“Seldom Been Anything But Excellent”
January 29th, 2020
How valuable?
In the eyes of a football thinktank, the Bucs defense was single-handedly transformed from garbage to near- glorious.
That was when Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht decided to replace franchise standard-bearer Gerald McCoy with Ndamukong Suh.
But Andrew Potter of Football Outsiders had a funny way of writing that.
In a post where Football Outsiders is trying to determine an All-Decade worst team, one factor is dirty play. They pointed a finger at Suh as being, well, unsportsmanlike, but noted Suh is so good they cannot include him on this list.
Even Ndamukong Suh, long considered the dirtiest defensive lineman in the league, has seldom been anything but excellent for his teams and has only missed two games through suspension in his 10-year career. Suh’s addition to a defensive line has often resulted in one of the league’s best run defenses, regardless of team — even the Buccaneers this season went from the No. 31 run defense … in 2018 straight to No. 1 in part by replacing Gerald McCoy with Suh. Suh has done many unpleasant things in his career, but he very rarely hurts the team he plays for, so we are forced to look elsewhere.
Joe know some folks knocked Suh this past year for not getting enough sacks. Well, the Bucs didn’t ask him to get sacks and that may have been a smart thing. The Bucs just wanted Suh to clog lanes and eat up blocks to enable the linebackers to hunt.
Why did Joe call this smart? Well, did you see what the Bucs linebackers did this year? Also, Suh, who turned 33 earlier this month, is no spring chicken. Not constantly chasing quarterbacks likely saved some of the gas in Suh’s tank.
Now how can the Bucs keep Suh? He’s clearly a mercenary. He will ball out so long as he is paid. And given the impact he had on the Bucs defense, could it be that Suh may be more valuable than Jason Pierre-Paul, despite JPP’s sacks and taking heat off Shaq Barrett?
January 29th, 2020 at 1:10 pm
re-sign: Shaq, JPP, suh, nassib FIRST!!!!!!!!
then make JW an offer….
GO BUCS!!!!!
January 29th, 2020 at 1:10 pm
“from the No. 31 run defense … in 2018 straight to No. 1 in part by replacing Gerald McCoy with Suh.”
Gerald McCoy who?
That boy is easily forgotten. Just like I always maintained.
Used to say I’m no McCoy hater, but I think he’ll be easily forgotten, by most.
January 29th, 2020 at 1:11 pm
I’m hoping the Bucs can replace Suh with Kinlaw in the 1st round. Although his stock has risen pretty good since senior bowl week. Tackle in the second, because it’s a little deeper than D-tackle, and RB in the 3rd. YOU could get Cam Akers or Clyde Edwards in the 3rd. Safety in the 4th round and hope Edwards plays better next year.
January 29th, 2020 at 1:14 pm
@Buc1987 yup Moccy had his moments, but he’s always been soft. In parallel, look at the panthers run defense. 2 years ago, it was 12th, last year, 29th. It’s not a coincidence that Mccoy often runs himself out of his lane trying to get to the QB. And you can run right at him.
January 29th, 2020 at 1:16 pm
True…he was solid for us. Suh might retire anyway, on to his business endeavors with Warren Buffet, etc.
We could use his $9.25 million, and cut Brate’s $6 million, combine them to lead toward a real QB and real RB. Glazers wanna go for it, it seems. Life is short, especially hosting the Superbowl next year. Need to drum up appeal in advance of that.
January 29th, 2020 at 1:23 pm
cgmaster27…we used to watch it over and over!
January 29th, 2020 at 1:37 pm
We got better play overall replacing GMC. Can we do the same at other positions, like QB?
January 29th, 2020 at 1:37 pm
813 is right. First address the defense and then let ATM price his way out of Tampa. If the Glazers have half a brain, they’ll realize bringing back JW guarantees empty seats and losing football. If the D is really starting to gel, why break up the band?
January 29th, 2020 at 2:16 pm
The best way to resign Suh is to give him 2 years of Guaranteed money, 16-18 guaranteed is often better than 1 year at 10M. I would sign Suh and Jpp first. Jameis gets 90 M but 45M is in year 3, which makes it easier to keep JPP and Suh. That’s around 45 million and allows you to spend another 50 million on Barrett, Nassib etc. If we can’t get done, Brate gets traded or cut, and I draft Ruggs or the Colorado WR.
January 29th, 2020 at 2:25 pm
Sign Shaq, JPP, Suh, Leonard Williams, Mike Hilton, Chad Henne, draft up to get Justin Herbert. Tell JW see yah would wanna be yah.
January 29th, 2020 at 2:47 pm
Suh did not marry as well as Tom Brady…so he’s only half as wealthy. So a guy sitting on a quarter of a BILLION is really obsessed with how much he makes.
