Payday Nears For Mike Williams
June 12th, 2013
One of the most underpaid receivers in the NFL says his financial status is about ready to change.
Mike Williams told TampaBay.com today that a new contract with the Bucs is imminent. “All I can say about it is that it’s very close,’’ Williams said.
This is great news, as Williams is in the final year of his rookie contract and the Bucs absolutely can’t afford to risk losing him. Hopefully, Williams agent won’t hold things up, as it sounds like Williams likes what the Bucs are offering.
It’ll be interesting to see how much the Bucs front-load a new deal for Williams and what kind of cash he commands ($6 million annually?). Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has about $18 million to play with under the 2013 salary cap.
June 12th, 2013 at 5:21 pm
Earned it!
June 12th, 2013 at 5:23 pm
Isn’t Locking down Wide Receivers before you Lockdown a Quarterback kinda Like putting the Cart before the horse?
No knock on Williams, I’m glad he will remain in Blood and Pewter, but Freeman and the Bucs should at least be having an active dialog about a New Deal before the season begins
June 12th, 2013 at 5:37 pm
@Braheem
Williams has proven (proved?) himself. Freeman hasn’t.
June 12th, 2013 at 5:39 pm
@Braheem
Your boy doesnt disserve an extension yet. Williams absolutely did. But I am sure and Joe has reported in earlier articles that there has been discussions between the two sides. Dom/Schiano clearly arent as infatuated with Freeman as you are. My guess is Freeman wont get a contract before midway through the season.
June 12th, 2013 at 5:41 pm
I would rather have this extension done now and on the books for 2013. That way the contract can be front loaded to minimize the blow for Freeman’s (possible) extension. (Not to mention Mike deserves to be paid. What he is being paid now for his production is the equivalent of highway robbery.)
June 12th, 2013 at 5:43 pm
Is that the FIRST Dominik draftee to earn an extension in 4 drafts?
June 12th, 2013 at 6:02 pm
He is the best WR we have ever drafted!! Pay the man!!
June 12th, 2013 at 6:29 pm
Mike Williams has earned it. Now wait till you guys see the size of the contract GMC gets next year! And probably Freeman too. We better be saving up!
June 12th, 2013 at 6:32 pm
@Adam L
You seem to be laboring under the notion that other GMs:
1. Strike gold with every draft pick and find nothing but superstars, and then
2. Dole out contract extensions willy-nilly upon an agent’s request.
Do some homework. Research every other NFL GM with about the same time at their position as Dominik, and give us a breakdown of their draft hits and misses and how many contract extensions they’ve given out to those picks. We’ll be waiting for your report.
June 12th, 2013 at 6:41 pm
WCBF,
Agree with you 100%, pay Mike Williams now!
Frontload the crap out of his contract, and be ready to sign Freeman, GMC, or a FA next year.
June 12th, 2013 at 6:44 pm
Illuminati,
Dominick is doing much better work since appointing Schiano as Head Coach.
However, please don’t ask for the “facts” or the “signings” because at the end of the day the “success” of the Buccaneer organization is decided by wins and losses.
We are 24-40 through Dominick’s reign, and that speaks for itself.
June 12th, 2013 at 6:56 pm
This guys has been patient and has done above and beyond what’s been asked of him, he deserves this extension.
Especially when he’s getting less money than MANY WR’s out there which he is better than..
June 12th, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Yeah, pay da man!
June 12th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
@Illuminati (aka Jay Carney)
So… I’ll go back to my original question? Is this the FIRST Dominik draftee to play through his rookie contract and actually (almost) earn a second one?
I’m not looking for 1.000 batting average and I’m not looking for Dominik to become George Steinbrenner. I’m pointing out that in 4 drafts, the Bucs have uncovered ONE player worth keeping past their original deal. ONE.
June 12th, 2013 at 7:00 pm
@stevek
We’re not discussing the success of the organization as a whole. We’re talking about the percentage of any given GM’s draft picks that prove worthy of high-dollar contract extensions while their rookie contracts are still in force.
I realize that pesky little things like “facts” tend to confuse people, but Adam L’s criticism of Dom was directed specifically at his drafting ability. I’ll offer you the same challenge: go grade Dominik’s drafting against ALL other GMs who got their job about the same time, and tell us how you think he ranks.
