Carl Nicks’ Future Looks Bleak
January 7th, 2014
Carl Nicks’ NFL days may be done.
The Bucs had high hopes when they signed stud guard Carl Nicks as a free agent prior to the 2012 season. Then before the season began, Nicks developed a nasty case of turf toe.
That year he played seven games on the toe, which Joe saw with his own eyes; it was swollen to at least twice normal size and was cherry-red. It was gross. Even after surgery, Nicks confessed the toe wasn’t close to being back to normal and stated it was something he would deal with the rest of his life.
Tack on being infected with MRSA, Nicks’ 2013 season was a wash. He played in two games after missing the presason. And per Jason Cole of National Football Post, Nicks may have played his last snap of football.
Two sources said in the past week that Tampa Bay guard Carl Nicks is still dealing with pain in his foot in the aftermath of dealing with surgery and then a recurring bout with MRSA. As a result, there is some doubt about whether Nicks will be able to play next season or ever again. That may lead to the Buccaneers cutting the former high-priced free agent acquisition this offseason.
Joe feels awful for Nicks, who is a really, really good dude. But the NFL is a business and frankly, the Bucs cannot afford to keep a salary of $7 million for 2014 (he is signed through the 2016 season) like an albatross around their necks. But Nicks’ money situation is unclear. Mike Garofolo of FOXSports.com says the Bucs are on the hook for $6 million of Nicks’ 2014 salary next season if he can’t play because of injury.
It stands to reason if Nicks does return to the NFL, then it wouldn’t shock Joe if he made a comeback wearing a different uniform.
January 7th, 2014 at 1:48 pm
told you he would never play more than 2 games last year.
him, penn and joseph should be shown the door unless they are willing to take big pay cuts.
January 7th, 2014 at 1:53 pm
Can you say settlement
January 7th, 2014 at 1:58 pm
His replacement in new Orleans made the Pro Bowl.
classic.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:03 pm
The ‘human armoire’ is not going to be on Dancing With the Stars anytime soon I surmise?
January 7th, 2014 at 2:06 pm
That really sucks, he was a young All-Pro guard when we signed him. Thought that was going to be great for our offense.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:13 pm
Gee. who woulda thunk it? Shelling out nearly $15 million for a pair of offensive guards didn’t work out. Offensive guard, the two least difficult full-time positions to find a serviceable player at in the NFL.. and we broke the bank for both. What a stroke of genius. Dump him or restructure him, dump Joseph, draft a big fat collegiate offensive tackle on the 3rd day of the draft, sign a reasonably priced young vet in free agency, and move on from both of them.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:14 pm
And then move said fat offensive tackle to guard.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:14 pm
I’ll say it again. If someone was going to pay me 7 million, I’d cut my damn toe off. Then again if I can’t play without the toe anyways that will do no good.
Also if I’m going to get paid 6 million next season regardless, I’d just quit.
Man the Glazers have been just pissing money away lately.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:15 pm
Since we are paying him $6mil regardless, just keep him and hope he recovers. Would be dumb to cut him this season, especially if he makes a comeback.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:37 pm
According to Over the Cap, if we wait until June 1st to cut Nicks he would ony count a little over $2 mil next year, if we did it before June 1st, he would count at just over $9 mil.
Wait until June 1st, then CUT him! We need to rid this organization of our huge mistakes, forking out $15 mil a season for two OGs was just one of them.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:40 pm
There you go.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:41 pm
Time to break off the Rock Star’s shackles of mediocrity.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:44 pm
It’s a shame if he can’t play again. He just reached his prime when the Bucs signed him and would’ve had a few good years left in the tank if not for the toe.
At one point the Bucs had the makings of one of the best O-lines in the league and in team history. It’s a shame the unit only played together for a handful of games.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:47 pm
Brandon I was under the impression that Carl Nicks has 7 million in dead money for the 2014 season. His cap hit is 9.3 for 2014. If he is on the roster he counts 9.3 towards the cap, if he is off the roster we still have to carry his 7 million in dead money, a savings of 2.3 million in cap space.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:49 pm
Donald Penn and Davin Joseph have a combined Cap hit of 13.7 million, with just $600,000 of dead money. If we want to save some cap space for spending on some DE’s, then this is the best place to cut/restructure.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:51 pm
So SF & Carolina don’t have high priced offensive lineman and/or high draft picks on their lines? We overpaid a bit for Nicks but you are going to when you suck. Thought it was a good signing, he was healthy, young and an All-Pro at the time. You can never account for injuries, past injuries is different.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:59 pm
He was damaged before he got to tampa and that is fact-that’s what happens when u have an administrator or had for a gm
January 7th, 2014 at 3:01 pm
in hindsight, one of mark dominik’s most puzzling tendencies was to consistently have the highest paid players in the league at several of the consensus lowest-value positions – at times in his tenure we had a top NFL earner (or at least top 5) at Punter, Guard, Tight End, and Safety. to top it off, i don’t think anybody in football was paid more money to not be part of the team then josh freeman.
