Like the signing. Quality depth and special teamer. Has a lot of upside being only 26.

Like it. Could always switch to SAM and battle it out in trainingcamp with Crowell. Besides, hes young adds depth and can play special teams.

great... when the raiders don't want you the bucs will have room for you.

Yeah not sure if he could beat out Hayes or Black, but could at least push the two. At worst we get a good special teams guy.

Remember that special teams was our biggest strength last year. Lets keep the kicking game performing at a high level.

Last season's special teams was the best I have seen from Tampa in years!

What a joke. Nothing against Jon but this is the Bucs big free agent signing. This and the trade for Reggie Brown. Wow next year is looking worse than last year.

No one said it was our "Big free agent signing". Not every signing makes the front page or the rundown on sportscenter.

Wish people would quit moaning about moves like this and the Regggie Brown trade. It's a good depth signing, s/t guy with a little upside. If you think depth ain't important, you don't know much about the NFL.

2010 pick? I thought it was a 2011.

I heard 2011 also. i think it may be a typo.

People that are frustrated with this and the Brown trade are ignorant. They have no clue what they're talking about. I'd rather have this guy than sign Peppers who's on his decline and will eat up tons of money. FA will be better than ever next offseason (2011). This offseason's value is in the draft.

We certainly like our undersized LBs don't we?

hes kinda undersized, but for being 6'0, 235, thats not to small when it comes to bulk. again, not a flashy pick up, but it adds depth. we need players that can play on special teams too.

Everything I've read says he is 220-225 lbs.

"What a joke. Nothing against Jon but this is the Bucs big free agent signing."

I missed the headline that this was the big signing. Did the Bucs say that o .....oh wait, I think it was 2002SuperowlChamps. Come on man, it is a signing, not "the big signing"

What happened to Sean Jones, that's who I want. and no, I am not calling him a big signing.

on nfl.com, it has him at 235, it really doesnt matter though, still a guy that can help out with depth and special teams.

Hosstyle. you are on drugs. You'll take camp folder over a pro-bowl DE. I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself. It's not your money. Spend some Glazers.

For a poster to call other posters ignorant then, in the same breath, say that the Jon Alston signing is better than the Julius Peppers signing by the Bears...is well, incredible. I'm practically speechless.

But I would like to remind the poster that the idea that Peppers will "eat up tons of money" is not remotely relevant to next year as there will be no salary cap. It pays to pay attention (ie not be "ignorant" of the rules). All Peppers is doing for Chicago next year is taking their owners cash and improving their pass rush considerably.

But yeah, Alston is a much better signing, oh and GOBUCSGOBUCSGOBUCSGOBUCSGOBUCSGOBUCS!!! ;-)

Pretty good interview with Dominik on Buccaneers.com.

Only 2010 is uncapped at this point.

The guy ain't a pro bowl addition but for the haters claiming he's camp fodder your mistaken.

Went back and checked his Combine and pre draft skills-

"One of the most athletic linebackers in all of football, posting a 4.50 40-yd dash and 40" vertical leap at the 2006 NFL Combine. He also had a 10'04" broad jump. and bench-pressed 225 pounds 30 times."

Wasn't he a Bucs Best Bet or one of the picks in the final mock that PR put out or something. I seem to remember PR saying he fits well into the Bucs scheme, etc.

Warthog- you said depth is important it is if you have a good starting team which we don't have, now we have back ups for the back up players- awesome,
unfortunatley their are Tampa Fans on here that actually like this meaningless signing, are we that bad now that we like the signing of Alston which nobody on here knew existed before the signing- embarrased Buc Fan

bucburns813- you must be estactic he is 26 yrs old, what a player he must be.

Man....I was REALLY hoping we would get Akwasi Owusu-Ansah. He was off the radar completly just two months ago. He was like the 30th best CB on Scout.inc's board. I really thought he could be a steal for us.

Now he is ranked as the 12th best CB in the draft and expected to go in the 3rd! On top of that, he just ran a 4.3 at his pro day. I'm glad to see a guy I really like climb the boards, but dammit I wanted the Bucs to get him in the 5th or 6th!


For those that don't him, he is 6'1" 207lbs and ran a 4.3 forty. He played as CB in the IUP defense, which has him play like a safety most of the time. So he is a solid tackler and can really play at any position in our secondary. He was also the #1 kick return man in division II college football.

That's alot of value. Even though we'd have to use our 3rd instead of a 5th or 6th....I still hope we get this dude.

GO BUCS!

Good signing for special teams and some depth for sure. That's the one problem with great websites like pewter report that report every detail of an organization, some of the 'fans' get all up in arms over depth signings. Let's get Jones signed to a deal now!

Oh and for all those praising the signings done by Chicago the past two years we can all get together and laugh at them after the season when they still finish 3rd in their division and miss the playoffs :)

JDouble: Agree with you man Akwasi definetly has a lot of upside. I'd still rather us take McCourty or Ghee but wouldn't be upset if Akwasi slipped into the 4th and we took a chance either.

Did Jones Visit ? PR usually says when someone does .

Yea he did davdar....according to Stroud we are trying to strike a deal with him. Really hope that comes through.

From Rick Stroud.

Quote:
The Bucs also are working on a contract for Eagles safety Sean Jones, who concluded a visit with the team Friday.

sunrisejeff, Yeah McCourtney and Ghee might be better pure CBs, but with this guy you have someone that could develope into a starter at CB, FS, or SS. That's huge. Rheem is a secondary expert, so it would be upto him to coach him and decide what position he would be best suited for.