June 12th, 2013 at 7:02 pm
The only thing I have to say about the GMC contract situation is that he probably won’t affect the cap room very much. He already has the second highest cap hit for all DTs in the league. (Yes, more than Suh.) He will drop to third in 2014. (Suh goes from ~$10.5mil in 2013 to ~$21.5mil in 2014, that’s nuts.)
Gerald McCoy is already paid like one of the best DTs in the league. It seems unlikely that he would see a significant raise no matter the outcome of the next two seasons. (He is under contract though 2014.)
http://www.spotrac.com/top-salaries/nfl/cap-hit/defensive-tackle/
June 12th, 2013 at 7:03 pm
*through not though
June 12th, 2013 at 7:22 pm
Dom is going into his 5th year, that means the very first people he’s drafted are just now able to get extensions. I dont see how Adam L’s comment holds much weight when you use common sense. How many rookies really ever get an extension before there rookie deal is up? Not many unless they are superstars from the get go.
June 12th, 2013 at 7:25 pm
@Illuminati
I too would like to see that information. I had compiled something similar but based it on whether said player was starting for the team that drafted them or not. The results weren’t pretty for even the best of teams. (ie, Giants, Patriots, Steelers, Packers, etc.) I wish I had kept that information. It was eventually dismissed by a certain self proclaimed “realist” because apparently the “starter” status bears no weight in whether a player is considered a “success” or not. It is definitely some very telling information if you get it though. I would guess that most GMs are lucky to average a single player that is worth an extension in each draft.
@Adam L.
Most players don’t receive extensions until they either hold out or they reach the last year of their contract. Dom hasn’t been GM of more than four drafts so this is the first year contracts even could begin to reach a point that an extension was necessary.
June 12th, 2013 at 7:26 pm
Hint….. Braheem’s the dude with Snap On tattooed across his forehead.
Congrats in advance to MW. Outstanding job both on and off the field. Hope he kills it this year!
June 12th, 2013 at 7:27 pm
And Couch Fan beats me to it.
June 12th, 2013 at 7:42 pm
@westcoastbucfan
i simply stated that your results were off because a lot of our rookie starters would have just been depth on your other ranked good drafting teams. A Bad team will throw rookies in when they are not ready and give a shot to other players that would not have got a shot to start on said other teams. So what is the point if all your drafted rookies started for a team and they only can win 5 games???
June 12th, 2013 at 7:54 pm
Then how do you measure success of individual players on a “bad” team? How else can I compare the success/failure of Dom’s 2009 draft to that of the Patriots 2009 draft? (I attempted to sort by Pro Bowls just now but realized it is not accurate so I cant use it.) And please don’t say win/loss record because you can’t determine a single player’s success with the win/loss column. Maurice Jones Drew is/was considered one of the best runningbacks in the game but it certainly wasn’t reflected in the win/loss column.
June 12th, 2013 at 8:12 pm
Mike Williams will be a top 10 Receiver in the NFL this season
June 12th, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Yes and front load it, he can get paid this year and we still can make moves next year
June 12th, 2013 at 8:44 pm
@Adam L
@stevek
I’ll go ahead and get you started on your homework.
Here are all the NFL GMs who were named GM within one year either side of when Dominik was named GM, and the first year that they oversaw their team’s drafts:
Jeff Ireland, Miami Dolphins, 2008
Kevin Colbert, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2010
Howie Roseman, Philadelphia Eagles, 2010
Washington Redskins, Bruce Allen, 2009
Detroit Lions, Martin Mayhew, 2009
Atlanta Falcons, Thomas Dimitroff, 2008
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Mark Dominik, 2009
Seattle Seahawks, John Schneider, 2010
That’s eight, including Dominik. That’s fully 25 percent of the league’s GMs, so it’s a pretty good representative sample.
Now, all you have to do is log all of those GM’s draft picks and how you think they have performed and who earned contract extensions and whether they were deserved, and then you will be qualified to judge Dom’s success in the draft thus far.
Mind you, I’m not necessarily sticking up for Dom. I personally haven’t done this analysis.
I just think people should know these kinds of things before they criticize someone else’s work.
Go ahead and crunch the data so we’ll all know. You can post your analysis on Google Docs, and then post the link here.
