Jahri Evans In Free Agency?
February 24th, 2015
The free agency dinner bell rings in 14 short days
Early last preseason, Lovie Smith and Jason Licht advised Bucs fans to stop panicking about poor offensive line play.
The rest is history. The Bucs’ leaders, one could say, panicked themselves a few weeks later and made a deal with the devil.
Joe’s referring to Bill Belicheat and the late-August trade for barbecue master left guard Logan Mankins.
Joe will be kind and say things didn’t work out on the O-line last season.
Word out of New Orleans now has the living-in-salary-cap-hell Saints negotiating a pay cut for Pro Bowl right guard Jahri Evans and/or preparing to release him. You can read the Times-Picayune story here.
Oh, Joe already can hear the screams from legions of fans begging for the Bucs not to sign another high-mileage offensive lineman past his prime.
Evans turns 32 in August, has made six consecutive Pro Bowls and has missed just two games in his nine-year career. But Evans didn’t have his best season last year while battling a wrist injury that required offseason surgery.
Joe doesn’t want old, nosediving players either. But Joe’s not going to write off potentially signing Evans in free agency before the price tag is clear.
As far as the Bucs’ mindset, publicly the regime happily says Logan Mankins and Evan Dietrich-Smith are foundation pieces of the franchise. Heck, Joe would wager Evans is better than both of those guys.
February 24th, 2015 at 11:02 am
Something about this feels familiar…?
February 24th, 2015 at 11:17 am
PASS
February 24th, 2015 at 11:19 am
We have had bad luck in the past with Saints FA’s
and Clemson draft picks
that aside we are rebuilding and not going ANYWHERE next year…stick with youth
February 24th, 2015 at 11:28 am
Amen joejoe amen…
February 24th, 2015 at 11:29 am
would rather go after Iupati or Orlando Franklin or both
February 24th, 2015 at 11:32 am
If we could have gotten Evans 2 or 3 years back, that would have been great.
We dont need any more 30+ year old lineman who are slipping past their prime. Go with youth as Joe said and lets build a goddamn line that lasts the next 5 – 7 years!
February 24th, 2015 at 11:34 am
Ask Hudson Houck his opinion.
February 24th, 2015 at 11:37 am
Quality offensive lines are built on a bedrock of high-round draft choices.
ref: Dallas
February 24th, 2015 at 11:40 am
Since 1990, there have been 15 teams to have taken linemen in back-to-back drafts, and the Cowboys are the third team to do so in that span. 11/15 of the teams that employed the back-to-back linemen strategy ended up winning a playoff game within two seasons
February 24th, 2015 at 11:42 am
Per: Jerry Jones
“Now, it doesn’t necessarily need to be number ones, but you certainly have to have the quality,”
February 24th, 2015 at 11:51 am
Draft and develop stop adopting kids and make your own. No nannys we’ll raise them ourselves. Stop being stupid n stop getting ripped off. What did we spend on our line last year 20mil? Plus the injury settlement to nicks. Fck if the bucs got money to burn I have a few student loans they’re welcome to pay off for me.
#thestruggleisreal
February 24th, 2015 at 12:03 pm
Just afraid to pick up another o-lineman from New Orleans that will get a boat load of money and get MERSA, or turf toe, and get put in IR. I dunno joe is that too soon? Yea I’m talking about the useless lineman Carl nicks that we are still paying and didn’t contribute anything to this team. Granted Evans might be better than nicks but only if we are not going to pay him like we did with nicks. It seems like every free agent we have picked up but less than a hand full have been worth their pay. And I am talking about since the dawn of time in the 70’s.
February 24th, 2015 at 12:04 pm
Build the offensive line through the draft.
On the other hand, use free agency to sign PROVEN talent across the Front 7. This way our stacked up defensive talent, can sko͞ol the youngins on offense.
#TrialByFire
February 24th, 2015 at 12:10 pm
Joe, as you say, it will depend of the price !
If the salary is in accordance with his age, it could be a good risk to take.
