Message Sent
February 12th, 2015
Not long after landing the Buccaneers general manager job, Jason Licht said one big thing he learned during his years under Bill Belicheat in New England is to be unafraid to move on from a player that underperformed; accept the loss and never look back.
Joe’s thinking about that this morning in the wake of Josh McCown getting cut. It’s great to see that Licht’s wise approach was put into motion yesterday. There is no denying that McCown, who played like a shaky rookie most of last season, was a terribly disappointing free agent signing, though he did help the Bucs win the Chase for Jameis. And for that Joe will be forever grateful.
Joe considers McCown’s ousting to be a loud message sent to every other underperforming Buccaneers free agent from last season. Michael Johnson, Anthony Collins, Evan Dietrich-Smith, you’re not safe, and you shouldn’t be safe.
McCown was revered by Lovie Smith. He was Lovie’s handpicked leader of the offense and the anointed starting quarterback. And now he’s gone. Heck, it doesn’t even appear like the Bucs tried to renegotiate McCown’s contract, aka cut his pay for him to stay and be a backup and mentor a rookie.
Licht said after last season that his job is to learn from mistakes in free agency, not to run and hide and avoid taking risks.
The free agency dinner bell rings in 26 days, and dumping McCown to free up $5 million in salary was an aggressive move. Joe highly doubts that’s the only one coming, as the Bucs look to win a home game become respectable again in a hurry.
February 12th, 2015 at 9:15 am
I can give credit for recognizing a mistake for Lovie and Licht, but they made several last year and had one of the worst FA classes ever. Not really sure we should want them to go back into FA but they basically have to because of the cap floor. Just sign a lot of depth but no big signings please. They have been mostly disastrous recently, save VJax.
February 12th, 2015 at 9:25 am
Is Legarett Bloun or Aquib Talib available?
February 12th, 2015 at 9:38 am
Johnson will likely be kept….$9 mil….only $2 mil in cap savings…
Collins…..? $3 mil guarateed out of $6….cut him & still eat 3 mil
Koenen will be cut $3.250 not guaranteed
Mankins….could restructure…$7mil not guaranteed
EDS….could restructure….$3.750 not guaranteed
Excluding Johnson….there is $17 mil in cap space with these 4 players…..
February 12th, 2015 at 9:40 am
“…be unafraid to move on from a player that underperformed; accept the loss and never look back…”
This should include coaches. I am appalled to see Warhop is still on the staff, especially considering that you know he had input on selecting what FAs to sign in addition to coaching the worst Oline in the NFL. Instead, we fire his assistant. What a joke!
February 12th, 2015 at 9:46 am
It’s amazing how the release of one player can generate so much speculation.
But great fuel for the media.
February 12th, 2015 at 9:47 am
@tbbf,
If ur numbers are correct, I agree we are likely to keep M. Johnson. DEs are hard to get and very expensive. Might as well roll the dice hoping to get a good year out of him.
I can see Mankins getting cut. First, I think he would love to get out of our hot mess here in Tampa. And, do u realize Mankins is making almost as much as Nicks was? Nicks was a beast whereas Mankins is falling apart.
February 12th, 2015 at 9:48 am
Licht has made some rookie mistakes.Who has ever walked into a new title and nailed it on day one? I like this guy though.This move feels like he told Lovie to shove it. I think given the proper time to learn on the job, he could make a decent GM. That’s easier said than done in the NFL though.
February 12th, 2015 at 9:48 am
Goldson is due $8 mil….$4 guaranteed….
Restructuring will be difficult because he gets $4 no matter what and he isn’t worth more than that….
February 12th, 2015 at 10:00 am
@ Harry
Yes….Johnson will make $7 mil if we cut him….why not pay the $2….use him as depth if he doesn’t perform as a starter….somehow, I think his play will improve…he’s young and wants to keep his value up.
As for Mankins….he is a prime candidate for restructure….none of his $7 is guaranteed…he won’t get that much on the open market….I can see, if they want to keep him a 2year $10 million contract with $6 guaranteed….max.
February 12th, 2015 at 10:00 am
it wasn’t the worst FA class ever, it looks that way because of all the o lineman we cut, giving an injured corner the best corner in free agency 16 mil on a losing team, signing dashon goldson and drafting a player just like him 7th overall come to mind, all the crap free agent signings mark Dominick had this is nothing for one year….greg schiano threw away way much more money than lovie did. biggest coaching staff in the nfl, best corner in the nfl, no flyzone was a joke and with all the pick ups he won 4 games and secondary was garbage. we signed what were considered the top free agents at their positions for a reason and there were lots of teams looking to make those same mistakes we did. eric wright was worse that the entire 2014 free agent class all by himself. every coach has bad free agent classes and that’s a fact. trent Richardson, percy harvin….your talking about big money trades giving up first round picks…we gave up money which means that doesn’t make it that difficult to move on and better our team
February 12th, 2015 at 10:10 am
Can somebody answer a technical question for me.
