Free Agents Know Lovie
March 22nd, 2015
From fan feedback Joe received about free agency, there is disappointment because the Bucs didn’t go big-name hunting again.
Joe sort of understands that because most fans like names they recognize.
However, how has this philosophy worked out the past three years? It got the Bucs a putrid three-year record of 13-35, and in each of those three seasons, the Bucs got worse, not better.
As the old saying goes, those that win the free agent season lose the regular season.
Now the Bucs sit at the very bottom of the league, winners of the Chase for Jameis.
Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com shows that the free agents the Bucs got this season, though not all household names, are a good thing.
The Dallas defense is run by coordinator Rod Marinelli. He’s one of Smith’s best friends and the two worked together as assistants for the Bucs under Tony Dungy. More importantly, Marinelli runs the same defense as Smith.
That should make the transition easy for Melton, Carter and Moore. Melton should be particularly comfortable. He played for Smith in Chicago before moving on to Dallas.
After last season, Smith admitted he didn’t know his roster very well coming into the job. That may have been part of the reason the Bucs went 2-14. But that shouldn’t be a problem this year.
You know what Joe reads into that? There shouldn’t be much of a learning curve. Some players, (Alterraun Verner) took a long time to get Lovie’s defense down right. That should not be the case at all for the Bucs’ latest free agents.
March 22nd, 2015 at 8:24 am
Love it when Joe starts day off with a “Feel Good” article.
March 22nd, 2015 at 8:42 am
I agree. Also, let’s not forget that the entire defense last year were virtual “free agents” to Lovie’s defense which everyone knows takes a while to learn as last years stats show.
When you add in the fact that any way you look at it we had NO OC last year, things look a bit brighter. Dirk Koetter will make a big difference for this team. Also don’t forget that ASJ missed all of OTA’S because he was still in school and Logan Mankins didn’t come on board till very late in camp.I’ll bet we don’t get swept by the South again this year!
March 22nd, 2015 at 8:46 am
My concern about it all was that they actually they were building a competitive team last year and hand built maybe the worst o line in the league, that’s a problem
March 22nd, 2015 at 8:51 am
What understood doesn’t have to be explained. I’ve already stated these facts in previous posts. So again I love not like every move we made with the exception of Conte.
March 22nd, 2015 at 8:57 am
Lovie obviously also made a mistake by simply giving away jobs instead of letting players earn it and they simply weren’t ready to spend in free agency…. Bottom line you’ll never be a winner if you draft starters, draft is and always will be more important than free agency
March 22nd, 2015 at 8:59 am
What a bunch of nonsense. In each case of the big 3 busts there was clear evidence on film, ya know…where it matters, that these guys were not good football players and had no business landing big money contracts. Free agency works much better if your ability to evaluate talent were better than that of the average fan on this site. Sick of the excuses these guys are getting for not finding ways to improve the worst team in professional football.
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:00 am
None of this matters if we don’t address the line before the draft. We won’t even be able to find out what our rookie can do
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:04 am
Lovie admitting “he didn’t know the roster very well coming into the job”, is the biggest bunch of BS I have heard in a long time. Come on now…..
You hire an EXPERIENCED coach, who adds experienced assistants and he spent a full year in his basement studying all the players. You have to wonder if he wasn’t just watching the playboy channel. He sure as hell didn’t learn anything.
Do I sound a little down on Lovie? You’re damn right! He is supposed to be a professional. Look at the previous 2 coaches. Raheem at least brought enthusiasm! Toes on the line at least brought discipline.
Lovie was a dead ass last year that brought little to the table. Yes, the players like him…..because he isn’t a hard-ass. He doesn’t make waves. Oh how I would love to get a REX RYAN in here and see how quickly things change at OBP.
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:06 am
I know I’m the cockeyed optimist here, a few agree, I suspect most do not.
Lovie inherited a disaster. MRSA and a franchise QB melting down in a controversial manner with his agent charging the Bucs of leaking drug info etc.
More residue from the Schiano era. The bickering over Revis. There was a lot screwed up from the year before. You don’t turn that around in one year!
Now 2-14 is an abysmal failure even with all those legitimate reasons. They had 8 wins in them if they played to the max. They did not. They freaking couldn’t even count to 11 and lost a game for that stupidity.
We ARE in much better shape this year than last year. We’ve kept the best of last year, flushed the turds. Our FA’s this year have far more realistic expectations than we had last year.
