For a bunch of hardcore football fans most here seem to really have a strange recall of 2022. Its all the more strange if you are one who (rightfully) criticizes Leftwich for "not be able to adjust" because the OPERATIVE word there is ADJUST.
and if you quote the Bucs March 2022 ("Brady is back") SB odds how about everything that happens after that . .. MOST NOTABLY . . . Gronkowski. This is a fan write up discussing that issue in JUNE (not the pat of missing Gronkowski AND Godwin):
Is Buccaneers Need for Rob Gronkowski Return Being Understated?
On top of everything Chadiha lays out in support of this claim, Brady threw for over 300 yards in just one of the four games Gronk missed last season after being injured in the loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
With Gronk, Brady went over 300 in eight of those 13 contests. A much better ratio than without him.
Two of those five sub-300 yard days for Brady came without star receiver Chris Godwin on the field after suffering a torn ACL just three minutes into the second quarter in Week 14, if you count that game among them.
With Godwin still on the mend, playing without both he and Gronkowski would certainly present a challenge for Brady and the Buccaneers' offense as they try to get early wins while facing an opening quarter of the season tougher than any other team in the league.
This fact alone certainly ramps up some of the pressure, and pushes the return of Gronk from want, to need"
To JBEARS point on the odds, if you look at maybe week four or 5 odds, after the Packer game I bet you see a BIG change.
The article above doesn't even account for Gronk's BLOCKING. If you take BOTH Gronkowski and Godwin our of the Buccaneer offense . . . and you cant run . . . the offense is dead . . just as we saw. Teams not having to commit to stopping our run means deep shell defenses that kill Evans
You're not going to make a successful argument defending the Jensen contract.
The dark horse in this argument is the Brady effect and input he had into it.
This is why I said JC's posts depart from reality.
Once Brady says he is coming back (and the team decides to sell 2 year season tix commitments) . . they are ABSOLUTELY going to re-sign their SUPER BOWL WINNING CENTER
JC's focus is money and value of a contract, the team is selling "we are going for a SB again"
If Jensen coming back was make or break for Brady then shame on him.
Not arguing that.
But, you have to admit, it could be a plausible reason as to why they brought him back.
I mean, they re-signed him literally hours after Brady announced he was returning.
1. Bucs still had Stinnie at this point. He played just fine in the Super Bowl run.
The Bucs were never going to trot out three new starters, with at least two of those being first-year starters, among the interior OL with Brady returning. Brady had quite a bit of input on whether Jensen returned or not. You can take your agenda up with him, I suppose.
2. They obviously knew they were going to spend a premium pick on iOL.
To compete with Hainsey/Stinney at LG, sure. Not to start right away.
3. Leverett stepped in and played well. He's been on the team 3 years, they had to know he was good.
They had Leverett behind Hainsey/Stinney/Goedeke at LG. They clearly didn't think very much of him.
You're not going to make a successful argument defending the Jensen contract.
I'm aware any argument with you regarding Jensen (and other players you are biased for or against) with facts, reason, and logic won't go very far. I'm very aware.
You're not going to make a successful argument defending the Jensen contract.
The dark horse in this argument is the Brady effect and input he had into it.
This is why I said JC's posts depart from reality.
Once Brady says he is coming back (and the team decides to sell 2 year season tix commitments) . . they are ABSOLUTELY going to re-sign their SUPER BOWL WINNING CENTER
JC's focus is money and value of a contract, the team is selling "we are going for a SB again"
Again, the mistake isn't spending money. The mistake is signing Jensen for 5 years, $41.5M when we have equivalent players that are younger and cheaper already on the roster and we don't have pass rushers.
The Jensen hype shows how easily people fall for bullshit. Leverett is actually a more skilled version of Jensen that plays with the same tenacity minus the penalties and 99% of Buc fans think he needs to be replaced. Ignorance.
That sounds like a plan, but it still puts the Bucs way over the salary cap in 2024 and 2025. We will all have a better idea what the Bucs plan to do on March 15th when the Bucs have to be under the salary cap. I would not want to be in Lichts shoes right now.That is all in the past and the Bucs can't do anything to change the contracts that have already been signed.And it's not hindsight.
of course it is and its dishonest hindsight at that
all one has to do is look at the timeline
The Bucs finish 2021 in January of 2022 with a last second field goal upset Divisional playoff loss.
They have 9 Pro Bowlers and 2 all-Pros. So OF COURSE if Brady is staying you keep the team together as much as possible
Antonio Byron already gone. Tom Brady retires in February. Marpet retires in February. Gronk is already believed to be retiring. Arians already believed to be on his way out
The team knowns more internally then all these PUBLIC events described above. The team is already going into rebuild mode as the 2021 season ends
INSTEAD . . Brady reverses ground on March 14th. The team has to turn it all around (as Arians actually retires).
