Selling High
February 19th, 2020
Ideal time to dump
This year’s NFL Draft and free agency buffet is rich in quarterback and receiver talent.
But it’s just the opposite at another position: tight end.
There are no true gems in the draft. Don’t expect a first-round pick at tight end this season.
In free agency, there’s Falcons Pro Bowler Austin Hooper, but he’ll probably get the franchise tag. Talented but injury-prone Hunter Henry is likely in the same boat. The talent pool falls off sharply after those guys.
And that brings Joe to Cameron Brate, who has battled through injuries the past couple of seasons while his production has plummeted.
Brate, in 2018 and 2019 combined, had 66 catches for 600 yards and 10 touchdowns. He didn’t play 50 percent of the snaps in either season, and he’s not much of a blocker.
Joe has to think a team with a young quarterback, or a team lacking at tight end, would be eager to make a deal for Brate.
While the Bucs might like clinging to their seven-year veteran commodity, especially if they roll with a young quarterback, it feels like it makes a lot more sense to send Brate and his $6 million salary packing.
Joe doesn’t care that Brate is a nice guy. The Bucs can use that money to pay a starter and maybe a new tight ends coach.
It sure feels like there is zero evidence that Rick Christophel, the Bucs’ current tight ends coach, is/was the very best option on the market. His resumé is uninspiring and he was out of football in 2018.
A little accountability for arguably the Bucs’ most disappointing position group would be refreshing.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:07 am
As much as I like Brate I feel he is expendable. Trade
February 19th, 2020 at 9:10 am
“There are no true gems in the draft. Don’t expect a first-round pick at tight end this season.”… What? Who in the hell would want that? We spent a 1on Howard, too many needs to even consider a te at 1 or 2.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:12 am
Every year there are bargin TE’s to be found in the bargin bin in free agency. Too bad we couldn’t of traded him to get something for him.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:22 am
GMs will low ball licht…..lol….
GO BUCS!!!!!
February 19th, 2020 at 9:24 am
@miken
Joe obviously means for other teams taking tight ends in the draft and not us, they wont have many good options so one of them trading for Brate is a possibility
February 19th, 2020 at 9:27 am
I love Brate, But the Cap situation is a big time mess everywhere…Tons of FA to sign, no trade candidates, unless this guy…I would hate to see him go, but is one of the phew players we can trade….Thx to Mr Licht!!
February 19th, 2020 at 9:31 am
If Jameis stays, I would trade Howard. Not that I want Jameis to stay, but he has a comfort level with Brate.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:32 am
We need the $6 mil more than a pick in trade…..perhaps if we can’t get a pick, someone has a S or a depth Olineman to send us……we simply don’t need Brate…..I think Tanner Hudson can take his place.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:36 am
Good luck getting anything for Brate. His salary is too high and the rest of the league knows he’s soon to be a CAP casualty FA.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:38 am
Brate is a commodity that the Bucs can no longer afford to hold on too.
Not because of his salary, but because BA’s offense & QB progression reads limit TE opportunities.
If the FO can get a 4th-5th round pick by moving Brate…It’s a done deal.
NE / CAR / DAL will all be looking for a capable TE this off-season & may be ideal trade partners.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:41 am
With those hips and salary no one is trading anything for a 1 dimensional te that is very overrated and valued only by desperate low standard bucfan
February 19th, 2020 at 9:41 am
Unless he restructures for another 2-3 years at a more cap-friendly #.
He is a smart guy. He knows the dealio.
February 19th, 2020 at 9:44 am
We have decent pass catching TE’s but nothing like the current prototype NFL pass catching TE’s …
February 19th, 2020 at 10:01 am
Would rather move OJ. Gonna get a higher pick for him and he can’t be consistent. We know what Brate can do if given the targets, and that’s catch Touchdowns…..
February 19th, 2020 at 10:04 am
$6 mil is not a lot to pay for a starting caliber TE. Most of you don’t seem to know that. Also, the Bucs cap situation is probably among the best in the league, over $80 million worth of cap space of a nearly $200 million cap. BTW, $6 mil takes up exactly 3% of the space. Not exactly a cap killing contract for a proven starting caliber player that is still far from old.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:08 am
Brandon
Problem is pal he is a fragile one dimensional te not a starting caliber well roubded te…. just another example of low standard bucfan confusing a popular player with a starter…. happens at neay every position bucfan is so desperate
February 19th, 2020 at 10:11 am
Trade Howard
February 19th, 2020 at 10:20 am
Brandon…with al due respect,we have tons of money for the cap, but we also have tons of FA´s on very expensive positions, so don´t think we are in paradise because we ain´t………
February 19th, 2020 at 10:41 am
Miken – you misinterpreted the quote. It was an analysis of the general status of TE’s in FA and the draft. There aren’t any options for the league, and that makes Brate’s marketability stronger for a trade.