And while the NBA is a players league, coaches have a HUGE influence in the NFL. Koetter is a quantum improvement to our coaching staff. That single move virtually assures that our offense will be better.
We take Fameis/Marcus # 1…keep MG8..he’s a solid backup and if he grows under Koetter he may either be a starter or great trade bait next year.
Our DL is almost there. In fact it might actually be good. Melton provides great depth and additional rushing pressure. McDonald was a good FA last year. GMC is GMC. Jacqueis Smith came on very strong last year as did Fatininkun and Larry English and Gholston still show promise. It’s Gholston’s 3rd year, typically when a DE begins to find his way.
I think Carter’s speed is a big upgrade over Foster who couldn’t cover the posters here as they ran down the field.
This team is NOT that far away! Despite all the Chicken Little’s who post here the sky is not falling.
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:06 am
I still say we need Wis from the raiders…..but after the draft, there will be some cuts by other teams and maybe they have their eyes on someone else. If not, then Im convinced L&L want the 1st or 2nd draft pick next year too.
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:09 am
Yes Joe defensive ends, left tackles and guards are overrated in this league. Let’s stick with the practice squad players we have in those spots and good things will happen.
For what it’s worth Lovie did try and bring in some bigger name free agents at these spots and they all said no. So Lovie apparently knows that we are in dire straights at certain positions but was unable to find any takersin FA. Now you and some of your readers think it’s a good thing that nothing was done with the positions needing big time upgrades. SMH!!!
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:10 am
Yes DallasBuc, because you were the only one to see it on film.
All the other experts, including Bill Polian, whose credentials are impeccable and surpassed only by your own, lauded the Bucs FA signings.
Broy34, I agree the Bucs need to improve their offensive line, just like they needed to before the 2014 season, but other than The Wiz, who should the Bucs have signed so far.
Do you have any suggestions.
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:16 am
Yeah, but are the Bucs and Lovie smart enough to have a contingency plan in place in case Koetter goes down. ? Seriously
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:22 am
ddneast- resent me all you want because I was right last year and I am right now. All the other pundits and experts didn’t do any talent and player evaluation they just assumed Lovie did. And at the time I started beating the “do no wrong Lovie” drum for this exact reason. Everyone just assumed this man did his homework and no one wanted to criticize him, expert and fan alike. It was obvious and unsettling last year and I called it out on these very pages. Look it up. It’s not about me it’s about the incompetence in leadership on this football team. You won’t see it because you have some bizarre personal problem with me but I was right to question the poor decisions last year and I have every reason not to trust them now that we are picking first overall.
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:33 am
Lovie quoted saying more than QBs to look at in draft….I’d say it’s L.Williams or trade down 🙂
March 22nd, 2015 at 9:43 am
Lovie is setting this franchise back to the culverhouse era. There is no way in hell anyone in the right mind is excited about a couple of ex-bears on prove deals and a couple of cowboys not brought back by their own team. Add in they brought back the useless Mike Jenkins. Just wow on that one. there is NO way to sugar coat this garbage collection run lovie is on.
raise your standards folks. accept lovie is a dinosaur drowning in his own poor decisions. you have to pay for production not pay and pray it works out and that’s all he has done. at the end of the day the bucs will be stuck looking for a new head coach and a roster full of broken down ex bears who are system specific. that’s reality. that’s the direction this franchise is heading with this nice guy bum running it. wake up people… love the optimism but it’s delusional thinking that it will end any other way.
Save the bay send lovie to the basement!
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:02 am
Dean & tmaxcon- both on point and well said. Too many excuses and apologists for the poor leadership on this football team. Lovie was supposed to be the veteran HC who knew how to run a team. Morris and Schiano were rookie pro HCs that produced more with less on the field and had legit excuses for not getting the job done. Sorry, 2-14 after turning over 50% of the roster unnecessarily is on do-no-wrong Lovie and his lapdog Licht. No excuses
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:04 am
We have got some real loser “fans” on here that don’t even support their team in the off season when we have the first pick in the draft. We have a proven and experienced NFL coach for the first time since Gruden. There is a lot to be excited about. Many of you just don’t deserve a team. I wouldn’t blame the owners for moving to a real football city. Many of you have probably never even gone to a game, much less purchased season tickets. Your constant negativity is ruining this site. I don’t know why JBF gets all the trolls like Dallasbuc and tmaxcon to name a few.
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:08 am
^^^^the fan police are on patrol!
