Re-signing Young Stars - Why This Won't Happen
by Sander on Jun 26, 2011 8:00 AM EDT
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Yep, you're reading that correctly: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will not re-sign their young players, at least not this offseason. Not unless the CBA drastically changes some rules.
The Bucs have a young roster with several up-and-coming stars, and they have a lot of cap space. This means the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have to spend to meet the salary floor, and they have the perfect people to spend it on: young players. Except, they can't.
In the last CBA, teams weren't allowed to renegotiate rookie contracts during the first two years of that player's contract. It's unlikely that this rule will change in a new CBA. In fact, back in February the NFL's proposal included provisions to expand the non-negotiation window to three years. Under these rules the Buccaneers wouldn't even be able to extend their rookies, even if they wanted to.
In addition to that, a lot of these young stars have only one year of high-quality performance, and that is simply not enough to be rewarded with immediate contract extensions, especially not when these players are still under contract for three or four more years. Consistent performance over multiple years will earn them new contracts, but it's early now. Even for Josh Freeman, who has three more years left on a fairly lucrative contract.
However, this could lead the Bucs to be a little careful with their spending, despite having so much cap room. This to make sure they will have enough room to re-sign their young stars in future years. John Clayton even names the Bucs as one of the teams most hurt by the new projected salary cap and floor, though I think that's a real stretch. Still, the Bucs may choose to be judicious with their money for now, especially so because they've said that they want to build this team through the draft and by extending their own players.
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Cap ramifications bewilder me
I’ll confess I don’t follow the business side of the game enough to fully understand the scenarios at play here. Reading some of these articles and the related links helps a bit but mostly it’s advanced trigonometry to me and I’ve never had the discipline for “high” math. So, if it plays out that we have to bring in quite a few free agents to meet our cap requirements what will this do to the team chemistry that we saw developing last year, mostly on offense? This seems to be especially problematic considering the inabilty of the coaching staff to get with the players to build unit cohesion and essentially “get everyone on the same page at the same time”. How will the combination of the cap structure and the lockout taking away the OTA’s effect team cohesion especially when factoring in an infusion of free agents?
That's a good point
And it may lead to the team preferring to re-sign their own free agents rather than spending on other free agents
Who do you want to be re-signed...
other than Cadillac, Davin Joseph and possibly Quincy Black?
by Cracker Ball on Jun 26, 2011 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Adam Hayward
I would like to see Tim Crowder back too, he’s always been solid. Maybe Michael Spurlock. Maaaaaybe John Gilmore, he’s been a good blocking TEs, but blocking TEs aren’t hard to find. None of those deserves a big contract, though. Connor Barth deserves a multi-year deal, but that’s not going to cost much.
They could offer some players on the roster a new contract, like Geno Hayes, maybe Sean Jones or E.J. Biggers if they want to keep those guys longterm (which I think they do in the case of Biggers, not sure about Jones). But none of those contracts will be more than third-tier.
There are no stars to be re-signed, though. no one who will demand (or deserve) a top-notch contract, outside Joseph.
I’d like to see them resign Sean Jones. He’s a solid safety, and while he’s not spectacular I’m just happy to have someone that is mostly reliable in the far backfield. Not to mention he’s a pretty decent hitter too.
I'm with you man
I find his reliability to be a great upside and something every good team needs. He is a good hitter too
((b-town))
by Titankillah on Jun 26, 2011 11:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Things usually get worked out and installed during the season anyway.
We just need to do our best plug holes and build depth as soon as things are up and running. I agree that we’ve got to keep in mind the cost of signing our core players to new, more expensive contracts in a few years.
I think they will plan for this...
I think the Bucs will plan for resigning their own young guys in the contracts they give to FAs this year. This could me a lot of 2-3 year deals for free agents we bring in. The best case scenario for the Bucs would be if the CBA included some sort of provision to help teams like the Bucs by giving them a couple offseasons to make up the ground on the cap. It might be because I am a Bucs fan, but it really doesn’t really seem fair for them to force Tampa to spend this kind of money in one offseason, or a few other teams for that matter.
