Enter Carl Nicks?
February 29th, 2012
Beat writers eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune and Pat Yasinskas of ESPN were buzzing about the possibility of Saints star left guard Carl Nicks landing on the Buccaneers yesterday.
New Orleans, as Yasinskas pointed out during an interview on Primetime on WHBO-AM 1040, is in salary cap hell and must make eye-opening roster cuts and moves in the coming days. One move is possibly using its franchise tag on Drew Brees, which means they wouln’t have it available to sign free-agent-to-be Nicks. If Nicks hits the market, the Bucs should pounce, so says Yasinskas and Kaufman.
For those unfamiliar, Nicks is a manbeast listed at 6-5, 345 pounds, and is widely accepted as the best left guard in football. He’s been an All-Pro the last two season and will command a fortune in free agency. Davin Joseph locked up a seven-year $52 million deal last year, and Nicks will command more.
Now the Saints’ right guard, Jahri Evans, already earns more than Joseph. Would the Saints invest that much money into two guards, given their salary cap issues? Would the Bucs, even though they have miles of cap room?
Clouding the answers to those two questions is the fact that the 2012 draft is widely considered to be very deep for offensive linemen.
Of course, if the Bucs can score Nicks, Jeremy Zuttah, if re-signed, would land at center and Jeff Faine and his $6 million would be gone.
Joe would love if the Bucs landed Nicks. If Greg Schiano plans to pound the rock like he says, then two Pro Bowl guards and the highest paid offensive line in football would seem to be a no-brainer.
February 29th, 2012 at 11:18 am
go get em!!!
February 29th, 2012 at 11:31 am
If they did this and 1 CB in FA, I will be happy! Another CB in round 1 (doesn’t have to be Claiborne), a LB or RB in 2 and 3 (order doesn’t matter to me), speedy WR somewhere down the line (Joe Adams, Jarius Wright), I’d call it a success!
February 29th, 2012 at 11:35 am
Let’s hope the Saints and Brees don’t get the contract done before Monday. I believe the Saints have to franchise Nicks if they can. If they dont keep him, their line takes a huge hit.
February 29th, 2012 at 11:42 am
I would love to see this. Then IF we did draft Richardson at least there would be holes for him to run through. Also give Freeman more time to throw.
February 29th, 2012 at 11:54 am
” Of course, if the Bucs can score Nicks, Jeremy Zuttah, if re-signed, would land at center and Jeff Faine and his $6 million would be gone. ”
I like that idea.
February 29th, 2012 at 11:55 am
perfect scenario would be Nicks and Zuttah signing and releasing Faine.SIGN NICKS PLS…
February 29th, 2012 at 11:59 am
Nicks, Zuttah and Joseph in the middle of our OL?
I could live with that……Hell yeah!
February 29th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
That would be awesome, and then get a young stud to run behind him and Penn, say, Trent Richardson….That would be a new look bucs…..Maybe Peyton Hillis
February 29th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Yea if we made this kind of upgrade, I would no longer get so upset if we drafted T-Rich at 5. My whole issue is running behind this underachieving line would be a waste of a 5th overall drafted RB. But behind a line with that kind of interior, and 3 pro-bowlers overall, I’ll be on board.
One concern I do have is that somehow, the Saints were always high in sacks allowed. I know, I had Brees as my fantasy QB. It was kind of baffling how that was possible at times. I have no idea how a line like the Saints could do that, but I hope for that kind of coin, Nicks had nothing to do with it himself.
February 29th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Cut Faine, move Penn to RT and get BPA draft or FA. Cut Quincy, Jones and WinSLOW too. Start building a smash mouth team.
February 29th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
If the Glazers are really committed to improving the team via spending “responsible” money, then this would be a good first step. Would love a future RT in the draft too.
February 29th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Need LT, LG, C, 2 LB, 3 CB, 2 S 2 WR, FB, TE draft or free agency but all are needs, Trim the fat and take the cash and spend it. Time for the Pop Star to earn his keep.
February 29th, 2012 at 12:37 pm
Would be a great football move, but I would also keep Faine………..make someone beat him out.
