Another Lauded Player Lost
March 20th, 2013
Nobody will confuse Roy Miller with a Pro Bowl defensive tackle, but he was strongly lauded by the New Schiano Order and, per reports, offered a contract to return to the Bucs. Yet Miller is now a Jaguar.
And E. J. Biggers, now a Redskins cornerback, is in similar territory. Biggers was praised by rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Greg Schiano late last season.
In January, Dominik lauded Biggers, Danny Gorrer and Leonard Johnson for their work against Roddy White and Julio Jones in the Bucs’ shocking win against the Falcons to close the season. Biggers started that game and had four tackles.
“Again, they got valuable experience,” Dominik said, saying ”tons of experience” was attained, albeit under less than ideal circumstances. … … “Just experience and time back in here with the system with an offseason again is going to be really important for this football team,” Dominik said. “That’s what you’ll see. You’ll see a lot of [positive] changes going forward.”
Of course, like Miller, Biggers will never be considered a great football player. But he was a serviceable corner on a team aching for cornerback depth.
Like Miller, the loss of Biggers can’t be judged until the Bucs hammer out their final roster, but it is somewhat surprising.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:06 pm
That last game they hardly played man on man they playd a lot of cover 2 and cover 3 that’s y Dey played so well what we should be playing from the start
March 20th, 2013 at 1:28 pm
good ! we need better players and we are doing that …
March 20th, 2013 at 1:29 pm
@Raphael Really?? We’re getting better players? Where? We haven’t signed anyone yet.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
Biggers is a very solid CB. He is the complete antithesis of DeAngelo Hall. Good in coverage, not good at getting turnovers, not really physical either. Hall on the other hand is bad in coverage, good at getting turnovers, and he plays fairly physical. With Biggers being only a 5th year player, I would take Biggers everytime. It sucks to lose him.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:31 pm
If it’s Mark Dominic’s goal to look as incompetent as possible for as long as he can into free agency I say the ‘Rock Star’ is doing a bang-up job.
Dominik will surely sign a corner or two before free agency is over though however mediocre. But as Michael Clayton’s agent can attest to, common sense at One Buc is not always so common.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:33 pm
@bucs its still march relax …
biggers is not solid , he is a step up from myron lewis.you guys realize we were last in pass defense last year right ?
March 20th, 2013 at 1:35 pm
@Brandon Biggers was good in coverage? LMAO It’s not April fools yet!! That’s next month!!
March 20th, 2013 at 1:36 pm
@raphael, it looks like we are shooting for the record this year for sure. Losing even mediocre talent is worse than not picking up talent. We are moving backwards until I see different.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:41 pm
I understand it’s march but do you really think we can afford to wait? Even if we do get Revis, one corner isn’t going to be able to cover the other recievers on the field. Also, we’ll be losing picks if we get Revis, how else do you think we’re gonna fill some major holes that we have? We won’t have the picks to do it and there’s gonna be no one left in Free agency. As of right now, we’re screwed.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
This front office is totally screwing this whole offseason up. EJ Biggers is a lousy corner and I’m glad he’s gone but where the hell are the replacements for these players we are losing. Who’s going to play for Miller? Casillas for Black? You’re going to line up Leonard Johnson and Danny Goerer against any teams #1 and #2 receiver? Teo-Neisham is our third DE? This is getting past embarrassing and crossing over to GROSS. If Dom doesn’t pull the nose up on this tail spin we are in then we won’t win more than 4 games. Think about it, you replace the leagues worst pass defense with worse players and expect a better result. Stupid logic. FIRE DOMINICK now before more damage is done
March 20th, 2013 at 1:52 pm
@bucnole AGREED
March 20th, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Personally, if I were the GM, I would have made an offer to E.J.. He at least would have provided good depth at the cover corner position and could have been the starter at nickelback. This had to come down to what the Bucs thought Biggers was worth. I think they under-estimated what his market value would bring. Unless they are completely sold they will get Ronde to sign to play the nickel.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:56 pm
Honestly, the argument can be made that of all the FA CB’s that have signed with other teams, no one of them is really any better than Eric Wright. Instead of us all hitting the panic button let’s see how it turns out. You had to imagine that Schiano would want to filter in “his” guys eventually. It’s not as if he took over a team that was brimming with talent and skill.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
and were FREEEE. FREE FAAAALLLIINNNNN!! New Bucs fight song
March 20th, 2013 at 1:58 pm
@J 2.0 You don’t think that Grimes is better than Wright? Yes he was injured but Wright is average at best.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:59 pm
Grimes hasn’t signed yet.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:59 pm
@Joe you inhaled some of that smoke man. its obvious they weren’t that “lauded” or else we would have kept them. there is no other reason to explain it, especially since we have enough cap space to sign everyone and there brother.
