“A Guy We Have To Keep”
December 25th, 2012
Anthony Becht makes a bold case for No. 5
Former Bucs tight end and current Buccaneers Radio Network analyst Anthony Becht said in no uncertain terms yesterday that the Bucs should try to extend Josh Freeman’s contract this offseason.
“The body of work shows he’s a guy we have to keep,” Becht told J.P. Peterson on WDAE-AM 620.
Becht explained that he worked with plenty of quarterbacks in a career that spanned 11 seasons and five teams, and Bucs fans should understand that they could do a lot worse than Freeman.
Becht said the Bucs should offer Freeman second-tier quarterback money.
“If he doesn’t take it, then great. Go prove yourself,” Becht said.
Yesterday morning, Joe floated the idea of it being a wise move for the Bucs to try and extend Freeman’s contract now, a way to buy in cheap and give Freeman incentives without tying up big money. If Freeman were to bite (no guarantee of that), there’s also the added value that Freeman could become a potential trade asset down the road.
Joe, though, must disagree with Becht about the “body of work.” Joe sees Freeman as a quarterback who has regressed from being a winner in 2010, to a guy who falters when the pressure is on. Freeman is now 0-7 over the past two Decembers and 23-32 as a starter, after having a losing record in college.
Freeman is young enough to turn it around. But some guys just aren’t winners. It’s the ultimate intangible in every sport.
December 25th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
finally some sensibility ……. RIGHT ON ! brother…
we are lucky to have Josh Freeman..
December 25th, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Josh will get paid ALOT and he deserves it…As soon as the TEAM puts it all together we will win alot !
December 25th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
that type of contract is the perfect scenario for the Bucs. Here’s the deal with Freeman: either you’re a gamer or not. He needs everything to go great on offense AND defense to win (just like Trent Dilfer). The lucky jump balls that worked earlier…are no longer. Now, #5 has to rely on accuracy & decision making (which are his WEAKNESS)
December 25th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Yes keep him,AND bring another veteran QB in to challenge/push him.
December 25th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
I will back Freeman no matter what. He does need some accuracy coaching and decision making needs to improve, but I would hate to see him go all Steve young or Doug Williams somewhere else.
December 25th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Incentive laden contract that pays him if he performs but let’s the Bucs easily cash out without being on the hook for years of cap space if he doesn’t. I really do hope he progresses to the franchise QB that we have been longing for since the very first draft in 1975. Maybe bring in a 2nd or 3rd round prospect and a better veteran back up. One that could teach as well as push for a starting job elevating play from everyone.
December 25th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
“The body of work shows he’s a guy we have to keep,” Becht told J.P. Peterson on WDAE-AM 620.
Becht explained that he worked with plenty of quarterbacks in a career that spanned 11 seasons and five teams, and Bucs fans should understand that they could do a lot worse than Freeman.
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Uh… what body of work? The 3 losing seasons were he seems to take a nap during the first half of almost every game. Even the one winning season he had he had to fight from behind seemingly every game for the same reason. Please dont throw stats at me. If you actually watched the games you would know what im talking about.
Oh and I do agree we could do a lot worse. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t do better.
December 25th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
If it’s true that the Bucs are telegraphing plays then that changes a lot with Freeman… in the NFL if the other teams know what you’re going to do it’s nearly impossible to be successful. It makes a lot of sense– how the team could go from record scoring to shutout against crappy defenses. As much as I’ve griped about Freeman that can’t all be on his shoulders. Some, but not all. Pay him and get a good backup– but also take a good look at the offensive staff’s performance. In reality they should have self-scouted and realized something was up. Big, big blunder for Sullivan and crew.
December 25th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
MERRY CHRISTMAS JOE AND ALL THE BUCS FANS ON HERE!
and wtf why is Freeman about to throw a pass in that picture with the laces not on his fingers..
December 25th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
fingers not on the laces**
December 25th, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Merry Christmas to all even the sheep.
I would give you all the gift of a warning not to get all excited about Dominik’s selections in the April draft.
But alas, I know you will not be able to resist.
Great job this year Joes.
December 25th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Fine, sign him-make it incentive money, bring in another FA QB and draft a QB in the later rounds. Have them all compete for the job. 5 has never, EVER had to compete for the job. It was all laid before him. Even in his rookie year, Morris has was adamant that 5 was the eventual starter and Leftwich and Johnson were terminal backups. I like 5, but he needs to compete.
