Free Agency Countdown: 20 Days
February 17th, 2017
Does Dirk Koetter agree with his friend Marvin Lewis?
The free agency dinner bell officially rings Thursday, March 9 at 4 p.m. The Bucs will arrive at the buffet table with a pile of cash. But how will they spend it? How much will they spend? Joe is counting down the days with a different look at a potential free agent signing.
Joe hates scaring Bucs fans by stating Dirk Koetter really is a develop-young-players coach at the core.
It’s one reason, as Joe explained, why Koetter and Jason Licht might not be overly aggressive in pursuing a running back in free agency or via the draft.
Koetter has very close friends in the NFL coaching community. One is Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, who has touted his preference for growing his own roster.
Consider this quote from Lewis to BSPN last year.
“In the heat of the battle, they revert to what they know, and that’s the hard thing if they’re not trained through your system,’ he said. “When you play on bad teams you think you have to do something supernatural to make a play happen. No, just do your job. If you do your job and the other 10 guys do their job, you’re going to be OK.”
So does Koetter have that anti-free-agency mindset? Last year, Koetter was too busy crafting a staff and a program in the offseason to dive into personnel issues like he is now.
Behind the scenes, Koetter might be screaming for win-now pieces for job security, as Joe wrote Wednesday. But he also could be taking a different approach when it comes to his offense.
Little change to Koetter’s offensive staff means he believes wholeheartedly in the group and their ability to develop players.
When it comes to giant Bucs needs at receiver and running back, Joe is increasingly nervous that Tampa Bay will rely on rookie complements — and further development of current players — to become the new #WeaponsForWinston.
Remember, Mike Smith is only locked down in Tampa for two more seasons. That definitely could lead the Bucs to lean defense in free agency this year.
February 17th, 2017 at 11:24 am
To me thats the perfect mindset. Go after vets in FA and find their successors in the draft. Dont get caught up in the young guys or the big name guys. We aint playing fantasy football, we building a dynasty!
February 17th, 2017 at 11:25 am
For the last time, we are fine at running back. Get a complimentary guy in rounds 3-5. It WR where we need to be active in free agency and the draft…
February 17th, 2017 at 11:25 am
I wouldn’t sign a RB through Free Agency. There’s a lot of good young RBs in this draft. Also we still have RBs on our roster.
February 17th, 2017 at 11:29 am
Avoid The Carl Nicks, J.R. Sweezy, Michael Johnson, and Anthony Collins’ of the world, please and thank you.
February 17th, 2017 at 11:30 am
Also, I think Danny Amendola will not be back in NE, we should consider adding him. Not a game breaker, but he’s a solid slot guy, and could add good depth. We’d basically have two Humpries, would be an interesting thought.
February 17th, 2017 at 12:22 pm
Convinced that Dirk Koetter would play-call 50% runs, 50% passes IF he had the weapons to do it with. Right now he doesn’t. Jameis threw about 58% of the time last season because (1) our run game wasn’t working; and (2) 3rd-and-long sorta kinda mandates pass. Bucs have to add a stud RB, preferably through the draft, to avoid those 3rd-and-‘no choice but to pass’ situations. If Cook falls to #19 Bucs have to grab him, but we have too many priority needs to give up additional picks to move up for him. This draft looks to be pretty well-stocked with RBs so we don’t have to sell the farm to get a good one.
As far as Koetter & free agency goes, I’d bet that Dirk won’t turn up his nose at adding Calais Campbell or Dontari Poe or Tony Jefferson to the defensive side of the ball. Same goes with beefing up our OLine in FA and/or adding Desean Jackson to our WR corps. Koetter knows better than any of us what it takes to win in the NFL, and each one of those FAs has already proven themselves to be winners.
February 17th, 2017 at 1:08 pm
Draft and develop is not at odds with supplementing through free agency… but Joe seems to expect them to go hog wild… Reality: Jason Licht has stated emphatically every time he’s had the opportunity that he’s not a big fan of free agency. They’ll get some guys, but it’s probably not gonna be a jackpot like Joe is fantasizing about. I don’t know why people still think they’d go all Dan Snyder. They won’t. Deal with it.
February 17th, 2017 at 1:16 pm
Going all Dan Snyder has not worked out very well for Dan Snyder.
February 17th, 2017 at 1:39 pm
Defense that’s why the “loonnngg gone tribe” puzzles me. They say that everyday but the consensus is that this years draft is deep with RBs. So why is hard to believe that with that knowledge the so called team’s that may be shopping for one might say we can address another need first and grab an RB “in the later round”..
February 17th, 2017 at 1:46 pm
Bucs.com currently listing DJs top five RBs. First position I’ve seen them list. Is just me I know I’m crazy right.
February 17th, 2017 at 1:57 pm
NosBos, Dalvin Cook would be great if we can pick him up at #19. But paying a king’s ransom to move up to draft him is a no-go far as I’m concerned. Far too many other needs. Bucs need an outstanding free agency AND draft IMO just to contend in the NFC South. Many may well not agree, but I think that to be a contender we’ll have to add 2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 RB, 2 OLine, 1 DE, 1 DT, 1 LB, and at least 1 Safety. That’s assuming that we sign several of our own FAs (Gholston, Rodgers, McDougald, Shepherd, Robinson). How Jason Licht prioritizes those needs between FA & the draft is anyone’s guess right now. But for sure we’re not going to contend with second-tier pickups; at least half of those 10 priority pickups will need impact players.
February 17th, 2017 at 2:15 pm
Well said bucs_365! The formula for a successful franchise has always been to draft and develop. Free-agency needs to be supplemental but also calculated.
February 17th, 2017 at 2:53 pm
This
February 17th, 2017 at 3:18 pm
Teams just don’t let ” Good Players” hit the open market. There has to be a reason, sometimes they can’t afford to keep the player. In other cases, the player is ” plain garbage” not worth his salary. And sometimes they perform well, but are a locker room cancer.
February 17th, 2017 at 3:22 pm
Its gone blow y’all mind when we up at 19 and he’s still on the board. Not me tho Defense.
February 17th, 2017 at 4:13 pm
NOSBOS
Gotta confess it will blow my mind! IF DC is there at 19 the Bucs are virtually forced to take him.
Someone suggested we should let #3 be involved in some of these decisions. I suspect that Koetter and Licht DO talk to #3 as one of the dozens of opinions they are getting right now. I would absolutely love to know what #3 says about DC.
Has anybody seen any quotes from “the man” about another Nole?
February 17th, 2017 at 8:50 pm
If Dalvin Cook is as great as people on here are toting, then how in the world would he fall to 19? In which case if he does, don’t you think there’d be a good reason why 18 other teams didn’t want to pick him up? And if there was a reason why he fell, then why would you want our team to pick him up?
Either the people here are blowing him up way more than he deserves (my guess), or every other team in front of us has horrible scouts, or people expect us to take someone no other team wants which would make our scouting didn’t
February 17th, 2017 at 8:52 pm
Our scouting department suck* stupid autocorrect….
February 18th, 2017 at 1:13 pm
I wouldn’t mind picking up DC if he fell to us but I think we have bigger needs than RB. WR should be our #1 priority.
February 18th, 2017 at 6:07 pm
Thanks Joe!
You give us the opportunity to be Fantasy GMs one blog at a time.
Go Bucs!!!