UPDATED: Bucs G.M. Bruce Allen Fields Questions From Media

Clip is now up on the main site.

[BuckEmUp]

I bet is he could say, "listen dummy, if there was anybody worth a crap on the market that was not paid to much money or if a team was willing to trade somebody we would have made a move" he would have said it.  

The problem is that if he said that to BuccanAy/Dr. Stroud the media would be all over him even more.

[keeponbucn]

He always has a way to apologise, or present us with the "tiger woods"  player by "next year."

Do you know the actual Tiger Woods quote?

"Would we like to sign a Tiger Woods at every position? Of course we would."

Exact quote, tell me where he said he will sign Tiger Wood-type player.

[Feel Real Good]

And as far as the statement of not bring in a player making more than the player next to him?  Wow.  So I guess that rules out the top 25 free agents from landing in Tampa.  I like how he tries to cover his tracks with the Dre Moore pick.  You trade up to get him and say he is a red shirt player.  A 4th round pick, red shirt player.  Come on Bruce, only a blind follower on this board would believe that.

Have you looked at the players picked after Moore? Only Tashard Choice, who I was high on, did much of anything. Those are the breaks with 4th round players. They all have flaws. Some are physical, some are mental. Rather than settle on some player with very limited athletic upside, the Bucs gambled on someone with elite athletic talent and are hoping they can get his head in the game. I think it was worth it.

Regarding whether the Glazers are willing to spend the cap room the Bucs have due to their ownership of Manchester United, Allen said, "Oh yeah. We want to make sure we spend our cap money on players that are going to be here and help the Bucs in 2009 and beyond, and make sure the player brought in isn't making earning something more than a player lining up alongside of him." ... "The Glazers have given us the opportunity to sign anybody we want and actually encourage us to sign players that are going to make the Buccaneers better."



What a stupid mentality that is.......   if youre underpaying a player, or he's a "bargin player" from the Arena league or CFL, or Best Buy or whatever...   then why must you only sign players that are paid the SAME as the first scrub?   I don't get that.    I know Allen talks a good game, but his actions (or inaction) speaks much louder!  We have bargin players everywhere, and no super stars, and all he's looking for is more bargin players that ultimately UNDERACHIEVE!

[ryan24]

And as far as the statement of not bring in a player making more than the player next to him? ?Wow. ?So I guess that rules out the top 25 free agents from landing in Tampa. ?I like how he tries to cover his tracks with the Dre Moore pick. ?You trade up to get him and say he is a red shirt player. ?A 4th round pick, red shirt player. ?Come on Bruce, only a blind follower on this board would believe that.

Have you looked at the players picked after Moore? Only Tashard Choice, who I was high on, did much of anything. Those are the breaks with 4th round players. They all have flaws. Some are physical, some are mental. Rather than settle on some player with very limited athletic upside, the Bucs gambled on someone with elite athletic talent and are hoping they can get his head in the game. I think it was worth it.

Moore is still at the point in which he could still be a productive player. Didn't Jay Ratliff spend a couple of season's on the PS before getting some time in Dallas?

[DanTurksGhost]

Do you know the actual Tiger Woods quote?

"Would we like to sign a Tiger Woods at every position? Of course we would."

Exact quote, tell me where he said he will sign Tiger Wood-type player.

Precisely. People just don't seem to be able to understand that quote, or they try and manipulate it for their own end.

[Tampa Bay Todd]

Funny that all the naysayers and negative people are the first to post on this and rip him. What's he supposed to say in a press conference -- we have ideas on what we're going to do and let me give you all the details? "Here's a list of all of the players we're looking at and trying to sign right now?"

[Booker Reese]

Badabing (and FL native), I watched the press conference, and I think the quote (about paying free agents more than current players) in isolation sounds worse than his discussion of free agency in general.  Plus, it's just factually wrong - I don't think he meant what the sentence literally says - after all, how can anybody square that with the Faine signing? Or the Dunn signing? Or half the signings he's made since he's been here.

I thought his point on free agency overall was simply this - we had cap money, we were prepared to spend it (and the Glazers aren't blocking him from spending), but there's no reason to be stupid. He seemed to imply that their just weren't a lot of good free agents to pay for in 2008. For example, he noted that several players - Bryant, Dunn, Wilkerson, Faine, and Stevens - many of whom we paid little money to were better than many expensive options. He noted that Bryant was the best FA WR, Dunn had the third most yards from scrimmage of any FA, Faine was a PB alternate, Wilkerson had the third most sacks of any FA, and that Stevens had the second most catches of any FA TE.

As for Moore, I thought his comments there are defensible, while the spin on Dexter Jackson is laughable. As he pointed out, they drafted Moore because they had 2 '09 free agents at DT, but that the red-shirt intent was always there. I think if you go back to May you'll find that there was a lot of talk that Moore was a project because of scheme change and just the fact that he was "raw." Did anybody at the time feel like he'd be more than a rotation player at best as a rookie?

Look, if he turns out to be a bust this year it's a terrible pick, but I don't mind a team selecting someone on the second day who might have long-term upside even if it means he sits at the start.

