Free Agency Dominates Championship Sunday
January 25th, 2016
Joe wept yesterday while watching Demarcus Ware play defensive end for the Broncos.
The man delivered seven hits to Tom Brady and absolutely wreaked havoc en route to Denver belting Brady a record 20 times.
Yes, there are good players available in free agency, even pass rushers. Ware signed with Denver in 2014, when the Bucs broke the bank for Michael Johnson. (Please don’t talk to Joe about 3-4 rushers, versus 4-3 rushers. Good coaches know how to use great players who can beat the guy in front of them.)
Julius Peppers was a hell of a free agent pickup for the Packers in 2014, as well. He had double digit sacks this season, plus one in the playoffs. Peppers hasn’t missed a game since 2007.
Michael Bennett was a quite a free agent pass rusher, too, back in 2013. He’s been dominant in Seattle and will frolic with Gerald McCoy at next week’s Pro Bowl. Jabaal Sheard had a heck of a 2015 season in New England after his March pay day, including five solo tackles and one for a loss yesterday.
Joe wants all the free-agency-is-the-devil types to jump in frigid Lake Tarpon and soak their heads.
Free agency only sucks when you pick the wrong players.
Yesterday, the Panthers’ wide receiving corps made great use of three guys who once walked the streets, and their new (old) left tackle — the most well known lineman in the league — has served them very well all season. Kurt Coleman, the Carolina safety with two interceptions yesterday? He was signed in March free agency last year and led the league in picks.
And now cabbie-punching, granny-hassling, gun-totin’, helmet-wielding, Adderall-popping Aqib Talib will play to win his first ring — while his free agent quarterback goes for his second ring.
Yeah, free agency is the stuff of losers.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:03 am
Two Words: SUPER MARIO!
January 25th, 2016 at 10:15 am
Nice Joe!
January 25th, 2016 at 10:23 am
Amen. Draft Bpa and use free agents to fill needs.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:28 am
But “Free agency does not work”!!! if Lovie is your head coach!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 25th, 2016 at 10:29 am
Thanks to the Rockstar (horrible nickname) Talib was traded for peanuts…
But that’s part of the problem here, bad personnel decisions
January 25th, 2016 at 10:31 am
Free Agency is a two way street. Even if we want them and can pay, they still have to want to come.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:46 am
veteran free agent pass rushers were big contributors to all of the divisional teams, it seemed like….ware, freeney, jared allen, peppers, bennett…
there’s talent out there, but most of FA is fools gold. when legit players caught in regime changes like mario williams (who has been productive under big money contracts his whole career, so i don’t worry about paying him) and cap casualties like demarcus ware come loose, teams can go hard after them. the mistake is taking supporting players one team rejects and paying\relying on them as if they are core players or stars.
the other issue, of course, is that the best veterans typically prefer to play for the best teams, and this is the first time in a long time we can make a convincing argument that we are headed that way.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:52 am
How bout Remmers playing right tackle for Panthers. We dumped him like a bad habit
January 25th, 2016 at 11:14 am
Heres the thing about free agency. The great players that care about winning go to winning teams. Greedy player that only care about getting paid sign with losers with big stacks of cash.
Do we really want the players the are in it just to get paid? Free agency for teams like the bucs is about getting those plauers that are a little rough around the edges. Players that other teams dumped, plauers that are motivated to make it in the league, and will give it their all to succeed.
The bucs arent going to attract the type of players we really want. Great dominant talent that are also Team players with a passion to win, type players. We can maybe find that middle of road player and offer him a starting job.
January 25th, 2016 at 11:24 am
The media help pick the good old boy free agents. The Bucs want good old boy, that finish. Remember the quote” good boy finish last” That has proven true the past five years. Players with a trouble past, are run as soon as they make a mistake,or do not speak to the press.
January 25th, 2016 at 11:27 am
DL, DL, DL, DL. There’s nothing more important to me this offseason than DL.
Joe it was a beautiful sight watching Brady get beat like a pinata. I cheered with glee every time he got hit. Does that make me a sick mofo? I don’t know, but I can’t stand Brady.
I actually narrowed it down to only 3 QB’s that I truly hate 2 of them for the same reasons and 1 for a whole other reason. In order. 1 Brady 2 Brees 3 Cam Newton. Brady and Brees are whiny lil bitches, uber talented yes, but whiny bitches nonetheless. Cam is just way too cocky for me, but I’ll give him props for this season. This season he looks like the most dangerous QB in the NFL. He looks like he did in college a man among boys. There’s no doubt in my mind Carolina wins the SB this year.
