Bucs Get A “C” Grade
March 24th, 2023
Bucs GM Jason Licht.
This offseason hasn’t been the best for the Bucs.
Look, Joe doesn’t give a hoot if Tom Brady is 50. The man, the greatest quarterback of all time, was better than two-thirds of the quarterbacks in the NFL today. That’s right.
So whenever you lose the farm animal and he is replaced by Kyle Trask Baker Mayfield, that’s a major, major, major step down. Sorry, it just is.
So even though the offseason started awfully for the Bucs with the team jammed by the salary cap, Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports believes the Bucs have been able to keep their heads above water thanks with some free agency signings. Benjamin gave the Bucs a “C” grade.
The cost of going all-in for Tom Brady for three years: A discarded Baker Mayfield is the chosen competition for Kyle Trask at QB, Chase Edmonds is in tow as a Leonard Fournette fill-in and lots will be asked of Super Bowl holdovers LB Lavonte David and CB Jamel Dean, who at least get an underrated addition in ex-Rams DT Greg Gaines up front.
Benjamin hit the nail on the head. Unlike other teams, the Bucs are in salary cap hell because they won a Super Bowl and damn near a second. How many teams go nuts with the salary cap and have bupkis to show for it?
The Bucs got the ultimate bang for the buck so it was well worth it.
(Why does Joe get the feeling this Greg Gaines is an underrated signing?)
March 24th, 2023 at 12:10 am
Grade for the offseason thus far is way better than C. To be able to keep Dean, Lavonte, and Nelson, as well as adding a quality D lineman after being 55 million over the cap is an A in my book. Also adding a decent backup RB and taking a flyer on a low cost young QB who still has some upside is about the best we could ask for.
Maybe this isn’t enough to warrant more than a C from the critics, but I would challenge anyone to offer up solutions that would have been better than what Licht has done for the price.
March 24th, 2023 at 12:20 am
I like getting low grades from the talking boobs. It’s when the Bucs are favored that we really suck.
Of course Bloweszo could have made the Packers of the 1960s miss the playoffs every year, so there’s that.
March 24th, 2023 at 12:20 am
Considering the Bucs limitations going into this, I’d say it has to be B- or at least C+…..
If I were a betting man, I would have bet BIG last year that the Seahawks with Geno Smith were obviously tanking…
Surely Baker is better than Geno Smith…
March 24th, 2023 at 12:31 am
Let’s don’t forget the best move: firing Leftwich.
March 24th, 2023 at 12:31 am
“How many teams go nuts with the salary cap and have bupkis to show for it?”
Exhibit A – New Orleans Aint’s
March 24th, 2023 at 1:03 am
Rod Munch said we were getting Aaron Rodgers.
March 24th, 2023 at 1:03 am
I give the Bucs an “A”! We resigned Dean, David and Nelson. Signed a QB to compete with Trask and signed a pretty good DT. After starting out $50M over the cap, I think thats pretty darn good!
March 24th, 2023 at 1:14 am
If someone told the average Buc fan in January that Brady would retire and we’d sign a playoff-winning qb cheap they’d be quite happy. This is supposed to be a tanking season lol Licht is crushing it. The people who look for flashy headline names (ie thinking Julio is going to replace AB) can give whatever grade they want this is going to be a competitive football team
March 24th, 2023 at 1:15 am
AtlBuc, agreed 100%
March 24th, 2023 at 1:18 am
😂
March 24th, 2023 at 1:24 am
You are so right sasquatch, and it is a very tricky song the Organization is orchestrating. GO BUCS!
March 24th, 2023 at 2:54 am
Joe … ‘Why does Joe get the feeling this Greg Gaines is an underrated signing?’
That one’s simple Joe: Because he is. We just signed a 26-year-old stud DT to pair with Vea for $3.5 mil, roughly half of his stated Market Value. What HIS motivation was for signing with the Bucs we’ll probably never know. But it’s easy to figure out Licht’s & Bowles’ motivations for signing Greg Gaines: they can recognize a steal when they see it.
March 24th, 2023 at 3:10 am
westernbuc … ‘This is supposed to be a tanking season lol Licht is crushing it.’
I agree that the moves we’ve made thus far have been spot on. And not just the signings (LVD, Dean, Gaines, Nelson, Delaney, Gill, O’Connor plus picking up White’s 5th year all on defense, plus Mayfield, Stinnie & Edmonds on offense). The releases (all necessary) and the restructurings freed up what we needed to free up to get under the CAP. Thus far (early still in free agency) we’ve done better than I had expected we’d be able to at least.
