Looking at the Offseason

[BornaBuc47]

It appears now that I was righter then I wanted to be about last offseason sucking. Oh well, I was hoping I was wrong, but injuries piled on and it is very apparent that we are very weak at a lot of positions. So looking at the offseason what should we do? Here's a short version of what I'm thinking...

Cut Kenyatta, yeah I still can't stand him even if he is on IR. It would make me feel a lot better about next season. Other then that we need to upgrade our offensive line pronto, but now that Trueblood and Joseph are starting it looks like we are stuck with them. I really hated and still dislike both of these picks and us not getting free agent help last offseason killed us. How's Marcus McNeill doing again? Ugh, I don't want to talk about OL.

We have to keep Bryan Kelly. Without him our CB's, besides Rhonde, are terrible.

We have got to upgrade the safety position in free agency, not the draft.

Defensive Line needs to be worked on. If we get rid of Rice then we need to replace him with a free agent passrusher or a top draft pick passrusher. I still like him personally but his salary might be too high and his performance wasn't good this year. I'd like to see us focus on DT as well because it's a big key to our defense and we haven't had a force since early Sapp.

Simms has got to get back to top form. I don't know what went wrong with all those batted balls, but it needs to be fixed and he's got to come back healthy and hungry. If he doesn't then I'd like to see what McCown can do.

We have to keep Galloway and we need another receiver that can be a force. Clayton's not doing it and neither is Hilliard. At this point it looks like Clayton could end up being a bust.

Get Caddy back in gear and get top notched FB to block for him. So long Mr. Alstott, it's been a pleasure watching you play football. Thanks for the memories.

Anything else I missed?

[bradentonian]

I agree that we had a very poor offseason.  I disagree that we should cut Yatta.  He has a reasonable contract next year ($1.95MM), would be excellent depth as well as pushing True for the starting job, and might have trade value.

[caradoc]

OH
MY
GOD

The world is ending, BornaBuc is making sense!!!!

lolz, anyway, Right on a lot of points, but trade instead of cut Yatta. 
Safety -- lose phillips, not allen

Simms, be careful what you wish for.  But it would be nice to have all three of them battle it out (notice you said nothing about Grads).  Grads and Simms are roughly equivalent at this time.  If Grads can get his deep issues resolved he wins hands down.  If simms can get the mental part then HE wins hands down.  McCown is just a big

On Rice, I'd say trade him, but I'd rather see us go all out for a dominant UT and an OK end than the reverse...

Welcome back Borna

[ZenBuc]

On Rice, I'd say trade him, but I'd rather see us go all out for a dominant UT and an OK end than the reverse...

I agree there. The only defense playing the Tampa 2 that looks close to the late 90s/early 2000s Bucs D is Chicago. And they're also the only defense with a dominant UT in Harris. The problem is, where to get one??? There won't be any good DTs in FA and I'm not sure if there's any great  types in the draft either. The highest rated DT now is Branch. He is more of a 3-4 NT type IMO.
The Okoye kid is interesting, we could grab him if he falls to the 2nd or maybe trade down to get him in the late 1st...
 Or maybe we could  take a risk on Marcus Thomas if he falls to us in the 2nd or 3rd round...but even then it's a huge gamble. If the guy gets his sh1t straight he could be an awesome prospect and player, but if not, he'd be a huge waste of a 1st day pick.

[caradoc]

So then trade him for picks.  With his salary hit gone we can work with an eye to the future.  We could trade him for a serviceable replacement and a day one pick, and later use that pick to move up on day one if a better DT comes along, or use it to trade for a current great DT.  Heck, we could trade him and the booger pick for a great DT on a team that could use an end.  Any teams like that out there? 
Be creative, there are lots of ways to get that UT, just not a lot of UT's out there. 

It appears now that I was righter then I wanted to be about last offseason sucking. Oh well, I was hoping I was wrong, but injuries piled on and it is very apparent that we are very weak at a lot of positions. So looking at the offseason what should we do? Here's a short version of what I'm thinking...

Cut Kenyatta, yeah I still can't stand him even if he is on IR. It would make me feel a lot better about next season. Other then that we need to upgrade our offensive line pronto, but now that Trueblood and Joseph are starting it looks like we are stuck with them. I really hated and still dislike both of these picks and us not getting free agent help last offseason killed us. How's Marcus McNeill doing again? Ugh, I don't want to talk about OL.

We have to keep Bryan Kelly. Without him our CB's, besides Rhonde, are terrible.

We have got to upgrade the safety position in free agency, not the draft.

Defensive Line needs to be worked on. If we get rid of Rice then we need to replace him with a free agent passrusher or a top draft pick passrusher. I still like him personally but his salary might be too high and his performance wasn't good this year. I'd like to see us focus on DT as well because it's a big key to our defense and we haven't had a force since early Sapp.

Simms has got to get back to top form. I don't know what went wrong with all those batted balls, but it needs to be fixed and he's got to come back healthy and hungry. If he doesn't then I'd like to see what McCown can do.

We have to keep Galloway and we need another receiver that can be a force. Clayton's not doing it and neither is Hilliard. At this point it looks like Clayton could end up being a bust.

Get Caddy back in gear and get top notched FB to block for him. So long Mr. Alstott, it's been a pleasure watching you play football. Thanks for the memories.

