FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

The handiwork of Bucs general manager Jason Licht and director of football administration Mike Greenberg was on display in a recent article in the For The Win section of USAToday.com that listed the 2017 NFL Dead Money Winners And Losers. The Bucs have the fifth lowest dead cap money this season with $865,000 total with $535,000 of that belonging to former tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who was waived prior to Week 3 last year following a DUI arrest in Tampa.

Mike Greenberg and Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Oakland has the least dead cap money this year with just $55,000, while the Los Angeles Chargers have the most with $21.84 million with former offensive lineman Orlando Franklin occupying $8.3 million. Tampa Bay’s NFC South rival New Orleans is fourth on the list with $16.75 million in dead cap money with $3.6 million representing former cornerback Keenan Lewis.

Licht and Greenberg have done a tremendous job of keeping the Bucs out of salary cap trouble in their four years together, thanks in large part to Greenberg’s innovative way of structuring contracts that avoid using pro-rated signing bonuses that run through the length of player contracts that can haunt teams that cut those players early. Instead, Greenberg uses one- or two-year guaranteed salaries in place of signing bonuses, which creates a much more cap-friendly situation for Tampa Bay.

Of course with the Bucs having a great deal of players on rookie contracts in recent years it’s been much easier for Tampa Bay to navigate the salary cap waters and avoid some of the issues that more veteran teams like the New York Jets, Dallas and New Orleans have had to deal with. Greenberg’s salary cap wizardry will be put to the test as he and Licht work to re-sign three of the game’s best young talents over the next two years in wide receiver Mike Evans, quarterback Jameis Winston and middle linebacker Kwon Alexander – not to mention offensive linemen Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet.

However, Licht and Greenberg have been prepping for big contract extensions for those players for years and have a plan to avoid getting Tampa Bay into the salary cap mess that former general manager Rich McKay put the team in from 2003-07 with some ill-advised contract extensions following the team’s Super Bowl win in 2002.

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• While Tampa Bay’s young and talented linebacker corps got snubbed recently in an NFL Network story that listed its top 10 units, two of the Bucs linebackers made Pro Football Weekly’s list of the Top 10 Linebackers in the NFL. Pro Football Weekly listed Lavonte David seventh and Kwon Alexander ninth. The Bucs were one of three teams to have two players from the same team make the list. Carolina’s Luke Keuchly (first) and Thomas Davis (sixth), and Seattle’s Bobby Wagner (second) and K.J. Wright (10th) were the other tandems.

• Speaking of Bucs linebacker Lavonte David, he ranks awfully high on FootballOutsiders.com’s “defeats” list. A defeat, according to FootballOutsiders.com, is recorded when any of the following occurs: a tackle that results in a loss of yardage, including sacks; any play that results in a turnover, including tipped passes which are then intercepted; any tackle or tipped pass that leads to a stop on third or fourth down.

“Over the years, two names have regularly dominated the defeats leaderboard: Houston defensive end J.J. Watt and Tampa Bay linebacker Lavonte David,” writes FootballOutsiders.com. David was tied for second with Oakland’s Khalil Mack and Denver’s Von Miller for total defeats in 2016 with 29 total defeats plays (19 pass, 10 rush). Over the past four years, David has ranked fifth, first, second and second on the overall total defeats list.

Bucs LBs Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David – Photo by: Getty Images

Fellow Bucs linebacker Kwon Alexander was right behind, as he was tied for fifth with 28 total defeats plays (16 pass, 12 rush). Tampa Bay’s Gerald McCoy was tied for sixth among all defensive linemen with 17 total defeats (11 pass, 6 rush), while cornerback Brent Grimes, who led all NFL defensive backs with 24 pass breakups last year, was tied for eighth among cornerbacks on FootballOutsiders.com’s total defeats list with 17 (16 pass, 1 rush).

• And finally, if you are the victim of a car accident or a slip and fall situation and you want some sound legal advice, please call my attorney and good friend Jim Holliday of the Holliday Karatinos Law Firm. Holliday Karatinos Law Firm is the official law firm of PewterReport.com, and Holliday is a huge Bucs fan with a proven track record as one of the Tampa Bay area’s premier personal injury attorneys. Jim has helped former NFL athletes that have suffered from concussions with litigation, and he also is able to help any Bucs fan and PewterReport.com visitor with their personal injury case.

A lot of attorneys have their minions do their firm’s smaller cases and the clients never get to meet the lead attorney. That’s not the way they do business at Holliday Karatinos Law Firm, which has offices in Lutz just north of Tampa and Brooksville. Holliday is personally involved in every case, which is quite refreshing in this day and age. Visit Holliday Karatinos Law Firm online at HelpingInjuredPeople.com or call (813) 868-1887 for a free consultation with Holliday himself.