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What happened to "you get what you pay for"?

Earlier this season, I ran a few articles discussing the production of our starting wide receivers, Michael Clayton and Antonio Bryant relative to their salary.  Through the first few games, it appeared the Bucs had significantly overpaid both guys, as their production was lagging behind a full year's worth of a number two receiver.  With the season completed, and with Bryant gone, I though we could take a quick look at one of our favorite punching bags, Michael Clayton.  This isn't just an excuse to bash him, but more a look at how the Buc's dollars are being spent.  Afterall, we hear terms such as "cheap", "thrifty", and "frugal" being thrown around, but then we are expected to laud the organization for throwing handfuls of cash at undeserving targets. 

Star-divide

We've all been part of the argument, you know, the argument over whether the Glazers are cheap or not.  They have spent money in the past, and even in 2009.  But it's how we are spending that money that makes me worry.  I'd rather be the cheapest team in the league than dispense huge contracts to lackluster targets.   Case and point.  Michael Clayton.

Before he signed his monster second deal, lets look at his career stats.  I've also included career totals, averages, last 3 year average and average season without 2004 (rookie year).

Year Games Rec Yards TD YPC
2009 13 16 230 1 14.38
2008 15 38 484 1 12.74
2007 14 22 301 0 13.68
2006 12 33 356 1 10.79
2005 14 32 372 0 11.63
2004 16 80 1193 7 14.91
Total 84 221 2936 10 13.29
Career Avg 14 36.83 489.33 1.67 2.21
Last 3 Avg 14 25.33 338.33 0.67 13.36
w/o 2004 13.6 28.2 348.6 0.6 12.36

The table tells us nothing we don't already know.  He burst onto the scene in 2004, had us all scrambling to buy #80 jerseys, ready for a Hall of Fame career, and then he produced numbers that would make most running backs look like receiving threats.  An honest bit of feedback here.  I literally laughed when I saw his numbers in black and white.  I don't know if I blocked them out or what, but this was even worse than I thought.

So back to our argument at hand.  The Bucs, after seeing Clayton put up years including 33,2, and 38 catches for a total yardage of roughly 1,000 (over 3 years), we decided to reward him and outbid ourselves to the tune of a 5 years, $24 million with $10.5 million guaranteed.  That equates into a salary of $13.5 million, or roughly (if each year were the same salary) $2.7 million a year in salary and guarantees of (again, over the life of the deal) $2.1 million per year for a total annual pay of approximately $4.8 million dollars. 

I'll give you a second to take that paragraph in again.

Back?  Now that you've presumably snapped back to reality, what does it all mean?  Well, to get an idea, lets take his 2009 numbers and put them into context.  In terms of yards (230), he is lumped in with guys like Legedu Naanee (242), and Keenan Burton (253) while having less yards than running backs, Jason Snelling, Rock Cartwright, and Julius Jones.  When looking at receptions (16), he was in line with Marty Booker and Deon Butler.  And in the ever popular touchdown category, he was behind just about anyone with a pulse like Eric Weems.  We could compare players all day long, but I'll refrain for the sake of my sanity. 

So with his monster season of 15 catches for 230 yards and 1 TD, what did we pay him for each catch, yard and TD?  This again assumes that each year of salary was equal.

Per catch - $300,000

Per yard - $20,869

per TD - $4.7 million

A quick fun fact.  Clayton's last 3 seasons combined, he would have been 24th in the league in yards for 2009.  That's 3 years of Clayton against 1 year of everyone else and he still barely cracks the top 25. 

So now that we've summed up Clayton's (non) contribution to the team, lets make this more of a team-centric exercise.  Back to the spending argument.  I don't think any Bucs fan is advocating blowing cash on players who can't play or don't deserve it.  But if we truly are trying to build a team, watch the cash flow and create a winner, what in the heck was the front office thinking when they doled out this contract?  Again, I'd rather be stingy misers who rightfully are called cheap because they refuse to spend on everyonethan spend this kind of cash on under performers. 