Anything else I missed?

Well look who's back!!!!!! Anyways, I agree with some of what you said. Clayton is definitely a bust but why Hilliard and Stovall haven't seen more PT is baffling. I don't think there are many good FA DT's so that will have to be addressed on Day 1 of the draft, and our best FA option for S is probably Ken Hamlin.

[alldaway]

It appears now that I was righter then I wanted to be about last offseason sucking.

I disagree.

I'll never forget what Bornabuc said about Grads, though..

"We just drafted a QB that will not see camp"

[alldaway]

I'll never forget what Bornabuc said about Grads, though..

"We just drafted a QB that will not see camp"

He has zero credibility with me.

[Lynch47]

Scratch Bryan Thomas from the list of free agents. The Jets resigned him 5 years up to 25mil with incentives

I really hated and still dislike both of these picks and us not getting free agent help last offseason killed us. How's Marcus McNeill doing again? Ugh, I don't want to talk about OL.

I notice that you didn't let that stop you from doing it.







 How's Shaun King doing again?

Cut Kenyatta, yeah I still can't stand him even if he is on IR. It would make me feel a lot better about next season. Other then that we need to upgrade our offensive line pronto, but now that Trueblood and Joseph are starting it looks like we are stuck with them. I really hated and still dislike both of these picks and us not getting free agent help last offseason killed us. How's Marcus McNeill doing again? Ugh, I don't want to talk about OL.

Yeah, Kenyetti is gone.  We need another T and a C, but I thinnk that the pieces are inplace for our OL.

We have to keep Bryan Kelly. Without him our CB's, besides Rhonde, are terrible.

As long as he's healed, agreed.  I don't think that there's a CB who can play his position that we have a shot at.

We have got to upgrade the safety position in free agency, not the draft.

I'd say so.  Unless we have a S that we're sold on in the draft.  He has a year to turn into a player, because we ain't doing jack blah next year.

Defensive Line needs to be worked on. If we get rid of Rice then we need to replace him with a free agent passrusher or a top draft pick passrusher. I still like him personally but his salary might be too high and his performance wasn't good this year. I'd like to see us focus on DT as well because it's a big key to our defense and we haven't had a force since early Sapp.

I think we need some youth at DT.  Go draft one.  Wyms can do a serviceable job.  I don't like Rice or Spires at this point, though.  Yeesh.  We need help on the ends for sure, although I think White is an good spot starter.

Simms has got to get back to top form. I don't know what went wrong with all those batted balls, but it needs to be fixed and he's got to come back healthy and hungry. If he doesn't then I'd like to see what McCown can do.

Well, Simms is still young.  I'd like to bring him back, but he may be a difficult acquisition.  I think he can still improve, though, considering that he's still not started a full years worth of games.  He is our best option at QB either from FA or the draft.  We bring him in and let him and Grads duke it out.

We have to keep Galloway and we need another receiver that can be a force. Clayton's not doing it and neither is Hilliard. At this point it looks like Clayton could end up being a bust.

Agreed.  Realistically, Clayton and Galloway could be gone soon and Hilliard's contract is up if I'm notmistakend (note to management: please resign Hilliard).  We have an unknown quantity in Stovall.  I could see us going for one of those big name receivers in the draft.

Get Caddy back in gear and get top notched FB to block for him. So long Mr. Alstott, it's been a pleasure watching you play football. Thanks for the memories.

I'd like to look for a mid-round FB in the draft.  I'm not concerned about Caddy.  His performance is a result of team-wide ineptitude.  He'll be back.

Anything else I missed?

Barret Ruud will probably be the starter next year.  I think we could bring in some more young depth at the OLB positions.  We'll see.

I enjoyed your thoughts...agreed with most.

lolz, anyway, Right on a lot of points, but trade instead of cut Yatta. 

Maybe, but we'd get...5th/6th round pick?

Safety -- lose phillips, not allen

Agreed.

Simms, be careful what you wish for.  But it would be nice to have all three of them battle it out (notice you said nothing about Grads).  Grads and Simms are roughly equivalent at this time.  If Grads can get his deep issues resolved he wins hands down.  If simms can get the mental part then HE wins hands down.  McCown is just a big

Well, historically, McCown blows.    I don't know what he looks like now, but obviously, he's not showing enough to put even a dent in this QB race.  I agree with your assessment of Simms and Gards, but would only add that I think bringing in Simms is the best option for us.

[alldaway]

 How's Shaun King doing again?

Shaun King is a stud according to bornabuc.

[BornaBuc47]

It appears now that I was righter then I wanted to be about last offseason sucking.

I disagree.

Yeah, and Alstott came back for another year because he wanted to rebuild? This team and the fans had a playoff team last year that looked to put together a run at the Super Bowl by adding a couple of key pieces. We didn't add jack. We actually resigned Kenyatta Walker instead of going after a better protector for our QB and look what happened. Simms done for the year. OL was our biggest weakness but instead of upgrading with quality free agents who could start right away and actually produce we did nothing until draft day. That's what a team in rebuild mode does, not a team looking to advance in the playoffs. Our offseason was terrible, and it's showing now in the results on the field. I would have much rather have let Kenyatta walk and resigned Dexter Jackson.