In BA I Trust!
February 19th, 2020 at 10:57 am
Trade one of these 2 TEs if it lowers the draft picks required to bring Darius Slay here!
February 19th, 2020 at 11:13 am
Joe Burrow is making noise about playing for the Bengals.
Trade 3 1st round picks to Cincinnati for the #1 over all pick. The 2020 #14 pick, 2021 #1 and OJ Howard (2017 #1 pick).
Keep Brate.
February 19th, 2020 at 11:49 am
Your paying oj Howard first round money for less production. Trade Howard and keep the guy that plays with heart and has chemistry with Jamies
February 19th, 2020 at 11:53 am
Lucky if they get a 6th or 7th rounder.
February 19th, 2020 at 12:11 pm
We pay Brate 6 million (who is on his prime) Seattle signed 34 year old Olsen for 7 million
February 19th, 2020 at 12:35 pm
Yeah. Lets trade the TE who has been massively productive in the past, and is still young.
And play the robotic, passionless, regressing OJ Howard?
Or meybe try to sign a free agent- who probably wont be as good as Brate.
Or draft a TE, in a TE starved draft.
Or meybe we keep a productive, talented TE.
I realize thats a crazy Idea in Tampa.
Just like we will probably not sign some of our pass rushers, now that we finally have a feared pass rush.
Its not hard to believe, that great teams have a hard time keeping their great players. Oddly they seem to manage.
It seems hard to imagine, that a crappy team has so much trouble.
Licht needs to start restructuring, and signing the few good players we have
Like Brate.
Restructure his contract- and keep Winston’s favorite endzone target on the team
February 19th, 2020 at 12:36 pm
He’s worth a 5th round pick at best. 1. Always injured 2. Average Hands 3. Can’t block. Cut him and keep the defensive core together
February 19th, 2020 at 12:54 pm
rather market OJ, put both options out there and see which one gets us the best deal
DONT TRADE FOR DAVID JOHNSON–CARDS ARE DESPERATE TO BE RID OF HIM
February 19th, 2020 at 12:57 pm
he’s clutch. not saying he’s worth 6 mill though. resign to a more team friendly deal. drop crabman, get brady, trade ME who has trade value.
the offense will open up, as will the running game.
February 19th, 2020 at 1:03 pm
Anonymous
Might want to look up the definition of massively then compare the below average one dimensional brates career numbers with truly massively productive players like gates, gronk etc…. i know the bar is really low for great and legend around here but your usage of massively hits a new low standard. Thank you… made my day.. you also once again prove that bucfan more often than not confuses popularity with greatness and i guess we can now include massively… brates one step above xfl nothing more he could not block scared dexter Jackson
February 19th, 2020 at 1:05 pm
Robert
He was clutch contributor on a bunch of basement title teams…. nothing more than a 1 dimensional popular backup barely worth league minimum certainly not 6mil
February 19th, 2020 at 1:44 pm
I would trade Brate, we have Tanner Hudson, he is a Brate clone. There is not much of a drop off there. Tanner was catching everything in the pre-season, the only issue he had was not a very good blocker. There is 5.5 million difference in pay.
February 19th, 2020 at 2:34 pm
Ask OJ Howard about tight end coaching. Who is OJ Howard you might ask? He’s a number one draft pick tight end who never has the ball thrown to him. Another Bucs wasted number one draft pick. How is Vernon Hargreaves III doing – yet another number one draft pick.
Oh well. It wouldn’t be the Bucs without screwing up the draft would it?
February 19th, 2020 at 3:57 pm
Sometimes I agree with posters on this site. The things I disagree most seem to be on trade Brate or trade for David Johnson.
Those two guys salaries do not make sense in trades.
Who do you think is going to trade for Brate and his declining skill set? Still has not learned to block, still does not get much separation. Runs solid routes but there is more film on him then ever so his tendencies are known. His hands have not been as good as his 1st two seaons. Someone taking on 6 million – no way. He is certainly a cap casualty this season. I wish him a little luck moving on but not much as he will no longer be a Buc.
David Johnson salary is untradeable. Why would the Buc’s trade for him this year even if Arizona pays all of his salary this year? His salary cap number is one from hell for next year too? That is a crazy stupid trade scenario.
February 19th, 2020 at 4:02 pm
Not an OJ Howard fan at this point but isn’t Howard’s salary 2.5 million less than Brate’s. Doesn’t he block better and get more separation. Howard was certainly bad in 2019. But he looked pretty good in 2018 to me. I would roll the lower salary die with Howard all day and every day for 2020 over Cam Brate.
