What should we do?

[SerbiaBuc]

I’ve been questioning myself this for the past three seasons, and I haven’t found out answer… Even last season when we won division title it was obvious we don’t have team good enough for constant playoff appearance and new super bowl hunt…
But, in this offseason we are finally going to have enough money for singing good players and with another addition of two or three drafted players we may be back in contention. So, who do we sign and who do we draft? (I’m not going to analyze this cause of draft forum rules)

Let’s start with defense.
Defensive line: Simeon Rice is the biggest question here. Well, he is in his last year of contract, so we wouldn’t save much if we cut him and because of his big paycheck I don’t see anyone who would give us 2nd or 3rd round pick for him. However, I do believe he has 2 or 3 more years left in the tank, so stuck with him one more year would probably be a good thing to do. On other side, Spires is washed up and we need to replace him. Chiefs LDE Allen will be RFA after this season and I think we should go for him. He is a big hitter and great run stopper for a DE. He doesn’t have too many sacks but almost every sack he made result in a fumble. Pair him with Hovan and those two guys would be great run stop duo and also be able to penetrate and get some pressure on QB. And if we do get Allen via FA, we could leave Wyms on other DT spot trying to produce even more pressure… Rice, Wyms and Allen as passing rushers and Hovan, Wyms and Allen as run stoppers could again do some damage and make life easier for other defensive players… Question is how to get Allen?! I hope our GM would find some answers.

Linebackers: Brooks should stay. He isn’t what he use to be and will cost us some money, but if we go for Briggs, for example, we would pay more money for a player who isn’t leader of defense. Other two guys should be Ruud at SLB and Quarles at MLB or Ruud at MLB and Nece at SLB. Ruud is finally starting to show some life and next season he should be fully prepared for starting role. I would place him on SLB and stuck with Quarles at MLB, but Quarles should receive ton of money next season and I’m not sure he deserve it… how it will be resolved is another job for GM

Secondary: Ronde is a lock as one CB. Question is what are we going to do with another? Is Kelly staying? If not, we have to go for Clements or Samuel. If Kelly stays, CB position wouldn’t be our prime concern, but it wouldn’t hurt us to have one more CB who actually can cover someone. Maybe even go with Kelly and FA as our CBs and let Ronde play safety… safeties are our biggest problem right now. Allen and Phillips can’t play at NFL level and we need to get rid of them. But, if we do that, we are going to need at least one safety who knows how to play Tampa 2 defense. And the answer is, get John Lynch back, at any cost! Pay him, talk to him, beg him if you must, but get him back cause this guy still knows how to play football. And he is a perfect example what a leader should do. Bailey is Denver playmaker in their secondary, but John Lynch is the guy who lead other players… he is like u glue, sticking whole defense together. And I do believe he would come back to Tampa to finish his career here, even if he had some disagreements with Gruden and Allen.

Our defense next year could be good again, if it looks like this:
Rice, Hovan, Wyms, FA(preferably Allen)
Brooks, Ruud, Quarles(Nece)
Ronde, Lynch, FA, Kelly(FA)

Basically, we need to get Lynch back and sing DE who can stop the run and get some pressure and CB or safety(or both if Kelly is gone). With our cap situation we can get three good players… also, draft some kids and let them learn through season…

Offense:
Offensive line: We are finally set with five guys who can play. Davis, Buenning, Wade, Joseph, Walker. With Trueblood and Mahan as reserves, we don’t need another addition, just time to gel. I believe we could look good next season. Not great, but really good.

RB/FB: Alstott will retire so we need to get one FB. Who it will be I don’t have a clue. There are no good FB at market right now, so we should look for some FB in later rounds of draft. Cadillac is lock at RB and having Pittman as second RB is also a good thing.

TE: Becht and Smith will do even better job next season. As OL develop, they will have more chance for catching the ball and they’ve shown they are up to the task.

