Not much to report here. I think evryone knows he won't get a long term contract unless he can produce again this year. Even if he does have another good year, he'll be 30 and probably only get a 2-3 year deal. We really need Clayton to step up and Sammy Stroughter to outplay his seventh round grade.

I thought Antonio is 28 this year.

Wouldn't surprise me if he got a 6 year deal if and when they sign him long term. At this point in his career, I could easily see him being effective into his mid 30's.

mtnbucman-
I completely agreee with you. This year or even next year would be a prime time for a long term. The BUCS are in a great situation if he plays well into his 30's than he is worth all the money they pay him. If not than for each year that goes by will just be less of a salary cap hit they take if they decide to release him.

I dont believe any of our recievers will make the jump to number one or number 2. Outside of Bryant, Clayton is the best we got and he is no better than a possesion #2. we need to draft a #1 like we did with the QB position.

This is the pewterswashbuckler signing off!!
A Pirates life for me

If the CBA gets worked out before the start of next season, the Bucs will have some tough decisions to make. Here's a brief list of players that will be UFAs IF the CBA is renewed before the 2010 season:

- Antonio Bryant
- Barrett Ruud
- Donald Penn
- Jeremy Trueblood
- Jimmy Wilkerson
- Maurice Stovall

Bryant and Ruud are Top 10 players at their position, Penn and Trueblood are solid starters on the unit in which consistency is most important, and Wilkerson and Stovall are two guys the team is high on and would like to see them become something between solid contributors and bonified starters.

We can't franchise them all. Seems like a pretty big gamble, especially for Ruud, who we all know is a great player and can lead this defense for the next 10 years.

They will have plenty of space to resign:

- Antonio Bryant
- Barrett Ruud
- Donald Penn
- Jeremy Trueblood

in addition to acquiring new FAs and signing their 2010 draft picks.

I'm not worried about Wilkerson or Stovall.

We need to get it done with Ruud, Penn,& Trueblood I would like to see the bucs sign Plaxico Burress. Can you imagine Antonio Bryant , Kellen Winslow, Jerramy Stevens ,Derrick Ward, & Earnest Graham with our line. Thats a lot of fire power. Michael Pitman would be addition .

I do not understand why barrett ruud doesnt have a mega deal done. Why on earth does dominik not throw piles of money at this guy. Hes the heart and sole of the defense, and if he doesn't get a new deal he wont be happy and may leave at the end of the year, with all the cap room available WHY WHY WHY won't they sign barrett ruud, bryant is more of a risk so i can understand why they franchise him, he is the only guy capable of #1 on the bucs so itd be nice to have him inked for a while, with the time off i think thatll help him play when hes older. Penn and trueblood need to be resigned also. MARK DOMINIK PLEASE SIGN BARRETT RUUD!!!!!!!!!!

Laughing at the comment Michael Pittman would be a an addition- he's old #1 and Bj Askew is a better all around full back anyway. SIGN BARRETT RUUD AND PENN NOW TO LONG TERM DEALS THEY HAVE EARNED IT, wait another year on Bryant to see how he will do in the new offense I don't think he will put up the same numbers as last year now that Winslow is on board he will command about 80 cathches.

How is Bj Askew a better full back than pitman. Michael Pitman has 25 rushing tds, 5600 rushing yards @ 4.0 per carry. Askew might be younger but his stats are just not their. In six yrs he's carried 34 times for 116 yds. with only two TDs

matthew - you can't compare stats against pittman and askew and get true results from that. Pittman was a half back for most if his career, which is where most of his stats came from. He has only been used as a fullback full time the past few seasons because other half backs out played him for the spot, and he is big enough to take on fullback duties. Askew is a much younger and better fullback than Pittman has ever been.

"matthew", as much as I hate to say it, the blue eyed blond hair midget ass clown...a.k.a. jongruden is right. Michael Pittman is way too old to play for us again and B.J. Askew is a much better all around fullback. Barrett HAS to be signed in my opinion. He is one of the "vetern" leaders that they're going to need help all these young pup players on the roster. As far as Penn goes, I've said it before, I don't think much of him. He's descent , but not what I would consider a starting stud left tackle. Bryant had an amazing year considering his situation when/how he got here. However, I want to see consistency out of him. If he can show me around the same level or better performance from last year, he then will deserve a lucrative long term contract. So I hope the Glazers stop all this nickle-n-diming of the Bucs and sign him then because if we don't someone else will. And don't anyone tell me how they've spent money on players because none of it has been on signing bonuses, only guaranteed money over time. Which will make all the top free agents out there not want to sign here.

Don't be surprised if Morris brings him back.He blocks well, can pick up the blitz , has great hands & still has the speed to make it difficult for most linebackers.We have Jameel cook and askew.
i think you find pitman will be back, we will have to wait and see

With the all the cap room we had I wished they would of signed Len weaver from the seahawks. He s 26, and one of the better fullbacks coming up.The eagles grabed him for 1.7 mill

JM, if Wilkerson has a career year it would be a mistake to let him walk and not lock him up.

Forget Pittman, he is done.

I sure hope we wouldn't bring Pittman back. I'll give you a few reasons why.

1. He is old. We just cut a bunch of guys way better than Pittman to get younger. Bringing him in wouldn't make sense at all.

2. Unless we find the next Mike Alstott, rushing yards are pointless to to compare. We don't need Askew to be carrying the rock, we need him to block and he is a better blocker than Pittman.

3. Pittman is a man of great character and good work ethic, so I have respect for him. However, I HATED watching him trip over his own feet 99% of the time when carrying the ball. Please don't make me watch that ever again.

