Maybe an unpopular opinion, but hear me out…
Sign former Eagles OC Brian Johnson. We wanted him last year but he stayed in Philly. I”m not sure that he was so bad, as his offense put up good numbers. He also has experience with Trask.
Let Evans and Mayfield walk. I’d love to keep them both, but they’re going to break the bank – someone will overpay for them. We will recoup high compensatory picks if they both leave.
Resign Winfield and Lavonte David to front loaded deals and take the cap hit this season.
Sign a cheap veteran QB on a prove-it deal like we did with Mayfield. Options are Russell Wilson, Taylor Heineke, Gardner Minshew, Mason Rudolph, Jimmy Garopolo, among others. Let them compete with Trask and see what Brian Johnson can do.
Draft the missing pieces we need – Edge rusher to pair with Diaby, C, OG, ILB, WR3, TE2, NCB, SS. These are not all premium positions so we might be able to fill all of these in the draft and UDFA.
Accept that we will struggle for one season while we set ourselves up for 2025. There are 2 HC spots left – Seattle is tied to Ravens DC Mike McDonald, and Washington is tied to Lions OC Ben Johnson. That means Todd Monken and Bobby Slowik could be available next season. There are good QBs in the 2025 draft including Texas Quinn Ewers and Colorado’s Shaddeur Sanders. Clear out the cap, and plan for 2025 and beyond. The core group is in place. The new coach can pick his QB and have money to spend in Free Agency.
let Evans and Mayfield walk and tank is essentially what you are suggesting
the Bucs had the opportunity to tank in 2023 season when they had all dead cap space and could have started a draft pick QB. There was never a better season to bite the bullet and suck.
Our Front office said nah...let's try with a guy that has potential who maybe just needs a change of scenery and look at that, it was our most "non-Brady" entertaining season since we won the Superbowl in 2002. Let that sink in.
your playbook is exactly what many wanted for the 2023 season and the front office saw we had alot of pieces from our Super bowl team. Not saying our front office tried in 2023 but they didn't necessarily tank either. They just bite the bullet on the cap and managed to win a division.
letting Evans and Mayfield walk would be terrible idea. good lord.
BadabingBucs, yeah I hear you. I don't want to lose either of them. I certainly didn't predict we would win as many games as we did this past season - I don't know many people who did. So, I think we got lucky with Mayfield and Canales. Are you willing to gamble again?
What if we resign Mayfield and he regresses like Geno Smith did after Canales left? What if another team offers Mayfield $40mm per season - are you willing to pay that?
I would hate to see Evans on another team - he's the offensive version of Derrick Brooks where you really want him to retire a Buc, but what is keeping him here? I know he's won a Super Bowl with us, but he realistically has 3-5 seasons left in him, and I'm not sure we are Superbowl ready inside that window. Wouldn't he be better off signing with KC, Baltimore, Houston, or another team? It's not just WE wanting him back, but HE needs to want to return.
I was trying to think outside the box - tank for one season and hope for the best. I appreciate your counter argument. That's the point of these message boards.
Like the theory, but too many working parts for it to be feasible.
you certainly bring up good points
i think no matter who the QB is, you need Evans back. and i think bringing back Mayfield helps us retain Mike.
the success the team saw this year was something Mike can get use to. I think it really depends on what he wants to do. I was worried would he want to play with Mahomes? Does he care more about his brand and life after football with a bigger market team like Dallas may help him there.
i think Mike wants to stay in Tampa and having a competent QB helps that case even if Bucs draft a QB high this year, which i dont think is likely, the fact that Mayfield will be back and Mike has good chemistry with, is a huge interest point to help maintain Mike who i am sure wants to keep his 1,000 yard streak alive.
as for Mayfield, yeah $40M would be way too much. I think $25-$30M 3 year deal is in the wheelhouse of what i think they should give him. He needs to show he can do it again. 1 season does not make or break a guy. I like what i saw but he needs to prove himself again next year.
not entirely sure Russell Wilson will be cheap. None of the other guys you listed would have this team buzzing like they did this past year.
see your outside the box thinking but i put the odds very low that the Bucs dont go all in on Mayfield, Evans, Winfield, David, and Mcclaughin as top FA priorities.
Fair points except in a world where NFL teams SELL tickets season by season (or maybe every two seasons ) Because of this teams are always selling a reason for fans to BUY, hope of success being the number one reason. This is one reason you dont often see a team openly tank for longer term benefit.
There are many moves a team COULD make but never will and one of them is to openly move on from a HOFer who has asked to come back (its why they do it!)
I think Brooks (a HOFer) just said sign them both (Mayfield and Evans) or move on from both, so not too far from your point.
Great thread and topic and ideas
Should read almost never, in terms of moving on from older Star players. It happens, even with Brooks sort of. In fact he raised “Father Time” about Evans recently
Mike Evans ain't going anywhere. I will wager $$$ on it
Jason Licht ain't letting his first pick as a GM out the door without getting a deal done.
Mike Evans ain't going anywhere. I will wager $$$ on it
Jason Licht ain't letting his first pick as a GM out the door without getting a deal done.
This seems true and even more so if they sign Mayfield.
Lots of great points. I know it would crush the fan base to lose a great one like Evans. I was just presenting another possibility.
