Buyer Beware
February 7th, 2019
Smoke signals not good.
Stay away. Stay far away.
That’s the message from Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report. It is entirely likely the Bucs could be shopping for a defensive end when the free agency dinner bell rings on March 13. If that’s the case, Knox believes Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht should not answer any calls from the agent of Ziggy Ansah.
The current Lions defensive end just wreaks of bust, Knox believes.
Detroit Lions pass-rusher Ezekiel Ansah will command a fair amount of attention on the open market because of the position he plays. Teams regularly overpay for even average pass-rushers—Vinny Curry got a three-year, $23 million deal last offseason—and Ansah is just a year removed from a 12-sack season.
However, there are a couple of issues teams need to be wary of. He’s coming off a season hampered by a shoulder injury. Ansah made just two starts, appeared in seven games and finished with only 4.0 sacks.
He’s also inconsistent. Ansah has registered double-digit sacks twice, but he’s also had seasons of 7.5 sacks, 4.0 sacks and 2.0 sacks. Teams may pay for 12-sack Ansah only to get the 2.0 version.
If the Bucs do go after a defensive end — Joe hopes that somehow Clark Hunt of the Chiefs goes on a bender in Mexico and forgets to tag Dee Ford — the Bucs very well could wave bye-bye to two defensive ends, Will Gholston and Vinny Curry (Joe would hate to see Curry go only because he’s a good dude).
Curry, who is set to make $8 million this year, has an out in his contract where the Bucs could release him without any financial penalty, per Spotrac.com.
Parting ways with malcontent wide receiver DeSean Jackson, stud defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, Curry and Gholston, could save the Bucs roughly $35 million of cap space for 2019.
February 7th, 2019 at 12:12 pm
21 million more can be added with one position
February 7th, 2019 at 12:15 pm
Like I’ve been saying for years you can’t judge defensive lineman off of their stats when the freaking defeat defensive backs are playing 15 yards off of the line of scrimmage if you don’t understand this you need help that I’m not sure is available. When the coverage is tighter and the quarterback is unable to get the ball out within the first one point five seconds after the ball is snapped it gives the defensive lineman just a little more time to make a play. William gholston and Vinny Curry may not be that bad is what their stats tell. I trust Bruce Arians we’ll turn this entire team around in a very short. Of time
February 7th, 2019 at 12:16 pm
Like the $35M in cap savings, but will need replacements for those guys as well. John Brown, Gerald Willis, Calais Campbell and Josh Allen would work
February 7th, 2019 at 12:19 pm
Yep, be our luck we’d get ourselves another Gilligan.
February 7th, 2019 at 12:22 pm
With our drought Joe we would be lucky to even have a DE on the roster capable of double digit sacks. Lets face it the only person we have is JPP and maybe Carl Nassib the rest are imposters.
February 7th, 2019 at 12:41 pm
This time last year everyone on this board was hoping the Lions wouldn’t franchise him so we could sign him.
February 7th, 2019 at 12:41 pm
sign frank clark…….
restructure GMC….
release gholston, beau allen and urein….
draft ed oliverR1, zach allenR2, gerald willis-R4
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 7th, 2019 at 12:45 pm
The cap is expected to go up at least ten million and perhaps more….so there’s that.
February 7th, 2019 at 12:46 pm
Plus Ansah had a chronic back injury flare up throughout the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Hell no on that cat!
Those beating the drum for Frank Clark in Seattle hitting UFA might be on to something, if he comes in cheap enough that is. Keep Nassib for sure. No idea what CLE was thinking there cutting him.
START…CUTTING…PEOPLE AND PAYROLL. All the other teams are. Let’s GO!
February 7th, 2019 at 12:52 pm
Joe says:
“Parting ways with malcontent wide receiver DeSean Jackson, stud defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, Curry and Gholston, could save the Bucs roughly $35 million of cap space for 2019.”
Yes. Do it. We went 5-11 with those guys.
Let’s get some new guys.
February 7th, 2019 at 12:55 pm
I heard a rumor last night about the Vikings possibly releasing Everson Griffin for salary cap reasons. Have you heard anything about this Joe?
February 7th, 2019 at 1:02 pm
@Lunchbox…
Yeah it was mentioned about Griffen on PFT. But unfortunately (and not making fun at all), but he is a whackadoo. He’s had some real challenges last year with mental health, and that type of thing tends to rear it’s ugly head (see what I did there) from time to time. Almost impossible to depend on people like that, and the stressors that bring it on.
Bucs gottta pass on Griffen, plus the $$ might be an issue. Let another team make that mistake.
February 7th, 2019 at 1:03 pm
Trade Djax to the Jets (Darnold needs weapons) and swap picks…..draft Quennin Williams at #3.
February 7th, 2019 at 1:38 pm
I want to watch Quennin Williams at the combine. I’m not so sure he’s the best pass rusher just because he’s from Alabama, who usually has many blue chippers playing together making each play better. Separate them and sometimes you find their stats were inflated for the actual talent they possess . The combine is not the end all be all but it does give a side by side comparison to other top players at their position. ..and then you have their pro days to evaluate.
We got to get this pick right.
February 7th, 2019 at 1:51 pm
Yea if some of those Chiefs fans want to get rid of Dee Ford because they are angry at him for making a mistake (in the Super Bowl)…. we will be MORE than happy to pick him up.
