Dominik’s Homegrown Crop
January 7th, 2011
Micheal Spurlock is among the many Bucs seeking a free agent payday.
Yesterday Mark Dominik talked about his desire to make the Bucs a “homegrown” winner and re-sign their own free agents.
Conveniently, NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune provided a list of the Bucs’ soon-to-be unrestricted free agents a few days ago, along with some brief commentary.
CB Ronde Barber – Can continue playing if he desires
LB Quincy Black – Solid player, but market determines fate
DL Tim Crowder – Made $545,000 in 2010; gets paid in 2011
TE John Gilmore – Hard to beat his stability and dedication
LB Adam Hayward – Key special teams performer, solid backup
G Davin Joseph – Pro Bowl-caliber right guard
LB Niko Koutouvides – Solid special teams contributor
LB Barrett Ruud – Underappreciated or overrated?
WR Micheal Spurlock – Well-rounded and emerging threat
WR Maurice Stovall – Never made impact in passing game
T Jeremy Trueblood – Lost starting job during season
DE Stylez G. White – Bucs will be looking for upgrade
RB Cadillac Williams – Plans to test the market
Of course, Dominik said all the free agents are important to retain, but every fan knows some of these guys will be playing elsewhere next season, or perhaps blogging or golfing.
It’s a very interesting list. A durable work-rate guy like 25-year-old Crowder, who has 10.5 career sacks, is going to command interest on the market.
Spurlock also has loads of upside and Joe would suspect Spurlock would be courted around the NFL. He ranked seventh in the league among kickoff returners with more than 20 opportunities, and he was one of 16 guys in the NFL to return a kick for a touchdown. He also caught 17 balls, 14.7 yards per catch and two toucdowns.
But Spurlock was very average on punt returns, with only two out of 28 returns more than 20 yards and some questionable decision-making. Joe wonders whether the Bucs might invest their money elsewhere and bank on Preston Parker and Sammie Stroughter filling Spurlock’s role.
Joe looks forward to overanalyzing this entire list through the offseason.
Obviously, the Bucs have landmark decisions to make with Ruud and Joseph.
January 7th, 2011 at 11:31 am
LB Quincy Black – Resign and let him and Dakota compete for starting spot
DL Tim Crowder – Resign as roleplayer
TE John Gilmore – Resign, dudes consistent
LB Adam Hayward – Resign, hes tough, hardworker and great special teams
G Davin Joseph – Lock him up with a top tier guard contract
LB Niko Koutouvides – let him walk
LB Barrett Ruud – resign only for the right price, no pro bowl type contract for him.
WR Micheal Spurlock – let him walk, i like Preston’s game better
WR Maurice Stovall – let him walk
T Jeremy Trueblood – Let him walk
DE Stylez G. White – Let him walk
RB Cadillac Williams – sign him to a short contract for 3rd down back money
January 7th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
i dont think i’d lock joseph up to a top tier contract.
January 7th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Joseph may be too expensive
and Spurlock will be a restricted free agent.
January 7th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
“LB Barrett Ruud – Underappreciated or overrated?” – oddly enough, probably a little of both.
January 7th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Mike Williams is up for rookie of the year at NFL.com. You can vote as many times as you want. It’s pretty easy to do about 20 or 30 times in row before hand gets tired. This is the only way we can gett him to win, because Bradford beat him out in ROW voting before, and Suh has a following too. Williams deserves it more than them IMO. Vote it up each day and tell freinds, kids, etc. pass it on.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
I’d like to keep Davin, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Bucs let these other guys walk.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Both Stylez White and Tim Crowder need to go. Why not sign two BETTER DE’s rather than those bums. I will be pissed if the Bucs spend a single red cent on resigning someone like Tim Crowder and fail to go after any of the better DE’s in free agency. Will he be available to resign for super cheap? Probably. The reason being that he sucks.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Bye Bye Koutovides. Joe is so quick to run Stovall out of town but Koutovides has done so little that most people probably aren’t even aware there is some guy named Niko Koutovides even on the roster. It would also be a crime to resign Quincy Black after seeing Hayward and Watson both make cases for being his replacement.
Trueblood, Crowder, “Stylez”, Koutovides and Black can all take a hike.
I wouldn’t complain about any of the others being resigned and I sure as hell hope they plan on at least resigning Davin Joseph, unless they plan on paying EVEN MORE MONEY to sign an even bigger name guard or draft one in the first couple rounds.
January 7th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
Joseph :is a pro bowler when healthy gets a big contract.
Rudd: I just can’t see him getting the money he is going to want. But that doesn’t mean dominik doesn’t think he’s good enough to sign and release if he gets beat out by a draft pick or FA. I think he is good enough that a team would pick him( and his contract) if he’s beat out by another player.
Spurlock: I can’t get those runback touchdowns and that fingertip toe touch catch outta my head – resign
Trueblood: let him walk or sign a tender to try and compete
Styles: let him walk or sign a tender to try and compete
Let everyone else walk
Caddy: give him a 2 year deal with performance incentives.
January 7th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
@gitarlvr:
I agree about the De situation. let those guys walk and sign a starter in FA and draft a couple studs. If the Bucs could get a top DE and an effective MLB in FA, it would may free them up a bit draft a play maker if one is available. Just a thought.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Don’t expect a lot of free agents to be signed by teams this off season.
CB Ronde Barber – He will resign
LB Quincy Black – He will resign late in the off season
DL Tim Crowder – Will be here maybe
TE John Gilmore – will be let go because he is no longer worthy of being here
LB Adam Hayward – Will Resign
G Davin Joseph – Will resign
LB Niko Koutouvides – goodbye
LB Barrett Ruud – I hate to say it, but he will likely get another 1-2 year deal here. I would rather him NOT, but Raheem really likes the guy.
WR Micheal Spurlock – Spurlock is one of the hardest working guys on the team. He deserves to be here. His game improves each week, he is solid on kick returns. KEEP HIM! (sorry Travis, but you are wrong)
WR Maurice Stovall – Been saying for years that this guy is a roster spot thief.
T Jeremy Trueblood – Will be resigned unless he tests the market and gets an offer.
DE Stylez G. White – goodbye
RB Cadillac Williams – goodbye
Here’s the thing…the Bucs CANNOT resign everyone. We have a lot of young players that stepped up this year. We have a draft coming with more young players.
Too many players to keep if we’re honest. We fans are going to see some favs get cut to make room.