Jeff Garcia explains why he bowed out of Buccaneers’ draft announcement
The situation surrounding Jeff Garcia this week may have been the most bizarre we have ever seen in terms of retired players announcing draft picks for their former teams, but the book has apparently been closed on it.
On Tuesday, Garcia proudly announced that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have asked him to announce their third-round selection on Friday. There was one significant issue with that — the Bucs do not have a third-round selection. When Garcia was informed of that by a local reporter, he got extremely defensive and said he doesn’t pay any attention to the Bucs or care which player they pick.
Even if Tampa should acquire a third-round pick via trade, Garcia will not be the one announcing the player they select. The former QB has since explained why he will no longer be a part of the festivities.
They don’t have the pick in the 3rd, I had limited time to be in Dallas because of my own obligations to my kids and their teams as their dad and coach. I wasn’t going so that I could just hang out. Not a big deal.
— Jeff Garcia Football (@JeffGarciaJGFA) April 25, 2018
I took myself out. There’s not a pick & there’s not time for me to just hang out, Dad first. Proud of my time as a Buc, love the fans. I left everything on the field for that team, broken nose, broken back, a NFC South Div Title. No regrets. Hope that they have a great draft.
— Jeff Garcia Football (@JeffGarciaJGFA) April 25, 2018
Garcia spent two seasons in Tampa and reached the Pro Bowl as a member of the team in 2007. The Bucs have already created quite the buzz over the way they plan to announce some draft picks, but they probably didn’t intend for the Garcia situation to turn into such an embarrassing mess.
