Finally Healthy V-Jax Fighting For Future
November 13th, 2014
Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Will the Bucs pay Vincent Jackson about $10 million next season to be their No. 2 receiver?
Great question. And it represents one the most interesting elements of the Bucs’ final seven games.
Jackson is finally healthy. Joe must give Jackson massive kudos for playing through his broken wrist, fractured early this season. Who does that?
Then Jackson injured his ribs but didn’t miss a game. WDAE-AM 620 personality Tom Krasniqi astutely noted on his Bucs blog that Jackson wasn’t even on yesterday’s injury report.
So here V-Jax sits with 40 catches for 518 yards and two touchdowns, with seven games remaining this season. Those 40 catches have come on a whopping 90 targets. That’s a poor percentage partially caused by too many drops and a lack of separation.
The numbers aren’t great, but maybe a healthy Jackson gets hot in a hurry.
Last year, Jackson caught 78 balls on 159 targets, per ESPN stats, for 1,224 yards and seven touchdowns.
Regardless, there’s no doubt Jackson will be fighting for a huge final seven games, one that would make the Bucs be crazy to let him go. Otherwise, trading Jackson this offseason would be an easy decision, if the Bucs could find a team to take on his contract.
Joe would love to see Jackson get hot and look like his 2012 version. That would give the Bucs more options in 2015. And a little excitement now sure would be welcome.
November 13th, 2014 at 12:04 pm
The Bucs would be crazy for letting him go.
V-Jax, and Galloway are to of the best free agent WR pick ups that the Bucs have ever made.
Jackson still has at least 3 more productive NFL seasons left in him.
November 13th, 2014 at 12:05 pm
he’s one of the few guys on the football team with any heart.
he’s also one of the few that might fetch a trade. love the guy, but trade him.
he’ll end up hurt next year and still get paid his 10 mill. why not who would want to risk their future in the last year of a contract?
November 13th, 2014 at 12:07 pm
Comeon joe if they didnt want to keep him they would of traded him!
November 13th, 2014 at 12:10 pm
Renegotiate his contract.
November 13th, 2014 at 12:10 pm
@Nate – Don’t be silly. He’s here now to help Mike Evans
November 13th, 2014 at 12:18 pm
I say restructure his contract……2 years 15 mil…..if he would take it…or trade him only for at least a 2nd or 3rd rd pick….
November 13th, 2014 at 12:34 pm
Agree with Biff, renegotiate his contract if not see what you can get in a trade (not much) if not maybe cut him. He’s not worth $10 million a year, no way.
November 13th, 2014 at 12:37 pm
Definitely don’t want him gone but at that price hope he restructures. Evans will benefit and is benefiting a lot from having him there now. No doubt about it #13 is our #1 wideout now. Monster. Catches the ball cleanly and always seems to get behind the secondary or just boxes the CB out. A joy to watch.
November 13th, 2014 at 12:47 pm
PFF (Race for Rookie of the Year) WK 10 Review
1. Aaron Donald, DT, SL: +22.0
He gets pressure, he makes plays against the run, and now he’s the RRotY leader. Donald was supposed to eat into the starters snaps, but such was his impact he became a starter… and his performance hasn’t dropped off.
4. Joel Bitonio, LG, CLE: +13.8
Slipped a little when Alex Mack got hurt, but if Thursday Night was anything to go by, has found his best form once again. One half of arguably the premier left guard-left tackle tandem in the league this year.
8. Mike Evans, WR, TB: +7.0
Starting to see what Evans is all about, making some catches that really set him apart from the rest. Has likely suffered from the Bucs’ quarterback spot, but these past two weeks especially, that hasn’t stopped him.
10. Taylor Lewan, LT, TEN: +6.0
Had some issues with Terrell Suggs which led to a first negative grade in pass protection, but all things considered it could have gone much worse (just ask a hobbled Jake Matthews). You don’t hear a lot about Lewan because of how seamlessly he has replaced Roos.
*Player to Watch
E.J. Gaines, CB, SL: Again is extremely close to making the list, holding up nicely on a bigger-than-expected role with the Rams.
November 13th, 2014 at 12:48 pm
trade him to the Patriots for a 5th round pick! its what the bucs do!
November 13th, 2014 at 1:03 pm
You bring up all these players we should get rid of but no explanation on how we replace them. How many draft picks do we have? 30? Or are we gonna throw money at free agency again? Remember good free agents don’t come to Tampa unless they get paid. Just like this year, next year will be made up of overpaid marginal free agents, or a bunch of average paid scrubs. So if Joe can clue me into his genius, please tell.
Yes, Joe’s in favor of ditching players who underperform to their contracts. –Joe
November 13th, 2014 at 1:04 pm
One of 5-6 players on this team that is good enough to play in the NFL.
Plus the highest character/ best Role model we have.
Maybe it’s gonna be 3-4 years before Lovie can build a good team here. But Personally- I’d love to see a great player/ person like Vincent Jackson here every game possible.
Like now- he’s one of the few guys we have to Cheer for- especially with McCoy getting buried under triple teams every play.
Jackson is all things good in an NFL player. Playing with a broken wrist? No one does that for their team.
Let’s Retire him right here- then move him right into Public relations or WR coach.
We don’t have to screw over every good player we have- aka Brooks,Sapp, Galloway, Garcia, lynch, etc.
Just a thought
November 13th, 2014 at 1:05 pm
If they want to contend, they should start out by keeping the few good players they have. Jackson is in that group.
