Steve, Jovan Haye is a RFA, Greg White is not restricted. He has only been offered the league minimum of like $356k per year. He is a talented player and if we don’t reward him for his effort, someone else will. He should get a new contract full of benchmarks that allows him to make a good amount IF he produces like he did last year. We just don’t seem to reward hardwork and production with $$.....instead we give 15mil to an unproven rookie, but we can only give a hardworker like Greg White 350k?

Greg white is an exclusive rights free agent meaning that all the Bucs needed was to tender him a contract which they have. He can’t go anywhere.

More on the White/Haye situations....again....not going anywhere.

“PewterReport.com has confirmed that the Buccaneers have tendered offers to restricted free agent DT Jovan Haye and exclusive rights free agent Greg White, although it is unclear at what level Tampa Bay tendered those players.”

Wow! Way to go guys. While all the big name playmakers are closing in on deals with other teams , we are meeting with a bunch of average 2nd stringers. Are these the “TIger Woods type Playmakers” that we were suppose to get? How are any of these back-ups gonna make our offense explosive next year? How is this gonna stop our secondary from getting picked apart next year? We can over pay a Center with a ridiculous contract....but we can’t get Asante Samuel? WTH are you guys thinking? I’m so tired of this managment. GET ASANTE SAMUEL OR LITO SHEPARD and GET A TOP RECIEVER!!! Spend the freaking money!

LOL, we’re two days into the signing period, chill out dude.

Patience please.  The Bucs have a ton of cash, the owners are not cheap, the saught after free agents would be fools not to at least listen to offers from the Bucs.  Tampa is not going to reach or overpay for a RB, WR, LB or DE/DT. 

Their was an extreme need at Center and the Bucs got the best there was available.  We have a large need at Corner Back.  Brian Kelly neds to be replaced or our pass coverage will suffer (as it did when Kelly was out injured).  Look for a speed WR or a solid corner in the first round of the draft depending what happens in FA. 

We are almost set at RB, look for either Stecker or Dunn (Atlanta just signed Turner from SD) to be signed for a song. 

I would like to see another Left Tackle or a swing tackle added to improve depth behind Fluke Peticure.  If not, Penn is servicable.  Peticure so far reminds me of Stussie (a lot of money zero return).  The rest of the line is awsome and should improve.

I was sad to see K. Mitchell sign with the Bills.  I don’t know if he would have fit but he is tuff, fast, mean and a former USF guy.  He could start over Ryan Neece at Stong Side Backer.

Gruden will be sure to take care of the WR and TE situation this year, no worries…

We need to sign Greg White to a respectable contract right away.  Trust me, last year was no fluke.  The guy can play, watch the film.  Please don’t piss him off to save a buc!  We need improved depth at Tackle and to show Javon Haye some money.  Did anyone notice that our old pals Booger, Wyms and Darby are all UFAs?  Interesting....

We are set at QB for the next two years.  We need a furture starter.  He is currently not on our roster.  it takes at least two full seasons to learn Gruden’s system, maybe longer if the kids not brilliant.

Special teams are set, resign Spurlock, he did it once and can do it again.

Go Bucs!

outside01 - 29 February 2008 02:16 PM

Wow! Way to go guys. While all the big name playmakers are closing in on deals with other teams , we are meeting with a bunch of average 2nd stringers. Are these the “TIger Woods type Playmakers” that we were suppose to get? How are any of these back-ups gonna make our offense explosive next year? How is this gonna stop our secondary from getting picked apart next year? We can over pay a Center with a ridiculous contract....but we can’t get Asante Samuel? WTH are you guys thinking? I’m so tired of this managment. GET ASANTE SAMUEL OR LITO SHEPARD and GET A TOP RECIEVER!!! Spend the freaking money!

Dude, chill.  The Bucs wanted A. Samuel, but the Patriots offered him nearly $8 million a year.  On top of that he got the franchise tag, so if a team offers more (which they have to) they also have to give the Patriots draft picks as well.  Forget it, no one is that stupid to give up that much for one player, no matter how good he is.

Chill? We have two spots that we needed to fill. A great CB and a great WR. We made a center that wasn’t even considered the best available in FA, the highest paid center EVER...It may only be the 3rd day in to FA, but the one person we really needed to sign didn’t even meet with us. Asante should be a Buc, not an Eagle. We have more cap room than ANYONE in the league and we siad we were going after big time talent “Tiger Woods” type talent if I remeber correctly. We had a chance to do that and we didn’t.

The best CBs and WRs are signed now and if we spend big bucks on a LB or RB it is a waste. We really only need depth at those positions and others, WR and CB is where we needed to be aggresive and we blew it.

BTW Acura, Astante Samuel was a Unrestricted Free Agent, he did NOT get the franchise atg this year. So your post was completely wrong. The eagles are a better team now because they were willing to spend some money. What can you expect though....we can’t even pay our existing players a decent amount. The Greg White situation just shows that the Bucs organization is not one that appreciates or rewards hard work and effort.

