Goodbye Suh?
January 21st, 2020
Too expensive?
Yesterday, Albert Breer of SI.com reported it is unlikely the Bucs can afford to keep breakout free agent wide receiver Breshad Perriman.
Now comes a report that a monster on the best run defense in the NFL will price his way out of Tampa Bay too.
Charlie Campbell of WaterFootball.com is of the mind the Bucs have much bigger priorities than Ndamukong Suh, though he points out the Bucs want to keep Suh.
But Campbell notes if the Bucs are going to keep the NFL leading sacker Shaq Barrett and ageless defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, and if the Bucs are going to rework Chris Godwin’s deal and keep Mr. Entertainment, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, there simply will not be enough Team Glazer loot to go around.
… If the price is right, Tampa Bay would like to have Suh come back for 2020, but the team is also preparing for another team being able to give Suh a bigger contract. Right now, paying Barrett, Pierre-Paul and Godwin are the priorities, along with figuring to pay a starting quarterback, likely to be Jameis Winston.
Well, Joe isn’t sure Team Glazer will be so tapped out to be unable to keep Suh. But Suh is a mercenary. He will want to get paid. Suh took home $9,250,000 last year. Joe is going to guess it will take the same amount to keep him.
Now here is something interesting. We all know what happens in free agency (or more importantly, what doesn’t happen in free agency) is a tell of what may happen in the draft.
For example, if a team desperately needs a linebacker but doesn’t sign a linebacker in free agency, that usually means there is a decent bet that team will draft a linebacker.
Now this Connor Rogers on the “Stick to Football” podcast was doing a mock draft and he said he can easily see a run right away on quarterbacks. If that’s the case, Rogers believes it is not crazy to see monster defensive lineman Derrick Brown of Auburn slide.
And Rogers noted if Brown is still available at No. 14, the Bucs would be insane not to draft him and put him alongside Vita Vea and watch those two guys manhandle offensive linemen for years to come.
Brown is just about the exact same size as Suh.
So if the Bucs let Suh go, would they possibly target Brown?
January 21st, 2020 at 5:07 am
Kinlaw is the answer.
January 21st, 2020 at 5:30 am
I’m not convinced yet that Suh even WANTS to play another year, but if he does, the Bucs would be dumb not to pay him around $10 mil for his services.
Bucs have THREE UFAs on our DLine right now: Suh, Allen & Nunez-Roches. All 3 NEED to be replaced. I’m all in for drafting 1 rookie DLineman with our #14 pick, but let’s not tie our own hands prematurely. The best pick MAY be a DT (like Brown), or a DE/OLB (no way to know right now). Or maybe a stud OLineman falls to us at #14 & we just can’t pass him up. No, whoever we end up picking for a DT (if any), let them replace Allen or Nunez-Roches, NOT Suh. Pay the man, and be thankful if he decides to play another year or 2 with the Bucs. Our run defense AND pass rush depends on it.
And BTW, Suh is no more of a mercenary than Winston or any other player who wants a fair wage for their services and also wants financial security (Low blow with that ‘mercenary’ thing). Sometimes negotiations work out; sometimes they don’t and both parties move on. Such is life.
January 21st, 2020 at 5:51 am
The Bucs have the 3rd most cap space in the NFL
January 21st, 2020 at 5:56 am
They are signing Philip Rivers like it or not! Just wait and see…..not saying it’s better or worse just saying that they will
.
January 21st, 2020 at 6:02 am
They should be targeting Brown even if they keep Suh. Those 3 would be ridiculous on the line together. How do you block that?
January 21st, 2020 at 6:11 am
^^^^why would we sign Rivers when we have the most electrifying, up and coming, young, league passing yardage leader…FAMOUS!!
January 21st, 2020 at 6:15 am
Kalind…now you sound like a GM in the making …bring in talent, mix it up and make it work!! KEEP GRINDING !!
January 21st, 2020 at 6:30 am
Oh Yes PLEASE BUCS
Get rid of the productive players and KEEP THE Player who needs work
SMART!!!!
January 21st, 2020 at 6:40 am
If Derrick Brown falls to 14 you draft him, it doesn’t matter if you’ve resigned Suh or not. Imagine Suh, Vea and Brown on the line together with JPP and Barrett on the edges, David and White in the middle. That’s what you call a Front 7.
