BUCS BEAT

Odds Seem Stacked Against Clayton

By ROY CUMMINGS

Published: Aug 12, 2007

TAMPA - As the muggy evening dragged on and the one-time cornerstone of a new and improved Bucs offense remained affixed to the sideline Friday night, it was hard not to feel a little sorry WR Michael Clayton.

Clayton has become to the Buccaneers what OF Rocco Baldelli is to the Devils Rays. Or maybe it's the other way around. It doesn't matter, really. The bottom line is, neither one can stay healthy.

In Clayton's case, the misery started with a sore shoulder. Then it was a knee, then a toe, then another knee. Now it's his hamstring. He tweaked it a few days before Friday's preseason opener.

The good news is the hamstring will get better. But Clayton's chances of retaining his starting flanker's job won't. Not if he suffers through a few more nights like Friday.

While Clayton watched the Bucs defeat the Patriots from the sideline, Paris Warren caught a game-high four passes for 46 yards and a touchdown. In doing so, he only added to Clayton's misery.

Clayton came to training camp this year knowing he would have to outplay Maurice Stovall, David Boston and maybe even Ike Hilliard to keep his job. Now he have may have to outplay Warren as well.

The odds, it seems, are stacked against Clayton. Stovall is clearly on the rise. After a two-year battle with injuries of his own and suspensions, Boston may be on the rise again, too. Same goes for Warren.

The second of four players selected by the Bucs in the seventh round of the 2005 draft, he is coming along at just about the pace you would expect for a player of his ilk.

Good enough to hang around the last two years, Warren may now be good enough to at least give receivers such as Stovall, Boston and Joey Galloway a breather, which doesn't bode well for Clayton.

There will come a time when either the injuries, the talent around him or the lack of top-level production make Clayton expendable. We probably haven't reached that point yet, but it may be approaching.

What seems bad for Clayton, however, is no doubt good for the Bucs. With the talent level and competition seemingly increasing, the Bucs' receiving corps is starting to look like one of the deepest units on the team.

You can bet that will make Coach Jon Gruden happy. He's been saying all along this year that an improved passing attack is the real key to being better offensively.

Assuming the quarterback play improves - and it's hard to imagine it won't - it's easy to envision the overall play of the offense improving, too. After all, the receiving corps suddenly seems better.

And that's with Clayton on the sidelines. Imagine what the offense would be like if Clayton could finally get healthy.

THE NEW MR. AUGUST?: Warren wasn't the only seventh-round draft pick to make a splash in Friday's preseason opener. The Bucs' latest seventh-round pick, RB Kenneth Darby, splashed onto the scene as well.

During a debut in which he did just about everything but reach the end zone, Darby gained 84 yards on 15 carries (a 5.6-yard average) and caught one ball for 13 yards.

A lot of fans might have been surprised by Darby's debut, but most football followers may have expected Darby to play the way he did during his first pro game.

Having played at Alabama, Darby is no stranger to big-time football. Nor is he unaccustomed to performing at a high level. In fact, before his senior season, he was considered one of the top running backs in the nation.

What changed that was the lack of focus he developed as a result of watching his father contract and eventually die from lung cancer. With that nightmare behind him, Darby is again playing like he did early on in college.

That player gained well over 100 all-purpose yards per game, and that's the player the Bucs had a feeling they were getting when they drafted Darby. His debut Friday did nothing to alter their line of thinking.

In fact, Darby only enhanced his chances of making the team on Friday. And with Michael Pittman taking over for Mike Alstott as the top fullback, Darby could even replace Pittman as the Bucs' third-down back.