If we cut Johnson we eat his entire contract even if he signs with another team. He would be allowed to double dip. I don’t understand why but that seems to be the way sports contracts work.
However if we traded him wouldn’t we be in a position to negotiate how much of his salary the other team would pick up? And if the other team that took him would pay say half of his contract wouldn’t that free up that portion from our salary cap?
Johnson is certainly not going to be picked up by any team at the Bucs contract level. But DE’s are hard to find and somebody may be willing to eat part of it for us. My question is would it make any difference to our cap? We need money for Levonte.
February 12th, 2015 at 10:20 am
@ St. Pete
To my knowledge….if we cut him….we still owe him the $7 guaranteed portion of his contract…..we are still on the hook for $4714 mil next year & Barron $2240 mil….
Even if a player gets picked up by another team after we cut him….he gets to double-dip.
Unlike MLB….NFL teams cannot negotiate trades and absorb part of the salary with the new team…..the new team must pay the salary or re-negotiate a new contract which is usually what happens
February 12th, 2015 at 10:21 am
$4714 for Nicks next year
February 12th, 2015 at 10:29 am
I had the funniest dream last night. I was at some cheap buffet restaurant with Mark Dominik, Jason Licht, and Mike Evens. I was telling them to draft Sharone Anthony from clemson at mike. I watched a video on him yesterday and i like him a lot
February 12th, 2015 at 10:45 am
It must have been difficult to find Sharone Anthony highlights with all of the Stephone Anthony highlights in the way.
February 12th, 2015 at 10:54 am
bucs4lyfe Says:
February 12th, 2015 at 10:00 am
it wasn’t the worst FA class ever, it looks that way because of all the o lineman we cut, giving an injured corner the best corner in free agency 16 mil on a losing team, signing dashon goldson and drafting a player just like him 7th overall come to mind, all the crap free agent signings mark Dominick had this is nothing for one year….greg schiano threw away way much more money than lovie did. biggest coaching staff in the nfl, best corner in the nfl, no flyzone was a joke and with all the pick ups he won 4 games and secondary was garbage. we signed what were considered the top free agents at their positions for a reason and there were lots of teams looking to make those same mistakes we did. eric wright was worse that the entire 2014 free agent class all by himself. every coach has bad free agent classes and that’s a fact. trent Richardson, percy harvin….your talking about big money trades giving up first round picks…we gave up money which means that doesn’t make it that difficult to move on and better our team
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So signing Wright, one bust, is worse than the 3 busts (and trading for another) and a few mediocre guys who they signed last offseason. Ok then, sounds like just biased Schiano/Dominik hating. At least Wright saw year 2, and oh yeah, VJax was the same FA class, which completely mitigates Wright and makes it a slightly positive FA (which is then made negative by Nicks). I get it, you hate Schiano and Dominik, but Lovie and Licht just put out a year far worse than anything they did.
February 12th, 2015 at 11:07 am
they just made their easiest decision of the offseason. other decisions like the one on anthony collins and goldson will be easy too, but not quite this easy. it would be a mistake to take this approach too far, though – if you don’t have security in depth, you can’t clean house at every position. that was the mistake they made with the O Line last year. best to know you’re holding onto a secure rope before letting go of the other one.
February 12th, 2015 at 11:25 am
@tampabaybucfan,
I think we keep 2 maybe 3 of those guys. And potentially all of them without restructuring. If this is the case, all of those guys know that if they want to continue making that kind of money, they better perform in 2015. Because there isn’t going to be another payday for the rest of their lives.
Just my opinion.
February 12th, 2015 at 11:32 am
@ Big marlin B
Hhhaha thanks for the correction. I get all these huge black dudes with girl names confused sometimes
February 12th, 2015 at 11:35 am
I can understand cutting Cousins, Collins & Gilkey, but before cutting any other lineman you better have someone to replace them or at least competition in training camp. Don’t want a repeat of last year.
February 12th, 2015 at 1:44 pm
This bum (pictured) is a bum. Renegotiate or cut him! Someone will pick him up eventually then his money is off the books… Right?
February 12th, 2015 at 4:53 pm
Good thinking, Joe. It’s good the see the BUCS start making moves and shaking things up.
February 12th, 2015 at 11:49 pm
They’re going to have to take a chance on a couple of those offensive line moves…simply can’t cut everyone. Some will cost you more than the relief they provide.
Perhaps the conclusion is that the line will be better with an actual offensive coordinator?
February 13th, 2015 at 12:39 am
What everyone is forgetting is that to keep them means we have a poor player on our roster. Cut them all and with the roster spots get some good backup and/or young players with saved money and then the roster has some depth.