Problem is that we’re running out of ways to create more salary CAP space. As of right now we’re $3.7 mil UNDER the salary CAP with 56 players on our roster. But that includes 4 players (LVD, Gaines, Gill & O’Connor) who we still have yet to pay. Even IF that $3.7 mil covers all 4 (and it could), we’d still need to sign a significant number of FAs & draft picks.
Freeing up enough money comes down to reworking (1) Mike Evans contract; and (2) Devin White’s contract. Everyone else except Shaq Barrett have already been restructured, and I seriously doubt that the Bucs will restructure his contract (although stranger things have happened). Evans’ ($23.7 mil CAP hit) & White’s ($11.7 mil CAP hit) contracts are where the only big money still sits. The cat-and-mouse game is getting interesting.
March 24th, 2023 at 3:15 am
Bucs signed a QB coming off a 24.5 QBR season and tried to sell it to us like they just acquired an MVP. Come on man. Don’t tinkle on our heads and tell us its raining.
Worse yet – they plan on starting him over the kid they drafted and was allegedly developing.
C is generous. Yeah the cap accountant is good, but they still don’t have a pass rush.
Its non-existent.
Bucs will win between 3-6 games in 2023.
March 24th, 2023 at 3:25 am
Maybe, just maybe they’re going to start Baker over the guy they’re allegedly developing because the kid they’re developing turned out to be sub-par.
March 24th, 2023 at 3:43 am
Hey Goatfarmer, how do you feel about the coaching? Just one more time for the people in the back, I think they missed your 57th post on the subject. Look, I don’t like him all that much either but…. give it a rest BrO!
March 24th, 2023 at 3:51 am
Reminder that Gaines played next to Vita Vea at UW. May be one reason he signed with the Bucs.
March 24th, 2023 at 5:30 am
Love the Greg Gaines signing!
March 24th, 2023 at 5:33 am
These “grades” are meaningless! From people with very questionable motives and credentials! Let’s see where we are when the games start!
March 24th, 2023 at 6:06 am
Obviously what the Bucs are doing is a bigger plan than they are given credit for. So it is kind of ridiculous to try to grade them at this point as they are dealing with other issues like salary cap, coaching changes and trying to determine who the QB is going to be. Think they have done a good job all things considered.
March 24th, 2023 at 7:36 am
My grade is at least a B….
Look at the older Bucs that are leaving…..Brady, D Smith, Rudolph, Brate, Julio, Lenny, Hicks, Gholston, Ryan, Succop
With our cap problems……how could you really do any better?
March 24th, 2023 at 8:08 am
Off-season grades are meaningless. Licht did the best he could with the little he had. Oline and Dline are key to being competitive.
March 24th, 2023 at 8:10 am
I’m actually amazed at what they’ve been able to accomplish so far. Now that we are past the all in for Super Bowl stage, the Bucs are obviously purging the aged veterans, and going with younger talent.
At least they are trying to keep us as competitive as possible while rebuilding instead of just giving up and tanking. I much prefer this method of bringing us back to relevance.
It probably won’t be pretty (the transition period) but I believe they will be fun to watch as they continue to right the ship.
March 24th, 2023 at 8:32 am
Did not realize the off season was over, there are still potential signings and trades that could be made. Not only that, as great as the farm animal has been, he was not the same as he was in previous years, father time will eventually catch up. If the defense can ball out similarly to last year, in other words JTS and Zyon turn the corner and remember, we finally found a kick returner/punt returner that could actually get us better field position, that helps the offense. A QB that can extend plays and a better run game, the team is still in the drivers seat for the division
March 24th, 2023 at 9:08 am
Licht has done well in the off season. More to come. He will put together a first rate roster. Our problems will not be the roster. It will be….well you all know what it will be.
March 24th, 2023 at 10:00 am
Yep. Jason Licht and that FO are smooth at making deals. They get a lot of respect. Resigned Lavonte for $7M after one of his best seasons. They investigated a lot of FA QB with new Canalas and they came up with Baker hopefully $8.2M in incentives. That’s just throwing a penny and wishing well and see what it will can take us to the playoffs
March 24th, 2023 at 10:49 am
UKBuccaneer he’s not subpar.
March 25th, 2023 at 12:51 pm
Bucs deserve an f grade for rolling over and accepting bowels through the Rooney rule, you got screwed Tampa, a decade of irrelevance is coming