SR’s Fab 5: Bucs Facing Salary Cap Crunch; Vea More Than A NT

Good article. Three quick thoughts.
1. I may have been wrong about Vea. He just might have been worth the draft pick.
2. Bucs should cut everybody on the list above to make more cap room. Except Brate. I like Brate. He’s worth the money and gives the Bucs a two pronged TE attack.
3. The real problem with this team is the Glazers. They need to hire a president of football operations, step back, and let that person run the team.

Great article scott. I would cut every guy you have on that list, although seeing the trade market for gerald would be better. Cutting these guys will definitely put us in a whole in spots, but you cant keep bodies just to have them. Fortunately, this is a very deep and good d tackle class. Pairing someone like ed Oliver with vea would be soooooo good. Although if we dont keep donavan, LT will have to be a priority. I’d franchise donavan and hibe him a one year prove it deal as you guys said on the podcast. I wouldnt sign kwon unless he wants a discount. Coming off of ACL surgery and he wasnt even playing well to that point. Ofcourse this depends on beckwiths health. If hes healthy hes your middle linebacker.
In terms of coaching, this will be tough ,but no way in hell you trade for Harbaugh. Great coach but we arent in the position to give away picks. We could do it with Gruden because we had a superbowl roster. We dont have that now. Leach is interesting but I wont pretend to have any idea. I’d love his brother Jim, but I doubt he leaving Michigan.
Vea has proven me wrong recently and I’m happy to admit it. Hes played great the last few weeks and he needs to continue, but I don’t think hes a three technique either. Hes a nosetackle.
Its exciting to see who our new coach, and hopefully new GM will be. It’s all we got as bucs fans at this point .

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

This was a very good read. I think everyone should be cut except McCoy and Brate. I know McCoy’s stats have dipped but he’s still been effective and disruptive which does not show up on the stat sheet. I really want McCoy to stay and make the playoffs with the Bucs because it would be a damn shame if they cut him and he goes somewhere and goes to the playoffs with a different team and get a ring after leaving the Bucs. I think you also keep Brate to create mismatches for defenses wit OJ and Brate. As for the draft I strongly suggest we draft OL in the 1st or even the 2nd round. We could also draft a CB in either round since Brent Grimes has already checked out and won’t be back next year. I’m also kind of unsure about what to do as far as Koetter. On one hand I’m tired of the Bucs losing close games, stupid mistakes, being outcoached, and being unprepared. On the other hand we cannot keep firing coaches every 2/3 and expect success, we did get rid of our achilles heel (Mike Smith) and our defense has improved since his firing. So either choice to fire Koetter or keep Koetter I won’t be upset or surprised at.

Great article. I think everyone on the list needs to go. I worry a bit with McCoy not being here may hurt Vea and he may get doubled more. I guess JPP and others will have to step up to fill in. O get it from a financial standpoint it makes sense and as much as I respect Gerald as a Person and player I really would like to see a nasty edge on this defense and lone he just never brought.

Pete always good to see when someone admits they were wrong. Shows character. So many posters on here will never admit it and look so foolish still trying to sell a narrative that only they believe to be true.

I don’t see Ravens letting Harbaugh go. I really want the Glazers to make the right decision this time. We fans have had so much garbage to put up with now over 10 years. Time for the curse to end! I know the Galzers don’t enjoy spending millions and millions and not having a relevant team.

Go Bucs! We have a good core of talent. Go ahead and laugh but I really believe 100% this team is close to being a playoff team. The right head coach, Couple tweaks to O line, and some safety and CB help in draft or free agency and I do believe they will be there.

So pass on Eric Reid because of his outspoken political view, but hire Mike Leach despite his outspoken political view? OK.

See if I understand this article correctly the pewter boys want to keep Winston give him 21 million and get rid of half a dozen of the best players on the team to do that they also think it’s a good idea to put jpp Veta Vito and Carl Nassib to intimidate the offense into not running at them can only imagine how that will work out I next they will suggest Hugh Jackson for coach

Great article. Trying to trade McCoy or Brate is good idea not sure I would just cut them. Although McCoy should take a pay cut to stay. I have no idea what direction the Glazers will go when hiring a head coach. I just hope they are aggressive on both sides of the ball. I want to see an offense that has a weekly game plan to attack the opposing defense not just run the same old plays ever week. And a defense that plays aggressive and blitzes. Oh, and can we please draft some aggressive playmakers on defense and not just “ tough guys” as Licht liked to call them.

