Not Much Room At The Inn
March 29th, 2023
Todd Bowles explains.
Very interesting chatter yesterday from the NFL Annual Meeting in Arizona that Joe had with a relaxed Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
It seems the Bucs are still shopping for defensive tackles. Yes, the Bucs signed free agent defensive tackle Greg Gaines earlier this month.
Bowles referred to the Gaines’ signing as “a big plus for us there.”
That’s not enough for Bowles. He then stunned Joe and the rest of the NFL media at his table when Bowles admitted veteran Akiem Hicks is still in the mix.
When Bowles was then asked if the Bucs might bring back veteran defensive lineman Will Gholston, Bowles smiled and nodded his head saying, “Yeah, Will’s an option too.”
Joe cannot imagine there is room on the salary cap for both Hicks and Gholston to return since the signing of Gaines. So, could the Bucs be playing both of those guys, Hicks and Gholston, against each other?
Sort of like saying, “The first guy who puts pen to paper and signs a contract is our last free agent at defensive line.”
With Hicks and Vea on the field, the Bucs’ run defense was quite good. And, strangely enough, when both Hicks and Vea each started a game together last season, the Bucs were 6-3.
March 29th, 2023 at 5:52 am
Joe, The salary cap isn’t real. They can sign anyone they want at anytime.
March 29th, 2023 at 6:12 am
There is no salary cap its all for show.
March 29th, 2023 at 6:18 am
It ain’t the money, the guy just can’t stay on the field.
March 29th, 2023 at 6:28 am
They signed Senat back yesterday, he’s the 4 DT – we are missing the 3rd DT (Hicks) and a rotational player for Hall (WillG)
Probably depends if we draft for these spots or not in the top 4 rounds
The world knows we need safeties, a LT, edge/OLB very badly
More likely the vets come back after the draft
March 29th, 2023 at 7:30 am
Would rather have Gholston than Hicks…..and would not want to be stuck drafting a DT this year.
We need OT, S, TE, WR, Edge …..perhaps RB.
March 29th, 2023 at 7:58 am
I still think we extend Evans or White maybe both. It would free up a ton of cap depending on the structure but I think Evans should be made a buc for life.
March 29th, 2023 at 8:25 am
Teams can actually exceed the cap…there are just penalties for it.
March 29th, 2023 at 8:34 am
Teams must remain under the set cap limit throughout the season and are fined upwards of $5 million for each infraction. In more severe cases, draft picks can be confiscated and player contracts can be voided.
March 29th, 2023 at 11:27 am
Bonzai … Yes the rules say that teams can exceed the CAP (with penalties imposed), but teams don’t do that for obvious reasons. The salary CAP is VERY REAL, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be ‘finessed’. It’s easy to push some of today’s costs down the street to tomorrow, BUT … like the old Fram filter commercial used to say, ‘Pay me now or pay me later’.
As of today, the Bucs are actually $3.5 mil UNDER the CAP with almost all of our recently signed FAs accounted for (Dean, LVD, Gaines, Mayfield, Stinnie, Edmonds, O’Connor, Gill, Delaney, Leverett) except for Senat & McLaughlin. We managed to do all that by kicking the can even further down the street to next year & beyond, just like we did last year (apparently the goal is to survive to fight another day).
We COULD re-sign BOTH Hicks & Gholston for close to $0 because we owe their Dead CAP ($4.9 mil for Hicks & $2.4 mil for Gholston) could be slid to future years if we re-sign them. However, for all the talk of signing someone like Lamar Jackson, that just isn’t gonna happen without some MAJOR cuts elsewhere. Not very realistic IOW.
March 29th, 2023 at 12:11 pm
Hall better play his ass off this year or he may end up in JTS area, one foot on a banana peel and the other one out the door. Still believe we could sign Hicks and Gholston if they wanted.
March 29th, 2023 at 2:08 pm
Might as well resurrect Chuck Bednarik. Bloweszo would ruin him too.
March 29th, 2023 at 3:25 pm
Re-sign Gholston. He’s a Buccaneer Man.
March 29th, 2023 at 5:29 pm
SUH
6-3 ? Great, ah lets see, what about the other 8 games? How long did Hicks last to start the season? 1.25
Availability is #1 His spot was a gaping hole compared to when Suh played.
This reminds me of the day, when post after post by a multitude of posters was “SUH ” for a comment
SUH
March 29th, 2023 at 6:26 pm
Suh.