Vinny Curry Released
February 12th, 2019
Gone.
The budget cuts are coming.
Bucs defensive end Vinny Curry was released today after one season. The move shaved $8 million off the 2019 salary cap.
Joe suspects this is the first of a few cost-cutting moves this offseason by Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht. That $8 million can be much better spent.
Curry, who turns 31 in June, played and practiced hard last season but he was a non-factor on a horrible Bucs defense. He played 12 games, made seven starts and had 2 1/2 sacks.
He could be a target to return to the Eagles, as WIP in Philadelphia noted the other day.
Vinny Curry, Tampa Bay: Like Allen, Curry’s first season in Tampa Bay didn’t go as planned. Curry played in just 42% of the snaps and finished with only 2.5 sacks. The Eagles wanted Curry back in 2018, but had to cut him for financial reasons. If the Buccaneers do the same, moving on from Curry and saving $8 million, it would be surprising if the Eagles didn’t welcome the chance to bring him back.
The rise of Carl Nassib, who earns less than $1 million, made Curry expendable in a hurry.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:14 am
What about Clyde?
February 12th, 2019 at 10:14 am
Saggy you changed it just as I posted
February 12th, 2019 at 10:18 am
Trimming that cap fat…
February 12th, 2019 at 10:18 am
Unrein or Allen next?
February 12th, 2019 at 10:22 am
Jason stop signing players fresh off a super bowl title! These guys are physically spent and come down here just to cash checks and think about life after football!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 10:23 am
This virtually guarantees that Gholston, Unrein, Allen, and GMC are gone too. Bout time. Or at least it should.
Free Up enough dough to sign Trent Brown, Mike Iupati, Landon Collins and Leveon Bell, and then we can spend all of our draft picks on DLine and Corner players. Good timing too because this year is loaded with really good defenders.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:24 am
Curry wasn’t worth $8 million a year. Need that $ elsewhere.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:24 am
Hes going to be good in philly again
February 12th, 2019 at 10:25 am
Listen, Licht took a chance throwing players at the wall to see which one would stick.
Nassib did, Curry didn’t.
Sacks went up 73% so I would say mission accomplished.
Baseline still looks much better over last year.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:26 am
Quinnen Williams and Jaylon Ferguson in rounds 1&2 would be a steal.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:30 am
Yes bye bye 👋🏽 can’t remember a single play from him last season
February 12th, 2019 at 10:31 am
So much for the “licht did his job” from last year!!!!!!!!!! over paying backups to start was never going to work!!!!!!!!! Just like scheming and adding players around gmc will never work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 season will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 10:35 am
The Bucs should consider signing Nassib to a long term contract while he would be relatively cheap.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:35 am
noah spence may be safe….
smells like gholston, urein and allen are up next….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 10:36 am
@Schwifty, why does it virtually guarantee that all of those players are gone?
February 12th, 2019 at 10:36 am
how does licht still have a job? he misses on every FA he signs
February 12th, 2019 at 10:38 am
TOM
i agree….
at least a 3year deal….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 10:40 am
@ElBucoStupido
Licht did a much better job at finding D-linemen than Mike Smith did at not being on pace to have the worst defense in NFL history.
Vea got better in every single game and closed out the season on the verge of being a dominant player. JPP broke the 10+ sack drought. And he brought in Carl Nassib who turned out to be a diamond in the rough with a ton of upside.
Meanwhile, Mike Smith, who you adamantly defend along with his toadie, Mr. start the season 3-5 Koetter, was as I said earlier on p
February 12th, 2019 at 10:41 am
Accidentally pressed send… on *pace to have the worst defense in NFL history.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:41 am
It’s about flippin’ time Licht gets to work!!! Much more fat to cut, keep going Licht.
And @Defense Rules….see what I was saying yesterday about their agents requesting the outright release??