Buc ass, those half dozen players have won a total of 10 games in two years. Like it, or not the Bucs aren’t going to give up on a 25 year old Q.B. who was the 1st over all pick in the draft. They can move on from McCoy who’s been here 9 years, through many coaches, and hasn’t gotten close to helping turn this losing franchise around. With all due respect Scott, I’ll take Buckner’s view of Vea over yours, and Licht’s. Where do you come off thinking you know more then Buckner about defensive linemen? I hope the next coaching staff switches to a three four scheme where Vea could become a pro bowler. I wouldn’t franchise, or extend D.Smith, he sucks. I’d use my first pick on a L.T.. We have to much money invested in Marpet, and Jensen next year, need a rookie friendly contract at L.T. the next four years. Kwon is not worth 8 to 10 million a year either, especially coming off an ACL. Dotson’s time is up too. We’ll have plenty of cap space after we cut all the big money players that have produced NOTHING!!

I don’t see one player on that list any team would trade for at their current salary. Not even Brate and I like his play. Smith possible because $2 million for a serviceable G/C is a good bargain.Once again, that speaks volumes about Licht.

Mike Leach would be an interesting hire. I wouldn’t be upset if he’s the guy.

However, I do think Chris Petersen from the UW is an even more promising head coach with an outstanding offensive background as well as being a winner everywhere he’s been, and by a large margin. His overall record as a head coach is an amazing 139-32, and that’s while coaching two programs that aren’t exactly known as powerhouses in Boise State and the University of Washington.

At both schools he took programs and instilled a very strong winning culture as well as consistent offensive success. He’s won a couple of BCS bowl games (Fiesta Bowl both times, beating Big 12 champ Oklahoma in one of them after leading Boise State to an undefeated season).

He’s the fastest FBS head coach OF ALL TIME to reach 100 wins. He did it in only 117 games. And this wasn’t at some powerhouse with huge recruiting advantages or at a school with total domination of their region with little competition. This was at middle-of-the-pack programs Boise State and UW. He’s led the UW to the Pac 12 championship two of the last three years and will be playing Ohio State this year in the Rose Bowl.

You want a winner? A guy who leads prolific offenses year after year? A guy who’s won coaching awards, BCS bowl games, conference championships and who, again, does nothing but win, win, win? I’ve looked a a lot of the possibilities for the Bucs next head coach and I’m 100% convinced that Petersen is absolutely the best hire the Glazers could make.

I kind of find it funny that Scott would be wary of Mike McCarthy (which he should be) despite his long and successful resume in GB given the past decade where Scott has gone after every coach in Tampa because there isn’t more success and has never shown an appetite to go after the people in charge of building the roster.

So after 11 seasons of missing the playoffs with a revolving door of coaches we now consider that maybe a singular talent like Aaron Rodgers plays a bigger role than a specific play call or timeout the head coach makes during the course of the game? Or that GB fans probably have little clue who their o-line coach is let alone blame them for their losses?

That maybe the biggest task in football is finding the guys to build around like HOFers Sapp/Brooks and not going after the head coach of a below average roster each week because players like Caleb Benenoch or Ryan Smith aren’t going to be “coached up” into being good football players?

No thanks to Leach as H.C.. He can get away with talking about college players like that, but that shit wouldn’t fly in a pro locker room. The clip of him talking about marriage was funny, but we’re looking for a H.C. Scott, not a lounge act. I really can’t believe Scott you’d want the Bucs to hire an old college coach who’s more of a comedian then he would be a leader of men. I’ll take an up, and comer Coordinator like Richard, LeFluer, or Beenimy.

Donovan Smith is a bottom tier left tackle and should paid like it. If someone wants to pay him like he is decent then let another team make that mistake.

Well said comments about MeShawn Jackson and Brett Grimes although my feelings about Grimes don’t run as strong because he did give us tow good years.
If someone offered me $8 million to play one more year I would probably do it too even if my heart wasn’t in it. That falls on Licht.
What galls me about Jackson is that for too long the media made it seem like it was Winston’s fault they weren’t connecting until on one TV broadcast a bright analyst observed that Winston didn’t seem to be having that problem with his other receivers.
Then a week or two ago the Times reveals that Jackson was a giant pain in the ass last year. Missing meetings, falling asleep in them, or arriving to them late. Finally he throws a genuine Whitney Houston like diva fit at the end of the season.
I simply can’t believe all of this was unknown by the media until two weeks ago.

