Last offseason we invested a 1st rd pick and a lot of $$ to Revis and a 2nd round pick on Banks. JDub, "a couple" of corners in FA, seriously? I think you're setting yourself up for disappoinment there.I think they will roll with Melvin, Gorrer, Johnson, Gaitor and company again. If anything, maybe a later round draft pick, but not anyone I'd expect to contribute much in the near future
I think you have lowered your standards and expectations. As Lovie said, you use to expect a certain type of defensive football from the Buccaneers, but we've gotten away from that. It's time for the Bucs to be a relevant team again. You don't do that with one great CB and much of sub standard depth in your secondary. I expect us to sign Tillman and another mid tier CB in fre agency. Of the guys your named, I'll be surprised if more than one is back.
I don't see the Bucs on a big spending spree given Dominik left the Bucs in a moderate cap situation (not great). $17 mil was a great cap situation in 2007 but it is the year 2014 and $17 mil is peanuts compared to what other teams have (eg Raiders). So I think the Bucs go low key this free agency period and go bargain basement hunting.
Could be worse. The Cowboys are $25M over the cap. The Saints are $17M over the cap. And the Steelers are $11M over the cap. Yuck.At the opposite end the Raiders have just shy of $70M cap space and the Jags & Browns have about $55M. Yikes.If we cut the appropriate guys (Joseph, Koenen, Bowers, Carimi) we'll have around $30M.....which isn't amazing, but it is nice and puts us in the upper half of the league as far as cap space.
I expect the Bucs to go for the blue light specials this off season and focus on acquiring draft picks by trading off veterans that don't fit the new direction. I don't expect the big splash signings (it would be surprising) but I don't see it:Colt McCoyJames JonesDexter McClusterJosh CribbsDennis PittaAnthony CollinsGeoff SchwartzBrian OrakpoZack Bowman
Also.....I've been saying there is no way Jimmy Graham gets out of New Orleans.....but I didn't realize the Saints were that far over the cap. I am sure they will do everything they can to make the room to resign Graham, but I'm not positive they will be able to. They need to figure a way to cut about $23M just to get under the cap and have about $6M to sign their rookies. Then, after clearing $23M, they have to find another $10M to $12M to resign Graham? That's $35M they have to clear. That is a lot of magic.Not to mention they have a lot of other free agents including S Malcom Jenkins, LB Vilma, LB Haralson, WR Robert Meachem, and their kicker Shane Graham. We could be seeing the end of the Saints/Peyton/Brees era.
I see....DE Jared AllenC Alex MackCB Peanut TillmanKR Devin HesterS Major WrightLB Jonathan CasillasLB Dekoda WatsonLB Josh BynesWR Andre RobertsWR Dane SanzenbacherTE Andrew QuarlessAnd some old vet QB like Kitna or Henne or McCown or Hill or Grossman.Now that may look like a long list, but other than Mack and Allen....these aren't big expensive contracts. Tillman might be $5M per year, but the rest of those guys are $1M to $2M per year guys. As long as we cut the dead weight from our current roster, we should have enough room to make quite a few changes. This roster is littered with Rutgers crap. We have a lot of work to do in FA. Mack AND a top DE might be a stretch, but it really does need to happen. Those two signings are what will make the biggest difference next year.
Even though we won't be spending like we did lat year which is pretty hard to do every year I still expect us to be busy during FA, listening to Lovie he stated a few times to get the good players you have to spend the money, FA and the draft, so I do expect us to go after a few guys, this team is only a few pieces away from being legit if you ask me but needs a lot of depth on both sides of the ball.
Jared Allen averaged over $12M per year on his last contract. That made him the 3rd highest paid DE in the league. At age 32, what do you guys think he will demand? When the Bears cut Peppers....how much do you think he'll command? he's been averaging $14M a year, but he is almost 34 years old! He has to be reasonable.....right?Michael Johnson was franchised and made just under $12M this year. I think he's going to want to stay in the top 5 highest paid DEs....but he had just 3.5 sacks this year. No idea what his price will be.Hardy will be too much. I already know that. Dude will probably get a $14M/year from someone. Justin Tuck has been averaging $6.2M. He might make more sense. Or even Michael Bennett.
Don't think Allen will demand 12 mill but i'm suret it will cost some to get him, with Frazier here as a DC and the talent on this D I can see Allen putting us at the top of his list, give me any of those DE's and I am thrilled. I'd rather focus on D in FA so we can add to this offense.
