Tackle Kendell Mack is one of two Buccaneers headed to Scotland to play for the Claymores, last year's NFLEL runners-up
Wide receiver Eddie Hardaway has never played a down of football for either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Rhein Fire, but he'll be representing the former and defending a title for the latter this spring.
Last Tuesday, the Buccaneers announced the allocation of eight players to the NFL Europe League for the 2001 spring season: Hardaway, P/K Andrew Bayes, G Wilbert Brown, DB Terrance Parrish, TE Randy Palmer, T Kendell Mack, TE/WR Chris Daniels and DE Matt Sweeney. All 31 NFL teams are required to allocate at least eight players this year.
On Monday, the NFLEL will announce where all of those allocated players are headed, as there are six possible destinations: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, Rhein and Scotland.
The Buccaneers have been informed of the teams to which their eight players have been designated. Hardaway is the only one of the eight to be headed to Rhein, which won World Bowl 2000 last spring.
Three of the players – Bayes, Brown and Parrish – will be teammates with the Frankfurt Galaxy while two – Palmer and Mack - will don Scottish Claymores jerseys. Daniels is headed to Barcelona to play for the Dragons and Sweeney will represent the Bucs with the Amsterdam Admirals.
The allocations were not a surprise to the Buccaneers, who had been given an opportunity to request the eventual European destinations of their allocated players.
"We are allowed to ask for specific teams, and the league tries to grant those requests as often as possible," said Buccaneers Director of Football Administration John Idzik. "Generally, the players will end up on the teams you ask for, unless the roster has too many players at a specific position. If we tried to send Wilbert Brown to Frankfurt, but they already have five other guards assigned to the team, then they may move him to another team."
The Bucs did have one player on last year's league champion Rhein squad, starting cornerback Deshone Mallard. RB Aaron Stecker was the driving force on the runner-up Claymores, and ended up not only with league Offensive MVP honors but also an eventual spot on the Bucs' 53-man roster.
Players will begin training with their new teams immediately. The 2001 NFLEL season begins on Saturday, April 21, with Frankfurt playing at Scotland, Amsterdam at Rhein and Barcelona at Berlin.