WR: Good lord, this is disaster. Galloway is great WR but he is 36 and his style of playing isn’t perfect for WCO lead by QB who isn’t greatest deep passer… Problem is obvious. But, while Galloway is playing the way he does, we have to find a way to use him properly. Should we pray for Gradkowski to learn to throw better or we go back to Simms or even go for a QB at draft, it’s a question for final paragraph. For now, we will say Galloway is one WR. Other is even bigger problem. Clayton is a bust. After great first season he somehow forgot how to catch a ball. Last season I was hoping he have problems cause of injuries, but this season he is healthy but butter fingers are still there and instead of becoming better he is going down with every single game… We may leave him as third WR, but even that doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. Whatever we do, we must find another WR. Would we go at FA and try to sign someone, or get someone at draft… if Calvin Johnson is available, he is must pick, otherwise go for a defensive player in first round and seek WR somewhere else… So this is our first big problem at offense. How it will be solved, its another job for Gruden and Allen.

QB: Finally, our biggest concern. Gradkowski, Simms, FA, drafted player? I really don’t know. Truth to be said, I believed Simms would be great this season but its obvious he played bad and got hurt again. Putting our future in the hands of a player who is easily hurt isn’t a good thing so while I do love his deep ball, I wouldn’t go with Simms as our QB. Besides, he and Gruden surely aren’t in love after Carolina game so he is probably goner. Side note: if he stays healthy and get a chance behind solid OL, he could become a star. Drafting a QB, no matter how good is again no… no more rookie QBs, please. Basically its get good QB through FA or stay with Gradkowski for another year. Finding franchise QB on FA is difficult, almost impossible task. But finding some veteran QB who can help Gradkowski shouldn’t be too big of a problem. What I’m saying is give Gradkowski this year to learn as much as he can and then another to prove he can be NFL QB. I have to say I’m not Gradkowski homer, I dislike many things he do, but I do understand he is a rookie and I do like the way he is acting on the field. He also has solid short and intermediate pass and if he improves his deep ball, with Galloway in our team, that should left safeties covering deep passes and get more chances for short passes and for Cadillac running. I do however realize he’ll never going to have Palmer’s deep ball, but he should at least develop adequate deep pass.

All in all, we should seek for starting WR(or pray Clayton to start catching some balls) and FB, and then let Gruden find some offensive magic, if he can. This also means I would give Gruden another year to try something(even thou I’m sick of him), cause if we get another HC now, it could end up in changing whole offense and that would be disaster.


Considering both, defense and offense, we should get 5 new players. We have enough money to find at least 3 of them on FA, and with three picks in first two rounds and a fact we can draft good FB in later rounds we should find another good player. Other good thing, even old, this team can play for more then one season and be quietly rebuild year after year… Other solution is have complete changeover on defense and another HC which will result in complete changeover on offense and probably 5 or 6 terrible years(just look at Niners)

Well, this is a long post(I apologies for any grammar or spelling error), I hope someone would read it

[h-town baller]

I agree draft Calvin Johnson if he is still on the board

[JamesWilder32]

Jared Allen is a a RFA and we should go after him? And give up a 1st or 2nd round pick in the process? No thanks, maybe we should get back to what made this Bucs team great to begin with and start drafting early and often on defense. Considering the offense produces less than Dungy's offenses, there is no point in pumping more money and picks into bolstering our pathetic unit while our once proud defense continues to crumble.

#1 thing that should be done.... Keep Simms, FIRE GRUDEN! Monte Kiffin should be our coach, let Monte rebuild our defense and let use get back to Buc ball.

[UMiamiBucFan]

Didn't read the whole thing but I just thought I'd point out that Jared Allen is a RFA and will cost us at least a first round pick. He's not worth a top 10 pick...and we would not be able to get Calvin Johnson (who you suggest). Only teams that would target Allen would be the teams with lower picks.

[JamesWilder32]

I just caught the part about K. Walker playing RT next season for us. That sickens me, you know Walker was on a 1 year contract? His career as a Buc is thankfully over. Trueblood will likely go into next season as the starter. He needs to get stronger in the offseason but I agree, we need to leave the OL alone for a bit and invest our resources in other parts of the team, most notably our front 7, starting with an UT, WLB, and MLB.

[UMiamiBucFan]

Walker is signed thru 2010. His salary is 1.95 mill next season and then 4+ million for the remaining. So, more than likely, he's a Buc in 2007.

[OnTheGrind]

Originally Posted by JamesWilder32

I just caught the part about K. Walker playing RT next season for us. That sickens me, you know Walker was on a 1 year contract? His career as a Buc is thankfully over. Trueblood will likely go into next season as the starter. He needs to get stronger in the offseason but I agree, we need to leave the OL alone for a bit and invest our resources in other parts of the team, most notably our front 7, starting with an UT, WLB, and MLB.

