Cash-Committed Bucs Among Top-8 Spenders
September 8th, 2012
Joe’s not big on payroll accounting. It’s boring. But it is somewhat interesting when it comes to the Bucs and the team’s return to becoming one of the big spenders in the NFL, as they were in the early part of the last decade.
The dust has settled on team rosters, and CBS Sports NFL writer Jason La Canfora has compiled the latest league salary data. He reports the Bucs have “committed” more than $130 million in payroll for 2012, which ranks them among the top-8 spenders in the league.
The Buccaneers and Cardinals also top $130 million in committed cash for this season, with owners in the Glazers and the Bidwills who have been viewed by many as chronic under-spenders most years (and, to their point, had the Bidwills been willing to spend near these levels a few years back, and done the right thing to keep Kurt Warner and give him a contract he couldn’t walk away from, the Cardinals would be in much better shape and wouldn’t have had to throw money at Kevin Kolb). Arizona’s situation was just like Detroit’s; one player, in this case, Larry Fitzgerald, held the key to their offseason with a cap-killer contract for 2012 that forced a renegotiation. Fitzgerald became the highest-paid receiver in league history, and Arizona’s payroll was on the rise a few years after the team was criticized for losing a host of key players in free agency.
Tampa Bay went on a Dan Snyder-esque binge that included Vincent Jackson, Carl Nicks and Eric Wright early in free agency, and cash was king with those contracts as well, with the Bucs putting up big money now in the deals but having protections against bloated cap hits down the road and without inflated salaries deep in the contracts.
You can’t buy a great team in the NFL, so this is all somewhat meaningless. But it’s good to hear the Bucs haven’t saddled themselves with long term contract burdens. Hopefully, the Bucs’ young players will perform and Tampa Bay will need every last nickel to re-sign them.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:24 am
First we complain that the bucs don’t spend enough, now we are complain that they are spending too much
September 8th, 2012 at 10:55 am
@Lev
Agree.
September 8th, 2012 at 11:33 am
It’s not how much you spend, it’s what you spend it on. If the line can’t protect Freeman, having V Jack run down the field open 20 times a game isn’t going to help the W-L record.
September 8th, 2012 at 11:44 am
Grande thought he heard a loud mysterious creaking sound coming from the East. That must of been the sound of the G Boys prying open Daddy G’s wallet.
September 8th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
This just shows how great Dom is ……we way overspent on overrated and inconsistent ,v jax. The rest is not so bad, I liked Garson way more constant .and. Cheaper. Also our o line is way overpaid for the results josh has no time. And there was no huge holes to run though in preseason ,but oh yeah we didn’t need to work had to protect everyone for season . But if they are no ready. Won’t they lose and get hurt?
September 8th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Dang… bunch of whiners… VJax isn’t good, VJax is good but won’t matter without protection, but we spent on Nicks too, but we’re not working hard enough, but the grueling 16×110 is outrageous, now we’re spending too much, but we never spend enough, we shoulda got Claiborne, our drafts are horrible, we needed to move up for TRich he’s better than Martin, our players get hurt too much, the sun’s too hot in Florida to go watch a game live, the replays aren’t as good at the game (but they’re better than the replays of the OTHER teams that will be on TV), Dom’s a horrible GM, Glazer’s are horrible owners….
And that’s from Bucs FANS!!! Really people, we don’t live in a perfect world. And I wouldn’t consider it perfect anyway if everyone’s favorite team was a champion every year… 32 champs… sounds like PeeWee league “don’t keep score coz we don’t wanna hurt anyone’s feeling if they lose”. If you like the team, like the team and quit griping about everything that you don’t have control over. Sheesh!!
September 8th, 2012 at 6:07 pm
Not impressed at all. Sorry.
September 8th, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Bucs salary cap number is a smoke screen to look like we are spending so much money.. the way the bucs paid for the 3 BIG free agents was to guarantee this and next years salaries for all three. So of that cap number 45 million of got to 3 players. Other teams prorate those guarantees of life of contract to enable teams to sign more players, at most the BIG 3 should have counted maybe at most 15 million of cap this year. I hate to be cynical as I am a longtime season tkt holder but facts are facts and it frustrates as the team has no depth and we signed nobody else of real taltent other then those 3 and Dallas Clark, another slick move to fool fans, sad
September 8th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
AC: It’s not a scam to fool fans. Nobody spends nearly 150 Million dollars to fool fans. It is a strategy to free cap space in a couple years to re-sign our own free agents if they’re worthy or sign new FA if they’re not. Most teams that spread the bonuses or guaranteed money over the term of the contract end up in cap nightmares. If a player is cut before the end of the full contract, the full guarantee is counted against the current year cap. The Bucs never have to worry about that because guaranteed money is paid in the first couple years. Most teams have to renegotiate contracts with players as they enter the final couple years because the guaranteed money is strapping their cap room. Signing 3 or more FAs (especially top FAs at their positions) is rare for any team. One or two is normal.
As for no depth, not every addition works out. There’s no way the team knows that Joseph will go down for the year and if he were there, Larsen is pretty good depth alongside Dotson. As for DT, they brought in 3 or 4 potential depth guys and none have really worked out. Okoye was one of the best available that didn’t re-sign with his original team. They brought in DB talent through the draft, FA, and URFA. Added depth at LB with David in the draft. Depth at RB with Martin and Smith. Depth at WR with Jackson. TE with Clark. Yeah, don’t let any of that fool ya.
September 9th, 2012 at 8:36 am
The main takeaway from the Glazer leprechauns very recent spending spree is that it was a very deliberate reaction to fans apathy and lack of interest in the team. This apathy is justified by the fact that the leprechauns spent less on their franchise than any other NFL team from the time they purchased Manchester United until last year. Now that they’ve exhausted all of the prestige built by the Rich McKay/Dungy/Gruden era they have to overspend on mediocre players like Eric Wright and even a great player like Nicks cost the team plenty. Historically this has led to disastrous results (see Snyder’s Redskins, the Dolphins free agent defense binge for Shula’s last goround.) And all the Glazers have demonstrated is that they will invest in the franchise if THEY HAVE TO, and only then. I kept my season tix but not out of loyalty to those two bit swindlers. And Dominik is a failing GM to this point, how come that doesn’t get more play?