Keep cutting…cut, cut, cut. If this buffoon thinks that he’s gonna stroll into Indy, and just wheel and deal for contracts (and players) other teams don’t want to give trade compensation for, buffoon Licht has another thing coming!!
Get to work Licht!
Go Bucs!
February 12th, 2019 at 10:43 am
Another reason why free agency does not give me much hope with the Bucs. Not much faith in it fixing needs either. It mostly looks good on paper but rarely pans out especially with Licht’s track record. Zero excitement for the upcoming free agency next month.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:43 am
Lol…..for all those on here pimping for that Jeffery Simmons thug outta Miss State at DT….
Well he just TORE HIS ACL in a pre-draft workout!!
Yup! Toast…lol
February 12th, 2019 at 10:43 am
Sunday_44 — Excellent take.. I don’t know what GM is hitting on every single pick or FA move.(See Patriots they don’t) We improved the DL last year no question but many of us knew that last years moves would not be enough. We added JPP & Nassib arguably our two best DE combo in a decade but that shouldn’t stop us from adding talent. We need to continue proving the DL.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:45 am
@gbobucsfan
Because it shows to me that Licht has begun the process of cutting players to open up cap space. And all those players I mentioned were of equal impact to this team last year as Curry was minus McCoy but cutting him frees up 13 million.
February 12th, 2019 at 10:52 am
@ Not_so_swiftybuc
LOL, I rookie usually will get better as the year goes on, especially when they were injured and did not play the first 3-4 games!!!!!!!!!!! thats ground breaking analyst you have their!!!!!!!! and throwing together that many players together it would take time too!!!!! The “real” question was why was licht weight rebuilding a whole D-line in year 5????? why all the huge turnover in the secondary???? LOL keep pondering !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It hurts being right so many times and the sheep cannot see it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its the “realist repost”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was it?????? 2 salary cut casualties and 3rd round draft pick trade and some expect “immediate high-performance”???????? We “real” fans think while it was upgraded, this is not a finish product!!!!! Its a work in progress!!!!!! And to think other wise is foolish!!!!!!!!!! or has an agenda against a certain coach??????
The “real” fans are excited to see what the defense “is” in the back half of the season!!!!!!!!
Fix the “real” problem, the roster!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 10:54 am
How many times has Licht had to admit a mistake? Repetition does not make it better.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:03 am
Another failed free agency signing by Backstabbin’ Jason Licht. Worse GM than Mark Dominick. He has spent lots of Glazer cash on too many one-and-done FA signings.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:03 am
Season Is Over Says:
February 12th, 2019 at 10:54 am
How many times has Licht had to admit a mistake? Repetition does not make it better.
it’s the organization that is the problem not licht… bucs have been making mistakes for 2 decades under the glazers
the biggest mistake by far was the desperate hiring dungy the clown and wasting 6 years of sapp’s career
best decsion getting rid of dungy the clown and letting gruden clean his mess up….
every free agent and coach that has came to tampa for the better part of 2 decades has failed miserably. how is that on Licht…. How can anyone succeed given the track record of glazer clowns?
are you better fans for ignoring facts and once again giving the Glazers free pass…. respect is earned on Sunday’s not via offseason delusional hype
February 12th, 2019 at 11:03 am
813bucboi Says:
February 12th, 2019 at 10:35 am
noah spence may be safe….
Soence has a dead cap hit of $1,273,134…..so, he may survive the cuts. I’d like to see what some new coaches can do with him. I simply don’t think he all of the sudden forgot how to rush the passer.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:06 am
In terms of whether “Licht did his job”did, I’d argue he definitely did NOT field a bottom 3 talent defense…Much closer to average in talent than worst in NFL history (the Smitty pace of points allowed/yards allowed)
It was our best pass rushing DL in a while but it doesn’t matter when you play soft sh1t down my throat and put everyone in position to fail coverage.
We were the worst D in the league under Smitty. Stop defending that.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:08 am
Who’s next?
