Paying The Piper
March 23rd, 2023
Time to kick up the juice.
The Bucs had fun with the Team Glazer Platinum Card the past few years.
Got a Super Bowl out of it. Almost another. Then a Monday night playoff game with the third binge.
Now it’s time to pay up.
Handicapper turned stathead Warren Sharp did some number crunching and he has data suggesting the Bucs will have to stay home for a few weekends this fall in order to pay up for the fun times of the past three seasons.
Per Sharp, of the 13 teams in the past 10 years who had the highest percentage of dead salary cap money, only two finished with a winning record. Of those 13 teams, the lowest percentage of dead cap money against their salary cap was the 2017 Browns, which had 27.7 percent of dead cash against the cap. Those Browns finished 0-16 and the next spring drafted Baker Mayfield No. 1.
The two teams with winning records? The Eagles of 2021 and 2022. Both ended up in the playoffs and last year’s Eagles made it to the Super Bowl.
This year the Bucs have the highest amount of dead cap money against the cap at 32.7 percent.
Given the fact 11 of the 13 teams with the most dead cap cash against the salary cap in the past decade had losing seasons, you can see how the Bucs don’t appear to be in good shape for 2023.
But on the bright side, it helps to play in the NFC South.
March 23rd, 2023 at 8:32 am
Yep !
Now we will find out what plan they have for the future.
I have very little confidence in… well you know what I would say
March 23rd, 2023 at 8:35 am
Actually it doesn’t help to play in the NFC South because of the easy meaningless wins that will have a negative compounding effect on the next few years NFL drafts
Let the torture begin
March 23rd, 2023 at 8:36 am
Well we now have recent #1 and #2 draft picks at QB. We have 2 great receivers too. We should go deep in to the playoffs but we also have Bowles.
March 23rd, 2023 at 8:40 am
GM Brady is gone….back to GM Licht whose record without Brady is below/at .500. Similar to Bowles, the body of work is below avg. We caught lightning in a bottle with Brady, it’s back to Licht blowing premium picks and free agency duct tape.
March 23rd, 2023 at 8:43 am
We got highly drafted O linemen and a high pick RB. We will draft a LT too. Our offense does not suffer draft pick problems. We have Plan 9 a #1 anchoring our D line and White.
March 23rd, 2023 at 8:52 am
Licht will prolly draft a LT and DT 1 and 2 Then we will be populated in the roster with many very high draft picks….The coach will be our downfall.
March 23rd, 2023 at 8:52 am
After 20 years the Bucs rewarded the fans who paid serious loot for average teams and now the Glazers and Licht are back running this ship into the ground !!! They pleased half the base or sentimentals with the signing of LVD, but also brought a name in to salvage what they can with the season ticket holders. I would have respected this organization if they came out with a plan, but they really want us to believe this team can still win the south ?? Give me a break !!! Look at the product over the river and this is now the 7th season the Bs not only have been winning championships, but have given the paying fans a winning product. I wish Jeff would buy this team because all the G boys care about is making money while thinking the Buc fans are buying this crap
March 23rd, 2023 at 9:02 am
We have highly rated Dean White and David at LB and Licht will get a good safety in this draft too. Our problem will not be talented players. Our problem will be the staff that trains them and the HC who plans the games and makes the real time decisions. Canales looks good but may ‘overthink’ the offense because it is his 1st time as O Boss.
March 23rd, 2023 at 9:18 am
Yeah, the Bucs are going to sail some rough seas this year. Stay the course Jason Licht. Payoff the Superbowl, Play inexpensive, sign NO high priced retreads, covet thy own players if warranted, massage that cap space, save some money, balance the check book. Be ready in 24 to be major players in the QB sweepstakes and better days ahead.
Go Bucs
March 23rd, 2023 at 9:19 am
Yucs, the Glazers are far from perfect but my god, they delivered two championships in 18 years. That’s pretty good. Not alot of teams can say that.
March 23rd, 2023 at 9:26 am
Good thing we have 9 draft picks because we will need them.
March 23rd, 2023 at 9:36 am
Jason Licht is not a past history stat. He is Jason Licht. He is the most skilled GM in the NFL today, proved it multiple times over the last half dozen years. He didn’t start out that way, but he learned the skills, which is more than what most other GMs did.
March 23rd, 2023 at 9:46 am
I’m pleasantly surprised the Bucs have been able to sign some high quality players with very little cap to work with.
– Dean
– LVD
– Nelson
– Gains
– Mayfield
So far so good. If we can extend the contracts for Evans and White we should have enough cap for our draft picks and a few more free agents.
March 23rd, 2023 at 10:01 am
The negativity from the so called fans really suck!
All you guys knew what was going to happen when Brady retired, but you did not complain when we won the Super Bowl!
March 23rd, 2023 at 10:11 am
Jason brought a elite coach in Bruce and elite qb in brady..
He built an attractive enough team to get them on board.
He’s not batting 100 for draft pics and reaches for kickers.
Honestly he proved the team needed a qb when he replaced Winston with Brady.
Meaning he built a good enough team to compete.
