Raheem Morris won't be extended until next year.

Earlier this off-season the Buccaneers picked up options on both Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik. I said at the time that was the wrong move, that both men deserved contract extensions. Well, fortunately the Bucs rectified that with one of them when they inked Dominik to a four year extension with a healthy raise. However though, according to Pewter Report, the Bucs have no such plans to extend Morris in the immediate future. Since picking up his option, the Bucs have had no discussions with Morris or his agent about a long-term extension. And that lack of conversation isn’t one-sided.

Morris’ camp would prefer to wait until after the 2011 season. Their belief is if the upcoming season goes well, Morris and his infectious personality and ability to lead players would be able to command an upper echelon salary and long-term deal with only one-year remaining on his contract. Morris clearly has the support of the locker room, so with him heading into a lame-duck year in 2012 there would be internal pressure for the team to sign Morris to a lucrative multi-year deal.

A lot of the Glazer-bashers will use this as evidence that the Glazers are being cheap again, and I’ll admit I certainly take my shots at the ownership when it’s warranted. It’s not warranted this time though, the Bucs may not be looking to extend Morris right now but he’s also not looking to take an extension either. He understands that with a playoff run this year he’s going to be looking at a huge payday. Morris has already begun to ascend the NFL coaching hierarchy, finishing second in the coach-of-the-year balloting last season.

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On Spending Money – “The Glazers have given us every opportunity to sign anybody that we elect to sign,” Allen said. “They have been very strong in wanting us to be aggressive and pick the right people.” 

On FA WR Antonio Bryant – “Well, obviously Antonio Bryant is a free agent and so what we’re lacking we have to acquire or re-acquire, and that’s part of the plan,” Allen said…“We haven’t even talked about [a new contract] yet,” Allen said. “Antonio had a successful year for Antonio Bryant and he had a successful year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It is something that he ought to be very, very proud of and we are proud of his accomplishments. It seems like something that should work out between the two of us…Our free agent class has some really good success when you compare it to the other free agents that were available,” Allen said. “Antonio Bryant, as you all know, had a spectacular season and was better than any other free agent, production-wise, at wide receiver.”

On Cadillac Williams - “I think it’s a very uncommon situation and let’s be clear, it’s a left and a right, it’s not the same knee,” Allen said. “I saw Carnell [Friday] morning. He’s in the training room with that same wonderful, positive attitude that says, ‘Watch this. You didn’t think I was going to do this before – watch this…When he got hurt, it was heart wrenching. You could feel not only our bench, not only Cadillac, not only his family, but you could feel the fans just feel for the young man. We didn’t count on Cadillac for the first half of the season last year and as the offseason continues, we’ll continue to get the medical updates and you’ll continue to ask if he has started running the stairs over at Raymond James yet. We’ll have time, but obviously we can’t count on him for at least the first half of the season…We evaluate everybody each year on the Buccaneers,” Allen said. “His first year, he’s Rookie of the Year in the NFL and you really can’t ask for much more then that. He does suffer some injuries after that. His performance in that Raider game was really exciting.  But whether or not he finished the season healthy or not, we don’t look at it as where we [drafted] you means you have a roster spot or play time associated with your draft selection. We’re going to look at that position obviously, and make sure we can be as deep as you can with an 80-man training camp and a 53-man roster.”

On Last Years Draft - ”You know, it’s interesting,” Allen said. “The responsibility is mine, and Dexter Jackson, he didn’t develop like we hoped he would his rookie year as a returner. Clifton Smith comes out of undrafted free agency and beats out your second-round draft choice. I’m happy about that. Because you’re a second-rounder or a third-rounder or a first-rounder does not give you play time. Performance gives you your play time. We were open to anybody making the team. Dre Moore we drafted because we have two defensive tackles who are free agents. We drafted him with the idea that he was going to be a ‘redshirt’ player [who] wasn’t going to play. [I] don’t know what’s going to happen with Jovan Haye and Ryan Sims in free agency and there was no depth at the position. Now, he worked with us the entire year and he’s going to be given an opportunity to compete this year. So we’ll see what happens with him this year.”