MLB and UT?
Ruud is a 23 year old beast and Wyms has 4 sacks in his last 4 games.

[JamesWilder32]

Ruud has not played particularly well as he has struggled with angles and pass drops and when in your memory has Wyms EVER produced over an entire season at UT? He has never stayed healthy and if a guy is hurt 50% of the time then that means we need to get somebody that can play either the other 50% of the time or 100% of the time and make Ellis a backup. I too was hopeful that Ellis would come through and play light-s out for us but much like in seasons past he has been injured.

[UMiamiBucFan]

More than likely, we will draft a DT and they'll play in rotation.

[JamesWilder32]

Originally Posted by OnTheGrind

MLB and UT?
Ruud is a 23 year old beast and Wyms has 4 sacks in his last 4 games.

Actually, Wyms had 4 sacks in a 3 game stretch in October and has only played once since that time (no sacks). Considering the next game played will be in December, that means he has gone the entire month of November without contributing, do you consider that a strength or should we petition the league to allow us to play the games over because Wyms was injured?

[tampabayfan]

Draft a DE/DT in the first round. We need a long term impact player at this position. I dont want some player that is under achiving on some other team that demands a high pay check. We already got one of those on the line. I want a Warren Sapp II.

I will take a FA safety. Lynch? LOL he isnt come back here to Tampa. We need a starter in the saftey position that isnt in his mid 30s. Denver isnt going to be dumb enough to let him go. Only we are that dumb.

We should not draft a WR in the first round--no more big picks on the offense. Its time to invest in some again on the D side.

[JamesWilder32]

I am a big proponent of drafting defense... but WR Calvin Johnson is a monster prospect plus there are no DTs in the mold that should be drafted that high and the DE's are good (Adams, Moses) but not C. Johnson good. The guy is can't miss a Randy Moss with class and humility which I guess is like saying Marvin Harrison's heart and mind in Moss's body.

[tampabayfan]

Our weakness right now is not lack of talent in our wrs. We have an old defense that is not getting the job done. Besides if this guy is that good, you know detroit will draft him before we even get a shot at him.

[OnTheGrind]

Originally Posted by JamesWilder32

Actually, Wyms had 4 sacks in a 3 game stretch in October and has only played once since that time (no sacks). Considering the next game played will be in December, that means he has gone the entire month of November without contributing, do you consider that a strength or should we petition the league to allow us to play the games over because Wyms was injured?

Are you brain dead? He's been injured. And yes Wyms is a strength. Not many DT's can rush the passer like him. Last year Cadillac had a stretch of 5-6 weeks where he did NOTHING because he was hurt. Should we have gotten another RB?

[fundamental]

Draft Calvin Johnson and go defense the rest of the way. Teams that might draft ahead of us:

Arizona Cardinals
Detroit Lions
Oakland Raiders
Cleveland Browns
Buffalo Bills
Washington Redsins

I can see Washington, Oakland, Cleveland or Buffalo drafting him before we get the opportunity.

[OnTheGrind]

Originally Posted by fundamental

Draft Calvin Johnson and go defense the rest of the way. Teams that might draft ahead of us:

Arizona Cardinals
Detroit Lions
Oakland Raiders
Cleveland Browns
Buffalo Bills
Washington Redsins

I can see Washington, Oakland, Cleveland or Buffalo drafting him before we get the opportunity.

I think Tennessee would try hard to get Calvin Johnson to give Vince Young an elite WR.

[tampabayfan]

I think our best move would be trade down and try to pick up another high pick.

[SerbiaBuc]

Originally Posted by JamesWilder32

Jared Allen is a a RFA and we should go after him? And give up a 1st or 2nd round pick in the process? No thanks, maybe we should get back to what made this Bucs team great to begin with and start drafting early and often on defense. Considering the offense produces less than Dungy's offenses, there is no point in pumping more money and picks into bolstering our pathetic unit while our once proud defense continues to crumble.

You wouldn't give high second round pick for a player like Jared Allen? wow! there is no way you could find such a player in second round...

Originally Posted by JamesWilder32

#1 thing that should be done.... Keep Simms, FIRE GRUDEN! Monte Kiffin should be our coach, let Monte rebuild our defense and let use get back to Buc ball.

