Jason Licht And Bruce Arians Address Shaq Barrett’s Future
December 15th, 2019
Bucco Bruce Arians and general manager Jason Licht both spoke publicly today about retaining the services of NFL sacks leader Shaq Barrett, Tampa Bay’s precious free-agent-to-be linebacker.
First it was Licht before the game.
“His ratio of sacks per rush is pretty amazing,” Licht said, noting Shaq drops in coverage at times, which cuts his sack chances. “We hope that he plays for us for a long time.”
Licht’s chatter came on the Buccaneers Radio Network, and then Arians weighed in after the game — and after Shaq notched sack No. 16.5 of the season. That tied Warren Sapp’s franchise record set in 2000.
“He ain’t goin’ anywhere,” Arians said twice.
That means the Bucs likely will use the franchise tag (around $16 million) to keep 27-year-old Shaq for 2020, unless they open the Team Glazer vault and drop a multi-year deal on him. That could cost at least $35 million guaranteed for two years with a third year non-guaranteed.
Shaq already has said he’d like to stay with Todd Bowles and not move his family. But everyone knows money talks. A 20-sack finish by Shaq could be a game-changer.
The Bucs will have a lot of salary cap flexibility this offseason, but that doesn’t mean they can re-sign all their desired players and be smart about it at the same time.
More franchise-shaping decisions than usual are ahead for Arians and Licht.
December 15th, 2019 at 10:11 pm
Bring him back!
December 15th, 2019 at 10:14 pm
Pay the man, he deserves it.
December 15th, 2019 at 10:16 pm
Got to keep him. If the Bucs over pay Jamies they won’t be able to keep some of the players they need going forward. It is for they are going to keep Winston but please don’t give him a long term, WAY TOO EXPENSIVE, contract. Just my opinion.
December 15th, 2019 at 10:18 pm
Joe says… “ more franchise shaping decisions than usual are ahead for Arians and Licht”
That scares the hell out of me. Thank God there is a voice of reason (Arians) now involved. Left to Licht this off season would be a disaster.
December 15th, 2019 at 10:23 pm
Can they negotiate or sign players now?
December 15th, 2019 at 10:36 pm
No choice. Load up that O line and D like next year. The run game is non-existent.
December 15th, 2019 at 10:37 pm
Yes. Extension will happen anytime. But if you’re shaq agent you wait as long as possible. At least to the end of season. The question is how many years will bucs offer and really comes down to is ——- what is shaq looking for ? 1yr , 5yrs ?
December 15th, 2019 at 10:40 pm
He’ll be team friendly…he wants to stay and should be paid
3 years, 50 mill!!! PAY THE MAN DAMMIT!!!!!
December 15th, 2019 at 10:44 pm
…and now folks we are in to the meat and potatoes.
December 15th, 2019 at 10:54 pm
After Jameis’s new contract, and Godwin and JPP are financially satisfied, we may not even be able to afford the franchise tag on Shaq. oh No!
December 15th, 2019 at 11:12 pm
Never give a player a long term contract based on a single year of success.
December 15th, 2019 at 11:13 pm
What 407Buc said!!!!
December 15th, 2019 at 11:13 pm
This is awesome. Sounds like all party’s agree. Id like to see the Shaq get a couple year contract. He just broke a Warren Sapp record. I don’t need to see anymore.
December 15th, 2019 at 11:17 pm
Jean Lafitte Says:
December 15th, 2019 at 10:54 pm
After Jameis’s new contract, and Godwin and JPP are financially satisfied, we may not even be able to afford the franchise tag on Shaq. oh No!
How did you figure that out ? We have 100m to spend. Both Jpp doesn’t command 20M. Shaq doesn’t command 20m A year. Godwin 30M jameis 30m a yr ?
December 15th, 2019 at 11:19 pm
Light is going to work is magic. First he will restructure some contract and jameis will get a good deal for him and the Bucs.
December 15th, 2019 at 11:35 pm
Franchise tag is only $16m? I guess it helps that he’s a LB and not a d-lineman as I thought it would be close to $20m.
December 15th, 2019 at 11:38 pm
Let the 2020 MVP talk Start Now.
You heard it hear first.
2020 MVP Jaboo
December 15th, 2019 at 11:47 pm
@ARDRNAGY says:
“LICHT IS GONNA WORK HIS MAGIC”
Are you “Trash” Licht’s brother or is that actually you GUMP?
GTFO my guy! You sound like Tommy Boy talking about Zalinsky! WTF
“Eeeeeehhhhhh He Seems Like a Nice Guy.”
This guy makes everyone nervous except you.
Winston: Franchise tag
Barrett: offer a 2-3 yr deal
DRAFT OL
DRAFT EDGE
December 15th, 2019 at 11:53 pm
Bowles better not call too many more blitzes in the next feed games or the Bucs aren’t going to be able to afford him.😉
It seems like more and more people are coming around to Jameis getting a muti year contract with S.Barrett getting the franchise tag.