January 21st, 2020 at 6:46 am
I saw an earlier post that said I will roll the dice and stay with Winston
What happens to this franchise is Winston throws another 30 INTs
You have Winston lovers who won’t care
BUT you have Winston haters who would likely move on from the team
It’s about 50-50 can the BUCS AFFORD TO ROLL THW DICE
Short of The Bucs being in the playoffs this ROLL would hurt the BUCS
January 21st, 2020 at 6:57 am
You keep Suh because Brown at 14 is never gonna happen. Dot is almost AARP eligible making right tackle a higher priority.
January 21st, 2020 at 7:00 am
Brown will never make it past #9. Detroit at 3, Carolina at 7 or Jacksonville at 9 will take him. Even the Browns at 10 or Jets at 11 worst case.
January 21st, 2020 at 7:04 am
I’ve predicted that we won’t have enough money for Suh & everyone else……Would like to keep Suh and still draft a DT….
Yes we have a lot of cap space but we have a lot of very expensive FAs to resign.
Even a $27 mil franchise tag for Winston will force us to pass on someone….
January 21st, 2020 at 7:09 am
kong suh would like to win a title too…
we aren’t winning the superbowl in 2020…
we will contend and go to the playoffs…
2021 is the year we win it all, if things go right…
suh should want to be part of it…
sewing up his legacy, and adding in a championship, with his final 3 years in tampa is a good move for him…if he wants to also be considered for the hall…
he should stay and sign on if possible for 2 years approx 16 mil…
January 21st, 2020 at 7:10 am
we are currently on a 3 year plan…just ask bruce off the record 🙂
January 21st, 2020 at 7:12 am
Jameis should be the odd man out…
January 21st, 2020 at 7:17 am
There is no way Rivers is coming to Tampa Bay…the Statue of Liberty behind THAT offensive line? Three steps back for the Buccaneers and Rivers would be knocked out by midseason. Rivers most likely destination is Indianapolis.
January 21st, 2020 at 7:20 am
robbie aguayo spotted at publics on dale mabry rollin’ solo…
buying a big ole box of chicken tenders and some blue cheese dressing
January 21st, 2020 at 7:25 am
Dear Joe,
You missed a golden opportunity to title this article “Going Suh Soon?”
🤣😁😄
January 21st, 2020 at 7:26 am
Sign Suh, dummies. Sign David Johnson or draft RB. Draft a lot of OL. Sign Shaq and JPP. Get a better Center.
It’s not that hard.
January 21st, 2020 at 8:27 am
we need to re-sign SUH and still draft brown or kinlaw….
GO BUCS!!!!!
January 21st, 2020 at 8:36 am
@Tampabaybucfan
Bucs cap space: $91 million
• Draft $8m (roughly)
• Winston $27m
• Shaq Barrett $16m
• Suh $10m
• Carl Nassib $6m
• Peyton Barber $4m (if they decide to keep him)
Total $71m (if my morning addition is right)
That leaves $20 million for additional moves.
• Let Will Golston and Perriman walk
• Wait until the end of season to re-sign Godwin. It makes not sense to spend an extra $10-15m until we have to.
January 21st, 2020 at 8:40 am
• Skip David Johnson
• Resign Barber on the cheap. He’s good depth at the very least
• Mark Rojo in as starter
• Bucs normally keep 4 RBs, so we can draft one if needed, just not rounds 1-2
• Draft OT and Safety in rounds 1-2
January 21st, 2020 at 9:01 am
Ira brought up the “physicality” or “mean” quotient lacking in the Bucs.
It’s not lacking on the D side any longer in large part because of Suh and JPP.
Suh is fabulously wealthy. His idols are Magic Johnson and Junior Bridgeman because of what they have done with their money AFTER retiring…building business empires. He’s buds with Warren Buffet and incredibly smart.
We do not TRULY know what motivates him at this point. He obviously does not NEED money…but he may wish to grab a quick 10 million to buy another business or two. Who knows how he feels about the $$$$ I concede lack of need is not always synonymous with lack of want.
He may or may not even want to play another year when it comes time to make that final choice. If he does wish to play I feel he’d enjoy another year with the Bucs defensive unit…they have a CHANCE to be great.
We simply have to hope that his desire to play…his desire for $$$ intersect with the Bucs desire to keep him and the $$$ available.
January 21st, 2020 at 9:07 am
Bonzai.
What about JPP?
Doesn’t maje sense to me to pay Big money to Barrett without JPP
Has to be both or none……..
