Bucs Draft Evaluation Included Dinner Meal Test – JoeBucsFan.com – Tampa Bay Bucs Blog, Buccaneers News

“Mark, I can’t carry on this tradition.”

Joe is trying hard to keep an open mind to this gem of Bucs history dropped by former Tampa Bay general manager Mark Dominik on national radio.

So Dominik is the SiriusXM NFL Radio draft guru and is a regular co-host on the greatest radio channel known to man. Dominik also is an active consultant to agents and players.

He spoke this week on Sirius about a litmus test he had for a handful of college prospects when they made a “Top-30” predraft visit to One Buc Palace.

Dominik, GM from 2009 to 2013, said he preferred to bring prospects to Tampa in small groups to see how they would interact and which player would stand out from the group — positively or negatively.

Dominik explained how he staged dinners in the One Buc Palace dining room so players thought they were just hanging out by themselves, but in reality they were being watched and some got a special dinner test.

The players had servers, Dominik explained, who actually were young scouts or front office interns never seen previously by the prospects. They would evaluate how prospects interacted and they’d listen in on conversations and report what they heard.

But a more important test, per Dominik, was for the player chosen to be served a completely incorrect dinner order.

For example, if the guy ordered steak, broccoli, potatoes and a salad off the menu, he instead would get grilled shrimp skewers over rice with russel sprouts and an ear of corn.

Dominik was adamant he didn’t want the player who said nothing about the messed up order and simply ate his meal. He wanted the player who respectfully spoke up quickly and asked for what he ordered.

That guy, per Dominik, is the kind of player a roster needs.

“What happens if the guy doesn’t say anything? Well, I don’t want that guy,” Dominik said. “I mean, I’ll still take him, but I’m not happy about it because you know what, if he sees something going wrong in the locker room, is he going to say something? Or he just going to be like, ‘Ehh, that’s their problem.’ You want the guy that’s respectful about it, like, ‘Excuse me. I ordered the steak and not the seafood.”

Joe gets Dominik’s approach, but Joe thinks this dinner test is problematic at best.

Suppose the player is delivered the incorrect meal, but it looks delicious and he decides to roll with it. Is that a reason not a draft a guy? ‘Sorry, son, you fell to the fourth round because you stuck with the crab-stuffed chicken and sweet potato fries.’

Dominik’s test speaks to how hard — too hard? — teams will try to figure out the mentality of a draft prospect.

Years ago, Dominik spoke about how he had no concern picking up then-rookie running back LeGarrette Blount off the street after he was cut by the Titans — because Blount was overly kind to cafeteria workers at One Buc Palace during his predraft visit.

Listen to Best In Class with JoeBucsFan.com draft guru Sean Sullivan. His recent breakdown of 20 running back prospects if worth your time. Click below.