Bryan Bulaga Set To Break Free
March 11th, 2020
As Joe has asked previously, would the Bucs dare swap their 34-year-old right tackle for a much younger model with more mileage on his tires and a load of playoff experience?
Beat writer Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is typing that the Packers have shown scant interest in re-signing their starting right tackle, Bryan Bulaga.
Bulaga turns 31 next week but he’s got 10 NFL seasons on his wheels. The Packers’ 2010 first-round pick made his 119th career start in Green Bay’s loss to the 49ers. Old man Bucs free agent Demar Dotson, 34, has 106 starts under his belt.
Like Dotson, Bulaga is well known for his pass blocking and he would bring fresh juice to a Bucs line that’s been the same for the past two seasons. His landing in Tampa also could help soothe a veteran free agent quarterback who might be leery of the Bucs’ offensive line.
Back in 2015, published reports claimed the Bucs were in the hunt for Bulaga in free agency. Yeah, that’s an NFL lifetime ago, but Jason Licht remains alongside Bucco Bruce Arians.
The Bucs need a youth injection on O-line, but Bulaga sure feels like a solid and affordable quick fix for a regime that can’t afford another losing season in 2020.
March 11th, 2020 at 12:21 pm
How much money can we keep tying up into the offensive line? At some point you have to start developing players.
March 11th, 2020 at 12:23 pm
Only if we are forced to use our first two picks on a QB & DT/DE….we need to draft a RT early……
March 11th, 2020 at 12:28 pm
The Packers had the highest paid O-Line in the 2019 season by $500,000!!!!!!!! The second highest was the Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Clearly overpaying for sub par performance has not worked out!!!!!!!!!!!! But hardly any of the sheep will blame the burnt out licht build GM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 11th, 2020 at 12:30 pm
I’m definitely in the “draft one” camp. I’d sign Dot or similar vet to a low money deal as a backup though.
March 11th, 2020 at 12:40 pm
I like Dotson, but it’s time for his replacement….not that it’s in the form of an overpriced player on the downside of 30. if anything draft his replacement until he’s better than Dotson or he goes down.
March 11th, 2020 at 12:49 pm
I would love to see it. At his age, maybe we could get him at a decent price, while drafting one as well.
March 11th, 2020 at 12:54 pm
Not at the risk of not being able to sign JPP
March 11th, 2020 at 1:00 pm
Would rather draft Ezra Cleveland or Matt Peart on Day2 of the draft, than use vital Cap Space on a declining FA asset.
Just doesn’t make sense to throw another $10M in FA @ the OL – w/o having QB1 & DEF Front 7 locked up 1st.
March 11th, 2020 at 1:05 pm
BridleOaks Buc Says:
“Not at the risk of not being able to sign JPP”
~~~~~~~
I DO agree with that. JPP before anything like this.
He NEEDS to be here.
March 11th, 2020 at 1:06 pm
^ JPP, I mean.
March 11th, 2020 at 1:06 pm
Talk to me about a worthy vet center to send Jensen’s outrageous contract before worry RT I say. Free agent or draft an OT is much easier than a 25-28 year old boss center.
March 11th, 2020 at 1:07 pm
Just plain no
March 11th, 2020 at 1:45 pm
There are so many variables that go into how long an athlete can stretch his/her career. Age and actual wear and tear are two of the more important ones.
However how the player has taken care of himself during his career is high up there as well as his injury (frequently just luck) history has been. No major knee episodes on an older dude might be better than a younger guy who has had some zippers on his knees.
Bottom line…can Bulaga still play…how much does he want.
I agree with TBBF that an FA of value is probably going to be too expensive compared to the value we could find in a draft loaded with tackles.
March 11th, 2020 at 1:45 pm
“But hardly any of the sheep will blame the burnt out licht build GM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
it’s as if this guy has never read a single comment on this site.
At this point – based on seeing him ignore at least 3 posts by me destroying his PPG stats when you factor the turnovers in for Todd Bowles vs Mike Smith – I am pretty sure he isn’t reading anything on this site other than the article topic, and coming into copy/paste whatever crap he decided to write in a word document that morning while high on something.
March 11th, 2020 at 2:10 pm
sign conklin
or
draft isaiah wilson-RT-UGA in the 2nd or 3rd round….he’s a day1 starter….
GO BUCS!!!!!
March 11th, 2020 at 2:29 pm
forget regime that cant handle another losing season. the fans!!!
March 11th, 2020 at 3:09 pm
When he is healthy, he would definitely be an upgrade. But in Green Bay, he gets hurt on a yearly basis. So beware.
March 11th, 2020 at 4:59 pm
Doctor_Berto … B-I-N-G-O!!! Bucs NEED to get younger on their OLine, not older. The way we do that is by drafting quality OLinemen & developing them to be beasts in the trenches. We’ve got ONE starting Olineman still on his first contract (Cappa) & I’m still not convinced he should even be a starter.
Bucs OLine tied for the #5 sport in QB Hits Allowed (106) and ranked #11 in Sacks Allowed (47), as well as #24 in Rushing Yardage (1521). Performance like that hardly justifies the $39 mil plus that we spent for our 5 starters in 2019.
Right now, LT Donovan Smith is 26 (5 yrs experience … FA 2022). LG Ali Marpet is 26 (5 yrs experience … FA 2024). Center Ryan Jensen is 28 (6 yrs experience … FA 2022). RG Alex Cappa is 25 (2 yrs experience … FA 2022). And RT ??? … oh that’s right, we don’t have one right now. So we have 3 OLinemen on their 2nd contract and 1 Olineman on his 1st contract. THREE contracts will be up in 2022 & the other in 2024. Point being … we don’t need an old RT that we’d probably bring in on a short (1-3 year contract); we need a young one (1st Rnder preferably) that we could have for up to 5 years, at least.
There are at least 5 quality Tackles in this year’s draft who could start on Day One. The odds that one will be there when we pick at #14 is quite good. Let’s not screw around counting on getting a Day One starter in Rnd 2, Rnd 3 or even later. IF one of those 5 Tackles is there at #14, pull the trigger Jason.
March 11th, 2020 at 6:46 pm
We need a run blocking RT. To do that we need to draft one. That is because Licht can’t do free agent O-line people with any gas left in the tank.
They also need a QB that doesn’t hold the ball for so long. That would cut the sacks by 50%.
We do not need to tear up the line and start over, they gelled pretty well last season and were really durable.
March 11th, 2020 at 7:29 pm
Funny, but it seems as if this is the year of available older OTs at the same time there is 4, 5 or 6 potential first rounders out there also.
March 12th, 2020 at 7:00 am
@Lord, well said. It gave me a good chuckle this morning, and it was accurate!!!!!!!!!!! (extra exclamation points in honor of Realist)