December 15th, 2019 at 11:54 pm
Signing JW to more than one more year would be irresponsible. He always plays better when there’s nothing at stake. Always wilts under pressure. Draft a QB to groom him. So Bucs have beaten some bad teams lately. Big deal. They’re still watching the playoffs yet again for another year.
December 16th, 2019 at 12:02 am
Also being it’s a passing league these days I wouldn’t invest a lot in the running game. Just draft oline the first two rounds and get a RB in the third then sign a lock down corner. These days I take my high percentage shots with my QB. If a stud RB falls to us you take him. Never pay an RB free agency money. Bucs fans it’s going to be fun! Go Bucs!
December 16th, 2019 at 12:23 am
Gotta get Shaq back. But, I don’t expect the same sack numbers next year if JPP isn’t signed as well. Shaq caught everyone off guard at the start of the season without JPP. But, his numbers stagnated once teams started scheming for him. His sacks started coming back once JPP came back. Whatever the Bucs do, don’t mess with the bookends. We can get Suh’s production through draft or vet signing. But, it’s hard to get another player like JPP. With a higher cap number, I think there might just be a way to get it done. Carl Nassib didn’t have quite the contract year he was probably hoping, partly due to Shaq’s emergence. So, he might be affordable.
I hope most of these guys realize this defensive scheme suits them the best. The Bucs took a chance on all these guys while their former teams didn’t think twice to walk away from them. That counts for something.
December 16th, 2019 at 12:26 am
Give kudos to Jason Licht for this DL. That DL was much maligned and we literally redid the entire DL piece by piece. Nobody expected the results we’re getting, but you still gotta give him his due for putting some good pieces together for Todd Bowles to play with.
December 16th, 2019 at 1:17 am
This offseason will be very interesting, if Jameis keeps this up I agree that his agent will be pushing for more years of guaranteed money and that means potentially franchising Barrett. Either way I feel like players like Brate and Gholston won’t be on the roster next year and potentially Jensen too. They will push to lock up JPP, Suh, and Nassib, and hope Nelson can stay healthy to be in a rotation of DE. All in all this will be an interesting offseason that’ll leave a lot of Buccaneer fans very opinionated.
December 16th, 2019 at 3:40 am
TEAM BUILDING means just that … building a TEAM means that you can’t look at ‘pieces’ in isolation. That’s been our problem for many years now. Instead of looking at the whole, Bucs’ management keeps focusing on individual players. Playing musical coaches certainly hasn’t helped.
I doubt that Bruce Arians & Jason Licht would agree with statements like “The Bucs will have a lot of salary cap flexibility this offseason”. Quite the opposite; every dollar will count, just like it did this year. It’s amusing when folks make comments like ‘sign player XXX for $50 mil over 3 years then franchise player YYY and release player ZZZ’ but yet they have no idea how those costs relate to the total TEAM cost.
Looking at the ‘pieces in isolation’ is meaningless. Despite all the grief I (and many others) have given Jason Licht over the years, his job is extremely difficult … how to find AND PAY FOR the players our coaches can win with. In Shaq Barrett’s case, he’s a GRRREAT fit IMO in THIS defense. He’s got a great skillset but make no mistake … he wouldn’t have been nearly as effective playing in say our 2017 4-3 defense with that DLine (GMC, Baker, etc) under Smitty. The Front-7 guys he’s playing with (Vea, Suh, JPP, Nassib, LVD, White, etc) AND the DC he’s playing for (dictating how he’s being used) are critical.
Many won’t agree I’m sure, but I think we need to focus on this next 2-year window. That’s as long as I expect BA to be the Bucs’ HC. It’s also about as long as I expect Todd Bowles to be our DC. After that, who knows what this coaching staff will look like. They’ve now seen what works & what doesn’t work; what to keep & what to replace. THAT’s the TEAM-BUILDING aspect that’s eluded us for many, many years. IF we do things right this off-season for 2020 & 2021, there’s no reason this TEAM can’t make the playoffs both years. And once into the playoffs, anything’s possible.
December 16th, 2019 at 3:53 am
Jerry … I agree with you about Brate, but I bet Gholston will be here (he’s played exceptionally well this year IMO). Jensen is a potential cut, but only because of the money aspect (he’s demonstrated that he’s a warrior too).
Paying Barrett is a no-brainer IMO, but we don’t need to franchise him (that just locks him down for 1 year). He works well in THIS defense & there’s no reason that a 3-5 year deal can be worked out. Bringing back JPP, Suh AND Nassib will be critical to Shaq’s future success though IMO & all three need to be re-signed for 2 (or more) years. You’re right, it will be an interesting off-season.