March 20th, 2013 at 2:03 pm
I do wonder why Myron Lewis has hung around and remained on the team for so long.
Could they be counting on him to step up and be a quality member of the secondary? He was a ghost last year!
Really makes me wonder…
Go Bucs!!!
March 20th, 2013 at 2:08 pm
I don’t think Wright remains on the team…
He didn’t play well last year (even when he was healthy or not-suspended) and the Bucs will only keep him at a drastcially reduced salary.
How would his attitude be after taking such a huge pay cut?
Pass… I would rather see Johnson, Gorrer and Lewis out there.
Go Bucs!!!!!
March 20th, 2013 at 2:22 pm
thats awesome!!!! if we play the skins, we should throw at him all day.. Maybe a nice gut but he was a terrible corner for us..
March 20th, 2013 at 2:24 pm
He wasn’t starter material, but he defiantly was improving. Can’t deny that.
March 20th, 2013 at 2:25 pm
johnson and the other corner showed more promise than biggers in the short stint they had..
March 20th, 2013 at 2:41 pm
Hide the razor blades , good grief ! It’s march 20 th ….
March 20th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Number of career interceptions for: Biggers-3 Johnson-3
Number of career games started for Biggers-24 Johnson-6
March 20th, 2013 at 2:48 pm
Watch any Bucs vs Saints game the last 3 years and you’ll see Drew Brees mercilessly pointing out and picking on any WR Biggers matched up again. This revisionist history by Joe and others that he was somehow a comparable starting NFL CB is laughable. He was a Dime CB at his best; and even that is a stretch.
March 20th, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Good, Im tired of watching Biggers run behind a WR as they score!
Go get Grimes! Trade back into the 1st round and snag Trufant, we then will have our 1 & 2 corners. If Ronde comes back great thats our nickel and dime guy, if not let Gorer and LJ battle it out for the 3rd spot.
If ronde decides not to come we need to find another guy in FA or in the draft to compete for the #4/5 spot, but lets not forget we have black and he is capable of dropping into coverage and may be able to play in our dime package.
March 20th, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Thinking we’re about to roll out the 5-4-2 defense. We won’t even need CB’s.
March 20th, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Joe,
I’m hesitant to broach this subject again, but on March 16 Rotoworld reported that the Bucs were interested in Biggers, today he is signed with the Skins, a team with literally no cap space. I read that they were interested in Leon Washington and the next day he is signed with the Pats. The same is true of Hasselbeck and a number of other players that seemingly wasn’t interested.
I ask again, do you see any correlation between the link and the chain of events? BTW, was the locker room player ever revealed who complained of college coaches?
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/46192/schiano-wants-to-be-closer-to-his-team
March 20th, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Biggers was our starting CB. He is the fourth starter that has signed else where. And the fourth stater that we have no replacement for.
Are you kidding me?
That said, Biggers was not a good CB. He was, however, good enough for a dime package. He was the best CB we had on the roster.
He was the best CB we had. As sad as that may be.
What’s wrong with posters on this site? The minute a player leaves, you start trashing them? Bennett, Milker, and Biggers all played their hearts out last season. Bennett and miller were very good players. Biggers wasn’t good, but he was the best we had.
Instead of trashing our players, go players very hard? And in Bennett and Miller’s case- were very successful!
You should be asking why no one wants to play here. Not our guys, not FAs. Nobody.
Is it Shiano? Or Dom? Either way, something is falling apart in Buc land! And all the blind optimism, our turning on the players, is going to change that!
March 20th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Correction- we lost 4 starters, 3 signed elsewhere
March 20th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Bennett & Biggers were starters not because they earned it but due to injuries & depth issues. We lost Black to a freak career ending injury; hardly a mass exodus of our “top talent”. If people actually think we aren’t going to sign any depth or at least another starter or two before the draft I question how closely you follow football.
March 20th, 2013 at 3:34 pm
@raphael,
top tier teams and teams looking to improve make sensible moves. Letting all our players go and signing one good player makes no sense
March 20th, 2013 at 4:15 pm
I think Coach doesn’t like the players that the Pop-star has drafted.
March 20th, 2013 at 4:36 pm
You earn respect…you can command respect…but you can’t demand respect! My “tailor’s” story sure is holding up. Where is Lurker?
March 20th, 2013 at 8:16 pm
good bye chump! You couldnt could cover a bed!