The Shadow Of The Ghost
November 12th, 2015
Still haunting.
Of all the swings and misses Bucs coach Lovie Smith made in free agency last year (Anthony Collins and Stewart McClown to name a couple) none was more sinister than signing Ghost Johnson.
The marginal defensive end from the Bengals, Lovie believed, was the answer to the Bucs’ edge-rushing ills and even whispered Ghost to be his Simeon Rice (along with Gerald McCoy to be his Warren Sapp and Lavonte David to be his Derrick Brooks).
Instead, Ghost was invisible from training camp. To be fair, he battled with injuries but it was clear by midseason that the Team Glazer loot used to sign Johnson was flushed down the toilet.
A panel of BSPN sophists sat down to determine some of the worst free agent signings in the history of the NFL, and Ghost came in No. 3.
Initial reports: Five years, $43.8 million with $24 million guaranteed.
Actual payout by Tampa Bay: $16 million for one season.
The Buccaneers brought in Johnson based on his impressive physique and skill set, but his performance in five years with Cincinnati hadn’t risen to the level of Pro Bowl honors. He enjoyed a breakout season in 2012 with 11½ sacks, but he regressed to 3½ sacks in 2013. ESPN’s Bill Polian rated Johnson as the sixth-best defensive end among 2014 unrestricted free agents.
Johnson earned more than $1 million per game while battling injuries last year, recording four sacks in a Buccaneers season regrettably punctuated by the numbers 2 and 14. Johnson made just 20 tackles in 14 games as Tampa Bay skidded to a 2-14 record in 2014.
The Bucs released Johnson in March, clearing $2 million in cap space and admitting an expensive mistake. He returned to the Bengals this season, and Cincinnati has gone from having one of the worst pass-rushing units in the NFL last season to ranking fifth in the league with 23 sacks so far in 2015.
Boy, last year’s free agent crop was godawful. Ghost, Collins, McClown and two current players deemed unfit for first-team duties.
Joe could understand how Team Glazer may be a bit gun-shy during free agency.
November 12th, 2015 at 5:38 am
Ghost must be holding his own with the Bengals. Only has 2 sacks and 13 tackles, but he’s started every game and the Bengals are 8-0. Having a DT like Geno Atkins (6 sacks) and another DE like Carlos Dunlap (8.5 sacks) probably helps.
November 12th, 2015 at 6:15 am
I’d be fun shy with Loser Lovie having roster control as well
November 12th, 2015 at 6:34 am
The best way to get rid of the ghost is to get rid of Lovie. They can’t get Lovie out of here fast enough.
November 12th, 2015 at 7:14 am
FIRE LOVIE
November 12th, 2015 at 7:16 am
The bleak picture is not complete until you factor in all the starting level productive talent that incompetent Lovie Smith kicked out the door.
This team should be so much better. It could be argued that any of us could have done better when you look at the results. I love how the Incompetent Lovie Smith defenders say that year 1 doesn’t count and you can’t count year 2 because of a rookie QB so you can only start really judging performance and results in year 3. Isn’t that special? The veteran HC with his handpicked lapdog GM gets two years grace period of no judgement or accountability. What a effing joke. What the hell are we doing?
November 12th, 2015 at 7:31 am
Phil is right: Lovie is the one who pulled the trigger on all these bad deals so he should be held accountable for them. I would not immediately fire him though; if he does manage to get the Bucs to 6-10 or perhaps 7-9 (wishful thinking; I think the chance at not losing in the double digits this season went up in flames in the 3 losses to houston, the Deadskins and the Giants) the he should be allowed to stay but under certain conditions: 1) he fires most if not all of the defensive staff perhaps keeping someone like Hardy Nickerson and get rid of that not so special teams coach whose inability to properly prepare his players and the selection of one Brinzda over Barth cost the Bucs 2 wins this year and probably 2 or 3 last year (Rams, Vikes, Bungles) 2) he steps down as DC and brings in someone else and 30 be stripped of all personnel decisions and let Licht do all the shopping from here on out without any input as it is obvious that Lovie has below average scouting abilities to say the least…. This being said, I am not so sure the Bucs can win 6: where are 3 more wins on the schedule: an optimist would say that Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and new Orleans are all winnable home games but I have to point out that the Bucs have won one ****ing home game under Lovie and it is more likely Lovie will lose all 4 of these matchups than win 3 or 4 of them; my guess is that they will be lucky to get a split….. Now the road games: an optimist will say that the rams and Colt games are winnable, especially if Luck is still out at Indy and that Philly is also a possible W and that the Bucs have won in NO and the ATL, why not Carolina???? Well; again I hate to be a wet blanket but its doubtful the Bucs will beat Carolina or Philly and the rams seem to have had Tampa’s number the past few seasons with Fisher’s D likely to stifle the Bucs O while the Bucs D lets the rams score late just like last year…. Indy? Well maybe but somehow i would be Luck will be back in 3 weeks to face the Bucs; players always seem to get healthy right before the Bucs come to town……. So 2 home wins, and perhaps an upset on the road will get tampa to 6 wins but given this team’s lack of discipline, the poor clock management, inattention to detail on special teams, poor 3rd down defense and the turtle offense/Bendover and Break Defense in the 4th quarter Lovie goes to when nursing a lead and it is possible that the bucs end up 4-12 or 5-11 and then do you keep Lovie???? I do not think you can. I want the bucs to win, but to do so the coach has to improve along with the players; Joe says he is looking for improvement when it comes to evaluating love and that 6 wins is his mark. Well i see improvement in the offense but special teams and the D? No… And the head coach, has he improved, has he quit making the same inept mistakes week after week, has he learned how to make halftime adjustments when his team is holding a lead????? I just do not see it Joe but yeah if lovie does get to 6 wins the Glazers will in all likelihood give him a 3rd year; I just hope they force him to accept the conditions listed above….. how many more winnable home games does Lovie have to lose before the glazers say enough?????.