Pay all the defense and Walk away ifrom JW, that’s the smartest move.
January 21st, 2020 at 9:48 am
Suh is all about the money always has been so let him go and i would be very satisfied with Kinlaw or Derrick brown
January 21st, 2020 at 11:23 am
No-one can say 10K is too much for Suh, especially when it’s still 3K less than what McIcecream was making. Pay the man but still draft. If we let Suh go then we have to put all our faith in a rookie and we know how Joe eats up first year players that are slow to develop.
January 21st, 2020 at 11:29 am
Buccaneer Bonzai Says:
January 21st, 2020 at 8:40 am
• Skip David Johnson
• Resign Barber on the cheap. He’s good depth at the very least
• Mark Rojo in as starter
• Bucs normally keep 4 RBs, so we can draft one if needed, just not rounds 1-2
• Draft OT and Safety in rounds 1-2
________________________________________
I totally agree, although if a really good RB drops to us in the second round I might pull the trigger. But that’s only if because safety is a priority at this point.
January 21st, 2020 at 11:39 am
Zzbuc Says:
“Bonzai.
What about JPP?”
Darn it, I knew I left someone off the list!
That would take a chunk out of the remainder.
Although, to be honest, out of them all Suh is the most expendable skill-wise. We can find a run stuffer.
Also, I have my doubts that JPP wants to return. He bargained himself out of the final year of his contract for a reason.
January 21st, 2020 at 11:42 am
Here’s a question to ponder:
If JPP does not return because he wants another championship and someone offers him $10+ million (Patriots?), can Carl Nassib improve to the point where he can replace JPP?
Obviously, Nassib is not nearly as good as JPP currently, but he has improved gradually. He is productive. If the Bucs show confidence in him, he might reward them.
All of this is predicated on the theory that JPP wants out though.
January 21st, 2020 at 11:54 am
Suh always seemed like a dirty player in years past. So no thanks. Plenty of other fish in the sea.
January 21st, 2020 at 11:59 am
All of the people on here saying wait to resign Godwin well that’s just bad business. Wait a year and the price will go up as the league salaries go up every year. Plus you might piss off Godwin and he might tell you to go pound sand and resign with another team. He has earned his raise and a long term contract. Dudes stats were better than every WR in the NFL. He needs to get paid long term. Along with Shaq and JPP and Suh. Let the turnover prone crap QB walk. Hell if anything was proven in the playoffs so far it has been good run game and defense will get you far in the playoffs and to the Super Bowl.
January 21st, 2020 at 12:50 pm
It’s not like TB doesn’t have the CAP space / roster manipulation capabilities to make room to keep the front 7 together, if they want to.
Bucs start the new yr with ~ $91M in Cap space…Cuts/potential restructures will open another $8-10M, as needed.. Roster turnover should be expected.
Even if you have to pay JW3 $26M / Shaq $16M / JPP $13M / Nassib $7.5M to keep them…You can do that…And then let DT’s Allen & Nunez-Roches walk…To use some of that $$ to resign Suh with reasonable bump in salary = $9.5M, sign BU FA DT @ ~$3M & then draft a DT equipped to take Suh’s place in 2021.
Bucs would still have coin to find RT upgrade in FA, sign a couple FA depth pieces & cover 2020 Rookie contracts.
January 21st, 2020 at 1:06 pm
Joe. You could never run a business. You wear your heart on a shoulder patch. You are too soft to make the tough decisions to improve a business, and the NFL is a business. You build a team from the Trenches out. You get your QB when he can be protected. The Bucs have been doing it wrong until Wyche started drafting properly. After winning the Super Bowl, they forgot everything they learned. Nothing changes until the hard choices are made.
January 21st, 2020 at 1:08 pm
Bonzai … Some excellent thought-provoking ideas, but the earliest one (use of the Bucs $91 mil salary Cap space) threw me a little. ZzBuc already noted that you left out JPP (a VERY key player who’ll probably cost us $12-$14 mil), but why in heaven’s name would you pay Barber $4 mil? I’d consider bringing him back also as our #3 RB, but not for more than $1 mil a year (his performance just doesn’t warrant more than that).