January 25th, 2016 at 11:31 am
Quality FA will go to bad teams if they are willing to pay more money for them. With the amount of players this team is in need of, we have to use FA to help fill the need. There is going to be several big name DE’s available and Licht needs to open his pockets to grab one possibly two. Same with CB and Safety. Yes it is looking like Demarcus Ware, Mario Williams and Cameron Wake will be available. DE Olivier Vernon Dolphins had 10 sacks 30 hits and 41 hurries last year and he should hit the open market. More than likely the Giants are going to re-sign JPP which will open the door for FA DE Robert Ayers, who led the league in pass rushing productivity in 2014. The Rams DE William Hayes who was the best 4-3 DE against the run and top ten in pass rushing productivity.
January 25th, 2016 at 11:32 am
I don’t understand why Mario is “super”, he’s 31 and coming off a bad season in buffalo… Just goes to show bucs fans are “fans”… Mario wasn’t even best in his division but post after post its get Mario, dude he’s in his downfall period. Watch football and tell me Wilkerson isn’t a better fit!
January 25th, 2016 at 11:35 am
Don’t worry ’87! I too found myself giddy as Brady hit the ground again and again.
I also agree with your sentiment of bolstering that DL. At times it didn’t seem to matter WHO was covering who because there was no time to throw. What a thing of beauty that was.
It’s a quarterback league, but without a defense you ain’t going nowhere!
January 25th, 2016 at 11:36 am
I’m in NY Mario is declining there’s a better version of him cheaper… Bucs fans stop going for names… Especially after the panthers dominance this season
January 25th, 2016 at 11:39 am
So now people want to bring up Talib? Almost NOBODY at the time did not want him out of here fast. What has changed is something or somebody got to him and he changed. What kind of trouble has he been in after he left here? A lot of it could have been the loser a$$ attitude around this team.
I think things will change under Smith. He will know what to do with players. A first around here in many years. Players don’t come here and just forget how to play .
January 25th, 2016 at 11:45 am
Free agency only works when you know how to target the right talent. Outside of Clinton McDonald, the Bucs have been sorely lacking in that area in recent years.
January 25th, 2016 at 11:46 am
Preach
January 25th, 2016 at 11:50 am
SB this year = Super Beating. It will be over by half time.
January 25th, 2016 at 12:08 pm
I actually think that Tampa is such a laid back city that once FA’s come here they adapt to the city around them. Dull and boring. Now don’t all you born and raised Floridians jump all over me like always when I pick on Tampa. It’s a small market city for a reason. Dull and boring. Having lived in more than a few cities in my life it’s my opinion and not much will change it. I think players get here and have a look around, do the Busch Gardens and Adventure Island thingy, do a little fishing if they like and then the fun drops off. Boredom sets in and they want the hell out of here.
January 25th, 2016 at 12:13 pm
Bingo!
Why would guys like Ware or Peppers *choose* to come to Tampa as a free agent when the organization has been 58-102 over the past 10 years? Hopefully that is going to change with the new staff but their success still has to materialize into a winning season in 2016.
January 25th, 2016 at 12:19 pm
Let’s not underestimate how big if a factor coaching is. It isn’t guaranteed that the free agents mentioned here would have had the same level of production had they come to the buccaneers…
January 25th, 2016 at 12:24 pm
What a ridiculous statement!
Do you think Green Bay, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Houston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, and St. Louis are exciting places to be? I’ve been to most of those places in my travels. Believe me, they aren’t. I’m from Massachusetts so I can tell you that Foxboro sucks.
Tampa Bay is not a great metropolis like New York City but it’s certainly not boring. With all the beaches, amusement parks, museums, scuba diving, wildlife preserves, fishing, boating, night life, ect….if you’re ever bored in Tampa Bay that not a problem with the city.
January 25th, 2016 at 12:37 pm
2 of the 4 qbs were free agents and many prominent O and D lineman. You also had the 2nd best TE in the game that lovie traded to the panthers for not much.
January 25th, 2016 at 12:43 pm
Not sure why you seem to continue to ignore the other side of the problem. Why would any great free agent come to play for the Bucs?
Other than money, that is. This is how we ended up with so many players who don’t care about winning. If you care more about money then winning, then you sign with bad teams like the Bucs.
January 25th, 2016 at 12:54 pm
Free agency is going to be really hard this year. The cap is going up alot, teams will keep there own bc they will have the $ , thus the supply will be small. You are going to have to really over pay this year. We can do that because, thankfully our qb cost are realitively small for the next few years, but do we want to?
January 25th, 2016 at 1:33 pm
To me it’s all about expectations. Most seem to expect the Bucs to be competitive year-in-and-year-out, but when you look at our coaching situations and then at the quality of our players we’re not even in the same league as teams like the Patriots or Seahawks or Panthers or Broncos.
