Bucs Paying To Build From Bottom Up
September 28th, 2011
Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik loves his late-round gems and scrapheap finds. The Bucs are loaded with those guys, compared to other NFL teams, and they’re prepared to keep them at all costs.
Last year, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis had a temper tantrum when the Bucs paid Dezmon Briscoe to bail from Lewis’ practice squad and head to Tampa. Now, says ESPN blogger Pat Yasinskas, the Bucs are making sure the guys at the bottom of their totem pole won’t go anywhere. Here’s one example:
“But the Bucs now have topped that. Apparently, the team has a very high opinion of practice squad defensive end George Johnson. After he was released at the end of the preseason, the Bucs quickly turned around and signed him to a sweet deal on Sept. 8. Presumably fearing they would lose Johnson to another team’s practice squad, the Bucs signed Johnson to a contract worth $170,000. The typical practice-squad contract is for $96,900.
“But the Bucs renegotiated Johnson’s deal on Sept. 13, according to contract records obtained by ESPN.com. That’s when Johnson got a raise to $22,059 per week, which comes to $352,944 for 16 weeks. Johnson is being paid at the same rate as the minimum for players on the regular 53-man roster. If he had signed the new contract before the first game, he’d be making the $370,000 minimum …
You can read more by clicking through the link above.
Speaking of practice squad types, the Bucs lost safety Cody Grimm for the season but safety Ahmad Black was not promoted to take his place. The Bucs promoted a tight end, Collin Franklin, and signed an offensive lineman to the practice squad.
What does that say for Black?
September 28th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
It says he’s probably still not 100% yet and they feel more comfortable with Cory and Larry.
September 28th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
It says his ankle is about 90% like he said recently. That’s all. No need to read into it from a pessimistic perspective. That would be a mistake.
September 28th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Here’s an interesting tweet:
@DezBriscoe89
Headed to Dallas. This is one of the happiest days of my life.
5hrs ago
September 28th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
CalicoJack: seriously? I hope that doesn’t mean what what it sounds like. I know Dallas is seriously in need of a WR right now but we can’t afford to lose Briscoe. I know this is all speculation, but I wonder what Jerry Jones would offer in trade for him? Interesting tweet.
September 28th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Dude, someone’s probably getting married or something. Relax.
September 28th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Trading Briscoe wouldn’t surprise me at all, especially if we can get some good value for him. We are deep at WR with Parker and Gant looked good in the pre-season. Dominik isn’t going to do anything unless he feels like it’s to his advantage. I like Briscoe but I actually like the angry ‘after-the-catch’ running of Parker better.
September 28th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Matt, dude, I hope your right! I planned on watching Williams, Benn, Briscoe, and Parker wreak havoc for the next ten years!! I damn sure hope they didn’t trade him! I’m starting ta hyperventilate! Where’s a paper bag . .
September 28th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
He was born in Dallas and if it says he’s headed back to Dallas (happiest day of his life) and on a plane……read between the lines. He ain’t going for a wedding mid week before a Monday night football game. I can’t find any confirmation on Dallas’ site or anywhere else but it sounds to me like he’s been traded. Before everyone has a heart attack let’s wait and see what we got in return. The Bucs know the value of Briscoe, that’s why they signed him off of the Bengals practice squad to begin with. They’re not going to just give him away.
September 28th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Sounds like Dallas would be his dream team. That said…who do the Cowboys have at Safety that ther would trade to us? Or at Cornerback? Gotta be a pick or one of those two positions.
September 28th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
As the great Mike North would say, “SLOW DOWN!”
Dez Briscoe is the proud father of Dez Briscoe, Jr., born today in Dallas.
September 28th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Ahh, that makes even more sense than a wedding 🙂
September 28th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Alright!!!!!! Now that makes sense!!! LOL!
September 28th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Way to blow that tweet way out of proportion with zero base. You guys should work for ESPN or something.
September 28th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Whew! Well Congrats Mr. Briscoe! Hug that baby for us! Hopefully daddy can score a coupla TDs on the ponies Monday night, for a lil birthday gift!
September 28th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
(breathes sigh of relief)
September 28th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Thanks lowlife! I’ll put in my app. LOL! Actually, that tweet could only be taken one way if you don’t know he’s expecting a baby and that his wife is living in Dallas. It darn sure wasn’t a wedding he was going to. Sure sounded like he’d been traded to Dallas. Now we know differently.
September 28th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
ha i was about to pick him up in my fantasy league with dez bryant and miles hurt
September 28th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
WOW… you people need to learn some facts before going all crazy. They aren’t trading Briscoe… unless Jerry Jones offered something ridiculous… which I guess would have been possible.