January 7th, 2014 at 3:01 pm
If that is indeed “a fact,” surely you have a link for such information from a credible source.
Link please.
January 7th, 2014 at 3:02 pm
Minnesota had the same problem. 🙁
January 7th, 2014 at 3:10 pm
Clowney……Miguel?! Lol
January 7th, 2014 at 3:14 pm
i don’t think anybody in football was paid more money to not be part of the team then josh freeman.
______________________________________________________________
That’s what happens when key figures in the organization aren’t on the same page. The (now ex) HC and the team chose the wrong way to deal with that situation. Minnesota choose to sign him off waivers. They made the problems they encountered.
January 7th, 2014 at 3:15 pm
I was certain that we would go into next season without either Joseph or Nicks. There is no way we could handle losing both, so I guess this answers the question of which one.
Joseph and Penn are both still serviceable starters, but it’s definitely time to draft offensive line.
This is what I mean when I say we have TOO MANY large holes in the offense to even dream of drafting a QB. Mike Glennon has made drafting a QB a luxury, not a genuine need.
January 7th, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Sad because nicks virtually had no weakness to his game. But the business of the NFL always catches up with everyone like Father Time!
January 7th, 2014 at 4:14 pm
And this is why Dominick was fired. Owners dont shell out millions in signing bonuses for under-performance and losing records. As the GM for 5 years we saw an entire team built around a Qb that eventually was cut from the team while he collected an $8 million salary…WE GOT NOTHING FOR HIM. We saw THE most expensive O-Line in the teams history vastly under-perform or not even make the field. We saw the entire 2009 draft fail. We saw Q. Black & M. Clayton handsomely overpaid, D. Bowers barely play, A. Clayborn go higher never come close to M. Bennett who we let walk. All in all the reset button was supposed to have been hit in Raheem’s first year with the core rebuilt through the draft WITH PREMIUM PICKS and yet 5 years later, our team lacks depth at every position OTHER THAN RB and grossly overpaid for losing records over and over and over. THAT’S YOUR ROCKSTAR GM. ALL YOU MEDIA GUYS DEFENDED DOMINICK BECAUSE HE WAS YOUR SOURCE. YOU GUYS POUNCED AND POUNCED ON SCHIANO YET SINCE HE JOINED, OUR DRAFTS IMPROVED SUBSTANTIALLY. Joe, you love to say how Dominick got Jackson, Revis and Gholston here but that’s not all that difficult to accomplish when you write the biggest check. It’s a business, what else were they coming to Tampa for our Super Bowl “potential”? NO…GUARANTEED MONEY! Dominick was terrible and was why NO QUALITY COACH WOULD COME PLAY FOR HIM. HE HAD TO GO AFTER “FIRST TIMERS” LIKE CHIP KELLY AND SCHIANO, NO VETERAN COACH WANTED TO WORK WITH HIM. The Glaziers realized this and canned him in order to attract somebody with some credibility. And now you have Lovie picking his own guy which means Lovie could have kept Dominick if he wanted but he didn’t.
January 7th, 2014 at 4:30 pm
That’s very unfortunate,
Question though, if a player retires under a specific team while still under contract.
If they decide to make a comeback sometime later doesn’t that team still own the rights to that player?
January 7th, 2014 at 4:55 pm
Feel terrible for Nicks. Feel terrible for us too.
I do remember Dom restructuring both VJax and Nicks’ contract to minimize the cap hit in the out years.
Nicks deal and not resigning the hapless one formerly known as a QB should insure our ability to afford Revis and another top flight FA.
Not upset that Dom, and certainly not Dennis Hickey are gone but he did a good job managing the cap.
January 7th, 2014 at 5:09 pm
If anybody wants to check the numbers themselves or plug in their own, got overthecap.com and check it out for yourself.
January 7th, 2014 at 5:43 pm
Well, at least the V Jax signing worked out well for us.
January 7th, 2014 at 5:51 pm
I’m sure our GM will figure out how to handle Nicks’s contract…oh wait, I should say should the Glazers decide to hire a GM then he will figure out how to handle Nicks’s contract. A true shame it isn’t looking good for his career.