February 12th, 2019 at 11:08 am
“Hey Gump
You and Kobe had some differences and butted heads (ouch! meathead)) but we can smooth everything out with 1 move…
GO GET DUKE JOHNSON…NOW”
Kobe Faker
February 12th, 2019 at 11:11 am
Not sure how signing free agents is always supposed to be a home run. Everyone here criticizing licht for signing curry in the first place is fake as hell because was onboard with it. Very few people thought signing Nassib was relevant but hypocrisy is all over this site. I would be more critical of a general manager who signs unproductive players but to a contract the team is stuck with. No harm no foul, he’s cut so time to continue to tweak the roster
February 12th, 2019 at 11:12 am
No offense but that was easy decision.
Give that 8 mil to the honey badger. We need safety playmaker.
I like it.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:13 am
Another one of GM Licht overpaid, underproducing FA one year rentals. This roster is horrible.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:14 am
Or is some of that money to Humphries ?
February 12th, 2019 at 11:14 am
Am I really the only one on this site that would rather have Landon Collins than Tyrann Mathieu?
February 12th, 2019 at 11:15 am
Good move Allen, Conte, Rodgers, Smith, Gholston, Unrein, and Jackson are next please
February 12th, 2019 at 11:17 am
Curry might not have been cut if Nassib had not exploded. He wasn’t that. Bad.
Jason Licht is not worse than Mark Dominick. He’s better than both Dominock and McKay.
For every fail free agent there was also a successful one. And I will take good drafts over good free agents any time.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:18 am
“Gump is going to bring in Todd Bowles players more than BAs guys…
TBs fingerprints will be all over 2019 FAs and draft…
BA promised Bowles alot to come to the Bucs vs the other more talented defenses
Bowles is not a defensive coordinator but an assistant head coach”
Kobe Faker
February 12th, 2019 at 11:22 am
That 8m will go to Humphries.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:23 am
If Curry had 2 1/2 sacks playing only 42% of the snaps then, that would come to approximately 6 sacks for the year had he played 100% of the snaps. That is as good as any DE (before Nassib & JPP) over the last 10 years!
To be clear however, at that salary, he had to be cut.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:25 am
Bonzai. You destroy your entire argument when you say stupid things like Licht is a better Gm than McKay was. I mean cmon dude. The man Drafted what should end up being 4 hall of fame players and constructed a Super Bowl championship caliber team not once but twice.
Let us not for get the infamous Bert Emmanuel catch/ not catch that would have sent the Bucs to the Superbowl in 99-00 season where they more than likely would have beaten the Titans with the overwhelmingly good defense they had that year that which held the Greatest show on turf to 11 points.
Cmon man. Why do you do these things to yourself?
February 12th, 2019 at 11:26 am
Man somebody help me figure out what Realist (!!!!!!!!) keeps saying?
What do WE real fans know that the sheep don’t?
I guess Licht is suppossed to be the issue???
February 12th, 2019 at 11:28 am
stout
j.simmons a thug?…..lol….
obviously you’ve never seen a “thug” in your life…..
“thugs” dont go to college and earn a degree….”thugs” arent positive role models in the community….
you know what “thugs” do….they shoot up churches…they shoot up schools….they shoot up concerts…..those are “thugs”
kid made 1 mistake an he’s forever a “thug”….man get a life….you aint speaking gospel…its more like gossip!!!!!
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
#stoutGOSSIPknowsless!!!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 11:30 am
remember folks, licht drafts, lovie signs FA’s….this is all lovies fault….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 11:32 am
Duke Johnson would be a great add. But not reading he is expendable even with adding Hunt. Hunt isn’t going to be available to them much of the year.
I’d send a 5-6 type round pick for him or Breida.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:33 am
With the #5 pick and a new coach, which people have said turnover is usually high, this team could look excitingly different next year.
I was wondering what would happen with Curry going to Marshall and Leftwich saying he has kept an eye on him.