Aside from that though, it’s impossible IMO to look at just ‘parts’ of the offense & defense in isolation. Right now the Bucs have 49 players under contract for 2020 whose salaries factor into that $91 mil Cap number. As I look at those 49, my ‘best guess’ is that no more than about 32 will make the final 53-man roster (for instance, Beckwith is one of those 49 with a salary of $934,572). If the 32 number is correct, that has 2 implications:
1 – The $91 mil salary Cap ‘excess’ number is incorrect (it’s based on a 51 man roster … which we don’t even have NOW). We’ll actually have MORE.
2 – We’d need to add 21 MORE players to make our final 53-man roster, and a few of those will be VERY expensive (players like Barrett, JPP, Suh, Nassib, our starting QB, etc).
I think it’s interesting to ‘play with the roster’ (for kicks), as long as folks recognize that there are a million variables right now AND that there will be a myriad of changes before Game 1 kicks off. Personally believe that all anyone can do at this point (including BA & JL) is get a BIG PICTURE ‘estimate’ (for purposes of negotiations) and set ‘spending limits’ for the offense, defense & S/Ts based on how you hope to configure your team.
Given that we’ve got $210 mil salary Cap total to work with, I’d personally ‘allocate’ $106 mil to the offense (26 players), $90 mil to the defense (24 players) and $4 mil to S/Ts (3 players). That’d leave us with $10 mil for ‘contingencies’ (which I’d be mighty tempted to dip into if a quality veteran Safety fell into our laps).
January 21st, 2020 at 1:15 pm
Suh is a priority if we want a stout run game defense again. No coincidence we get rid of McCoy and Alexander and we are suddenly tough against the run. Yes Vida Veah had alot to do with that but Suh is a beast up the middle and we need him back badly. Counting on another rookie to stuff the middle would be an unwise decision unless dollars just cant make it happen. I think one of BA or perhaps Bowles brilliant preseason moves was to dump the torn biceps of McCoy to bring in the true run stuffer that Suh is. Bring him back before Nassib please!
January 21st, 2020 at 1:34 pm
Suh is critical. Look at Donald last year and Shaq this year… he elevates others AND creates havoc. I would argue that only JPP who has a similar temperament and team influence is more important. Shaq has gaudy stats but he is actually the luxury… you either pay him and a new QB OR you stick with Blameless but we have to keep Suh and JPP or the backsliding will be tough to prevent.
January 21st, 2020 at 1:48 pm
We can’t keep’em all guys. JPP and Shaq are at the top of the list. Suh is going to the highest bidder. I don’t blame him though. He’s smart. Looking after himself for that life after football. Somebody will give him what he will ask. And it will be high.
January 21st, 2020 at 2:00 pm
This team needs leadership and both Suh and especially JPP have been filling that roll. Do not mess with the improvement we saw the end of the season.
January 21st, 2020 at 3:01 pm
The Bucs DL is far too expensive. All of them did their jobs a little too well, and deserve to get paid next year. Problem is, they did their jobs too well and deserve to get paid next year. Suh and Perriman wont make the cap here, but will find their money elsewhere.
January 21st, 2020 at 4:48 pm
Derrick brown if he falls to us will suffice
January 21st, 2020 at 5:11 pm
Sign Suh!!!
January 21st, 2020 at 6:48 pm
Pay Barrett and JPP. Sign Rivers and let JW walk. Draft Kinlaw at 14 or brown if he falls. Draft Eason in the 2nd to sit for a year.
January 21st, 2020 at 9:30 pm
Pay Shaq Barrett first in free agency.
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You should always take the Best Player Available when you draft in the first round period. This means that you take the best player at any position regardless of the position the person plays. It also means you pick the best player available regardless of what happened in free agency.
How many GM’s actually do that?
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We should pick the best player who can also fill a need or shore us up in some other big way for the future. We are likely to have at least one of the following be available to us at pick 14 this time.
Offensive Tackles: Jedrick Wills, 6-5, 320, Alabama; Tristan Wirfs, 6-5, 322, Iowa; Andrew Thomas, 6-5, 320, Georgia; Mekhi Becton, 6-7, 369, Louisville
Defensive Tackles: Derrick Brown, 6-5, 318, Auburn; Javon Kinlaw, 6-6, 310, South Carolina; Neville Gallimore, 6-2, 302, Oklahoma
We should build up the trenches with more guys in rounds two through five this year also.
January 21st, 2020 at 11:27 pm
Suh is worth the money again for this year and we can make it work by trading, cutting, or restructuring players if need be. Draft Brown or Kinlaw at 14 as well since you can never have too many good defensive linemen. It’s been a LONG time since I have een this excited about our defense.