Anyway
GEORGE JOHNSON – that tells me three things
1. They like him a lot and the preseason was no fluke
2. Crowder’s days may be numbered
OR the worst case
3. Bowers’ knee is not holding up well
As far Black, interesting. I do not think he looked ready yet either, especially with the injury slowing his development. We’ll see where he heads, I still think he makes a team within 2 years.
September 28th, 2011 at 5:48 pm
Dave,
You tell people to find facts before pontificating, but you just did the same thing with George Johnson. Look in the mirror.
September 28th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
The Bucs aren’t happy with something at TE. They brought in 3 TEs for tryouts Tuesday before moving Franklin up from the PS.
September 28th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Dave,
Really dude…they bring back Johnson and you have Crowder leaving or Bowers knee regressing????? And you’re telling US not to speculate!??
September 28th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
Here’s what it says about Black, NOTHING. The Bucs already had 5 safeties on the active roster: Jones, Grimm, Lynch, Asante, and Holland. That number is one-two more than most teams carry. The team was only carrying 3 TEs and have carried 4 in the past.
Also, if the team were to pick-up Black off the practice squad, if something were to happen (ie, Tanard Jackson being reinstated), Black would likely be cut and be subject to waivers again. As it stands right now, a team may sign him off the Bucs practice squad and not only do they have the right of first refusal, but can give him a raise… if they waive him, they are powerless to re-sign him to the PS unless he clears waivers. It’s not unfounded for a guy to not make it back to the PS, Marcus Hamilton was once activated right before the Bears game, played and played well at CB for us, then was cut, presumably to be put back on the PS, but the Bears claimed him and he spent the next couple of years in Chicago.
September 28th, 2011 at 10:03 pm
You guys killed me on this one…
September 28th, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Hey I just learned that Dezmon Briscoe was traded to the cowboys but not really.
Giving George Johnson a raise might just mean we’re preparing to reach a salary cap minimum.
I don’t know how this works, if someone could school me on it please. If another team signs him, will they have to pay that same amount unless he agrees to a restructured contract? Maybe we’re just trying to discourage other teams from picking him up. He’s good to hang onto in case someone gets hurt. Its good that we have the cash to pull stuff like that.
September 29th, 2011 at 12:55 am
@Espo – Guys on the practice squad are essentially free agents. They’re free to negotiate whatever contract they want with their new team, so what they’re making on the PS has no bearing on what they’d make if they get signed. Of course, the minimum salary rules would apply to their new contract.
They added a rule this year that if you do sign a guy off another team’s PS, he has to go onto your regular roster for at least a couple weeks (I think).
I think we’re just trying to make it more appealing to him to stay if another team comes sniffing around, and to build up some goodwill with him. And who knows, maybe some other team has come looking to sign him, and Dom responded by promising that he’ll see some time on the regular roster this year, and gave the raise to the regular minimum as a way of putting his money where his mouth is.
That’s all speculation of course.
September 29th, 2011 at 12:58 am
Talking practice squads reminds me of something I was thinking about during the lockout. It’s interesting that we didn’t hear more during the lockout about Marvin Lewis’s rant about Dom overpaying Briscoe.
Lewis said “When you overpay a guy on the practice squad, you create a problem in the system for teams. I don’t know that teams want to set that precedent. They did with Dez. That’s not the great precedent for teams to set as we try to keep the NFL doing the things we’re trying to do as a league. It’s still a league of 32 teams and things are put together a certain way.”
That seems like Lewis has admitted to (or at the very least is trying to create) collusion between the teams to try to keep practice squad salaries down. I’m sure such collusion would be against the rules of the CBA. Surprised the union didn’t use that against the NFL. I guess since the union is numerically dominated by guys on the regular roster, they don’t really care about the practice squad.
September 29th, 2011 at 3:40 am
Thanks Joke
September 29th, 2011 at 4:20 am
Are the PS guys even a part of the union?
September 29th, 2011 at 9:04 am
lol, Dave…mouth meet foot! Happens to all of us sometimes, brother! hehe.
I said it in the Preseason and I’ll say it now…George Johnson is going to be big in this league someday.
But I have a huge problem with Pat Yasinskas revealing this…Johnson is STILL on the practice squad…which means that he can be claimed by another team regardless of the high dollar contract.
In truth, the big contract is simply a way of convincing Johnson to not sign with another team. So what’s to stop him from going is a real deal to play comes along? The current contract is still under league minimum, isn’t it? And even if not, a team can offer more.
Pat Yasinskas may have cost us a good player by saying this.
September 29th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Good question Mauha.
But given that the practice squad rules were set in the collective bargaining agreement, I assume guys on the practice squad are allowed to join the union.