Bucs Offered “More Commitment”
March 17th, 2013Last week, former Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett said, in so many words, the Bucs didn’t show him any love and that was a main reason he bolted for Seattle and left Tampa Bay.
It seems the same thing happened to new Bucs tight end Tom Crabtree. Pete Dougherty, of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, noted Crabtree, who is vacationing with his family in Tennessee, is expected to make it to Tampa today to sign his contract.
Crabtree said it soon became clear “we just weren’t on the same page,” and the Bucs’ two-year offer was better for him, his wife and two young children than the one-year deal worth $630,000 — the NFL minimum for a player entering his fourth season — and small signing bonus extended by the Packers.
“It was hard for me to justify almost being back where I started this whole thing off, when I feel like I worked so hard and contributed so much,” Crabtree said. “I guess I would have liked to have been rewarded for my efforts a little more. … I saw more of a commitment from (the Buccaneers) end, which kind of was a little bit of a shock at first. I expected it to be the other way around — maybe some teams interested but wouldn’t come close to what the Packers wanted to do or offer.
“But at the same time, it’s part of the business. No hard feelings or grudges on my end, and I’m sure on their end, too. We both have to make the best of the situation and go on from here.”
Crabtree, who Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel described as the Packers’ “best blocking tight end,” apparently has developed into something of a passing weapon. Dunne, after speaking to Crabtree, noted the Bucs offered Crabtree more of an opportunity to be a pass-catching threat.
Crabtree faced a major road block with the Packers playing behind tight end Jermichael Finley.
Joe kind of had a hunch the Bucs would draft a tight end in the second round, but now with Crabtree on board, the possibility of re-signing Dallas Clark and Luke Stocker on the roster, Joe doubts a tight end will be drafted high by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
Besides, there are too many holes on defense. The Bucs lost a starting defensive end, starting defensive tackle and a starting outside linebacker all in a matter of hours last week.
That’s not even factoring in the porous unit of cornerbacks that sorely needs upgrading.
March 17th, 2013 at 7:42 am
tells me Bucs Draft: DT in Rd 1 and CB in Rd 2…….Green Bay fans seemed pissed to lose that guy b/c he was such a hard worker. I’ll take him!
March 17th, 2013 at 8:53 am
We u can’t draft well u have to play this game. I
think Greg and butch davis are helping out more now. You can tell because we are getting more then one starter a draft. The administrator needs to get stripped of any player evaluation.
March 17th, 2013 at 8:59 am
Is this guy serious. He wanted to get paid for all the things he did and hard work, then what GB offer was the right offer. He is supposed to be a “punishing” TE, yet GB was one of the worse pass and run blocking teams in the league, he is not reliable catching passes that’s with a great QB and with little to no coverage going his way. I laugh when I hear the Milwaukee Jurnal-Sentinel talk about he was the better blocking TE they had… Seriously what odd they know about blocking unless they mean that the other TE didn’t block at all and Crabtree was the only one that at least tried then I buy it…
I just hope the team gets better because this decent and promising team act its getting old.
March 17th, 2013 at 9:14 am
Yeah forget about a the TE from Stanford in the second round… Defense defense defense all 3 days of the draft now… and if Revis is traded well that be great.
March 17th, 2013 at 9:33 am
Everyone keeps talking about trading for Revis THEN drafting well.
We have to give up draft picks for Revis… means we won’t be drafting that many impact players… one if we are lucky.
March 17th, 2013 at 9:49 am
Many many holes to fill. Going to be interesting to see how it’s managed.
March 17th, 2013 at 10:14 am
Don’t know how well this guy will play for us, he only had 8 catches last year, but if the bucs have no intention of drafting a TE then I hope they resign D. Clark, he had 40 catches for us last year and is a proven veteran we know we can count on for some decent production, assuming of course he wants to come back to Tampa.
March 17th, 2013 at 10:18 am
Over the years, it seems obvious the Galzers will spend money on players that are worth the investment. Those who aren’t, they let go.
