In Case A Free Agent Leaves
February 12th, 2020
Would K.C. listen to trade offer?
Baseball used to have a thing called the “Hot Stove League,” where transactions were debated and argued about among fans in bars and read about in those relics of bygone eras: handheld newspapers and weekly magazines.
This helped kill the painfully long, frigid weeks of the calendar after Sammy Baugh threw his last pass of the season, Oklahoma and Bud Wilkinson played its Sugar Bowl game, and after New Year’s Day hangovers faded and holiday decorations were packed up and stored before pitchers and catchers reported.
Now, there is no “Hot Stove League” in baseball. Instead, it’s upload a friggin’ spreadsheet to Google Docs.
In the same manner as the old “Hot Stove League,” Joe brings this tidbit for Bucs fans to chew on.
The Bucs have three big-name defenders who will be free agents (barring new contracts) when the free agency dinner bell rings in just over a month. One is Ndamukong Suh.
The 10-year veteran, 33, anchored the best run defense in the NFL. The Bucs allowed 3.3. yards per carry, tied with the Jets (!).
Now clearly Suh is on the wrong side of 30, though he has been a warrior. The last time Suh missed a regular season start was 2011. That’s an incredible string of durability.
Like all good things, this cannot go on forever. There is no question Joe wants Suh back. But does Suh want to come back? If not, here is food for thought.
Adam Teicher of BSPN, a long-time Chiefs beat guy previously with the Kansas City Star for years, tossed out the possibility Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones, himself a potential free agent, may not be in the Chiefs’ future.
Jones gives the Chiefs a playmaker on the interior of their defensive line, and there’s no way the team will let him walk without compensation. So barring agreement on a long-term contract, look for the Chiefs to give Jones the franchise tag. The Chiefs traded last year’s franchise player, Dee Ford. While in a perfect world the team would prefer to keep Jones, that scenario may prove too costly.
Why would the Chiefs be interested in unloading Jones? Well, the Chiefs have a big bill coming soon to keep a certain Super Bowl-winning quarterback who looks every bit to be the face of the NFL for the next decade. The same way Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady have been.
If Pat Mahomes gets $40 million a year from the Chiefs on his next contract, would anyone be surprised?
Well , guess who has a pile of salary cap money to burn? That would be the Bucs.
Yes, technically Suh plays defensive end with the Bucs, but that’s basically a defensive tackle position in reality. Joe railed long and loud how the Bucs passed on acquiring Dee Ford from the Chiefs last year for a second-round pick. If Kansas City were to tag-and-trade Jones, why shouldn’t the Bucs be interested?
Joe loves Suh but imagine having Jones, who will turn 26 in July, for the next five years?
Again, Joe hopes Suh returns. There is no guarantee he will. The guy is a mercenary. He’s going to go to whatever team has the biggest stack of cash on the table and Joe doesn’t blame him one bit.
If Suh’s asking price is too steep, why not go after a younger guy who is equally talented (maybe more so)? That is, if Teicher’s suspicions are accurate and the Chiefs put him on the trading block.
All that is speculation, which is what the month of February has become in NFL circles and fandom.
February 12th, 2020 at 1:12 pm
He had a monster Super Bowl – if he stays motivated he makes every team better.
February 12th, 2020 at 1:15 pm
Sure, would love to add him… But what about the cap
February 12th, 2020 at 1:24 pm
The answer to every position is not free agency that’s why we have the draft. Get o line in free agency but we can easily get a day one starter at 14 just like we did with vea
February 12th, 2020 at 1:24 pm
Neah…
Just like Neah to Yannick…
Just like Neah to Dee Ford proposals out here previously…
February 12th, 2020 at 1:33 pm
rather have conklin in FA vs jones….even tho jones is better…..defense is set….consistency is key…..
get conklin…draft kinlaw….
or
get jones….draft RT….
GO BUCS!!!!!!
February 12th, 2020 at 1:34 pm
Sign a QB, retain our own free agents, and map out future contract demands (Godwin) before thinking of spending more CAP space. Suh will cost less than Jones and the need simply doesn’t exist. Yet another pipe dream. Playing GM isn’t as easy as most think. Not suggesting Licht grades out well (not trading DJack when the season was lost), but you have to think past today if you really want to play GM.
February 12th, 2020 at 1:37 pm
Supposedly this dude is looking for 21 million a year with over 63 guaranteed. Aaron Donald gets this kind of money because he is so much better than his peers. Sapp was that kind of guy too. This fella? Not so much. Pass.
February 12th, 2020 at 1:43 pm
Kelce, 30, is an awesome tight end. Brate, 28, would thrive in that offense and Andy Reid wants (Moss LSU) another tight end. Brate to the Chiefs would be good for him and might help the trade.
February 12th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
Exactly what Joe is doing here.
February 12th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
Good thinking.
