Tampa Bay Buccaneers Setting Mike Glennon Up to Start Over Josh Freeman
By Josh Hill
The Tampa Bay drafted Mike Glennon in the third round of the NFL Draft this year, and while at the time they tried to quiet rumors that he would come in and compete for the starting job, that tune has changed very quickly and the Buccaneers are expected to give Glennon virtually all the snaps in the preseason and general manager Mark Dominik said that Josh Freeman may not see snaps at all.
“We’re going to put a lot of pressure on [Glennon] and see a lot of reps from him in the preseason. He’s got to play,” Dominik said, via JoeBucsFan. “We may not see as much of Dan Orlovsky or even of Josh Freeman somewhat in the preseason as much as you’re going to see Glennon.”
There are quarterback controversies and then there is the coup d’état going on in Tampa Bay at the moment. It’s no secret that head coach Greg Schiano isn’t sold on the idea of Josh Freeman leading his team, and the antics at Buccaneers camp right now show that Schiano isn’t going to try and hide his desire to overthrow Freeman as the starter.
Glennon isn’t impressing everyone who watched him play at North Carolina State, but people like Dominik and Schiano are paying more attention to what they saw out of him so far in his short Buccaneers career.
“We’re excited about just the little bit we saw from him [during rookie minicamp] in terms of mentally what he could handle” Dominik gushed about Glennon. “We kept piling more on him and he kept doing a great job digesting it, regurgitating it and running the team.”
Nothing guarantees that Glennon will be a success in the NFL, as the obligatory reference to Russell Wilson is being drawn by everyone who has an opinion. But there is no doubt that the Buccaneers are making a serious push to get Glennon into starting shape and it’s yet to be seen if that is meant to motivate Josh Freeman in his contract season or overthrow him and get the change started early.