February 19th, 2020 at 5:16 pm
Trade Brate to Arizona for David Johnson and have the Cardinals pay three or 4 mil of his contract.
February 19th, 2020 at 5:59 pm
Trade Brate, and O.J.. Arains offense doesn’t use one good TE let alone two. The extra picks, and money saved out weighs keeping either of them.
February 19th, 2020 at 6:48 pm
Would rather trade OJ.
February 19th, 2020 at 6:48 pm
@Allbuccedup
David Johnson is an under performer.
February 19th, 2020 at 6:51 pm
LOL, not much of a drop off between Brate and Tanner! Riiiight!
Listen, we would not need a blocking tight end if they fixed the offensive line. Brate is one of the most reliable pass catchers in the league. You can bet he’d be a future HoFer if Brady had been throwing to him all these years.
February 19th, 2020 at 7:17 pm
Trade OJ instead
February 19th, 2020 at 7:51 pm
Whatever TE you wanna trade put Tanner Hudson at #2 and watch him blow up. He’s legit.
February 19th, 2020 at 8:34 pm
Meh. Glorified slot receiver, and not that good either. Would prefer Antony Auclair.
February 19th, 2020 at 8:48 pm
Hudson or Auclair. We have options. is there a fall off? Yes, but its not that great, TE is not a priority in this offense, save the money
February 19th, 2020 at 9:44 pm
Keep Brate… ditch Howard.
How many turnovers was Howard responsible for? We’re not talking about Jameis’ record-setting interceptions if he isn’t delivering the ball to defenders like an Amazon truck driver.
Shoulda drafted Dalvin Cook.
February 19th, 2020 at 10:15 pm
At this point we will only fetch a 5th or 6th for him probably. The Bucs will probably keep him and pay 6 million not to use him again. Sometimes the Bucs vision seems so confusing. We want to be a passing team but won’t utilize the TE position. We want to run the ball with sub par backs and an Oline that would rather pass block than mull someone. We complain about Jameis INTs but drop him back to pass 50 times. We spend a first Rd pick on OJ only to find out he’s soft. I never saw college tape of him breaking tackles and still arming defenses on his way to the end zone. All his highlights were him running wide open. Then the Bucs pick at 19 that year and they’re all excited he’s still on the board. Maybe he was still there because the other teams knew he was soft? Hello Dalvin Cook. We saw your college tape and you constantly broke tackles to the house of and you became the all time leading rusher at FSU and we needed a back but we’re good. We will take OJ because he’s special! You can’t make this stuff up. Now we have a draft loaded with great backs this year and watch what we do. I hope I’m wrong but history says we will pass.
February 20th, 2020 at 2:14 am
the system has phased out our tight ends…
pair him with brady and he’s have a career year in new england…
he’s not washed up, he’s just fading within the new system
February 20th, 2020 at 2:17 am
he’d have a career year***
February 20th, 2020 at 4:36 am
Arians should be on thin ice for not using his tight ends
February 20th, 2020 at 9:04 am
Tmax
A couple years ago, Brate led all TEs in TDs. That includes Gronk and Gates. Top 5 in yardage.
Only reason his numbers have dropped off, was an injury, and trying to work the
The unenthusiastic OJ Howard in the offense.
Of course- you are probably right. They will get rid of him. I guess from reading a few articles- its more important to get spotlighted for sucking, than it is to be a good player.
If our QB is so bad, everyone is talking about him- thats better than a winner, who isnt controversial.
So Howards our man. People all over the NFL will be discussing what a bust hes turned out to be!
Free headlines- that’s the name of the game!
February 20th, 2020 at 9:31 am
Have no clue why ppl would want to trade OJ who’s still under a rookie contract compared to a big time money with Brate in a lesser TE BA scheme.
February 20th, 2020 at 9:42 am
Agree with most of above posts, Cameron is a nice player but not important in the big scheme of things. If another team wants him, the Bucs can get their current tight ends to do the same stuff Cam does.
Tight end isn’t an important position in this offense and if they really want to get Howard involved with more targets, at least he has the ability to break tackles or get behind the secondary.
February 20th, 2020 at 9:44 am
No reason to keep Brate and Hpward , shed some cap. Tanner Hudson will develop into a very good #2 TE. Burrow is the best QB to come out in a decade , there is no such thing as trading away too much for a generational talent QB , because they are like hen’s teeth. Licht Brain does not have the skill set to think his way to getting Joe Burrow. Licht is a massive part of the problem and so are the Glazers .