but I don't want to see Lavonte David playing for another team either.
I don't think many of you realize the salary cap hell the team is facing.....
Evans isn't past his prime. If the Bucs traded him, they'd have a lot fans that would rightfully pissed off. That translates to less money spent. If Evans wasn't playing well, that would be one thing. David was our highest rated defender. Still playing better than most LB's in the league, so give him another year and draft his replacement. Winning teams can keep draft excellent back-ups to grow behind aging stars and transition over without having to dump their start talent. There's more than one way to skin this cat.
If I were to trade anyone off this team that's worth picks, it would be White.
Pull the bandaid off and unload the big contracts of aging players - it'll be ugly for a few seasons
@tb-morgan they deferred so many contracts after our sb. This shouldn’t be a surprise.
our o line is top 10 if not top 5 when healthy.
trade Donovan smith. Cap savings and addition by subtraction. Too much of a liability with his penalties.
white could be a top 15 if not top 10 rb. Release (or keep) Fournette. Two top 25-30 rbs? Cool. Or cap savings we need.
evans + Godwin top 10 if not top 5 tandem. I’d put Jefferson/thielen waddle/hill chase/Higgins above them to name a few.
Vea is above average as is dean David Davis awj.
the cupboard is far from bare.
Any "window" we had just retired.
Pay off as much of the credit card possible, and get the team in a better position for the new HC and staff in 2024.
This is a business
You don’t trade fan favorite future HOF evans. Let him retire a buc. Same with resigning David until they totally drop off Ala brooks in 2009
that's what losing franchises do - that sentimental crap is for losers
ravens - ray Lewis, ed Reed
eagles - Brian dawkins, jason Kelce
Steelers - Big Ben, jerome bettis
giants - Strahan, manning
all four of these teams have won 2 super bowls (eagles pending) and all four have held onto fan favorites, greats who didn’t perform at the highest of levels until it was blatantly obvious - much like Bucs who won 2 and held onto brooks, barber and Alstott for entirety of careers
im not saying you can do that with all fan favorites but evans and David still performing at a high level. Would be foolish not to bring them back for next 2 years atleast
Edit: 2 super bowls in 2000s
Bucs don't need to unload the entire roster. Just make sure to lock up the young talent and toss the aging players that are not part of the battle plan for the next three years. D. Smith is an example of this and D. White is another example. Neither player has a shot of being here the next 2-3 years.
Fournette is a luxury you can not afford because you have White, and Vaughn under contract and can draft a RB on a cheaper rookie deal. This is always going to be a pass dominant offense. But to shift to a more balanced attack that means you need to save cap space at RB and use it to upgrade at guard via UFA or the draft.
ERFA like Delaney, and Leverett are near guaranteed to return. Also I do not see a reason why Gill will not be back unless he is still injured.
Roach, Gabbert, Stinnie, Wells, O'Connor, Nassib, Nelson, Perriman, and Miller should be able to be brought back to the fold. From that group only Miller may be offered more money but it is not likely so the Bucs can re up him on a hometown discount.
Now the real dilemma is what to do with L. David, Gholston, Dean, and Edwards?
.... or they could win the division next year. Firstly, There are 32 teams and one Superbowl to win. So if you do the math the average team will win a Superbowl every 32 years. So to be depressed that the Bucs don't appear to be Superbowl bound in 2023 frankly just shows that you are spoiled because of Brady.
The division will likely have the worst set of starting quarterbacks in NFL history, unless one of them gets involved in the free agent frenzy for the couple of decent QBs that will be available. You think the Bucs are stuck at QB? Well which team are you envious of?
NFC South QBs:
Bucs: Kyle Trask
Falcons: Desmond Ridder, Logan Woodside. (Marcus Mariota will cut).
Panthers: Matt Corral (Sam Darnold is a FA)
Saints: Jameis Winston, Jake Luton. (Andy Dalton is a FA).