There likely wont be any sort of provision for any team’s cap situation, as that would set a bad precedent. We’re going to have to spend the money, so we’ll probably see a lot of short deals for FAs brought in this year. Maybe even several high-salary 1-year deals, so that after the season when that FA goes away we’ll have the cap room freed up to re-sign some of our young stars to longer contracts.
Not expecting a provision...
Just wishful thinking
Until there's a collective bargaining agreement, there is no cap
But your article makes sense from the perspective of the previous rule set.
There will also be no signings until there is a CBA AND a cap...
I do believe Tampa will attempt to lock down the good young players they like when it becomes possible, but the Glazers are a frugal bunch as evidenced with the handling of OT Donald Penn. As a show of good faith to the younger players, you had better do it before they begin to grumble, or you risk alienating them. They clearly don’t feel the same way about Ruud as they do Penn.
by Cracker Ball on Jun 26, 2011 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions
Thats because Penn is above average to very good and Ruud is mediocre at best
(depending on who you ask). Even though some of these “experts” say that Ruud is good, how many of them actually really watched our games last year. They go off of the stats that said he led the team in tackles, stats don’t tell the story of running backs dragging middle linebackers 6 or 7 yards after contact to get a first down. Stats do not show that running backs carved through our run defense like a hot knife through butter.
I presonally hope Ruud is gone...
but knowing full well that Ruud AND Black (both starters) could be gone – we only draft 1 LB. I hope we open up the purse and bring in LBs, both undrafted and veteran F/As, to compete because we will likely lose them both. Which I actually welcome, but we do seem ill prepared for it.
by Cracker Ball on Jun 26, 2011 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions
Next Draft...
Next year I think you could see us taking an OT or LB in the 1st round. Some of that will depend on our record, so we will see. Also a CB could be it if we lose Talib and don’t get Nnamdi.
Yeah I think Black is gone...
We tried to set him up for success to be a pass rusher, that only happed with tmax and he was replaced with Watson and Hayward. Hes got no leverage for a long contract.
Ruud… I like him, I do but he hasn’t been Brook’s protege. He doesn’t do alot of leading, I don’t see him smacking the rookie’s ass enough so my judgement is that he isn’t our general.
((b-town))
I like Ruud as well, because unlike many linebackers he’s extremely proficient at playing coverage. While he’s relatively weak against the run, a stronger defensive line and linebacker corp will help with that, as he won’t be required to make all the plays as he has been for awhile. With the terrible defensive lines we’ve had recently, blockers aren’t being tied up and are instead being allowed to get to the 2nd level and block Ruud out of the play. He’s just not big enough or slippery enough to shed those blocks. With quality d-line play though, Ruud would be serviceable enough to warrant a decent contract extension. Not top-tier, but maybe the lower end of the 2nd-tier contracts. His coverage abilities are just that good.
I think he’s great in coverage, most of the time, for sure. Ya know he plays the mid back zone really good. But like you said, we’ve had a crumby dline, injury plagued, and he isn’t the bulky LB that can shed blocks or run head on gut check plays. I think if Bowers is ready to play, and our Dline lives up some expectations, Ruud will be in the better position to make plays. If he does stay, I would love / hope to see him take charge. But he’s gotta take that leadership role to the next level, theres no way around it, its what the Bucs need.
((b-town))
by Titankillah on Jun 26, 2011 11:32 PM EDT up reply actions
I think the Bucs knew that they would be in position to re-sign either player if they really needed to
And that they were going into the draft to draft the best players they could, and then their free agency plans would/will build off that.
On a side note there are some complete stud
linebackers in next years draft. Donte Hightower and Manti Teo are the two middle linebackers I’d love to have, while Travis Lewis and Chavis Williams are potential OLB that I would love to draft.
Hightower is a 3-4 ILB, Teo might not declare next season.
If it's lonely at the top, I'd rather be alone
cause the closest people to ya, the ones who gonna do you wrong
Which is fine, we need OLB's more anyway.
Assuming Foster pans out, that is…
If you will it, dude, it is no dream.
Corners
are actually one of the strengths of the class. Seems like Alabama has been real strong when it comes to developing high draft picks, next year their going to have quite a few also. Dre Kirkpatrick, Donte Hightower, Trent Richardson, and Robert Lester all are considered first round talent assuming no horrible injuries happen.
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