The simple reason that Winston can’t connect with Jackson on many occassions is he runs bad routes and doesn’t know where he should be half the time.

Remember Winston on the sidelines talking to Jackson on Hard Knocks about Evans and he told him, “the reason I throw to him a lot is he is always where he is suppossed to be.”
That should have spoken volumes to anyone right then and there.

I really like Leach as a coach and am a huge fan of his. I don’t know if he’d make a good NFL coach, but I hope so. He certainly would be fun to watch, I just don’t know if he has the leadership traits required. And can he hire a good staff?

I would love to watch it though.

It’s interesting that the Bucs can create cap room, but that also creates a lot of holes on a talent starved team. Not counting backups, you’re opening up a bunch of holes at RT, DT, NT, TE2 plus losing talent in Djax and depth along the DL.

That might be the right move (I thik so) but it raises the question of if Licht has done such a good job how can you cut so many of his signings?

And as for Sweezy: Sweezy has been trash his entire career. He got into the Pro Bowl on name alone. He’s not a different player, he’s just playing on a popular team with a reputation. I’ve watched him and he’s trash and PFF has him as their 73rd ranked guard.

Wow. Great article Scott. I don’t always agree with your views but I do always enjoy reading your material whether I agree with it or not and this article was one of the best I’ve ever read from you.

Here are my few notes.
1. Vea is going to be a very good player for a long time. Like you’ve mentioned before, Vita hasn’t even played 5 full seasons of defensive line in his LIFE! He is just learning and will continue to get better.

2. I am a big UW fan. And even with saying that I would be all in on a Mike Leach hire! Just imagine what he could do with the offensive weapons we have. I also love the attitude he brings to his programs and in return the attitudes his teams play with. If you don’t know anything about WAZZU and Pullman, WA then let me tell you how hard it is to turn that program into a winner. Nobody in their right mind wants to live in that town for 4 years and play football unless drinking beer and shooting coyotes is the only thing you care about. That has to be one of the toughest power 5 campuses to recruit too.

Even though I am a UW fan I think I’m not being a homer when I say Chris Peterson would be a homerun higher too. I hope the glazers look for a new coach who can bring a winning and accountable atmosphere to the bucs. Tampa needs a culture change more than anything right now.

3. Lastly, I would probably cut all of those players on your list as well. The only one’s I would be hesitant about are Brate ( Largely due to the fact that OJ has been injured every year so far) and Gholsotn (since his price tag is probably cheaper than most DL on the open FA market and having a versatile DL on your bench is pretty valuable)

This was a very good Fab 5. I agree with all of the cuts with exception of 2. I think we should simply re-structure GMCs contract. We need to improve the DL but not at the expense of creating a gaping hole. If he’s willing to re-structure which he should then keeping at around 7-8M makes a lot more sense. We still have JPP so going full throttle at a youth movement wont best utilize him. I agree that drafting someone like Oliver would be ideal but I still think a rotation of Vea, Oliver and GMC should be the way to approach next season. Brate I would only re-structure/cut if we needed the money. But just cutting him for the sake of freeing up cap space that we wont use I am not for. He is reliable and has great chemistry with Jameis. Next point is that I actually like the way Buckner phrased it about Vea. Most people, me included, don’t think he’s worth the pick so why put unnecessary expectations on him. Buckner would put enormous sized pressure on this kid if he said he could be on the greats bc immediately ppl will draw Sapp comparisons even though they are different types of players. I’m glad we have coaches that call it what it is and don’t anoint players based on what they think. That stupidity is the reason we haven’t heard a realistic statement about the OL until this year now that the end is near. I’ve heard Warhop, Licht and Koetter praise this OL so much I could vomit over the past few years. Nobody except them have seen this dominant/elite play that they talk about when it comes to these guys. That delusion is why in 5 years we have 1 above average player on the OL in Marpet. Donovan Smith is either playing out of position or simply doesn’t have the feet to play LT. Dotson is a solid pass blocking RT but should have been upgraded at this point. Jansen is decent but certainly not worth the most money in football. Hell he’s not even a top 3 C in the division. So yes a realistic set of eyes to me is much welcomed on the coaching staff. I like Leach, I actually wanted the Gators to look at more at him before they hired Mully but oh well. I think the Bucs should seriously look at Bienemy the OC from the Chiefs, the last 2 have done so well you would foolish not to sit down with the guy and give him a long look. His history as a RB would be a welcomed addition to an offense that is probably a dominant running game away from being an elite unit. He’s coached under Andy Reid and based on the most recent guys to leave should have a very good idea of how to assemble a winning team in short order. He could bring in a guy like Richard to run the defense from Dallas and I’d be happy. Both Harbaughs I like more than Leach and definitely Tomlin if he were to be fired from Pittsburgh. That said I’ll just be happy that Dirk and hopefully Licht will be gone so that we can have a chance next season. Both have hampered this teams ultimate success with awful decision making and personnel decisions.