November 13th, 2014 at 1:16 pm
Yes, Joe’s in favor of ditching players who underperform to their contracts. –Joe
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weak answer, so now you have a formula what a player is worth? Plus, you still evaded the question. Where do we find all these more talented players to replace the ones you want to get rid of? Maybe Joe should be the Bucs GM.
November 13th, 2014 at 1:34 pm
the bucs don’t think like the pats. thats their problem. the pats look forward and trade guys at the end of their career (unless your Brady).
they get sucker teams like the bucs to think they won the lottery for getting a guy like Mankins and giving them a 4th.
this is business 101, obviously something the bucs know nothing about. it like a factory. sell the outdated equipment while it still has value to some smaller company and get the new stuff.
not the bucs. they keep over paying for old equipment.
they only answer to this equation is to have a coach that can mold his team around their strengths/players. what we have is a coach with an outdated scheme who is not even close to utilizing his players. he may turn it around in 3-5 years after he gets the guys for HIS plan. till then we’re gonna suck.
November 13th, 2014 at 1:36 pm
especially with McCoy getting buried under triple teams every play.
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Please stop with this nonsense. It’s just a not true, not even close. Mccoy hardly get double teamed much less triple teamed every play. Nothing personal Capt. Tim it’s not just you but nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is most if not all of his sacks have come against second string players and rookies. He not the best in the league and is real close to being outplayed by a rookie, Aaron Donald, who I wish we would have drafted.
November 13th, 2014 at 1:49 pm
Looking at his productivity alone, we are probably overpaying him. But there are three reasons why I would keep him on roster.
1 – Without him, Evans gets even more coverage.
2 – Hopefully VJ’s character and toughness can rub off on the other offensive rookies.
3 – Do you really believe that Lovie and Licht would find a more productive player with the money?
November 13th, 2014 at 1:50 pm
Makes sense to keep the man. This way defenses cant double Mike Evans. If we want to Evans to be productive it would be in the best interest of keeping Jackson.
November 13th, 2014 at 2:16 pm
we might not hear much from Vjax, but his facial expressions on the field say he is not happy.
you don’t pay a guy 10 million, or restructure his deal if he is not happy. it’s just dead weight.
a guy walking around thinking he is better than this, is only here for the money and it shows up on gameday.
November 13th, 2014 at 2:20 pm
We will never improve by offloading talent, i.e. Bennett, Talib, Blount, Joseph, Penn, Zuttah, Williams, Revis….
November 13th, 2014 at 2:35 pm
I don’t think I can handle watching V-jax have a pro bowl season with someone else. Which he will if we let him walk. Is he underperforming. Yes. Can we replace his talent and productivity without burning a number 1 pick or over paying some other free agent. no we cannot.
November 13th, 2014 at 2:53 pm
none of those guys you mentioned bring the pain were on a major decline.
in fact most of them were in their prime. vjax is past his.
your move.
November 13th, 2014 at 4:22 pm
We trade him and we are back to square one, one WR that gets double teamed and shuffling other WR in and out all season.. YOU DONT REPLACE POSITIONS THAT ARE FILLED. YOU FILL POSITIONS IN NEED!!!
Still waiting to see who replaced REVIS, we could have had him and verner and still be under cap. like someone said revis doesnt fit our scheme because he covers players and our scheme leaves them open
November 13th, 2014 at 7:21 pm
VJax is proven player making pretty significant salary. if history holds, this brain trust will ship him out of town and both he and whoever signs him next will be thanking us.
November 13th, 2014 at 7:25 pm
i don’t see how we bring another proven WR to this rotten team without overpaying him like we are possibly overpaying Jackson. unless Lovie & Licht are backing off of their “we are not rebuilding” statement, they need to find a way to keep jackson in town for at least 2015. no more ditching proven players without knowing the quality of the player replacing them. we are not deep enough to whiff on those types of decision, and we whiffed on EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. this year
November 13th, 2014 at 7:33 pm
DB55- nothing personal- but that’ ll be your lil secret.
As the game commentators showed on several plays, and anyone with eyes could see for themselves, McCoy was always doubled- and often as not tripled.
The announcing team showed this three times- for the uneducated or blind fans.
McCoy is the best DT in the NFL. It’s not even close. It is damn near a crime, that this franchise has refused to get him one person on that line- capable of helping to carry the load. MacDonald is as close as they’ve come.
This extreme talant will have been wasted, due to the stupidity of the Team that drafted him- not being smart enough to get him some help.
What’s even more disgusting- is this isn’t the first time they’ve wasted a mans life work- I.E. Paul Gruber,Ervin Randle, Hugh Green, James Wilder, and many others
November 13th, 2014 at 7:51 pm
With our QBs the main question is how many of the passes thrown were catchable, most that I see are not for all kinds of reasons but mostly the QB is throwing too high, too, low, to far left, too far right and to the wrong team player.
November 13th, 2014 at 9:45 pm
I’m torn but this another deep wide reciever draft but we need more help in other places on the roster because they(L &L) unloaded eveyone and replaces them witb no-one smh lol. WE had depth just look at every player we let go they are contributing for other teams even Barron. Palmer was mic’d up before he got hurt and he clearly said watch Barron because he’s coming eveytime he’s in and the cards line still couldn’t pick him up in blitz
November 14th, 2014 at 1:25 pm
They’ll never keep him. Coaches can’t wait to cut loose everybody they inherited.