Hlas: Outback Bowl Eve a big day for Brandon Myers

TAMPA, Fla. — This is where Brandon Myers' college career ended, catching four passes for Iowa in its 2009 Outback Bowl win over South Carolina.

Here we are heading toward New Year's 2017, and the 31-year-old tight end from Prairie City is finishing his eighth NFL season. He'll start for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Raymond James Stadium Sunday, the day before he is a spectator in the same coliseum, cheering for his alma mater against Florida in another Outback Bowl.

'It's kind of full circle,' Myers said before his team practiced Wednesday for its season finale, against the Carolina Panthers. He was wearing an ANF cap with a Tiger Hawk logo in the Bucs' locker room.

He faces a similar mission Sunday to what he had when he played here as a Hawkeye on New Year's of '09. He'll be a free agent at season's end, so he has to impress NFL scouts.

'It's an opportunity to play football,' Myers said. 'Whatever the scenario, just go out there and whatever you can put on tape is who you are.'

Tight end Cameron Brate (57 catches, 660 yards, 8 touchdowns) will be out Sunday with a back injury, so Myers will start the finale. His season totals are a modest 7 receptions, 59 yards, 1 TD.

Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston rued Brate's absence Wednesday, but said 'The good thing is we have Brandon Myers and Brandon Myers is a vet. What you've got is a vet stepping up.'

It would take the nearest thing to a miracle for 8-7 Tampa Bay to reach the playoffs. It needs seven results to break right Sunday, starting with winning itself. One is the New York Giants and Washington Redskins playing to a tie.

Which means Myers won't be on a playoff team for the eighth-straight year. If the Bucs win Sunday, it will be the first time he has been on an NFL team that had a winning season.

'We were just talking about this the other day,' Myers said. 'Jameis had the offensive guys out to dinner. It kind of went around the table, what do you play for, who do you play for, a couple reasons why.

'When it was my turn, I said I haven't been to the playoffs. I just want the chance to get to the playoffs, and you never know what can happen once you get in.'

However, his career has been an unqualified success. Myers was an 11th-hour Iowa scholarship offer in February 2004, backing out of a verbal commitment with Northern Iowa. He was almost strictly a special-teams player in his first two years, but totaled 55 catches and nine touchdowns his last two seasons and was first-team All-Big Ten as a senior.

He was a sixth-round draft pick of the Oakland Raiders in 2009. His career has covered three teams, 114 games, 62 starts, 199 catches, six head coaches, three fine quarterbacks in Carson Palmer, Eli Manning and Winston, and, he said, 'six or seven offensive systems.'

'I was very fortunate,' said Myers. 'I've stayed healthy. I've always kind of prepared like I was starting. Looking back at eight years, I'm very blessed, very fortunate.

'I got humbled pretty quickly at Iowa coming from a small town being the best athlete, maybe just relying on athletic ability. I think my first practice I went against Matt Roth, Chad Greenway, Abdul Hodge. They showed me pretty quick that just talent doesn't get you to the next level. It takes a lot of hard work.'

Thirty players from that 2008 Iowa team that went to the Outback Bowl were on NFL active rosters at some point. But only nine are still in the league, and the other eight are younger than Myers.

'He does a lot of things well,' said Bucs offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

'At this point in his career would you say he had a dominant trait? I don't know that. But his dominant trait is he brings it every day, he knows what he's doing, he can catch it, he can do a lot of things in the run game that makes him invaluable.'

Will he play a ninth NFL season? 'I'm not sure. My contract's up. It's easy to think I could play a couple more years. We'll see.'

Does he want to keep playing? 'If I get a good opportunity somewhere, absolutely. Absolutely.'