Poaching Josh Wells And Aaron Stinnie
February 18th, 2021
Super Bowl right guard Aaron Stinnie
Happy 27th birthday today to Bucs’ Super Bowl starting guard Aaron Stinnie. He went from “who?” to a Tampa Bay hero in one month’s time.
But now what?
Stinnie is a restricted free agent who proved he can start and thrive at the highest level; his first four career starts were in this season’s four playoff games. And the dude looked like a guard who would be embraced by many NFL teams.
Over at left tackle, the Bucs also needed a backup to start in December, when Josh Wells proved more than up for the task as the Bucs offense exploded in a second-half comeback against the Falcons. It was the second consecutive season that veteran Wells admirably filled in for Donovan Smith.
Unlike Stinnie, Wells, who turned 30 this week, is an unrestricted free agent.
Joe’s very curious to see what teams, if any, come calling for these two key cogs on the Bucs’ depth chart.
If the Bucs slap a second-round tender on Stinnie to keep him for 2021, then that would cost them more than $3 million in salary. That could be too high if they want to retain other key free agents. Wells earned $935,000 last season, and it wouldn’t shock Joe if another team was willing to triple that salary to make him a swing-tackle backup.
When a team wins a Super Bowl, its players have an extra sparkle on the open market.
In recent years, discarded Bucs have had mixed interest in the market. Joe suspects this year will be different. The free agency dinner bell rings one month from today.
February 18th, 2021 at 8:55 am
All great franchises get compensatory picks. Nothing wrong with letting some other teams overpay guys
February 18th, 2021 at 8:56 am
Haeg is free agent too, i believe..
February 18th, 2021 at 8:57 am
Glad stinnie is restricted so we have some control over situation
He played really well in backup role
Larsen couldnt hack it
Im done with haeg. No need for him to be on team moving forward
February 18th, 2021 at 9:10 am
Joe, with regard to comp picks, is a team’s comp pick also affected by that teams signing of a FA? For example, when (not likely “if”) we loose Fournette, if we sign, say Peterson, doesn’t the Peterson signing knock us down, or possibly out of the comp pick?
February 18th, 2021 at 9:10 am
My hope is the FA market will be severely affected by Covid. There will be $350-$500 million less dollars available than last year.
Which means more players will realize this and sign one year deals in order to wait for the larger contracts available after next season…
Fingers crossed we get most of our guys back for at least one more year.
February 18th, 2021 at 9:12 am
Other team will pouch both to weaken the Bucs and at the same time maybe improve themselves, ‘tis always been so in FA
February 18th, 2021 at 9:16 am
Would really hate to see Stinnie go. A young guy that can start at guard is not someone you want to let go. Starting calibre guards don’t exactly grow on trees, but could end up being a luxury. Just don’t know if the second rounder ends up being as good
February 18th, 2021 at 9:56 am
Our depth shined in the playoffs. Great job building a complete team by the Bucs!
February 18th, 2021 at 9:59 am
I agree with westernbuc. However, I think Stinnie is a valuable backup and I would like the Bucs to keep him if possible.
It is amazing how good this Bucs roster has become under Jason Licht in that it has backup players that will get paid good money if they hit free agency.
February 18th, 2021 at 10:00 am
No team will be poaching these two for starting roles.
February 18th, 2021 at 10:17 am
@Marine Buc: I agree.
I fully expect to see many more lower-$$$ one-year deals this FA period, banking on the 2022 cap to rise significantly.
February 18th, 2021 at 10:34 am
Jeff I disagree. There are some old, bad OL members out there.
February 18th, 2021 at 10:48 am
The difference between a second round tender and literally no compensation is about a million bucks. Protect him or at least bag a 2.
February 18th, 2021 at 10:57 am
We can draft somebody if we have to.
February 18th, 2021 at 11:02 am
We’re drafting for depth this year anyway.
February 18th, 2021 at 11:04 am
I still say trade D Smith to save about 14mil in cap space. To me he is what he is an overpaid lazy ass who only plays when the mood strikes him. Not worth the money.
February 18th, 2021 at 11:08 am
Stinnie is a guy who could not only challenge Cappa, for the starting role, he could very well replace him.
February 18th, 2021 at 11:28 am
@ Tom
Trade D. Smith and replace with who?
February 18th, 2021 at 12:21 pm
at the least I hope we get compensatory draft picks for these players
February 18th, 2021 at 12:29 pm
Stinne is worth $3m next year!! Did A great job for Cappa… Pay the man…
February 18th, 2021 at 1:21 pm
dam these two are gonna be sought after…
especially stinnie…
no to joe haeg…
try to keep wells and stinnie…
when everything relies on brady’s health and protection…
literally everything, you make sure to have a deep OL…
these 2 are a priority….
we go as brady goes…
even keep haeg if you can…
we really need all 3 as key pieces in a long nfl season…
some say brady can play 5 more years…
i don’t see it…
he can play a few more – so it seems…
but he must be protected at all costs…
old bones are old bones…
avocado scented ben gay doesn’t fix sh!t
February 18th, 2021 at 4:50 pm
Wells is replaceable. Stinnie is not. The Bucs will need to tender him.