“They Swear They Will Spend The Money …”
May 6th, 2011
For those wondering why Team Glazer owns the club that has spent at or near rock bottom for the past seven seasons, St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton perhaps served up a little clarification yesterday during a live chat on TampaBay.com.
Shelton explained that Team Glazer will open the vault when the Bucs are ready to compete for a Super Bowl.
Comment From TimTim: The Glazers are not cheap. They just spend all the money they have paying $50 million transfer fees plus the players salary so Man U can have a new scorer. Man U is a dominant team with the worlds most expensive players. Why is their philosophy completely opposite with the Bucs?
Gary Shelton: According to the Glazers, and I spent a half hour with Joel in New Orleans in late March, it’s a matter of cycles. They swear they will spend the money when the Bucs are ready to compete for the big game.
Much of it might be the differences in the sports. To compete with Man U, ownership has to pay international transfer fees. In the NFL, there is a salary cap. Also, when is the last great NFL team to buy itself a title? You win in the NFL by developing your own players. Ask Indy, New England, Pittsburgh.
That said, I think this is the year to augment with a player or two.
Coming off a 10-6 season with stud talent on the roster, including the addition of Rambo and the next Ray Lewis, surely this is the season Team Glazer will deem the Bucs a Super Bowl contender.
If Shelton is to be believed, then one could conclude the Bucs don’t see themselves as contenders if they don’t dabble in what will be the biggest free agent class in history. That would be very sad.
May 6th, 2011 at 9:04 am
Can u imagine what just a couple of FAs could do for this team?
Say, Deangelo Williams…?
That’d be awesome. However, signing FAs won’t change the attendance problems, despite the “hater’s plea”.
May 6th, 2011 at 9:05 am
I only want 2 Free Agents…..
Ray Edwards
Nnamdi Asomougha
May 6th, 2011 at 9:06 am
This FA class is mostly terrible. I would like to see us pick up a corner (Joseph maybe?) this year.
Realistically we probably aren’t competing for a SB this year. The DL is going to need a year of experience. The next 1-3 years is when I expect us to start really jelling.
May 6th, 2011 at 9:11 am
Wow ..thats a chiken or the egg argument. We wont spend money on free agents (or own included?) until we are really good. Ok, so how do you get really good if you wont re-sign your own free agents? Also, what is “competing” for a superbowl? I mena, we went 10-6 last year with a ton of injuries. We may not go this year, but we will be competetive. I know this, I am rooting for a salary basement requirement like before that FORCES THESE IDIOTS TO SPEND MONEY and not just use the team as their capital-loss write-off
May 6th, 2011 at 9:23 am
I don’t buy this whole “biggest free agent class in history”
Most will sign back with their teams. In the end, even though there are extra guys because they were denied last year, it will not be that much larger than others. PLUS, it is not very deep at most positions or loaded with talent, just look at how much Ruud’s stock will rise
May 6th, 2011 at 9:37 am
Joe-
It might be a rather large class, but the players out there are…well..pretty much garbage aside from a few players. I could really care less if they tackle FA this year. I think we are playoff ready, but don’t think we have what it takes to put us over the top. At least, not until I see some games played. If our team can defend against the run and our secondary can hold off opponents with our without Talib/Jackson, then no doubt next year will be superbowl or bust and the glazers will find the missing pieces.
May 6th, 2011 at 9:43 am
only chance the glazers will spend money on the bucs is if daddy glazer wakes up from his coma
May 6th, 2011 at 9:44 am
Exactly what I’ve said for months. And this is the year to add a few pieces. I think we will be surprised at how active the Bucs will be in free agency. Think they will add a LB, OG, and CB at least. Probably a RT and Og also
May 6th, 2011 at 10:17 am
Everything rides on 1 simple thing: Joseph. If we dont make a serious play for him, it tells me everything i need to know.
The Glazers are infact:
1) cheap
2) incompetent, if they dont think we are ready to compete at the highest level
3) incompetent and cheap if they think we dont need a corner after this Talib fiasco.