I’m betting we have at least 5 new starters on Defense and hoping we have at least 3 new starters on Offense, preferably 4.
If 9 new starters happens, that’s 41% starting turnover.
Keep this train moving please.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:37 am
@ StoutGospel
Makes me sick to my stomach that basically 17 teams had 3 guards better than Benenoch.
10 sacks?
Dude should give his money back!!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 11:43 am
Geez Bonzai, it’s fine to be optimistic but you’re going full retard here. Never go full retard.
I really believe you’re trolling with some of your comments. Makes for entertaining banter I guess…
February 12th, 2019 at 11:53 am
Bonzai, I think Licht = Dom = McKay at this point.
February 12th, 2019 at 11:58 am
@Sunday_44…
I agree! Benenoch should have never been a focus out of UCLA, no idea why Licht and scouts targeted him. We need a big fix there at RG in his place, and it looks like the FA market overall will have some. And Dotson next to him ain’t getting any younger, or healthier. Whole Right side re-work!
February 12th, 2019 at 12:05 pm
Keep em coming. And GhostofSchiano if Unrein is still going to play then dont cut him. Id prefer to see if he wants to keep playing. He is a good player. Theres plenty of guys who could and should be next. Glad they started the cuts. Lets go!!
February 12th, 2019 at 12:13 pm
Name 1 free agent from Licht that has performed even close to expectations, big fat zero, the only acquisitions Licht has made that improved our team are JPP Nassib and Mankins, which came from trades and waiver, Jensen was okay but not a stud, that’s 5 years of healthy cap space wasted, hoping its a coaching problem, but this GM is horrible
February 12th, 2019 at 12:18 pm
I just did a jig. I am so happy to see the crumb player leave Tampa Bay.
I don’t know who I want to see gone next. I’ll might have to go with Gholston. Good greif is that guy a stiff. I never seen a football player that big play so soft in all my life. I’ve never seen a player just take up space on as many plays as this guy did.
At least with Curry he was brought in…….How in the world does this team each a dude like Gholston every day in practice and say “yes” sing him up for a multi-year 8 figure contract.
Singing Gholston for that money to do nothing for this many years is the perfect example of how dysfunctional the orginazation has been
February 12th, 2019 at 12:20 pm
Dustyrhides, because none of yhose free agents have ever played gor a well coached bucs team. Arians will get this ship right
February 12th, 2019 at 12:20 pm
813- “Lovie’s fault”! LOL!
Curry was made expendable by Nassib.
February 12th, 2019 at 12:23 pm
History Reminder
Mckay is a garbage gm that Atlanta could not strip him of his title fast enough….
remember folks it was McKay and dungy the clown who wasted 6 years of sapps career with their inability to field a high school level offense.
so many of you forget the facts and rather live in a failed past made up in your minds.
February 12th, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Now he’ll go back to the Eagles and play his ass off. His one year sabbatical is over.
February 12th, 2019 at 12:55 pm
I screamed it from the rooftops all of last preseason/offseason that these guys were back ups and overpaid but wtfdik smh
This fandom is getting to me.
Hunt was strike 1
February 12th, 2019 at 1:20 pm
Rich McKay was promoted you everloving idiot.
You really need to stick with living on the past and crying about our NFC title loss of 1999.
Your perception is not even close to reality.
February 12th, 2019 at 1:22 pm
JPP for a 3rd rounder, Licht gets a pass on Curry. no one bats 1.000
February 12th, 2019 at 1:23 pm
i hope this means we’ll be targeting frank clark in FA….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 1:30 pm
Frank Clark is getting tagged. read it yesterday.
February 12th, 2019 at 1:45 pm
The Jason Licht free agency cycyle
1. Sign
2. Bust
3. Admit mistake
4. Release
5. Repeat
Year after year after year.
And Sunday 44, just because the Dline improved doesnt mean its good. It improved from bad to mediocre. So obviously mission is not accomplished, as you say.
