Dion Lewis Wants Pricey Pact
February 16th, 2018
Popular free agent target.
The Bucs need to beef up the running back unit, there is no question. And a lot of Bucs fans would like Dion Lewis.
Joe isn’t sure if the Bucs have him on their radar as the free agency dinner bell rings 26 short days. But if they do, it seems Lewis wants bundles of Team Glazer loot.
Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald notes Lewis will have plenty of suitors come free agency and speculation is that the Lions are heavy-breathing over him already.
Lewis plans to test free agency unless the Patriots offer $10 million guaranteed as part of a three-year deal in the range of $15 million to $18 million. The early vibe is that he’ll be playing elsewhere.
Per Spotrac.com, that would put Lewis’ salary in the neighborhood of Giovani Bernard, Latavius Murray, Marshawn Lynch and C.J. Anderson.
Would the Bucs be interested in Lewis and then not draft a running back?
Or perhaps would Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht reach back to Nebraska and Patriots past and selects former Cornhuskers star and current unrestricted free agent Patriots RB Rex Burkhead to supplement drafting a running back?
February 16th, 2018 at 5:32 am
They should draft a RB and sign Isaiah Crowell.
February 16th, 2018 at 5:49 am
Draft one way cheaper! This guy’s not so great! Imo
February 16th, 2018 at 6:00 am
If the Bucs go with a RB via the draft, I’d like them to get either Derrius Guice or Rashaad Penny, since there’s NO WAY Barkley will be there for us.
February 16th, 2018 at 6:19 am
How about Doug Martin? I think he is available.
February 16th, 2018 at 6:29 am
And Dion Lewis would even consider running behind this lousy offensive line?
February 16th, 2018 at 6:38 am
Screw that!! IF Blount wanna come back sign em up
February 16th, 2018 at 6:54 am
Sign (FA)
• Andrew Norwell | G | Age:26 | Height | 6-6. Weight | 325
Draft:
• Quenton Nelson | G | Age:21 | Height | 6-5. Weight | 330
• Frank Ragnow | G/C | Age:21 | Height | 6-5. Weight | 317
New Improved Interior
LG Andrew Norwell | Caleb Benenoch
C Ali Marpet | Joe Hawley
RG Quenton Nelson | Frank Ragnow
Now that you’ve taken care of your interior offensive line for the next 5plus years. You can insert any capable scat or power back and net the desired results.
Potential Cap Casualty Candidate
• Demarco Murray (Age:30)
Free- Agents
• Isaiah Crowell (Age:25)
• Jeremy Hill (Age:25)
• Jerick McKinnon (Age:25)
• Dion Lewis (Age:27)
2018 Draft Picks
• Kerryon Johnson, Auburn
• Ronald Jones II, US
• Jaylen Samuels, N.C. Stat
• Kalen Ballage, Arizona State
• Martez Carter, RB, Grambling State
Honorable Mention: Royce Freeman, Nyheim Hines
2018 Undrafted Free Agents
• Ralph Webb, RB, Vanderbilt
• Ito Smith, RB, Southern Miss
• Lavon Coleman, RB, Washington
• Kamryn Pettway*, RB, Auburn
2018 Potential Running Back Depth Chart
RB Kalen Ballage | Peyton Barber
RB Demarco Murray | Isaiah Crowell
With an upgraded interior offensive line; just plug-in play.
#TrenchWareFare
#ControlTheLineOfScrimmage
February 16th, 2018 at 7:03 am
Jerick McKinnon.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:11 am
Would be awesome to sign the top back in free agency. Will see
February 16th, 2018 at 7:19 am
Too small and misses too many games to make 5-6 mil a year.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:20 am
LUVMYBUCS – Totally on board with your post regarding rebuilding the line. Yours are one of the few posts I actually look forward to reading. Good job, sir.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:23 am
Kalen Ballage sort of reminds me of how Eddie George used to run, upright but still powerful. I’d still like to see him work on his lateral movement a little, but I could get on board with him on the Bucs
February 16th, 2018 at 7:25 am
Reminds me of Terry Metcalf.
So I wouldn’t say that he’s to small to be effective on Sundays.
U just gotta manage his touches (9-12pg)-to keep him fresh.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:31 am
@LUV…great post.
