Hardy Contract Would Have Been A Waste
March 19th, 2015
Now that the rage and hopelessness over the loss of Greg Hardy to the Cowboys has subsided a bit, it’s time for a dose of reality.
The contract Hardy signed with Dallas would have been worthless to Tampa Bay.
Per BSPN, Hardy inked a one-year deal worth $11.3 million if he plays a full season, plus a shot at about $1.8 million in incentives. What’s key is the one-year deal and a clause that says the Cowboys can’t slap a franchise or transitional player tag on him.
That means Hardy is a free man next March.
What good would that have done for the Bucs? Tampa Bay isn’t making a Super Bowl this season. (Sorry, Joe’s just trying to keep it real.) So Joe would have had no interest in having Hardy in Tampa if the Bucs weren’t pretty sure he’d be back in 2016.
Jiminy Christmas! The NFL hasn’t even ruled on when Hardy can return to a team and what his suspension would be.
Joe would rather see the Bucs bag Hardy next March, if they need him.
March 19th, 2015 at 8:13 am
Great point. As much as I wanted Bucs to snag Hardy, I am somewhat happy we didn’t. Build through the draft
March 19th, 2015 at 8:16 am
I have to agree. If we can fill all other holes and maybe grab a 1 year contract off a late offseason cap casualty DE (hopefully) this team will have a year to develop on both sides of the ball and then we add elite talent once the team begins to gel.
March 19th, 2015 at 8:21 am
If he’s suspended for six games, as expected, that makes his contract richer than the one the Bucs gave Darelle Revis @ $1 Million per game…Enough said.
March 19th, 2015 at 8:27 am
This is great contract for Rosenhause, too. He gets another payday in another year.
I still say the NFL is going to take a hard look at this contract. If you make bonuses and other incentives to easy to achieve just to avoid a salary cap, they bust the offending party like they did to Wahington.
This seems likely since the league seems to have its sights on Hardy. They are filing motions to have records released to them from the NC district attorneys that handled the first assault case.
Why that districts DA is trying to keep the files secret is anyone’s guess but it appears they are.
March 19th, 2015 at 8:27 am
Hardy argument aside…just because we aren’t going to the Super Bowl in 2015, doesn’t mean we don’t need to start winning as many damn games as possible.
March 19th, 2015 at 8:30 am
Let’s keep it real, you can add the following season, and the season after that.
March 19th, 2015 at 8:31 am
Beeric, the total deal comes to 11.3 million. If he starts missing games a lot of that money goes away. What fantasy land do you live in.
Take the blinders off, pal.
March 19th, 2015 at 8:33 am
Great points…we are still trying to build here. ASSuming Carter can play the MIKE, I would go OL, DE, OL at 2,3,4, in the draft. Sign Connelly and use the late picks to shore up CB and a slot receiver and we will have a good start.
Notice I didn’t say anything about number 1. I have been on the fence. Watch Daniel Jeremiah on the NFL station. He does a great job for 1 hour evaluating JW>
I think he will be a difference maker for this team. GO BUCS!
March 19th, 2015 at 8:45 am
We already got fleeced for big $ by a one yr DE. Glad it didnt happen again.
March 19th, 2015 at 8:47 am
In the upcoming draft our biggest needs appear to be for (1) QB then (2) OL, followed by DE (and a bunch of other needs). Having stated the obvious:
1 – Thus far this offseason, Lovie & Licht have let 3 experienced DE’s walk (Johnson, Claiborne and Bowers).
2 – On the roster the Bucs now have 6 DE’s who are ‘average-at-best’ at this point in their careers: Smith, Gholston, English, Fatinikun, Sidbury and Uko.
3 – Pressure on the QB is critical to the success of our Tampa 2 defense.
Does anybody see anything wrong with this picture?
March 19th, 2015 at 8:49 am
This article is looking at this from the wrong perspective. It absolutely would have been a waste for the bucs to give Hardy the same 1-year contract that the cowboys are giving him, with no assurances for 2016. But who’s to say that’s what the Bucs were entertaining?
To bring Hardy to Tampa, you would have needed him for multiple years as he’s only 26 and we are building for long term. Dallas’ window is solely focused on 2015.
Roughly based on the Dallas contract, would it have been a waste to give Hardy a 4 year deal for $48 mil? That’s the real question. I say no.