Matthew- please stop talking before you embarass yourself any furthur Let me educate you. Pitman was a halfback so of course he will have better stats, duh. He is old as dirt and under sized and you want him to be your lead blocker. I bet the running backs coach is dying from laughter with your blogs Please stop with the bring back Pittman stuff its embarassing to us Bucs fans.

First things first, sign Freeman and Roy Miller. Then start Freeman.

I never liked pittman as a starting HB or FB (he was good as a 3rd down back) and I agree he's too old to match up with our youth movement.

I will say though it's hard to ignore the part he played in the Bucs losing to Denver last year. They fed him the ball in the 4th quarter to milk the clock and the defense couldn't get off the field. It was all downhill running too, right where the "heart of our defense" was standing.

Game situations like that and the last 4 games of last season are why Ruud doesn't have a deal yet. Let's see him do well in the new system for 16 games next year before we give him a new deal.

I hope not signing Ruud to a long-term deal now doesn't piss him off to the point he decides to test the open market when he does become an unrestricted free agent. There are plenty of teams out there that will offer him truckloads of money to run their defense. I understand holding off on signing Bryant for a year to make sure he can behave himself, but I'm not really sure why they don't just give Ruud his well deserved deal.....I guess that's why I'm not a GM in the NFL.

There is only one real "First Things, First" that would be for the Glazers to realize that as big as the "football" team is over the big pond, this is America and the only football team that should matter is the BUCCANEERS BUDDY!!! All this crap about this team spending less from 2004 - 2008 sucks! Now they have all of the above players coming into their contract years and instead of locking them up, they leave them hanging? Really, do any die hard Buc fans really care about the Brits football? I have been with this team from the start, 1976 and have lived through some really bad s%it but knew it was because we had the one of the worst owners in the league. Then the Glazers buy this team and our fortunes start to turn to the point of winning something I never expected to see in my lifetime, the SUPER BOWL! WOW, SB Champs, and a team with lots of stars on it, only to watch them buy a fossball team and the up and down seasons start? Yes, sign Freeman and Miller, but lock up the up and coming stars. Its bad enough that a lot of us had to drop a large chunk of money just for the right to buy a seat, now you don't but you also don't get to see STARS play FOOTBALL either. Lets hope the owners get their heads out of there 3 points of contact (ass) and go back to thinking about us, here in the good ol' USA and Tampa. GO BUC'S

IMO the FO is doing the right thing by waiting on re-signing Bryant. He wasn't out of the league in 2007 for being a saint! He had an awesome year last year and it could have been better, but needs to show consistency and progress before they extend him out. never know if he reverts back to his old mindset and becomes a problem....

The FO did bring Ruud and his agent in to discuss an extension, but both sides didn't agree on a deal, so they are planning on resigning him just haven't agreed on numbers yet and they are in no hurry with the CBA situation, it's a business and just dumping money in his lap isn't always the best plan just because the team has it. and the head coach doesn't handle contract negotiations, so please don't throw morris' name in the mix when talking about contracts.
As far as Penn is concerned, he should already know that it is nothing personal when it comes to contracts. he signed his one year tender and then didn't come to the OTA's (which is his right), and i'm sure his agent helped him make that decision, but he show's up to the mandatory practices out of shape and oh yeah the OTA he did show up for he get's into a fight with a team mate (and they're both to blame). none of that show's up well when you want another deal from a club. he is replaceable, the same way he got his opportunity to come in and replace luke petitgout due to injury, he can be replaced. i'd rather keep him and have our o-line continue to get better as a unit, but right now he is the weak link on the line heading into trng camp. even Ruud showed up the last week of OTA's and jumped in like he hadn't missed a beat.

In the end i believe these guys will get resigned if they continue their strong play. It would be nice for the Bucs to have a team full of players that were grown here and not a bunch of high priced FA's like other teams do. a few here and there is needed, but the core of the team shouldn't have gained their fame with another team, and i think that's what we may be working towards with this youth movement...if it pans out.

JM, my point wasn't that they wouldn't have room to sign these guys, my point was that would be 6 guys free to leave if they so choose. Again based on the CBA getting renewed. If the CBA is not renewed, then all of those guys except Bryant are still RFAs, plus the Bucs will have 3 Tags to use on UFAs (if I remember correctly it's 1 Franchise Tag and two Transition tags).

Long and short of this, and everyone seems to agree, I would really like us to get Ruud signed long term. Right now, he is the best player on this team, Pro-Bowl caliber, young and the leader of the Defense, if not the entire team. Barring injury, they're only going to pay MORE for him next year, so why not get a long term deal done now.

I would sign AB to an extension. I know the Bucs want to take another look at him this season, but he is saying all the right things and doing all the right things. I would do it.
I would sign Ruud as well. As for the OL, I would observe their transition to the new scheme and see who is worth what.

Signing Ruud makes sense. Not sure about giving long term deals to ANY linemen at this point.

PR - since the BUCS have drafted a QB this year and won't be looking for one next year AND since they will probably be in the top 10 picks or so, what offensive/defensive linemen do you see on the 2010 draft horizon?

With a good starting position in the draft and the possibility of other teams vieing for one of next year's QBs, we could trade down and wind up with multiple first round picks - which should be used on O/D linemen IMO.

One more thing. Ruud's signing doesn't have to come before training camp - but the rookie contracts do. Concentrating on them first, then addressing Ruud makes sense to me and it isn't a slight to Ruud - as long as it gets done.

I wouldn't sign him until at least a few games into the season; then only for a couple years. If he doesn't sign then let him test the market. (good luck with that because of the huge salary we gave him this year)