Our biggest problems through the years have been management and coaching. I’d venture to say that within the NFL over the last 10 years or so, the Browns, Bucs and Raiders are probably tied for the most dumb personnel decisions. All three change coaching staffs more often than most folks change the oil in their cars. It’s impossible to be competitive in situations like that in today’s NFL.
Hopefully the Bucs at least have learned their lesson. In my opinion, we’ve finally got a good GM and HC, and we need to at least back them better than we did Raheem or Schiano or Lovie.
January 25th, 2016 at 1:34 pm
Trading away Talib and letting Bennet walk were 2 of the worst of the many bad mistakes made by Dominik.
January 25th, 2016 at 1:34 pm
We need to find another high priced receiver too, like Alvin Harper, boy I miss him…..
January 25th, 2016 at 2:02 pm
Mario is not declining. He was misused in a different scheme. Im so sick of hearing the age thing coming up. We could have used freeney or abraham most if u said they were done. Williams will be fine. Sign him
January 25th, 2016 at 3:01 pm
“Joe wants all the free-agency-is-the-devil types to jump in frigid Lake Tarpon and soak their heads.
Free agency only sucks when you pick the wrong players.”
And MOST of the free agent players each year ARE the wrong players. You pick out an example for each of those years, but how about naming the number of successful signings by teams on any given year? There are not many.
Especially when compared to the number of free agents available each year.
The draft is where its at, I don’t care what you say. Free Agency is a hole plugger when a boat just has a couple leaks. OR, you use it to buy time until you can fill needs in a draft. OR you use it for depth.
But those teams you mentioned? How many of those players they signed in the same year of free agency actually turn out good? What percentage? Not much.
January 25th, 2016 at 3:02 pm
unbelievable Says
“Trading away Talib and letting Bennet walk were 2 of the worst of the many bad mistakes made by Dominik.”
I agree on Bennett, but not on Talib. Talib was on his way to prison if he remained. It took a hard-butt coach to turn him around. IT was his last chance. Without the Bucs taking a stand on him, that kid would have gone downhill fast. Getting rid of him was the best thing for him. Keeping him would have told him it was alright to break the law.
January 25th, 2016 at 3:07 pm
Buc1987 Says
“I actually think that Tampa is such a laid back city that…”
Tampa completely sucks. I hate it there. It’s hot, humid and has a high crime rate. The fans are two-faced.
The only good things in Tampa are Sports teams and family.
If you don’t think the fans there suck, just look around here. Two consecutive losses and they turn on a team.
January 25th, 2016 at 4:36 pm
Joe lists teams that these players went to that were Super Bowl contenders when they went, before Jameis nobody wanted to come to this rat hole, so to think the Bucs had a chance on any of those players is silly talk
Hardly silly talk. Money talks. Little more. –Joe
January 25th, 2016 at 4:40 pm
You failed to mention that Denver has practically built it’s SB off of FA or rather most of it’s integral parts lol. Beside your mention of the QB of course.
January 25th, 2016 at 5:59 pm
Bucs have a ton of $ to spend this year. I would be shocked if they are not very active with FA signings in March. We’ve got enough to go for at least 2-3 high end talents – as well as some upgraded starters and/or role players.
$50M buys a lot of good players if your eval is on target. If not – well – we know how that goes…..
C’Mon Jason Light – the next 4 months is your time to shine. Show us what a REAL rockstar of a GM does with a full load of draft picks and $50M to compensate more talented players. If you can find 2-3 starters in the draft and 2-3 upgraded starters in FA to add to the great nucleus that is here – this team will be transformed into a winner. Get-r-done Jason.
January 25th, 2016 at 6:25 pm
I lived in Tampa most of my life. Yeah it sucked then and does now. How sucky? Enough that all the yankees have flooded down here from obviously suckier places.
January 25th, 2016 at 9:03 pm
Buc1987: most of your posts I like and agree with but your comments about this town are pretty ignorant. First, I assure you that Tampa is a much more exciting town than Green Bay, Charlotte, Buffalo, Minniapolis, Baltimore, KC, St Louis, Jacksonville and I could argue several other cities.
The fact is these are paid professional athletes and I think most would agree this is a great place to live and play. The team is a direct reflection of the management and coaching it has received since 1976. No excuses.
January 25th, 2016 at 9:28 pm
Free agency is good mantra does not mean talent wants to come to Tampa. The fans suck.
January 26th, 2016 at 8:14 am
Nothing wrong with the fans. recent Gm’s and coaches haven’t give us much to cheer about. when you build a house like we had in 2002, it is frustrating to see it torn apart by coaching and front office staff.