November 12th, 2015 at 8:06 am
Ghost Johnson was rated as the best defensive end available in free agency that year. So the options for Lovie was to keep what they had with injury prone Clayborne and Ghost Bowers or try to upgrade the position. That’s more proof that you can’t build a team with other teams rejects and it takes time to build thru the draft.
November 12th, 2015 at 8:16 am
The lovie hand pickedstarting 2014 D-line
Ghost Johnson, $16 million 4 sacks, 20 tackles
GMC, $21,295,001, 8.5 sacks, 28 tackles
Clinton McDonald, $3,500,000, 5 sacks, 35 tackles
Adrian Slowborn 2,612,325 , 0 sacks, 1 tackle
Sure seems like a lot of money, for very little production. But the sheep still vote confidence for lovie!!!!!
November 12th, 2015 at 9:02 am
Damn right Lovies accountable for last year. Thats why he wont survive 5 wins or less. We said all summer there better be progress. And being fair, there has been progress half way through. There have been some tough losses. You can pin some of that on coaching. But you will not find a coach without faults, because they are human.
Im not going to sit here and say they will lose this game that game whatever. Im not going to paint somw rosey scenario where we win some either. Im waiting and taking it week by week. We will see where we are. But right now the progress we (I) demanded last summer has been delivered, at least in the first half. Frankly im sick of talking about Lovie and hope I dont have to until after the season.
November 12th, 2015 at 9:12 am
DOESN’T ANYONE SEE THE BIG PICTURE YET, HELL, THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL, LOVIE SHOULD OF BEEN GONE A LONG TIME AGO, ONLY THING THE GLAZERS ARE DOING IS THROWING MORE SALT IN THE WOUNDS EACH WEEK…… GET LOVIE OUT OF HERE ON THE NEXT TRAIN !!!!!!!
November 12th, 2015 at 9:23 am
@The Buc Realist
If you were the coach taking over the Bucs last season what moves would you have made and who would you have brought in based the needs and what was available? Clayborn and McCoy were already there and Johnson was a bad reach to replace the current DE’s which weren’t very good.
November 12th, 2015 at 9:24 am
With Geraldine mccoy’s soft attitude this defense is treated like the candyasses that they are. I bet our oline has threatened to kick the defensive lines ass after practice.
November 12th, 2015 at 10:45 am
@Waterboy … “That’s more proof that you can’t build a team with other teams rejects and it takes time to build thru the draft.”
Truer words were never spoken. Big money FAs turn out to be busts more times than not from what I’ve seen. Plus if they’re really good, their present team is going to pay them, not let them walk (unless you’re the Bucs of course). But as we’ve all seen for too many years, if we change coaches every 2 years we end up drafting poorly, and then we can’t build through the draft. HC and GM stability is critical to successful teams. A couple more good drafts, plus change out some of these underperforming assistant coaches, and we might just have something here. My bet is that Lovie & Licht have learned some hard lessons these last 2 years and aren’t likely to repeat them. Just wish he’d stop trying to be the DC and HC at the same time … rarely works.
November 12th, 2015 at 11:12 am
Lovie love note: Lovie, if you can’t get this team pumped up to wake up and plant Dallas with another loss on the Bucs home field, then you flat out suck and I move full into the ditch Lovie opinion.
November 12th, 2015 at 1:30 pm
“Of all the swings and misses Bucs coach Lovie Smith made in free agency last year…” – Joe
Funny how Licht gets all the credit for the good moves and Lovie is blamed for the bad.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it Licht who works out deals with these guys?
November 12th, 2015 at 9:57 pm
Michael Johnson is playing for the 8-0 Bengals and he got paid 7M by the Buccaneers for not playing this year then went out and signed for an additional 6M with Cincinnati. So the Bucs in total paid him16M plus 6M from Cinci = 22M over two years? I would be Casper all day long. I tell you what, even injured his numbers were better than George Johnson’s. “ESPN’s Bill Polian rated Johnson as the sixth-best defensive end among 2014 unrestricted free agents.” Who are the six ahead of him? I remember Johnson was the top rated 4-3 DE in FA for 2014? The 2014 FA class was not a complete bust either. Clinton McDonald was a tremendous pick up from Seattle and I believe Alterraun Verner is still our best CB. Evan Smith has been solid and our OL would not be where it is today if not for Logan Mankins. So yea Anthony Collins, Oniel Cousins and Michael Johnson were really bad but three out of seven ain’t to bad. Why do you let Adrian Clayborn go? Ryan Delaire? This years class was a bust. There are good players in FA. I wish we could have signed Eric Decker or Brandon Marshall or Antonio Cromartie. When good players become available we need to go for it.