May 6th, 2011 at 11:26 am
With the sheep all giddy over the 10 wins last year, they wont start paying any money out until the bottom falls out – which is coming soon to a theatre near you.
May 6th, 2011 at 11:31 am
You know, I’ve been thinking about the comment Meh made:
At first I agreed completely with that statement…but after giving it some thought…
Even if the two new DEs play this year and start developing, we can still compete for the Playoffs at least, and by the time the SB comes, the team might just be ready for it. The DEs will have had more than 16 games of experience.
And the other point is this…as bad as our defensive ends were last year, they cannot get worse, even if the rookies play from the start. We nearly made the playoffs with crappy DEs last year, so we will probably make them this year because Price, GMC and Miller will be more developed, and Clayton/Bowers can ONLY be a lateral move at worse, and an improvement at best.
I think 5 more sacks last year would have made a huge difference.
May 6th, 2011 at 11:34 am
When the super bowl comes we will be ready for it……………………LMAO.
May 6th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
I wasn’t saying we couldn’t make the playoffs. I think we will. I just don’t think we’re quite ready to go the distance this year. Of course, I’d love to be wrong!
May 6th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
“including the addition of Rambo and the next Ray Lewis, ”
Joe, this line crack3ed me up…thanks for the laugh. Oh, and I hope it is true…
May 6th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
What Glazer said has nothing to do with the Bucs OWN free agents as they have always said they are about keeping their own. What he means is adding another teams FA to possibly fill a need and/or to help push the team over the top to a SB. If they don’t resign Joseph or any other of their own FA it’s because they didn’t want them.
May 6th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
At first I was skeptical, but I think the Glazers have done a fantastic job with the transformation of the team. I don’t feel as though they anyone any explanations for anything. I was upset that they made the London game a home game but, I understand why they did it financially and I’m over it. The big deal now is this stupid lockout and getting this show on the road.
May 6th, 2011 at 2:31 pm
The only time the glazers arent misleading is when they arent speaking.
May 6th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
“With the sheep all giddy over the 10 wins last year, they wont start paying any money out until the bottom falls out – which is coming soon to a theatre near you.”
————–
What a great, constructive, positive comment Eric. By reading it, one would interpret it as if you wanted us to have a bad season next year. But no, that couldn’t be right?
May 6th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
The biggest free agent class in history? Uh…not likely. The most probably outcome is that this league year is played under the same rules as last year. A new CBA likely won’t be agreed upon outside of the legal process, which could take years. If the 2010 rules are in effect this year that means most of the good free agents will still be restricted and won’t hit the open market. This could actually end up being the worst free agent crop in history, not the best.
May 6th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
There’s no excuse for not bringing in at least 2 impact free agents this offseason. The Glazers have spent no money, NONE, the past 2 years and even though we’re becoming a contender again, they’ve done it the cheapest way they could. Imagine how much better we could be if they just threw out A LITTLE money towards some players.
Raheem and Dom are why the Bucs are winning. Not the Glazers. Doing nothing and just keeping your money in your wallet is easy to do. Do I think the Glazers are the worst owners?? No not at all. But this team could be a lot better and we could make a push for the super bowl this next season if they spent some money.
May 6th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
When you hire people that are smarter than you are, you prove you are smarter than they are.
R. H. Grant
May 7th, 2011 at 5:43 am
Gary, nice of you to take time during your break at Taco Bell , to comment on how cheap and incompetent the Multi billionaire Glazers are! Amazingly insightful! Between folding Tacos, how much do you spend on your NFL Team- lmao!
May 7th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Get your panties out of a bunch Patrick. They built this team the SMART way not the cheap way. They followed the pattern of the Steelers and Packers NOT Gruden/Allen/Redskins/Raiders. Duh Winning!!!!
May 7th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
I know, what’s up with all the cheap $h!t? If you can get top quality merchandise for less than your competition, your a leg up. Why overpay when you don’t have to? It’s stupid.