February 12th, 2019 at 1:50 pm
@StoutGospel … “And @Defense Rules….see what I was saying yesterday about their agents requesting the outright release??” And exactly what in Joe’s article above makes you believe that Curry’s AGENT requested his release? Curry was a logical one to cut since we’ll OBVIOUSLY (I hope) be drafting at least 1 DE (and likely adding another through FA). His play certainly didn’t warrant $8 mil per year.
Excellent post BTW at 11:16 AM. Their line “Tampa Bay is likely to transition to more 3-4 looks under Bowles, calling Pierre-Paul and Curry’s scheme fits into question” looks to be spot on (given Curry’s release). I seriously doubt however that JPP is going anywhere. For one, he’s a BEAST (it’d take 2 DEs to replace him on the field). For another, he’s been GUARANTEED $40 mil. Would you release a player like that after ONE year?
And yes Bucsfanman, “Curry was made expendable by Nassib”. Plus Bruce Arians & Todd Bowles focus on ACCOUNTABILITY, and ‘production’ is a big part of that IMO. Carol Nassib produced BIG TIME last year; Curry didn’t.
Interesting question could be ‘OK, who’s next?’ My money’s on Gholston, Spence & Unrein (the 2 LEAST PRODUCTIVE members of our DLine) on the defensive side of the ball. On the offensive side, DJax, Dotson & ‘revolving door’ Benenoch. On S/Ts I’m betting we’ll wave bye bye to Bryan Anger ($3.0 mil saved with no dead $$$).
February 12th, 2019 at 1:56 pm
@Dewey … “JPP for a 3rd rounder, Licht gets a pass on Curry. no one bats 1.000”. No one bats 1.000? Aw come on, Licht signed Unrein, Allen & Curry in FA to ‘fix the DLine’ and then traded for JPP (love the trade, but realistically it came about because Gettleman was cleaning house & we had big $$$ (at the time) to pick up JPP’s pretty big contract (for a 30-year-old DE). How would signing those 4 … then releasing AT LEAST 2 of them … be even close to batting 1000?
February 12th, 2019 at 2:25 pm
I don’t get how Unrein is still here…Did he play one snap? Nope
We certainly won’t miss production like that
February 12th, 2019 at 2:26 pm
Tmaxcon:
Do you remember the 1999 NFC Championship game ?
That was all Dungy!
By all rights he should have been in the superbowl with the Bucs a few years sooner.
The Bert Emmanuel CATCH screwed him and the BUCS.
Talk about a bad call!!!
He had a pretty nice run in Indianapolis i believe.
Dude give credit where credit is due. Gruden who i thought was a good coach also was a recipient of a team that was ready to succeed.
February 12th, 2019 at 3:03 pm
Widerightandleft
They lost that game no excuses. Dungy failed
February 12th, 2019 at 3:10 pm
folks calling about 34, how does nassib fit into that?….he’s a 43 DE all day in america…..
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 3:10 pm
dewey
damn!!!!!!
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 3:31 pm
@Defense Rules…
My post at 11:16am was copied and pasted from Evan Silva at Rotoworld from this morning, on the overall state of the Bucs roster. That wasn’t “me” writing any of that. I believe Evan was surmising regarding the JPP portion that we might TRADE JPP if BA and company found that he wasn’t the best fit for the new defensive schemes in all forms. We wouldn’t release JPP.
February 12th, 2019 at 4:23 pm
Defense Rules Says:
March 17th, 2018 at 7:21 pm
“Good signing by Jason Licht.”
Rod Munch Says:
March 17th, 2018 at 8:45 pm
“Licht’s free agency record says this will be a bust.”
Rod Munch Says:
March 18th, 2018 at 3:19 am
“The Bucs still have Ryan Smith and Chris Conte starting. The offense had better average over 30 points a game if the team is to have a chance.”
