The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are continuing to shy away from spending money while continuing to insist that it’s all a matter of strategy, not frugality.
The latest example comes from head coach Raheem Morris, who told the Tampa Tribune that the Bucs’ lack of free agent spending is simply about wanting to acquire young players to build the franchise for the long run.
“You’ve got to do what fits your club. Our plan is for youth and development. If there’s a player out there right now who could help us, maybe,” Morris said. “But our plan is to do long-term winning. Our focus is to develop guys. Our focus is the draft. Our focus is April 22. Our focus is those three days of the draft this year, being as prepared as we can be for that. That’s the most important thing. That’s the thing that will define us as coaches. It’s everything.”
Building through the draft is fine, but building through the draft and acquiring good players via free agency aren’t mutually exclusive. There’s no reason that the Buccaneers couldn’t be signing some unrestricted free agents while also preparing for those three days in April.
At least, there’s no reason other than the owners’ unwillingness to spend money.
if one doesnt sign free agents, one cant sign any busts.
The ONLY reason Morris got this job is because he’s willing to cover for ownership. Gruden was fired because he wouldn’t have kept quiet over what ownership has done to the Bucs.
Radio is so full of crap… the owners are cheap/broke and thats the only reason why they aren’t spending cash to real in free agents. Dominik isn’t very smart either. Shoot, they couldnt even figure out a clever way to keep antonio bryant and trade him for a draft pick. You mean to tell me that a player that just signed a 30 mil contract can’t command at least a 4th rd draft pick.
Why do you think they fired Gruden and hired Raheem Morris.
Money!
They will have the lowest payroll in an uncapped year you watch, these owners are all about making a buck.
Cheapskate. Buc’s are going nowhere fast. They have one solid player on their entire roster, Barrett Ruud. That’s Barret.
I wonder how many Jewish jokes are going to get blocked…
I love the Tampa area, but who in their right mind would want to play for a lame-duck high school coach?
According to NFL.com there are a bunch of teams that have not signed any new free agents. The following teams have not signed anybody new:
Dallas, New Orleans, Arizona, Baltimore, Green Bay, NY Jets, Oakland, Philly, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Tennessee.
Why aren’t these other coaches being interrogated about their lack of free agent spending?
Maybe somebody should ask Jerry Jones, Al Davis, or Paul Allen why they are being so cheap…
Tampa Bay is one of Florios favorite teams to hammer. How many teams rush out in early free agency and throw a wad of cash at a veteran and regret it later? It the Bucs wait until a later date to fill gaps that is their choice.
Who wants to bet if Florio was hired to be part of a team it would make the Matt Millen era look productive?
Why not just let Florio write the articles? Or did he actually write this one?
We all know whats going on here. The rebuilding has not even started. This year will be a give away. It dont matter to the Glazers what happens this year. Maybe they will start the rebuilding next year ? Who knows?
MDS writes
“Building through the draft is fine, but building through the draft and acquiring good players via free agency aren’t mutually exclusive. There’s no reason that the Buccaneers couldn’t be signing some unrestricted free agents while also preparing for those three days in April.”
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Here’s a reason why the Bucs shouldn’t be signing some unrestricted free agents: THE UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT CLASS IS BULLS**T BECAUSE OF THE EXPIRATION OF THE CBA….By definition, you can only be a UFA if you’ve been in the league at least 6 years. Therefore, a “youth movement” doesn’t coincide with free agency, this year.
There’s plenty of teams that don’t break the bank in FA and win:
Pittsburgh
Indy
NE
Dallas
And there’s plenty that spend and don’t get anything for it:
Washington
Detroit
Chicago
You left out that his first response was “This ain’t Sam’s Club”. Radio Morris is a total buffoon and by far the worst HC in the NFL. My 8 year old speaks better English.
You’re an idiot! If you know so much about building a franchise, then why aren’t you doing it? What do the Bucs need? They have thier QB, RB’s, OL and Defense. You have to let these young guys develop. It’s the same thing the Jaguars are going through right now. Yeah…I know, the Jags just signed Kampmam…but how big of a risk was that? The Bucs just can’t go and blow money on free agents. Free agents are plugs. You build your team through drafting. Look at the difference between the Steelers and Redskins!
The average career in the NFL is 3.5 seasons so how do you plan for long-term winning based on roster.
Only fans of long term losers care about long term winning. Fans of long term winners care about winning a championship.
So what exactly would you recommend? Who should they sign?
I think they know that they are a few years away from being a contender for anything. I’d load up on youth too.