Last offseason we invested a 1st rd pick and a lot of $$ to Revis and a 2nd round pick on Banks. JDub, "a couple" of corners in FA, seriously? I think you're setting yourself up for disappoinment there.I think they will roll with Melvin, Gorrer, Johnson, Gaitor and company again. If anything, maybe a later round draft pick, but not anyone I'd expect to contribute much in the near future
I think you have lowered your standards and expectations. As Lovie said, you use to expect a certain type of defensive football from the Buccaneers, but we've gotten away from that. It's time for the Bucs to be a relevant team again. You don't do that with one great CB and much of sub standard depth in your secondary. I expect us to sign Tillman and another mid tier CB in fre agency. Of the guys your named, I'll be surprised if more than one is back.
Standards not lowered, I agree the guys I named are not good, but I see them as serviceable. Expectations - Would like to see them address a lot more pressing areas of need than CB, including TE, WR, WR, DE, OG, QB.I will be thrilled if we sign Tillman, but I hope it's in addition to the positions I named, not in place of them.I believe I think more of Banks than you may. I really think he's going to be a solid solid player for us,
The top 5 Centers in the league average $7.4M per year.....so I think Mack should be our #1 target. For $8M a year he would do SO MUCH for our interior O-line. I think that is the best value signing for us and should be our highest priority. Then one of the top DEs.Then all the smaller contract supporting cast upgrades to replace the trash.
I am not sure if the Bucs go with a youth movement or a go with grizzled vets. But I do know that Lovie made it clear that he wants more athleticism on the roster. I do agree with that given the Bucs need to add a speedy DE, an athletic pass coverage LB, a speedy CB with range, an athletic nimble footed offensive linemen, and an quick burst slot WR. Cribbs, Hester, or McCluster should also be top priorities for the Bucs.
I don't know jack about half these guys, but what are the chances of the new regime liking even 25% of these guys? There might not be a lot of huge signings by the Bucs, but I think there will be a huge amount of smaller signings and roster turnover. TE Kyle AdamsCB Michael AdamsCB Marc AnthonyDE Marvin BookerDE Da'Quan BowersOT Gabe CarimiCB Deveron CarrOT Emmitt ClearyOT Jace DanielsDT Everette DawkinsWR Skye DawsonCB Bobby FelderOG Jason FosterCB Anthony GaitorLB Ka'Lial GlaudDT Gary GibsonCB Danny GorrerRB Michael HillDT David HunterCB Leonard JohnsonDT Derek LandriLB Danny LansanahFB Spencer LarsenOG Ted LarsenRB Brian LeonardDT Mathew MassifiloS Kelcie McCrayS Bradley DougaldOG Patrick OmemahWR Eric PageWR Chris OwusuWR Russell SheppardRB Michael SmithDE Scott SolomonTE Luke StockerWR Tommy STreeterS Keith TandyDE Daniel Teo'NiesamWR Tiquan Underwood
http://www.buccaneers.com/news/article-smith/Bucs-Sign-12-to-ReserveFutures-Contracts/ebc016eb-39dd-484b-bda8-14347c987a9a CB Anthony, OT Cleary, OL Daniels, DT Dawkins, CB Felder, OG Foster, DT Hunter, K Murray, QB Rodgers, LS Scales, P Schum, and WR StreeterThese guys were signed to future contracts on January 6th.Daniels, Rodgers and Streeter are the players that stand out. Rodgers is pretty much the default #2 which is a big hint the Bucs are going to bring a QB and bump down Rodgers to #3 in my estimation.RFA: Kyle Adams, Nate ByhamI suspect they bring back these guys as they are dirt cheap to re-sign and more bodies to the TE position.ERFA: Rainey, Carr, PaigeEven cheaper free agents to re-sign and bring back for another look. The rest of the free agents though on the other hand I don't see returning but you never know.
Besides Wright I hope we just rebuild the TE position, Stocker is worthless and the others are just blockers, draft a two way tight end to go with Wright. Marc Anthony CB is very high in our scouting department, so thats a name to keep an eye on, not sure about the others and what they offer to the team
Besides Wright I hope we just rebuild the TE position, Stocker is worthless and the others are just blockers, draft a two way tight end to go with Wright. Marc Anthony CB is very high in our scouting department, so thats a name to keep an eye on, not sure about the others and what they offer to the team
Yeah Carr and Anthony are also good fits for the defensive scheme that Frazier and Lovie will be running. But I like Rashan Melvin that much more to be honest.
The top 5 Centers in the league average $7.4M per year.....so I think Mack should be our #1 target. For $8M a year he would do SO MUCH for our interior O-line. I think that is the best value signing for us and should be our highest priority. Then one of the top DEs.Then all the smaller contract supporting cast upgrades to replace the trash.
Zuttah is way below that average and I think signing Mack and shifting Zuttah over to LG makes the most sense. You can save some cap space by cutting Carimi too.