MIKE LEACH would be a fantastic hire for the Bucs. He knows what he’s doing and would bring a ton of excitement to the city.

If he is the Buc’s coach next year I think there is a great chance the Bucs have the number one ranked offense in the NFL next year.

Good to see Cody Ford getting some love. Think a trade down and taking Ford might be my favorite option if Jonah, Bosa, and Quinnen Williams are off the board.

I’m holding some comments until the game is over Sunday. I’m not listening to Koetter,Coaches, Licht, or well paid players; they all had their chances and chose something else. I’m ready to clean house. Yes we have quite a few holes to fill because the existing players weren’t very good.

Keep Jameis and you will not get a top-level coach keep Jameis you’re going to get a second-tier coach in the same crap is going to happen again next year

Brate is the only player I would keep on that list, OJ has some injury issues so even though Brate may be a little overpaid, I still think he should be on the team.

bucs need new gm,head coach and different qb. Stay tuned buc fans starting Monday as hopefully changes will be announced….Happy New Year to all !!

This RIDICULOUS Organization… Has won 10 games, in 2 years. TEN. ..IN TWO YEARS!!! The Saints won 13, this year. When can you say, we EVER won 13? Don’t care WHO STAYS. WHO GO’S. I root for ALL OF THEM GO! ALL. EVERY …SINGLE…ONE. IT’S freaking stupid. No one should survive the ridiculouslness that is Buccaneer football right now. Reset please.

Blow it UP!!!!! Blow it UP!!!! Blow it UP!!!! I manage the game better in my Madden video games, then Koetter has on most days, the last 3 years. When my girlfriend says to me “Why isn’t he calling a timeout”, and she’s RIGHT….. Time to say adios to these bunch of wanna be’s, and bring some people in here that can actually get the job done. Koetter was right earlier in the season…they should have ALLL…. BEEN FIRED. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Just throwing some truth at you folks. Reset button.

Any of you clowns that want to see another year of what you just saw…..???? Go buy yourselves some tickets. You’ll be the only ones there. Or better yet… Save the money, and poke yourselves in the eye with a fork. That will be the equivalent of oneore year of these chumps.

Cap crunch my a$$. Let them ALL…GO. Brate’s the only on there worth keeping anyway, and he’s nothing special.

There’s going to be an opening for six to seven coaches come Monday and I don’t think they’re six or seven good coaches out there to be hired I don’t see any urgency out of the glaciers at this time to get a good coach so it’ll be interesting to see what happens

Keep McCoy, Brate and Anger. Re-sign Kwon, Humphries and Donovan(if he’ll move to G or RT, if not, don’t re-sign).

Scott I’m starting to real warm up to the idea of Mike Leach.

Do a Belicheat and trade McCoy for a second and third while he still has some value. The draft is loaded with DTs
When the Bucs had a great defense and no offense they got Gruden.
When the Colts had a great offense and a bad defense they got Dungy.
The Bucs don’t need Leach. They need a defensive coach. Jim
Schwartz?

Dungy..

The problem with moving on from all those guys is that we still need players to play the game….and we have massive holes at CB and OL. If we hire a competent GM who can draft us a solution to CB and one (or with the will of Zeus, two) new OLinemen, that leaves no real draft capital to replace all of these guys you want to cut. So, are the FAs better and cheaper than these guys…I doubt it.

Leach and Schiano are the same guy. Been down that road.

Keep McCoy and Brate. Aloha to the rest.

I wouldn’t want to cover Jackson or Grimes (I would like to cover his Miko). I think we should hire the cheating chic in the photo for morale purposes.