So Randal Gay signed with the saints, Justin Smith Signed, Henderson, Berrian, Stallworth, Wilford....there are no playmakers left. We did absolutely nothing in FA to help our offensive to be explosive next year. We also did nothing to replace Brian Kelly. Looks like the Saints will pwn us next year and take the division.

Our only hope is a trade now. If we could get Lito Shepard for Simms and a 2nd-3rd round draft pick, that would be GREAT. If we could get a proven playmaker WR in a trade, I’d say do it. Even it it meant giving up our 1st round pick.

FA was a complete nightmare for Tampa, it really looks like noone wants to come here even if we have the money. Maybe that is a sign. All we can do now is pick up depth to replace what we lost.

We could stil be contenders next year if 2 things happen.

#1. We make a trade for a good CB like Lito Shepard or get lucky in the draft and get a young talent that can take over immediatly at CB.

#2 We can make a trade for a playmaker WR or get lucky in the draft and get a solid number two WR rookie.

If those two things happen we will be alright. I just can’t believe we didn’t get any WRs in FA. I can’t beleive we didn’t get Asnate Samuel or RAndal Gay either. We also releases Carter and Spires, then replaced them with.....noone. Hope we get some decent depth for our lD-line in the draft. Things could be really bad next year if we don’t figure out how to fix this royal screw up called Free Agency. Alge Crumpler is really the only FA left that could make a big difference next year.

outside01 - 02 March 2008 01:26 PM

BTW Acura, Astante Samuel was a Unrestricted Free Agent, he did NOT get the franchise atg this year. So your post was completely wrong. The eagles are a better team now because they were willing to spend some money. What can you expect though....we can’t even pay our existing players a decent amount. The Greg White situation just shows that the Bucs organization is not one that appreciates or rewards hard work and effort.

You obviously have a lot of anger over the fact the Bucs won the division three times in the last five years.  You are right, A. Samuel did not end up with the franchise tag as the boston globe mistakenly reported orginally.  However, the Eagles did pay over $10 million a year to get the guy.  I am sorry, since when could the Bucs afford to spend 10% of the cap on one player?  I will make this statement only once - the Eagles will regret this day.  If that is the only move they make in free agency, and don’t shore up a unstable QB situation, you will not see anything of them in 2008.  The NFL salary cap has proven one thing - if you spend a lot on one player, you regret it for many years to come.  Since when has one big budget signing every made a team a super bowl winner?  I don’t know of any team but welcome someone to point it out to me if it has ever happened.

It would be nice to have A. Samuel, but football is a team sport.  A good example is Jeff Garcia. He is not a highly craved QB, not regarded as a top 10 QB by many on this board, but the guy wins games.  Was he a lousy pick up for Gruden?  Not really.  Will he win a game for you by throwing a long ball, not really.  Will he manage a game well and put you in a postiion to win - yes.  Is he super expensive, again no, not really.

Yes, the Bucs need a CB.  They may draft him in the third round this year. Before condemning the leadership of the team I say let us wait and see what the team decides to do.  It is still early in free agency, and the draft has not even taken place yet - but here you are condemning the team to making bad decisions. 

With WR, there are some people still available.  I believe Randy Moss is a big, fast old guy (31) that Gruden loves who the Bucs could get if you can put up with his temper tantrums.  I think there are a few other prospects still available as well.  However, I have noticed no one is actually bidding for Moss because he wants a longer term guaranteed contract than most GMs want to give.  We will have to wait and see about this one.

I would like to point out that many said the same thing you did last off-season - at how terrible Gruden/Allen is and that they should be fired and do not know anything about free agents.  Then they surprised everyone and put together a team that won the division.  Sure it was a bad division, sure they did not beat the Super Bowl champions, but they were competitive and were not laughed off the field as they were the previous year.

The Bucs were a very old team that Gruden inherited his first year.  Due to some astute free agent pick ups the Bucs were able to win a Super Bowl in year one.  Since then the team has been rebuilding both the offense and the defense.  Last year was the first time in quite some time I saw a number of young players starting to play at a very high level (many of them draft picks or failed draft picks of other teams).  The team is not perfect, and still needs work to fill holes - but to condemn the team before all decisions have been made just seems to be a stretch to me.

You make no sense to me. If you wanna sugar coat everything and claim I’m just being a negative Gruden?Allen hater...that’s your choice. The FACT is Asnate Samuel was the only big name FA that the Bucs really neede to sign. We had theneed, we had the money and we blew it. We lucked out that the Eagles got him because now we might be able to salavge the situation by trading for Lito Shepard.

You think Asante Samuel was so expensive, but we made a center that wasn’t even rated as the best avialable, the highest paid center EVER at 37.5 million for 6 years. Asnate is actually a great talent and his contract was 57 mil for 6 years. That’s about 3.3 million more a year....go figure.

Gruden/Allen did a great job last year. They finally quite bringing in old has beens and started going young. They need to keep it up but add some playmaking veterans at the same time. If we don’t make a trade and at least fix the CB and WR position we will not win our division next year.