February 24th, 2015 at 12:18 pm
(Projected Round Sections)
2nd Round Prospects
• Laken Tomlinson OG Duke 6-3 323
3rd Round Prospects
• Tre’ Jackson RG FSU 6-4 330
• John Miller RG Louisville 6-2 303
• Donovan Smith LG PSU 6-6 338
4th Round Prospects
• Rob Havenstein RT Wisconsin 6-7 321
• Jamil Douglas LG ASU 6-4 304
• B.J. Finney C KSU 6-4 324
5th Round Prospects
• Jamon Brown LG Louisville 6-4 323
• Shaquille Mason RG G.Tech 6-2 310
6th Round Prospects
• Tayo Fabuluje RT TCU 6-6 353
• Max Garcia C Florida 6-4 309
7th Round Prospects
• Dillon Day C Miss.State 6-4 305
• Chaz Green LG Florida 6-5 314
• Mitch Morse LG Missouri 6-5 305
February 24th, 2015 at 12:43 pm
Oh hell no!
February 24th, 2015 at 12:45 pm
No more saints guards and no more Bengals anything….that should be our mantra after the last few seasons..
February 24th, 2015 at 12:52 pm
He is gonna want 7-8 Million. That’s what Mankins is being paid. Now, here is the kicker. Get him in free agency. Pay the 7 or 8 mil to bring him on board. Then look at the draft. If you can get a top notch guard in the draft, you can cut Mankins and get back 7 million, because none of his high salary is guaranteed.
You just upgraded your offensive line and the most it could cost you is 1 million. That’s peanuts, when you have 30 million in available cap space right now.
February 24th, 2015 at 1:36 pm
32 years old before the season starts, no more older guys closer to the downside than to the upside. younger free agent talent or draft and develop our own guys period!
February 24th, 2015 at 1:37 pm
Doug Free RT 31 DAL TBD $6,520,000 UFA
Bryan Bulaga RT 25 GB TBD $3,829,000 UFA
Michael Oher RT 28 TEN TBD $3,000,000 UFA
Tyler Polumbus RT 29 WAS TBD $2,600,000 UFA
Corey Hilliard RT 29 DET TBD $1,900,000 UFA
Jeremy Parnell RT 28 DAL TBD $1,833,333 UFA
Derek Newton RT 27 HOU TBD $1,446,064 UFA
Marshall Newhouse RT 26 CIN TBD $805,000 UFA
Mike Johnson RT 27 ATL TBD $675,000 UFA
Byron Stingily RT 26 TEN TBD $672,625 UFA
Michael Person RT 26 STL TBD $645,000 UFA
Joe Barksdale RT 26 STL TBD $645,000 UFA
Jason Fox RT 26 MIA TBD $635,000 UFA
Don Barclay RT 25 GB TBD $570,833 RFA
Austin Pasztor RT 24 JAC TBD $570,000 ERFA
Ryan Harris RT 29 KC TBD $570,000 UFA
Eben Britton RT 27 CHI TBD $536,471 UFA
Garrett Reynolds RT 27 DET TBD $536,470 UFA
Paul Cornick RT 25 DEN TBD $420,000 ERFA
Eric Winston RT 31 CIN TBD $134,118 UFA
February 24th, 2015 at 1:38 pm
Michael Roos LT 32 TEN TBD $6,625,000 UFA
Byron Bell LT 26 CAR TBD $2,187,000 UFA
Paul McQuistan LT 31 CLE TBD $1,580,000 UFA
Benjamin Ijalana LT 25 NYJ TBD $926,658 UFA
Chris Hairston LT 25 BUF TBD $748,977 UFA
Willie Smith LT 28 SD TBD $645,000 UFA
Bradley Sowell LT 25 ARI TBD $570,000 UFA
Bryce Harris LT 26 NO TBD $570,000 RFA
Tom Compton LT 25 WAS TBD $570,000 RFA
Mike Harris LT 26 MIN TBD $570,000 RFA
Tony Hills LT 30 DAL TBD $472,353 UFA
