For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Free Agency is about fixing mistakes

by Sander on Aug 9, 2011 8:47 AM EDT

The Bucs have made it clear these past seasons that they will go out and draft players, and then re-sign those players that play well. They will shy away from free agency for the most part, only using it to fill out a starting role from time to time. Of course, it was never clear when they would do this or at what position they would do this. The external free agents the Bucs have brought in have consisted of Derrick Ward, Sean Jones and Michael Koenen. So what's the common thread there?

According to Raheem Morris, it's all about fixing past mistakes. "When you mess up in the draft, make mistakes in the draft, you've got to go make it up in free agency," the head coach said. "Last year we made a mistake at our punter, so we've got to go make it up in free agency."

So signing Derrick Ward was about fixing the 'mistake' of drafting Cadillac, who never turned into the every-down back. Signing Sean Jones was about fixing the mistake of drafting Sabby Piscitelli. Yeah, that was a pretty big mistake. Signing Michael Koenen was about fixing the mistake of drafting Brent Bowden.

So the next time you see a draft pick turn into a bust, expect the Bucs to sign a free agent the year after. Unless, of course, a late draft pick steps up, like Cody Grimm did last season.

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Great Plan... It's working

It may not be the sexiest plan out there, but it is effective, and it is much more gratifying to see your team hit on a draft prospect as opposed to overpaying a FA.

by BUCSwillDOMINATE on Aug 9, 2011 10:16 AM EDT reply actions

Completely agree.

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by Gatorbuc15 on Aug 9, 2011 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Building through the draft is the best way to go, but without bringing in the right FA's, the team never gets over that hump.

We don’t have a Super Bowl championship with out our FA’s, and neither does any other team in the league.

I'm not negative, I'm just telling you how it is.

by bucnut1 on Aug 9, 2011 7:57 PM EDT up reply actions

its a good mix of both you cant have one without the other to be succesful imo

by Carlitin1988 on Aug 9, 2011 8:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly what I'm saying.

You don’t go out and just buy the biggest FA out there like Washington has done in the past, you get the guys that fit your system.

I'm not negative, I'm just telling you how it is.

by bucnut1 on Aug 9, 2011 11:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Interesting Plan

I’m not sure I’d label it great. Basically, it seems like that of most good teams that you fill your roster vacancies with FAs.

But FA can be just as risky as the draft because you can miss on a FA and/or give him way too much money and hurt your cap (i.e., Derrick Ward).

by KMarch on Aug 9, 2011 11:33 PM EDT up reply actions

I think this is a silly, limiting strategy

Free agency should be about making the team better period. Draft busts are just one facet of that.

by aakks on Aug 9, 2011 1:09 PM EDT reply actions

I like the idea of primarily drafting talent

But this is indeed a silly reason to pass up a young, good player if you think he fits the team.

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by Sander on Aug 9, 2011 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm also generally on board with the plan

and I think they’ve done really well with a pretty solid plan. It still boggles my mind that they wouldn’t try to improve and area of weakness by not grabbing a young, talented guy just because he’s a free agent.

by aakks on Aug 9, 2011 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions

It may be silly, but it has worked for teams that have long term success.

Poor drafting is a glaring reason why teams like the Raiders and Redskins are perennial losers. So, in order to make up for the plethora of failures, they try to build their team through free agency, and since when has that approach been proven to be conducive to long term success? On Neveruary 32nd. The same thing applies to the Bucs during the Gruden/Allen regime. They would hit on a draft pick only 15 percent of the time and try to make up for it in free agency. The result? Uneven success. Success in the first year would instantly turn
into suckcess the next year and that’s the reason why I subscribe to the philosophy that Morris and Dominik are putting forth. I think that plenty of the football world including Bucs fans fail to recognize that drafting well and using free agency to make up for past failures has lead this team to a 10-6 record last year. The young talent that is currently on the roster has received sub-par respect for reasons that I fail to quantify.

by TB86 on Aug 9, 2011 3:27 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

ahhhh the 10-6 record thing again

by Carlitin1988 on Aug 9, 2011 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions

What happens when the team doesn't win 10 games this year?

Abandon ship!!!

I'm not negative, I'm just telling you how it is.

by bucnut1 on Aug 9, 2011 7:54 PM EDT up reply actions

by bucnut1 on Aug 9, 2011 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Trust me I know

Been in the area all my life. They jump on and jump off. But reality is Reality. People want winners to hang on to. They don’t often look at things objectively.

by buccer on Aug 10, 2011 2:02 AM EDT up reply actions