Free Agent Grade: F
February 26th, 2015
Last year, the Bucs went big game hunting in free agency and bagged quite a lot of talent, so they thought.
They got a starting quarterback, starting left tackle and a starting defensive end and a starting cornerback out of the hunt — critical positions for every team.
And what did the Bucs get out of it?
A big fat “F” grade, per FoxSports.com.
Tampa Bay: F
The Buccaneers signed 11 veterans in the first week of free agency and still finished with an NFL-worst 2-14 record. Defensive end Michael Johnson and left tackle Anthony Collins were especially expensive busts while quarterback Josh McCown has already gotten released this offseason.
As NFL logic holds, those who win the free agency battle often lose the war. Many thought the Bucs won free agency last year. And what was the result? Coincidence? Joe doesn’t think so.
Danny Snyder and Jerry Jones are experts in this line of NFL history.
Look, the Bucs the past three years have been very active in free agency spending tens of millions of Team Glazer cash and really the only two expensive players that worked out (other than bit role players for depth) have been Vincent Jackson, Alterraun Verner. Yes, when healthy, Carl Nicks was dominant, but that damn turf toe killed his career.
Joe remembers writing years ago that relying on free agency to stock your roster is fool’s gold. Of course, that got Joe flamed. To be polite, bagging ghostly Michael Johnson and Anthony Collins were total reaches, and Josh McCown was basically hanging your hopes on the tooth fairy.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:11 pm
Well luckily, there is fresh hope every spring. If at 1st you don’t succeed – try, try again.
Bucs have no choice. They have numerous holes to fill and not enough high draft picks to fill them with. So I assume we will hit FA agency again fairly hard with a good amount of free cap space to work with. Hopefully, L&L and the scouting staff learned from their FA mistakes in 2014 and will hit on a higher % of FAs this year. Just like drafting players – you will never get close to 100% when you make multiple moves – but if they can hit on closer to 60% than the 20% they achieved last year – this team will be in a position to at least compete well in 2015.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:23 pm
We have a few others that have at least somewhat earned their paychecks:
Clinton McDonald
Major Wright
Bobby Rainey
Brandon McDougald
Jaques Smith
Danny Lansanah
Patrick Murray
It’s these type (middle of the road) players that can provide depth and a future for not much money.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:24 pm
Sorry…..Bradley McDougald
February 26th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Throw in all the bad draft picks and Lovie’s coaching and you have the worst team in the NFL.
Cannot wait for the 2016 draft to see which top 5 pick the Bucs have!!!
February 26th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
F is good, but I might have went with an I for incomplete. Maybe we can get a C this year.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:47 pm
I just hope they structure our future free agent contracts a little better, That way if the suck like Collins, or Johnson we could just cut them, and Not be left with bunches of dead cap money.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:47 pm
With J Winston aleady on a Bucs pedestal it will be interesting to see how the grading system when it comes time to ask how Lovie & Co. did.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:48 pm
The Bucs have “won” the offseason Super Bowl a few times recently. It’s meant less than nothing when it actually matters. Ideally they’ve learned it’s a very poor approach employed by none of the best teams, but since Lovie has to win next year to keep his job, highly likely they throw more money out there and hope it works out better. Sucks when you have to rely on hope rather than evidence.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:51 pm
I really like the McDonald pickup.
We have to add free agents. We really don’t have a choice. We have way too many starter holes to fill with just the draft.
Keep rolling the dice.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
Of course these grades are based on big name free agents but we’ll never know what could have been on the offensive side of the ball with the free agents we let go from last years crop. Having no offensive coordinator or anyone on the roster with nfl knowledge and experience was a bigger mistake than the free agents themselves but atleast if they keep players like Collins, cousins and EDS we’ll be able to get a real grade on them now that theres a real coordinator in town running the offense. josh mccown was simply a disaster waiting to happen, have to admit though in game 3 of the preseason with tedford running the offense and the defense playing the way it did I was hype but then something bad happened, the season began and games started to count
I think any franchise can look at the bucs and we show them all that big name free agents can be a waste of time, im all for getting the mid level players to supplement the roster we have in place, just cant buy your way into the playoffs
February 26th, 2015 at 4:04 pm
It like a cycle that won’t end…. we draft guys who miss, so then we have to go out a sign starters. We spend high picks on freeman, foster, clayborn, bowers, barron, banks, revis trade, ect, and they can’t be above average starters so then we have to go out and spend to fill those spots. Remeber when we were gonig to build through the draft like green bay and pittsburg… but oh yeah, that only works when you know what you are doing in the draft.
