Yahoo!: Bucs Are A Boring Free Agent Team (In March 2025)
March 5th, 2025
Boring can be good.
If something isn’t interesting, it’s then boring, right?
Though Yahoo! NFL columnist Frank Schwab didn’t come out and call the Bucs boring this free agency season, it’s sort of what was implied in the headline of Schwab’s story.
Schwab cobbled together a list of the most interesting teams in free agency when the dinner bell rings on March 12 after two days of legal tampering.
(Illegal tampering took place last week at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis and in the various bars, eateries and coffee shops where national NFL reporters weren’t already getting into hassles.)
The Bucs, per Schwab, are the No. 30 most interesting (or No. 3 most boring).
The Buccaneers have two franchise icons, Chris Godwin and Lavonte David, about to hit the market. Tampa Bay also doesn’t have much salary cap flexibility, so it’ll be hard to bring either back or make a big outside signing. That’s OK, because it’s a solid roster.
Solid roster with maybe one giant hole, perhaps two. And those positions are why Joe’s antennae will be fully upright Monday morning when legal tampering begins.
Joe believes the Bucs are one or two players away on defense to making a real Super Bowl run. It just so happens one of those holes is the most important position on defense, an edge rusher.
Ira Kaufman Talks Khalil Mack, Combine Revelations, “Shock” Value, And Much More
March 5th, 2025 at 1:15 am
I am feeling pretty good about this roster and the draft.
March 5th, 2025 at 1:38 am
It all depends on what our defensive mad scientist does in the lab this time. The last three year plan yielded a special needs Frankenstein.
March 5th, 2025 at 1:39 am
Sounds like this guy has no insight into our cap situation minus maybe glancing at spotrac to check the CURRENT number. We actually have tons of flexibility and he’d know that if he did 2 minutes of research.
March 5th, 2025 at 2:27 am
Good im glad we are boring to that knuckleheads.
March 5th, 2025 at 3:41 am
I hope the Bucs are looking at Harold Landry. I really believe Tennessee is going to release him next week. No guarantee the Bucs can get him as a FA but I like him over Mack. I would trade a day 3 pick for him in an instant. He’s young, with 2 years left on his contract and proven production. Then go get an OLB/Edge in rd 1.
March 5th, 2025 at 3:52 am
‘Joe believes the Bucs are one or two players away on defense to making a real Super Bowl run.’
I’d go with 2 players (in FA) Joe … Edge & ILB. We know why we need a VETERAN Edge. Signing a veteran ILB (not named LVD) apparently isn’t as obvious to most, but it’s an even greater need.
Our ILB position group is virtually non-existent right now. LVD, Britt & Russell are all FAs. Dennis has talent, but his availability over a 2-year period (50%) really sucks (dangerous to count on guys like that as your starters). We’ve also got Deion Jones, Deion Jennings & Antonio Grier under contract, but I’d be surprised if any of the 3 make the final-53.
Even if LVD re-signs for 2025, it’s almost surely his last year. His 2024 availability was incredible (1,078 def snaps … 97% … represented the 3rd most in his career) but that’s a lot to ask of any 35-year old LB. Bucs need seveal things in addition to re-signing LVD:
1 – Draft a starter-capable MLB who can ultimately take over this defense as a field general. Personally like Bama’s Jihaad Campbell (6’3″ & 235 lbs & 4.52 sec 40 at the Combine) but he’ll have to be our Rnd 1 pick (almost surely won’t be there when we pick #51 in Rnd 2).
2 – Sign a veteran, starter-capable ILB who can play both middle and outside LB in our 3-4 defense. And if I was Todd Bowles, I wouldn’t have any qualms about using 3 ILBs out there on a lot of plays, combined with 4 DLinemen pressuring the QB (but hey, we won’t call it a 4-3 defense, just a 3-4 modified).
3 – Sign Britt & Russell as backups, and keep Dennis. Keep 5 ILBs on the final 53-man roster and dress 4 on game days.
And next year, draft another ILB in Top-3 Rnds to replace LVD.
March 5th, 2025 at 7:00 am
Idc about drafting or signing the sexy pick. I care about drafting/signing the right picks.
March 5th, 2025 at 7:18 am
The athletes just play… the “tampering” would be the agents and team’s recruitment staff… so basically, just guys speculating about the future, getting a feel for the sentiment…. tampering shmapering… lol.
Funny stuff Joe!
March 5th, 2025 at 7:25 am
How many teams were extremely exciting and aggressive in free agency in the last few seasons are paying for it big time now. Hello Atlanta? They’re going to have a lot of trouble resigning some integral players this off season thanks in no small part to their backup quarterback’s contract.
March 5th, 2025 at 7:28 am
I’m in agreement with a bunch of others here–finding an edge at 19 and him killing it THIS year is pretty unlikely, need sine/trade for one, preferably sign. ILB thru the draft seems more likely
March 5th, 2025 at 7:35 am
Would be a really sweet off-season if we found our next Shaq Barrett for not a ton of money out there somewhere (when the bucks signed Shaq for a prove it deal, I had no clue who he was but liked the stats he had in the backup rotation role) and at the same time Braswell turns the corner next season. Whether we pick a corner or an edge rusher at 19 doesn’t matter so much to me. I’d be okay with trading down for more lower round picks because Licht &.Co does really well 2 – 4. This is an extremely deep draft at edge. There are thletic freaks all through this thing. The trick is finding the one that can make the NFL transition and contribute sooner than later. Easier said than done of course.
March 5th, 2025 at 7:41 am
Damn, edge rusher. I bet the farm that you were going to say WR. Oh well,
March 5th, 2025 at 8:11 am
This is the dumbest of these lists I’ve seen yet. Next they’ll rank the league’s least prolific pancake flippers, by team.
Meanwhile, Landry.
March 5th, 2025 at 10:12 am
Schwab makes good points. Joe does, too. Here’s the thing:
The Bucs needs currently include (in my own order of priority) Edge, LB, CB, WR (should we lose CG14), and OG.
Well…
1. The draft is deep with edge rushers this year.
2. The draft is deep with LB this year (we could land both 1 and 2 in the first two rounds without much fear of talent falloff between players — it’s even arguable that the Bucs can trade back into the late first round and end up with a serious upgrade to the pitiful likes of JTS AND an extra pick). Regardless of LD coming back, this is a critical need because LD ain’t gonna be there for much longer. NFL = “Not For Long.” Especially for 35 year old linebackers.
3. not a fan of this year’s CB class after the top several — and that’s who we’re dealing with if we go edge and LB in the first two picks.
4. CG14 is one of the all-time Bucs greats NOT named “M1K3,” but he’s not completely irreplaceable. Not that I would want to. If we had to, there are several WRs that would do the trick in this year’s draft.
5. OG — a position that we’re not as stout as we want to be, and could use some shoring up, but plenty of FAs combined with Licht’s knack for drafting quality linemen (see today’s Spytek article), and I’m not incredibly worried about the team’s ability to find a serviceable OG via the draft.
All that to say, the Bucs have the luxury of being able to be boring this year, and while I’d love a splash edge trade with Cleveland, I know that’s not happening. CB is the one area where a free agent signing is probably necessary. There will be a CB or two that would upgrade the secondary and give the team a bridge for a year or two, when they can better focus on that position. Everything else can be solved in the draft.
March 5th, 2025 at 9:30 pm
If Licht wants a room full of Shaq Barrett’s and Baker Mayfield’s instead of Swaggy Bakers that’s okay with me.