He also is an elite return man, so between him, Huggins, and what Stroughter showed last year...Peanut becomes expendable. I don't like wasting a roster spot on a guy that can ONLY return kicks. If we sign this guy we could try and trade Peanut for a late round pick. He has a probowl under his belt , so some team would probably want him.

He should obviously have been in division one. He looks like an NFL star playing with highschool kids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWyHc-KGp6c

Only thing signing Alston does is replace Will Allen as a special teams expert, nothing more. It's going to be a very long season again unless some draft day trades are made.

jongruden i luv you bro you speak the truth! every one else seems to have on pewter glasses. can't you people see this is another back up on a team of back ups!

I think everyone sees that neptune. What you don't seem to get, is we need better depth as well as starters. We are using this weak FA period to sign some young guys we hope can upgrade our depth, and then look for our starters thru the draft. That is the plan.

This guy is an upgrade over Matt McCoy or Adam Hayward, and that is all he is meant to be.

jdouble what you dont seem to understand is that this team needs talent impact players not more stagnant stiffs on the cheap

yeah this guy is really going to light things up!

If this guy is better than OLB Lee Robinson the team is improved. He ran a 4.4 at his combine workout for all of you posters impressed with numbers. Why some of you don't see improving the Special Teams as a plus is only because of your bias.

Ok I got the perfect Idea. Even though we all know the bucs are just starting there rebuilding process lets go out and sign Peppers, Vanden Bosh (since some of you all seem to think hes gonna help the lions so much) Rolle, Robinson, Dansby. Lets also sign TO to a huge mult year deal since alot of you dont give a dam about team chemistry. And on that note lets also trade away our 1st round draft pick for Marshall for the very same reason. Then give out our 3rd and 4th on Boldin. Lets throw in clayton to sweeten the deal (year thats very realistic). Then we all will be happy. The glazers would of spent there life savings so you couldnt bash them for being cheap anymore and our BUCS would be legitimate title contenders starting next year and all our troubles are gone..... Give me a F'n break some of you people are just absolute morons. Throwing money at big names assures us of absolutely nothing and its that same rediculous philosophy that has got the bucs in this disgusting situation that there in. The Glazers, Rah and Dom are doing this thing right. This is a good signing it adds quality depth to our team and is not meant to be a big named signing or a starter. Our starters will come in the draft hopefully or even after the draft when we have a better understanding of whats going on around the rest of the league for trade bait. The FO has said time and time again that we wont be big players in free agency and that we are concentrating on the draft and trades. But some of you still act so surprised that we havent signed a 'big name' guy and have given up on the season, Dom and Rah after only 1 friggen week of Free agency... its just pathetic.

I like the Alston signing. He's a good fit on the weakside behind Hayes. This year's free agent class is weak, the Bucs are treading lightly, as are most of the teams in the league. I'd rather see the team sign quality depth players than overspend on big name free agents.

JoeG31581- I think your name is Joe Dominick got it, I would stick up for my cheap clueless ass brother as well

I think we missed on a some free agents this year for sure (Burleson, Walter, and should have re-signed Bryant). A third round pick for Rhodes is something we should have pulled the trigger on as well. Outside of that every other FA was completely overpaid or over-aged. 56 million for Dunta Robinson! Your kidding right! He's coming off his worse year and has a sketchy knee. Peppers is 30 and takes entire games off. Kampman is 31 and has a bad knee. All great teams become great through the draft and use FA to add depth.

Looks like Sean Jones is going to visit the Titans on Monday then plans on making his decision after that visit between the Bucs and Titans. He'd be looking at a better chance to start here so let's hope he goes that route :)

Well I guess Gruden its a good thing that I, along with everyone else, could careless what you think. Your a waste of my time to argue or respond to... so with that being said... Im with you jeff, Tampa is a much nicer place to live than Tennessee and he would definately have a much better chance to start here so hopefully he makes the right decision and dawns the Red and Pewter next season.

It is a great concept to build through the draft and I am a strong supporter of that concept but, it does not hurt to try to bring in some middle to top level free agents either. This team is pretty young and is in desperate need of leadership. Get some guys like Merrriman that have that passion for the game to inspire and lead these young players.

Merriman is to risky at this point to give up a draft pick for... he just got over blowing out his knee and he also played upright in San Diego... he would have to adjust to putting his hand in the dirt and thats a completely different style to play. Theres just no telling how we would respond to that... not worth giving up draft picks for IMO.

build through the draft? hmmmm did we ever skip a draft?

With some of the picks Gruden/Allen decided on.. yes we did miss a few drafts if you combine all of the low round misses over thier tenure. The combination of those misses and the signing of over the hill Vets are the two major reasons we are having to start fresh.

There needs to be a steady balance of quality players coming in from both sides (F. Agency/Draft) to keep the ship upright. At best we brought in decent F/A's in the past but impossible to argue that there were some horrible misses in the draft. With that we were left top heavy and old and now we have to pick up the pieces and start over by concentrating on the draft to get those elite starters we need again. Get your Brooks, Sapp and Alstott then and only then bring in your key Vets and keep the top spinning on that tiny point with balance moving foward.

Every team out there has money but you cant buy a competitve team you have to have patience in building it and then constantly maintain it. Being shifty, greedy and cutting corners to get on top will leave you with nothing but broke.