Realize this again…250 million in the bank…and a potential payout of 8-12 million this year at the top estimate. I’ll immediately stand corrected if somebody has better estimates…bottom line though is the difference between the high and the low might be at most 4 million. That means roughly 1.5% of his current worth.
Suh I suspect IS a proud man however. He’s not going to take way below market value just because he likes the Bucs or Tampa. However if he feels good in this organization he may just take that..market value and not seek to get a bidding war going to maximize next year’s payday. One can hope because I think the whole of our defense is greater than the sum of it’s parts and that Suh is a key ingredient.
JPP makes Shaq better…Suh makes Vea, Shaq and JPP better.
January 29th, 2020 at 2:53 pm
Grate point Joe. Suh is defientally a big factor in opening up space for our passrush. He did the same for Aaron Donald in St Louis who had a career year.
Suh makes others around him better which is something McCoy never could do.
And let’s not forget about Gholston who probably had his best year as a Buc. Could be wrong but I think Suh took him under his wing.
Suh earned every penny transforming us into the top rush defense. Not a chance that happens without him.
January 29th, 2020 at 2:56 pm
And McCoy made who better?
The ice cream industry along with Batman.
Lol
January 29th, 2020 at 2:58 pm
When everyone does their job it makes it easier for everyone to do their job. That front 7 worked as a unit and it showed.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:03 pm
Where is TMAX. This is his chance to gloat. He must be busy.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:13 pm
Suh makes Vea better…He’ a priority…Lock him up for 1yr/$9.5M & call it a day.
Big Picture…The FO & Coaching staff are in Win Now or Else mode…You damn well better believe the Bucs are keeping the core DEF front 7 together…(Shaq / JPP / Nassib / Suh all being priorities)…That’s going to cost a total of $45-47M in 2020 Cap Space to do so. It is what it is.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:15 pm
McCoy killing coaches and dreams where ever he goes
January 29th, 2020 at 3:47 pm
Barrett, JPP, Suh should be the top 3 priorities this offseason then RT
January 29th, 2020 at 3:50 pm
Weird how this defense sucked until JPP showed up and we had two legit pass rushers.
Suh wasn’t worth what we paid him. Any fan that goes on about his “attitude” or gives him credit for Shaq Barrett is a total moron.
January 29th, 2020 at 4:04 pm
@StPete … “JPP makes Shaq better…Suh makes Vea, Shaq and JPP better.” Superb way to put it. Folks so quickly forget that Suh is a BEAST … he’s the engine in this defense. Anyone thinking they’ll replace him with a rookie is being way too optimistic.
@813bucboi … “re-sign: Shaq, JPP, suh, nassib FIRST!!!!!!!! then make JW an offer.” I agree totally with what you’re saying bucboi, BUT timing is everything. The FIRST decision point we face is who to franchise tag & transition tag (by no-later-than 10 March). Personally I’d franchise tag Shaq & transition tag Jameis.
SECOND decision point is signing our own FAs (hopefully first) AND other critical FAs from other teams starting March 18th. With Shaq franchise-tagged, my priorities on defense would be (1) Suh: (2) JPP; (3) Nassib; (4) the other FAs we want to keep (hopefully Minter, Nunez-Roches, Adams, R Smith as a minimum). I’d also be on the lookout for a starting-caliber veteran Safety for in the $4-$5 mil range (we can’t afford more than that).
THIRD decision point is the draft starting April 23rd. If we can’t re-sign our critical FAs, that’ll surely impact the direction we choose to take in the draft. I really don’t like the way the timing works out, but it is what it is.
January 29th, 2020 at 4:13 pm
Keep the D line intact. Franchise or dump Jameis. If no Jameis, roll with RG4 and Gabbert while drafting a QB (Love from Utah State) and a D1 tackle. Find a RB in draft to push RoJo and PB. I have spoken.
January 29th, 2020 at 4:18 pm
Bucs 1987
Say it ain’t so… McIcecream said he will go down as one of the greatest Bucs…. LOL…… As you mentioned he will be forgotten NO ONE is sporting that jersey.
He may be a nice guy & that’s part of the reason he got manhandled… that & his apparent passion for losing…. Always smiling when we were getting our butts kicked.. Glad JPP called him out….
Goodbye!!!
January 29th, 2020 at 6:15 pm
Could not agree more. The shock is that Bucs didn’t ship GMC out of town 2 years ago when they might have gotten something in return.
Addition by subtraction is a thing: no GMC, better; no Spence, better; and no VH3, better!
And when you replace these black holes with a talent multiplier… one who not only contributes but also makes others better… you have magic like Suh!