February 26th, 2015 at 4:07 pm
oh, and lets not go out a sign a guy to start when he has spent his career as a back up (mccown, collins) and lets not give a guy big money when he is comming off a crappy year (michael johnson had 3 sacks his last year in cinci, why did we think he would be better in tampa?)
February 26th, 2015 at 4:16 pm
second year of this regime and if we gave mark Dominick all those years of wasted money and picks I think we can assume this regime cant do worse than the losing culture mark Dominick brought back to tampa. we were a joke before we brought in two players Sapp and Brooks and it started a chain reaction of good players drafted around them, good not great. no one would accuse chidi ahonatu of being great or anyone on our defensive line. before they brought in Rice at D end we were still winning without him. we need studs at every level of defense, consistency and identity on offense. are we a run dominant pass dominant? we haven’t had bread and butter plays since the days of alstott
February 26th, 2015 at 4:17 pm
I would rate it an A+ because they stumbled enough that we now are able to draft a franchise QB. Glass pretty full in my opinion.
February 26th, 2015 at 4:18 pm
We all knew Mccown would play poorly. If we had more consistent QB play then the shortcomings of Collins, Johnson etc might not have stuck out so much.
February 26th, 2015 at 5:01 pm
Soon your sugar-daddies will all be gone.
You’ll wake up some cold day and find you’re alone.
You’ll call to me but I’m gonna tell you: “Bye, bye, bye, ”
When I turn around and walk away, you’ll cry, cry, cry,
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry and you’ll cry alone,
When everyone’s forgotten and you’re left on your own.
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry. –Thee Johnny Cash
There’s no crying in football McClown. Remember when we had people in here that used to get pissed off if you called him McClown?
February 26th, 2015 at 5:29 pm
This doesn’t take into consideration the good players we let go. I can handle the bad signings of players we didn’t work with every day more than letting go of the good players we did.
February 26th, 2015 at 6:06 pm
If the Bucs get Jameis, Joe will quickly turn the 2014 season into an A+ for this very reason.
February 26th, 2015 at 6:12 pm
well, mccown can fall back on his other gig, lead singer from “queens of the stone age”
February 26th, 2015 at 6:13 pm
McCown is the worst QB to intentionally start since Gruden trotted frau Rob Johnson out there…and it’s real close at that!
February 26th, 2015 at 6:54 pm
Carl Nicks played a total of 7 games with the Bucs. Hard to consider that even a mild success. Not only that, but he is still costing the Bucs $5million in dead cap money this year.
I firmly believe Nicks had turf toe when he got here since it is an AstroTurf injury and he used to play for the Saints in a dome.
Not sure if he was able to disguise the injury or if Schiano/Dummynick just chose to ignore this since almost as soon as he started playing for the team it appeared.
If we signed 11 FA’s then it was obvious there was a big lack of talent on this team. Since three of them were no doubt busts, the Bucs hit on Close to 75 percent of them. Unfortunately two of the most expensive ones really flamed out when they got rich.
February 26th, 2015 at 6:57 pm
DallasBuc, why do you have to bring up Rob Johnson. Yikes.
Sat in the pocket for two seconds and then started a Chinese fire drill and it didn’t matter if there was pressure or not.
Still got himself a Super Bowl ring thanks to “The Bull.”
February 26th, 2015 at 7:06 pm
Actually Buc Realist, the same,people who gave us an F in free agency gave us a B in the draft. Let’s not forget that all the so called “experts” lauded the Bucs for their FA signings. Even Bill Polian who built the Bills, Panthers and Colts into Super Bowl teams.
Guess everyone looked stupid, not just Lovie.