Will Svitek LT 33 TEN TBD $368,823 UFA
Jonathan Scott LT 32 ATL TBD $335,294 UFA
Bryant Browning LT 26 PIT TBD $303,000 RFA
February 24th, 2015 at 1:38 pm
Mike Iupati G 27 SF TBD $4,625,863 UFA
Dan Connolly G 32 NE TBD $4,083,333 UFA
Rob Sims G 31 DET TBD $3,775,000 UFA
Erik Pears G 32 BUF TBD $3,450,000 UFA
Jeromey Clary G 31 SD TBD $3,300,000 UFA
James Carpenter G 25 SEA TBD $2,431,364 UFA
Willie Colon G 31 NYJ TBD $2,000,000 UFA
Daryn Colledge G 33 MIA TBD $2,000,000 UFA
Mike Pollak G 30 CIN TBD $1,766,666 UFA
Davin Joseph G 31 STL TBD $1,750,000 UFA
Clint Boling G 25 CIN TBD $1,551,362 UFA
Joe Reitz G 27 IND TBD $1,431,000 UFA
Orlando Franklin G 27 DEN TBD $1,386,000 UFA
Jeff Linkenbach G 27 KC TBD $900,000 UFA
Gabe Carimi G 26 ATL TBD $832,500 UFA
Jah Reid G 26 BAL TBD $785,810 UFA
Paul Fanaika G 28 ARI TBD $780,000 UFA
James Brewer G 27 NYG TBD $758,023 UFA
Chris Spencer G 32 TEN TBD $635,000 UFA
John Jerry G 28 NYG TBD $635,000 UFA
Oniel Cousins G 30 TB TBD $635,000 UFA
Vladimir Ducasse G 27 MIN TBD $635,000 UFA
Adam Snyder G 33 NYG TBD $570,000 UFA
Will Rackley G 25 BAL TBD $570,000 UFA
Garry Williams G 28 CAR TBD $551,882 UFA
Steve Schilling G 26 SEA TBD $517,000 UFA
Ben Garland G 26 DEN TBD $420,000 UFA
Ryan Seymour G 25 CLE TBD $320,294 ERFA
Kevin Hughes G 26 CAR TBD $318,000 RFA
Brandon Washington G 26 STL TBD $262,058 ERFA
February 24th, 2015 at 1:39 pm
Nick Hardwick C 33 SD TBD $6,150,000 UFA
Will Montgomery C 32 DEN TBD $1,925,000 UFA
Samson Satele C 30 MIA TBD $1,859,375 UFA
Dominic Raiola C 36 DET TBD $1,500,000 UFA
Stefen Wisniewski C 25 OAK TBD $1,315,810 UFA
Rodney Hudson C 25 KC TBD $1,115,577 UFA
Brian De La Puente C 29 CHI TBD $795,001 UFA
Doug Legursky C 28 SD TBD $687,059 UFA
Jacques McClendon C 27 JAC TBD $645,000 ERFA
Jonathan Goodwin C 36 NO TBD $635,000 UFA
Joe Berger C 32 MIN TBD $635,000 UFA
Rich Ohrnberger C 29 SD TBD $635,000 UFA
A.Q. Shipley C 28 IND TBD $570,000 RFA
Tim Barnes C 26 STL TBD $570,000 RFA
Cody White C 26 HOU TBD $570,000 RFA
Kevin Matthews C 28 CAR TBD $570,000 UFA
Brian Folkerts C 25 CAR TBD $495,000 ERFA
Matt McCants C 25 OAK TBD $495,000 ERFA
Trevor Robinson C 24 SD TBD $402,352 RFA
Josh Samuda C 26 MIN TBD $318,000 RFA
Eric Olsen C 26 TEN TBD $189,705 UFA
February 24th, 2015 at 4:25 pm
you people need a life and a job
February 24th, 2015 at 5:51 pm
Wager all you want Joe, but Ebans had a real NFL OC last year, unlike the Bucs. I’m sure that made a big difference in how the team played.
February 24th, 2015 at 10:37 pm
Can we NOT overpay for an OG for a change? IGreat OGs can be found in the 5th round.
February 24th, 2015 at 10:44 pm
Dave Says:
you people need a life and a job
___________________________________________
lol
February 25th, 2015 at 10:37 am
@Skyline Crew
Damn dude, your on it like blue bonnet. Were you at work and listing all that?