….as a bonus I’ll give some credit to Lakeland who summed it the best…
LakeLand Says:
March 17th, 2018 at 6:09 pm
“Just another free agency where Jason Licht overpaid for a bunch of bums. If people actually think the Bucs will make the playoffs with other teams trash. Then I suggest they wakeup and come back to reality.”
February 12th, 2019 at 4:57 pm
Not mentioned a lot by anyone, but I expect the Bucs to cut Bryan Anger too. A bit expensive for being in the lower half of punters last season. While improving slightly over his 2017 season, he’s had now 2 seasons in a row below his career average in yards. Finished 19th in yards per punt average and 30th in punts inside the 20 is no place for a top tier (paid) punter to be.
February 12th, 2019 at 5:00 pm
Beau Allen, Mitch Unrein, William Gholston – to cut all three costs you $2.5m, but you save $10million.
Would you rather have 3 garbage depth players, or one FA DE bust?
You decide!
February 12th, 2019 at 5:04 pm
Some other cuts…
Evan Smith, $2m
Bryan Anger, $3m
Ryan Smith, $2m
Wait… according to OverTheCap, the Bucs owe Ryan Smith a $2m payout this year? Huh? There is no way that is correct, it must be off by six zeros.
February 12th, 2019 at 5:20 pm
rod
i like ryan smith….he’s just been in the wrong scheme and hasnt been developed….
regarding the first question, i guess i’ll take the FA DE….lol….we know what the 3 garbage players can do….maybe the FA just needs a change of scenery….lol…
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
February 12th, 2019 at 5:28 pm
This was another great signing by Licht, the guy knows talent.
February 12th, 2019 at 6:21 pm
813
You.blame every Buc who doesn’t pan out on the coaching staff and how they don’t “devolop them enough”. Good players take responsibility and devolop themselves and don’t rely on the coaches for their careers. And when are you gonna realize that guys like Ryan Smith, Ronald Jones and Caleb Bennoch just simply aren’t good enough?
February 12th, 2019 at 6:53 pm
Just another swing and miss for Licht. Curry probably goes back to Philly and racks up double digit sacks.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:38 pm
@Rod Munch … “Rod Munch Says:
March 17th, 2018 at 8:45 pm
“Licht’s free agency record says this will be a bust.”
Rod … 1 year ago, Curry looked to be an improvement over what the Bucs had for DEs at the time (Ayers, Gholston, Russell, Spence, Tapp, Ward, O’Connor). He was a part-time player with the SB champs, but played in (and started) all 16 games that season, had 3 sacks, 42 tackles, 10 TFLs, 18 QB hits. Not that bad for a key rotational guy, but probably not worth $8 mil either.
In his year with us, Curry certainly didn’t live up to expectations (tackles, TFLs & QB hits were less than half of the year before). I don’t give Jason Licht credit for much, but I’ll still say that at the time, signing Curry was an improvement over what we had been fielding for a DLine. But releasing him after last year’s performance makes perfect sense.
February 12th, 2019 at 8:44 pm
@ tmax either you are incredibly stupid or you are a racist either way it’s pretty much the same the disrespect you use when it comes to Mr.Dungy is down right disturbing all of us REAL BUCS FANS know that the entire league penciled us in for a W when we were on their schedule Mr.Dungy was the man that spear headed the culture change in Tampa and made us respected even feared so please this site is for BUCS FANS all of us white,black,red,orange and pewter stop the b.s. cause you are disrespecting all of US!!! # GO BUCS
February 12th, 2019 at 9:40 pm
Amen Uncle Donnie. Well said. Somewhere in the swamps of Louisiana, a Saints blog is missing one of their own.
February 13th, 2019 at 9:52 am
Had to be done. Under performed and was overpaid. This to me seemed like a pretty easy decision. GMC, Gholston and a few others probably are coming too.
For all those trashing Licht, give the guy a little credit that he can admit his VC was a swing and a miss and move on which also saves the Bucs a chunk of salary cap next year.