OK, I can respect your opinion, but what after keeping Simms(who would play maybe 3 more games before another injury), firing Gruden and letting Monte do the HC job? Who and how would run the offense?
Or this is just another "Kill Gruden, its all his fault" post...
I can't stand Gruden anymore, but firing him wouldn't solve our problems

Originally Posted by tampabayfan

Draft a DE/DT in the first round. We need a long term impact player at this position. I dont want some player that is under achiving on some other team that demands a high pay check. We already got one of those on the line. I want a Warren Sapp II.

I will take a FA safety. Lynch? LOL he isnt come back here to Tampa. We need a starter in the saftey position that isnt in his mid 30s. Denver isnt going to be dumb enough to let him go. Only we are that dumb.

We should not draft a WR in the first round--no more big picks on the offense. Its time to invest in some again on the D side.

While I do agree with most I must say, if Johnson is available, take him. Kid is a beast, he will be killing DBs in NFL next year... If not, draft defense(as I said in the first post)
I though Lynch sign 3year deal with Broncos, that would make him available this offseason. I might be mistaken thought. And if he wants to come back, yeah, sign him for 2 or 3 more years and let some kid learn from him

Originally Posted by tampabayfan

I think our best move would be trade down and try to pick up another high pick.

Could be the best move if passable, considering there are no high valued DT/DE(only Adams, maybe) on this year draft

[RRodkey]

Question: "What should we do?"

Until Gruden leaves, you may want to start following NASCAR.

[SerbiaBuc]

Originally Posted by RRodkey

Question: "What should we do?"

Until Gruden leaves, you may want to start following NASCAR.

I hate NASCAR... could I watch NCAA basketball instead?

[fundamental]

Originally Posted by OnTheGrind

I think Tennessee would try hard to get Calvin Johnson to give Vince Young an elite WR.

yeah forgot about the Titans

[Chas]

My thoughts:

Defense:
Simeon is not the answer. I would like to see a complete consitent player at DE not a person who appears to get his stats in bursts and is only fair against the run. There are some guys on the team that are playing better and I would work with them all off-season to rebuild the DL. If there is a solid choice here it would be worth a first round pick. I like Dewayne White, Julian Jenkins and Greg Spires, but getting a true impact player here is needed.

Barber needs to stay, his giving up passes is more a function of poor safety play and lack of front four pressure. The system does not require shut-down CBs, but currently the front four is NOT doing what is needed for the system to work. Bolden is a solid nickle, but Buchanon and Cox need to be upgraded. Zemaitis needs to get work in this year if possible or a lot of extra coaching this off-season. He has the tools to be an impact player.

Derrick Brooks is still our best LB and that needs to change. No offense to Derrick because he has been the heart and soul of the Buccaneers for so long, but the changing of the guard needs to happen. Ruud appears to be a decent player, but I am not convinced he is probowl material. I would love to see an impact OLB taken this coming draft.

Will Allen is the only saftey on the team I currently am happy with. He has been putting some big hits on people when he has gotten the chance this year and made several open field tackles too. This is another position that needs help.

Offense:

The line needs to get more time playing together and I think the team needs a new center. Some work needs to be done here and I would replace Muir.

The receivers are solid, but I worry what happens when Galloway decides to hang up his cleats.

Mike Alstott will not be around forever and Sowell is not much younger so I think a 5-6th round pick needs to go here as well.

Quarterback is an issue. Gradkowski has shown me that he can not streatch the defense and that concerns me. Simms was fantastic last season and stunk the place up before getting hurt; despite the poor play he has much more potential than Gradkowski. If we get a low enough pick though you have to be tempted to take one of the potential franchise QBs... sad thing is that most of those guys end up as busts.

Overall the team appears to be in a bad, bad place right now. I do not seek improvement taking place and worry about the direction Gruden/Allen have the team going. There is salary cap space and extra draft picks, but I would like to see the genius getting more out of his scheme than he is. I am leaning towards Gruden/Allen needing to be gone as well.

[UMiamiBucFan]

Originally Posted by SerbiaBuc

You wouldn't give high second round pick for a player like Jared Allen? wow! there is no way you could find such a player in second round...