March 17th, 2013 at 10:22 am
I hope he has a super vertical leap so Josh doesn’t throw it over his head.
March 17th, 2013 at 10:33 am
Does anybody else find it interesting that three of the four free agents signed entered the league as undrafted free agents?
Ogletree, Crabtree (we are into the trees), and Casillas (Spanish for “tree”, just kidding) were all undrafted upon entering the league.
I think that may be one of the reasons these three guys were targetted. They are safer pickups as all three had to fight their ways into the NFL and fight to stay in it. This is completely unlike guys like Braylon Edwards, Dallas Clark, and DJ Williams who were selected very highly in the draft, were gifted (meaning they didn’t HAVE to work hard) starting positions, and regardless of whether they were good or not were guaranteed roster spots for a significant part of their careers because of how highly they were drafted. I think Buc management sees that these guys are hungry, have that walk-on mentality, and if they are playing for a paycheck, it’s for that paycheck they haven’t gotten yet. I like the mentality. It’s very rare when an undrafted free agent possesses that “better than thou-use their own name in the 3rd person” type attitudes.
That being said, there are still tons of good players left at every position. There are ten CBs that can come in and either be a starter or compete, several DTs and DEs that can come in and start or be valuable backups. Great teams aren’t centered around one player (unless that player is a great QB), they are built on great depth and competition and I think that is what the Bucs are trying to add.
March 17th, 2013 at 10:37 am
Check out these highlights on Crabtree. It’s only two plays but you can see clearly that he has more than enough speed to win matchups against LBs and according to anybody with knowledge of him, he is a good blocker.
http://www.packers.com/media-center/videos/Tom-Crabtree-sprints-for-a-72-yard-TD/9aa4e7ca-28d2-4df5-9fc0-842b98c72ae0
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap2000000080321/Crabtree-48-yard-TD-catch
March 17th, 2013 at 11:57 am
@Brandon
The guy played with Aaron Rodgers he should’ve done way better… What, you expect him to do that every day with Freeman?
March 17th, 2013 at 12:41 pm
Does anybody find it strikingly similar to the Bucs’ situation with DE Bennett? In terms of what he said.
March 17th, 2013 at 1:40 pm
@K_bassuka
The guy was playing behind Finley and with about 4 very good receivers… Theres only 1 ball to go around. Stop hating so much purerly on stats and give the guy a chance. Just because he’s not a house hold name doesnt mean he isnt good. There really are some pathetic fans around here.
March 17th, 2013 at 2:31 pm
@Silence
The guy was given his chance many times and came out short dropping passes even when no one covered him… Did you watched him play?
March 17th, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Nope I havent and i could careless if he dropped passes, until he does it in a Buc uniform we should give him a chance and not be a douche bag. Clearly Schiano and Dom believe in the guy. Thats good enough for me. I’ll take there opinion over yours any day of the week.
March 17th, 2013 at 5:28 pm
@Silence
I get it, Schiano and Dom are the best at what they do and can’t do no wrong , that’s why Eric Wright played lights out last year, heck all the decisions they’ve made have panned out right….
I hope the guy can become great, but last year he was not a good player by any means…
March 17th, 2013 at 6:31 pm
Anybody know how many career starts Crabtree has?? My info is 9 in 2011.
March 17th, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Did I say they were the best? No, I never implied it either. However, they are professionals and much more qualifited to evaluate talent than someone like you… correct? Any idiot can sit here and write garbage on a website about someone else and pretend to know what they are talking about. To bad a professional Arm Chair GM isnt a real job or you’d be a rich man.
March 18th, 2013 at 9:17 am
So according to you, fans are not allowed to bash or disagree with the decisions made by management just because they don’t hold the same position as management, therefore don’t have the expertise to understand what is or isn’t a good player. Fans are only allowed to cheer or boo players during games right…
Since its not the fans money that pay for all of their salaries we should stay out of it…
Any idiot can write crap about things they don’t know, that’s true, but those idiots shouldn’t be right about their predictions since its just idiotic talk, right?