"Brady's announcement triggered a flurry of free agent signings, re-signings, and restructuring, including Chris Godwin, Leonard Fournette, Shaq Mason, Russell Gage, Carlton Davis, Ryan Jensen, Julio Jones and others."
SO THE REASON YOURE PLAYING MONOPOLY MONEY GM . . with hindsight . . is that in REAL TIME IN THE REAL WORLD the Bucs did exactly what one would expect when Brady made the reversal. They kept the existing coaching staff and tried again to re-sign keep players including OF COURSE the CENTER
Doing "exactly what one would expect" got them 8-9 and $55M over the salary cap. Maybe that's what YOU would expect but I wanted a different direction and was vocal about it. Got ganged up on debates like usual and after the results are in I am once again correct. The Bucs are in cap hell because of stupid, preventable signings after they won their championship.
Barrett- For years I proved why his contract would flop and how the Bucs best option was to keep tagging him and trade him. You don't pay pass rushers that only produce in contract years. Now it's the worst contract on the team.
Jensen- Was an eye sore of a contract since he signed it. Bucs actually make a smart move and draft his replacement a year early. Contract expires and Bucs for some stupid ass reason re up him and the contract had a negative ROI.
White 5th year option- Dumb pick, dumb option.
Gage- Instead of trying to replace Scotty Miller they should have just maybe PLAYED Scotty Miller.
Without these 4 dumbass contracts on the books the Bucs would actually be under the salary cap right now. Add the savings from cutting Smith, Fournette, Brate, Succop and the Bucs would be $25M under the cap right now and we're talking about Derek Carr or Aaron Rodgers and not our dumbass GM talking up Kyle Trask.
Should the Bucs try to resolve the cap hell they are in next season or try to soften the cap problem by stretching it out over several years by restructuring contracts?
If you're looking for a plan that will fix the cap within 2 years.
1. Extend Mike Evans. Get his cap number down from 23.7 to about 13. Savings = $10.7M
2. Release Donovan Smith with a 6/1 designation. Savings = $15.2M
3. Release Ryan Jensen with a 6/1 designation. Savings = $3.5M
4. Release Russell Gage with a 6/1 designation. Savings = $5M
5. Trade Devin White. Savings = $11.7M
6. Release Shaq Mason with a 6/1 designation. Savings = $8.5M
7. Release Leonard Fournette with a 6/1 designation. Savings = $5M
8. Release Cam Brate with a 6/1 designation. Savings = $4M
9. Release Rya Succop. Savings = $3.75M
The good news this is a cap savings of $67.4M, giving the Bucs about $12M of cap space to operate. Bad news is it adds $21.3M of dead money into 2024.
NO BETTER EXAMPLE OF THE TOTAL DISCONNECT FROM REALITY:
JC - "If Jensen coming back was make or break for Brady then shame on him."
:-)
You're not going to make a successful argument defending the Jensen contract.
The dark horse in this argument is the Brady effect and input he had into it.
This is why I said JC's posts depart from reality.
Once Brady says he is coming back (and the team decides to sell 2 year season tix commitments) . . they are ABSOLUTELY going to re-sign their SUPER BOWL WINNING CENTER
JC's focus is money and value of a contract, the team is selling "we are going for a SB again"
Again, the mistake isn't spending money. The mistake is signing Jensen for 5 years, $41.5M when we have equivalent players that are younger and cheaper already on the roster and we don't have pass rushers.
The Jensen hype shows how easily people fall for bullshit. Leverett is actually a more skilled version of Jensen that plays with the same tenacity minus the penalties and 99% of Buc fans think he needs to be replaced. Ignorance.
Also JC - -- "If Jensen coming back was make or break for Brady then shame on him."
AND JC EVEN DOUBLES DOWN WITH THIS FROM MONOPLY LAND GM :
"The mistake is signing Jensen for 5 years, $41.5M when we have equivalent players that are younger and cheaper already "
In 2022, JC is about money management when the Bucs are about winning another super bowl.
Imagine the BUCS not signing Jensen AFTER Brady announces his return
it's not hindsight saying that we shouldn't have tried to win in 2022 after seeing the abortion of a season that it was? that is the exact definition of hindsight lmao
we were coming off back to back years of a Superbowl, followed by franchise high win season with Brady playing at MVP caliber levels in both years. He comes out of retirement and while we lost some pieces - AB, Gronk, Marpet; Gronk was still on the bubble at the time 2022 free agency was going on. We had the second highest odds to win superbowl per Vegas so nobody saw this coming except for "Debatable Dan, Captain hindsight" nobody likes to talk to at the company happy hours posters here...