December 25th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Baaaaaaa
December 25th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Freeman < Winning
December 25th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Freeman’s “Body” of work is essentially Eric the Midget from the Howard Stern Show (@EricTheActor11)
December 25th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
I believe the same rationale was employed by the Jets with Sanchez. That worked out well eh?
Freeman’s a moron. As to the inevitable “who’s better out there” it seems that Wahington found 2 better. San Francisco found at least one and Seattle found at least one. The “who’s better” argument is poor reasoning to build ateam around a mental midget.
December 25th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
If the Bucs keep Freeman and they go 4-12. They don’t even get the first pick in draft. The mediocrity will continue. Ownership has no plan, god aweful scouting. It’s not going to get better. The definition of insanity- Bucs management.
December 25th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Freeman >>>winning
December 25th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
obviously, I’ve been one of Free’s harshest critics all season, and for good reason. Accuracy,willingness to stand and deliver in pocket, staring down receivers, flat out airballs, not seeming to grasp the importance in certain situations, not running when opportunity is there, and not being the leader I think he should be. BUT, as we’re aware of his age, I dont think he’s a lost cause, and we’ve invested this much time, money and energy into his development, I dont think it would be wise to not see IF he’s just a “late bloomer” or needs that certain QB coach, or just needs another year in a complex offense. IMO, Freeman has made the game way to complicated intead of playing football using his instincts to make decisions. his mind is trying to digest WAY to much info, and honsestly, that may be to much for him. The term “mental masturbation” comes to mind. truthfully, not sure what the answer is, but we’ve invested alot in Free, to not give it one more year. Personally, I feel he’s a bit immature and alot of his defficiencies are a direct result of this. Sometimes things just “click” and your like ‘wow’ I got it. Happened to me in college with Calculus, failed miserably first course, different instructor and “wow’ something snapped, and it all came easily, went on to ace Calc 1, 2, and 3. Point is..we got alot invested to dump guy right now.
December 25th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Blah blah blah blah blah
Show me results. Plain and simple
He won’t get signed now because his agent won’t agree to the contract he’s going to get offered which is what he deserves. Reality is the FO is not looking for excuses their looking for results here and now. Coach & Dom is not going to go down in flames believe it. He’s not looking for every excuse in the book either. HE CAN’T AFFORD IT, HE DOESN’T HAVE THE TIME!!!
So yea, words are cheap. Sit back and watch
December 25th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Insulting Joe repeatedly is never OK. There’s no need for that. Disagree with respect or take it somewhere else. Ironically, you accused Joe of only caring about stats in a post where Joe is talking about winning and losing, and then you go ahead and quote a bunch of stats. –Joe
December 25th, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Freeman is SOFT.
December 25th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
SilenceTheCritics
So I guess that 10-6 record wasn’t a winning record?
free’s a boob
Give Freeman the 49ers or the Seahawks Defense and yeah I bet he’ll win also. There Defense helps them win. I see A.Smith and R.Wilson throwing under 200 yards a game and pounding the ball something we have to abandon because our defense sucks. Give him a Mike Shanahan who’s won 2 superbowls and Freeman would probably have success too.
Everyone on our coaching staff is new to this. I blame there play calling and not putting there players in the best position to win.
Giants loss= defense( gave up 40 something point)
Cowboys loss= play calling on the offensive side of the ball( Safeties hurt and Sullivan wouldn’t take any shots at them)
Washington loss= Poor play calling on offense/2nd play calling on the defense(the offense first half was bad, but came back in the 2nd half. Defense 3rd down play calling blitz, blitz and blitz)
Saints loss= Defense and Sullivan not letting Freeman sneak on 1st and goal on the 1
Falcons= Do I really got to say something about that game
That’s 5 losses you can’t even put on Freeman, but yes everyone lets get rid of him. He sucks
December 25th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
I’m sorry I wasn’t aware that the defense was the one with the inaccuracy. Free could have the steel curtain and it wouldn’t matter in the end of the day if the QB doesn’t complete passes who the hell cares what the defense does?
December 25th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Some of the people on this site crack me. What does Becht know right ?? Everyone on this site who has no NFL experience whatsoever seems to know a lot more than most of the GM’s in the league know.