#TRENCHWARFARE
February 16th, 2018 at 7:33 am
LUVMYBUCS-
So you want us to take Ragnow in the second or third round and have him permanently as a backup to Marpet, Nelson, and Norwell?
I’d much rather get Ragnow in the second or third. Sign Norwell. Then just move Marpet back to RG. This would allow us to use our first rounder on the defense.
tnew-
I totally agree. McKinnon looks a lot better to me than Dion.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:33 am
Lunchbox
Thank you Sir – Appreciate the compliment.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:46 am
OrlandoJoe
I’ve witness some the best Offensive line coaches –
Joe Bugel, Hudson Houck & Bill Callahan employed the same strategy.
Cream always rises to the top. And competition brings out the best in men.
Couple that with potential injuries – and these moves will safe guard the offensive line for years to come.
It’s all about the – 1st | 2nd | 3rd team units heading into camp. U raise the level of talent in the 1st two units. So now you’ve established good depth, with a complete team. That has the real chance to make a playoff run – no matter WHO goes down.
Sidebar: IMO Frank Ragnow has what it takes to enventually unseat Marpet.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:53 am
That’s around 5 a year.
Bucs will have around 80 in cap after They cut dead weight. 10 mil in gaurantee so they could cut after 2 years.
Not crazy when qbs will be getting 35 soon.
I’m down. They still need to draft a young stud as well Michel 1st choice.
Charles Simms would be bye bye if dion Lewis here.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:56 am
Bird
The Bucs will have $100M plus – after the cut dead weight.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:58 am
WutdaBucisthis
Respect my brotha
February 16th, 2018 at 8:00 am
The Plan is to “Dominate The Line of Scrimmage”.
February 16th, 2018 at 8:08 am
If your expecting to field a phycical, bada$$ football team.
Guys will get banged up – major Injuries can happen.
So I’d rather be proactive – than reactive. Ya dig!
February 16th, 2018 at 8:15 am
Dion Lewis wants a big contract because he knows he’ll never have another year as good as 2017. He is an obvious one year wonder.
PASS!!!!
February 16th, 2018 at 8:40 am
LUVMYBUCS … Bucs actually have more flexibility in free agency IMO than they have in the draft. And the fact that FA occurs FIRST means that Licht has to hit a home run this year in FA for us to right this ship. All in on making a play for LG Norwell in FA, but would also like to sign Ryan Jensen (Center) if at all possible (much prefer to see Marpet moved back to RG where he can dominate). IF we can fix the OLine in FA (as well as sign 2 outside CBs) we’d be in pretty good shape heading into the draft IMO. That’d allow us to draft a RB in Rnd 2 (Rnd 1 has to go to DE, CB or DT) and hopefully another in Rnd 4-5 (we’d have to hit on 1 of those 2 selections).
February 16th, 2018 at 8:41 am
LUVMYBUCS great breakdown… I love the idea of rebuilding the OL as well. A lot of debates are going on about how good the OL is… I think some think they are a weak unit while others think it is an average unit. Either way I think OL and DL need to be top priorities. Both will need to become dominant if we want to get winning regularly again.
February 16th, 2018 at 8:49 am
Defense Rule
I agree- Attack
RB
G
DE
CB
–In FA
Fill in the gaps in the draft.
RB
G/C
DE
DT
S
February 16th, 2018 at 8:50 am
doolnutts
Thank U brotha – and I agree
February 16th, 2018 at 9:51 am
Way back machine.
February 16th, 2018 at 10:05 am
youtube has some vids of all his snaps for a particular game in the 2017 season, i liked lewis more before i watched those. They showed that Lewis had exceptional blocking, the execution on the blocking was superb for the patriots. Lewis ran cleanly through holes behind them. I think his stock is a bit inflated from being on the Pats
February 16th, 2018 at 10:35 am
Why do we diss our own players so much?
Is this guy really a big upgrade over Payton Barber? No he’s a totally different back. Barber is a bruiser at 5-11 225…Lewis is 5-8 195.
So who will he replace? Sims…6 ft 215?
Quizz of course who is 5-7 190
Why do we want to go small in our backfield.
