Report: Ghost Will Vanish
March 11th, 2015
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports ghostly Michael Johnson will be released this afternoon.
You want to know why Bucs general manager Jaosn Licht was gun-shy in free agency yesterday? Here is why: two of the three big-named free agents were wiped off the Bucs’ roster. Quarterback Josh McCown and left tackle Anthony Collins.
Now add another member to complete the terrible troika.
Per the fingers of Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, ghostly Michael Johnson has just minutes left in his Bucs career.
The #Bucs will release DE Michael Johnson by 4 pm today.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) March 11, 2015
March 11th, 2015 at 3:38 pm
The Ghost was always a mistake. 26 career sacks, so here’s $24 million guaranteed and $43 million total? Ugh what were they thinking even back then? But he had to go, he had packed it in after getting paid. Even though he’ll almost certainly go to Minnesota or Cincy and play well again, that doesn’t change that he was never going to play well here. He got paid, he shut it down.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:40 pm
Well as painful as it is to watch at least we can say Lovie and Licht are not afraid to move on from bad mistakes.
Of course that wont matter unless they follow it up with good choices, and quick.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:41 pm
Sign Hardy NOW!!!
March 11th, 2015 at 3:41 pm
This has Licht’s fingerprints all over the move. And I’m beginning to really like Licht. He claims Belicheat taught him that when you make a mistake on a player it’s best to simply cut bait and move on without wasting a lot of time on worrying about the mistake. It’s far more important to simply correct it.
You can’t correct a mistake or fix a problem until you first admit the mistake or problem. Licht doesn’t seem to have difficulty with this hard part of any manager’s decision making. This covers all of life. We all screw up. Some of us are adept at simply admitting the mistake and moving on, others compound the problem by trying to justify it.
We all make mistakes! Only the talented well adjusted folks can admit them, learn from them if possible, and then move on without crying over spilt milk.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:42 pm
He vanished the moment he stepped on the field last year wearing a Bucs jersey!
March 11th, 2015 at 3:43 pm
I don’t want to hear any Michael Bennett style whining from Joe or anyone else with Johnson when he performs elsewhere……Johnson just plain quit on us after recieving his contract….Obviously, they thought he couldn’t be coached up…..
Good riddance……I don’t wish career ending injuries on anyone…but if I did…it would be for someone like Johnson. He deserves the worst. I don’t know if there are off-set clauses in NFL contracts for players like coaches….but this has cost us.
At least his cancerous presence won’t continue to cost us.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:44 pm
he is a loser. go walk in selma some more. fake
March 11th, 2015 at 3:45 pm
The Bucs 2014 offseason is a lock to be a case study for future GMs on how to not handle free agency.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:46 pm
Lots of respect for the Bucs brass if this goes down. With all the cuts they are making and may continue to make (Goldson) they are really manning up to their mistakes rather than let it drag out.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:47 pm
I agree with Manthony…sign Hard ASAP!
March 11th, 2015 at 3:48 pm
Hardy
March 11th, 2015 at 3:48 pm
So who did they get? The DE from the Titans?
March 11th, 2015 at 3:48 pm
If Johnson gets cut this draft is shaping up to be incredibly important for the immediate future of L&L. They have already proven that they can’t be trusted in making FA splashes, but can they prove they can evaluate and draft effectively?
March 11th, 2015 at 3:49 pm
“The Ghost was always a mistake. 26 career sacks, so here’s $24 million”
That’s damn near 1 million per sack!!! Mel Brooks used to joke in one of his movies…”It’s good to be king”. It’s also very good to be a professional athlete.
Neither Collins or Johnson will ever have to work another day of their lives.
If that sounds envious it’s because IT IS!!!
I’m 67 and have worked since I’ve been 17, if you count the two years in the Army as work. With any luck my wife and I shall sell our business this spring and join the ranks of Johnson and Collins never needing to work again. Obviously a few or more million lighter in the bank account than these guys.
Some of this money crap makes it very difficult for me to enjoy this part of it all.
In the 1950’s growing up the Cincinnati Reds team I watched probably had a half dozen players who earned their entire living from baseball. Most of the guys needed a part time job in the off season to supplement their income. Admittedly these were usually cushy jobs but they still had to show up.
Imagine a baseball player today having to work in the off season. Imagine a pro athlete today trying to scrape by on a quarter million a year for part time work?
March 11th, 2015 at 3:49 pm
I’m impressed with Licht. With this attitude we will win (eventually)
March 11th, 2015 at 3:51 pm
And we are replacing him with who exactly? Did we sign someone today?