A couple of points which are especially moronic. Freeman is the most responsible for losing. Like our team was so awesome prior to this. Our defense is just punishing, if punishing means not sacking the QB and giving up an NFL record amount of yards per game throwing. Yeh, Freeman is the SOLE reason we are losing LOL.
Next morons top that one off with “draft someone else, get a real franchise QB”. If it were that easy to get a franchise QB from any round how come 1/2 the teams in the league would kill to get Josh Freeman. Now I agree he needs to improve his QB play, but you know who else thinks he needs to Josh, Schiano, Sullivan and Dominik. Will there be competition here. Yes, and there should. You always try to get better at every position especially at QB. But to dump him and not have a backup plan is moronic. It is even more moronic to trade for Tim Teebow. Really, we want to trade for that guy. A guy who isn’t even able to crack the starting lineup with Mark Sanchez as the starting QB and coaches fighting for their job. Teebow is slower than Josh and throws worse than him. What makes you think he will help ?? He will help us loose more games that is for sure.
Hey I was doing some research and I found the perfect guy. 6’3″ 70% completion percentage and he still holds the record for College Quarterback Rating at 176 (higher than Aaron Rodgers even). He runs a 4.4 40 too. He used to play for a successful coach in the NFL. Wait breaking news this guys is actually pro-ready and has played and even started a few games in the NFL. I have some even better news. He is playing for the Sacramento Mountain Lions. Holy Crap we could get him for a song I bet. Let’s cut Freeman and sign this guy today….. Oh wait we already had him and he didn’t work out. His name is Josh Johnson and he wasn’t doing to stellar when he played for us but he did replace another supposed franchise QB in Byron Leftwich.
The point is for every sure thing (RG3 or Luck or Wilson) there is a Ryan Leaf, David Carr or Jeff George. Also how do we know those guys aren’t one year wonders ?? How do we know next year teams won’t find holes in their game that they can exploit and then they turn average or worse. The NFL is full of one year wonder QB’s.
Now I will reiterate I am not for having blind faith in Josh. I think we should continue to develop him, get competition in for him, and sign him to a backloaded contract with little guaranteed money or with a lot of incentives etc. Then if we get a legitimate stud QB we can trade or cut Josh. All Becht is saying is sign him to a second tier or middle of the road QB money, if he thinks he should get Brees money tell him to pack sand. If he wants Alex Smith or somewhere there abouts that is fine, middle of the road. It is cheap insurance. What if he becomes a STUD QB next year ?? If not we always have someone waiting in the wings because drafting franchise QB’s is so easy according to everyone on this site. Hell Josh might not even make the roster what will all the franchise QB’s just walking the street (SARCASTIC).
December 25th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Okay joe i think the bucs will do what seattle did last year by having matt flynn (our josh freeman)and then going and getting a quaterback in like the third round of the draft (russle wilson) which gave matt flynn competiton and if mark dominek has anothe amazing draft he could get lucky by finding that great quaterback in the draft tht is underreatted which can either make josh freeman better or be better than freeman and start over him
December 25th, 2012 at 7:27 pm
And it would be a dream for a rookie quaterback to come here cause of our talented receiving corps
December 25th, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Joe, I have never seen a photo of you before. I visit this site so much and read many of your articles that its kind of wierd I dont even know what you look like. If I had to take an educated guess from the way you speak and the way you reply to some people on this site. I’d have to say your around the age of 40-50, Kind of fat but no obese, and you’re starting to lose your hair big time, and you’re favourite shirt is a custom made t-shirt of R.Watson.. Am I correct?
December 25th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
You stalking Canadian ?
December 25th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Get a hobby. The Bucs arent ready yet.
Time for a New Years break.
December 25th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Yes raphael I am, I have a telescope from my house in Ontario that leads right to Joe’s house, you’re house is next man…
December 25th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Yes Josh has looked like crap the last 2 games but I just checked and the Bucs are in 10th place in the league in offensive yards per game, and he leads all quarterbacks with 16 completed passes for over 40 yards, Closest to him is Brees w/ 12. This is one of the most potent offenses the Bucs have ever had. You can’t tell me anyone reading this expected them to do as good as they did with a NEW coach, NEW offense and defense system. Even Eli his 1st year with Sullivan had one of the highest interception rates of his career, but what happened the next year?? Giants rode Eli to a championship. We know Josh can play good – we have seen it. Give him a chance to get the system down. He pretty much has to or he will be out of a job. With Joseph and Nicks back next year and the defensive line (if we can keep him) : Bennett, Clayborn, Mccoy and Bowers, I think next year is looking good, especially when they add some CB’s and safeties to fix the pass defense.