Lewis ran a 4.57 in the 40…Sims a 4.48…Quizz a 4.52 Barber 4.58
IE…Lewis is much smaller than Barber and runs the same 40 speed.
When you look at actual production I think we are selling our existing corps of backs short especially when you consider the OL they ran behind.
Barber averaged 3.9 YPC last year…4.1 the year before for a career total 4.0
Lewis averaged 5 last year…career 4.8 running behind the Pats OL with Brady at QB keeping D’s honest.
Quizz has averaged 4.2 with the Bucs…Sims 4.5 last year on just 21 attempts…perhaps too small of a stat base but two years ago he averaged 4.9 in 107 carries. Used properly I think Sims has talent.
Again…look at our roster…it was built to be a passing team not a running team.
We NEED to be able to run it just well enough to set up our passing and maintain ball control and time of possession late in the games.
I’m just not sure we don’t have a solid complement of backs to do that behind the right offensive line. We obviously need to add a back for depth but our current trio averages basically 4 yards per carry. That is enough for our passing team.
Why have we drafted ALL those passing pieces and now suddenly decide nope we’re really going to become a “pound the rock” team?
February 16th, 2018 at 12:39 pm
crowell is a head case and i think lewis will want way too much money for the value and while i do like lewis i dont believe he is the home run RB we need– i would go after a guy who would command a lesser salary maybe a guy like jeremy hill or mckinnon or even demarco murray and then draft a RB guys i like are sony michel, ronald jones, royce freeman, josh adams, and even tho he would be a late rounder i really like alabamas bo scarbrough i think with a committee approach of barber, rodgers(yes keep quizz), a value FA, and a drafted RB we could be in good shape also that depends on beefing up at center and guard and yes i also believe marpet should be moved back to guard and we grab a center in FA and perhaps draft a guard
February 16th, 2018 at 12:59 pm
FA: RB Jerick McKinnon
Draft: Nelson or trade down for more picks and go all defense and an OG in the later rounds. See if we can snag another decent RB in UDFA.
McKinnon is really up and coming. He got me some good weekly fantasy points last year and he was splitting time with Latavius Murray when Dalvin Cook went down.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:52 pm
Lunchbox, luvmybucs,
Ballage ??? I don’t believe that you’ve seen anything other than a highlights reel.
Or read about him by someone who only watched his highlights reel. Which is impressive but absolutely doesn’t reflect the type of player He is everyday or each game.
He does have a Eddie George type build. Great call.
But that’s as about as much in common with each other as you’ll see.
Watch some games and after a few hours of looking you’ll realize it’s easier to find Amilia Erhardt. ASU had him MIA more often than Chuck Norris.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:25 pm
I love Lewis ( can help us out in the return game as well), but McKinnon offers nice value and he’s at a solid age still for an RB….
February 16th, 2018 at 3:44 pm
McKinnon would be a solid signing but he’s basically Charles Simms … it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a stable of multi-purpose backs though and Barber/McKinnon/Simms/Quizz would be a nice Patriots-esque stable …
February 16th, 2018 at 3:58 pm
McKinnon is 4000x the runner that Sims is.
February 16th, 2018 at 4:45 pm
LOL!
No thanks.
It can be hard to judge guys in that offense because of the way Belichick uses RBs, but I don’t see anything special when I watch him play, he looks quite average. I think he’s going to be hugely disappointed in FA if he thinks anyone will pay him anything close to that.
February 16th, 2018 at 4:47 pm
Tnew – My friend who is a Vikings fanboy thinks McKinnon and Sims are basically the same players. Both guys can catch the ball and both guys should not be every down players. I don’t know where this Sims hatred comes from other than if people think every RB on your roster has to be a 3-down back, but even in that case McKinnon isn’t that and failed miserably when tasked with being a 3-down back.
February 16th, 2018 at 5:22 pm
Reality always sets in. If Lewis thinks he can do better than 10 million guaranteed from the Pats, let him try. I wouldn’t pay him more than that. Maybe somebody will, and they will be disappointed. I mean, he’s good, but I doubt he’ll be as good in an offense where the QB isn’t Tom Brady.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:55 am
Dion is good but not that good to command those kind of $
February 18th, 2018 at 12:29 am
Dion Lewis is actually undervalued