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:13 am
@st pete
I couldn’t agree more. I live in VA and in the city where the Redskins training camp is held so I’m in tune with the NFC East division. These are massive upgrades over what we had on our roster.
Carter finally found himself after the scheme switch in Dallas. It fits his skill set because he can run and tackle with the best in the league. You pair that with David in passing situations look out.
Moore actually played better than Moore Claiborne after he went down. The kid attacks the ball in coverage. I was waiting for him this offseason.
Melton was coming off an ACL so this is year two so he should be rounding into form. BUT I HATE THE CONTE MOVE
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:16 am
buccos- maybe we really do support our team and as fans we find 2-14 from an experienced completely unacceptable. This should go without saying but being a fan of your football team does require that you also have to be a fan of the HC or his poor decisions. Think of it this way, some people liked Josh Freeman and some didn’t but on Sundays every fan was pulling for him to throw TDs and win football games. The people that didn’t like Freeman weren’t necessarily bad fans. I understand that it is easy for you to cry about negativity and point your finger at me with your “troll” insults but understand that it is lazy and lacks basic critical thinking.
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:28 am
get pissed all you want but face the facts Lovie is setting this team back. slow painful death… truth hurts…
i drank the lovie kool aid when he was hired but it quickly became apparent he did not learn anything in the basement. He made every mistake possible from naming starters without a single play (mccown & jenkins) to bad evaluations and signings. The draft is still out but right now only 1 productive player came from that draft class Evans.
I don’t want to hear a word about ASJ until he can play 16 games. stop with the praying for production over proven production. ASJ has potential but also has a long history of injuries. until he stays on the field he is not a weapon anything else is just praying or hoping.
Lovie saying that “I did not know my roster well enough.” — my god dude you are professional at the highest level with unlimited resources at your finger tips. staff, funds, video, state of the art facitly etc… do you job and stop with the excuses.
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:33 am
Lovely Smith :
From : “but we were a 4-12 team last year.”
To : “I did not know my roster well enough.”
Simple is as simple does…
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:33 am
Typo from previous comment “…does NOT require…”
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:37 am
its funny how quick people want to run a player out of town or schiano out of town when schiano was actuall doing a better job minus all the drama but King Lovie can do no wrong and god forbid you point out the obvious. You guys are trying to reward him for admitting his mistakes and cutting players. screw that don’t make the damn mistake in the first place.
20 plus million in dead money could go a long way in fielding a very nice oline. but no let’s give him a free pass because he is nice guy and dungy like him. this mindset is so stupid it would be funny, if it was not true. Winners WIN losers make EXCUSES
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:41 am
I went to see a fight and a JBF comment section broke out. Morning fellas.
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:45 am
87- how many times do you think Lovie is going to remind us of the W/L record from last year? I am guessing zero. It was a awfully convenient for him to repeatedly remind everyone of the 2013 record with that arrogant air of coaching superiority. That reminder is no longer convenient so now there will be this measured attempt to justify falling short of expectations without assuming any actual responsibility. What a good guy!
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:46 am
Cut Lovie some slack. He is our coach for the forseeable future. May as well get behind him. The Bucs will show improvement starting thiis year. Even if we bitch about coaching and players, we all want the Bucs to win or we would’nt be here.
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:46 am
arrogant air of coaching superiority.
Karma is a Biatch
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:46 am
@DallasBuc
ddneast is correct and you are not!!!!
“What a bunch of nonsense. In each case of the big 3 busts there was clear evidence on film, ya know…where it matters, that these guys were not good football players and had no business landing big money contracts. Free agency works much better if your ability to evaluate talent were better than that of the average fan on this site.”
You are the one who has posted nonsense. You and others are singling out L&L as beging bungling buffoons for their pickups. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you in all your football brilliance saw all of this “on film” (perhaps you need to host your own analysis show like Chucky) while L&L in their singular ignorance did not! That’s just BUNK!!! IF you saw all of this up front then you are not an average fan, or even an average NFL personnel…you my friend are by definition EXCEPTIONAL!!! You are an NFL savant.
My point is not to denigrate YOUR football genius, but to simply point out to you and tmax that L&L were not standouts in their “ignorance”. In fact theirs was the consensus opinion around the league and they were seen at the time to have one of the top three groups of FA signings.
From the “nation’s paper” USA TODAY and their polling of football experts.