June 12th, 2013 at 9:16 pm
So this is still his first one?
Why is everyone skirting around the issue? It’s the first one. No one outplayed their rookie contract and earned an early extension. No one over-achieved. No one in four years did anything above and beyond.
It’s the first and ONLY Dominik draft pick that is even SNIFFING a legitimate contract right now.
Sugar coat it all you want. Compare it to whoever you like. It’s still ONE draft pick in 4 years that merits long-term potential. One.
June 12th, 2013 at 9:33 pm
@Adam
If you’d just complete your homework assignment and stop trolling you might learn something about the business of professional football.
June 12th, 2013 at 9:56 pm
@Adam
@stevek
Just look at the first GM on the list and his first year. The Dolphins had NINE picks that year, and NOT ONE is still on their roster, and FOUR of those picks were in the first three rounds.
We only had six picks in Dom’s first year, and only two picks in the first three rounds, and one (Freeman) is still on our roster.
And that’s just scratching the surface. If you actually take the time to dig in and look at reality instead of just trolling, you’ll realize what a crap-shoot the draft really is, and that Dom has probably fared much better overall than many GMs in terms of draft selection.
June 12th, 2013 at 10:17 pm
I feel like Dom has done a decent job drafting players. I think he has improved as time has gone on.
June 12th, 2013 at 11:07 pm
@Illuminati….they aren’t going to do that assignment because it would destroy their ‘myth’ that Dom is a horrible GM. Bottom line is that Dom has done just what he was hired to do….he has built a team primarily out of the draft and brought in just the right amount of seasoned Vets in the last two years. We are now ready to rock and roll but God forbid this didn’t all happen in the first two years of Dom’s tenure. After all, every other GM has won the super bowl within two years of taking over….what’s wrong with Dom??? I think this organization has been brilliant in the way they have gone about building this team. They got good players through the draft and planned ahead so when Nicks and Jackson hit the market they had the money to get them. Then this year they got Revis and Goldson and took Banks in the draft. You’d be hard pressed to find a weakness on this team now.
Don’t talk about ‘what if injuries occur’ ‘we have no depth’ blah, blah blah. Do you think the Lions have someone on the sidelines ready to step in and replace Suh if he goes down? Bottom line is no NFL team has backups that are as good as the starters. If that were the case no one would be worried about injuries because there would be no drop off in talent. Our starters on both sides of the ball are as good or better than most teams in the NFL and we have the capability to take it all if we play up to our potential. I’m excited about this year. I think our defense will be beastly.
June 13th, 2013 at 5:10 am
@Biff
Feel free to criticize my opinions I post regarding the Bucs
LEAVE IT AT THAT.
Just a matter of perspective: I’m definitely a Mike Williams fan and glad the general mood in this thread is positive. (despite that sophomore campaign he had)
How easy it is to ignore Freeman is the best QB in Buccaneers history and merely 25yrs old. That is what he has proven thus far! I’d like to know that he will be around for years to come. By the way, its a NEW Contract on the line NOT an extension if Marky D doesn’t get Josh’s signature before the end of the 2013 Season.
June 13th, 2013 at 5:53 am
Thank you Couch Fan for quickly pointing out to Adam L that the reason there have been no extensions of Dominik draft picks is because they are still on their rookie contracts. In the case of Mike Williams, many found fault with Dominik drafting him in the first place. But Dominik and staff did a lot of homework and thought him to be worth the risk. No GM hits every selection as some believe, but Dominik should be given some credit for # 19. As for Josh Freeman. Unless he absolutely stinks up the joint, the organization is not going to start over at QB and he’ll get an extension. It’s just a matter of how many $$$$$. He might not be the prettiest girl to take to the prom but he’s not Big Barbara either.
June 13th, 2013 at 7:12 am
@illuminati
Really? 9 picks in Miami and none are in the roster?
Guess what? They suck too.
Thanks for proving my point.
June 13th, 2013 at 10:45 am
@Adam
The only point you ever had was the one on the top of your head.
June 13th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Once you start with personal attacks, you’ve pretty much admitted you’ve lost the argument. Thank you.
June 14th, 2013 at 1:19 am
That “bad” campaign was hardly because of him…
When he is the number 1 target and has absolutely no help at all all the other teams had to do was double/triple him.