Jared Allen will 99% certainly be tendered with a first and third round compensation attached to him. So getting him is likely out of the question. No way will the Chiefs let him slip away for less than that tendered amount. When it comes to RFAs, 2nd round picks rarely come into the equation. There are 4 levels of tenders.

Parenthesis include 2006 tender amount, will be higher for 2007.

Lowest tender (685k) - First refusal
Low tender (712k) - First refusal and draft selection of the player's originally selected round
Medium tender (1.552m) - First refusal and a first round draft selection
High tender (2.069m) - First refusal, first and third round draft selections

In Allen's case, he was a 4th round pick. As such, even if they gave him the low tender, there still would be no 2nd round selection involved. In all reality, the Chiefs will likely tender him with the highest tender and no one will touch him.

[JamesWilder32]

Originally Posted by OnTheGrind

Are you brain dead? He's been injured. And yes Wyms is a strength. Not many DT's can rush the passer like him. Last year Cadillac had a stretch of 5-6 weeks where he did NOTHING because he was hurt. Should we have gotten another RB?

Hey dummy, staying healthy is part of the game, and Ellis has not done it. He has played fine when healthy... but he is of no use to the team when he isn't playing. Let's face it, this guy has been with the team 6 years and is only now starting? What was he a 6th round pick? Him and his 13 career sacks, he has hardly overwhelmed the opposition... I like him just fine but if we don't address this all important position on our defense then when he doesn't perform or goes down with injury YET AGAIN who are we to blame?

Staying healthy is part of the game, only a dummy, or a member of the Detroit Lions management team would think otherwise. Guys that can't stay healthy can't help a team, it is really simple.

[JamesWilder32]

Originally Posted by SerbiaBuc

OK, I can respect your opinion, but what after keeping Simms(who would play maybe 3 more games before another injury), firing Gruden and letting Monte do the HC job? Who and how would run the offense?
Or this is just another "Kill Gruden, its all his fault" post...
I can't stand Gruden anymore, but firing him wouldn't solve our problems

Who's running the offense now? Seriously, we're last in the NFC in scoring and yards... it doesn't get much worse. Considering that under the genius Gruden the team is scoring less than they did under Dungy and such un-notables as OC like Mike Shula, Les Steckel, Clyde Christensen... need I say more? Gruden has had 5 years to build an offense to his liking and in those 5 seasons he has done worse than the 3 guys mentioned previously... Fire Gruden, hell yeah, Kiffin as HC, no doubt, who would run the offense? Take your pick... I would rather see Monte apply a little nepotysm and bring in his son Lane than have to sit through another season of Gruden's BS dink and dunk pathetic offense.

[CADDY=SUPERBOWL]

Originally Posted by JamesWilder32

Jared Allen is a a RFA and we should go after him? And give up a 1st or 2nd round pick in the process? No thanks, maybe we should get back to what made this Bucs team great to begin with and start drafting early and often on defense. Considering the offense produces less than Dungy's offenses, there is no point in pumping more money and picks into bolstering our pathetic unit while our once proud defense continues to crumble.

#1 thing that should be done.... Keep Simms, FIRE GRUDEN! Monte Kiffin should be our coach, let Monte rebuild our defense and let use get back to Buc ball.

I don't know about Simms but Fireing Gruden and making Monte the HC is the smartest thing said on this board in a while.

[CADDY=SUPERBOWL]

This is what we should do.

1. Sign Max Starks. This guy is a monster at 6'7 320.
2. Sign Nate Clements. Him and Barber would be an awesome duo.
3. Sign Cato June or Lance Briggs. Most likely June because Briggs will be to muck money.
4. If we are in top 5 trade down a couple of spots and pick up an extra 2nd rounder.
5. The draft. 1. Alan Branch
2. Trade two 2nds for a mid-late 1st and get Laron Landry.
If we make the moves this can happen. We are rumoured to have almost 30 million in cap space, so hopefully we will use it.

[KiffininCanton]

Originally Posted by CADDY=SUPERBOWL

This is what we should do.

1. Sign Max Starks. This guy is a monster at 6'7 320.
2. Sign Nate Clements. Him and Barber would be an awesome duo.
3. Sign Cato June or Lance Briggs. Most likely June because Briggs will be to muck money.

CADDY=SUBERBOWL=DAN SNYDER