Raheem Says Barber Will Return
January 18th, 2011
One of the Bucs’ big offseason questions seems to be answered.
Not mincing words, Raheem Morris said Bucs icon and soon-to-be free agent Ronde Barber will be returning to start at cornerback for the 2011 season. Morris apparently chatted about this with St. Pete Times beat writer Rick Stroud in Orlando today.
“He’s playing. Now it’s just a matter of what he’s playing for. I’m really confident that he’s playing and I feel great about it.
“It’s just a matter of deciding how much he’s worth and all that. But our starting right cornerback will be back. He’ll be our starting right corner as long as he keeps playing at a high level. “
As recently as last week on the air with J.P. Peterson on 1010 AM, Barber said he was unsure of his return. But Barber did say he felt suprisingly great and came through the season without getting too banged up.
These works from Raheem should kill the goofy chatter about the Bucs making a play for stud free agent corner Nnamdi Asomugha, as Joe wrote about earlier today.
It seems though that Barber now has the Bucs over a barrel in contract negotiations. The head coach is on the record saying he’s coming back. That’s a tough one to back out on over money.
January 18th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Great news! I would have been surprised if Ronde would have retired, but this puts the uncertainty to rest.
January 18th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Not surprising. Other than an actual contract for confirmation, it’s really non-news.
January 18th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
If Barber were the type to screw over his friend, then yes, he has them “over a barrel.”
I doubt think the negotiations will go smoothly for both sides…
January 18th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
I hope the contract gets worked out quickly, we dont need Barber looking for one last pay-day, I doubt he is that type of person anyway.
January 18th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
Great Photo Joe!
Just look who is in the back ground of this photo, none other than Coach Morris
January 18th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
What I have noticed is Raheem and Mark D don’t mince words too much. Raheem says this about Barber and you point out the contract negotiations.
There was praise said about Penn at one point and someone (not here) mentioned the contract negotiations.
There was praise mentioned about someone else within the last month and the contract negotiations were brought up.
Basically, it tells me Caoch ra and Mark D don’t care about semantics and trying to say one thing and do another. It is refreshing. Everyone knows Barber seems to have gotten better each of the last 3 years. everyone knows they want him back and that he is a DB coach on the field. So instead of acting like all that is not true, they just tell it like it is.
Due to the honesty, I don’t think it affects negotiations at all.
January 18th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Great News- Rhonde was our defensive MVP this year, IMO!
January 18th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Thats great, i still like the idea of having Ronde play safety, opposite of Cody Grimm. E Biggers opposite Talib, or heck, Nmandi……
January 18th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
@JOE: Did you hear that the Buc reportedly offered Wash a multi-year contract, but he turned it down to pursue other “opportunities”??? Thank God that didn’t happen!!!
January 18th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
That photo is screaming for a caption.
January 18th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
RustyRhino stole my thunder.. Yes that was Raheem in the back right.. LOL! great news, we need to look into the draft for a good corner, after we get a good DE,MLB, then a corner, then a athletic TE. Thats my thoughts.
January 18th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Ronde Barber = best nickel corner in the history of the game.
Joe- I have to respectfully disagree with you calling chatter for adding Nnamdi “silly.”
Sure the Glazers haven’t shown much willingness to drop major coinage, and the chances of Nnamdi signing with TB over a host of other teams seems laughable……….
but I’m of the opinion that if you can add talent (especially one of the top 3 corners in the game), then you do it. In a division with the Saints and the Falcons you can’t have enough quality DB’s…..Nnamdi and Talib at corner, Grimm and TJax at safety, and Ronder playing nickel back as he enters the twilight of his career. Nothing silly about that combination.
Bottom line is, you can’t convince me that our defense wouldn’t be significantly improved simply by adding Asomugha.
January 18th, 2011 at 8:26 pm
CreamsiclePasties:
So it’s smart to spend a boatload of cash on a position you don’t need to the guy, a position that may be the deepest on the team, and ignore areas that are screaming for an upgrade?
OK.
(Oh, like Team Glazer/Mark Dominik is going to win a bidding war on a top-notch free agent to begin with.)
January 19th, 2011 at 12:46 am
Joe, why so condescending?
Does the idea of Nnamdi becoming a Tampa Bay Buccaneer really offend you THAT much? The only reason his name came up at all was people saw that his contract was bought out and that he was becoming a free agent. That generated a lot of buzz because that made him, imho, the best free agent available this year. And before this news of Ronde coming back (awesome news btw) it was completely feasible that the Bucs would add another CB to the roster if they didn’t feel Myron Lewis was ready to be a full time nickel corner. No one expects the Bucs to sign any big name FA right now but its fun to speculate. NFL Fans do that every year, dreaming about the best new free agents coming to their team and putting them over the top. I’m personally uneasy about taking 3-4 outside linebackers and trying to turn them into 4-3 defensive ends so between Nnamdi and Ray Edwards, there wasn’t really many other big name guys (none that I can think of off hand) to speculate about.