March 11th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Lovie is just an amazing evaluator of talent!
March 11th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
BucsfaninChina
Wow dude really? China? We have two in Montana but I believe you have our award as the best long distance fan!
“but can they prove they can evaluate and draft effectively?”
IMO the verdict is still out based on year’s crop. Certainly an A for their first pick but a incompletes on virtually all the rest. ASJ can’t seem to stay healthy, Sims also hampered by injuries and I don’t know what happened to the two young OLinmen but they haven’t impressed yet that’s for sure.
And so BFIC I think that’s a big IF. For whatever reason, maybe the constant Lovie bashing on this blog by posters, I feel far more comfortable with LIcht than Lovie.
I’m hopeful that after last year’s dismal FA performance the Glazers read Lovie the riot act and gave Licht more power in future personnel decisions.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:57 pm
This franchise is such a dumpster fire.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:58 pm
never heard of a player and agent talk so much about missing their former team! This is addition by subtraction. Bucs should not let boydog go though. At the very lease, he’s pure effort
March 11th, 2015 at 3:58 pm
Why is everyone so enamoured with Licht? Guy just WASTED 25 million dollars on players who won’t even play this year. Could have kept Revis for 13 million. Do they watch tape? Who evaluates the talent? 43 million with 24 of it guaranteed for a guy who had 20 something sacks in 5 years! A tackle who didn’t start for years and only had 10 starts under his belt! Someone over there needs to have tgere ASS in the unemployment line after moves like this. If L&L screw this draft up they both need to be sent packing. Pair of F$&@ing clowns
March 11th, 2015 at 3:58 pm
Nice job Lovie…. Don’t blame Licht he is just following orders from the fool.
March 11th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
I see the 2014 free agency abortion as a good thing. Should teach this regime that you don’t build anything in free agency. You get guys like McDonald there. Not the overpaid guys who get lazy after a big contract.
March 11th, 2015 at 4:00 pm
We will sign Greg Hardy. 1st they have to clean face with the fans before they can get us to cheer for Greg. Just keep in mind do i agree with his actions … absolutely not however there are alot of you beer drinking meth smoking dudes on this site who do the same thing . The only reason we dont make a issue … simple… we dont know you !
March 11th, 2015 at 4:00 pm
Lovie will not have Hardy on this team. Please.
March 11th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
cut the damn punter too!!! 3m? I can punt consistently better
March 11th, 2015 at 4:08 pm
Hardy is best option. There paying him to crush qbs not house site your kids. Lovie needs to worry more about wins than choir practice
March 11th, 2015 at 4:50 pm
“Why is everyone so enamoured with Licht? Guy just WASTED 25 million dollars on players who won’t even play this year.”
BucNole I can’t speak for the rest but perhaps it’s simply wishful thinking on my part.
I’ve listened to both L&L talk about their philsophies and what they’ve learned.
Many, perhaps most, certainly me, believe that Lovie got a ton of control from the Glazers so they could lure him to Tampa. Regardless of all the Lovie bashing and after 2-14 it’s to be expected, Lovie was a SB participant with freaking Rex Grossman at QB. He fielded excellent defenses and was a hot commodity when the Glazers signed him. They gave him too much control to come here IMO. I don’t typically approve of HC’s also being their own personnel guys. Certainly not in Lovie’s case.
The reason we like LIcht is because most of these putrid mistakes have Lovie’s fingerprints all over them. Nobody believes Licht had enough power last year to be truly effeective. We are hoping the Glazers restored some more balance to the HC/GM relationship and that they’ll listen more closely to Licht in the future.
Admitting a mistake and moving on are critical components in any business. LIcht seems to have that skill set. Not so sure about Lovie.
March 11th, 2015 at 5:13 pm
Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.
Once you turn off the competitive juices, it.’s twice as hard to get that competitive fire going again.
Couple that with the fact he has now gotten fat and lazy with all that money it will take even more to get him motivated again.
He may try to hook up with another team, but he will still be thinking of that pile of cash he has and asking himself why doesn’t he just go home and chill in front of the big screen.
March 11th, 2015 at 5:16 pm
Everyone in the football community liked these FA signings last year and thought the Bucs were going to turn things around because of them.
Now, because two players got fat and lazy with the big checks, we find out they didn’t work and Lovie and a Licht are idiots.
Another case of short term memory problems with the pathetic mob that inhabits this site.