Team Glazer Can’t Be Blamed For Not Spending
May 23rd, 2010
The common perception around Tampa Bay is that Team Glazer can’t or won’t spend money.
This, of course, is news to Kellen Winslow, coveted blocking icon Michael Clayton and former Bucs kicker Mike Nugent.
This nasty fact doesn’t calm Bucs fans, who are convinced Team Glazer is more concerned about their lameass English kickball team and not the Bucs, which in the eyes of the locals, is a mortal sin to red-blooded American men.
The Professor, John Clayton of BSPN, suggests Team Glazer, and by default, Bucs general manager Mark Dominik, had good reason not to spend on free agents (conveniently forgetting the elephant in the room: the soon-to-be expired CBA): There weren’t any decent free agents worth bidding on.
Q: The general consensus from the Bucs’ front office is try to improve on last year (seven, maybe eight wins). That’s fine as far as I’m concerned, but how do they expect the financial support (ticket sales, etc.) from the fans when they have all but admitted this plan of slow progress?
Ed in Cape Coral, Fla.
A: They can’t be blamed for not spending much this offseason because there weren’t enough quality players on the open market. For that, they can get a pass. What the Bucs must do is start rewarding some of the young, core players once they start getting toward the end of their contracts. It’s one thing to not go into free agency, but it’s another thing to lose talent. The Bucs can’t afford to do that. I’m not convinced that the Bucs are ready to make that next step to get to seven or eight wins, though. For talent, they are the fourth-best team in the NFC South. To advance, they have to be able to get to 2-4 in divisional play. If Jimmy Clausen makes an impact on the Panthers, the Bucs might be stuck at the 0-6 or 1-5 mark. They do have an easy nondivisional schedule and might be able to go 4-6 outside the division. To get to seven wins, though, they would need to go 3-3 in the division, and I think that will be tough.
John Clayton
Joe has written this time and again, though Bucs fans don’t like reading it. Part of the reason Team Glazer isn’t spending on free agents, or signing guys like Donald Penn or Barrett Ruud, is that the CBA will expire in a few months.
No less an authority than Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert has stated several times on Sirius NFL Radio that the reason most (not all) owners haven’t gone crazy spending is because no one has any idea what the salary cap will be with the new CBA, whenever that is ratified. As a result, (most) owners don’t want to paint themselves in a corner and get stuck in salary cap hell.
It’s also hard to justify paying a guy a big salary bonus when there very well may be no football next season.
May 23rd, 2010 at 2:22 pm
The flaw in the reasoning is that the bucs are at the bottom of the league in spending.
While the CBA may provide an explanation for why there is league wide reluctance to sign FA’s or re-sign existing players, it provides no explanation for why the bucs are at the bottom as compared to the other teams in the league.
Thus, we are fast becoming “perpetual patsies” rather than “lasting contenders”.
May 23rd, 2010 at 2:49 pm
So, you think that paying one of the youngest teams in the league (a team with few proven players) money comensurate with their experience is bad and the Bucs should pay the players as if the are prove top players at their position? How dies that make sense?
May 23rd, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Not the bottom, KC is at the bottom (80.6M to our 84.6M). In the bottom 7 at this point are also the Cowboys, Bengals, Falcons and Patriots (teams that would be considered much better than the Bucs). The Cowboys and Patriots are perennial contenders, yet have some of the lowest payrolls in the NFL. In the top 5 are the Texans and Bears (not exactly what I’d call yearly threats to win it all). Looking at that though, the Bears have been extremely active in trading (Cutler and Adams) and FA (Peppers and Taylor), which leads to huge payrolls.
Maybe the explanation of why the Bucs are “at the bottom” compared to other teams is that the team has been looking at this scenario for over a year now. Other than K2 and Clayton, the team hasn’t signed any players to “long term deals” last year or this. That means players are still on rookie contracts, in the middle of a back loaded deal, or on RFA tenders. The team is young, leading to even more “rookie” contracts and RFA tenders.
If a CBA is done by next March, teams like the Cowboys, Patriots, Bengals, Bucs, etc. will be able to sign and retain huge portions of their teams, while teams like the Bears may be forced to cut players to stay under the new cap and have to start all over rebuilding again.
Blame it on the Glazers if you want, but I’d rather be in the position we are in (2nd year rebuilding with very low salaries we can resign to long term deals next year). Just remember, if there is a CBA next year, and we are in a good position…. give the Glazers and Dom credit for planning ahead.
May 23rd, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Joe here,
Eric – “Perpetual patsies” was funny. You get extra credit for that. No Pro Bowlers equals low payroll. Joe can only imagine the outrage if the Bucs had a high payroll and no Pro Bowlers. …As you said, wish they’d blow the whistle already against the Browns. The March to September continues.
May 23rd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
So we have no pro bowlers so a low payroll.
Of course perhaps we could have gotten one or two in FA in the non CBA years?
I do not know for sure, but i am willing to wager that the bucs have the lowest, or one of the lowest, paid coaching staffs in the NFL. Additionally, if you combined the coaching and management staff i would wager the bucs are at or near the bottom of the league.
How many different categories do you need to establish a trend? Beyond players, coaches, and management personnel there is nothing else left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 23rd, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Before I clicked comments, I guessed who would be the first to respond negatively to this article. I was right. Sorry Eric
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:05 pm
It is indisputable that this years UFA class was not that impressive. However, there were players avail that were not UFAs (like Boldin, Tomlinson, Marshall etc) that the team should have been open to acquiring and werent.