February 12th, 2020 at 1:52 pm
It’s too bad Mike Daniels got signed so fast he would have been a great replacement for Suh. Lions paid him 8/1yr with incentives to 9. That kinda sets the market for Suh. It’s looking more and more like DT Kinlaw in the draft. I’m just not too optimistic about resigning Suh. I wish we could keep them all but that’s not going to happen.
February 12th, 2020 at 2:05 pm
There’s more value in Suh’s ability than the overpriced value on Jones.
So for the money his numbers don’t blow Suh away as far as value.
Not worth the price.
For the $18-21 mil (twice than Suh) he’s demanding he would need to be near the 15 1/2 sacks he had in 2018, but he dropped off to 9 last season.
Mc’Icecreams best season was 9 sacks and we ran him off for $13 mil so how do you justify those numbers for Jones. Are we really awarding huge contracts on their production from several seasons ago? Now if Jones would come in for say $13 mil maybe there’s a better argument, and certainly better value.
February 12th, 2020 at 2:24 pm
Why give up a draft pick or player in a trade? Just resign Suh…..or draft his replacement.
February 12th, 2020 at 2:54 pm
Too rich for Buc’s blood. We still need to get Shaq back as priority number one. Then we need another edge rusher, so we got to get JPP back. Oh then there’s the most important position in sports we need to figure out.
I don’t think paying a DT 18 M is a smart way to build your franchise unless you have 18M and are a DT away.
P.s. we aren’t.
February 12th, 2020 at 2:55 pm
Or his name is Aaron Donald
February 12th, 2020 at 2:56 pm
But is Chris Jones a fit? Judging on stats he is a passrushing interior lineman. That usually means he will be a lineman who can get into the backfield but will lose his gap at the line.
Jones might not be the type we are looking for if we replace Suh. I don’t know. Haven’t seen him much, just judging on stats.
And Suh made a lot of big plays down field for us. Wouldn’t wanna lose that either.
February 12th, 2020 at 3:20 pm
Spotrac estimates Chris Jones Market Value to be $19.2 mil average salary (they project he’d be looking for a 5-year $96 mil deal). We could re-sign Suh for about $10 mil, re-sign Nassib for another $6-$7 mil AND draft a high round DE/DT for that $19 mil. Not that hard to do the math about which option would be more beneficial to the Bucs.
Besides, TB’s defense uses our 300 lb DTs more to tie up the interior & defend the run than to contribute tons of sacks. That’s what his DEs, OLBs & blitzers are for.
February 12th, 2020 at 3:42 pm
I would rather try out a drafted player. Besides, it will be cheaper to retain our D-line for a year while the drafted guys get used to the speed of the NFL game.
If Brate or OJ can make such a trade cheaper, it might be worth it, you never know if a draftee will catch up to NFL speed.
That also allows the Bucs to trade down in 1 and get McKinney or Delpit.
Draft RT and QB in
D-line in 4 and O-line depth the rest of the way.
February 12th, 2020 at 3:58 pm
All the players Joe would like see here would cost us a couple of hundred mil in cap space.
February 12th, 2020 at 4:18 pm
keep suh, jpp and shaq period
February 12th, 2020 at 4:54 pm
How would Jones be cheaper than Suh?
February 12th, 2020 at 6:25 pm
If they draft Kinlaw and release Suh, they can pay Jameis, JPP, and Barrett with no concerns. Unfortunately most mocks don’t have Kinlaw falling to 14. If he does, that would be ideal and then they need to take the best offensive tackle available in the 2nd round, and RB in the third round. If they do this they will be in the playoffs next year.
February 12th, 2020 at 6:35 pm
TDTB … I’ve seen at least one mock draft now that had Kinlaw fall PAST #14 (we drafted an OT instead as I recall & I think Atlanta grabbed him). Bucs have big in BOTH trenches so we really can’t lose either way IMO. I would think that which way we go will depend on how we do in free agency (if we can’t re-sign Suh but can pick up a veteran starting-caliber OT in FA then we’d probably go DT). Just a guess.
February 12th, 2020 at 8:48 pm
“If Pat Mahomes gets $40 million a year from the Chiefs on his next contract, would anyone be surprised?”
………….
Um…….NO. He is the best QB in the league with one arm tied behind his back wearing Flip Flops when he plays.
February 12th, 2020 at 8:51 pm
As an alternative to re-signing Suh:
Jones would not necessarily be cheaper but he certainly would be “long term” in regards to BA’s speculated tenure as head coach.
Another guy that might be considered in this kind of discussion would be DT Jordan Phillips of the Buffalo Bills. He is 27 years of age.
Picking up someone along these lines in free agency would mean we could focus on Offensive Tackle for our first pick exclusively.
February 13th, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Pass. Chris Jones is terrible against the run, he is a pass rushing DT much like McCoy was.