Somehow they missed dallasbuc and tmax…then again hindsight is 20-20 so lets look at the prevailing opinion at the time of those signings.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The new regime of general manager Jason Licht and coach Lovie Smith has been bold but financially responsible in adding underrated talents in LT Anthony Collins, DE Michael Johnson and CB Alterraun Verner while shedding established players they didn’t want (CB Darrelle Revis, LT Donald Penn, G Davin Joseph). If new QB Josh McCown comes close to his 2013 production as a backup, the Bucs could be dangerous. Grade A-
Everybody can now see the FA busts. But to act like L&L were singularly stupid or exceptionally ill informed is simply WRONG based on the facts.
Again for clarification. My point is not that L&L were correct, but that they acted in a manner that 99% of the rest of the league respected at the time.
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:54 am
You my friend are by definition EXCEPTIONAL!!! You are an NFL savant.
I feel this way all the time. You’re going to make me go back and find my comments after the FA press conference. Something about having the best set of second-string bench warmers available.
March 22nd, 2015 at 11:04 am
buccos Says:
March 22nd, 2015 at 10:04 am
We have got some real loser “fans” on here that don’t even support their team in the off season when we have the first pick in the draft. We have a proven and experienced NFL coach for the first time since Gruden.
———————————
This is comical.
Worst team in the NFL, worst HC in the NFL.
Prove what?
Does 2-14 spell experience or incompetence?
March 22nd, 2015 at 11:08 am
Wasn’t this same article posted with different title sometime within the last week?
March 22nd, 2015 at 11:18 am
The idiots better address the O line or nothing else truly matters and their new number 1 toy will be laying on the turf.
March 22nd, 2015 at 11:22 am
Dal and tmax seem to be the some of the only posters not viewing this team through rose tinted glasses. Those of you who disagree have a right to root for your team, but to denigrate them as not being good enough fans is childish. Their logic is quite sound. Who could have guessed that Michael Johnson, a player with only one double digit sack season to his credit and a complete stranger to Lovie’s defense, would have struggled? Lots of us. Who would have thought that paying Anthony Collins, a guy who had never played a full season, like an above average LT would have backfired? Lots of us. Who would have thought that anointing a journeyman QB with 5 good starts as your starter was a bad idea? This year isn’t much different, the price tag is just easier to swallow. Bruce Carter is somehow good enough to get our defense over the hump, but a playoff-contender decided to let him walk? Henry Melton is getting paid more than Clinton McDonald, one of the few signings L&L can hang their hat on, which I find to be a terrible value for a guy coming off the injury-filled year he just had. He may produce, but you’re overpaying him based on past production, and that’s always a gamble. I won’t even address the lack of attention to the offensive line which is bordering on criminal negligence in regards to your soon-to-be rookie QB. Again, you can be optimistic without being complete fools. Lovie sold you all false goods last year, and I don’t believe this year is shaping out to be any better. He built a comically bad offensive line, he refused to tailor his scheme to his players abilities, he refused to throw his ill-equipped OC a lifeline, and he squandered a chance at the one of the easiest divisions in recent memory. For those reasons alone the Glazers should have wiped the slate clean, yet we’re stuck with another year of Saint Lovie Smith who is somehow still perfect and blameless to some of you.
March 22nd, 2015 at 11:29 am
“We don’t expect our fans to be patient ” -Jason Licht
March 22nd, 2015 at 11:34 am
I’ll take Lovie over Gus Bradley, Mike Pettine, Ken Whisenhunt, Jay Gruden, I’d even take Lovie over Bill O’Brien, Jeff Fisher and Mike Tomlin. Lovie isn’t perfect but he has respect in this league and you dont just get respect handed to you on a silver platter in the NFL. He also took a team in Chicago and made them relevant which hast been done since Mike Ditka. Last but not least I would take Lovie all day any day over Raheem or Schiano.
March 22nd, 2015 at 11:40 am
Tom Landry won 2 SB in 28 years. Jimmy Johnson won 3 in 5 years. Landry was a legend, JJ was arrogant and no one liked him. Just saying ….
March 22nd, 2015 at 11:48 am
@Largo
Agree with you with the possible exception of Jeff Fisher. IMO Fisher and Lovie are in almost identical positions this year. I still like Fisher.
Both of these coaches need a decent record to keep their reps in tact however.
March 22nd, 2015 at 12:30 pm
Did Lovie improve and add depth to a defense that played like a top ten defense after last years bye week? I say yes. I bash the man but he didn’t spend a whole lot of money either. Still should of kept Johnson for only 2 mill extra this year.