February 29th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
LT? i think you Ment RT… Penn is fine on the Left side
February 29th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
@Wisconsin Bucs fan with that christmas list you had everything but the partridge in a pear tree. lol
February 29th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
YESSS!!!! Nicks plus a FA corner Brandon Carr?
go defense high in the draft, offensive weapons can be found very low in the draft, even unsigned. Plus we REALLY need help on defense.
February 29th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Penn should be moved to RT, that way when he does his famous “Ole'” block Freeman can see it coming.
February 29th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Give me either Grubbs or Nicks and I’d be thrilled.
February 29th, 2012 at 1:07 pm
@Joe
“Of course, if the Bucs can score Nicks, Jeremy Zuttah, if re-signed, would land at center and Jeff Faine and his $6 million would be gone.”
I don’t see Faine getting cut, not this year. Both Nicks and Faine played in the same system…though not at the same time.
The $6 million is meaningless at this point.
Faine is stability with a new offensive coordinator. They are not going to get rid of that stability and replace it with a “maybe” guy like Zuttah. Not when our offensive coordinator is accustomed to top-notch Oline play and his QB having time to go vertical.
Not to mention the late start. It makes more sense to keep Faine a year and draft a true center, or sign one that is young (like an undrafted guy looking for a shot to prove himself).
Zuttah is a good fill in…he is not a true starting center. I keep saying this and no one seems to hear it. My concern is that people won’t get it until it’s too late.
February 29th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
You know…here’s a train of thought…
Schiano views himself as a teacher and he is defensive minded…while his offensive coordinator is more pro-oriented.
It would make sense for them to use free agency to focus mostly on offense, and draft to focus mostly on defense.
February 29th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I really like this thread. For way too long, it has been almost “accepted wisdom” that we have a good O line in Tampa. We don’t. We did not protect Freeman well last year, and opened way too few holes for our runners. I lie what WisconsinBuc says. Let’s start building a real smash mouth team, starting with this years draft.
Let’s try and sign Nicks if possible, or draft some real studs for the O Line.
February 29th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I like the idea, but our biggest FA , if we only get one should be MLB. If Curtis Lofton comes avail the Bucs need to get him.
February 29th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Now that I’ve had an hour to fantasize about Nicks in FA, a healthy dose of reality is starting to set in. BPG mentioned the number of sacks on Brees last year which makes Brees well aware of the importance of Carl Nicks.
As much as the idea distresses me, I think Brees and the Saints get something done over the weekend, even if they have to come back and restructure the deal to reserve the tag for Nicks and scrape up enough money for Colston. Meachem is probably odd man out.
However, I’ve learned to never say never!
February 29th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
I’m going to continue to live in fantasy land. Seeing Glenn from Georgia do his thing on Saturday only ramped up my Nicks desire. Yes I typed desire. Even undersized Zutah could excel at Center with Joseph and Nicks book ending him. Running left behind the Penn Nicks beef store just sounds great. Can Joseph pull? @Macabee: My Combine love at first sight and ground to the nub axe over not going after Calvin Johnson has me focused on Stephen Hill. 6’4 4.3 and didn’t drop a ball?!? We can’t fill all our needs this year anyway. Maybe we roll a hard 6 and get Cruz on steroids? Well, not steroids.
February 29th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
There’s no way the Saints will have to use the tag on Brees. They’ll sign Brees and tag Nicks. This is all mindless chatter the media creates this time of year because they have no news.
February 29th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Why do we even need Nicks? The team is loaded with talent, just had poor coaching. Now that we have new coaches, everything should be fine, right?
(sarcasm)
February 29th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
MJM, I would love to have Stephen Hill. I knew about Hill before the combine. I was hoping he would stay under the radar and we could get a shot at him in a later round to go along with Ed Gant who has similar measurables. I was thinking we could develop our own Randy Moss! With that combine performance, he is probably going to move up. With no 4th and so many needs, he’s probably a stretch for us.
February 29th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Never going to happen. What in the world would make you think the Glazers will spend the money to not only get Nicks but Carr too? Would it be great? Of course but history shows we wont. We will get a handfull of B or C level free agents and “build” through the draft. Come on people! Open your eyes.
February 29th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
The front office has invested in this offensive line. Maybe they need to go and find someone new to start investing in a brand new OL.
February 29th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
941Buc,
they basically have no choice. Not this coming season but the one after it every team has to spend something like 90-95% of their salary cap space. They are so far under right now it would be shocking if they didn’t at least cut the difference in half this off-season. They are going to be spending money, regardless of want or need.