Now Dexter Jackson is a different story.

[CurtR1995]

He is at the point in his tenure here that he needs to actually accomplish something instead of talk about how first McKay and now Injuries have set the team back.  

[Feel Real Good]

And as far as the statement of not bring in a player making more than the player next to him? ?Wow. ?So I guess that rules out the top 25 free agents from landing in Tampa. ?I like how he tries to cover his tracks with the Dre Moore pick. ?You trade up to get him and say he is a red shirt player. ?A 4th round pick, red shirt player. ?Come on Bruce, only a blind follower on this board would believe that.

Have you looked at the players picked after Moore? Only Tashard Choice, who I was high on, did much of anything. Those are the breaks with 4th round players. They all have flaws. Some are physical, some are mental. Rather than settle on some player with very limited athletic upside, the Bucs gambled on someone with elite athletic talent and are hoping they can get his head in the game. I think it was worth it.

Moore is still at the point in which he could still be a productive player. Didn't Jay Ratliff spend a couple of season's on the PS before getting some time in Dallas?

I don't know his whole story, but he didn't play much, only notching 4 tackles. Defensive tackle is an extremely physically demanding position and few but the most polished high picks make impacts as rookies. There are many who didn't play for a year or two before putting it together. There's still hope.

[CurtR1995]

I thought his point on free agency overall was simply this - we had cap money, we were prepared to spend it (and the Glazers aren't blocking him from spending), but there's no reason to be stupid. He seemed to imply that their just weren't a lot of good free agents to pay for in 2008. For example, he noted that several players - Bryant, Dunn, Wilkerson, Faine, and Stevens - many of whom we paid little money to were better than many expensive options. He noted that Bryant was the best FA WR, Dunn had the third most yards from scrimmage of any FA, Faine was a PB alternate, Wilkerson had the third most sacks of any FA, and that Stevens had the second most catches of any FA TE.

Politics at its best!  Talk about attempting to polish up a turd.

Of that list, only Bryant mattered, and since he only signed him to a one year deal, that was more dumb luck than any long term vision of his eventual success.  

Dunn had the third most yards from scrimmage of any FA RB?  Whoopdy freaking do.  I will never say anything bad about Dunn since he one of my favorite Bucs of all time for all the right reasons.  But anyone who goes out and brings up Dunn as some sort of successful signing is just kidding themselves.

Here is some accounting for Mr. Allen:

Michael Turner + A lot of cap room = First Most Yards from Scrimmage of any FA RB and a play off spot.

i hear what youre saying Booker...  I guess there's a school of thought that you treat FA just like the draft..  you try to get the best thats out there.  it may not be an outstanding player, but its the best there is, so why not go for it.   of course we dont want to be locked in a nightmare that kills our cap room for many years...  but GMs can get pretty creative with contracts...they can be written in so many ways...  you can fill them with incentives, and limit guarentees for risky players while still making it inticing for a stud player to come to Tampa.  

My point is we should be going after the best availlable FAs, just like we would in the draft.   we're never going to win playoff games with Dunn, Wilkerson, Steven's type players..  its just not going to happen.   you  absolutly must have players that have game changing ability...  right now, we have none.  roll the dice, take a risk..  otherwise we'll have 9-7 seasons at best, and 4-12 seasons at worst

Risk Option #1  -  Sign 10 "bargin players" and hope 1 turns into something special... but the realty is, these types of players were cut from other NFL teams for a reason.  Sure, maybe 2 or 3 of these bargin players become slightly better than average, and one or two of them might be pro bowl alternates..  big deal.  but the team isnt winning squat because those alternate pro-bowlers are surrounded by marginal players.   maybe you end up with a 9-7 record and maybe a Division crown, but get creamed in the playoffs because other teams just have better players than you do....  especially on offense. 

Risk Option #2 -  Sign 5  "expensive players" but face a risk that 1 or more of them may end up being worthless.    Sure, you run the risk of wasting money, and maybe you get burned a little on cap room, but cap problems aren't that hard to fix..  you can always go "bargin shopping" next season, which the Bucs are good at.  There's plenty of CFL and Arena league players we can sign the following year..  but at least youre trying.  However, sign 5 stud players, and there is plenty of UPSIDE as well, your team might actually dominate your opponents and go far in the playoffs. 

Obviously both strategies have some element of risk.    With Option #2, there's more excitement and hope, and not mediocracy.  My problem with Option 1 (What the Bucs currently do) is you will never get anywhere.  Sure, youll save the owners $30 million as they increase ticket prices every year, but that benefits NO ONE except the ownership.  As a fan, this strategy is a futile as a one legged dog trying to bury a turd on a frozen pond.

[sammy8887]

He is at the point in his tenure here that he needs to actually accomplish something instead of talk about how first McKay and now Injuries have set the team back.  

This PC wasn't going to be able to accomplish that...it was only going to be talk b/c that's what PCs are...

From what this PC's message was, it sounded like those that would like more/different action in the offseason can be encouraged...