I think Gruden and Allen got a little slap happy at the fact that “ Holy crap, look at Barrett Ruud’s performance! We drafted him! Look at Tanard Jackson! We drafted him! that offensive line...i think we’re on to something!”
And then they took a second look at some other things, “ Noy how ‘bout that Greg White?” “ Who?” “Oh yeah, that guy, the no name prior to this season...and what’s his face...Philip Buchanon? How was that for a pick up. (Ok former first rounder). I didn like that Earnest Graham kid last year.”
“Hey Chuck, what’s this gotta do with?”
Chuck : You mean other than the fact they were inexpensive no names who carried our team?”

June came via trade, galloway via trade. Sure, the Bucs in the past have made a lot of bad decisions; Stussie, Garner, etc) but they’ve hit some real homeruns, especially as of late. SO I’m gonna give them one more leap of faith and say this:
They must have a big trade or two up their sleeves and big intentions on draft day. Overall, I think we’re gonna be all right. Let’s remember WE’RE NOT REALLY THE GMS!

It’s not even that we aren’t trying. Noone wants to come here for some reason. Maybe players like Sapp, McKardell, Lynch, Ian Gold, Warrick Dunn, Brian Kelly, ect. ect. talk to other players. Maybe word gets around that the current Bucs organization doesn’t show loyalty. Doesn’t respect or reward hard work and effort. Maybe we won’t get any playmaking vets while Chuckie and Allen are in charge. We can’t even pay Greg White a decent contract for his performance last year. You think we’ll get the same effort this year when he’s stuck getting the league minimum? We are 26 million under the minimum cap......PAY THE PEOPLE WHO DESERVE IT AND GET A FREAKIN PLAYMAKER WR!

Seriously, give our 1st round pick for a Chad Johnson or someone equally as explosive. Give our 3rd round pick for Lito Shepard so our secondary doesn’t get picked apart next year. These two things NEED to happen and everyone knows it. MAKE IT HAPPEN. We did a good job at getting young last year. We can afford to trade draft picks this year for some young Vet playmakers.

outside01 - 03 March 2008 01:16 PM

You make no sense to me. If you wanna sugar coat everything and claim I’m just being a negative Gruden?Allen hater...that’s your choice. The FACT is Asnate Samuel was the only big name FA that the Bucs really neede to sign. We had theneed, we had the money and we blew it. We lucked out that the Eagles got him because now we might be able to salavge the situation by trading for Lito Shepard.

You think Asante Samuel was so expensive, but we made a center that wasn’t even rated as the best avialable, the highest paid center EVER at 37.5 million for 6 years. Asnate is actually a great talent and his contract was 57 mil for 6 years. That’s about 3.3 million more a year....go figure.

Gruden/Allen did a great job last year. They finally quite bringing in old has beens and started going young. They need to keep it up but add some playmaking veterans at the same time. If we don’t make a trade and at least fix the CB and WR position we will not win our division next year.

I don’t disagree with what you write here - the Bucs do need a CB and WR, but I think it is equally obvious that those will probably be the round 1 and 2 picks in the draft (or round 3).  Now if they don’t draft anyone for those positions and don’t pick up any decent free agents, I agree - I will question what they are doing.  We are all hacks when it comes to being a GM - we make guesses at what a good move is.  It is not for me to say that not signing A. Samuel is the only ‘big name’ as you state who is available either in the NFL or the first round in the draft.  I just question your attitude to condemning management when we have not seen the result of the overall picture.  I think we have to get through free agency and the draft and at that point it seems they did not pick up any needs at all start questioning management.  Right now you are literally ‘screaming’ for a partially complete picture - your right, I just cannot support that.

I look at this as very interesting.  The Bucs have won the NFC South three times in the last six years and one Super Bowl.  It is true as of late they have not been close to the Super Bowl, but Gruden got a very old team he squeezed a Super Bowl out of in his first season. Ever since then he has been trying to duct tape the team together every year without a full complement of draft picks (years one and two) with older free agents.  He has had mixed success but despite all the setbacks has fielded a very competitive team in half his years here.  The team is younger than it has been since the middle of Dungy’s years here.  The team still needs to pick up more young players in certain positions and as you mention, WR and and CB are two of those needs (but I would add at least another TE and RB as well from somewhere).

As I already mentioned Lito Shepard will likely be traded from Philly. If it is possible in anyway to get Lito, we need to m ake it happen. There aare also some other players that might be available that would REALLY help the the Bucs.

Deuce McCallister might be released or traded if the Saints can’t get his contract negotiated.

Terrel Suggs has filed a grievance against the Ravens. This is a longshot, but if he is unhappy with that organization he could possible end up traded. Suggs was drafted as a LB and still plays that position, but also plays DE 50% of the time. Suggs would be a GREAT young addition to the Bucs.

Finally there’s Larry Fitzgerald. The Cardinals so no way he’s being let go, but if they can’t come to an agreement on a new contract, they would have to pay him over 15 mil this year, and almost 17 mil next year. That won’t happen. If he is released or traded I would hope the Bucs would move heaven and Earth to get him signed.