February 29th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Enter Carl Nicks??? Something tells me that at 345 lbs, nobody enters him….Mr. Nicks does the entering
February 29th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I would love Nicks as our LG!!! Nicks LG, Joseph RG, Zuttah C, Penn LT/RT, if Mo is gone I would hope to get an OT the more I think about it. If Kalil is there then him for sure. If he is gone then Reily Reiff would do just fine. If we were to somehow get Kalil he could be our LT and we could move Penn to RT. Talk about the most dominate line in football!!! We have to find a replacement for Trueblood. IF we don’t get a LT early in the 1st then we could look for a true RT later on in the draft.
February 29th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Here’s something interesting. PFT is reporting that the real cap number isn’t actually known by teams yet…and that all appearances now look like it will be lower than expected. All these teams, a week from Free Agency, that think they’re in line with the cap may not be.
So more players could end up being cut loose.
February 29th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
MichiganBucsFan Says:
February 29th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
941Buc,
they basically have no choice. Not this coming season but the one after it every team has to spend something like 90-95% of their salary cap space. They are so far under right now it would be shocking if they didn’t at least cut the difference in half this off-season. They are going to be spending money, regardless of want or need.
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Not only that…if they wait until next year to start spending, it will make most contracts come up for renewal at around the same time…a recipe for disaster if the team is good by then.
February 29th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Michigan center David Molk sounds like Warren Sapp when he runs his mouth…I kind of like it, lol.
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“The fact they could consider any center better than me is pretty stupid,” Molk said.
NFL Network’s Mike Mayock recently called Molk “very much a finesse guy,” and Molk took issue with that.
“He never played against me,” Molk said of Mayock. “I don’t think a finesse player has ever had defensive linemen quit during a game; quit and give up because you’re hurting them. I don’t think a finesse player has ever done what I do, which is just ground kids out of the hole. I think the fact he called me a finesse player is because he hasn’t watched me on film.”
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If everyone really wants Faine replaced…and there is no chance we can get Konz with our 2nd pick…maybe we should consider this guy.
I remember Sapp talking much the same way when he was approaching the draft. Having attitude like that on the Oline would be…interesting.
Him I would take over keeping Faine.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Adding Carl Nicks would be incredible. While I don’t think we have nearly as bad a line as some on here would say, you can’t go wrong adding a guy like Nicks. Make him the highest paid player in the league, I don’t care. Just get him.
February 29th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
PFT raised an interesting point about both Nicks and Brees being represented by CAA. It would obviously be more beneficial to them for Brees to be franchised which would be the best case scenario for us if we want Nicks.
February 29th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
@ Michigan and Pete
I know we have to spend. What I am saying is there is no way we pay Nicks $60 mil with already having Joseph and I would be shocked if we get an A level free agent. We will spend our money on B and C guys to make up that cap room. I am not going to get my hopes up, with zero history to back it up. Dominick’s comments today are encouraging. I pray I am wrong.
February 29th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
@Pete
I agree, Molk is a beast. I may be a bit biased but I have watched all of his games for the last four years and I can tell you the guy is really good. Would love to have him with the Bucs. (He put up 41 reps at the combine, anything but a finesse player)
February 29th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Penn Is a ProBowl Tackle, and our best lineman. Possibly our best player.
Why would anyone even consider him moving? And if we drafted Kalill, we would hope and pray he becomes a ProBowl left tackle- like , Say, Donald Penn!!
Not to mention that Penn is payed like a great LT, which is way mire than you pay Rts! And why would he move to a lower paid position??
February 29th, 2012 at 8:48 pm
941Buc
I think you are partially right. I think we will go after a few mid-level guys. We need depth.
But I also strongly suspect we’ll try to get 1-2 top tier guys…or one top tier and one above average guy.
I could see us going after both Nicks AND Vincent Jackson…and if we got both, I would be very happy.
Dominick has repeatedly said it’s about Josh…I think that points free agency toward offended.
February 29th, 2012 at 11:25 pm
I think the talk about signing FAs, is just hay for the sheep.
Expect them to stay true to their policy of the last 7 years.- cheapest franchise in football- both in player payroll and coaching staff salary!
Think that’s per Glazer marching orders.