February 7th, 2019 at 1:52 pm
(meant to say in the AFC Championship Game)
February 7th, 2019 at 2:22 pm
When I can’t draft well this is the road u must travel
February 7th, 2019 at 2:26 pm
everson griffin….if he has some issues under control…and may be a cheap get
and destin johnny right on
February 7th, 2019 at 2:51 pm
stout
the same thing happened to chandler jones with the PATS…..he was found naked outside the police station…PATS thought he was a head case and traded him….he’s kept his nose clean and produced ever since…..
imo, we should go after frank clark…..very productive, love his motor and would be a great fit in bowles scheme opposite of JPP…..
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 7th, 2019 at 3:08 pm
I think Spence is going to Blow up this year under Bowles an this new Defense we don’t need Bigs names I mean 1 or 2 would be nice but we need Role players an depth we need players with the right attitude an players who want to win add Josh Allen from Kentucky gets me excited Spence an Allen on the Edges Rushing with Nassib JPP an Vea an Kwonan LVD that’s a front 7 I’m excited about
February 7th, 2019 at 3:08 pm
I trust our GM an our Coach
February 7th, 2019 at 3:10 pm
It’s his last chance.
February 7th, 2019 at 3:21 pm
Supposedly this is a great year to draft DLinemen. Bucs NEED Dlinemen … ours is high-salaried & somewhat long-in-the-tooth. Bucs also say they want to build through the draft. Wow, talk about kismet. Cutting McCoy, Curry & Gholston (plus Unrein Joe) could save us $27.5 mil, BUT … we’d then need to add 2 DTs & 2 DEs to replace them. Even if we drafted 2 Dlinemen in the early rounds (we kinda need for them to PRODUCE this year & later round draftees rarely do that early-on if ever) we’d still NEED 2 more DLinemen. After the smoke clears, we’d be lucky to break even IF we brought in & drafted quality players who could start and/or be key rotational guys.
Would much rather see us cut Unrein (wasted money) AND Spence (he may well play OK in a 3-4 defense but so far he hasn’t shown all that much IMO). That’d save us a tad over $4.0 mil. Renegotiate GMC’s, Curry’s & Gholston’s contract to $8 mil, $4 mil & $2 mil … saving another $10 mil (plus some change). Draft a DT to replace Unrein & a DE to replace Spence in the early rounds (probably cost us around $6 mil or so). Use the remaining $8 mil (of $14 mil saved) to ‘buy’ a RB AND a MLB. What we already have today (say $15 mil) plus DJax $10 mil should be enough to pay for franchise tagging Donovan ($14 mil), re-signing Hump ($7 mil) plus adding a backup QB & re-signing Taylor.
Draft a LT, RB, G, LB plus the DT & DE above and we’d hopefully be a lot better off than we are right now. Still can’t figure out how to pay for the veteran Kicker, CB & Safety that we need, but hey, no plan’s perfect.
February 7th, 2019 at 3:24 pm
Don’t feel we need to pay a FA DE a ton of money we don’t have this year when we have Nassib and JPP. We need to be looking at possible DTs to better fit Bowels defense. Give us more options in th to trade back and pick up a different position in the first round. DE Charles Omenihu (Texas) third round.
February 7th, 2019 at 3:36 pm
If anything we need to be trying to find decent depth for the dline in FA. Get a DT in first round to start. We should trade back in the first for extra picks. First three rounds are filled with players in the linemen on both sides of the ball. Stack the trenches!
February 7th, 2019 at 4:18 pm
Let’s see. We are getting rid of Curry, Allen, Urine, and Gholston. We should be anyways.
That’s Four positions that will be void. Yeah, I think we will be singing a DE or 2 in the offseason
A good plan may be to sign a few lower end guys before the draft. Later on after the draft a few good players always get dropped. It might be worthwhile to wait out the initial big signings for all the unrestricted FA.
Our #5 pick may very well be part of the plan too.
February 7th, 2019 at 5:06 pm
Holy crap we gave Curry a 3 year 23mill deal? Wtf was Licht thinking?
February 7th, 2019 at 5:22 pm
We don’t need to add another free agent pass rusher. Go to the draft, we’re in prime position to take one for a lot cheaper with way more upside.
February 7th, 2019 at 5:23 pm
Wesley. Scroll up and read the article.
February 7th, 2019 at 5:29 pm
Buc head, give it up man. Spence is a total bust. Dude was a healthy scratch most of the year and when he did suit he barely played if at all.
February 7th, 2019 at 6:06 pm
If we stay 4-3, we already have 2 excellent starters is Nassib and JPP. Crazy Carl starts all 16 games and we have 2 double digit sack DE’s.
February 7th, 2019 at 8:06 pm
D.R.
Agree with your plan except for Spence. He’s only scheduled to make just under 2 million and 647,000 of that is dead money anyway. I’d just like to see if Bowles can figure out how to use him…perhaps in some blitz packages?
February 7th, 2019 at 10:06 pm
Curry has to go because he makes too much to be a backup. It was his bad luck that he got injured and Nassib got his shot…only to secure a starting role.
We don’t need a defensive end…except for depth and signing Nassib to a longer deal on the cheap (4 years, 8 million? That’s only 2 million per year and he would jump at it).
Justin brought up a good point on his podcast…if they rework GMCs contract, that means new guarantees. However, Licht structure them to end after the first year, so that should not be an issue.
In regard to McCoy, he’s not a free agent, so the Bucs have time to see how free agency and the draft plays out before deciding on his future. If a beast DT is available to us in the draft, then pick him and trade/release McCoy. If not, THEN rework his deal.
Re-sign Kwon. Trade David. Bring back Beckwith. Let Cichey and a draft pick fight it out.
February 7th, 2019 at 10:10 pm
stpetebucsfan, in order to save Spence, he’d have to be available. Too much time injured.
February 8th, 2019 at 5:21 pm
Robert, and the same 21 million will be spent on a lesser talent idiot