Posted on Sun, May. 04, 2008

Blake could receive contract offer

By CHAREAN WILLIAMS

cjwilliams@star-telegram.com

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers saw enough tape of Tommy Blake’s junior season to know he was worth a tryout. They saw flashes during their three-day minicamp over the weekend, but was it enough to get the TCU defensive end a contract offer?

The Bucs today are expected to sign several of the 38 undrafted free agents who tried out.

“[Blake] did a good job,” Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said Sunday in a telephone interview. “He’s got some potential. He’s just got to be consistent.”

Blake, who had two medical leaves of absence last season to treat his depression and social anxiety disorder, was not selected in the NFL Draft April 26-27. He also was not offered a free-agent contract.

The Bucs, though, have a history of giving players with off-field problems second chances.

“He’s had some well-documented ups and some well-documented downs,” Bucs coach Jon Gruden told reporters in Tampa after offering Blake a tryout contract. “But he’s a young guy, and we want to look at him for ourselves and try to get all the evaluations done in our minds that we can, and give the kid an opportunity to present himself as a pro football player.”

Blake made 54 tackles, 16.61/27 tackles for loss and seven sacks as a junior. He was a preseason All-American in 2007 but played in only eight games, making 21 tackles — eight for loss — and four sacks.

“We went off his junior year [in deciding to give him a tryout],” Kiffin said. “If he’d stayed with it, he probably would have been a high draft pick.”

Blake declined an interview request Sunday through the Bucs’ public relations department.