Lets also remember, building through the draft and aquiring young players is fine when you have a coach with experience to coach them in the right direction is one thing. When you have a coach that is on a “learn as you go” basis…is an insult to the fans. It would also be one thing to actally “invite” potential Free Agents to the facility and “appear” to be interested in that Free Agent than to be focused solely on the Draft and not even looking at the Free Agent wire(or potential trade aquisitions) translates to being more focused on your wallet than the teams future.
The problem with that strategy is that then they will end up drafting for need and not best player available. They will hurt themselves in the long run. Not surprised though because they spent nothing last year as well.
Morris is, I apologize for the crudeness, an ass clown patsy of the Glazer family. He knows the only reason he’s in that job is because Gruden wouldn’t have stood by while ownership let this team die. No coach, for that matter, worth his salt would be ok with this. I mean Reggie Brown. WTF?
At the end of the day the Glazers want to make those of us that feel they are purposely starving the team to keep Man U on top look like lunatics. The reality is this team has zero potential to win in the next 5 years. How do you not even entertain the prospect of bringing back bryant, meeting with Charkes Grant or flirting with Julius Peppers?
It’s a joke. This franchise is dead to me.
What he meant is that he’s a horrible coach so he wouldn’t win with good players either.
Let me ask this question. Are the owners cheap or are the owners going broke? There is a big difference.
I guess either way it’s going to make for a below average team.
The fact is that 1/3 of the teams in the league have not signed a free agent. Also, another 1/3 of the teams have only signed 1. We traded for 1 player so that should basically put the Bucs in the middle of the pack.
Everything in the NFL depends on the QB. Wins, coaches jobs, ect. Freeman is a year or 2 away from getting them in contention, so 30 year old free agents are not going to help anyway. Wait until next year when there are twice as many FA’s as this year. Most FA’s sign with their own teams anyway! It takes 2 to tango.
Let’s not forget they traded for the best tight end in the league last year and signed him to the biggest contract ever for a TE. They also tried to get Haynesworth, too. (I’m glad they didn’t.)When someone out there is worth the money, I think they have no problem going after him. Who out of this free agent is worth the money they’ve gotten? Antrel Rolle? Antonio Bryant? Child, please!
Why are you after the Bucs. There are a number of team not spending. They have a plan, let them try to implement it. You talk as if you are an expert. ediot experts. Try to bash some other team.
Signing free agents and building through the draft are mutually exclusive, in part.
By not signing any free agents this year, Tampa Bay will get an extra draft pick in next year’s draft because Antonio Bryant signed such a big contract with the Bengals (it is likely to be a 3rd rounder).
Furthermore, as has been mentioned previously in this commentary thread, this year’s class of free agents simply isn’t very good – it’s a bunch of marginal players and 30+ year old veterans. Signing those types of players will not make the Bucs a winner right away, and would stunt the growth of their young players.
For the Bucs, there actually is some strategic benefit to staying out of the free agency game right now.
michael david smith u have no idea what your talking about
Hey Silver&Black,
Just an fyi, they are still paying Gruden’s contract. If it was just about the money then they probably would have just kept him around till his contract ran out.
Mean D says:
March 11, 2010 11:18 AM
You left out that his first response was “This ain’t Sam’s Club”. Radio Morris is a total buffoon and by far the worst HC in the NFL. My 8 year old speaks better English.
hey u idiot how about actually listening to one of his press conferences before jumping to conclusions
Would you rather see the Bucs spend like the Redskins? How often does that massive spending and over paying work out for Washington?
Or, would you rather the Bucs spend like they did under Gruden? You know, going after players that were basically set to retire until Gruden decided he wanted to try to change their minds?
When you add the not signing free agents to the fact that they are letting the few good players they have go and not resigning them it tells one all he needs to know, the clubs BS or not. Special teams was one of the better parts of the team and they have let them all go. It is all about the money and you can take that to the Bank.
FWIW,
The Bucs have won nothing since 2002. They built no base and had no long term future. They went with the quick fixes for 6 or 7 years and it bought them what?
They went with youth and adding highly overpriced players who will not be around very long really makes a lot of sense.
Hey idiots, the Glazers are paying BOTH Gruden and Raheem… They didn’t fire Gruden to save cheddar, they canned Gruden because they thought Morris was the next Mike Tomlin.
The Bucs took their shot, won a Superbowl, and are new trying to rebuild this team from the ground up, with a young foundation, not a bunch of old bandaids…..
and what’s mara’s excuse in big seat license giants new stadium for just adding one safety to the worst defense in the nfl?