The Bucs have as talented a roster as any of the NFC South and could easily go 9-8 or 10-7 and win the division again. So if that doesn't give you at least some hope, then I suggest you are just spoiled. That's understandable, and a lot of Bucs fans are in that same boat, but nevertheless spoiled you are. So the best thing to do for all involved is to put the Brady Bucs in the rear view mirror and try to look at some of positives which are we will have a new OC and some pretty good players still on the roster next year on both sides of the ball.
You must be smoking some really good stuff if you think this team still has a talented roster. This team was a shell of what it was two seasons ago this past season and after all the moves that will be made just to get under the cap combined with god awful drafting the past few seasons this team will be competing for the #1 pick in 24 next season.
@kingtrojan draft is hard for any team.
it all starts and ends with the QB position.
if you find a franchise qb a la mahomes burrow Allen Herbert makes everything else so much easier.
I’ll be the first to tell you Brady is the only reason we got our 2nd sb. The Brady effect. An elite qb attracts other players that’ll sign team friendly deals to win a sb.
any team who wins believes they can win a 2nd. Hasn’t happened since the 03-04 patriots. Winning a sb is hard. Back to back? Even harder.
no team hits even half of their draft picks. No gm. No coach. most would be happy with 2-3 above average starters in any given draft.
such a crapshoot. No matter where you pick.
it all starts and ends with the QB position.
Go back and watch the film of the 2020 SB and see how well Mahomes played when he lost 2 offensive linemen just prior to that SB. Even the most elusive of QB's need an offensive line that can both run block and pass block. The Buc's have neither.
There's 5 players that need to go:
Jensen - we already have Hainsey. Big $ savings if we trade him. Alternatively keep him and slide Hainsey to guard.
Smith - this dude better be gone. Cut, trade, retire... I don't care
Gage - luxury to have, even though I like him and felt like aside from the injuries he delivered.
Succop - dude might have less range than Aguayo
White - trade him for a 3rd and move on. He sucks.
Then we will naturally lose via FA:
Dean, LVD, Brady, Gabbert, Hicks, Julio, Bunting, Neal, Rudolph, Edwards, Scotty
Re-sign
Stinne, Leverett, Nelson, Ryan
There's 5 players that need to go:
Jensen - we already have Hainsey. Big $ savings if we trade him. Alternatively keep him and slide Hainsey to guard.
Smith - this dude better be gone. Cut, trade, retire... I don't care
Gage - luxury to have, even though I like him and felt like aside from the injuries he delivered.
Succop - dude might have less range than Aguayo
White - trade him for a 3rd and move on. He sucks.
Then we will naturally lose via FA:
Dean, LVD, Brady, Gabbert, Hicks, Julio, Bunting, Neal, Rudolph, Edwards, Scotty
Re-sign
Stinne, Leverett, Nelson, Ryan
Agreed with Jensen. The drop off from Jensen to Hainsey isn't that big. The bigger drop off was obviously at guard and LT.
Agreed with Smith.
Agreed with Gage. Like Fournette he is a luxury and he doesn't fit into what the Bucs want to do moving forward anyways aka balanced offensive attack.
Agreed with Succup. Can upgrade here with a cheaper vet or UDFA rookie.
Agreed with White. He can be replaced with a third round LB that can play three downs.
LVD, Scotty and Gabbert I think can be retained. Edwards is hard to pay when you need to re-sign Winfield at some point soon in the near future.
Stinnie, Leverett, Nelson and Ryan should be doable as re-signings.
Forgot about Fournette. He's gotta go too. Trade, cut... I don't care.
I'd love to make LVD retire a Buc but I don't see how we make that work
Fournette doesn't help this team moving forward. No point in having him with the team. Plus that cap space can be used to upgrade the interior OL instead. White with a drafted RB and Vaughn is more than enough at RB.
LVD I think the Bucs can re-sign to stay a Buc for life but it will require the Bucs sacrifice something on offense IMO (eg Gage). The cap saving from Gage isn't that much but if that extra 2 mill freed up keeps LVD a Buc I think the Bucs FO pull the trigger. WR3 and a RB like Fournette are luxuries for teams in Super Bowl windows and the Bucs are way past that window.