We keep kicking the can down the road.
If he can keep building a great team nucleus via the draft and maybe few free agents.. by the time that 40% cap is back available we can really make some major moves.
I trust Jason at this point for the most part.
March 23rd, 2023 at 10:31 am
Smart to pay your bill, knowing that this time next year the salary cap is projected to rise about $25-$28M to make moves with. I think our FO is going to wait to extend Wirfs and that 2023 might be the year to decide whether or not Devin White gets a payday to stay a Buc. Should be interesting to see how the front office uses that bump up in $$$ next year to flesh out the next iteration of this roster.
March 23rd, 2023 at 10:40 am
“WHATEVER” ABOUT PAYING THE PIPER..
GRAB “AUSTIN ECKLER” FROM CHARGERS & “DEANDRE HOPKINS” FROM HIS CURRENT TEAM & WE WILL WIN THE SUPER BOWL AGAIN !..SECONDARY HOLES & OL DEPTH ARE ALSO IMPERATIVE TO OUR SUCCESS..KYLE TRASK IS MUCH BETTER THAN PEOPLE THINK,BUT IF COMPETITION IS EVEN CLOSE, I KNOW WE WILL BE GOING WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MAYFIELD AS THE STARTER..WITH THAT POTENTIAL RUNNING ATTACK & POTENTIAL WIDE RECIEVER ROOM..WE WILL RUN AWAY WITH ANOTHER DIVISION TITLE & POSSIBLY END UP IN SUPER BOWL ONCE AGAIN..
March 23rd, 2023 at 10:55 am
We all knew a downturn was going to come. Is it this year or next year? The Brady 3 year run was worth the cost. We all saw this team was ready to win in 2020 and 2021. That’s all you can ask for is a championship window for 2-3 years.
Thanks Tom !!
March 23rd, 2023 at 11:14 am
Todd Bowels guarantees losing seasons. It’s what he does. Could turn the Greatest Show on Turf to the Greatest Blow on Turf.
March 23rd, 2023 at 11:31 am
Some of you guys (Tommy Mordue, MadMax, etc.) want new (or used, in Tommy’s case) shiny offensive weapons, I’m ready for the Bucs get back to a hardnosed defensive identity. Draft defense, other than an Offensive Tackle.
March 23rd, 2023 at 11:33 am
I have no issue with this — except the Bucs are already spending a bunch of money vs next years cap. They should have just taken the one year hit, got most of the dead money off the books.
While the cap should skyrocket next year, so will salaries, and the Bucs will still have to pay a QB since they probably won’t be quite bad enough to draft a top tier guy.
It’s a mess, but it didn’t have to be a mess for more than one season. I hope I’m wrong and Baker Mayfield leads them to a SB! LOL! As if.
March 23rd, 2023 at 11:42 am
That statistic is merely a proxy. Money don’t play games. It’s not a bad indicator, obviously, but what it means is that the players that got paid are not there anymore. Either because they retired or were cut. In both cases that means the players were not worth the money. Again it’s a proxy for players who aren’t there.
March 23rd, 2023 at 12:15 pm
Those teams didn’t have Licht and Goldberg. In Jason I trust.
March 23rd, 2023 at 12:40 pm
@ Joe in Mich
I agree.
OT in the first found… Defense in rounds 2 and 3. Then TE/WR and RB in rounds 5, 6 and 7.
I hope our GM is able to move back a little in round 1 – still get a quality OT and pick up an extra pick or two in the top 120.
March 23rd, 2023 at 12:45 pm
We can find the best RT in the draft at the end of the 1st.
Or, the 5th LT drafted?
Which is smarter?
A rookie LT who was drafted after 4 other LT’s?
Or switch Wirfs to LT and draft the best RT in the draft?
Draft a RT who has played there his entire college career.
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:21 pm
@ teacher
I believe Wirfs can make the switch to LT. I actually expect that to happen…
But I do believe you can find quality OT starters in the late 1st round and in the 2nd.
D. Smith was a 2nd round pick and Wirfs was the 4th OT taken in the 2020 draft.
It all really depends on how the draft goes and who is available when we pick at #19.
March 23rd, 2023 at 3:11 pm
They say fan love won’t pay the rent
Before It’s earned. our money’s. all been spent
We got you bray (D)
March 23rd, 2023 at 4:12 pm
How many of those teams listed had Pro Bowlers or near Pro Bowlers at half of their starting positions????
Wirfs, Jensen, Evans, Godwin, Vea, Barrett, LD54, White, Davis, Dean, Winfield Jr
Thats 11 really good players – half your starting line-up….
The Bucs can compete this year. Especially due to playing in a weak division.
Yea – we need Mayfield or Trask to play well in order to truly succeed. But Licht is paying off as many bills as is reasonable this year – and to stay even competitive in such a situation amounts to a job well done so far by the GM.
March 23rd, 2023 at 5:22 pm
With all of the changes, the ifs, ands or buts, this year it appears that making the playoffs will be a major coaching success. Would 8-9 with 4-2 in the NFC South make the majority of our fans happy? Stay tuned. 🤔 😲 😉