The glazers will be run out of manchester soon enough judging by the 70.000 united fans chanting “we want Glazers out” in the game last night. The bucs will have their owners back and they will be very wealthy ones at that after they sell manchester united.
Will you ppl leave the Skins out of this…they have changed…THEY HAVE CHANGED!!!!!
This again?
Who writes this trash?…Get off dudes a$$!! Fact is this 2010 farce of a F/A is totally worthless – especially if you’ve committed to a youth movement – and even if not, its so thin it’s practically transparent. Why continue to single out the Bucs as cheap/broke/etc…when half the league has not made little to any moves?
Every team has the same cap dollars available and only the foolish are overpaying for last years results, and you decide to call out a team that has a “plan”. It may not be your plan – but they generally give those jobs to those who’ve been/are in the football realm and not some half-a$$ wannabe blogger whose blogs about rumors and trades have a lower % of being true than the Bucs winning % last year.
The fact is, Florio and your butt buddy who co-writes this trash weren’t, aren’t, and never will be GM’s, athletes, or anything more than inaccurate cheaply paid bloggers who have NO “sources” beyond their worthless pea-sized brain…Florio and friends do the rest of us a favor and just leave………..
OBVIOUSLY we are going to have one of the most horrible teams this year and HOPEFULLY Morris and Dominik will be NO more in the NFL…… At least not with our team (Go Bucs!!!)….. Let them go screw up someones elses chances!!!!(UGH!)
has every one forgot that the team that won the bowl was built, Sapp drafted drick brooks drafted, john lynch drafted, mike alstott drafted and dungy was a first time head coach too once the ground work was put down then the bucs hit the FA market to pick up players to fill the gaps.
How come no one is talking about how Chicago has completely mortgaged their future with the Julius Peppers and Cutler deals? How come no one is all over the Pathers for trading their first round picks for the last 3 years in a row, only to extend the contract of a bum who threw 4 PICKS in the playoffs last year? Carolina is on the decline with no sight of the bottom, yet. The Bucs have hit rock bottom and are poised to ascend. If you can’t see that, you’re an idiot and should become a writer for PFT.
you know new system on D-fence younger players i belive we will be ok in time this is not base ball where you could just buy the ring teams like pitt, indy,NE,build through the draft and plug into their system it works!
Hey AtlBucsFan your teams payroll will be half the Raiders
Sure you might win 4 or 5 games next year but at least Al Davis is trying a lot of us might not agree with him or what he does….the issue here is that the Glaziers are milking it while other teams are busting ass thats the issue.
Ok, guys. Rhetorical question here:
If the point of this season is to “rebuild” or pursue a youth movement, then why in the hell are we, or anyone, going to pay to see this team for the next few years?
A lot of you are saying that half the other teams in the NFL haven’t acquired any FA’s yet. THAT’S GREAT! But half the teams in the NFL didn’t go 3-13 last year either.
Don’t you see? We are the Lions now. We are the Browns. We are a team that no one believes can win, no quality FA’s want to play for and we’re all setting the bar so extremely high by saying this year is a building year. BS. You play to win. Did you see the Saints take a year off to “rebuild” since Payton got there? No. They brought in a FA qb and were in the conversation every year since.
Did the falcons take a year off to “rebuild?” No. They drafted a rookie qb but also brought in (slight sarcastic undercurrent here) SUPRISE an over 30 FA Tight end and one of the better rushers in the game (also a FA)
Wake up, man. This is so obvious. This team makes money regardless of the product it puts on the field because people like me and people like you still want to pay to watch this crapfest called Tampa Bay Football.
Build through the draft my ass. Where are all these teams that “built through the draft?” this is the NFL, you have to do both. Acquire free agents that you can use and draft prospects that you can afford to wait on.
More Tanards and less Sabbys, please.
Isn’t there just some way we can bring John McKay back from the dead?
Can’t we just bring John McKay back from the dead?
They paid Jeff Faine record money for a center as a free agent a couple years ago. Paid big money for Kellen Winslow last year, and for Antonio Bryant. Tossed Derrick Ward a few bucks. But those guys are pretty much the only ones making a good chunk more than the minimum.
All that was to spend enough to hit the bottom of the salary cap spending. Without a cap, the only big spending they will be doing this year is on their first round draft pick.
Bucs need to get someone in the draft to put up defensive pressure, and wide receivers. They should look into signing Donald Penn long term, he’s a top 5 left tackle