December 16th, 2019 at 5:33 am
hopefully JW is smart enough to realize not everybody in the NFL is going to tolerate his history on and off the field……..
December 16th, 2019 at 5:42 am
OK…OK…. HORRAYYY !! ….. we are a 500 team …. so i will throw away my brown paper bag for know….. how do we get to the next level because its about winning and the playoffs and not just entertainment…. Hope TEAM GLAZERS figure it out !!
December 16th, 2019 at 5:46 am
The key is drafting 2 players that will replace current high-paid players…..
IMO we should use our 1st & 2nd round picks to select a DE/DT & RT.
That will replace Dotson & Either JPP or Suh……yes, I know that sounds crazy but those two draft picks would save around $15 million.
We simply can’t pay everyone.
You are going to want to keep Nassib…..and if someone has to go, it should be the older players.
Keep in mind that we will have a increase for Dotson.
Another option would be to draft a Center & RT……but I don’t think Jameis wants to see Jensen gone.
December 16th, 2019 at 5:47 am
Sorry, have to have an increase for Godwin, not Dotson.
December 16th, 2019 at 6:52 am
This is were I cation everyone. Hit him with the tag. If he can have the same success 2 years in a row then pay the man but come on all it’s one great season. We’ve missed on to many 1 hit wonders. Show me Shaq this year wasn’t just a fluke 2 year if he can do it then I’d pay him but open the vault for 1 year not smart I want him back in a buc uni. I’m not hating just being smart
December 16th, 2019 at 7:21 am
Most important position in football is the QB….2nd most is who gets after the QB.
3 years, 50 mill for the real deal (We have our pass rush Joes)
December 16th, 2019 at 7:41 am
TBBF … I agree with you about drafting replacements for older (and presumably more expensive) players. Getting 2 and even 3 starters from a draft class is doable as we’ve seen, but I think it’d be less likely to produce a playoff team. I think 1 starter is realistic, with maybe 2 others being key rotational guys (and better depth in the event of injuries). Other draft picks are more for development purposes on playoff teams it seems..
I’m not even sure that Suh will want to return to the Bucs in 2020, but IF he does (and for about the same $$$ as he’s making now, say $9 mil), then I think we’d be foolish not to re-sign him. Folks get too hung up on stats for interior DLinemen IMO. Suh is a beast, and he’s still playing at a very high level PLUS having a very positive impact on the rest of this DLine IMO. By all means we need to draft a high-round DT/DE, BUT … that draftee should replace Allen (who’s a UFA in 2020 & who’s not getting all that many snaps right now).
JPP is another DLine beast, and he’s probably got at least 2-3 very productive years left in him. I’d gladly re-sign him for about what he’s making right now (say $11 mil). Nassib’s doing well, but he’s not as critical to next year’s success as JPP & Suh IMO. Would still like to re-sign him for say $7 mil next year. Re-signing Barrett to a long term contract is a no-brainer IMO, but will probably cost us in the $15-$17 mil range per year. With a high quality DLine to support him (and free him up), it’d be money well spent.
Some of the rotational guys on defense will be just as key to our success in 2020 I think. Folks talk about releasing Gholston, but I think that Big Will has done a heckuva job this year, and gives us some great versatility on the DLine. Same thing with Nunez-Roches … not big stats, but reliable & versatile (and not too costly). I feel the same way about Mincey, Adams & Ryan Smith BTW. We know what we’ve got in these guys; let’s make a couple of improvements (DT via the draft & Safety via FA) instead of reinventing the wheel. Next year this could be a Top-10 defense with Todd Bowles at the helm.
December 16th, 2019 at 7:43 am
If you’re not going to play hard, then dont play at all…..ball is in your court Mr. Licht, play hard!
December 16th, 2019 at 9:19 am
How about a defensive tackle getting 16.5 sacks
Crazy
December 16th, 2019 at 10:29 am
Need to worry about signing Barrett, Nassib & JPP & maybe JW. Godwin can wait till later. He’ll get his money no matter what or when.
December 16th, 2019 at 12:38 pm
Don’t give me crap about cap space, pay the man! It’s not just about rewarding good performance but also sending a message to the rest of the team! We’ll cut you if you loaf and we’ll dang sure pay you if you perform! Both messages are important!
December 16th, 2019 at 1:04 pm
Hopefully we can draft a center who can be a starter and then wont have to pay the 10 + million to Jensen. Even though Jensen has played well this year, imo I’d much rather keep our Dline together as imo the front 7 is the strength of our team. Franchise tag sounds good for Shaq just in case he drps off , although I don’t believe he will, but you never know. I think sign Jameis to a 3-4 year deal now because if they franchise him and he cleans up his interceptions a lil bit he will command BIG BIG BUCKS.