We have the examples of the Winslow deal (so far so good), the attempted wooing of Haynesworth, and the Ward signing (so far not so good) to appease the "we do spend" crowd.  We have the inability to sign anyone of note thus far in 2010, and the horrific Clayton signing, as well as Ward to give fodder to the "we don't spend" or "we don't know how to spend" crowd.

I'll leave you with this thought.  As we continue into the offseason and draft portions of the year, it has become painfully obvious that we just flat out refuse to spend in free agency.  I won't debate the merits with anyone as this seems to be a front office philosophy, but before we defend the FO and their frugal ways by touting the examples I laid out, are we even reasonable sure that if the FO decided to spend money that we would feel comfortable with how they do it?  All I have to do is point towards #80 and I think I could rest my case.

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Clayton

I think it was a panic move to keep him from going to Seattle, who inexplicably was showing interest. Why the Bucs freaked and threw that level of cash at him is one of the great modern mysteries. He. Stinks. There is no sugar coating that fact.

The McCown fiasco….guaranteeing 7.5 mil with incentives up to 14 for a guy who’s proven nothing…stunk, too, but as Terp12 and I were discussing yesterday, this move is a hair more forgivable because Jeff Garcia was on the way out of town and the Bucs had nothing. However, a FO must be judged ultimately by results of a move and not by why they made a choice at the time.

Cannons... fire them.

Buc'Em - SBNation's home for discussion of all things regarding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

by Craig T on Mar 15, 2010 11:23 AM EDT via mobile reply actions  

I still think they should have gave Garcia another year, especially if they knew they were going after Freeman.

I’m not saying Garcia was great or anything, but we knew what we had and it would have allowed Freeman to soak it all in before being thrown out there, which I was all for when they pulled Lefty prematurely.

I can say that I really did enjoy watching Garcia play here, he was fun to watch cause even though he ran around like a scared chicken, he gave it his all every time.

HIBERNATION NATION

by bucnut1 on Mar 15, 2010 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions  

I agree mainly because I liked Garcia

He may be a shadow of what he once was… but still light years better than what we have now. We should have re-signed him for another year or two. Just my opinion.

As for Clayton, we clearly should have let him go. Now we are stuck with his salary… and him.

by Cracker Ball on Mar 15, 2010 6:01 PM EDT up reply actions  

I agree about keeping Garcia.

He might not have made it the whole season, but he would have lasted longer than the other Leftwich did. He also took better care of the ball. Freeman would have also gotten more time in the pre-season, as well as a veteran to learn from for most of the season. That is until the final 4 weeks when Garcia is too banged up to play, but by then we probably would have been looking to play him anyway.

by SacBucsFan on Mar 16, 2010 5:17 AM EDT up reply actions  

That signing (Clayton) was bad at the time. We all had an issue with it.

And it looks 100 times worse a year later. I have no idea what was going through their head. There is absolutely no way to defend that contract either at the time or a year later.

Hit Buc 'Em for all your Bucs news and DRaysBay for every piece of Rays info.

by Buc Wild on Mar 15, 2010 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions  

I agree

I hoped he returned to the guy that came in ready to play, but I guess he is a one hit wonder.

by McBuc on Mar 15, 2010 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions  

It's mind boggling, but we had no indication that he would ever return to form.

He had one great year, followed by 4 bad years, and 5th is in the books. We blamed Gruden, we blamed Clayton being lazy, we blamed a lot of people and things, but it turns out that maybe Clayton just isn’t a good football player. Apparently our scouting was wrong back then and our talent evaluation and front office were wrong last year.

Hit Buc 'Em for all your Bucs news and DRaysBay for every piece of Rays info.

by Buc Wild on Mar 15, 2010 2:58 PM EDT up reply actions  

I thought this past year (Gruden) might be different

because he was working out with other elite WR’s throughout the offseason and was supposed to be in great shape. Unfortunately being a workout warrior doesn’t help you catch the ball when you are in a in-game situation. Obviously his rookie year was an anomaly. Maybe because he was young and still in great shape from his days at LSU, maybe because he was a 3rd option thrust into the #1 spot and teams didn’t have a way to game plan for him. I’m not sure what happened but the writing is definitely on the wall. He sucks.