January 19th, 2011 at 2:50 am
MichiganBucsFan:
Joe sometimes comes across as bitter and for that Joe apologizes because he respects everyone that comes to this site and truly appreciates everyone’s patronage.
But, yeah, this crazy notion that the Bucs need to sign a top-flight cornerback in free agency makes zero sense and in fact is condescending to Joe.
If one wants to argue that the Bucs — despite every shred of evidence it won’t happen — will throw cash at a linebacker or a defensive end, Joe’s on board with that. But adding an All Pro cornerback who will cost a fortune to a position where the Bucs not only don’t have a need and where the Bucs are arguable the deepest in roster strength… come on now.
What, the Bucs are to bench Aqib Talib and his first-round contract for no good reason (which, by the way, would please Team Glazer to no end), or try to trade him for a second round pick? Or should the Bucs to tell Ronde Barber to take a hike?
Trying to sign Nnamdi makes about as much sense to Joe as trying to sign Peyton Manning.
There are certainly holes on the Bucs roster where a free agent — nevermind Team Glazer/Mark Dominik isn’t going after one — could be put to good use.
Cornerback isn’t one of those.
January 19th, 2011 at 6:47 am
I would LOVE for us to get Asomogua, but Joe is 100% right, it isn’t going to happen. Not in a million years. It’s just not our style. Even if we do make a play for him, we will be outbid by another team. Does anybody actually think we would seriously get into a bidding war to acquire ANY player, much less one in a position we don’t really need. If you think otherwise, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. All that being said, I would sure love to be wrong and eat crow on this one!
January 19th, 2011 at 8:27 am
Why exactly do the Bucs not have a need at CB? What team doesn’t what bookend dominant corners? Ronde is here what? One more year? And he is not a dominant corner any more. Just good for his age. After that, neither Biggers or Lewis look like anything more than average. CB is a need. Its just not as pressing a need as DE right now. But the fact is that it doesn’t look like there is an elite replacement for Barber on this roster right now and I want 2 great starting corners. Not one great one and one mediocre one(Biggers or Lewis). I hope age doesn’t catch up with Barber next season. It happens quick. Nobody is talking about that but its stupid to ASSUME Barber will play at a high level again next year. I will agree that if the Bucs were to splurge on a free agent DE or LB would come way before CB though.
January 19th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Joe apologized. AYFKM? Mark your calenders. Did the other Joe sign off on that???
This is Biggers’ & Lewis’ first full season. How much can you expect. They were pretty darn good IMO, especially after Talib went down. They stepped up. Megatron is tough for anyone to stop. The Bucs problem is a little guy named Mack. Raheem has tolerated him long enough, and time for an upgrade of the lower end.
January 19th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Joe said: “So it’s smart to spend a boatload of cash on a position you don’t need to the guy, a position that may be the deepest on the team, and ignore areas that are screaming for an upgrade?”
Who the hell is suggesting the team ignores other areas?!?!?!?!? Certainly not me.
I don’t know what DE’s or LB’s are going to be available in free agency, but let’s say the Bucs add Clayborne & Greg Jones in the draft…..in addition to having the most talented secondary in the league (with the addition of Asomugha)…..well then baby, you potentially have a Super Bowl caliber D. I’m not saying it’s going to happen…….but it should. We should go after him hard, and I’m not very big on going after big name free agents either.
Joe, let me ask you…..would adding Asomugha improve the team? If the answer is yes, then why shouldn’t we go after him?
Joe said: “(Oh, like Team Glazer/Mark Dominik is going to win a bidding war on a top-notch free agent to begin with.).”
Clearly Joe forgot about his post on Rah lamenting the fact that he didn’t push the Glazers to go after Julius Peppers.
January 19th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
CreamsiclePasties:
Sigh. Joe’s made his points about the foolishness of pining for Nnamdi Asomugha perfectly clear. Joe’s not going to regurgitate it.
February 19th, 2011 at 8:21 pm
well in my belif it comes down to the front 7 and we have to go after pass rushersin the draft because we didnt have too many sacks this year and DBs still did a heck of job so in my opinon yes i would love for them to go after asomugha and put ronda in at nickle but i really believe they will go after ray edwards from the vikings and if they can then they will go get asomugha if they need to. . . because i do think that there gonna trade tanard jackson for a second round pick only because of his incodent and cody grimm and sean jones did a great job at saftey. . .rgardless asomugha or not i do believe that the bucs will win the superbowl this year