wildcats QB isn't feeling content or proud of himself for taking such a big step forward in his second professional season. Instead, Freeman has been diligently working behind the scenes to make sure that the young Tampa Bay squad is doing whatever they can to stay sharp and get prepared for the 2011 NFL season while the lockout drags on. Freeman has apparently been organizing players-only workouts for almost two months now, it's just not been nearly as publicized as, say, the fine efforts of Drew Brees down in New Orleans.
"It's hard to get everybody free and their schedules lined up," Freeman said. "But, at the same time, we want to provide options for guys to get down here and work out. Everybody knows we're a young team and we had a lot of momentum coming off last season. We want to build on that and keep that going."
The details of the workouts aren't as important as just getting together as a group. Freeman understands that and has been encouraged by the solid and steady participation rates, despite admitting that the Bucs' workouts may not be quite as formalized and extensive in their scope as those of other teams.
"We're trying to stay together as a team and keep working on things. We watch some film and talk over plays and stuff like that -- just do the stuff a football team should be doing," Freeman said.
As the title of this post states -- great news for Buccaneers fans.