"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann

by LeeCaz on Mar 15, 2010 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions  

Oops

That should say minus Gruden

"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann

by LeeCaz on Mar 15, 2010 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions  

?

what happened to the bucs website r they that desperate for money that they don’t have a website any more, Clayton should pay the bill to get it running again

The only difference between insanity and genius is perception.... Matthew 12:30

by Markus2112 on Mar 15, 2010 3:05 PM EDT reply actions  

its not working

for me it just times out, there is 3 computers that i’ve tried it on i don’t get it. thank you 4 the info

The only difference between insanity and genius is perception.... Matthew 12:30

by Markus2112 on Mar 15, 2010 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions  

by a Mac. :)

sorry, had to.

Top Draft needs 2010: DT, WR, DE

by Niko Houllis on Mar 15, 2010 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions  

I'd buy

one if I could afford it, is the site really working?

The only difference between insanity and genius is perception.... Matthew 12:30

by Markus2112 on Mar 15, 2010 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions  

More confidence in draft ability

I agree with the thought of being concerned about their ability to spend wisely. That’s something that’s going to have to change. Maybe they were just unlucky with Ward. Like you said, the Winslow trade and signing seem’s sound so far. But Clayton is one of the all time worst signings.

"big-time players make big-time plays in big games."

by SoonerSlayer on Mar 15, 2010 3:28 PM EDT reply actions  

Say he stays around for next year

with how bad he has been, what kind of stats could he put up that would make the contract not as bad as it is now? (Bare Minimum that is).

by ronnydobbs on Mar 15, 2010 8:00 PM EDT reply actions  

60+ catches 800 yards and 3+ TD's

would at least be a step up. For his contract, I’d ballpark him in that area.

Hit Buc 'Em for all your Bucs news and DRaysBay for every piece of Rays info.

by Buc Wild on Mar 15, 2010 8:13 PM EDT up reply actions  

I believe the "you get what you pay for" thing...

went out of fashion somewhere back in the 50s. Now it has been replaced with “I’m gonna get everything I think I’m worth and I have no loyalties but to myself”.

by Cracker Ball on Mar 15, 2010 8:05 PM EDT reply actions  

I'm thinking about approaching my employer, asking for a huge bonus and raise

and then, I think I’ll stop showing up to work, I’ll call in sick, be sure to screw up any presentations.

As ridiculous as that sounds, how is it that he (and other players) get away with it?

Hit Buc 'Em for all your Bucs news and DRaysBay for every piece of Rays info.

by Buc Wild on Mar 16, 2010 10:03 AM EDT reply actions  

Are you and your boss good buddies

like Raheem and Michael?

"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann

by LeeCaz on Mar 16, 2010 10:19 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions  

Even than it would not work

outside of pro sports. It always bothers me that players seem to have standout years during a contract year, just to return to mediocre form after they sign. it happens allot. I really do not think Raheem being young and trying to relate to the players has anything to do with it. Maybe Clayton is a hell of a salesman and sold Dom on the Gruden’s dog house thing.

by McBuc on Mar 16, 2010 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions  

Yea, we are

in fact, after my first week here, I did such good work that my boss went public and said “I dare you to question BW and his work again”. I then decided to call in sick for the next 16 weeks.

Hit Buc 'Em for all your Bucs news and DRaysBay for every piece of Rays info.

by Buc Wild on Mar 16, 2010 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions  

Haha

Good stuff. And when the customers start complaining about your lack of performance just say "I mean, regardless of what they say, the check is in the bank. That’s not changing"

For those of you that forgot, that is a real quote from Clayton last season.

"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann

by LeeCaz on Mar 16, 2010 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions  

This statement alone should get him canned.

by McBuc on Mar 17, 2010 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions  

Way to make me depressed.

Also for some reason your table shows him making 2.21 YPC for his career AVG.

"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor

by Hook85 on Mar 17, 2010 9:21 PM EDT reply actions  

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