March 19th, 2015 at 9:01 am
I’m with BucGator; it would be a waste of a roster spot to get a rent a player who will probably only play for 8 or 10 games at most next season before he moves onto a new contract and its unlikely he would have considered inking a long term deal with the Bucs especially when one realizes that Drew Rosenhaus is his agent and would probably seek more coin from someone other than the Bucs in 2016…. L&L have had a less than stellar FA signing record so far, hopefully they buck the trend and actually get some help in the trenches before the draft but its hard to be optimistic with these guys considering how bad 2014 was for the franchise and its fans. Where is “The Optimist” when one needs “a glass half full” type of article?????
March 19th, 2015 at 9:05 am
it would have been a gamble to do that type of deal . and not being able to trust his agent, there would be no guarantee the bucs would get first shot at him next year. Rosenslime is just like Dennis Rodman when he is your guy you love him but if he is not… hate pure and simple.
March 19th, 2015 at 9:17 am
@Leighroy
I think Joe’s point is that Greg Hardy was refusing a long term contract.
In theory, it is because he believes he can get much more money after one year.
Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t. Seems like he’s getting quite a bit anyway,.
March 19th, 2015 at 9:47 am
I’m with ddneast.
If this contract passes the smell test at NFL headquarters then the salary cap is a joke!!!
What comes next. The salary cap and the potential salary cap?
March 19th, 2015 at 9:54 am
This contract would have been a waste….but it’s not necessarily the contract we would have put forward…..certainly, we would have wanted a multi-year contract with team options/protections….
March 19th, 2015 at 10:33 am
Dallas is gonna pay him to not play football, then he’s free to leave.
Nice.
I want a contract like that at work, what’s his agents number?
March 19th, 2015 at 10:48 am
The Bucs don’t NEED a great DE to be competitive and successful.
They DO need a QB, they do need a stud like David, and it doesn’t hurt having an elite DT either.
That would have been the most foolish money they spent since, well take your pick.
March 19th, 2015 at 11:36 am
That’s more or less what i was going to say.
While this same contract with Tampa would’ve been a joke, who’s to say that he would’ve gotten this same contract had he signed with us?
Maybe (as evidenced by the contract) he just wanted more money than we were willing to give him?
March 19th, 2015 at 12:02 pm
“$11.3 million if he plays a full season.” Smart, Jerry. He’s going to be suspended for X number of games. . .
March 19th, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Ya sure, I hear ya.. But then what are we saying, were tanking it on purpose in 2016? Why wouldn’t we want to have better players now instead of later. Let them build chemistry on the DL moving into a hopefully more promising 2016. Who exactly is our right DE? O ya lol, were building thru the draft still
March 19th, 2015 at 5:41 pm
Yeah would have been a dumb deal for us. Essentially we’d waste at least $10 million in cap that could be carried forward for next year for longer term deals. Big picture it’s a horrible move.
By not doing that deal; we have a ton of cap still; and can carry a ton of cap forward. That way; whent he Cowboys are still struggling with cap space ( as well as other teams) we can sign Hardy toa big long term deal and front load it (or hell whatever other prize of free agency DE is available)
@Dick
I honestly feel the DE position is better by getting rid of the 3 guys we did (well maybe not letting Clayborn go). The guys that are still here ARE better than all 3 of those guys; at least based on recent performance.
Jacquis Smith had 6.5 sacks in 7 starts. That’s better than anything anyone of those guys ever did in any amount of time. I like the potential of all the other guys that are staying over the guys we let go. A lot of young dudes with ability.
Not to mention but we also should have one of the best groups of pass rushing pressure-creating DTs in the league. Pressure doesn’t just come from DEs..
March 19th, 2015 at 9:42 pm
We couldn’t have offered Hardy a 2 year contract at $10 mil per with no guarantees and performance bonuses to boost it to $13 mil plus a 3rd year team option if he kept his nose clean? Wouldnt that have guaranteed he’d be here next season? And so what if the NFL suspends him for 6 games. That is six games he isnt paid and our pass rush is no worse than it is now. We could have locked up a premier pass rusher that are never available in free agency except under this odd circumstance. Now we got to hope that we find a diamond on day 2 or 3 of the draft. How many times does that happen to the Bucs?