December 25th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Why is it when Freeman throws interceptions, has endless 3 and outs EVERY game. Knuckle heads want to crucify the defense. Everyone in the NFL knows the Bucs defense is not good but continuously handing the ball over to your opponent would wear out any defense.
December 25th, 2012 at 8:43 pm
How nice of a story would it be if we gave Free one more chance next year and he brings us to a SB victory.. I know its not a likely possibility, but it is definetely not impossibile. It’s not like we are THAT far away from the top teams in the NFL. If we had like a 15th ranked secondary through out the whole season, who knows maybe were sitting at 9-6 right now, fighting for our playoff chances with one game remaining.. We have a QB that is still very young. Yes, I feel everyones frustration with the way that he is playing, but the NFL is a tough league and we cant expect great things with such a horrid and pathetic secondary, Freeman has a bunch of games under his belt considering his age ( compared to other quarterbacks that are his age ) lets at least let him play out his contract and see what he can do, He is a talented quarterback but is way to in-consistent. Get 2 new starting cornerbacks for next year. Freeman will have one year under his belt in a NEW offense, great things usually dont just happen over night. We will be getting our two studs back in Nicks and Joseph. Our three rookies this year, D-rex, David and Barron will be great next year, that is the one thing I am the most confident in. What a solid draft class Dominik and Schiano got this past draft. Also it would be nice to see us aquire a talented and speedy K/P returner. Being a bucs fan the last month and a bit has been really tough, but there is hope for the future.
December 25th, 2012 at 8:56 pm
@J-Ville
Did you read my post? I dont think you did because IF you did you would see i included the only winning season we had with Freeman in it.
Now, basically from what you posted, you want to blame everything but Freeman. LMAO… Yea ok if that works for you. The rest of us who isn’t wearing blinders have a different opinion.
December 25th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Again If your a Freeman supporter fine, be one. Do us a favor though an stick to football. Just because there are people that dislike your boy and you don’t specifically like that you feel as if somehow your case is made stronger with personal attacks??? News flash, it just makes you look incredibly weak and hardly credible. Do us the favor and don’t act like a child.
December 25th, 2012 at 9:37 pm
@Lori
We arent talking about our expectations for the team. We are talking about Freeman specifically. I, and I think most, expect him to be able to complete passes to wide open receivers, especially when he has no pressure on him. Just about any QB can. With Josh its closer to a 50/50 shot that he actually gets the ball to the right spot. Josh has struggled mostly his entire career doing just the simple things every QB should be able to do. Please dont throw stats around as that is nothing more than Josh padding stats late in the game when we are usually down by 20. And for god sakes quit comparing the man to Eli. He is not Eli and we are not the giants… This is a completely different situation. But don’t worry Josh will have another year to prove us wrong. Do I want him to? Absolutely. Do I think he will? No.
December 26th, 2012 at 3:49 am
Let’s consider the source of the information for Joe’s article, Anthony Beck. 5 teams over 11 years, sounds like mr consistency to me. Sounds like everyone wanted him. What was his longest stay with a team. Have you heard him interact with people on the post game show? If the listener finds fault in Freeman , they are either talked over, shouted down or cut off. If anyone wants to get all Hot and Bothered over his Lust for Josh, that’s your prerogative, but I believe he’s just another loud mouth trying to help a friend. Could it be that he is someone that Boomer referenced when he reported on Freeman’s clubing habits? No one wants Freeman to get his act together more than me. Let’s see the good Josh this Sunday. Go Bucs!
December 26th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Lori- Yes the Bucs rank high in long yardage passes, but the problem is when team take away those deep passes with certain coverages. It’s Josh’s inability to hit short to intemediate passes, and team have figured that out. Stop the long ball, the one-on-one jump ball, where are outstanding WR’s ussually win, and we have nothing to turn to. I hear alot about getting a true speed burner, but most of those guys need a very accurate pass to utiize their speed, which at this point dont think we can hit a real burner accurately enough to let him use speed. Even our big receivers are reaching up, down, behind them fro balls. A smaller speed guy wont like reaching up across the middle for a Josh airball.