John Clayton is absolutely right that this is a 4-5 win team at best and the 4th best team in the division – New Orleans and Atlanta are young and light years ahead of us and Carolina runs the ball and plays much better defense. Quit trying to argue that the New Orleans win last year is proof of something, the game was meaningless to New Orleans at that point, they destroyed the Bucs in the first half, they had injuries on the O-line and they played ultra-conservative in the second half with their eye toward the playoffs.
Eric the reason that you dont know what the bucs coaching staff payroll is is b/c the team wont publish what it is paying radio and others (the only team in the league) and it is believed to be embarrassingly low. What does that mean? The Glazers appaarently dont believe in this coach and plan or they would have committed longer term for more cash. This rah experiment is to ride out the CBA on a shoestring.
That is why if you fans are smart – give up you tickets and come back in 2012 with legit coaches – and hopefully a real effort to win with a solid CBA!
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I kind of get what Eric’s saying……but my hunch is the Glazers have been preparing for this offseason and the pending lockout for the last 3 years.
Remember before this offseason when we were all convinced the ‘Boys and ‘Skins would be in an arms race? Other than McNabb, they both did bubkus…….
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Yes, all of you “smart” fans should do exactly what Thomas tells you to do because . . . well . . . that would be “smart,” of course.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Thomas, as much as you and Eric and others want to ignore it, the reason the Bucs would not get Marshall or Boldin or most of the players everyone discusses is because they all cost PICKS. A team rebuilding through the draft does not give up picks, 2 2nd rounders for Marshall and three picks (I think) for Boldin. Sorry
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Eric is the first to post 99% of the time. No joke. Go back and look.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Interesting stat. Eric, congratulations!
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:22 pm
We knnow Jimbuc you value draft PICKS, even though they only bare fruit 1/3 of the time like they are the hope diamond.
Others of us would consider upgrading positions of great weakness by using both methods of player acquisitions.
BTW – I completely agree with Steve White that it was idiotic to draft two under tackles with their first two picks. That was a waste of 1 of your PRICELESS draft picks.
Yes I do believe that it would be smart to sit out this year and maybe next, like the Bucs are doing, until the new CBA.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Jimbuc:
How much is Rah being paid? Why cant you answer that question?
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Thomas, I was conveying a fact to you: the BUCS value draft picks. What I value is irrelevant.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Your auto-response to all arguments about trades is – they cost picks. I was just highlighting how they wasted one or two by drafting two undertackles thiss draft and three in two years.
You have no idea what the BUCS value, because what they say is unreliable and what they do is completely inconsistent – like resign and extend Clayton but not Ruud, Penn and Joseph.
So quit acting like you are piped in to the BUCS valuation of methods for acquiring players. The BUCS want you and other sheep to believe thiis plan is not all about operating on a shoestring, you choose to believe the b.s.- Eric and I and others dont b/c we read between the b.s. beinng spewed out of one buc – try it Jim it is liberating!
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Thomas, I cannot tell you how much Morris makes because there is a conspiracy to keep that information out of the public eye. Those damn Glazers.
Who knows maybe they will make the information public after you announce your two year boycott!! Good luck with that.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Thomas, you were born a ramblin man . . . you have conspiracy theories for your conspiracy theories. Too funny
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
JIMBUC – I and reportedly 30,000 others or more if you count the “waiting list” for tickets have boycotted since the Rah/Dom era.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Thomas, I don’t doubt for a minute that you have 30,000 imaginary friends
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:56 pm
You are stuck on imagination – like the imaginary window into the thinking at one buc that you relate here repeatedly.
The empty seats at Rayjay wont be imaginary this year (or last year) my friend! believe it!
May 23rd, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Thomas, you are the one stuck on imagination my friend. This is boring. Go play with your (30,000) imaginary friends
May 23rd, 2010 at 5:40 pm
The reason we don’t have Pro Bowlers is because we’re too cheap to go get them.
Boldin and Marshall are pro-bowlers we could have had , but apparentely they don’t fit the mold of WR’s we are trying to bring in – strong physical guys who can run after the catch…….oh wait , that is Boldin and Marshall’s forte…..nevermind….
Don’t tell me there were no good player available for the Bucs to get….that is just bullshit and everyone knows it.
May 23rd, 2010 at 6:40 pm
@ Radio
The thought is not that there weren’t any good players to get, just that FA was “slim pickins” this year. Trades are a different story. Thing about trades (and top FA’s) is that they usually require a restructured long term top dollar deal. With the possible lockout next season, most (I repeat MOST) owners don’t want to sign players to huge contracts with massive amounts of guaranteed money to be paid for a season that may not happen. K2 and Clayton were resigned last year to get the guaranteed money out of the way before 2011. Signing Marshall or Boldin would put the team in a position of paying millions for players that aren’t playing (potentially).
If there is a CBA next offseason, there will be many teams re-signing their own players to long term deals and the teams that still have money under the cap will be signing the top FA’s away from other teams. Some teams have so much locked up in players they traded for or aquired in FA that they will have to cut players just to stay under the cap.
May 23rd, 2010 at 6:43 pm
As clarification…. “open market” = unrestricted free agency. Trades are a “closed market” open only to teams willing to give up picks or players AND pay long term guaranteed contracts AND that the teams with the players being traded want to deal with (they ultimately have the final say in who they want to deal with or not)
May 23rd, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Whatever. What’s done is done and we can’t do anything to change it. I’m really tired of talking about it. The team likely won’t be very good this year and they might not even play in 2011. The next couple of year are going to be really exciting — NOT.