March 22nd, 2015 at 1:55 pm
CoverDeuce
No “lots of us” could not see as clearly as you do with hindsight. Again read the truth contained in my league. The “lots of us” experts totally disagree with you and gave the Bucs an A- calling their FA haul one of the three best groups in the league.
You have a right to your opinion but not your own set of facts. There were not lots of experts spouting your hindsight views. In FACT it was just the opposite.
I totally agree with your point Those of you who disagree have a right to root for your team, but to denigrate them as not being good enough fans is childish.
I think Dallas Buc, Tmax and you are great fans. This is what sports is about. Debate. It would be boring indeed if we all agreed.
While I may not agree with Dallas and tmax I respect their opinions and enjoy reading their thought provoking posts. And IMHO anybody who takes the time to read a Bucs blog and the time to sign in and comment is a great fan.
March 22nd, 2015 at 2:55 pm
Resent you DallasBuc, I don’t even know you.
But I do find that statement to be mildly humorous, arrogant and pompous all at the same time.
However, if you can provide a link to confirm your past statements about those players, I’d be interested in reading it but I’m not going to just take your word for it.
No matter how honest you tell me you are.
Also Broy34, you still haven’t responded to my question so. I will open it up to anyone. Other thanThe Wiz, what OL should the Bucs have signed so far.
March 22nd, 2015 at 3:20 pm
StPete- I never claimed to be a savant and when I say watch the film I saw them play in games (or not play in the case of that backup LT Collins) from the TV football fan perspective. So if I could see it from that perspective where McCown’s couple of decent games was the exception in an otherwise failure of a career. Or that Johnson was NOT a very good RDE in Cincy who had no tenacity or dog in him. He also had an exception, not the rule type of 2012 double-digit sack season. Then there is that backup LT Collins when in relief of the starter was serviceable (sound familiar?…McCown) but in no way showed to be a feature LT. These were simple and observable takes that me and a few others had this time last year and what upset me the most was not that they paid completely unproven and underperforming nobodys stupid money to come here but that they were all gifted starting jobs with zero expectation that they compete for it. I went through this day after day for months on end last year. Took hell for it too if you remember? I was constantly saying that they overpaid for underperforming players and the whole free agency dog and pony show was quantity over quality.
Now regarding these so called experts, as I mentioned in my previous post this morning, I think they all assumed Lovie knew what he was doing and therefore trusted his talent evaluation. None of these guys actually looked at any of the big 3 busts at the time objectively, they saw it through the same Lovie reputation lens that previous coaches never had. This is where all of the “do-no-wrong Lovie” bit started because I was so sick of everyone assuming he was making good decisions based on reputation alone instead of objective and reasoned analysis. If Morris or Schiano made the same offseason moves the perspective from experts and fans would have been much more critical and I stated as much last year several times.
You can call my take nonsense if you choose but all you have to do is go back and look. I fought the good fight with all of you day in and day out with my extremely unpopular opinions. StPete I respect you and your reasoned takes on all things Bucs but I strongly disagree with you about what went down last year. Difference is I can prove that I am correct.
March 22nd, 2015 at 3:40 pm
@Dallas
I have absolutely no reason to believe you did not point all of this out last year.
I’ve only been here since the start of the year so I’m a newcomer.
I believe you figured it out. My point is simply that L&L were not the only ones who believed in these signings.
I do not defend the signings nor question that you saw what many others did not. My point is that fundamentally if you through L&L under the bus for those bad decisions then you have to throw the entire league under that bus with them. They weren’t the Lone Rangers in these opinions.
But I enjoy your takes so keep pumping them out. Good to have people make me think.
March 22nd, 2015 at 4:07 pm
ddneast- your puter appears to work just fine so feel free to look it up yourself. You weren’t around here last year like 87, Bonzai and others so I could give a sht whether you believe me or not. Burden of proof is not on me.
Oh yeah by the way, you don’t know me and for some reason you go out of your way to insult me personally with your over the top “The Kevin” like name calling on a regular basis. You do realize that you have a compulsive personal beef with a commenter whom you don’t know personally on a sports blog? That lacks base intelligence but free country man. Have at it tough guy! Try to remember that most of us are here to talk and debate all things Bucs *hat tip Joe* and your carrying on with me takes the conversation away from that. Got no time for it.
March 23rd, 2015 at 2:25 am
Ok maybe not better than Mike Tomlin.