The error in your thinking is that you believe signing Jensen and Gage is okay because they were "trying to win". The reality is that A. Neither player was worth their contract. B. We didn't even need them because we already had Hainsey and Miller. C. Jensen and Gage didn't improve the 2022 Buccaneers by even 1%.
Instead of pouring money into Jensen and Gage they should have loaded up on contract year pass rushers with + traits like I've been saying for fucking 10 years.
i agree with you on Gage. i never liked that signing. I was actually more excited about Julio Jones who also didnt pan out. Miller has been in the doghouse for most of the last 2 years so its likely management didnt view him as a reasonable #3.
as for Jensen, i disagree with you there. The Bucs lost their two starting guards. They replaced one with a veteran presence. But you are talking a starting offensive line that was one of the best in the league in 2020 and 2021 and was now in 2022 in hindsight one of the reasons we had a losing record in 2022. Had the Bucs had Jensen, i feel they would have performed better with Hainsey winning the G spot. They basically only had 2 returning starters from the stalwart line so the thought behind Jensen made total sense to me. As a matter of fact, Had Brady known Jensen would have missed the entire year because of an idiot rookie (Logan Hall) or that Gronk would have ultimately retired, he may not have come back at all...if only he had the....hindsight!
Imagine the Bucs not signing Jensen but signing Haason Reddick instead. You know, the guy who plays a premium position and was drafted in the 1st round by BRUCE ARIANS!!!!
The most ardent Brady supporters here say things now like Brady was still great even if not up to his own standards
"The Buccaneers saw their odds to win the Super Bowl at Caesars Sportsbook drop from 20-1 entering Sunday to 10-1 following the news of Brady's return. Their odds to win the NFC went from 10-1 down to 5-1, just behind the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers.
Brady now also has the third-lowest odds to win the 2022 NFL MVP behind Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers as he dropped from 45-1 to 9-1 following the announcement. Odds involving Brady and the Bucs were down for more than an hour while Caesars Sportsbook worked through the news, along with booking NCAA tournament lines"
Imagine the Bucs not signing Jensen but signing Haason Reddick instead. You know, the guy who plays a premium position and was drafted in the 1st round by BRUCE ARIANS!!!!
earlier you recoiled at the idea of "hindsight." LOL
During the season almost every poster here resisted talk of the defenses performance and certainly before the season we were going to win it all because of all the talent on offense, most notably the GOAT
Jensen was signed (I think) within a day of Brady saying he was coming back. OF COURSE in the real world yu are going to re-sign PRO BOWL SUPER BOWL WINNING CENTER for Tom Brady. You're not going to go "cheap rookie."
as for Jensen, i disagree with you there. The Bucs lost their two starting guards. They replaced one with a veteran presence. But you are talking a starting offensive line that was one of the best in the league in 2020 and 2021 and was now in 2022 in hindsight one of the reasons we had a losing record in 2022. Had the Bucs had Jensen, i feel they would have performed better with Hainsey winning the G spot. They basically only had 2 returning starters from the stalwart line so the thought behind Jensen made total sense to me. As a matter of fact, Had Brady known Jensen would have missed the entire year because of an idiot rookie (Logan Hall) or that Gronk would have ultimately retired, he may not have come back at all...if only he had the....hindsight!
TRUTH
especially the part in bold
The most ardent Brady supporters here say things now like Brady was still great even if not up to his own standards
"The Buccaneers saw their odds to win the Super Bowl at Caesars Sportsbook drop from 20-1 entering Sunday to 10-1 following the news of Brady's return. Their odds to win the NFC went from 10-1 down to 5-1, just behind the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers.
Brady now also has the third-lowest odds to win the 2022 NFL MVP behind Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers as he dropped from 45-1 to 9-1 following the announcement. Odds involving Brady and the Bucs were down for more than an hour while Caesars Sportsbook worked through the news, along with booking NCAA tournament lines"
Daniel Jones threw 15 touchdown passes and is looking for $45m per year.
While Brady was not the Brady we expect, do you think the Bucs QB in 2023 tops 25 touchdowns? if you do, you are full of shit.
Imagine the Bucs not signing Jensen but signing Haason Reddick instead. You know, the guy who plays a premium position and was drafted in the 1st round by BRUCE ARIANS!!!!
earlier you recoiled at the idea of "hindsight." LOL
During the season almost every poster here resisted talk of the defenses performance and certainly before the season we were going to win it all because of all the talent on offense, most notably the GOAT
Jensen was signed (I think) within a day of Brady saying he was coming back. OF COURSE in the real world yu are going to re-sign PRO BOWL SUPER BOWL WINNING CENTER for Tom Brady. You're not going to go "cheap rookie."
It's only hindsight for you. I called this a year ago.
