I had real visions of a grandiose offseason for my beloved Bucs.  Of course, I didn’t expect it to start out with the firing of a good Head Coach and GM in Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen.  I also was a little taken aback by the release of Derrick Brooks.  I understood it from a rebuilding standpoint, but I didn’t like the shitty excuse Mark Dominik gave me about not wanting Derrick Brooks on the sideline wearing a cap.  I’m a fan of the Bucs though, so I accepted these shaky decisions and started looking forward to a free agency period that featured a few players who we could certainly benefit from and 61 mil in cap space to pursue who we wanted as well as resigning our own guys.

Let me preface my free agent rant with one thing, I’m a firm believer in building via trades and via the draft, two things that generally are one in the same in the NFL.  I think that free agency leads to overpayment of players, and unrealistic expectations as a result of overpayment.  On the other hand, with the release of 5 guys on the eve of free agency and some glaring holes to fill, I thought we would come in to FA strong, namely for one guy in particular, Albert Haynesworth.  As I mentioned earlier, I’m all for not overpaying for guys in FA.  If we thought that Albert Haynesworth was going to be a little too rich for our blood, and we backed off, than so be it.  My issue comes with the subsequent resigning of WR Michael Clayton to 10.5 mil in gauaranteed money.  It was reported everywhere that the Bucs and the Skins were the final two teams in the running for Big Al.  He signed for about 41 mil in gauranteed money.  What do you think the Bucs were offering, 35, 36, 37 mil?  In my head that 4-6 mil difference would be enough of a gap for the Bucs brass to back off, and for Big Al to say that’s a big enough difference to sign in Washington.  Fine.  I’m ok with all of this.  10.5 freaking million for Michael Clayton. For real.  The guy doesn’t have over 500 receiving yards since his rookie season.   Dominik didn’t think it more beneficial to add that 4-6 mil to Big Al’s deal, and offer Clayton what he is worth, around 6 mil gauranteed.  Does anyone not see the ridiculousness of this.  Defensive Tackle is in my mind, one of the two most important positions on the defensive side of the ball.  This man wreaks havoc at this position.  He is constantly shedding double teams, and cut blocks and still not just occupying blockers, but getting to the damned QB.  Serious blunder in deciding that a 3rd WR, because lets be honest, that’s what Michael Clayton has shown over the last 4 years (I loved this guy out of college, so don’t get all Steve Duemigie on me and think I got a personal bias against the guy) is more important than signing a defensive cog in his prime, who at one point might have been the MVP of the NFL season.  What’s gonna make me even more upset is when the Nate Washington’s and Devery Henderson’s of the world sign for 1/2 of what we gave to Michael Clayton.

Today was the icing on the cake for me.  This whole Jay Cutler story is eating me up inside.  If the BS reports out of NE and KC are true, that the Bucs just jumped into the equation too late, isn’t this a stain on the front office that must be accounted for.  With all of the inside information that is passed around the NFL, you would assume that someone in our front office would have caught wind of something like this going down.   Franchise QB’s don’t become available via trade very often, and for a few hours yesterday, it appeared that one was available, and we whiffed.  

I’m generally very supportive of my teams front office.  I understand the complexities of the cap, of the business side of the operation as well as the player and football side of the whole thing.  I’m usually one to give the front office the benefit of the doubt for a missed pick, a missed FA, or just a general error that sports radio hosts in Tampa will crucify the front office for.  This situation though leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and it is one that I hope our front office gives me a nice frosty glass of scotch to wash that bitterness out with….very soon.

Those situations aside, it’s still hard to categorize the first weekend of the signing period as anything other than disappointing for the Bucs, if only because so many of the players they targeted wound up elsewhere.  The string of losses started Saturday, when running back Aaron Stecker (Saints), wide receiver Devery Henderson (Saints) and cornerbacks Drayton Florence (Jaguars) and Jacques Reeves (Texans) signed elsewhere.

Are we truly that dissapointed that we did not overpay for a player that we previously let walk (Stecker), a guy with 74 catches in 3 years (Henderson), a player with 10 interceptions in 5 years (Florence) and a former 7th round pick with one interception in 4 years (Reeves)? 

With the plethora of cap space available to many teams (not just the Buccaneers) teams are overpaying for players that have been marginal throughout their careers.  Would it not be prudent to assume that if these players were that spectacular, that there original teams would have resigned them, especially with the aformentioned cap space of most teams. 

One thing I know is this, the Bucs have 58 players currently under contract , with only 5 or 6 who have no real chance of making the 53 man roster.  The Bucs are still trying to bring back DE Kevin Carter, brough in WR Javon Walker and CB/S Eugene Wilson, who to me, would be two of the better free agent signings of any team thus far, and we still have boatloads of cap space.  RB Warrick Dunn,  and CB Lito Sheppard (would have to be traded for) are available and would fill huge needs for us.  There is also a super wildcard that has yet to resolve itself yet, the fact that WR Larry Fitzgerald, is carrying a huge cap number (over 17 mil) that is prohibiting his current team from signing practically anyone.  One last thing should be taken into consideration.  With all the current guys under contract, and the few players that we are still targeting, what are we going to do with the players that we draft in April.  In my estimation, we are a prime target to move up in order to pick up a player that we really like (Ryan Clady, Chris Williams, Aqib Talib, Michael Jenkins, Leodis McKelvin) or move down and stockpile other teams picks in the next couple drafts. 

Let’s not be so harsh on the front office yet.  Signing players that will fit our needs at rates that are reasonable should not be cause for criticism, it should be cause for applause.