Blayton Cigsby - you're right. Tickets would be a tough sell without Evans and Mayfield. But I don't expect sellouts unless the team wins ballgames - with or without those guys.
Badabing Bucs - I don't think we draft a QB high this year either...unless Glazers decide to fire Bowles now and hire a new HC. Bowles is on thin ice, and his future rides on wins. Additionally, I think a new HC (assuming we have a bad season) would want to draft his own QB. Now, if Bowles somehow wins a 3rd division title, the Glazers would have to extend his contract.
I’m, at this point, ALL IN on BALLERz, with that being said…
‘ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL-the Journey is the FUn part!!!!
But I’ll take BALLERz for A ThoUsand Trabec,…and S/words for a thousand as well Trabec-Tell your motha double’O’says-HellO Trabec-Buahwhahahaha!!!!
pls tell me at least one person gets the S/word reference…that’s a layup.
This sounds like the "soft tank" plan, because you're saying don't sign Evans and Mayfield. Soft tanking is what the Bucs were theoretically doing last year until Bowles selfishly screwed that up by going 9-8 with a playoff win preventing the Bucs from hiring a new coach. Of course it's up to Licht when it comes to the roster. I don't think he has any plans to soft tank. I think he wants to build on this year and win more than nine games. You can't sign Mason Rudolph, dump Evans and tell people you are planning on making a deep run in the playoffs. That's the goal. I'm not saying we will achieve it, just that if things go right it could happen.Maybe an unpopular opinion, but hear me out…
Sign former Eagles OC Brian Johnson. We wanted him last year but he stayed in Philly. I”m not sure that he was so bad, as his offense put up good numbers. He also has experience with Trask.Let Evans and Mayfield walk. I’d love to keep them both, but they’re going to break the bank – someone will overpay for them. We will recoup high compensatory picks if they both leave.
Resign Winfield and Lavonte David to front loaded deals and take the cap hit this season.
Sign a cheap veteran QB on a prove-it deal like we did with Mayfield. Options are Russell Wilson, Taylor Heineke, Gardner Minshew, Mason Rudolph, Jimmy Garopolo, among others. Let them compete with Trask and see what Brian Johnson can do.
Draft the missing pieces we need – Edge rusher to pair with Diaby, C, OG, ILB, WR3, TE2, NCB, SS. These are not all premium positions so we might be able to fill all of these in the draft and UDFA.Accept that we will struggle for one season while we set ourselves up for 2025. There are 2 HC spots left – Seattle is tied to Ravens DC Mike McDonald, and Washington is tied to Lions OC Ben Johnson. That means Todd Monken and Bobby Slowik could be available next season. There are good QBs in the 2025 draft including Texas Quinn Ewers and Colorado’s Shaddeur Sanders. Clear out the cap, and plan for 2025 and beyond. The core group is in place. The new coach can pick his QB and have money to spend in Free Agency.
Sign Evans and Mayfield, sprinkle in some more draft picks and lets go. It's going to be the Bucs and Atlanta vying for the NFC South title. The Saints still have cap problems and there's no way Canales can perform miracles in his first year at Carolina. We'll see, but there will be no soft tanking this year.
Considering Mike still has at least 2-3 top 15 seasons left in him, I don't let him go, but we do need to start looking at addressing the position in the draft. Letting Mayfield go would let us use the 25-30 million on an edge rusher or a top flight offensive lineman, allowing us to fill one, or potentially both, of those key holes in our team. I like Johnson, as he was doing fine until Siriani started going all nut job firing his DC and mucking with the offense. The Eagles scored 30+ points 8 times last year. Can't be all that bad, especially when you consider most of their bad games, offensively, coincided with the whole mess at the end of the season. I can only speculate what happened in that place, but I love it, because I hate the Eagles with a heat of a thousand suns. Bring in another vet QB on a low end deal, or draft a mid round QB and let that QB battle Trask for the starter spot next year and go from there. Since this makes the most since for the long term, Todd won't do it.
Your scenario is possible because there is a chance the Bucs can not resign all of their own free agents. It is possible Mayfield and Evans choose to leave from the Bucs organization.
If that unfolds the Bucs have cap space to address key areas with the extra cap space and sign a bridge veteran QB to compete with Trask.
Considering Mike still has at least 2-3 top 15 seasons left in him, I don't let him go, but we do need to start looking at addressing the position in the draft. Letting Mayfield go would let us use the 25-30 million on an edge rusher or a top flight offensive lineman, allowing us to fill one, or potentially both, of those key holes in our team. I like Johnson, as he was doing fine until Siriani started going all nut job firing his DC and mucking with the offense. The Eagles scored 30+ points 8 times last year. Can't be all that bad, especially when you consider most of their bad games, offensively, coincided with the whole mess at the end of the season. I can only speculate what happened in that place, but I love it, because I hate the Eagles with a heat of a thousand suns. Bring in another vet QB on a low end deal, or draft a mid round QB and let that QB battle Trask for the starter spot next year and go from there. Since this makes the most since for the long term, Todd won't do it.
letting Mayfield go likely means the end of Mike. Need to keep both but live in your fantasy land where you think Evans will re-up with the Bucs if they let Mayfield walk without replacing him with a similar or better QB and spoiler alert, it's not a QB currently on the roster.