January 7th, 2014 at 5:56 pm
So Dominick drafts Freeman who we get nothing for and leaves us with Nicks who will we owe $6 million whether he plays or not and we should be sad that the “Rock Star” is gone???? A G.M. is only as good as the Franchise QB he is tied to so in my opinion Dom was not that great. I would rather have Lovie with all of the power!
January 7th, 2014 at 5:57 pm
Oh i forgot to mention Eric Wright! Remember the big 3 that were going to get us over the top to the playoffs???
January 7th, 2014 at 6:13 pm
Great Article Joe, I too feel bad for Nicks. I am sure he did not want these things to happen to him. I do think it makes sense to cut him and eat the cap hit if the team Dr’s are not at least 95% sure he will play next year. I wish him well and hope he is able to make a comeback. To many people are so hateful on these boards, they treat players like cattle instead of human beings. The worst part about those people is they don’t see how it affects THEIR lives by being so nasty. This coupled with the fact that people say nasty things about them behind their backs at work and so on. Have a Positive mental attitude, care for others and Go Bucs!!!
January 7th, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Coach Schiano was such a hardass general, that he basically forced players back on the field too soon.
He actually wanted Doug Martin to play WITH his torn labrom.
He pushed Mike Williams back out there too soon, so he TORE his hammy.
He forced Carl to play too soon, so his toe never could heal.
Schiano was a coach from the 1950’s.
I personally like Pete Carroll and his HIPPY approach to coaching.
MUCH COOLER.
January 7th, 2014 at 7:42 pm
June 1st is a long way away. I don’t understand how he can’t come back from turf toe by June!?? I would have to say it sounds like he wants nothing to do with Tampa and will be playing for another team…..or will that change now that Lovie is in town. Hmmm????? Joseph came back really quick and will be back to form next year along with Penn, but all three of them should take pay cuts until it’s proven they can come back. The players seem to be stoked about the new coach and that will equate to some type of increase in play across the board. I’m more worried about our OC than our roster. Let’s see someone who can call plays first than I’ll worry about who we have on the field
January 7th, 2014 at 8:28 pm
Wake up Kevin, wake up… you are dreaming.
January 7th, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Like I said it doesn’t work like that if he retires and decides to come back his rights still belong to us.
He’d still be the Bucs to use
January 7th, 2014 at 9:47 pm
Brandon Says
“Offensive guard, the two least difficult full-time positions to find a serviceable player at in the NFL…”
Boy, are you out of touch.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:50 pm
teacherman777, you have zero proof of that. Players historically try to tough it out on their own. If anything, Schiano “allowed” them to do so.
January 7th, 2014 at 9:52 pm
I think Dominick teamed with Raheem Morris sucked at the draft.
I think Dominick paired with Schiano excelled at the draft, in fact the facts back that up.
So I think you have to have the right pairing to find success. That’s why I wanna know who our GM will be.
January 7th, 2014 at 10:16 pm
One and the same. 🙁
January 7th, 2014 at 11:13 pm
my biggest reason for why the pop star should get fired was signing this broken player….what a friggan waste carl nicks was to this team… a complete waste…gotta love how the gm wouldn’t put him on IR just hoping he would give two spits about all those dollars the bucs gave him…carl nicks was a BUST….
January 7th, 2014 at 11:16 pm
wow you feel “sorry” for a millionaire who didn’t earn it….sad sad clown
January 8th, 2014 at 12:34 am
Destinjohnny Says:
January 7th, 2014 at 2:59 pm
He was damaged before he got to tampa and that is fact-that’s what happens when u have an administrator or had for a gm
That’s what I thought and Joe called I you out as well? Peer troll Stubidity; One of the most coveted free agents ever if u know what that even possily means??? Some newbie trying to rip on Dom. My Saints fellow season ticket holders were without words on that signing. That used to be their strength and now if u know football is their glaring weakeness.
January 8th, 2014 at 5:47 am
Just release the poor bastard. I’m tired of hearing about this terrible debacle.
January 8th, 2014 at 11:13 am
No one knows if he’s done or not, Schiano was such a big liar i thought the word was the mrsa he got had nothing to do with the same toe. So he’ll ANOTHER full off-season to try to get back on the field and regardless he had to be paid but all of a sudden the glazers are so strapped for money that billionaire owners would worry about paying 7 million dollars and cut him instead of paying 6 million and keeping him on the roster one more year to see if he recovers? I’d rather here guess work speculation from from someone knows something like oh i don’t know Carl nicks or his doctors. Until he gets cuts IMO he’s on the roster trying to get healed to play
January 9th, 2014 at 12:54 am
I hope he makes it back. That guy’s an earth-mover.