The Tampa Bay Buccaneers face a salary cap situation like they haven't faced in over a decade. Thanks to the shrewd business dealings of General Manager Bruce Allen, the Buccaneers find themselves way below the salary cap limit with a hefty surplus on money to burn. The last figure I had heard, and may have been adjusted, was more than $15 million cap space. With the trade deadline come and gone a week ago, there really isn't anyone to spend money on outside the current roster unless Bruce signs a free agent. At this point in the season, if someone is unemployed, it's for a damn good reason. But with the players on the Buccs' 53 man roster dropping like flies, the team may very well look to some of these gentlemen standing in the unemployment line and hope to catch lightning in a bottle. Even if the Buccs travel down this path, there is no way they will find enough quality to spend all that money on.
So who else can they spend on? Well they can spend that cash to restructure contracts and give extensions to deserving players already on the roster. Who is worthy of a raise or an extension at this point in time? I'm really not sure. Derrick Brooks is on his last contract hopefully, and will soon retire. Derrick has shown some flashes of brilliance this season, but to anyone who has followed the Buccs and Derrick for the last decade plus it's clear that his time in the NFL is coming to an end. Joey Galloway seems to have beaten the sands of time with his play the last 3 seasons, but with his age, injury history and recent contract restructure, would it be wise to give him and extension? I don't think that would be a smart move at all. Ronde Barber just got and extension not too long ago, and his play has been shoddy at times and sporadic. Ronde used to be one of the squad's surest tacklers, but this season he looks like the farmers kids trying to chase a greased pig around the farm yard. Even when he does get a hold of his opponents, they seem to slip right out of his arms. Spires? No way. His play has fallen off dramatically this season and one could argue he doesn't deserve his current contract let alone a new one. You have a list of young kids still playing off their rookie contracts, and seeing as how almost the entire 2002, 2003 and 2004 draft classes have been less than spectacular, or not even with the team anymore that leaves only one player I can think of worthy of an extension, and that's Jermaine Phillips.
So now we take a look at recent free agents brought into from other teams that maybe deserving of an extension. Garcia was signed for 2 years, and at his age and reckless playing style, I can't imagine it to be good business to extend his contract at least until the middle of the 2008 season. His play this season has been nothing short of spectacular, but for a player at his age he could slam into that wall at anytime even though he has not showed any signs of slowing down. Askew looks to be one of the better free agent acquisitions this off season, and as his role has been increasing due to the injuries that have hit the running back position, he appears to be a guy we should hold onto for a long time. Askew though was signed to a multi year deal already, so at this time it wouldn't be wise to resign him either. Chris Hovan just got an extension, and June is working on the first year of a 3 year deal. Brian Kelly is a player who has often been mentioned as being deserving of a contract extension. There were even rumors this off season that he would be a contract holdout. Those rumors proved to be false, and Kelly showed up on time to the first day of training camp. With Kelly's recent history of injuries problems seemingly becoming a chronic problem as opposed to isolated incidents, giving Kelly the big raise he once deserved almost seems foolish at this point. If Kelly is willing to take an incentive laden contract with playing time bonuses, that may be the way to go. Phillip Buchanon was signed to a one year deal, and with the increased playing time he has received in Kelly's absence, has certainly earned an extension. He's still a young guy, and has the skills to play cornerback for a handful more years. The Buccs need to make it a priority to sign P-Buc to an extension.
I may be leaving some players out, as I took this info off the top of my head. But at this time we have a lot of money to spend, and only 2 players deserving of a contract extension, and another deserving of an incentive laced deal. The Glazers aren't hurting for money, but they get several extra million dollars of unpaid salary this season to put back in the safe. Too bad the NFL's salary cap isn't like Cingular Wireless, and we could roll over our minutes......errr millions.
...JJC/ABuccsFan
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